July 31, 2009

Happy Friday! Well, I finally have some good news. My husband will be returning to work full time starting today, Yippee! We have been really been pinching our pennies lately. My husband was only working four days a week towards the end of last year and again since January 1st.

I was also surprised when I checked my email this morning only to discover that I won a prize from the gallery comment game on splitcoast stampers. Thank you so much Tina, for hosting this round. I will be hosting the next one which will begin tomorrow morning. I'll post more information and a link tomorrow once I get the thread started.

Now on to my card for today....LOL Today’s limited supply challenge was to create a card using die cuts. We could use any type of die cutting machine and punches were also included. We were to only use stamps for creating a background or the sentiment. My son brought me home the daisies that you seen in the second picture from my mother-in-law's house on Sunday and those daisies inspired me to create my card.

Today's challenge forced me to use my cricut machine. I recently had to have my cricut expression machine replaced and my husband has been after me to try it out and make sure my new machine works. (Hi there Eric, my machine works ;) LOL

I used my Plantin Schoolbook cartridge for cutting out the daisies and my 1/4" circle punch for the center of the flowers. I used my cuttlebug and Argyle Cuttlebug embossing folder for my background. To create my background I embossed only the upper and lower half and then I added two score lines (one above and one below) my black background paper.

My sentiment is from SU's Warm Words and my ribbon is from Offray. Have a great day!

July 29, 2009

I made this card for today's sketch challenge.

My husband's grandmother's cousin passed away this past weekend (unexpectedly) and I thought to myself that I should have had some sympathy cards on hand. I generally make sympathy cards as I need them, but I thought it would be a good idea to make some extras.

I recently received this stamp set and I haven't had a chance to use it until now. I love all of the wonderful cards that I have seen using this stamp set so I just had to have it!

As for my card, I first started to color the stamp using my SU markers, but that took forever and my resulting image didn't look that great. I ended up inking up my stamp with my Certainly Celery ink pad and then wiping off the tree trunk and coloring the branches using my Close to Cocoa SU marker; my image came out much better this way.

I don't have very much Certainly Celery paper left so I decided to use some decorative paper that I have for my background paper. My ribbon is from Offray. I decided to use a technique that I learned on splitcoast (from a past challenge) called 'ribbon stacking'. I just layered my ribbon and taped them together (using my ATG tape gun) and tied my knot.

July 27, 2009

Well, it's Monday! And my favorite weekly challenge is here! And to top it off, it's a sketch challenge. Two of my very favorite challenges put together, well I decided to get right to work and see what I could come up with. Today's sketch was based upon this card shown here. This sketch makes real quick and easy cards.

I decided to make another Christmas card using this sketch. I figure it's getting close to the end of July and I could make one more Christmas in July card.

For my Christmas card basically all I did was stamp and color. My image is from SU's Big on Christmas and I colored it using my SU markers.

The decorative paper I used is also SU, but I'm pretty sure it's a retired pattern. Then I tied the ribbon on my card. Almost all of the ribbon that I use is from Offray. I find that it's a lot cheaper to purchase my ribbon from Offray and I'm pretty happy with the quality and most of what I buy matches the SU colors pretty well.

My second card that I made for today's CAS sketch challenge is a masculine card. I rarely ever make masculine cards so I decided to try one today.

This card was super quick and easy to make. All I did was stamp my image and assemble my card. My image is from SU's Yukon stamp set. I just stamped it using Close to Cocoa ink and that was it.

Again, I'm pretty sure the SU decorative paper I used is a retired pattern. My sentiment is from SU's It's Your Birthday. I also used a buckle from the hodge podge hardware set that I have (and that's retired as well).

July 26, 2009

This is my card for today's featured stamper. Here is the card that I decided to case from splitcoast user versamom. I loved her card because I really liked the idea of using the ice cream cone image for a birthday card and I knew right away what stamp set I could use.

On my card I kept her same basic layout and ice cream theme, but I ended up using a different stamp set, different decorative paper, and a different sentiment.

I used my SU Perfect Party stamp set and I stamped the ice cream and ice cream cone and then cut them out. The colors that I used on my card are: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, and Very Vanilla. Next, I just assembled my card and added my ribbon.

My sentiment is from SU's Crazy for Cup Cakes stamp set. I do not have a large enough oval punch to use for larger sentiments, so I ended up using my punch for the white layer and I had to cut out by hand the Chocolate Chip layer of oval paper. I think I cut it out pretty okay, you may not have even noticed if I didn't tell you.

July 25, 2009

Today I took my daughter shopping at Old Navy. She had a great time picking out some new school clothes and we got a great deal on them. My daughter ended up getting an Old Navy coupon online for $50 off of a purchase of $100 or more. I told my daughter that's an awesome coupon and we can't let that one go to waste...LOL She ended up getting 2 pairs of jeans and 6 shirts for school all for only $52 and change.

Well, I wasn't able to stamp yesterday because I was so busy, so I set some time aside for stamping today. I thought I would catch up on yesterday's limited supply challenge. For this challenge we were to create a card using an image that had some sort of motor in it. We were also to limit our layers. I also made this card for this past Monday's clean & simple color challenges.

I wasn't very happy with the clean and simple car that I made earlier this week so I thought I would give it another try. I ended up using my SU Groovy stamp set. I've had this stamp set for some time now and I've never inked it up. I was thinking about selling this stamp set, but I'm glad now that I kept it.

I stamped the card using tempting turquoise ink. I then wiped off the ink from the wheel on the stamp and then colored them using my black marker. Next, I stamped the image on my white card stock and colored the small flowers using my SU markers. I made my own decorative paper using the smaller flower from this stamp set and I stamped two additional flowers and cut them out and placed them in the corner of the car image and the sentiment. My ribbon is from Offray.

July 24, 2009

Well, it's the end of the day and I'm just now getting a chance to sit down and relax. I was super busy and I didnt' have any time for stamping today.

Tomorrow is my mother-in-law's 60th birthday and we wanted to make a special dinner for her. We invited her over for dinner tonight and she was so surprised when she arrived. She had no idea what we were serving. She thought we were having steak and fries, but my husband and I spent the day grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning. We ended up serving lobster, shrimp scampi, grilled steak, deep fried french fries (we rarely have these), homemade coleslaw, green beans w/ onions, and for dessert I made homemade carrot cake (took me like forever to grate 3 cups of fresh carrots) w/ cream cheese icing and angel food cake delight (this is a great cake and I should have taken a picture of it to share it with you all, but I'll post the recipe here anyway).

Well, all I have to say is that I'm totally off of my diet today....LOL Anway, here is the cake recipe that I wanted to share with you all. It's super quick and easy and everyone loves it.

Prepare and bake (in a bundt pan) an angel food cake as directed on the package, cool completely. In a medium bowl mix: one small box of instant vanilla pudding, one 16-20 oz. crushed pineapple (undrained), and one 8 oz. container of cool whip. Cut your angel food cake horizontally into three layers (you will be making two cuts).

Next you can start to assemble your cake. The first layer is the bottom of your angel food cake. Spread a layer of pineapple mixture on top of your bottom cake layer. Next, place your middle layer of angel food cake on top of the pineapple mixture, and repeat one more time. Top cake with your remaining pineapple mixture and top with fresh strawberries or blueberries. I keep this cake in the fridge.

ETA- I just found a picture of this cake. I'm sorry- it's not the best picture. The carrot cake is the other cake in the picture.

July 22, 2009

My husband's grandmother came over for a visit today and she spent most of the day with my son and the baby. It gives me a break and I'm able to get lots of house work finished while she's here and that leaves me some extra time for stamping today.

I really loved the sketch chosen for today's sketch challenge and so I ended up making two more cards using this sketch. This sketch was so quick and easy and with three children and a husband, I'm all about quick and easy!

For my first card I used my SU Simply Said stamp set. I stamped the flower image three times and punched out a portion of each image. I colored them using my SU markers.

My background paper is just stamped using Certainly Celery ink and my SU background stamp Dots & Daises. I love the way these two stamp sets go together and I don't use them nearly enough.

I used ribbon for my embellishment and the sentiment is from SU's Warmest Regards. I feel as though I'm always making birthday cards, but it just ends up that's what I need the most.

My second card is another Christmas card (I've been making lots of Christmas cards lately). I used the same sketch, but I flipped the sketch sideways.

This is an old, retired stampin up stamp set from way back in 1994! My mother-in-law bought me this stamp set last year at a yard sale.

I just stamped the elves and colored them using my SU watercolor crayons and blender pen.

I used my 1 1/4" square punch to punch out the elf images and my 1 1/2" scallop square punch for my real red paper.
My sentiment is from SU's Snow Swirled stamp set and my ribbon is from Offray.

July 21, 2009

Here's a card that I made for tomorrow's sketch challenge. I just love when a challenge is posted early! This sketch was based on Miss Boo's card seen here. I just loved her card; in fact I was the first one to leave a comment on it!

I was looking through some decorative paper that I have and I found one that I thought resembled my SU Heartfelt Thanks stamp set. I decided to use that for the inspiration for my card. I also used the colors in the decorative paper for some color inspiration and for the most part these colors are way out of my comfort zone, but after I was finished with my card I was happy with my results.

I stamped the outline flower stamp and using my stamp-a-ma-jig and then I stamped the solid flower image with so saffron ink. The flower centers (and flower outlines and sentiment) are all stamped using Not Quite Navy ink.

I used my 1 1/4" square and 1 1/2" scallop square punches on my card. I love these punches together and I use them all the time. I added some white ribbon for my embellishment and my sentiment is from SU Birthday Whimsy.

This was a great sketch to follow and I may try and make another card using it tomorrow.

July 19,2009

I made this card for today's featured stamper. I decided to case this card made by splitcoast user minnidr. As soon as I saw her card I thought of my Doodle This stamp set.

I simply stamped my background using the larger doodle stamp and black ink. For the butterfly I used the SU stamp set Flight of the Butterfly. I stamped the solid image using Pretty in Pink ink and the outlined dotted image was stamped using black ink. Again, I used the larger doodle stamp for the doodle image next to the butterfly.

I used my scallop edge punch on the pretty in pink paper along side of my main panel. I just felt that my card needed some other color paper besides black and white and this gave it just a touch of color.

I used my large and small oval punches on my sentiment, which is from SU's Small Script stamp set. My ribbon is from Offray.

After I finished making my card I realized that I should have used my Priceless stamp set and I decided to try and make my card again. I think that I like this layout better, but now my card turned out to be somewhat busier.

I did almost the same thing when I made this card. I stamped my background using the larger swirly stamp with black ink. Next, I stamped the butterfly and added a swirl using the smaller swirly stamp from the same set.

I did stamp a second butterfly and cut it out and then I glued it on the top of my first stamped butterfly. You can see my second butterfly looks sort of popped up in my picture.

I used my large and small oval punches on my sentiment, which is from SU's Small Script stamp set. My ribbon is from Offray.

July 17, 2009

I made this card for today's limited supply challenge. For today's challenge we were to create a card using either our high school colors or our wedding colors.

Well, I wasn't about to try and use my high school colors, which were orange and black.

Instead, I decided to go with my wedding colors which were almost amethyst, silver, and white.

My background is stamped using Encore silver ink and SU's French Script background stamp. My main flower image is SU's Blossoms Abound stamped using Almost Amethyst and Lovely Lilac ink. The leaves were stamped using Mellow Moss and Always Artichoke ink.

I need a birthday card for my mother in law next week, so I decided to add a happy birthday sentiment from SU's Warmest Regards.  I also added a photo  turn in the lower left corner and then I added some white organdy ribbon and silver cording tied together.  

I thought it might be fun to share a few of my wedding photos with you all. This is a picture of my wedding party. My aunt is my maid of honor and she's standing right next to me. My sister in law is next to her, and my daughter is on the very left of the picture. Standing right next to my husband is his brother (my sister in law's husband), then my uncle (my aunt's husband) and then our neighbor's son.

It was quite a chore picking out my brides maids dresses (long story), but in the end I was really happy with them. I wanted purple because it's my very favorite color, but I also wanted dresses that were not too fancy because the men were not going to wear tuxedos, they wore suits instead. I had a really hard time finding these dresses in the correct sizes and an even harder time finding the groomsmen's ties to match.

This is a picture of my husband and me. It was taken right after we were married, but before the reception. Although the sun was shining in our faces; this is one of my favorite wedding pictures.

My husband and I are together nine years however; we just celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. We were married on the day and at the same time we first met. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband and I enjoy every day that I spend with him and our children.

July 16, 2009

This card is for today's ways to use it challenge. For today's challenge we were to use two identical “somethings” on our card- it could be anything we chose. I decided to go with using two of the same image. I have to admit that I've done this before with this stamp.

This stamp is from the SU stamp set Garden Silhouettes. I colored the stamp using my SU markers and then I stamped it on my paper. Again, I colored the stamp and then I turned my card stock upside down and then I stamped my image again. I needed to use a stamp-a-ma-jig so that my image would be lined up correctly.

I used the following punches on my card: SU- Eyelet border, Scallop Circle, 1 3/8", 1 1/4", 1/2", and a Martha Stewart 3 in 1 butterfly punch for the small butterflies.

My sentiment is from SU’s Circle of Friendship stamp set. In the center of my sentiment I added a small flower.

July 15, 2009

I decided to make just one more card for Monday's clean and simple inspiration challenge.

First I have to apologize because my pictures aren't coming out as nice as I would like. I recently purchased a new camera and I'm having a hard time trying to figure out which settings work the best for me. I'm going to try and take this picture again.

As soon as I saw this print I thought of this stamp. This is a stamp set that I have never used before. I got it long ago in an ebay auction, it's an older SU stamp set called Over the River.

My card was easy to make, but it did take me some time to do the coloring. I just stamped my image and colored it using SU watercolor crayons and blender pen. Then I used my scor-pal to create the two score lines just below my image. My sentiment is from SU's All Year Cheer stamp set.

July 13, 2009

Well, today is Monday and Monday's splitcoast challenge is the clean and simple challenge. I usually make more than one card for this challenge because it's my favorite ;)

Monday's clean and simple challenge is an inspiration challenge. The website which we were to choose from really had a lot of items for some inspiration.

For my first card here I chose to use this print for my inspiration. As soon as I saw the print with the truck and the Christmas tree in the back I thought of my SU Loads of Love stamp set.

I used the paper piecing technique for my truck. I stamped it on SU red pattern paper and I cut it out and placed it over my stamped truck image. I colored the center of the wheels silver using my silver zig painty marker.

Using my stamp-a-ma-jig I stamped the tree in the back of the truck and the husband and wife inside the truck. The husband and wife stamps are from SU's Loads of Love Accessories stamp set. My sentiment is from SU's Snow Swirled stamp set and my ribbon is from Offray.





Here's the print that I chose for my inspiration for my second card today. This card was real quick and easy to make.

I used the pine tree image from SU's Fantastic Foliage stamp set. I just stamped using three different color green ink pads (old olive, garden green, and glorious green) and I added some brown branches using my SU marker.

The ornament is from SU's Oh My Word stamp set and I just stamped that using Real Red ink. The hook part of the ornament is stamped using silver encore ink. I added a small red ribbon on the ornament.

I really liked the print that I chose and I tried to make my card just like the print. I think it's a pretty close match, but I wasn't sure if I should add a sentiment on the front of my card, but the ornament has the words 'tis the season written on it, so I decided not to add one.

July 12, 2009

This card is for today's featured stamper. I chose to case this card from splitcoast user schirmcat.

I kept the same layout and sentiment, but I changed the stamps that she used, the colors, and I only added ribbon along the top of my stamped image.

This card was really easy to make. The stamp I used is from SU's garden silhouettes. I stamped repeatedly all over my card stock using creamy caramel, close to cocoa, and chocolate chip ink.

The punch I used along the bottom is a lace punch from Martha Stewart and my sentiment is from SU's warmest regards stamp set. My ribbon is from Offray. There's a ribbon outlet store near me and I want to go shopping there again. I haven't been there since the end of last year and they really have some great deals and I'm running low on some of the colors of ribbon that I use, so I'll have to put aside a day to do some ribbon shopping!

July 10, 2009

I made this card for Friday's limited supply challenge, but then I reread the challenge and I made a mistake. For Friday's challenge we were to create a card by taking an image and cropping it and we had to use the image three times. The part where I messed up was that we were to only use brads or eyelets for our embellishments. Oh, well....I'll post my card anyway, but I won't be able to upload it for the challenge.

I received some stamped images of the SU stamp set Upsy Daisy and I decided to use my square punch to crop it. I used it here three times and I also used my square scallop punch for the black card stock layer.

For my background I decided to use my scor-pal and create a diamond embossed pattern. My sentiment is from SU's it's your birthday.

July 9, 2009

Thursday's ways to use it splitcoast challenge was a Christmas in July themed challenge. We were to create cards or other paper craft items using a Christmas theme.

Well I've been making several Christmas cards lately in hopes to have a nice assortment to mail out this year without having so much work to create them all in November.

On this card I decided to make is all white with sliver embossing. It's hard to see in my picture, but I stamped the tree and sentiment using silver encore ink and then I embossed it using silver embossing powder.

My background is embossed using my cuttlebug and snowflake embossing folder. Then I added my silver ribbon. I was thinking that my card still needed a little something, but I couldn't figure out what to add, so I decided to leave it the way it is.

I absolutely love the way my next card turned out. I would love to give everyone on my Christmas list this card, but it really was a lot of work to color in those images.

I used an older SU stamp set called Chill of Winter to create this card.
I used my SU watercolor crayons and blender pen for my coloring. I must have used just about every color under the sun....LOL

I had a hard time deciding what type of embellishment I wanted to add, but in the end I decided to add glitter on all of the snow using a versa mark marker and iridescent ice embossing powder (and then I had to embossing it using my heat gun). After embossing it I felt that my card still needed a little something, so I added the white ribbon along the top of my card.

I needed some way to separate my image from the sentiment, so right below my stamped images I added two score lines using my scor-pal. My sentiment is from SU's all year cheer stamp set.

The stamped image that I stamped on my card is actually three small stamps that I combined in order to create one image.

I took a picture of my card along side of the stamps that I used so that you could see the different images and how I was able to put them all together to create one image. I had to use my stam-a-ma-jig to do this.

And if you look closely you will notice that the smaller tree stamp was used once, right above the church and again on the upper left side of my card. When I stamped the tree stamp on the upper left side of my card I ended up only stamping the pine trees (which are on the right side of that stamp). I often find myself only using part of a stamp to create another image or using part of a stamp to add to an image.

July 8, 2009

I made this card for today's splitcoast sketch challenge. Wednesday's sketch challenges used to be my very favorite challenge, and I've sort of gotten away from them. I have to try and start making a point of doing them again because they are super easy to follow and some of my favorite cards have been the result of a sketch challenge.

Anyway, here are two cards that I made for today's sketch challenge. I've been making some Christmas cards lately and I got to thinking that if I make more Christmas cards now, then it might not be such a chore when it comes time to send out my Christmas cards later this year.

The only stamp set that I used to make my first card here is a SU stamp set called sweet holidays. On my real red paper I stamped the peppermint candy stamp using real red ink. On my green galore paper I used the gum drop stamp and I stamped it using green galore ink.

The gingerbread house took me awhile to color. I used my SU markers and colored the house and all of the candy. Then I covered the candy roof and gum drops with crystal effects and quickly dusted dd glitter over it and let dry. I added the green and white ribbon and green button for my embellishments.


For my second sketch challenge card I decided to force myself to create a masculine birthday card. I very rarely make any masculine cards, mainly because I just don't use them very often, but they are always good to have on hand.

This card was super quick and easy to make, in fact I had this card finished in about 10 minutes. There is no coloring on my card, all I did was stamp and assembled.

I used the SU stamp set nobel deer and I stamped the sahara sand paper using a versa mark ink pad and the pine cone stamp. I used the SU background stamp called weathered to add some texture to my ballet blue paper.

For my main deer image all I did was ink and stamp. I assembled my card and I added some twine and a ballet blue button. I threaded the twine through the button from behind it and then I tied a knot. I tried to do a little something different with the twine and I twisted is all along my card. My sentiment is from SU's it's your birthday stamp set.

July 7, 2009

Did you ever start making a card and then look for some pattern paper to use and you couldn't find the correct color or type of paper? Well, that happens to me all the time! We are living on a tighter budget these days so I'm not always able to go and buy tons of paper to have on hand, so I create my own. Why not, you know?! I have tons of stamps and 48 colors to choose from.

Anyway, I decided to make some cards today using pattern paper that I've created just by using my stamps and ink pads. I do this all the time and I just love the results.

It's never too early for Christmas cards, right? LOL So in my first example, I used my SU snow swirled stamp set and I stamped three different snowflakes stamps using four different shades of blue. I used bashful blue, brocade blue, tempting turquoise, and night of navy.

Next, I added my ribbon. I've had this ribbon for some time now and I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I think it works with this card. My sentiment is from the same stamp set (snow swirled). I wasn't sure where to place the sentiment - on top of the pattern paper I thought it looked too busy, so that's how it ended up along the top of the ribbon.



In my second card here, I used my SU springtime stamp set. This is one of those stamp sets that I just had to have and then I never used it. Well, lately I've been making myself use all of the stamps that I have.

I used the small outline flower stamp and I stamped it repeatedly over my white paper. Then I went back, this time using my stamp-a-ma-jig and stamping with pale plum ink, I stamped the solid flower image within the outlined images.

Next, I took the really small solid flower stamp and I stamped repeatedly using certainly celery ink. I added some dots in the center of my flowers with my markers- using perfect plum for the purple flowers and using old olive for the center of the green flowers.

I used my large and small oval punches for my sentiment. To use this particular birthday stamp I had to ink up the word happy and stamp it and then ink up the word birthday and stamp it so that the words would be arranged the way I needed them to be.

July 6, 2009

I made these three cards for today's clean and simple challenge. The challenge for this week was to create a cas birthday card. Well, I'm always in need of birthday cards and that's what I use the most of. It seems like I'm always making birthday cards, but I guess one can never have too many of them.

This card was super quick and easy to make. I used the long cake stamp from SU's simply sweet stamp set. I stamped my image and colored using my SU markers. Then I added my ribbon and sentiment. My sentiment on this card is from SU's crazy for cup cakes stamp set. I just love this sentiment and it's perfect for cake/cup cake cards! I tied a few extra piece of ribbon to sort of dress up my card a bit.




I made another card for today's cas birthday challenge. I used SU's crazy for cupcakes stamp set for this card. I stamped the cupcake stamp and colored it using my SU markers. I used the color blush blossom to hopefully make my cup cakes look like vanilla ones. (I don't use this color very often).

I also added some dots in the icing for sprinkles and then I found this pattern paper in my stash. I though the paper matched the sprinkles perfectly. Then I tied my ribbon and stamped my sentiment.

At first I wasn't too sure about the way my image turned out. I couldn't figure out what color to make the cupcake stand and I didn't feel like doing it all over again.



Finally, I have one more card for today's challenge!

Again, I used my crazy for cupcakes stamp set. This time I used the paper piecing technique for the cake part and icing part of my image. First I stamped my image on white paper. Next I stamped the cake part of my image on close to cocoa paper and for the icing part I stamped it on pattern paper. Then I cut out both images and glued it to my first stamped image (I hope this makes sense).

I'm really not very fond of the candle on the cup cake, so I cut it off and stamped and cut out a cherry from SU's tart & tangy stamp set.

I also added some more dots for sprinkles and I added my ribbon. Again, my sentiment is from the stamp set (crazy for cupcakes).

July 5, 2009

Today's challenge is a featured stamper challenge. I chose to case this card from splitcoast user B-gin-r. I kept the same layout and ribbon embellishment, but I changed the color, pattern paper, and sentiment.

I found this pattern paper lying in my scrap pile, so I decided to make a Christmas card with it. I cut my paper and layered it with forest foliage card stock (it’s a retired color) and then I added my ribbon. I stamped my sentiment using my SU snow swirled stamp set and forest foliage ink. I also cut out a snowflake from the pattern paper and adhered it to the lower left corner of my sentiment.





We were invited to a 4th of July party and this is the dessert that I made to take along. I'm known for making great desserts and this one turned out perfect! Everyone wanted to know who made it, so I thought I'd share the recipe with you all.

Oreo Cookie Cake

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup margarine softened

1/2 cup water

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

2 eggs

16 Oreo Cookies

.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour pan (I used a 9" round pan). Beat all ingredients except cookies until mixed well. Then stir in by hand, coarsely chopped cookies. Pour into pan and bake 30-35 minutes or until done w/ toothpick.

Whipped cream topping

2 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla

Pour heavy cream into chilled mixing bowl and whip on med-med high speed gradually adding sugar and then vanilla. Continue mixing until whipped cream is stiff. Icing cake and decorate with Oreo halved cookies in the center and crumbs where desired. I keep this cake refrigerated.

July 4, 2009

Happy 4th of July to you all! I decided to make some 4th of July cards this year to send to my family. My husband says that I am just looking for a reason to make some more cards....LOL I say what better way to brighten a person's day than to send them a handmade card!

I ended up making five cards. They are all similar, but yet different. Basically on all of my cards I stamped the bear image and colored it using my SU watercolor crayons and blender pen. Then I stamped the bear image again, colored and cut it out so that I could add a second flag to my cards, which the first bear is now holding. I just felt that having a second flag on my image would be more patriotic.

On the red and blue background paper I used a small star stamp (from SU's Just Flying By stamp set) and I repeatedly stamped it all over my cardstock. Then I added some highlights using a white gel pen. (I love using my white gel pen; it really does add that bit of brightness). My ribbon is from Offray and my sentiment is from a Studio G stamp set.

Here are close up pictures of my 4th of July cards:

July 3, 2009

Today's limited supply splitcoast challenge was to create a card using digital images or die cuts, no stamping was allowed- we were able to color our images and computer generated sentiments were allowed. In addition we were to use no more than two embellishments. Well, this challenge was right up my alley. I just recently discovered the world of digital images and I really like them, especially the free ones ;) Like my husband always says, 'If it's free, it's for me'! (Hi Eric!!! He always reads my blog ;)

The free digital image that I used for my card below can be found here on momtoggk's blog: Crafting in Croatia

Anyway, here are two cards that I made for today's challenge. In the first card I printed the image and colored it using my SU markers. I really spent a lot of time coloring this image. I printed out two images and I was able to color and cut out a second butterfly (that I placed below the sunflower). And I cut and colored the center of the large purple flower and I placed it right over the center, but sort of off a bit. If you look closely you should be able to see the darker purple layer behind it.

We were allowed to add embellishments, but only two. I ended up not adding any embellishments because I sort of felt that my card was busy enough.

My second card here is a free Hydrangea Digital Image from momtoggk (on splitcoast). Here's the link to her blog, where I got this image from: Crafting in Croatia I just love this image and it's so easy to color and I thought it would be perfect for a square card. I've uploaded a few pictures to show you how I colored my image. I start by coloring my image using the lightest color following with the darker colors next.

Here I've finished my coloring and In this picture I wanated to show you what my image looked like before I started my sponging. The picture isn't the greatest (sorry about that) I forgot to turn off the flash on my camera. I'm not sure if anyone else does this (I guess it's not a new idea), but I think the sponging sort of helps to blend the colors.

I then use a small sponge and my SU ink pads. I take the sponge and dab it onto my ink pad and then using small circular motions I rub the sponge onto my image where I have colored it purple. I do this so that the sweeping strokes from coloring with my markers are not as noticeable. It helps to blend my coloring.

I did the same thing with the leaves using the two greens- certainly celery and old olive. It doesn't matter here if the sponging goes outside of the lines because I was planning on cutting out my image. Finally, I added some white highlight dots using my white gel pen and some squiggly lines along the outside border of my card.

My sentiment is computer generated. Yeah, I know I'm a bit ahead of myself here with the Grandparent's day sentiment, but I figured I would get a head start. That's one of those holidays that comes upon us so fast. Again, I didn't add any embellishments because I felt that my card really didn't need any.

July 2, 2009

Things are finally starting to calm down around here and I'm able to take some time for myself and catch up on some splitcoast challenges that I missed. Monday's clean & simple challenges are my favorite and I generally participate in every one. Here are two cards that are for splitcoast stamper's clean & simple challenges.

My first card is for the clean & simple challenge from two weeks ago (I said I was a bit behind...LOL)

That challenge was a sketch challenge and this is my very first square card. I've never made a square care before because of not having the correct size envelopes, but I really love the way this turned out and now I'm on a mission to find the proper size square envelopes.

I used my SU stamp set Time Well Spent and I stamped the flowers on my background and colored them using my SU markers. My sentiment is from SU Sincere Salutations and I punched it out using my large and small oval punches.

I made this card for this week's clean & simple challenge. In this challenge we were to create a card using some sort of sparkle. It might be hard to see in my picture, but I ended up using dd glitter in the centers of my flowers and on the wings of the bee.

The stamp set that I used is SU's Merci, I've had this stamp set for over a year now and this is the first time that I have used it. (I'm challenging myself to ink up every stamp that I own...LOL)

I used the larger flower & heart image and I stamped it along the left side of my card and then colored it using my SU markers. My sentiment is from SU's Sincere Salutations.