December 31, 2009

Hi everyone! I haven't been around much, but I wanted to pop in to let you all know that I am still here. We have been really busy with the holidays and with family and friends visiting us.

The past few days my husband and I have been working on getting our house back in order and putting Christmas decorations away. My house is almost back in order and today we have been cleaning out some closets and getting rid of things that we haven't used in a long time. Our house is so small and my space is limited so I try to make sure that I use my storage space wisely.

Well, I hate to type and run, but we are going to a New Year's Eve party and I'm still not ready yet. I hope you all have a Happy New Year and I'll be back to posting regularly again within a few days.

Happy New Year!

December 22, 2009

Can you believe it? Only 3 more days till Christmas!

I just wanted to post a quick message to let you all know that I'm still here, but busy getting ready for Christmas. I probably won't be posting any more cards for a few days. Once the holiday is over and things settle down I'll get back to my stamping again.

I started sewing a Christmas stocking for my son and I'm working really hard trying to finish it so that he can put it out for Santa on Christmas Eve. My other two children have stockings, but my son didn't and he asked me to make him one. I just couldn't say no to him, so I am sewing like crazy. I'll have to post a picture of it once I've finished it.

I wish you all the best this holiday season.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

December 18, 2009

With the upcoming holidays I won't be able to post as often. It's only 7 more days until Christmas and things here are getting pretty hectic. Sunday we are supposed to be getting some snow, so it's looks like we are going to finish the rest of our shopping errands tomorrow.

I can only imagine what the traffic is going to be like and I have to pick up a few groceries as well. It never fails whenever we are expecting a snow storm every here goes to the store to purchase bread, milk, and eggs. My husband likes to call our snow storms 'french toast storms'!

The card I'm posting today was made for yesterday's ways to use it challenge on splitcoast. For this challenge we were to create a project using a recipe. I decided to use my fudge recipe, which is always a big hit! The best part is that you don't have to cook it!

To make my card I first typed and printed out my recipe. Then, I stamped my images and colored them using my SU Watercolor crayons and blender pen. Then I just cut them out and assembled my card.

Stamps: Santa's Elves, Cute Converse
Cardstock: White, Chocolate Chip, Real Red
Ink: Black Stazon
Supplies: Ribbon, SU Watercolor Crayons, Blender Pen, Large & Small Oval Punches, Scissors
Technique: Water Coloring

Just in case you can't read my recipe on my card I'll post it below.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge
2 cups graham cracker crumbs 1 tsp. vanilla
2 sticks margarine 1 box powdered sugar (16oz)
2 cups peanut butter

Mix all of these ingredients together (I use my mixer w/ dough hooks).Then flatten mixture into a baking dish.

1 bag milk chocolate chips 1 ½ cups peanut butter

Melt chocolate chip & peanut butter in a double boiler and once it’s melted pour over top of graham cracker mixture and refrigerate. Once it is set cut into square & serve.

December 16, 2009

The card I made for today was for a splitcoast challenge that was posted last week. As soon as I saw the challenge I knew exactly which image I wanted to use. The challenge was a ways to use it challenge. We were to create a card using holiday music to inspire us.

Well, my very favorite Christmas song is Sleigh Ride. You can listen to it here.

On the background of my card I did a bit of dry embossing using my Scor-pal.

For my main image all I did was color it using my SU Water Color crayons and a blender pen. My ribbon is from Offray.

Stamps: Sleigh Ride, Warmest Regards
Cardstock: White, Bravo Burgundy
Ink: Black Stazon, Bravo Burgundy
Supplies: Ribbon, SU Watercolor Crayons, Blender Pen, Scor-pal, Stamp-a-ma-jig
Technique: Water Coloring, Dry Embossing

Thanks for looking!

December 15, 2009

Today I spent my morning grooming my dog. I try to save some money where ever I can and grooming my dog is one thing that I can do myself.

I have a cocker spaniel that is almost 14 years old and she's a lot of work. I keep telling my husband this is our last dog. It's hard to plan family day trips and (maybe one day) a vacation when you have a dog.

She's a good dog and she is much calmer now that she is getting older. She's great with the kids, but no one really plays with her and I'm the one who ends up with all of the doggie chores. My daughter and my son each have a fish and that's about the extent of our pets from now on...LOL



My card for today is for Tuesday's splitcoast color challenge. I rarely participate in the color challenges, I'm not quite sure why, I guess because I feel as though I'm not very good at them, but after seeing what today's colors were I decided to give it a try.

The colors for today's challenge are: So Saffron, Mellow Moss, and Rose Red (Melon Mambo was the in color choice, but I do not use any in colors), and neutrals of choice.

I found this stamped image in my box of images. I thought it was a SU image, but I don't know for sure. My card was pretty easy to make. All I did was color my image using my SU markers, assemble my card, and then I added two rows of paper piercing along the right side.

I wasn't quite sure what type of sentiment I wanted to use, but I got to thinking that this might make a nice Valentine's Day card. (Maybe from my husband to me..;) So honey if you are reading this, you can take this card. I guess it could also be an anniversary or maybe an informal wedding card.

Stamps: unknown Rose stamp, Small Script
Cardstock: White, Mellow Moss, Rose Red, So Saffron
Ink: Black Stazon
Supplies: SU Markers, Eyelet Border Punch, Scalloped Oval Punch, Oval Punch, SU Mat Pack, Paper Piercing tool, Scor-pal
Technique: Paper Piercing

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderfu day!

December 14, 2009

What a busy weekend I had! My family came over yesterday and I made a Turkey dinner for everyone. We celebrated my son's birthday and also my sister's birthday. Then we exchanged Christmas gifts with my sister and mother because they both work on Christmas and we won't have a chance to see them over the holiday. Everything went well and dinner was delicious!

Here's my card for today's CAS clean & simple challenge. The challenge was to find ways to use curves on our cards. Well, I really had to think about this one. I'm not sure why, but this challenge stumped me. As I was going through some stamped images that I have, I came across this one and I thought it would be perfect for today's challenge. I'm not sure who makes this image, but the curve along the bottom fits today's curves challenge.

I just colored in the image using my SU watercolor crayons and blender pen. Then I added some glitter over the snowflakes, and I wrote in my season's greetings sentiment along the bottom of the curve. Along the bottom edge of my card I added two embossed lines.

Stamps: unknown

Cardstock: White, Mellow Moss, Bravo Burgundy

Ink: Black Stazon

Supplies: SU Watercolor Crayons, Blender Pen, DD Glitter, 2 Way Glue Pen, Scor-pal

Technique: Water coloring, Dry Embossing

Thanks so much for looking!

December 12, 2009

Hi everyone! I just wanted to take a minute to say a huge thank you to kamart, for the lovely email she sent me. I truly appreciate it and I'm so honored that you like my cards. It brings me such pleasure to share my work with you all and I so flattered to have received such a wonderful email.

I tried to reply to you, but I received a message that you were not accepting emails, so I'm hoping that you will see this message.

My card for today was made for a competition on Bird's blog. I was looking through her blog yesterday I saw that she was hosting a competition.  It's open until December 13th so there's still time to join in and play along. She has some really wonderful digi images on her blog so be sure to check it out.
The daisy image that I used was from her blog. I just printed out the image and colored in the center Yo-Yo Yellow and the flower stem Certainly Celery.

On the left hand side of my card I ran my background through my Cuttlebug using the flower strip from the Cuttlebug folder called 'With Love'.

I wasn't quite sure how to finish my card once I had embossed it, but then I decided to use my SU markers and I drew (by hand) over top of the embossing. At first I didn't like it, but now I'm thinking it's sort of cute.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. It's going to be a busy one for me. I have some family visiting on Saturday and on Sunday, so my next post will probably be on Monday!

December 11, 2009

I almost forgot that my brother in law told me he needed a Hanukkah card, so I thought I'd better get it finished right away. I never made a Hanukkah card before, so I decided to look through the splitcoast gallery for some inspiration. I found this card made by Holly.

My card also fits today's limited supply challenge to create a card with a star on it and our only embelishment that we could use is ribbon.

I didn't have any type of Hanukkah images or stamps so I searched the internet and I found this menorah free clip art. I printed it out and then colored it using my SU markers. My sentiment is also computer generated.

My gray background is scored using my scor-pal and I added some faux stitching along the bottom of my Night of Navy card stock layer. My ribbon is from Offray.

Thanks so much for looking!

December 9, 2009

Hi everyone! I don't have a card to share with you all today (I'm almost out of white card stock, which I use a lot of) and it's my son's birthday tomorrow.

We spent the day today making cup cakes for his parts at preschool and I thought I would share a picture with you.

My son is looking at those cup cakes as if he is about to dig in....LOL


I usually make these ice cream cone cup cakes every year. I made them for my older daughter when she was little and everyone always seems to like them and they are really easy to make.

I just mix the cake batter like you normally would and fill the ice cream cones. You have to make sure that you only fill the cones 3/4 full otherwise they will spill over. Then I let them cool and I icing the tops, add half a cherry, and some sprinkles....yum, yum! In my picture you will see some tin foil that I have rolled up and put inbetween each row of cup cakes. I do that to keep them standing up.

Tomorrow is my son's birthday, so I probably won't be able to post again until Friday. Have a great week and thanks so much for stopping by!

December 7, 2009

Hi everyone! It's Monday again and I'd like to say a huge congratulations to the new Winter CAS Design Team: Kristin Moore, hobbywoman, and k dunbrook. I'm looking forward to this season's challenges. And their first CAS challenge is a color challenge.

The colors for today's challenge are: any shades of red and brown+ white or vanilla.

As soon as I saw today's color challenge I knew exactly what stamp I wanted to use. I just purchased this stamp and I couldn't wait to use it. I've seen so many pretty cards in the gallery using this stamp.

All I did to make my card was to stamp the deer and the sentiment, assemble my card, and then I added some liquid pearls and the red bow. The Merry Christmas sentiment is from SU's Great Greetings stamp set.

My pattern paper is from DCWV Prints for the Year stack and my ribbon is from Offray. I'm not sure what punch was used along the border on my Chocolate Chip card stock- it was given to me.

Thanks so much for looking and have a great day!

December 6, 2009

I hope you all had a great weekend! We were busy again trying to finish up our shopping and we spent our weekend getting ready for Christmas.

I have been making Christmas cards a lot lately so that when it comes time to send out my cards I won't have to scramble and hurry to finish making all of them.

Friday's challenge was the perfect opportunity for me to quickly make a few more holiday cards.

Friday's challenge was to create a white Christmas card using:
1. Only White Cardstock!
2. Only White or Clear embellishments
3. No patterned paper, unless it's all white!
4. You may use any color ink you wish, but only ONE color.
5. No coloring (i.e. copics, watercolors, etc)
6. Limit your layers/embellies

My first card was fairly easy except that I had to be sure and to keep my score lines and the small dots border folder aligned (it took me a few tries). I embossed the top portion of my card using the Snowdots embossing folder. Then I added a few decorative score lines and embossed again using the small dots folder from the Just My Type embossing folder set.

My season's greetings sentiment is from SU's Snow Swirled set and my ribbon is from SU.

I'm not quite sure if I like my second card, but I thought I would share it with you anyway. At first this embossing folder reminded me of Christmas Holly, but now I don't know.

I ran the small strip folder through my Cuttlebug and then I turned the folder around and I embossed again just above my previous row. I did this three times. Then I added some decorative score lines and some liquid pearls.

My sentiment is from SU's To You & Yours stamp set. It's stamped using silver encore ink and it's layered using my oval punch and scalloped oval punch.

Thanks so much for looking!

December 5, 2009

I made a few more cards for yesterday’s limited supply challenge. The challenge was to create a white Christmas card using

1. Only White Cardstock!
2. Only White or Clear embellishments
3. No patterned paper, unless it's all white!
4. You may use any color ink you wish, but only ONE color.
5. No coloring (i.e. copics, watercolors, etc)
6. Limit your layers/embellies

Well, I wasn't too sure about the card that I posted yesterday because of the sponging, but I'm pretty sure that these cards follow the rules.

My first card was made using the Snowflakes and Winter House Cuttlebug embossing folders. This card was really quick and easy. My background layer is the snowflakes folder, and my main layer is the Winter House layer, but I did emboss the card stock and then I
cropped the image on all four sides so that my panel would be smaller.

My sentiment is from SU's Warmest Regards and my ribbon is organdy ribbon from SU.



I have to admit I really like my second card. I didn't plan it out this way, but I was just playing around with my folders and I got to thinking that the snowflakes 0n the Lace Tree folder matched my Snowflakes folder.

On the left side of my card I embossed the tree (the entire tree didn't fit on my card, so I made sure to align the top part of the tree, leaving off part of the bottom).

The right side of my card was embossed partially using the Snowflakes embossing folder and then I added three decorative score lines right next to it.

Again, I used organdy ribbon and I tied my sentiment on the ribbon. My sentiment is from SU's To You & Yours stamp set. It's also layered using my oval punch and scalloped oval punch.

I ended up making two more white Christmas cards and I'll post them soon. I might try to work on tomorrow's Featured stamper challenge. Have a great rest of the weekend!

December 4, 2009

TGIF! What a week it has been for me and my family. I'm looking forward to hopefully a relaxing weekend.

There are only three more weekends until Christmas, so pretty soon I'll start working on my Christmas cookies. I usually make them for my family and some for Santa of course!

Earlier this week my children and I put up our Christmas trees, so I thought that I would share a picture of them with you. We usually put up two trees each year and this picture is of the tree in my living room.

Purple is my favorite color so this is my purple tree. There are also some silver and blue ornaments and some glittery ones as well.


And this is the tree in our family room. (I know my pictures aren't the greatest, but my trees really do look nicer in person).

The tree that we have in our family room is the one that I have all of our children's handmade ornaments that have been made throughout the years and our other special family ornaments.

When we were putting up this tree I came across an ornament from Dec. 2000- engraved with the words 'Our First Christmas'. This was the first Christmas that my husband and I spent together.

Underneath this tree is my son's Geo Track train. Once I received my scrapbox I had to take his train apart and put in into a Rubbermaid tote and now that his train is apart he plays with it more, go figure...!!? I guess he likes putting it together and taking it apart more than just turning it on and watching it.

Well, onto my card for today! Today's limited supply challenge on Splitcoast is a great one! (Thank you, Holly!) We were to create a White Christmas card using

1. Only White Cardstock!
2. Only White or Clear embellishments
3. No patterned paper, unless it's all white!
4. You may use any color ink you wish, but only ONE color.
5. No coloring (i.e. copics, watercolors, etc)
6. Limit your layers/embellies

I'm hoping that I followed the rules correctly. I wasn't quite sure if sponging was considered coloring. I did use only white card stock, I used only white embellishments, I didn't use any patterned paper, I used only one color ink pad (Brocade Blue), I didn't do any coloring with markers, crayons, pencils, etc., and I did limited my layers.

First I sponged my background using a technique called faux tearing. I sponged the torn part darker and I gradually went lighter with my ink towards the top part of my card. I used my SU stamp set Serene Snowflakes to randomly stamp my background. I stamped another snowflake and then layered it on sponged card stock and a scalloped circle.

My sentiment is from SU's Snow Swirled stamp set and my ribbon is from Offray.

Actually I have a few white Christmas cards here on my blog. If you would like to check them out you can find them here. I did make a few more cards for today's challenge and I'm planning on posting them tomorrow.

Thanks so much for looking! Have a great weekend! I'm not sure if I will be able to post this weekend, but I'll be back on Monday with the CAS challenge and our new Winter Design Team!

December 3, 2009

My card for today has to be a quick one. My husband has a doctor’s appointment and my son has his swimming lessons tonight, so it's going to be another busy day for me.

I recently purchased some new cuttlebug embossing folders and I just had to have this owl one. This folder is called Owl Flourish.

This was a really quick and easy card (and I'm all about quick and easy lately). I'm really busy with the kids and with the upcoming holidays and my son's birthday is in just a few days. Anyway, all I did was run my card stock through my cuttlebug machine, layer it onto Chocolate Chip card stock and then stamp my sentiment.

My sentiment is from SU's Thoughts & Prayers stamp set. I'm not quite sure that I like the way my card turned out. I was thinking of adding some color on the embossed areas, but then I thought sometimes 'less is more' so I decided to leave it alone. What do you think? I'm open to any suggestions.

Thanks so much for visiting and have a great day!

December 2, 2009

There's a lady who works with my husband that has been checking out my blog lately. My husband says that she's looking to find the Christmas card that she wants to receive this year.....LOL Well, Mo....(that's her name) How do you like this card?

Poor Mo, hopefully she will smile when she reads this post. She has been having a terrible time trying to get her fridge fixed this past week. Her fridge keeps breaking and the repair man hasn't been able to fix it yet and her fridge is still fairly new. They just don't make things like they used to!

For today's card, I decided to do a little more sponging today and so this is the card that I came up with. I just purchased this stamp set and I have been waiting for some time to play with it. I decided to mount the trees and sentiment separately.

I inked my tree image using Handsome Hunter ink and then I took my Always Artichoke ink pad and I sort of thumped the edge of the ink pad over the tree image. I really like the results I got. The trees look like different shade of green without a lot of work. After I had the trees inked the way that I wanted I wiped off the bird part of the stamp and I colored it Rose Red using my SU marker. Then I stamped the stamp onto my card stock.

Then I started sponging my background. I sponged a little bit towards the center of the trees using Barely Banana ink and then I started working outward using Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue, and Night of Navy along the edges. I did have to create a mask so that the ink from my sponging would not transfer onto the snow along the bottom.

Once my sponging was finished I just stamped the Season's Greetings sentiment using Rose Red ink. And that was it! Super quick and easy, and a great card for mailing- without any large knots or ribbon treatment.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

December 1, 2009

Wow! I can't believe it's the first of December already. My husband was telling me last night that there are only three more shopping weekends until Christmas, good thing that I'm almost finished my shopping.

I was able to get some great deals last week at Walmart on black Friday. I usually do not do black Friday shopping, but my daughter and I went to Toys R Us to stand in line for the Zhu Zhu pets on Thanksgiving evening. After getting there 1 1/2 hours early, and seeing that the line was all the way around the back and side of the building, we decided to leave.

We were headed home when we decided to stop at Walmart. I got some great deals at Walmart, but I'm still not able to find any Zhu Zhu pet accessories. I still need the fun house and I was hoping to get the garage. I'm hoping I will find them before Christmas and I refuse to pay the outrageous prices that the eBay sellers and Craig's list sellers are charging for them. Wish me luck in trying to find some Zhu Zhu accessories!

For my card today I wanted to show how I sponged the background on the card that I made for last week's CAS challenge- the challenge was to use sponging on our cards. This is the card that I made for last week's challenge. I'm going to make that same card again and this time I'll take some pictures as I go along.

The first thing I did was to stamp my tree image.

Then I needed to stamp my image again and cut it out along the snow line of the image to create a mask for my sponging technique.

In this picture shown below you can see why I needed the mask. I wanted to keep the snow white and I didn't want any color along the bottom of my image. I started my sponging using Bashful Blue ink and a cut wedge from a SU sponge.

To create the clouds on my card I took a scrap piece of card stock and I punched out a scalloped circle. I used the scallop circle as a mask while I continued sponging.

In this picture below you can see how I used the scallop circle a little better. I held the scallop circle in one hand while I continued sponging with the other. Be sure to keep the scallop circle in one place while you are sponging. For this step I used Brocade Blue ink.

Continue moving the scallop circle wherever you'd like. When I was sponging over top of the scallop circle I tried to sponge just along the edge, you don't want to go too much above or below the circle. I also found that my sponging looked much better if I used smaller amounts of ink on my sponge and tapped using lighter dabbing motions.

Here is my finished cloud sponging and then I decided to use my VersaMark ink pad and Iridescent ice embossing powder along the bottom for the snow.

And below is a picture of my finished card. I trimmed my image before mounting it on Night of Navy card stock. I also added some snowflakes using a small snowflake stamp and my sentiment is from SU's Warmest Regards stamp set.

Thanks so much for looking!

November 30, 2009

I wasn't feeling very well earlier today, but I'm much better now. I thought I was getting a cold, but thank goodness it has passed. My head doesn't hurt as much now and my throat isn't as sore. I really hate being sick because it makes taking care of my family difficult as I guess it would for any mother. Plus I've got a busy week planned so I glad I'm feeling better now.

I wanted to make a card for Sunday's featured stamper, MrsBoz. I chose to case this card from her gallery. I really love her card and I had a hard time trying to find two things to change about it, but as I went along I ended up using a different sentiment and border punch. I also decided not to add the two flowers along the top, but I did use two additional leaves (I placed them with the other leaves). I staggered my scalloped border and I didn't emboss the top white scalloped border layer. Her card is a sympathy card, but I decided to stamp a birthday sentiment instead.

I really like the way my card turned out, it was really quick and easy and it could be used for several different occasions. And with no bows or larger ribbon, it's great for mailing too!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Be sure to check back tomorrow because as I promised last week I'm going to post a tutorial on how I created my sponged sky on this card.

November 29, 2009

Hi everyone! Here's my card for tomorrow's CAS - Clean & Simple challenge. This is my last challenge as a member of the CAS Autumn design team. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I had such a great time with our challenges and it was truly a pleasure working with Jen, Ryann, and Jenn (Miss Boo). I am looking forward to seeing the next set of challenges from the new Winter design team. Thanks for having me!

The last challenge is a makeover challenge. We were to pick a card from our gallery and remake it into a CAS card or just make it over if we chose to. I picked this card from my gallery to make over and I decided to turn it into a CAS card.

I eliminated three card stock layers and one color of card stock, the punched out butterflies, liquid pearls, stamped background, and punched edge along the bottom. On my remade card I used the same image, but I did some dry embossing on the bottom half of my background.

For my main image I colored my stamp using my SU markers and then stamped it onto my card stock. On my background I only ebmossed half (I placed my card stock partially inside my embossing folder) and then just above the Swiss Dots embossed background I added three decorative score lines.

I wasn't too sure about the ribbon that I chose, but I guess it looks alright. Oh, and I also thought that I should mention that I added a few small dots in the center of the flowers using my Close to Cocoa marker.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a wonderful day tomorrow!

November 25, 2009

I wanted to post the Thanksgiving cards that I made this year. Yes, I make Thanksgiving cards...LOL My husband says that I'll look for any excuse to make a card. Just wait until he sees my Groundhog's Day cards ;)

My Thanksgiving card was super easy to make. I just colored in the turkey using my SU markers.

Along the bottom of my card I did some paper piercing and a decorative score line and then, I tied my ribbon and assembled my card. My pattern paper is from the dollar spot at target.

I find myself using this layout quite often, but it's, quick, easy, and it usually works well for me.

I hope you all enjoy your Thanksgiving Day!!!

November 23, 2009

Happy Monday....and once again here's my card for today's CAS clean & simple challenge. Today's challenge is a ways to use it challenge and we were to find ways to use sponging.

All I did was stamp the tree image using brown stazon ink. Then I sponged the sky blue starting with a lighter blue along the bottom (Bashful Blue) and then towards the top I finished sponging used a darker blue (Night of Navy).

Then using a punched scalloped circle I did some more sponging using a medium color blue ink (Brocade Blue) to make it look like clouds in the sky.

My daughter said I needed some snowflakes so I had to stamp some of those on as well.

Lastly, I added some glitter over the snow using a VersaMark ink pad and Iridescent Ice embossing powder. It's super glittery in person.

I'll update my blog tomorrow and if I have some extra time I'll try to show how I did my sponging, it really was quick and easy.

I hope you all have Happy Thanksgiving!

November 20, 2009

Thank goodness today I had some time to rest. It's been a crazy week and I guess the next month or so will be busy as well with the upcoming holidays. I'll try to post as regularly as I can.

I have my brother in law and his wife coming to stay with us next week over Thanksgiving, so I'm not sure how much time I will have to update regularly.

My cards for today are the last set of cards that I made for the Winter CAS design team challenges. The last challenge is a theme challenge. We were to create winter themed cards. These two cards that I made had to really be quick and easy because I have to get started on my Thanksgiving cards and get them in the mail....Yikes! What am I waiting for! It's almost Thanksgiving!

My first card I made using the snowman image from SU's A Beautiful Season. All I did was stamp the snowman and assemble my card. I added a Happy Holidays sentiment from SU's Warmest Regards stamp set and I also added some white organdy ribbon and silver cording. It was so quick and really easy to make, great for mass producing and going through the postal system.

My second card was another quick one and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I might have to make some more of these for my Christmas cards this year.

First I inked up my stamp Supersize Snowflake stamp using Bashful Blue ink. Then I took the medium snowflake stamp from SU's Snow Swirled stamp set and I inked that with Night of Navy ink and using the kissing technique I stamped the snowflake image over top of my supersize snowflake. Once I finished stamping over top of the supersize snowflake stamp I then stamped it onto my card stock. (It really was quick and easy, and fun as well)!

Next, I stamped my sentiment and I cut it out and rounded the corners using my corner rounding punch. I threaded some silver cording through the tops of my sentiment words and then I wrapped the cording around my card stock and then tied a bow in the front. Then I added a rhinestone gem and assembled my card.

If you would like more information on how to create your own card using the kissing technique look here. Thanks so much for taking the time to visit and I hope you all have a great weekend! I'll be back again on Sunday night to post my card for Monday's CAS - Clean & Simple challenge.

November 19, 2009

WOW! It sure was a busy day for me today. I didn't stop all day long. My husband's grandmother came over to spend some time with the kids and the baby had a doctor's appointment today. Just for her regular check up, but she did end up needing two shots. She did pretty well with them and hardly even cried.

My son had his weekly swimming lessons and after all that I had to run to Toys R Us to pick up a Christmas present (while it was still on sale). Toys R Us online had the same toy $20 cheaper so I printed out the item from website and I took it into the store and they did price match it for me. Not all stores do this, but I thought I would let you all know that Toys R Us will.

I worked on making two more cards for the CAS Winter design team challenges. The second challenge was an inspiration challenge. I spent some time looking through all of the items on this website and I have to admit there really was a lot to chose from, but as soon as I saw this ornament (and also pictured below), I knew I just had to have some fun with it!
My son just loves the Grinch, so I was thinking of him when I made this card. I'm not quite sure who I'm going to give this card to just yet or even if I'm going to use it, but it sure was fun to make. I played around with my punches until I got something that sort of resembled him.

All of the punches I used are SU. I used the scalloped one for the Grinch's head, and his Santa hat. The Santa hat is actually two punched out scallop circles just layered behind one another. The white trim of the hat was punched out using my word window punch and I also used my 1/4" circle punch for the ball on the hat, the eyes, and the nose. I drew in by hand the smiley face, whiskers, and center of the eye.

The rest of my Grinch card is pretty easy to figure out. I used some pattern paper, Old Olive card stock (which I punched with scallops) and I added a red grosgrain ribbon. My sentiment is from SU's To You & Yours stamp set.

I made a second card inspiration card using this Gingerbread house ornament seen here (and also pictured below).

As soon as I saw the Gingerbread house ornament I immediately thought of my SU Sweet Holiday's stamp set. Now I realize that my card does have a good amount of coloring, but I tried to make it easy and not color every little detail. I didn't color the roof and I skipped over some of the peppermint candies.

I needed to keep the rest of my card simple, so all I did was layer my stamped image onto Real Red card stock and then put together my card. That was it! Not even any ribbon on this card, which is unusual for me!

I decided to use the 'From our house to yours' sentiment from SU's To You & Yours stamp set, I just thought it was perfect for my card.

I'm so glad that you stopped by and I hope you are enjoying all of my holiday cards! If anyone ever decides to case any of my cards, I sure would love to see them, I'll even link them on my blog so be sure to let me know.

Be sure to check back tomorrow because I'll be posting my cards for the last of the three CAS design team challenges.

November 18, 2009

I'm sorry that I'm a bit late updating my blog. My son had preschool today and my daughter had her library program in the evening. My daughter wasn't too crazy about attending the library program, but she will soon start volunteering every other Saturday morning and then she can stop going to that program. I'll be glad as well once she starts her volunteer work, hopefully it will give her some work experience and a sense of responsibility.

After everyone was asleep I made a point to take some time for myself today. I wanted to participate in the Clean & Simple Winter design team search/challenges. It has been a wonderful experience for me; CAS cards are my favorite. If anyone isn't sure what design team search I am talking about, you can find more information here. Everyone is welcome to play along with the challenges, even if you do not wish to be on the design team.

Jen has three challenges posted. 2 sketch, 2 inspiration, and 1 theme challenge. Jen said that we could play along, so I wanted to make a card for each challenge. My cards today are the ones that I made for the sketch challenges. My first card is based on Lateblossom's card show here.

I decided to do a little something different with Susan's sketch. I did keep the same 9 block of small squares, but it is one larger snowflake image. I used a technique called thumping to ink up my snowflake stamp. First I inked up my stamp and then using Night of navy and Brocade Blue SU Markers I thumped over my image and then stamped it onto my card stock.

In the center I added a rhinestone brad and I also added a few score lines towards the bottom of my card. I added the ribbon along the bottom as well to sort of help balance my card. My snowflake image is from SU's Snowflake stamp set as well as the sentiment.

My second sketch card is based on another one of Lateblossom's cards shown here.

Well, I have to admit that I've been making so many Holiday cards that I decided to make card with some flowers on it- I thought it would be a nice change.

My flower image is from SU's Both Way Blossoms stamp set. I just stamped the flowers, colored them using my SU markers, and then punched them with my circle punches. My center flower is layered on a piece of Summer Sun card stock. I wanted the center flower to stand out a bit.

I decided not to put an image in the smaller circles (I didn't want my card become too busy) so I just punched out four smaller circle using plain black card stock. My sentiment is from SU's It's Your Birthday stamp set.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog and the best of luck to those of you who are trying out for the CAS Winter design team!

November 17, 2009

Hi everyone! I wasn't too happy with my card for yesterday's CAS inspiration challenge, so I decided to make another one.

The picture below is the handbag that I chose to use for my inspiration to create my card. I love this handbag and I just had to buy it before it retired this past summer.

I used the flower stamp from SU's True Friend stamp set. Using my SU markers I colored the stamp and then stamped it onto my card stock.

My Bashful Blue card stock is stamped using Bashful Blue ink and the same flower stamp. I decided to make this a thinking of you card, so my sentiment is from SU's Warmest Regards stamp set.

I wasn't quite sure how to add my ribbon onto my card, and when all else fails, I tend to resort to using ribbon tabs, but I think they sometimes add a nice touch to a card and it's a great way to use up some ribbon scraps like I did with this card.

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

November 16, 2009

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great day! Did you ever have one of those days where you just keep going all day long, but you feel like you didn't get much accomplished? Well, that is how my day went today, but I'm done for now and I thought I would update my blog.

This is my card for today's CAS (Clean & Simple Challenge). This week's challenge is an inspiration challenge based the Vera Bradley website, handbag selection seen here.

The picture below is of the handbag that I chose for my inspiration. I just love this purse. I wanted it for Christmas two years ago and my mother in law was going to buy it for me, but she ended up buying me a different pattern. I still would love to have this pattern- maybe this Christmas santa will bring me one ;)

I stamped my flowers using Chocolate Chip ink and then I added a bit of blue using my SU marker.

I then cut out the flowers and assembled my card, super quick and easy!

I also added some white dots using my white gel pen and the center flower is popped using dimensionals.

My birthday sentiment is from SU's It's Your Birthday stamp set.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

November 15, 2009

Happy Sunday!

I spent most of my night last night finishing up my CAS Christmas card swap. I had all of the cards and I started swapping and taking pictures of them.

If anyone is interested in seeing all of the cards that I received from my swap you can find them here.









I took pictures when I started swapping all of the cards. I had to put the leaf in my table because I ended up with so many. There are more cards in the picture below. (I couldn't fit them all onto my table).




I made two cards for my swap and this is the second one I made. My card was really easy to make. I just stamped the house image and then colored it just a bit using my SU markers.

I added some faux stitching along the border of my main image panel. I guess I should have added some glitter, but I didn't think of it until after I was finished swapping my cards.

My pattern paper is from DCWV Prints for the Year stack and my ribbon is from Offray.

If you would like to see the other card that I made for my swap you can find it here.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great day and be sure to check back tonight for my CAS challenge card!

November 13, 2009

As I promised yesterday, I am posting some pictures of my new ScrapBox. A few weeks ago my favorite website Splitcoast Stampers hosted a fantastic giveaway. The amazing prize was a ScrapBox from The Orginal ScrapBox. I couldn't believe that I was chosen as a finalist and after four days of voting by the Splitcoast community I was the lucky winner.

Several of you have been asking when I was going to post some pictures. I've been taking pictures all week long while my husband and I were assembling my ScrapBox and while my family and I were rearranging our home to turn my craft room into a bedroom for the baby. I wasn't able to post any pictures until now, but here they are!

If you would like to see my entry thread the link can be found here. I wrote a follow up/ending to my story and that link can be found here.

My first picture is of my ScrapBox once it was assembled.

The picture below is of my ScrapBox open and filled with all of my stamping items. I decided not to store my stamps inside my ScrapBox mainly because they wouldn't all fit inside with all of my other stuff.

I just wanted to share with you all a picture of my stuff before I started organizing my ScrapBox. It is truly amazing how much stuff can fit inside. This is the part that impressed me the most. There's a lot of stuff here, I have stuff on top of stuff and tons of paper, Cuttlebug folders, lots of punches, ribbon, markers, crayons, pencils, adhesive, wheels, my Circut & the cartridges, etc.

This is a picture that I took once I was finished organizing my ScrapBox. I only have a few items left over. I decided not to put my ink caddy or card stock scraps inside and I had a few scrapbook albums that I put on a shelf with my stamps. And after all this, I still have a few empty totes left over! My husband was only too happy to hear about that (weren't you dear?) ...LOL

The next few pictures are just some close ups of my ScrapBox. This picture is of my ScrapBox opened up on the left hand side. The outer side panels are covered with Velcro and they hold the plastic zipper totes.

This picture is of the right hand side outer panel.

Here is a close up picture of the totes, just above the desk that hold all of my card stock and scrapbooking paper. All of the totes are removable and are easily stored by unzipping them and folding them flat. Each tote has a nice little insert for a label.

I took this picture just to show you how much stuff these totes can hold. This tote is from the left hand side door. They are lots of spools of ribbon in this tote and the larger spools of ribbon are big ones (50 yards).

I wasn't quite sure what I would store in the smaller totes, and then I thought about my wheels, and they fit perfectly. I was able to fit all of my wheels on one side of my ScrapBox (there is a row of this size tote on each side of the ScrapBox). I was storing my wheels in SU's plastic wheel storage cases, but I was able to get rid of those now.

And here is one last close up picture of the totes that are in the right hand door of my ScrapBox. I decided to store my punches in these totes. I used to have my punches stored in an over the door organizer, but now they all fit into just a few of these totes.

I'd just like to take a moment to say thank you to The Original ScrapBox for offering such an amazing prize, and thank you to Splitcoast Stampers for hosting the contest. Also special thanks to the judges for all of your time that it took to read each entry, to the other nine finalists, everyone who entered the contest, and everyone who took the time read our entries and place your vote. I had such a great time sharing my story, pictures, and my family with everyone.

It sure has been a busy week trying to get my ScrapBox organized, moving my stamping items downstairs, getting my ScrapBox set up and organized, and turning my craft room into a nursery for the baby.

I've already started using my new ScrapBox and I am so thrilled with it. The ScrapBox is a fantastic piece of furniture! I saw a ScrapBox at a stamp show about two years ago and I never thought I would have one of my own. When my ScrapBox arrived and I saw everything in five boxes I kept thinking about how hard this was going to be to put together, but the instructional DVD video that was included was terrific!

It took my husband and I about 4 1/2 hours to put it together, but it went smoothly and then after it was assembled I spent about 2 hours putting up the shelves and opening the canvas totes.

I waited until the next day to start bringing my supplies downstairs and once I had everything gathered I started organizing things and putting them where I thought it would work best. I ended up putting all of my stamping supplies inside my ScrapBox except for my ink caddy, scrap card stock, and a few scrapbook albums.

I am totally thrilled with my ScrapBox and if anyone is thinking about purchasing one for yourself, I say go for it! The ScrapBox holds so much more than you could imagine and the best part is that when you are finished crafting the table folds down and you just close the doors. The ScrapBox is on wheels and even though it is filled with supplies it moves so easily.

I'll even be able to use more of my supplies now that they are handy. I never heat embossed very often because it was hard for me to get to my embossing supplies. Now all I have to do is pull out the canvas tote and grab whatever I need. No more digging around and moving things around to try and find what I need.

I hope you all enjoyed my story! This has been so much fun and so very exciting!