Stamping Right At Home

I've finished up my samples for my next class at Right at Home for anyone that is up in New England. 

We'll be making a set of get well cards (including one that is a flap card) as well as a little purse holding four notecards and envies!  All the cards are made with My Favorite Things stamps!

The class will be held on Thursday, August 21st beginning at 7pm.  Would LOVE to see you there if you're local (I'm halfway between Boston, MA and Providence, RI!) 

Please visit the the Right at Home blog for more details.  Or 508-695-9290 or via email at  r.scrapbooking@comcast.net  Hope to see you there!

Sketchy Berries?

I'm such a sucker for a sketch.  I created this card for one of Dirty Dare challenges last week, but then I forgot to ever tuck it into the gallery. Forgot!  Off to do that now.....If you haven't yet completed the challenges, get going, the galleries close tomorrow!!

I hadn't yet used the strawberry stamp from Gina K's summer harvest (the current one free with three set) and thought they'd fit nicely within this sketch. 

I left it sentiment free so that I can pop whatever I need on at the last minute as I'm keeping this fun little summery card in my stash for the next time I need a quick note. 

The panels are scored diagonally, then stitched all around the edge.  The image was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink then colored with my Copic markers.   I then went over the edges of the berries with my Atyou Spica pen for a little shine on the berries.  

Hope you have a berry nice day!  (oh, sorry, I couldn't help myself....)

With Sprinkles on Top

There is this little girl I know... and let me say, she's all girl.  Pink dresses - each one cuter than the last. Will loudly proclaim "Hey Joanne.... I love you!!" many times throughout the day, brightens up my spirits every time I hear it!! So, I knew it had to be a girly girl card for her.  Full of pinks and purple....  

I picked up this designer paper a while ago, but man, that purple, it just paralyzed me.  I think I've mentioned that when I have designer paper that intimidates me, I tend to mix it up with even more paper that intimidates me, and just run with it.  And then somehow, I don't get it, but the MORE just blends and then, and then I'm okay with it. Bizarre I know.....

This combined two of the Dare to Be Dirty challenges last week. I actually have more than a few stamps with cupcakes on it, so I used the sentiment from my Stampendous set and the cupcake from my Hero Arts set.  The half pearls were part of a sweet little package from Barb Schramm!  Thanks chickie!

This paper is Crate Paper Kaitlyn Collection and I've sewn just about every scrap of it down.  Hope my little cupcake liked it!  

Quietly Stitched

Did I ever have fun stamping the week away last week during the Dare to Get Dirty challenges.  I'm so excited to say that I completed every one of the challenges!  I was usually able to combine at least a few here and there so that I didn't have to create a unique card for every single challenge.

Some of them made me stop and think, some of them came together quickly, and others, well, others well, lets say were a challenge indeed!  But that's the fun right? 

Isn't it funny though, how sometimes the cards that you're least sure of are the ones that people comment on the most?  I wasn't even sure I liked this, was it too clean? Did the pearls cover too much of the flowers?  Was it boring? I wasn't sure. But after all that sewing, I was going to post it and move on.  

This is now the second most commented card in my gallery. Go figure! Thanks everyone!! 

This is Framed Flowers by Carolyn King for Gina K Designs.  I have the lovely Barbara Schramm to thank for the half pearls, they were sent to me as part of a recent Secret Swapper (thanks girlfriend!) 

Hope you all have a great day!  There is still time to complete the challenges on Splitcoast if you're interested. The challenges will be "open" for submissions till August 1st!  

Sweet Treats - Right at Home

I just wanted to thank Lisa and Sharon at Right at Home Scrapbooking as well as the wonderful ladies that joined me for my very first class.  (Hi everyone!!!!) 

I had so much fun, and I hope that  you all liked the projects we made.  I do apologize that we took so long to finish everything.  Ah, me and all the layers, I can't help myself. I'll streamline things for next time so that I don't keep you all so LONG!  

We made five cards, two using "What's Up Cupcake" and three using "Here's the Scoop."  Worked with Prismacolor pencils and OMS.  I'd hoped to show you all how the nesties worked, rather than zipping through myself to save time.  Sorry!!

I hope that you'll all consider coming back next month for another My Favorite Things class! Details coming soon!  

Enabler Alert.....My new find.....

So, last week, I cleaned my desk. My girls that come for stamp club, can tell you, its a total disaster area.  But for the first time in a long time, I can see my desktop.  Its a sweet thing.

I cleared the room in anticipation of a product I saw at CHA that I just had to have.  You'll be happy, I'm not enabling any expensive purchase, just my Scor Mat!  I've had a Scor Pal since Gina enabled me.  But I didn't have room for that on my desktop, plus room to stamp, cut blah blah blah.  So, it was on my shelving unit, and to get to it, I had to get up, go get it.  No, that didn't happen.

Enter Scor Mat.  Brilliant!  It sits on TOP of my Scor Pal, and I'm now working on top of the mat, with the Scor Pal on my desk.  My desk is cheapo, not great for stamping directly on, so I always needed a stack of paper as a cushion to get an even impression.  Guess what, my Scor Mat is just perfect for that and now I don't need a big pile of messy scratch paper.  Now, when I need to score I just lift the mat up quickly, score my card.  No crooked folds, no cracks in my cardstock. I love it.  

If you're a math moron like me you can find a handy cheat sheet on the Scor Pal Member Company forum. 

Plus, can you say SUPER FAST SHIPPING. Placed the order on Wednesday afternoon, was here Saturday to my great surprise.  

Getting Green at CHA

Sorry I missed last Sunday's post.  I am without a laptop right now, it died, and we're sharing the family desktop.  Given the state of affairs with the economy and what not, it wasn't a great time to drop a chunk of change on a laptop.  Besides, travelling to Chicago without laptop lightened the load a little, and every little bit helps right? I tried my best to be a good green girl by packing only what I really needed on the trip..... no big bulky suitcases, just a small (okay, I fess up... medium) roll a board and a shoulder carry on.  

And then, I made a few fun green and papercrafting finds at the show....

The first is that Clearbags now has a line of products which are biodegradable ad made from corn!  These bags are both certified biodegradable and compostable.  Now, mind you, this is just a start, and they still have many of their standard products, but hooray for a good start right?

However, I was so excited when I saw this display over at the K and Company Booth.   The Amy Butler line has a new addition called Lotus.  I'm a huge fan of the details in all the Amy Butler products, but now, this line is printed with soy ink, and packaged in recycled materials - 100% post consumer waste!  

They also showed the Remake line.  I've heard that this has already been available to some of my friends through their local stores, but I haven't yet seen it at a store near me.  This is another recycled line from K&Co, but this line is more of the essentials, basics collection.  While personally the Lotus collection is more my speed, I think its truly fabulous that they're offering an eco product.

At their booth, for a five dollar donation, we received a reusable shopping tote and a t-shirt as well.  But, more importantly, that money is all being used to plant trees in Kansas City, for families that have received homes from Habitat for Humanity.

If you're interested in donating to the fund to help plant trees and would like to read more about the "Preserve Your Memories. Preserve your Earth."  program click here.

just one...

.....one more card to make and I will have completed all the Dare to Be Dirty challenges over on splitcoast.  WOO HOO!

I'll have a green post today, but I'll be doing it after the boys are in bed for the night!

Fun "GREEN" find at CHA to chat about!

Challenged

About two years ago, I signed up for a six month club with a friend of mine who is a Stampin Up demonstrator.  I joined more for the night out than for the actual stamping.....  I became adept at replicating her designs each month to complete my own pages, and would buy my minimum order, which would promptly sit there unused.  I knew how to copy her designs, but was baffled as to what I'd do with stamps of my own.  

To try to put all that spending to work, I decided I'd do at least one challenge weekly on Splitcoast.  I wanted to get outside my comfort zone and try new things. 

My collection grew, and quickly, as I'd see that I didn't have any of the colors ever selected for the weekly color challenges.  Sketch challenges were, and still are... my favorite one to play along because then I could see what stamp in my ever growing collection might be just right for the "assignment."

But as I've become busier and busier with custom card orders, and design team projects, I seem to have fallen off the Splitcoast Wagon.  But I'm back with gusto this week.  I'm LOVING playing along in the Dare to Be Dirty challenges this week.  Hey, a girl can dream right?  

Its been so fun to try new things each day again, and to look at each project as a real challenge, a puzzle to be solved.... and I love looking at the galleries to see how each of us tackle the challenge so differently.  

I've been on a Gina K postapalooza enjoying all the new rubbah for last night's launch - were you there?  Its always SO fun!! But, I couldn't let my My Favorite Things stamps go too long without usage... 'cause I just love them!

The little Dirty Piggy card was made with "Punny Farm" for Holly's (aka Toy's) challenge on Thursday.  

The second card using "Rain or Shine" (ahem, maybe my most favorite MFT set yet.....)  is for the 40th week of sketch challenges on the MFT Member Company forum and also was made for Jody's Dare to Be Dirty challenge on Monday.  

You can find all the Dare to be Dirty challenges over here - but you'll only be able to access the page if you are a Splitcoast Fan club member. Totally worth it IMHO!  

So far, I've only missed one of these Splitcoast challenges this week, and that's only because I don't own any vellum paper.  I'll be rectifying that today so that I can play along! 

Have a fantastic weekend! I'll be back on Sunday with a green post, then a few more cards from the Gina K release later next week!  

Little Tees - Hers and Mine

Is it me, or has this week just FLOWN by? Tonight is the night, Gina K will be launching four new sets over on the Member Company Forum.  Today I'm thrilled to have two fun cards using Melanie's newest set titled "Little Tees" 

I've been having a LOT of fun playing in all the Dare to Be Dirty challenges over on Splitcoast Stampers this week, and was thrilled that Julie HRR (if  you didn't know, that stands for Her Royal Rubberness!!) posted a challenge to make a clean and simple card with a lot of white space. 

That used to terrify me, but now I find it really fun.  Imagine how thrilled I was that my card got a JulieHRR "THUD"(If you're on splitcoast, you know what I'm talkin' about!!) I giggled and jumped around in my kitchen with glee!  

This card I made with my bestie in mind Meri. Sweetheart, I hope you don't mind that I'm callin you out as a diva.  This girl can be counted on to have on something snazzy and stylish and be carrying a bag to match at any given moment of the day.  Me on the other hand, I'm usually in a polo shirt and capri pants.  Usually with a ponytail, quite often, with a Red Sox baseball cap to boot.  

I had the idea to make this Diva Shirt for her as soon as I saw the stamp set.  Because I couldn't get black ink to come out crisp enough (um, it was the ink's fault, not the stamp --- I need some reinkers for my stamp pads!!) I decided to stamp the image of the shirt on black paper, then embossed it for some added detail and trimmed it out.  I stamped DIVA with white craft ink and then embossed that as well.  I found these fun rhinestones at Stampology in Chicago just with this shirt in mind.  

So, if my bestie is a Diva, what shirt represents me?  Well a Polo Shirt wasn't in the stamp set.... but this is the closest thing to me in the set I'd say....

I stamped the same t-shirt onto a piece of Crate Paper's Blue Hill collection, and hung it out on a piece of Hemp Twine.  The little tag reads "Lets Hang Out" ....just love that sentiment!!  It is on a Cuttlebug Tiny Tag die on chipboard and then hung off of a piece of wide width grosgrain ribbon tied in a bow. 

You'll just love the variety of options in this set.  Mel is so good about making sure you all get the most for your money, and this stamp set is no exception!  So many fun flexible options!  Just WAIT till you see them all.

To see more with this super fun set, be sure to check Gina's blog.  You'll also find more samples from: 

Melanie Muenchinger

Julie Koerber

Barba Schram

Last but not least, don't forget to join us over on the Gina K Member Company forum TONIGHT from 7pm to 10pm Central Time.  As always Gina will be there (as well as many of us from the DT with questions, challenges, giveaways and project samples too!) Hope to see you there!

Cracked the Glass......

I have another preview using the "Flowers for Daisy" set that will be released this coming Thursday from Gina K Designs.  One of the Dirty Dare 08 challenges yesterday was for a masculine card, while I wouldn't put the flowers on a card for a man, I would say that the verses are equally suitable to either gender.  

I've been wanting to try the Cracked Glass technique ever since Shannan used it on a Unity card a few weeks ago. What a neat technique. All you need is some Versamark, Clear Embossing Powder and a Heat Gun.  I used my Ranger Distress Ink to deepen the Very Vanilla cardstock before applying all those layers of Clear EP.  All the edges of the card are distressed with my Tonic Edge distressing tool. 

I **wish** I still had some twill tape around for this card, but the striped ribbon was my backup.  I know, not so much ribbon on a guy card, but this is subtle eh?  

Don't forget to hop on over to Gina's blog to see the TWO latest stamp set that she's previewing today. Blurfing around, you'll also see some rockin' samples from Asela Hopkins, Melanie Muenchinger, Emily Giovanni, Linsey Rickett, Kurtis Amundson, Erika Martin and Faith Hofrichter.

Have a great day everyone!

 

Fun at CHA!

I was so busy taking it all in, and laughing, that I forgot to pull out my camera  --- unlike some people I was hanging with --- Kirsten I swear I'm not provoking you, but "Can I take your picture?" giggle.  Lucky for me, Carole sent me this one of the gang.....

In the top row you'll see Cammie, Alma (the Cat's Pajama's Lady), Laura, Deb, Michelle, Kimthe front row is Me, Carole and Kirsten.  I spent my days walkin the floor with these girls fromMFT (and Kim's friend Jamie, who is somehow missing in this picture....)  I laughed till my sides hurt, we joked that it was actually great ab work!  Maybe that will account for the french fry dinner and all those extra liquid calories?? 

If you know me in real life,  you know that there is one thing I'm not, and that's quiet. Well apparently I had Mel fooled online, and even on good behavior, I think I frightened her a bit?? wink.....  I'll just have to make up for it with some extra samples with her uber cute new set coming out later this week from Gina K Designs!  My picture came out all blurry, but she got a good one - so I swiped hers.  

I'm also swiping one from Gina,  who really is just as sweet as you'd imagine, and hysterically funny.  This picture is me, Gina, Michelle and Melanie.  I'm so lucky to have two totally fantastic "bossladies" in Kim and Gina!  

While not my bosslady, Alma is such a sweetheart and a fun roomate (although, something tells me she'd be a super fabulous boss lady as well) - we had lots of fun chatting with each night about the classes she took each day, and the fun product giveaways..... In addition to the super cute sets she gave me (hey rooming with Alma has great perks!!) I also picked up some new The Cat's Pajama's stamps at Stampology a fantastic store a few miles from our hotel that invited us over for pizza, drinks and of course, shopping!  

While I was at the store, I met Brandin from Webster's Pages. She and I laughed so hard and enjoyed some really tasty deep dish pizza!  Their new papers are truly luscious and beautiful.  I was drooling over the samples in their booth!  Who's ordering because I need some!!!

 

I was just tickled pink to meet my bloggin' pal Jennifer Buck totally adorable and super nice - this may be the only existing photo of her without a tiara on! ;-)  Jennifer and I "met" through a Gina K swap a few months ago!  Jennifer was working over at the Unity Booth - which was so super cute by the way and loaded with new stamps for me to buy!!  

Debbie Olson, who in addition to being a totally fabulously talented artist, is one of the sweetest and most humble people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.  Kirsten and I grabbed her for a picture - she'd been sitting at that Copic booth for four straight hours coloring.   

While at the Copic booth, we picked 

up some really fun tips from Colorin' Kate that I'm looking forward to practicing next week when I get to work on my latest samples for My Favorite Things!!

After several of us pestered Eric from Cosmo Cricket about our "need" for 6x6 or 8x8 paper pads, I stopped by on Sunday to see if I could help unload any "extra" paper they might have.  He and his wife are just really cool people...and I'm not just saying that because I got samples of all THREE of their newly released papers!!  Psssst...  you'll soon be seeing all three of the latest paper lines with my upcoming DT samples for Gina K and My Favorite Things - I'm really excited to dig into them.  (I'm down to only two of the new lines though, as I gave my Mr Campy to Jamie because someone LIFTED THEM!! Who does that?)  

I love when the companies I love to purchase from are represented by wonderful people, that makes me even happier to continue buying their products! 

What a whirlwind trip, it was so nice to see friends, make new ones and of course, check out lots of EYE CANDY on the show floor!  For all the people I mentioned and showed on this post, it doesn't even scratch the surface of all the people I met or caught up with at the show!  What a weekend, thanks girls (you too Kurtis!!)  

Nothin but a Dirty Wanna Be...

I'm so excited that this week is the Dare to Get Dirty challenges over on Splitcoast Stampers.  I missed out on this super fun event last year - I was on vacation without stamps or internet access-eeeks!!

I hope to be able to play along in a lot of the challenges this week.  This card combines the Watercoloring Challenge as well as the Clean Card Challenge.  

If you're not already a member of the Splitcoast Fan Club whatever are you waiting for? Instant uploads, access to the Dirty Dozen gallery which always holds some of the most beautiful and clever creations!  And this week, the chance to play along with my stamping idols to boot!  What's not to love?

This is another sample using the soon to be released "Flowers for Daisy" set from Gina K Designs.  Please be sure to stop by Asela's blog to read the story behind the design. But warning, grab a tissue, because I was streaming tears reading her beautiful post. 

I did post another card using an upcoming Gina K Designs release.  I won't be sharing it here till later in the week, but you can find it here on Splitcoast if you're interested in a little preview of what else is coming later this week!

Flowers for Daisy

I'm so excited that the next round of Gina K previews is here at last! As usual, Gina sent each of us a box of fabulousness to share with all of you.  

First up in the lineup is a very special set, designed by Asela Hopkins.  For a limited time, a portion of the proceeds from Flowers for Daisy will be donated to the American Cancer Society in honor of Asela's friend Daisy, who is fighting a courageous battle with Cancer.  

The images in this sentiment, are just so lovely, and exquisitely detailed.  The sentiments are so heartfelt, I know that I will be designing cards with each of them.  I received this set just before I jetted out to CHA last week so for now...but I can already forsee that this set will see a lot of ink from me.  

The designer paper from Collage Press was a perfect background for this simply beautiful daisy.  

 I find myself reaching for this slider die from Spellbinders over and over again, it is a fantastic size, and the embossing detail - ahhhh.  I love it.  

For more previews with this set, be sure to stop by Gina's blog as well as the blogs of Julie Koerber, Asela Hopkins and Emily Giovanni.

home again home again

Thanks for your well wishes, they worked. After a very long night, I'm home, and off to put my head on my little pillow at least for a little while till my two sweet boys discover I'm home at last!

goodnight - or is it good morning?

stuck?

say a prayer for me tonight... storms on the east coast.... my flight says its leaving here at 10:50 pm after a prior delay..... Let's hope that's the case........

so many

so many great friends
so many great stories
so many laughs
so many pictures

but still several hours to travel, and MANY MANY hugs and kisses for my husband and little boys.

be back tomorrow with pictures

Chicago Bound!!

Tonight I'm Chicago bound for CHA!  I'm going laptop free, but will have my camera with me and can't wait to share with you next week.

Can't wait to see the MFT sitah's - many of whom I'll be meeting in person for the first time - and hang out with my roomie Alma (hi roomie!!) At long last, I'm finally getting to meet Gina K in person, as well as Melanie and Kurtis too!  Waving hello to Em and Nicky -  can't wait to catch up..... So many new things to see at the show and friends to visit with!  

While I'm gone here's a little eye candy..... 

This stamp is my pre post for Celebrate MFT - looks simple, but in truth there's a lot going on.... - The image is colored in with Copic markers and the background is gridded with my Scor Pal.  I used my Oval Nestabilities and my Spellbinders Scalloped Tags Trio, a Making Memory Button and paper from Paper Trey ink.  The whole thing is sewn up with my Janome.  This fun sentiment is from Verve Visual (simply GREAT sentiments...) 

Lots of fun coming up in the next week..... here's a few reminders!!

Don't forget Celebrate MFT on the 20th over on the Splitcoast Member Company Forum.

Gina K will have a new release on the 24th -- You won't want to miss it!  Fabulous stuff!

My first class featuring My Favorite Things at Right At Home on the 26th in North Attleboro Massachusetts.  If you're local I'd LOVE to have you come join me!

Oh Billy....

You all know, I'm a sucker for anything cute for boys.  When I first saw Lauren and Charmaine work with those Pink Cat Studio Billy stamps, I thought they were adorable and thought I'd pick them up at some point.  Then, Kirstin created all those adorable Super Why cards with hers, and I was sunk.

I picked them up as soon as the Dress Me Up Billy came out, and then sadly, they sat around waiting for me to get some time to play.  Psst.  If you read the Pink Cat Blog then you may have seen that a Billy and Lilly accessories set is on the way.  How CUTE!

So, back to the card.......one of my daycare children just celebrated his second birthday, and he's a big, big Thomas the Train fan. So, how could I not create a cute little engineer card for him?  

Have a great day everyone!

Still crabby??

I'm actually not crabby at all today, but my cards still are!  When I made my last Gina K crabby creation, I actually had a Gina K stampfest and made a whole bunch of cards!  

I've been wanting to make a  Shadow Box card since my friend Audra made one for my little guys birthday - she always makes the most clever birthday cards.  I tend to snatch them out of my kids hands before they destroy them by accident! 

My cuttlebug and Circular Nesties made quick work out of this task for sure! The little tag was made with my Spellbinders Labels Trio  (they're similar to the SU word window punch, but in three different sizes.)  I cut it out once on a thin chipboard coaster, then again on a piece of cardstock and adhered them together.  I used my crop-o-dile to punch a hole just big enough to tie the ribbon on.  

Have a great day!

Get Pickin.....

I had fully planned on writing about some of our favorite green products this week, but then we spent a few days this week at a local farm picking....

I'll save my green recommendations for another day, and just let you know that its a great time to get your family to a local farm to go pick produce.  

Its cheap, it helps remind them where food actually comes from so that they're less likely to waste it, there's no TV involved (wink!) and hey, its FUN!  Oh, and guess what, you'll save a LOT of money and support a local farm in the process. Everyone wins!

We picked raspberries on Thursday and turned half of them into home made raspberry ice cream.  Then on Saturday, we went back and picked blueberries and bought corn for a TASTY corn and tomato salad.  

I got this recipe out of a Weight Watchers cookbook

Grill three ears of corn and cut off the cob

Chop up one pint of Cherry Tomatoes (I like those sweet grape tomatoes)

Juice of one lime

Diced Purple Onion

Salt and Pepper

The recipe also calls for a little bit of diced jalepeno or serrano pepper. I love that addition, my husband does not - so, you decide which way you like it.

(I like to add a little olive oil too...)

Just Be Claws

Hope you all have something fabulous and summery planned for the weekend.  Tomorrow we're going to a barbeque at my former room-mates house, and guess what, its close enough to walk over! How GREAT is that.

Then, my fantastic husband has purchased tickets for the two of us to go see John Mayer.  I can not WAIT, I know its going to be an unbelievable show.  The only thing that has me nervous is that he wants to ride our Vespa over there instead of the car.  Now, I honestly wouldn't mind on the way over, but the ride home, in the dark, NO WAY!

This sketch was actually a Sketch Challenge for Splitcoast a few weeks ago....  I'm way behind, but the sketch was too good not to use!  This fun paper is Cosmo Cricket's Hello Sunshine line of paper and the stamp set is Gina K's super fun set titled "Just Be Claws"  This set totally cracks me up - I have another fun card in the works with this set for next week!  

My copic marker R14 - Light Rouge - is the absolute perfect lobster or crab color.  The pot was colored with my grey copic, and I added a few layers around the edge and then gave it a little shine with my sakura stardust pen and smooshed it around with my aquapainter.  

I also used the square piercing template that Gina sells for a quick and easy accent to my main panel. How affordable are these babies, you get three shapes for only $1.49! 

(Speaking of Cosmo Cricket did you see that rockstars Debbie Olson and Maren Benedict both made it to the DT for Cosmo! So very well deserved, can't WAIT to see what they do.  And, um, I also can't to get my hands on that new paper I'm droolin' over!!)

Fun with One Layer

I hadn't yet tucked my Fabriano Note cards away, when I remembered a beautiful card that Asela posted during the last Gina K Designs launch party.  I've been meaning to make a paper pieced card of my own using Rupa's fun new set "A Retro Boutique"

I've also loved Gina's paper piecing tutorials that she's been doing the last few days! So many fun ideas! Have you been following along? If not, be sure to check it out!!

I used my new Making Memories Noteworthy collection that I bought at Right at Home expressly for paper piecing these little purses.  I wish I had occasion to carry a fun little purse like this, but I need something much larger to carry all the "mom junk" - you know what I mean!

I added a little detail to the card by scoring two lines with my Scor Pal and then finished off the card with three buttons.  

I recently organized a secret swapper over on the Gina K Member company forum, it was so much fun and I can't wait to see what comes my way, and for my recipients to recieve their goodies so I can show you what I did.

I also just started a new what I'm calling "swap less swap"  I'm calling it swap less because nothing is coming to my house to be sent back out.  Instead, everyone will receive one recipient and send them a supply kit, which they'll pair with their own Gina K Designs stamps to create something!  Should be fun to see what people can pull together with supplies they may not have picked up for themselves!  If you're interested in joining us, you can sign up on this thread.

Have a great day everyone!

edited to add: DOH!  Wow, I've been a bad girl and not blog surfing- been spending extra time outside in the sun, at the pool with the boys, and also chauferring eldest son to and from camp.  Clearly I missed this adorable card by Melanie - makes mine look like a big old Mel copycat!!  LOL!  You know what they say about great minds right.....

thanks....and an update

Thanks to everyone checking in on me, and my son who's at day camp.

He's been having a blast, and is coming home just SO wiped out from very full days.

I'm sending all his lunch, snacks etc and I've been feeling confident that he's safe.  That is, till the other day in the car, he mentioned that the counselors were giving out BUTTERFINGERS for prizes.  Are you KIDDING?  I nearly drove off the road in a panic....

He didn't even know what they are since obviously we don't eat those here.

So, quite calmly the next morning, I reminded the counselor that he can only have food from home, and handed her a little baggie full of safe candy to be used for prizes.  

I wish I wish I wish, that people could move away from candy as prizes.  And if it MUST be candy, why on earth would anyone select peanut butter candy given the ever growing percentage of children that are allergic to it. So risky.

Okay, back off my soap box.

Thanks everyone for all your thoughts, it means more than you'll ever know.

Sweet Stamps!

I think I mentioned last week, I'd picked up new goodies from Unity right? Well here's the third card, with the third set, I purchased, Delectable Delights. 

 This card is for one of my very favorite little girls, the first daycare client I ever had, and is now turning six.  I watched her for three years and during that time, she was my eldest son's most dear companion.  So of course, I wanted to make something super cute to celebrate the occasion! 

The image was colored with copic markers, then coated in Diamond Glaze with a little dazzling dust.  Sugary sweet!

Now that I got them all inky, its a great time to pick up some more - guess what, they're giving away a free stamp with every order today!  And its one of my favorites to boot! How fun is that?

Imagine my surprise last week when I received a note from AJ asking if they could add my cards to the Unity blog this week! aaaaaakkk! So exciting!  Of course, I said "for sure!" Check it out over here: 

Poochie's In the Air!

The past few weeks I've just had so much going on that I haven't been able to work on one of my favorite weekly sketches. Jen's Sketch for You To Try.  

This one looked super fun though, and since Alma is going to be my room-mate at CHA (waving HI Alma!!) I was inspired to get Cat's Pajama's Stamps off the shelf where they had been waiting patiently behind a few DT assignments, and into the rotation.  I totally adore this set titled  It's a Mod Mod World

The designer paper is Hello Sunshine, one of the latest releases from Cosmo Cricket - what a fun set of colors, so bright and summery, just right for a TCP creation!  

I stamped the rocket ship with my Tuxedo Black Memento ink pad, then colored the image with copic markers.  My husband was annoyed that I made the boosters green, he said they should be orange or red, and I said "Really, dogs also don't fly rocketship, so give a girl some creative license!!"  After I had colored everything, I masked the bottom half of the ship so that I could stamp Poochie into the opening, then coated the top window with Diamond Glaze for a shiny glassy effect. 

While you can't see it here, the silvery portion of the rocketship was given a little glimmer with my sakura stardust pen, then blended around with my aquapainter - a great tip from Jen herself! 

When I went to link this up to The Cat's Pajama's I realized that its also TCP Tuesday, which means that one of the DT Members has posted a weekly challenge, this time its Leigh with a fun sketch.  Since my stamps are still out and handy, I'm going to be playing along for sure!  

Fabrianos are a Dream

I've been working on items for my Gina K Secret Stamper recipients..... and feeling badly that I haven't been sharing the love over here!  I've just got to wait till my swappers receive my cards, then I'll post them over here.

However, last night, while cleaning up, I ran across these Fabriano notecards which I had picked up at Starlit Studio.  I thought they'd be just perfect for a little card set with Botanical Dreams.  This beautiful set was created by Asela Hopkins for Gina K Designs. 

These cards were each stamped with Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate ink and set aside to dry. Alternately, you can hit them with a heat gun to set the ink, then watercolor.  If the ink isn't perfectly dried however, the watercoloring will smear that ink.  Once dry, I used my lid inks to color with a waterbrush.  

I chose to embellish each of these cards a bit differently.  

For example, the orchid card has a length of wide grosgrain ribbon across the top.  The salvia card has a knot of hemp twine around the bunch - I actually added a touch of copic marker to each flower petal after the ink had dried for a deeper splash of color.  

The aster has a center made of microbeads (which I painted with a bit of reinker as well) and a touch of glitter.  

I've got to finish up one more thing for my secret swappers and then hit the post office tomorrow! Can't wait to see what's coming back my way!

wish me luck....

Today, for me and my eldest, is sort of like a trial run for kindergarten this fall.  He's off to full day camp, and I do mean, full day!  Those of you that know me in real life know that well, I'm sort of a control freak when it comes to my kids.  I always was, then that nut allergy thing, really sent me spinning.  

It will be so good, and so fun for him to have all these activities planned, away from our home daycare where he's much older than the rest of the kids.  And, to have some breathing room from good old, overbearing, me I'm sure. wink.

As much as I'm thrilled for him, and this fantastic opportunity.  eeeks. Its going to be a long day of worrying for me.  But hooray, I managed NOT to cry at drop off.  

Think twice about that sink......

Sunday again so soon? This week blew past so quickly! Hope that those of you here in the states had a wonderful holiday celebrating with family and friends.  And that those of you from around the world enjoyed a little peace and quiet without all the yappity yap down here! Giggle.

This week, my latest stamps arrived, this time I couldn't help myself from picking up a few stamps from Unity, and of course, this set titled "ecoChic" was the one that pushed me right over the fence (of course, this little kit couldn't come without bringing a few friends.....) How could I not have it with "just a little green" Sundays down here and all? 

By the way, my efforts to reduce other sorts of purchases haven't really trickled over into my stamping purchases... remember, I'm trying to go in moderation! wink.

This week, I did want to chat a little about how we are trying really hard to not put things down the garbage disposal.  Now, in no way do I want to be preachy about this, because even as recently as a few months ago, I had no clue how icky that is, and would happily plop food waste down there thinking "hey, at least I'm not contributing to more waste in the landfill."  Unfortunately, just because you're putting it down the disposal, doesn't mean you're not making a mess somewhere else.  

If you've got a septic system - it only serves to fill that baby up faster-- bleech!! If you're on town water and sewer like we are, then all that mess goes into the water system... eventually has to be screened back out at a treatment plant. This process is not only costly, but serves to add more chemicals to the process, again, un-necessary and costly to boot!  

Nevermind all the water that is wasted flushing all that yuck down the drain.

So remember, the next time you go filling up that disposal that you could just be making yourself some prize compost for your flower beds, a rich organic matter that your plants will love - and do a little greater good while you're at it.

Next week, I've got a few product recommendations on things we've been using around the house and totally loving!  

Have a great week. I'm off to try to design invitations for my little guy's birthday party!

card details:  Card base is Kraft, Old Olive Matting with Tonic Edge Distresser, Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate Ink, Prismacolor Pencils, Blending Stumps, OMS, Button, Hemp Twine, SU Grosgrain Ribbon, Button, Key Tag Pucnch

Creating....

I've been wanting this stamp from Unity for a while, but then would get distracted by something in this zoo of a house of mine, and forget to place the order... or I'd get booted off by the kids who I'm sharing the computer with.

Then, last week, the Unity Design Team girls posted a whole slew of new fantastic samples.  And, I was sunk.  They would be mine! 

I restrained myself, and bought only two small kits, as well as this fantastic single.  I have to say I was super impressed with how speedily my order arrived and of course, the really cute packaging to boot!

The rubber was really easy to individually ink up words, or pieces of the image with my SU markers.  I used Old Olive, Real Red and Certainly Celery for this baby.  Then paired it with a piece of Scenic Route paper that I found in my scrap bin, and used some Paper Trey white cardstock for the card base. 

I've got another Unity Card ready to show you, but I'm saving it for my Sunday post!  Fits right in with my Sunday Theme around here if you catch my drift! 

Have a great day!   

Come and Party!

July 2nd? Are you EVEN kidding me, where is the year going?  

Here is my last set of MFTeasers for tonight's My Favorite Things launch over on the  Splitcoast Member Company Forum.  This set titled "Bunny Slippers" is a perfect feel better card, or even just a great "chill out!" message. 

Of course, I was sunk when I saw this cute paper from the Noteworthy Line of Making Memories. It to me just looked like a cozy pair of PJ's.  I love days where you can lounge about in your jammies, watch extra tv and just lay low.  My kids call it "all day pajama day!" 

These images were stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then colored with Copic Markers.  The bathrobe is paper pieced with some of the designer paper, then I added liquid applique for the puffy collar, sleeves and pockets.  How COZY!

My little guy is feeling crummy this morning, so I'm off to give lots of hugs and snuggles.   I had hoped to get some late afternoon stamping in for some more previews for the party, but a trip to the doctors is probably going to preclude that!!

Can't WAIT for the big Party tonight!!  Hop on over to the Party Thread for details- hope to see you there!

MFTeasin' Tuesday

You may remember that last month, Kim released MFT Presents featuring a new line by Annie LaPoint.  This month, there are two new fantastic botanical images added to the collection.

My parents home in Nantucket is surrounded by hydrangea bushes.  The sea air and cool nights make for just the perfect growing conditions for these beauties.  

I just love arriving there for the weekend and finding a huge vase full of fresh picked hydrangea in my bedroom.  So mom, this one is for you.  It reads "Be Calm" and I hope that you're doing just that right now.  Just be sure to send me some pictures of the real deal, okay?

The card base is Kraft (my favorite...) and the designer paper is the Samantha Collection from Crate Paper that I've had for ages in my stash.  

How could I forget?  The first card was made for Jen's weekly Sketch for You To Try.  I was uploading with my two little ones clamoring at me for the computer and forgot to mention!  I shortened the sketch from a rectangle to a square, but clearly you see where I got the idea right? giggle.

The second card features "Peppermint" and I selected some beautiful Webster's paper. It is so luxe, I've been hard pressed to cut into it, but I could resist no longer. The card base again is kraft and I used a nestie oval for the main image. 

My prismacolor pencils, OMS and blending stumps were just the right tools for this job.  I finished the card off with a scrap of river rock ribbon and two always artichoke buttons. 

I'm really looking forward to the Cocktail Party to celebrate MFT's 2nd Birthday, the July Releases, but most of all, a big HOORAY to Kim for her 40th Birthday!  Hope to see you there!