LSC222 for Twins

Finally, I made a card for my neighbors, who recently brought home their twin baby girls. They were born almost 2 months premature and are doing very well. We have been waiting for them to get settled in before going over to meet the new little ones. The exciting part is that they will be the same age as my new addition, coming in September. It's nice to have kids on the block who can play together.

Today's LSC222 at Splitcoast was to use only plain paper for a base and the rest of the card had to be from patterned papers. Embellishments were also to be limited. A great challenge to use up all those scraps of dp we all have laying around! The papers are from Nana's Nursery Baby Girl by DCWV. I just love these papers and the glittered and embossed details on them. And of course the gorgeous girly patterns!!

DS and I have a busy weekend ahead of us. He has soccer tomorrow morning, then we hit the library and Sunday I think we are going to head to the zoo. DH is gone for another week and we are all getting tired of this trip! I hope you all have a nice weekend and spend some time for yourselves! Thanks for looking.

The Card That Almost Broke Me

With the new Verve release on the horizon (tomorrow!!), I decided to give Julee's sketch challenge a try. In my mind, this was an easy card to make. In reality, the background and sentiment gave me so much trouble that it took 4 tries to get it done, and I'm still not 100% happy with it. The trouble was that I did not let my Versamark ink dry enough on the stars before trying to emboss the sentiment, and the EP stuck to some of the stars. So then I tried to stamp the stars with Real Red, but that didn't dry fast enough either and the EP stuck to that! Finally, I did the stars, waited a bit, then did the sentiment. But there are still some stray parts of EP that show up! Oh, well, it's done.

My brother is graduating high school next month and this will be his card. The set is Seeing Stars from Verve. I love it, and it's great for masculine cards.

I am going out of town for the weekend, so will be without my stamps for a few days. But I'll be back next week with more creations! I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend (in the US) and a great weekend if you live elsewhere. Thanks for looking!

Techno Butterflies

This card uses the Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge #70 from TechnoStamper, and the Use It! Challenge #10. Oh, it also fits the Cuttlebug Be Inspired #32 Challenge this week!

I used a Pale Plum base, and the rest is made from scraps. The butterflies are the Cuttlebug die/embossing combo. The patterned strip on the left is from a Making Memories chipboard sticker frame. I just cut the side off the frame, which was just the right length I needed. The background is stamped in Pale Plum with the CHF Pretty Pattern background stamp. The sentiment is from a set of adhesive rub-ons from K&Company, coated with glitter.

My camera battery is officially dead now, and I have no idea how long it will take to recharge it. Hopefully no more than a couple hours. Meanwhile, I have to get started on Father's Day cards. And baby gifts for my neighbor who just brought home twins! There's always more on the to-do list than there is time to do them!! This weekend, DS and I are headed up to my parents' house since DH is out of town and it's a holiday weekend. It will be nice to get away, though I'm not looking forward to the drive.

Thanks for looking!

Graduation Invitations

Phew, I got these finished and in the mail to my mother earlier this week. My (much younger) brother is graduating from high school, and I made these invitations to his party. Of course, what started out as 20 turned into 40, so it took a few days to crank them all out. It was fun, though, and I hope they like them! Papers are from the craft store and the stamps inside are So Inviting by MFT and some dollar stamps from Studio G. The mortar boards are 2.5 inch squares and the tassels are made with embroidery floss, attached with black brads (that were silver, and I embossed them black).

Well, we are off to a busy Saturday with soccer, hair cut for DS, and a birthday party this afternoon. Also, DH is busy getting things ready for his big business trip, which starts tomorrow morning. Just me and DS for 3 weeks!

Have a good weekend, and thanks for looking!

2nd Post Today!! Use It!

If you haven't checked out the Use It! Challenge blog, go NOW! Each week, they post a challenge with elements that are probably in your scrap piles. It's great motivation to go through the stash and use up all that stuff (so you can go buy more, of course!)


This week, the challenge is to use monochromatic scraps, rub-ons or clear stickers, chipboard and an optional non-traditional ribbon. This whole card is from scraps, except the base. I'm a hoarder of scraps and have some tiny pieces that I save "just in case." My rub-ons are the letters for LOVE, and my "always" tag is a chipboard sticker. The optional non-traditional ribbon is the two strips of beads. I used Sticky Strip and brown microbeads. And yes, they are a tiny bit crooked! Simple, pretty, and made a tiny dent in my scrap pile.

Thanks for looking!

Cute Card Thursday Birthday

The challenge yesterday for Cute Card Thursday was to make a card using letters or numbers. This was perfect, as we are headed to a birthday party tomorrow for one of DS's friends. He is turning 6, and I needed a card for him! I used Billy from Pink Cat Studios, colored with my Prismacolor pencils. The 6 is a piece of Tim Holtz Grungeboard, sponged with Cat's Eye Chalk ink. The dp is We R Memory Keepers and the rust panel is Cuttlebugged. The star eyelets are from my stash.

I'm off to enjoy the sunshine and complete a few more challenges today. Hope you all have a good weekend! We will be enjoying a few last days with DH before he heads to a 3-week business trip to Asia. But my LSS is also have a used stamp sale and I'm debating going to check it out. My brains says yes, but my wallet screams NO! Thanks for looking!

Birthday Mojo for Mom

It's been forever since I've tackled a Mojo Monday sketch, but today I was inspired to use #86. I feel like when using a Mojo Monday sketch, it has to be a very feminine card, and today I needed a birthday card for my mom. The papers are from the Basic Grey Sultry pad, and the stamps are My Mind's Eye Laundry Line, Flirty "Lil Girl" Clear Stamps.

The ink is Pink Pirouette, which was just the right shade I was looking for. You can't see in the photo, but the butterfly is painted over with Twinkling H2Os and the flourishes have some glitter pen on the ends. The scalloped and straight rectangles were cut with Nesties in the Cuttlebug. The rhinestones are from my stash. The only thing missing is a ribbon, but I wasn't quite sure where to place one. Oh, and the sentiment is from Little Paper Shop.

I have a few more creations to post over the next few days, including a sample of the 40 graduation invitations I made for my (much younger!) brother who is graduating high school next month. Hope you are all having a good week. Can you believe it's almost over already? Thanks for looking!

Tooting My Horn For A Minute

Did you know there is a Favorites thread at SCS?? I didn't know until to day, when one of my cards (Have a Tool Birthday) was listed! I am so excited :) Go check out all the fab cards that were submitted to galleries this week.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you who are Mothers!! Hope you have a wonderful day. We are off to buy our plants for the garden. So I get to work on my day. Maybe there will be some stamp time available today, too! Thanks for looking!

Krafty Teacher

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at my son's school. I think it's everywhere, but I always wait until the last minute to do anything. This is the card I made for DS's teacher, who is really very sweet. This is her first year teaching and I think the Kindergarten class really gives her a run for her money!

For inspiration, I used the Ways to Use It Challenge on SCS and the sketch challenge on Stamps and Smiles blog. The image is Teachabella and after coloring it I realized I colored the space between her shirt and arms. Oh well, a chubby Bella! The sentiment is SU! stamped in Tangerine Cat's Eye chalk ink. The ribbon is from my stash and I found that button that matched almost perfectly! The dp is from DCWV.

Well, I'm off to the couch for Thursday night TV. If the stamping gods are with me, I'll be back again tomorrow with another creation. Thanks for looking!

Mother's Day Cards

I found a small stash of mulberry paper in my collection, so I've been trying to use it up. I made Mother's Day cards for my MIL and my mom using the same color scheme, although the layouts are different. The first is actually from Technostamper's Sketch 67 last week, but I didn't get it posted in time. The second used the CPS 114 sketch from this week, and also the Use It Challenge #8. For the Use It challenge, we had to use flowers, fibers and metal. I included fibers in the mulberry paper, metal in the flower brads, and Prima flowers. The flower stamp around the scalloped circle and in the background of the sentiment circle are from Verve Floral Whimsy. The centers of the border flowers are dotted with Stickles. The sentiment is CTMH Simple Beauty.

These are both off in the mail today with hopes that they will reach their destinations by Saturday. I hope you are having a good week. Thanks for looking!

Have a "Tool" Birthday!

My stepfather's birthday is Sunday, and I bought this SU! Totally Tool set with him in mind. I can't use another car image for a card for him this year! On silver paper, I stamped and cut out all the tools, without the sentiments, and added some color with Bic Markit markers. They are hung on a piece of Kraft that I brushed with Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip to make it look like a peg board. It is also pierced for the peg holes. The tools are attached with pewter brads, as is the sentiment. I am very pleased with the final result!!

I'm off to get my hair cut and probably to grab some lunch. I have been SO hungry today I feel like I could eat the house! Hopefully later today I'll have more time to stamp. Gotta get those graduation invitations done (40 of them), not to mention the Mother's Day cards!! Yikes there are lots of things coming up. Hope you are all having a good day. Thanks for looking!

Clean and Simple Monday

This week's Clean and Simple challenge at SCS was to copy a sketch. Why is it so hard to make a truly clean and simple card? I feel like this is missing something. The base is Kraft and the cirlces are punched with scraps and are popped up for dimension. The stamps are from Little Layers Plus, New Beginnings and Announcements, stamped in Close to Cocoa.

So clean and simple there's not much else to say. This week is Teacher Appreciation week at DS's school, so I have to make some cards for his teachers. I forgot all about it.

I hope you all had a good weekend. Despite the rain, we had fun. Saturday morning we took DS to a children's theater show of If You Give a Pig a Pancake and other stories. They performed mini-musicals of 6 children's books and he loved it! Yesterday, we had friends over for dinner and I'm exhausted! Today is rainy again, so it's a great day to stay in and stamp (and maybe get all the ironing done!). Thanks for looking!

Two Posts in Two Days?

And if my plan goes well today, there will be more! I'm on a stamping roll the past few days and have lots of ideas to get out of my head.

May is a busy birthday month for us, and I made this card for my brother-in-law. His birthday is not until the last day of the month, but the inspiration hit me so I got it done. Now I just have to remember to mail it! I still have Mother's Day, teacher appreciation, and several birthday cards to make. Plus, I have to make 40 graduation invitations for my brother, who is graduating high school. Good thing I'm not working anymore, huh?



The sketch for this card came from Kerry at Three Clovers Designs. Each week she has a new challenge posted on Thursday. The overall size is 5x5 and the base is Bordering Blue. DP is from the same paper pad I used yesterday - The Story of Us. Beerafella is colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended with OMS. I stamped the beer cooler separately so it would fit in the circle. The twill is stamped with a sentiment from Birthday Centers by CHF and the square snaps are from my stash.

Thanks for looking!