Where Have I Been???

I have been busy with house and family stuff, and went away for a crafty weekend with DH's cousins, and haven't made it up to my craft room in a looooooong time!

The crafty weekend with the girls was fabulous! DH's cousin, Julie, owns a lake house in Michigan and she rents it out for scrapping retreats. Even though I don't scrap, I went along and made some cards and baby favors for an upcoming family shower. I did get the scrapping bug, as you will see below! I'm inspired after spending the weekend watching them scrap, staying up till all hours of the night and watching girly movies.

I started with Carter's first birthday:

I haven't added the journaling yet, obviously. It took me hours to get this together as it is, and I don't want to screw up the whole thing with poorly thought out writing! The papers are from We R Memory Keepers, White Out Collection. The solids are from my stash - some Bazzill and some no-name from Michael's. The cupcake border is a Martha Stewart Punch - I knew I would use it someday! I know there are a lot of photos on the second page, but I wanted to use them all!

Next is a page for Justin, and maybe some Christmas layouts. I have the scrappy bug now, and am ready to tackle the photo albums!

I have a big project due for a volunteer gig at J's school tomorrow, so I'll be up late tonight finishing that. Then, more crafty time for me :) Thanks for looking!

OWH Bunny Hop!

Welcome to this stop on the OWH Bunny Hop! You should have come here from Jinny at Soaring. If you want to start at the beginning, go HERE.





My card is a cute little Easter card that troops can send home to their kids. I used some DCWV papers I have in a huge Spring Stack and added a cute chick and egg image from CHF. I added rhinestones to the eggs and colored them with SU! markers. The sentiment is from SU! Loads of Love Accessories. The blue and pink mats are cut with Nesties scalloped rectangles and the ribbon is some fun striped narrow grosgrain from my stash. I made this card in blue and pink as well as portrait and landscape orientation and I think there are more in my future. That little chick and egg image is too fun to color!




These cards, along with others I have made recently will be shipping off to OWH. I love that I can make more cards than I need and know that they will be put to great use. OWH helps troops keep in touch with home, and helps me fill my need to create.

If you would like to join in and send cards along to OWH, visit their site and learn all the ins and outs. Remember that the deadline for Easter cards to arrive to shippers at OWH is March 18, and the deadline for Mother's Day is March 31. Check out the Stars and Stamps blog for fun challenges, learn how to send cards to troops, and also for their fabulous new Saturday Seminar Series.

**Leave a comment here and you will be entered to win some fun little spring-y goodies! I will draw a random winner on Monday morning, March 7 at 10AM CST.**

Your next stop along this hop is Erica at Inked Up and Ready to Play. Make your way through all 125 stops along this hop and get your Spring mojo in action! It's a fun trip for a great cause. Thanks for stopping by, and have fun!

ETA: Comments are still welcome, but a winner has been chosen and will be posted shortly!

ETA: Winner is comment #53, which belongs to Rhonda Miller! I'll be contacting you shortly, Rhonda! Thanks for visiting :)

Island Blooms II

This card uses more of the Island Blooms Simply Scrappin' kit. The sketch is from Mary Jo at Techno Stamper. I was a little unsure of the sketch at first, simply because I rarely make cards in other sizes than A2. But this one is 3x6 and was fun to put together. The base is Pretty in Pink, run through the Polka Dot embossing folder in the Cuttlebug. The turquoise strip was punched with an edge punch, but I can't remember the name. I wish they would print the names on the side or something! The sentiment is Verve and I'm upset that there is a black ink smudge in the middle of it! The tiny brads on the small flowers are Sprinkles from Queen & Co.

That's it for today. Come back tomorrow for the Bunny Hop, courtesy of OWH!! Have a good weekend and thanks for looking!

Here are the other TSSC163 sketchers:

Card Patterns #104

My friend and SU! enabler, Cindy, sent me the remnants of some Simply Scrappin' kits a while ago. Despite the best intentions, I don't yet scrap, but used the bits to make this card. The solid layers are stamped with a bloom from Verve's Petals and Stems set, and the sentiment is from All About You by Verve. I added some rhinestones to the flower centers, and that's it. Easy, bright and cheery card.. The sketch is from Card Patterns, sketch #104. I am trying to enter more sketch challenges, since they really get me started. Otherwise, I choose stamps and papers and stare at them trying to come up with a layout.

Time for lunch! Carter is napping and my time starts now! Thanks for looking!

Simply Mocha Chica

CPS 207 is so fun this week! I have tons of ideas in my head for it. If only I had tons of time! This card did come together in a flash, using Mocha Chica papers and stamps from the Kim Hughes line of products from now-closed CHF. For those of you looking for a Kim Hughes fix, though, she has started her own stamp company, Paper Smooches! Such fun stuff she's come out with already :) I have a card using her one of her debut sets and will post in the next day or so. I'm still trying to decide if I love it or not.

Anyway, on this card, the bird and tree are paper pieced and all the square image panels are lightly sponged with Cool Caribbean ink. The green embellishments are Bella Dots that I got a couple Christmases ago from Stamping Bella. The other ink colors used here are Certainly Celery and Chocolate Chip. Have a good afternoon, and thanks for looking!