40? Really?

What a great feeling today to be getting stuff done after the debacle of yesterday! DH is out of town on business (in New Zealand!) and the boys gave me a run for my money all day long. Carter was cranky and wouldn't nap; Justin was running a fever and starting to get sick again (he just got over a sinus infection last week!). I was so happy when my head hit the pillow last night, only to be woken up 3 times by Carter during the night. AH, but today is a new day and so far much better for everyone!

As a result, I got some crafting done during Carter's naps. My brother is turning 40on Thursday (yes, he is older than me) and I used Mary Jo's sketch from the Techno Stamper Monday Lunchtime Sketch (we're up to #99!) to make this card for him. The numbers are some grungeboard numbers that I heat embossed with black. I made them a little distressed-looking by not covering them completely. The sentiment is from Hambo Stamps and the dp is from the dollar store! I do have to get this in the mail today if it is to get to him on time.

Now I'm off to get some laundry done before it's time to pick up Justin from school. The day flies by too quickly, doesn't it? Thanks for looking!

I Want Candy!

I decided to take a break from making birthday cards and make a Halloween card. Please understand that Halloween is not my favorite holiday, but I felt the need to use all the cute Halloween stamps I bought last year and never used...For the layout, I used the Techno Stamper sketch 33 from this week. The main image is from Hambo. The candy corn line is a dollar stamp from the craft store, and the background "I want candy" is from Studio G that I picked up this week at the craft store. The ribbon was a RAK last year, and I used the Black Magic technique to color the main image and the candy corn. What fun! The main image is also colored over with my Spica Stardust pen and is popped up on foam tape.

I hope you like it and don't find it too bright. I hardly ever use orange, and against the black it is striking! Thanks for looking!

A Christmas RAK and Birthday Cards

Allison, queen blogger herself, sent me a Christmas RAK! How sweet is this card? The beaded garland on the tree didn't make it through the post so well, but the card is still so cute! Thanks, Allison!We also have a few birthdays to celebrate this week. My DS turns 4 tomorrow. Yikes! And my nephew turns 1 on the 29th. It's hard to believe how fast they are growing! Both cards are similar since I'm short on time these days. The paper is from the DCWV Mini Stack 3. Stamps are Hambo (train) and SU! Toy Box (race car), Greetings 4 You (Happy Birthday), All Year Cheer II (Happy Happy Birthday) and The Cat's Pajamas (stack o' presents). The stack of presents is colored with metallic and regular gel pens. The trains are colored with markers and also with pencils blended with OMS. I like the pencil colored one better - the lines from markers drive me bananas becuse I like a smooth finish!Well, time to go so the camera batteries can charge and I can bake a birthday cake for tomorrow. He wants a Green Goblin cake, but I think he's getting a hamburger cake. I'll share photos if it's not too embarassing. I'm a stamper, not a cake decorator!

Don't forget to enter blog candy a few posts below!!

Happy Holidays to you all and Thanks for Looking :)

WCMD Challenge #6

Another Just Johanna challenge for World Card Making Day. We have until midnight, PST to complete the challenges that were posted in their forum yesterday. This is probably the last one I'll be able to complete this weekend. Details of this sketch challenge are here. It's really a fun sketch from Paper Squares.

I used a pink base, stamped in Versamark with the bubbles from SU! Beyond the Basics. The paper is Hot off the Press, Retro Beads and Brown-Pink Stripes. The tag is stamped with the flip flops from SU! A Little Love, colored with markers, doodled around the edges with metallic gel pen. I put it up on Pop Dots to give it dimension and looped the ribbon (Michael's dollar bin) through the hole. The Birthdays Happen is a Hambo sentiment. Thanks for looking!

2 Down, 3 to Go...

...Birthdays to celebrate this week, that is. Seriously, September is busy for me with birthday cards to make and celebrations to attend. October doesn't look much quieter! I will carve out some time for apple picking this weekend, though. I'll have to get some pies baked before we tear out the kitchen :)

Tomorrow is my good friend's birthday. We got together tonight for Mexican food (YUM!) and ice cream. This is the card I made for her. The colors don't show as well as I would like, because the sun was setting when I took the photo. The base is 5x5 blue square, and the dp is Paper Heart - Baby Pink Scrolls. The stripes are from a CTMH paper pack, I believe. I scalloped the bottom edge using my rounded corner punch. Magic wand stamp is from Hambo, which I have come to love and will have to visit again soon. It is on a scrap from the card trimmings and mounted on a pink scrap. I stamped it with Versamark and embossed with holographic powder, then filled in with a glitter pen. The sentiment is from the $1 bin at Michael's and is stamped in Basic Black on the blue paper, cut and mounted on pop dots. The blue row of scallops is done again with rounded corner punch, then punched out in the center of each scallop with my small hole punch.

This card was a struggle in that I combined patterns (SO simple for others, it makes me cross-eyed!) I am very happy with the end result, though and so was my friend.

Tomorrow night I hope to play with my new stuff - finally a mega scallop oval punch! And some fantastic DCWV Metallic Stack Cardstock! I'll have another b-day card to post using them. Meanwhile, Thanks for looking!

Masculine Card - Birthday or Whatever

This Alpine Socks paper just reminds me of something masculine. Maybe it's the color scheme of the paper or the shimmer in the background color. Whatever the appeal, I really like it and was happy to find that I had purchased 2 pieces of it when I needed to make this card.

My boss' birthday is later this week. We work at a library and spend much of our days drinking tea and chatting (yes, lots of work gets done, too!). I stamped the book stack from Hambo onto a scrap of white and colored with my pencils and blended with OMS, then cut it out and mounted it on vanilla. The bottom is sponged with Really Rust ink. I punched the corners using a small circle punch and mounted it on a blue piece with the same corner treatment. The tea cups are from SU! Year Round Cheer and are stamped with Really Rust on vanilla paper, colored with pencils and blended. The center one is cut out and mounted on a pop dot. This strip is mounted on a blue strip and then attached to the Alpine Socks background. The corners are the same technique as the small panel and adorned with brass brads. The whole is mounted on a rust 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch base.

Since there is no sentiment on the front of this card, it could be for any occasion. I did stamp Happy Birthday inside from SU! Favorite Greetings. Thanks for looking!

Happier than...

Sitting on my stamp shelf is the So Very set that I really like, but have trouble using. So when I saw this stamp on the Hambo Stamps website, I knew I had to get it. Then they posted it to their Seconds Sale when the manufacturer printed it backwards. It was fate. He arrived in my mailbox a few days later (LOVE their fast and cheap shipping!)



The striped paper is from CTMH, I forget the name. I also used some blue textured cs and scraps of pink, brown and white cs. The sentiment is stamped in Close to Cocoa. Mr. Piggy is stamped in basic black, colored with colored pencils and blended with OMS. The white panel with the image is sponged around the edges with Close to Cocoa applied with a cotton ball. I find this gives a better "puff" of color than the sponge that I have. The ribbon is from the clearance bin at AC Moore and is actually a dotted grosgrain that I reversed to show the solid side. That's it, nothing fancy on this card. It was very quick to put together.

I hope others can enjoy my humor. I'm going to send this card to my mom, who will know the ending of the phrase Happier Than.. and get a chuckle out of it. Thanks for looking!