A fine day to be a pheasant

HI all!

Today is Blogger's Challenge day and it is a sketch challenge.

Here is what I came up with...I haven't stamped in two weeks, really - so my mojo is definitely not flowing.....I think we are back to semi-normal now so maybe I can get myself back in the swing of things :)

One thing I did change about the sketch was the sentiment placement. It was supposed to be on the lower panel, but I put it under the pheasant instead.

recipe:

stamps: woodgrain background, autumn days, teeny tiny sentiments

cards tock: kraft, very vanilla, soft suede, bermuda bay

ink: soft suede, bermuda bay, chocolate chip and bravo burgundy stampin' write markers

accessories: 5/8" vanilla grosgrain, latte buttons, playground buttons, stampin' dimensionals

I sure could use some love this week.....let me know what you think.

well.....

my baby turned four today! it seems like just yesterday that i held her tiny little body swaddled in her flannel blankets, seeing nothing but her little face sticking out. :)

poor girl, she really didn't get a fair birthday celebration from her daddy and i - we haven't had water for two days. we initially thought our well went dry....but now maybe not...but things still aren't totally right. her daddy is still in the basement puddling around and i am sitting her with her while she plays with her new toy from us. we didn't get her many things....she doesn't need a thing - believe me! her big gift from us was fisher price's smart cycle extreme. it is a video game that she plays from on a bicycle of sorts. so there are lots of peddling going on behind me!

well...off to check on our water situation...pray for good news, please.

Wonder Where I have been all week???

Warning: this is going to be a very long post...... :) you deserve it!

HI everyone! Have you wondered where I have been since last week????? Sorry I haven't blogged since then - but I do have an excuse.....MINNIE WAS IN THE HAWSE!!!!! LOL!!

My daughter's birthday party was this weekend - and her theme was minnie mouse - minnie mouse from Playhouse Disney - in other words, a minnie mouse with a pink dress instead of the typical red dress......oh my! Hey - she originally wanted Cars - you know, lightning mcqueen and tow mater......so minnie was a wonderful compromise!

Well....as it turns out, Shelli's Creative Challenge this month is Birthday - What could be better than her theme contest being birthday the same month as my daughter's birthday????? Sweet!!!

While I was getting things planned in my head of what colors I would be using, Stampin' Up! introduced our current In Colors to demonstrators - not only did they introduce a perfect color for minnie, Melon Mambo, but they have a coordinating polka dot ribbon!!!! HELLO.....DOES IT GET ANY BETTER?!?!??!?!?! So I knew right away I would be using those two things for sure!

I wanted the invitation to be a pocket card. But what to do from there???? This is what I came up with:I'm sorry, there are contraband stamps here - which I hardly ever use.....I just needed to be sure that people understood that it was a minnie mouse party. And besides, they were acrylic stamps and let's just leave it at this - In my opinion, THERE IS NOTHING BETTER THAN A WOOD MOUNTED STAMP! Ok, with that off my chest, I can move on :)

The card pocket is Melon Mambo. I folded down the top front panel to create a pocket and adorned it with a piece of Basic Black card stock that had been punched with the Scallop Edge Punch - Perfect! I really wanted to create a "graffic"minnie from my punches to get my decoration theme introduced. So I printed my invite information on the computer onto Whisper White card stock and then layered it with Basic Black. I used my 1 1/4 inch Circle Punch to make the head and the 3/4 inch Circle Punch to make the ears. You can't leave Minnie's bow off, so I took the Melon Mambo 1/2 " Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon and tied a little knot and trimmed the ends before securing with a Mini Glue Dot. Before securing my pocket card closed on the sides with Mini Glue Dots, I punched the center of the fold with the 1 3/8" Circle Punch to allow a place for minnie to fit.

So....next off of my list was to be the treat bags. I used cheap white lunch sacks because I wanted to create a thank you tag. I filled the bags up with goodies and folded the top towards the back of the bag and punched two holes with my Crop A Dile. The tag was created by layering Whisper White card stock onto Melon Mambo. Both layers had been punched at the top with the Tag Corner Punch. I then adorned it with the same minnie as the invitation, punched with circle punches. I then stamped the bottom with "thank you" in Melon Mambo Classic Ink from Short & Sweet. Then I punched a hole in the top with my Crop A Dile and secured it to the white bag with Black Gingham Ribbon.I knew that I was going to make a sheet cake and cup cakes for the party. I made the sheet cake in white cake and the cup cakes in chocolate - And you have to make a little something for the cup cakes, right???
I ran Melon Mambo card stock through my Big Shot using the exclusive Stampin' Up! Pennant Bigz XL Die to make the scallop circles. Did you know that the scallop circles that are on the Pennant Die layer perfectly with the 1 3/4" Circle punch???? Well - They Do!!! So I layered my punched minnie onto a 1 3/4" Circle punch of Whisper White card stock. Here is where the pick making comes in: I layed my white minnie circles face down on a piece of scrap card stock. I put down a 1 inch stripe of Tombo Mono Multi glue at the bottom of the circle and layed a tooth pick into the glue and let dry. Now the magical thing about Tombo Mono Multi, as well as a 2 Way Glue Pen, is that they are also an adhesive when they are dry. So when the toothpicks were dried onto the back of the minnie circle, I adhered it to the scallop circle with the same glue that was around the tooth pick. Does it get any easier than that????
And what party would be complete with out a banner????? I had it in mind that I was going to put it on the edge of a 10x10 easy up tent, since our party was going to be outside this year. So Spelling out "Happy Birthday" was going to be too long for my needs.....So I decided to make her a banner with Minnie in her name. I will then be able to hang it in her bedroom after the party. She has a Hello Kitty bedroom....but hey - She will love this in her bedroom all the same! So here is what I did:

Are you thinking to yourself...."Hey, I thought she was hanging this onto a tent, outside????" Well...they predicted scattered storms the day of her party....argh!!! So we cleaned out her toy shed and put the food tables up in there so I hung the banner inside the shed so it wouldn't get wet. And BOY AM I GLAD I DID THAT!!!! We had three down pours, I think. Just as the food was done.....It started to pour down rain so we had to run under tents and inside her shed and some for the house. Usually I would be hyperventilating and in tears at this point...but I just went with it - what can you do about the weather??? When the rain slowed down, we carried all of the food inside and we "picniced" inside, outside and everywhere in between! lol!

Sorry - I got totally side tracked, huh??? At any rate - her banner was safe and sound.

The scalloped banner is Basic Black. Soooo easy with the Big Shot and the exclusive Stampin' Up! Pennant Bigz XL Die. There are two sizes of pennants on that die, I used the larger one. To make the top panel of the pennant, I cut a pennant out of computer printer paper and cut the scallops off and traced it onto the pieces of Melon Mambo Patterns Designer Series Paper. I then cut along my traced lines with the Table Top Cutter. Perfect! I used white and black Basic Jumbo Grommets in the upper corners of the pennants so I could tie my ribbons through them and allow it to swag nicely.

I will show you a couple of panels up close:

Both end panels have a minnie mouse cupcakes on them. The large cupcake is from Simple Birthday Thanks Stamp. I stamped the bottom onto Basic Black card stock and cut it out. I wanted to give it a cup cake liner look so I ran it through my crimper. I then stamped the top onto Whisper White and cut it out. I made another punched minnie for the cup cake topper. I punched the "sprinkles" from card stock left from the banner letters - I'll get into that with the next panel description ;)
Her name is spelled out throughout the middle of the banner. I cut out scallop circles with my Big Shot and Scallop Circle Bigz Die in Whisper White. I adhered them to the banner with Stampin' Dimensionals. I wanted her name to be glittery. Do you know that a piece of glittered cardsock can cost you upwards of $4-$5??? That is INSANE!!!!! Did you also know that you can make you own for pennies using your Stampin' Up! supplies already in your stash?? You can! I took pieces of Whisper White card stock and inked them with Versamark ink and poured heat and stick powder over the ink. Shake off your excess powder and heat with you Heat Tool just until the powder gets shiny. DO NOT over heat or you will lose your stickiness of the heat and stick powder. While that is still warm, dump fine glitter all over it and shake off your excess into a Powder Pal so you can funnel your excess powders and glitters in their bottles. The glitter I used here was the rose pink fine glitter from the Fine Cosmo glitter collection. When I had my Whisper White card stock all glittered up, I cut out my letters with the Serif Essentials Alphabet Bigz Dies and the Big Shot. LOVE IT!!!!!! I adhered down a punched minnie onto the Whisper White scallop circle and then adhered my letters down over it with Stampin' Dimensionals. I adorned the entire banner with Black Gingham Ribbon and Melon Mambo 1/2" Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon.

What do you think of that??? I was happy with her decorations.

I also did her cake.....Her cup cakes were adorned with Minnie Mouse picks and the cake was just Minnie.

I would love to know what you think of her little party ensemble.

Hats off to the Graduate!!!

Hi All!!

What is with me....I was so bogged down with life this whole week and didn't get to stamp at all.... :( But, today I have a graduation party - so I HAD to stamp...hehehehe!!! Next week is my daughter's birthday party and it is here instead of at a hall - which I have done every year in the past....so I don't know how much I will get to stamp next week either.....argh!!!! If you would do me a huge favor - please pray that it doesn't rain....I have a very big family and we will NOT all fit inside my house....

I earned the varsity alphabet free from Stampin' Up - if you want to learn how to earn free stamps from Stampin' Up, contact me! (regcorn@zoominternet.net) There is an awesome mini kit for $85 as well as free in color ink pads and card stock in addition to the regular $199 kit. If you have ever thought about having a business of your own - now is the time!

When I picked Varsity alphabet, I knew I would get plenty of miles out of it when my daughter started school - for scrapbooking and stuff. But when I sat down to make a graduation card today - I thought - "Hey! Why not use that alphabet to make the main image with the school letters??" So....here it is!

The card base is real red. The basic grey designer series paper is from a retired hostess patterns pack 2 from the last catalog. The school colors are red/grey/white. I used the varsity alphabet and my stamp a ma jig to line up the letters in real red ink and whisper white card stock. Did you see the velum layer sparkle???

It is subtle in real life....but it really makes it pop! I used the varsity numbers to emboss "09" in iridescent ice embossing powder. I adhered all three layers with red rhinestone brads from the round fire rhinestone brads.

Now, for the inside:

The sentiment is from a retired set - Live Your Dream. I always thought that this sentiment was awesome for gradates about to embark on their new life!!!

CASE of a CASE of a CASE.....

LOL!! This week's Blogger's Challenge was to CASE ( copy and share everything) a fellow blogger. Well, I knew right away which card I wanted to case. When I saw THIS CARD on Patti Cheski's blog - I fell in love with the colors and the layout. It has stuck out in my mind ever since I saw it. And you know what??? It was an older blogger's challenge to case herself....So I cased her case that she cased.....following me???? lol!

Aren't her cards darling!??!??!?! I didn't do the layers exactly like hers, my computer isn't in my stamping room...so I was going on memory but I did get the general gist of things. Here is what I came up with:

My card base is melon mambo. I stamped it with a circle ring from circle circus - I told you this was a versatile set!! I accented some dots with my white gel pen. My designer series squares are from razzleberry lemonade....I know, no surprise there :D. They are matted with whisper white squares before layering them on a piece of crushed curry that had been punched along the bottom with the scallop edge punch. I tied a bow with the polka dot rich razzleberry grosgrain ribbon. My sentiment came from teeny tiny sentiments - this is an absolute must have set!!!! I punched it with the word window punch and tied it around the ribbon with a piece of crochet thread.

My main image is the most adorable elephant - it is in the animal stories set. I stamped it with melon mambo and punched it with the 1 3/4 inch circle punch. Did you see the ruffled edge around it????? I cut a one inch strip of rich razleberry card stock and scalloped the one edge. I then ran it through the paper crimper. Then I generously applied snail adhesive to the back edges of the elephant panel. All you do is adhere the strip around, working with it to get it to bend in a circle pattern. It isn't hard to do....just takes some firm maneuvering of the card stock. The crimper puts the grooves in it, so it will bend a lot easier. I adhered that panel with stampin' dimensionals. Here is a closer look at that ruffle:

You can do that with any size circle, just keep in mind that the smaller the circle, the harder it will be to manipulate the card stock in a circular manner.

I would love to know what you think, spread your love :)

Wealthy Raspberry!??!?!?!?

No......Rich Razzleberry!! What a beautiful color - the new rich razzleberry - and what is sad is I couldn't get a true to life photo of it today to save my life!!! in my opinion, it is the prettiest shade of purple Stampin' Up has to offer. It truly is a beauty!

I was able to sneak in a card this morning before the puppy and my little one got the best of me! lol!!!

Well...now my little one is hanging on my arm like she is about to fall into a crater...so I have to keep this short, but sweet :)

Card base is rich razzleberry - the beautiful polka dot ribbon is also rich razzleberry - LOVE THAT!!!! The designer series paper is from razzleberry lemonade, and believe me.....you will want to drink up every inch of this paper pack - it is G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S!!!! The top panel was stamped with the razzle dazzle flower swirl in crushed curry. I then stamped the flower from razzle dazzle in rich razzleberry. Then it was topped off with a stamped off sanded background, also in crushed curry. I then sponged the edges with crushed curry.

The sentiment panel was stamped with the same flower swirl that had been stamped off twice before stamping. The sentiment, from on your birthday, was aligned with my stamp a ma jig in rich razzleberry.

See the little flower detail???

It s a boho flower from the boho blossom punch, a button from button latte all held together with a medium sized rhinestone brad from the ice rhinestone brad collection. The entire sentiment panel was adhered with stampin' dimensionals.

what do you think?

Post #2 for today - please scroll down for more!!!!

Ok, Ok, OK.......my blogging friend, Donna, has issued a challenge last week. And believe you me....I have been pondering it over, and over, and over, and, well....you get the point!!! the challenge was to use nothing but stamps and ink....that is all!!!! No embellishments - No layers - No ribbon - NOTHING!!! A one layer card with only stamps and ink. Wow Donna - This wasn't easy!

So.....While I should have been doing something productive - like laundry, cleaning, getting dinner on its way, cleaning, laundry, oh yeah - did I mention cleaning!??!?!?! Argh!!! So anyway, when I should have been doing something else that my hubby would notice when he got home, I pondered on this challenge because it ends tonight. And before you ask....NO I can't clean and ponder or launder and ponder - I need separate ponder time! Oh well, all that other stuff is overrated when pondering is needed! :D

So here is what I am entering into her challenge:

If you were here when I read that Season of Friendship made it into the catalog from last year's mini you would have heard me get excited out loud....I absolutely fell in love with this set in the mini and was devastated when it didn't make the last cattie.

The card base is kraft. The ink I used was sahara sand, chocolate chip, old olive and bermuda

bay. I already know what I am going to do with this card, which is a rarity for me.....lol!!!

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of the one layer baby....it really wasn't easy to create one that I was going to be happy with. Try it - trust me, it is easier said than done! :)

My Monday Mojo

HI stampers!!

How are you all??? I am sorry that I haven't been real consistent in posts lately....I have told myself that I NEED to make more time to stamp for fun!!!! It is so therapeutic to me!

I started this afternoon with the Mojo Monday Sketch - I love to start with sketches for cards and scrapbooking!! Here is the sketch that was presented today:

I have wanted to ink up my brand new animal stories since I preordered it last month - I haven't been able to put down the circle circus set and the new level three hostess set, kind and caring thoughts. Here is what I came up with - I tried to make it sweet and simple, I usually spend hours on a card fussing and mussing but I really wanted simple today.

What do you think??

The card base is actually whisper white - nothing says "clean card" like a whisper white base. The designer series paper is from the tall tales collection. The whale is stamped in brilliant blue matted with so saffron. It is mounted on stampin' dimensionals over the tall tales and strips of brilliant blue. The sentiment is from on your birthday. I stamped it in chocolate chip and punched it with my 1 1/4 inch circle punch. The number is from calendar letters and numbers. It is mounted on stampin' dimensionals as well.

So what do you think of my sweet and simple card?

Oh yeah!! My blog was nominated for an award from Jennifer from over at Racing Towards Creativity. Thanks Jennifer!!!!!

I am supposed to pass this along to 15 fellow bloggers.....that will be the impossible part!! There are soooo many great blogs that I stalk often, if not everyday!! If you are a blogger and follow my blog - consider yourself nominated! :D

This post will remain at the top of my blog until the end of the blog tour - please scroll down for newer posts!

BLOG TOUR REPORT in PDF

SCAVENGER HUNT in PDF

Day 2 of your tour!!!

Did you get through all 20 stops on the tour yesterday? There is some good stuff along the way. If you want to start at the beginning - head over to Janet Wakeland's blog and there should be links along the way...if there isn't - I have the entire tour guide list in order from stop #1 - stop #20 in my sidebar under "Remarkable Tour Guides."

Also, be sure to complete the two forms located at the top of my blog and email then to Janet for a chance to win great prizes. You don't have to worry, Janet isn't going to start to solicit you because she has your email - she just wants to give you the chance to win some cool prizes along the way!

Anyway.....I am going to show case two new stamp sets today. Both of these stamp sets, in my opinion, are two of the most versatile stamp sets in the new catalog! The first being Teeny Tiny Sentiments - How many times have you needed the perfect sentiment that would fit into a whole list of punches????? EXACTLY!!!! This set is absolutely for you!

The second set looks a little intimidating at first.....Circle Circus.....but believe me - this set can do so much for you...let alone it coordinates with the circle punches - HELLO.....does it get any easier????? This set will also make several different flower centers - luv that!! You can also use this set to give solid image stamps a "kiss." They are great images to glitter up before punching with heat and stick powder and glitter - I know you all LOVE glitter!!! Even the punched shapes can be made into flowers themselves!!!! I could go on and on here ( you know I could.....lol!) But I will spare you my rambling......

Here it is:

I have to tell you - I have spent hours on cards...been in love with them, but today's card took me minutes....and I love it just the same!!! I am really trying to get out of my rut of everything looking the same.....does my stuff all look the same or is it just me???

Anywho - The card base is kraft. The wider horizontal panel is a new in color soft suede...ooooo....it is so beautiful! The small torn panel is crushed curry - I rubbed the edges with the distress tool in the cutter kit. I tied a simple knot with the new in color polka dot ribbon in bermuda bay. YES - you heard me right...polka dot ribbon....but like I said yesterday - the ribbon is polka dot on one side and plain on the other. Great Job Stampin' Up!

The sentiment is stamped in soft suede. The circles from circle circus were stamped in bermuda bay, crushed curry, and soft suede. See how wonderfully they fit with the circle punches????? I finished off the bermuda bay scalloped circle with a vanilla button from button latte and linen thread.

Don't forget to hop on over to the next stop HERE.

Wait until you see the new addition to our family!!!

Welcome Butterscotch!

Now where is that picket fence??????? LOL!!!!

I hope you have packed your bags......

....because we are on a Remarkable Blog Tour July 1 - July 5!!!!!

If you have your hands on the new catalog....you know how awesome it is!!! I instantly fell in love with the level 3 hostess set, Kind and Caring Thoughts. It is simply a timeless set...a must have for every stamper. And the new In Colors - well, they speak for themselves!!!

Here is my card for today:

The card base is the new crushed curry. The designer series paper is from the brand new razzleberry lemonade - an amazing assortment of papers!! The bottom sentiment panel is whisper white. I stamped the sentiment, also from Kind and Caring Thoughts in dusty durango. I over stamped it with a flower in crushed curry, stamped off once.

Did you see the ribbon????? Delish, huh? It is the new in color polka dot ribbon in dusty durango. This ribbon is so awesome - polka dots on one side, plain on the other side - genius - two ribbons in one!!!

My main image panel is another piece of the razzleberry lemonade stamped with one of the flowers in crushed curry and another in dusty durango. I rounded the two corners with the 3/16th inch corner rounder. That is matted with a piece of dusty durango. I adhered that entire panel with stampin' dimensionals.....I can't seem to create a card without stampin' dimensionals!! lol!!!

If you haven't seen my scrapbook layout with the new in colors, check it out here.

Please continue your tour with the next stop - LAURIE KRAUSS. All of the stops are listed on the left in my side bar - don't miss a stop!