Wednesday, March 30, 2011

From Me To You

This set of cards were a Christmas present for my Dad and Shelly - we finally exchanged gifts when they came earlier this month, so I can finally share them here!
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Some of you may remember the From Me To You card set that CTMH had as a special a few years ago - it came in this cute little box...
...and it came with a fun stamp set, supplies, and instructions to create a complete set of cards.  Well, it may come to no surprise that I never did anything with it - until now - finally!  However, I didn't stick with the original colors and changed things up a bit.  I did use the box to hold the gift set, along with the original 8 patterns that came with the kit.  Here is what I did.
Originals: Center Tie, using Bella paper pack
Originals: Floral Trio Tied, using Perfect Day paper - I had flowers stamped and punched out to use on this card but liked it just fine without them so I left them off!
Originals: Offset Focus, using Emporium paper
Originals: Center Stage, using Magic Moments paper
Originals: Accent Band using the Giggles & Grins paper.  This one surprisingly became one of my favorite cards!  This bulk paper was the only pattern I ever had of this paper pack, mostly because of its Disney theme and the fact that I've never been to Disney ;-) so I never really used it much before, but I really ended up liking it on this card.  I used my water color pencils to color the flower and some waxy flax to accent.
Originals: Express Left using Simple Pleasures paper
Originals: View From the Top, using Magnifique paper.  I forgot to center and mat the flower this time, I got a little carried away just doing my own thing ;-)  I added Liquid Glass to the paper center of the flower which gave it a really cool look.

Originals: Equal Angles, using Olivia papers
So those were the card patterns that came in the From Me To You card kit and I also included the following cards in the gift.
Wishes: Lucky Layers, using Twitterpated papers and Treasures of the Heart stamp set.

Wishes: Inner Court, using Hooligans paper and October Word Puzzle
Wishes: Well Rounded using Stardust paper and Treasures of the Heart stamp set, with a bit of Glitz Glitter Gel on the star.

Wishes: Simplicity, using the ????? paper (it's totally slipped my mind - help me out if you can) and You're a Hoot stamp set.
Originals: Always Right, using Veranda paper and a Hero Arts stamp set called Dolls
To make an even number of cards I grabbed this one out of my stash and added it to the gift set as well.  This was one I did for my You Rock Workshop last year.
Thanks for looking!

Friday, March 25, 2011

Catch a Star!

Remember my cupcake card that I created for Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge #49 and posted earlier this week?  Well, I really liked that challenge, and I still have a few ideas floating around up in my head.  So yesterday Brailee went to a friend's house to play, Trysten took a nap, and the older two were in school, so I took some time to play with my stamps, ink, and paper!  This card qualifies for the challenge in more than one way - besides the image of a mason jar, can you tell what else is 'from the kitchen'?
Take a closer stuff at the red mesh stuff on my card - can you guess what it is?  Well, when I was making our corned beef, potatoes, and carrots for dinner on St. Patrick's Day, the red potatoes came in this bag - I had just read the challenge so I decided to save it and use it somehow.  I cut it up and used it as a layer on my card.  For this card I also used Sketch #183 from Mojo Monday, along with some of the NEW Fanfare papers, retired Sassy Strands, a retired stamp set called Little Fill-Ups with Jar, and some silver star brads that I had in my stash, along with a bit of Liquid Glass on my top yellow star.  To stamp my stars in the jar, I used the Masking Technique to fill the jar - if anyone needs me to explain this technique, just let me know.
Thanks for visiting!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Mayberry Birthday Card

One of Brailee's friends had a birthday party this last weekend, so while David was away camping with the Scouts, and I had some playtime after the kids were in bed, I made this card for her.
It's so weird to think that her friends are turning 5, and then I remind myself that she's going to turn that old this year, too - luckily she still has 9 months of being 4 ;-P
I used sketch #99 from the Sweet Stop, the new Mayberry Paper, and some retired stamp sets - the Solo 5 (for the 5 and the stars) and Happy Birthday stamp set.  Once again I used my coluzzle to cut my ovals and my corner rounder to create the scallops - it was a little harder to get the scallops even on an oval but I think it turned out okay.
Thanks for visiting!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Our Spring Break Hula Hoop Project

As soon as I saw this month's Family Fun magazine, I knew we had to try these fun Hula Hoop projects.  The hardest part was finding the hula hoops - none of the local stores had any yet, and we couldn't find any of ours (I think most were bent and broken and we threw them away before we moved).  Luckily a friend came to the rescue and picked some up for me on her run to our nearest WalMart an hour away.  This is what we have started...
We are weaving rugs - can you tell what each of their favorite colors is?  I need to order more t-shirts as we have run out of a couple of colors, but they are so excited and have so much fun doing these!  In the future I think it would be cheaper to buy fabric by the yard rather than cut up t-shirts as long as you have access to a fabric store, which I do not, unless I want to travel an hour or more.  It was easier for me to just order a bunch of colored t-shirts and have them shipped to me.  Here is what we have so far - I'll be sure to post the end results!
Thanks for visiting!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Hey There Cupcake!

I have started clicking on the sketch and challenge blogs once again and have started to get back into them after a long absense - it's been fun!  Since I've been out of it for so long, I'm looking for some new ones to add to my sketch and challenge blog roll, so if you have any to recommend I'd love to check them out!
Today I'm going to share a card that I did for Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog.  The current Challenge #49 is "From the Kitchen" so I figured what a perfect time to pull out my Cupcake Sprinkles stamp set and put it to good use.  Here is my card:

I used the new Sophia papers, along with the Stay Left pattern from Wishes.  I also used some fun new pink ribbon under the cupcake and one pom pom that I snipped off and added to the top of the cupcake.  As I mentioned in my last post, I found my coluzzle and put it to good use to cut out my circles - for the Blush circle I then used my corner rounder to create a scallop circle - I love that technique!    I then edge distressed both of those and heat embossed the sentiment with White Daisy EP.

I still have a couple dozen more cards to share, and some pages as promised in my last post, so stay tuned!
Thanks for visiting!

Clearance Sale!

Check out my website for details on this awesome sale!  A plethora of discounted and retired products are available to you at phenomenal prices. Check back often to take advantage of these products that are offered while supplies last!  CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE SALE!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Woohoo!

My word of the week ;-) inspired by this card that I recently created:


I love clear cards but it's been a couple years since I've created one - this one was fun to get back into it.  I used the You're a Hoot stamp set and the Attention Getter pattern from Wishes.  I found some old brads that I had colored with Buttercup embossing powder a couple of years ago, but once I pushed the brads into the card, the powder cracked and broke off - I've never had that problem before, I think the powder must get old after a while.  I still think it looks cute with Silver brads instead of the Buttercup.  Here is the card open so you can see the different layers - the message can be written on the pink square.

Woohoo, it's Spring Break and it's actually feeling pretty good outside, I even broke out my capris this week!  The wind blew in some colder weather last night, but it's not too bad so far.  I saw our first rainbow of the year this week:

Woohoo - the kids have been able to play outside, most of the mud has dried up so they can go out without getting stuck.  It's been nice to be able to stay home and spend some fun time together!  We've been playing our new Wii games - Wheel of Fortune and Just Dance, some fun card games - Scum and Garbage (great names, right?) and basically just hanging out.  On a normal day we make 2 or 3 trips into town every day to drop kids off at school, go to preschool or story time, and head back for evening activities, etc, but I've barely done that all week, what a nice change of pace.  I've been able to get so much accomplished without so much running around.  I have a lot of fun activities planned for Spring Break and we've barely done a fraction of them - luckily they don't have to go back until Tuesday, hopefully we can get more done!
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The only downside this week has been sick kids.  I got a call from the school nurse just 45 minutes before they got out on an early release day on Friday, Brianna had a fever :-(  Then Brailee got a fever on Monday but was doing much better by yesterday.  Brianna still wasn't back to her normal self yesterday, but she was finally able to eat a good dinner last night and woke up with a bit more energy this morning.  We ALMOST made it two weeks with everyone healthy - we have never had so much sickness go around our house before.  I don't know if it's from the move or just one of those years, but I'm over everyone being sick.  With the nice warm spring weather I've had the windows open - it's been nice to get some fresh air and hopefully flush some of those lingering germs OUT!
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Woohoo - my dad and his wife came for a quick visit this last weekend - it was quick but good to see them again and finally do Christmas with them ;-)  They had fun playing this air hockey game and they taught us how to play Scum.



Another big Woohoo - Trysten is doing so well potty training.  He did especially well last week and was telling me when he needed to go, but after a weekend of playing with visiting family he suddenly decided he was too busy to let me know.  So we're still working on it, and he'll go when I tell him, but I'm still so impressed with how well he's been doing, especially when we're at preschool or story time or even church, he likes to go in public places for some odd reason!
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Woohoo - David and I updated our ancient cell phones and got some new ones yesterday - I've had some pics on my old phone for a couple years now and I've never been able to get them off, until now!  Here's a fun flashback with some old pics:
This was one of our bike rides - I just love how Brailee fell asleep on Trysten but he didn't mind a bit!
Brailee watching her sisters play softball

Face painting at story time a couple years ago

Woohoo - we FINALLY moved Kaylee into her new room at the end of last month - it's been so nice to free up Brailee's room just a little bit.  After 7 months of 3 girls sharing one room, it's been a nice change.  It's amazing how much easier it is to keep the rooms clean now - I used to cringe every time I would walk by Brailee's room, but it's SO much better now!  Here are some pics of Kaylee's room - we still need to add the finishing touches like wall art and curtains, but here it is for now:
We still need to finish her desk as well - it has a hutch with a corkboard but the box was missing a piece, so we're waiting for that to get shipped to us.
It was so nice to be able to move Kaylee's clothes out of Trysten's closet and into her own walk-in closet.  She LOVES her new room!
Woohoo - Brianna's room is getting closer - all of the drywall is up, we just need to mud, texture, and then we'll be ready for paint and flooring.  I am trying to find a large teal/turquoise rug so I can match the paint -  we discovered with Kaylee's room it's harder to match the rug once you've already painted, so we're trying to find the run first.  So if anyone finds one, please let me know!
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Another fun Woohoo - I've had lots of paper play time lately!  I have my temporary craft room set up - it's not pretty, but at least it's functional!  I still have a lot boxed up but every once in a while I will go looking for some more goodies that I know are hiding somewhere.  I got SO excited at the end of last week when I finally unpacked my Versamat and my Coluzzle - two products that I have missed terribly, especially when it came to cutting out circles.  Before I found my coluzzle I was trying to find cups or bowls that were just the right size for some of my projects which proved to be a pain.  I have already put both newly unpacked products to good use.  I finished an entire set of 16 cards - I will be back to share those soon, along with some pages I've been working on, and a bunch of cards, but for now, here is one card just because it's St. Patrick's Day and because I just feel So Lucky!  Have a great day!
Woohoo!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Scrapbook Update

I just added 36 pages to my scrapbook yesterday (plus 4 more pages for gifts) - all for less than $100 (which included free shipping and free page protectors) thanks to Studio J.  Eighteen of those pages were duplicates from the ones I gave to my mom for Christmas, without any extra work, just the click of a button.  I couldn't have done that many layouts, that quick, or that cheap with traditional scrapping.  I will NEVER give up my traditional scrapping (I actually have a current page in progress that I hope to share soon) but I am sure loving Studio J right now!  Here are the pages I added:

Thanks for visiting!