You Can't Look But You can Peek!!

Happy Wednesday everyone and a very happy New Years Eve!!

Guess what today is?!!!! It is my turn to offer a SUI sneak peek! I am so excited but nervous too! I don't know how I can possibly live up to all the fabulous creations that have been posted so far, but here I go.

For my card today, I used the new set Sweet Things which will be released tomorrow! It is such an awesome set and has a lot of little accessories to go with it. I really wanted to showcase those accessories, so for my card, I decided to "float" little chocolates around. Of course little chocolates floating around everywhere truly is my secret desire!!!

How cute is this set!!! Don't you just feel like you have to have it now! Well you only have to wait one more day because it is available tomorrow!!! I started off this card by stamping the candy box and little candy's from Sweet Things by Storage Units, Inks and More and coloring them in with my markers and copics. I added some glitter pen and a white gel pen to make them look glossy, just like chocolate. To make the layout I used my brand new pack of Core'dinations card stock!!! Oh my goodness how did I not know about this before!! It is so cool! You can rip it, emboss it, sand it or just leave it like it is, but the coolest part of all is that the core color is coordinated to go with the outer color! I can hardly wait to play with it some more!! Well, I digress! I layered on brown, pink and purple core'dinations card stock along with two kinds of Valentine's DP from K and Company. I added rick rack around the edges and through the middle. Using my nesties, I cut out all the circles and embossed the brown one with my swirls embossing folder to make it look like a chocolate. I finished the card off by stamping the sentiment, which I formed into a half circle and then mounted on my card!! I can't wait to use this set some more! It is really the perfect Valentine's day set!

Now, Alex also has a sneak peek for you today and it is awesome!!!! So please check it out!

Well today is also Pink Papery Studio's Wednesday Challenge. This week's challenge was to create a card with scraps. Since I have been feeling a little under the weather lately and completely unmotivated, this was a perfect idea for me. I always have tons of scrap pieces of paper lying around (in fact I have six shoe boxes full of them all divided by color!), so needless to say I have a few scraps to work with! lol!

I love how simple and easy this card was to create! I started it off by printing out the snowman, bunny and coffee cup from Be Merry by Pink Papery Studios on white card stock and colored them in with my markers and copics. I then cut them out with my nesties along with some scrap brown card stock and some white scraps. I mounted them on a piece of white card stock and a piece of winter DP that actually has a little spot on it, so I was happy to use it up! I then ran a strip of brown card stock through my snowflakes embossing folder and finished the card off by printing off the sentiment, making it into a tag, adding a piece of sheer ribbon and then three snowflake buttons. I think this only took me about 15 minutes to make and I used up some scraps!!! Double bonus!

Well, Izzy has been so excited! Grandma and Grandpa came to visit yesterday! She has read books with them and played kitchen with them and had a generally wonderful time. Tuxy on the other hand has been a complete nuisance! I don't know what I am going to do with him!

I hope all of you have a wonderful New Year's Eve and a Very Happy New Year!! I promise I will get caught up on all my blog friends in the coming year! Thanks as always for stopping by!

It Doesn't All Have to Be About Christmas...

and then sometimes it does!!!

Happy Wednesday everyone!!

Well the weather tricked me today!! It was icy this morning when I woke up, but by mid morning it was all gone and the sun has been shining ever sense. Well imagine my surprise when I went outside to take my pictures and about froze my you know what off. Man was it cold! My hands were like ice when I came back inside and I had only been out there a couple of minutes!! Poor Izzy was so excited about getting to go outside again, but even she was ready to come in after a few minutes!

Well, Izzy had quite the potty incident last night. I was finishing up my blog posting in the den while Jason was cooking dinner. (Yes, Jason does all the cooking and Yes, it is wonderful and No I don't feel guilty at all about it!! Lol!!) All the sudden Izzy is beside me and she is saying, "Potty, potty." So I look down to take her and she has manged to completely pull off her diaper. I guess she wanted to go, but it was too dark to go by herself. So I turned on the light and let her have at it. She didn't actually go, but it is a start. The next time I passed by the bathroom I went ahead and turned out the light. A couple of minutes latter I hear little feet and the door closing. I think she was in there in the dark for like ten minutes until I heard a little knock at the door for me to let her out. She is so silly!!

I have a couple of projects to share today! I am still slowly playing catch up from over the weekend, and to top it off my mom asked me to make some gift tags for her cookie exchange this weekend. I have been diligently trying to get them done so that they could get in the mail. I am proud to say I am finished! I will be sharing them a little closer to Christmas.

My first card is for today's Watchadoin' Wednesday Challenge over at SUInk and More. The challenge this week was to use a holiday stamp set for a non-holiday card. Well I can't tell you how much my hands have been itching to use my SUInk sets. I feel like it has been forever. Oh, how I have missed you my old friends! Lol! I used today's Sketch Challenge over at SCS for the layout!

The sentiment on the inside will read, "You are Such a Deer!" Get it, huh, huh? They are reindeer! I know pretty bad, huh? Okay, so I started this card by stamping a few reindeer from Deer Ol Santa by SUInk and More on white card stock and colored them in with my copics and markers. Following the sketch, I layered on brown card stock and three different kinds of card stock. (Isn't the paper yummy! It is from Basic Grey!! Love it!!) I then added some brown and pink stitched ribbon to the bottom, popped off my reindeer that I cut out with my nesties and added three pink brads to the top right!! I think it is so pretty and feminine. The perfect girl card!!

My second card for today is actually an incorporation of two different challenges. The first challenge was from A Spoon Full of Sugar and was to create a New Year's Card. (I hate to admit it, but I have been so obsessed with Christmas that I haven't even thought about New Years, so thanks for the jump start!) The second challenge was a sketch challenge this week over at Papertake Weekly. Here it is my New Year's Resolution...

to never do laundry again!! Yeah right!! Okay, so I actually received this Riley image from my friend and fellow Pink Papery DT member Shelly and now I have decided that I must, must, must own it!! I love it!! Thank you so much Shelly for stamping this up for me. I started this card off by coloring in my Laundry Riley by Hanna Stamps with my copics, markers, pencils and silver gel pen. I went ahead and drew in the floor and colored it in. Following the sketch, which is so cute and different, I layered on teal card stock, blue card stock, white card stock that I embossed with my snowflakes embossing folder and two kinds of DP. I added a ribbon across the bottom and added three snowflakes in the corner. I love the colors on this card!! Do you think if I give this to Jason he will take the hint? Lol!!

My final project today is a tag. And, okay I admit it, it is for Christmas, but it is not in your typical Christmas colors, so that makes it a little better, right? The tag is created for Pink Papery Studios Wednesday challenge which was issued by, drum roll please, ME!!! My first ever challenge that I issued myself. I challenged the DT to create a gift tag that used blue, purple, white and silver! Here you go!!

I wish the picture was crisper. This is really pretty in person. Okay so I started this tag off by cutting out the tree shape in both purple and white using my Cricut machine. I then embossed the white with my swirls embossing folder, sponged on Lovely Lilac ink and then traced over it with my glitter pen. (Ohh, sparkly!) I then printed off the sentiment and girl from Simply Christmas by Pink Papery Studios and colored her in with my markers and copics. I cut her out and adhered her to the tree. I then cut out the sentiment and adhered it to a piece of purple card stock and a piece of blue card stock and popped it off the tree. I finished the tag off by tying on a blue piece of ribbon. I really like this tag!! I think I might make a few more!!

Well, that is it for me today!! I hope have had a great day and have a great evening! As always, thanks for stopping by!!

A Thank You, A Little Bit of Christmas, and A Card I Am Super Proud Of!!!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Ugh! It has been a super gloomy gross day here today! So yucky! It has misted and rained all day and now they are predicting snow. I feel bad for Jason that he has to go into work tomorrow, but he has an important meeting. He has assured me though that he will be working from home on Friday!!! Yeah! I can hardly wait!

Speaking of things I can hardly wait for, tonight is the release party for MFT stamps! I am so excited! I think I need all three stamp sets they are releasing! The sneak peeks have been so cute and the little paper dolls set is called Isabelle, well in honor of my Isabella I need this set! Lol!

And speaking now of Izzy, the potty saga continues! She went in the potty again this morning! I am so proud of her. I have figured out that as long as I have a good supply of reading material in the bathroom she will sit there long enough to go! I should write a book, I will title it "The Importance of Bathroom Reading Material in Potty Training Your Child". Doesn't that sound official! Of course I can only come up with the one tip, but maybe I could just print it so large that it would fill up 150 pages!

Alright, alright, I will get to the cards! My first card is a card for my best friend Tracy! I know I talk all the time about how wonderful she is, but it is true! I am so lucky that I have her in my life! Izzy adores her and pretends that Tracy is calling her all the time and Izzy has excellent taste in people so you know what I say is true! lol! Anywhoo, I incorporated two challenges into this card, the first was A Spoon Full of Sugar's challenge which was to create a thank you card and the second was for Papertake Weekly, which was to use one ribbon, two rectangles and three round objects in your card. Forcing me to come up with my own sketch aren't they!

I love these colors!! I used the ones from the DP. I really wish I had bought a couple more sheets of this. Boo to me! Okay so I stamped the image Kitty by Sugar Nellie on a piece of white card stock and colored her in with my markers and copics. I then mounted her on a piece of black card stock and DP. To create the background, I layered on DP, blue card stock and green card stock. Down the side I ran a piece of black ribbon and tied a bow. I stamped the sentiment from a Hero Arts stamp set and cut it out along with a piece of black with my nesties and placed it just under the bow. To finish the card, I popped off the main image and added three green brads underneath. The sentiment on the inside will read, "For always being there for me." I hope that she likes it.

My next card, isn't a card, but a homemade treat box. Our challenge this week over at Pink Papery Studios was to create a homemade gift item. Well I have been seeing lots of cake shaped boxes out there and have always wanted to make one. I was too lazy to actually look up the directions, so I just pieced one together myself. It turned out okay, but I think next time I am going to look for some.

I figured that you could fill it up with some homemade candy and hang it on the tree, or if you really wanted to a piece of cake! LOL! I started this project off by creating the cake box by cutting out three different strips of green paper. I adhered them together in a triangle shape and then cut out the bottom using the same green card stock. I then adhered the bottom piece. To create the top, I cut out another triangle and attached white paper that I punched with my scallop punch around the edges. To decorate the box, I attached red and green card stock to the top along with some Christmas DP. I added red brads in groups of three on the sides and then drew in the holly leaves with my gold glitter pen. To make the tag and hanger, I punched two holes in the top of the box and threaded through a red ribbon. I printed off Girl Decorating Cake by Pink Papery Studios on a piece of white card stock and colored her in with my markers and copics. I then layered her on a piece of red card stock and a piece of green card stock along with a piece of Christmas DP. I used my nesties to create the scallop. I added three green brads and an eyelet to run my ribbon through. I think this would make a great gift. Do you think if I gave it to someone that they would fill it up with homemade candy and then give it back?

Okay, I am not going to try to be shy or modest on this next card! I am so proud of myself!!!! I created a card that not only has white paper on it, but the white paper is the main element!!!!!!! Can you believe it! I was really sweating bullets on this one, waiting to see what it would turn out like, but I really like it! This card was created for today's Watchadoin' Wednesday Challenge over at SUInk and More. The challenge was to create a 90% white card with just a splash of another color. I used today's Sketch Challenge over at SCS for the layout!

See, I told you the card is mainly white! So, I started this card off by stamping the tiny chef girl from Kiss the Cook by SUInk and More on white card stock and a piece of Christmas DP. I then colored her in and paper pieced her together. I mounted her on a piece of DP. Following the sketch I layered DP and sparkly white paper that I ran through my cuttlebug snowflakes embossing folder. I shifted the girl to the other side since she was pointing to the right. I cut out snowflakes from white card stock and DP using my cricut machine and placed them behind the image. I added a festive ribbon and rhinestones to balance everything out! I am so proud of this card! You have no idea how hard it was for me not to put other colors in there!

Well I am outta here for tonight! I don't want to miss the party. Have a great evening! Thanks for stopping by!

Thanksgiving is Almost Here!!!!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Yeah, Thanksgiving is almost here and I can hardly wait!!! We are going down to Arkansas tomorrow and should arrive just in time to eat dinner. I timed it that way on purpose. lol!!! Just kidding, it will just take us awhile to get down there. The good thing is the roads are pretty clear if we go down on Thanksgiving day instead of the day before so we usually make pretty good time.

I hope Izzy makes it down there okay. It is a long time for her to be in the car, but we travel a lot so she should be fine. We are leaving Tuxy here, it just makes it so much easier. He is always so anxious and it is out in the country so there are several stray dogs that run around. Tuxy has a hard time with other dogs so you have to be with him constantly.

Well Izzy has loved it that Jason has been home all day. They were outside almost the whole time. Izzy loves it when Jason walks her around the yard or just sits out there with her. She no longer has eyes for Mommy if Daddy is around. Oh, quick story, Jason said this morning he pulled out the carton of milk and Izzy went over and open the tupperware drawer and pulled out her cup!!! She's a genius!! (Okay, I am biased, but still!) She is so observant and really catches onto things quickly.

Well onto the cards. I have two cards to post today. I actually made more, but I am scheduling them to post while I am gone. Unfortunately, none of my relatives have the Internet, so I am going to be deprived of all my stamping friends while I am gone. Never fear though, I have some great cards scheduled to post tomorrow and Friday. (We will be back on Sat.)

My first card is a challenge card for my DT work with Pink Papery Studios. Every week one of the girls on the design team issues a challenge. This week's challenge was to create a Thank You card since it is Thanksgiving. Well I knew I had the perfect image.

Isn't it cute! I am going to give it to Tracy. She is house sitting and watching Tuxy while we are out of town. I started this card off by printing off Sydney by Pink Papery Studios on white card stock and coloring her in with my copics and markers. (Love the digi stamps!) I added the pattern to her chair. (It was supposed to look like the chair was tufted, but it didn't quite work so I decided the chair could just be patterned. lol! I then layered her on brown and orange card stock. Next I layered on green, brown, and orange card stock along with two kinds of DP. (I didn't use a sketch!! Go me!!). I then popped off the main image. The sentiment was printed off on my computer and popped off the card. To finish the card, I added three green brads in the corner and wrote on the inside, "like hot chocolate, all warm and comfortable! Thanks for being my friend!" I really hope Tracy likes it. She is such a special friend.

My second card for today is a card for SUInk and More's Watchadoin' Wednesday Challenge and today's Sketch Challenge over at SCS. The challenge at SUInk and More was to create a Christmas Card using non-traditional colors (i.e. not red and green). Well I have been hoarding this pink, flocked gingerbread paper for forever, waiting for the perfect card to use it on, and here it is!!!!

I love this stamp set!! I know I use it all the time, but it is so versatile! Alright, so I started this card off by stamping the little girl with the stripped stockings from Kiss the Cook by SUInk and More on white card stock and colored her in using my markers and copics. I then stamped the little mixing bowl, colored it in, cut it out and popped it off her hand. I adhered her to a piece of teal card stock and a piece of brown card stock. Following the sketch, I layered on my gorgeous piece of flocked paper, brown paper, teal paper and DP. I added a wide brown and pink ribbon across the middle and tied a bow. I then stamped the gingerbread man which I picked up from Archivers over the summer in the Hot Spot (sorry I don't know who the stamp designer is) and colored it in. I then attached it to the bow with a metal curl. I just love the festive feel and the simple design.

Well I am outta here for tonight! I need to finish packing and doing laundry. Thanks for stopping by and all your wonderful comments! Have a great rest of the day!

Bags, Mice and Packages!

Happy Wednesday!

It has been a super busy day for me today! I actually cleaned! Vacuumed, dusted, scrubbed the floors, did a load of laundry! Boy does it feel good to get some of the housework done. Izzy loves to help me! I think she mainly likes to play with the paper towels, but if I limit her to one per room, then I don't have a trail of them through the house!!

Well, today, Izzy was able to get out and play a little bit outside!!! I am so glad. Tomorrow it is going to be a little bit chillier so I don't know if we will be able to. We also need to go pick up a birthday gift for my neighbors' son, tomorrow. His birthday is on Sat. He is so sweet! I asked him the other day what kind of lego sets he was interested in. (He is addicted to legos and is always building something with them.) Well he gave me a long list of the different types he likes and even explained how to get to the online catalog on Lego.com. But then he says, they have really cheep ones that are only 3.99 and those would be nice to have. Isn't he cute! How many 10 almost 11 year olds would be so thoughtful. The only problem with him is that he isn't too enthusiastic about waiting 20 years to get married so that Izzy will be of age. I don't know what he is thinking! Lol!

So, today I was able to get a lot of stamping done. I have found that if I color on the floor with Izzy she is less inclined to ask me to read a different book every 5 minutes. I guess she figures that I am super handy and not as interesting. I don't know! We will see if this strategy works tomorrow! Anywhoo, I was out searching the web for my usual Wed. challenges when I came across the SUInk blog. I started off with this week's Whatchadoin' Wednesday Challenge over at SUInk and More, which was to create a holiday bag. I am pretty sure they meant a Christmas Bag, but I decided to create a Thanksgiving bag. We are going over to my cousin's house for dinner, so it would be nice to bring a little thank you!

I just love the fall colors on this. This bag is not one I created but a candy bag I picked up at Michaels a couple of months ago. They are pretty inexpensive. Any ways, I started this project off by stamping the pilgrim girl and sentiment from Bountiful Harvest and the little Native American dog from Giving Thanks, both by SUInk and More. I colored them in using my copics and stampin' write markers. I then adhered a piece of brown card stock and a piece of DP to the front of the treat bag, cutting out a hole with my nestabilities. Next I cut out a green oval, a DP oval and a brown oval with my nesties. I put my sentiment into a metal tag holder and braded it(is that a word?) to the ovals. I ran a piece of decorative ribbon around the bag and adhered the oval tags. I finished off the bag by adding a decorative bow and filling it up with some candy pumpkins. I think it is so cute! I just know Cindy will love it!!!

My second card for today is a card I created for this week's What's Up Wednesday Challenge over at MFT. The challenge was to use a white gel pen on your card. Well, since I just recently received Farm Friends in the mail and hadn't had a chance to ink it up, I knew what stamp set I was using. I just love the little mouse and couldn't wait to use him.

I decided that I wanted a Christmas card and no I don't feel guilty about it, so I had to create my own background. I started off by stamping the mouse image twice and stamping the holly leaf from Hare for the Holidays several times to create a background. I then colored them in, added some faux stitching with my gel pen and cut out the mouse, the frame and background and popped them off each other to make a little diorama. I then alternated layers of blue card stock, green card stock, dark rose card stock and Christmas DP to create the layout. I added faux stitching with my gel pen and a pink marker. I then threaded through a small blue ribbon, adhered a metal swirl and added three blue stickers. I printed off the sentiment on my computer and attached it with some metal hardware. I am so proud of myself that I was able to come up with the layout all by myself! Yeah me!!!

My final card for today is a very special card. Cassie, my friend and fellow sister over at Pink Papery Studios, issued a very personal and important challenge this week. Her challenge was to create a card using gray and red, the colors of the American Diabetes Association. The gray represents the daily drudgery of diabetes and the red signifies the daily blood testing that is required. I think this is an excellent idea and also hits home with me. While I was pregnant with Izzy I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. This was quite a shock to me since I had no history of diabetes in my family and did not have any of the typical precursors for this disorder. I was required to test my blood three times a day and was put on a restrictive diet. Fortunately, I was not required to take insulin but was able to control it with diet and exercise. My experience ended when I gave birth, but I know individuals that are diagnosed with either Type I or Type II Diabetes are not so fortunate. Theirs lasts a lifetime. If you would like more information about either the challenge or Cassie's personal story, please head over to her blog.

I decided to create a card that used the challenge colors but also had a happy message. I used All Wrapped Up form Pink Papery Studios and printed it off on my computer. I colored in the picture with my copics and stampin' write markers. I then followed today's sketch challenge over at SCS for the layout, layering gray and red card stock, as well as Christmas DP. I added two small pictures from the original image to the corners and added some metal swirl clips and pearl stickers to the opposite corners. I threaded through some red ribbon, tied a bow and popped of the main image in the center. I think this makes a really beautiful Christmas card.

Well, I am out of here for tonight! I am baking a cake and need to go pull it out of the oven. Have a wonderful evening and thanks as always for stopping by!!!

Angels, a Little Bit of Bubbly and some Skates!

Happy Thursday everyone! Only one more day until Friday and boy am I ready for it!

Today has been a kind of relaxed easy going kind of day. Izzy has been playing around outside, as well as Tuxy and I even got some of the leaves raked up so that Jason can mulch them this weekend. Supposedly it is suppose to snow, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that the weather man is wrong.

Izzy has a new obsession, well really not new per se, just widened her old obsession. It is shoes, but not only her shoes, but everybody's. She has been walking around the house in mine and Jason's shoes and the other day she even tried on Aunt Tracy's shoes. Poor Tracy had to hunt down her shoes before she left! We all got a kick out of it though. She looks so funny shuffling around in those big gigantic shoes! She has also been wearing her little kiddie apron all day long. I really didn't think she would even put it on, seeing has how she has started crying every time I show it to her, but for some reason, today she is loving it. I can hardly get it off of her to take a nap! Ohhh, maybe she will make me some cookies, I will have to discuss it with her.

Well on to the cards. I had a really fun and relaxing day making projects. I tried not to stress out too much on how they came out and I really like them. My first card for today is a small ATC (3.5" by 2.5" card) that can easily be made for Christmas. It is actually a combination of two challenges, one at All That Scraps, which was to create a Christmas Card that was easy to mass produce, and the color challenge over at Cute Card Thursday to use red and green on your card. Perfect colors right?! Here it is!

This card was made with one of the angels from Angels Everywhere by All That Scraps. This is a set of Digi downloads. (Love my digis). I started off by resizing my chosen angel and printed her off on the computer. I then colored her in with my copics and stampin write markers. I cut her out and set her to the side. Next, I cut out a piece of green card sock and ran it through my cuttlebug using my hounds tooth embossing folder. I then layered on a piece of red card stock and a piece of Christmas DP. I cut out a piece of Christmas DP and a piece of green card stock with my nesties and embossed the green piece with my swirls embossing folder. I popped if off the background and then popped the angel off the ovals. I think this would be so great to mass produce, especially if a child could help you. Wouldn't this make great little kid's Christmas cards?! Or you could enlarge the angel and make the card on a bigger scale! Gosh I love my digis!!

Speaking of digis, I just had to use one of my new digi stamps from Pink Papery Studios again! They are so cute. One of my fellow design team members hosts a weekly Wednesday Challenge for Pink Papery Studios. This week's challenge was to create a card or project on a budget. Well of course I had no idea where to go to get any budget supplies. (Heavy sarcasm inserted here.) Take a wild guess where I went. You guessed it!!! Target. You should get a prize. I found these cute little bath flowers (they are little dissolvable soaps that are in the shape of flowers). They come in these cute little test tubes and were only a buck!!! So of course I had to get one in every color, luckily there was only three colors!

Aren't they cute!! I got this idea after seeing some Spool Cap Goodie Holders on Becca Feeken's blog. I had to adapt mine because I was only covering the test tube, but the basic idea was the same. I started off by cropping the girl's head from the main image of Simply Bath by Pink Papery Studios, resizing it, and printing it off on the computer three times. I then colored in my three images with my copics. Next I cut a strip of teal card stock 1 3/4 " wide, and a strip 1 1/4 " wide. I then scored each piece at 1/4" in. I cut notches along the 1/4" scored side so that I could attach it to the base. I cut out two different sizes of scalloped circles using my nestabilites, one for the top and one for the bottom. I then took my two notched strips and wrapped them around the tube and attached the notches to the base. I cut a slightly smaller scalloped circle, cutting out the middles so that it would hide my notches. I repeated this for the top. I then cut strips of DP, 1 1/4" wide and 3/4" wide to wrap around the tube. I mounted my girl's face on a scalloped piece of DP, added an eyelet and attached it with a white piece of ribbon. I repeated the process for the pink and purple tubes. This literally took no time at all to make and is such a fun little gift! Wouldn't it be a great little party favor for a spa day?! Okay, I lied a little about the time factor. I know bad aren't I? It actually took me about 10 minutes to make the three gifts, but about 45 minutes to get the stupid sticker and adhesive off of them! Man, that was some industrial strength glue attached to the label!!! I probably should have just run to the store and picked up some Goo Gone. It would have taken less time than scraping it off with my fingernail. lol!

Now to my final card. I wanted to play along with Tamara's Card Sketch Challenge this week and was intrigued by the design. It is so unusual! Once I saw the swoop on the bottom I immediately thought of my new Pink Cat Studio stamps that I received yesterday!!! I couldn't wait to use them. Then I got to thinking about colors and how cool it would be to incorporate this week's SCS color challenge (certainly celery, night of navy and basic gray) into my card. Here is what I came up with!

I love this image!! I have never been able to skate, but this is how I have always imagined it would be! I just love the dog! Okay, I started off this image by stamping Lily and Billy skating from Lily and Billy Winter Stamps on a piece of white card stock. I then colored them in using my copics and my stampin' write markers. I free handed the background and colored it in. I then layered my card with navy, gray, and green card stock, with touches of DP. I free handed the swoosh and popped off the main image. I then added some green ribbon to the bottom and three snowflake buttons to the top of the picture. They were supposed to be at the bottom, but I felt that it was a little bottom heavy so I moved them up. I finished the card off by stamping the sentiment and cutting it, along with a piece of navy card stock out with my nesties. I just love how well the colors go together.

Well I am out for tonight! Jason isn't playing tennis so we get to see him, yeah!! Have a great evening and thanks for stopping by!

These are a few of my favorite things!!!

Happy Wednesday! I got that song stuck in your head now don't I?!

The weeks half over and that means I am still trying to catch up on challenges. Man, you are gone two days and everything backs up!! It has been really fun though trying to figure out how to incorporate different ones together. Izzy has even been helping me pick out colors. She likes to hand me markers to color with. The surprising thing is that she actually hands me the right ones!!! I think she has esp! Now if she would only realize when mommy has reached her breaking point and would stop whining, we would be in business!

Well last night, Tracy, my best friend, came over for dinner. Izzy and I had stopped by Michaels the day before and saw that they had some Halloween village buildings left that were 70% off. I told Tracy that I thought there was one she might want, so we went there as soon as she arrived. Well when we pulled up at Michaels, Tracy jumped in the back to unbuckle Izzy. Izzy took one look at the store front and said, "Michaels". Well Tracy thought it was funny. I turned around and told her not to say that in front of Daddy or Mommy would get in trouble! Can you believe it? Of all the words she says, she has to say one that is going to get me in trouble. I mean I thought we had a pact!

Okay, so obviously my daughter is one of my favorite things, but for some reason today, all of my cards have to do with some of my favorite things. My first card has one of my favorite animals on it, a moose. I just think they are so cute!!! I know that in real life they are pretty dangerous, but I have always wanted to see one. Jason and I actually went to Montana for our honeymoon and my whole goal while we were there was to see one. We heard some, but we never actually saw any. :( So I guess I just have to settle for the stamp kind and here mine is.

I used this week's Mojo Monday Sketch challenge over at Poetic Artistry for the layout. I also incorporated this week's challenge over at Magnolia vs. Stampavie. The challenge was to keep it simple and to use only 3 colors. I choose red, green and brown. I started by stamping Moose by Stampavie on a piece of white card stock and colored him in suing my copic markers. I then added a touch of glitter to the bottom to make it look like snow. Following the sketch, I mounted him on red card stock, green card stock and DP. I cut the circle at the top with with my nesties and adhered it to the card. Next I added three brown brads to the bottom. To create the wreath effect, I punched out snowflakes with my Martha Stewart punch out of green card stock and overlapped them. I finished off the card by adding a pretty red bow to the center. I really love this card's simple elegance.

My next favorite thing is to do, especially around the holidays is wrap presents. I know it sounds weird, but I actually wrap every little thing I get for people. I just think it is so much fun to watch people open their gifts. My sister and I actually used to fight over who would get to wrap! We are strange. Well after seeing today's sketch challenge over at SCS, I just knew I had the perfect image for it. It is a newly released stamp from Pink Papery Studios called All Wrapped Up. I just love the expression on the girl's face. I can just hear her thinking, "Now who is this for?". Which is usually what happens to me.

I started this card off by printing off the main image and coloring her in with my copic markers. It took awhile, but it was sooo worth it! It looks exactly like I want my living room to look like one day! lol! I then cut her out and following today's sketch, mounted her on red card stock, blue card stock, and Christmas DP. I then popped her off the card that I had layered with blue card stock, green card stock and Christmas DP. I added three silver brads to the bottom and a purple ribbon across the two corners. I can't wait to give it to my sister! I know she will really love it!

My next favorite thing to do, and something I now do all the time is blogging. I never actually thought I would enjoy doing it because I actually hate writing. Always have. Jason had to kind of force me to do it and now I am completely addicted! I actually feel weird if I haven't typed at least something at the end of the day! How things change. Well since I am now a blogging addict, when MFT stamps came out with their new stamp sets this month, I knew I had, had, had to have Who's That E-Girl. It is so me. And here she is, what I imagine blogging would be like if Jason, Izzy and Tuxy went on an outing and left me in peace! lol!

I used Dawny's Sketch #2 Challenge over at Papertake Weekly for the layout and this week's What's Up Wednesday challenge over at the MFT forum to use paper piecing on your card. I started off by stamping the main image on a piece of white card stock and five different pieces of DP. I then cut out and paper pieced all the images together, coloring in the areas I didn't paper piece. Next, following the sketch, I layered on brown and blue card stock along with several pieces of DP. I popped of the main image and rounded the corners on two of the pieces. I added three blue brads to the side and printed off my sentiment on the computer. (This is usually the panicked thought I have before I start any card. lol!) Next I cut out the sentiment, a piece of brown card stock and a piece of DP with my nesties and popped it off in the corner. I then added two flowers with a brown brad. I just love how soothing this is.

One more quick thing, my friend Heather is about to celebrate 5,000 hits on her blog Heather's Heavinly Stampations with some blog candy. Yeah Heather!!! My MFT card actually fits one her entry requirements. Please stop by and offer her a congratulations!!

Well I am out of here!! Got to go peel the shrimp for tonight's dinner!! Have a great evening, and thanks for all the lovely comments!

Birthdays, Birthdays everywhere!!!

Happy Monday everyone!!

Man is it cold and gloomy here today! I can't believe how quickly the weather has turned! I guess I am just spoiled. It has been so nice this Fall that it is hard to accept that it really is November and should be cold. Poor Jason is still feeling poorly and Izzy has a stopped up nose, so it is nothing but grouchville around here. The only saving grace is that I should have some new stamps coming in soon!!! Yeah I am so excited! And you know what they say, "if Momma's happy than everybody's happy!", or something like that. :)

Izzy has been excited to be at home. She jumped on Tuxy this morning who was sleeping under the blanket on the couch! He did not appreciate it, but it serves him right for being so lazy. After that they ran around together playing, i.e. Izzy tempting him with her stuffed animal and Tuxy growling at it and then licking Izzy in the face! I am so glad that Izzy has her own little playmate! I think Jason is a little jealous though. The other day I asked him what we are going to do whenever Tuxy prefers to sleep with Izzy instead of us and he said, we will have to buy her another dog because Tuxy is mine! It really is pathetic.

Well I have some really exciting news!!! I just found out from my cousin that she is expecting again!!! I am so excited! Her baby is due at the end of June. They don't know what they are having of course, so in honor of her exciting news I made a baby card. Luckily if fit right in with a challenge over at the Hanna Stamps forum on SCS to create a baby card using non-traditional baby colors. For the sketch I used this week's Sketch Saturday Challenge.

Isn't it cute?! I decided since I was using non-traditonal baby colors I would also use a non-traditional baby stamp. I started the card off by stamping Hanna from the Garden Set by Hanna Stamps. I colored her in using my copics and stampin' write markers. I then layered her on orange card stock, DP and brown card stock. Next I layered the card following the sketch using brown card stock, pink card stock and DP. I added a teal ribbon and printed off the sentiment using the computer. I popped it off along with the main image and wrote on the inside of the card "And now you are finally here! Welcome baby!" I just love all the colors! I guess I will just have to hold on to it for awhile though! Oh well!

My second card for today is actually for a Sketch Challenge over at the SCS forum for Hanna Stamps. I recently received a prestamped image of Fishing Riley from my friend Sharon and have been dying to stamp him up. And here he is!

I think it is the perfect man card, which I always seem to be in short supply of. I started off by coloring in Riley using my copics and stampin' write markers. I then drew in the background and colored it it. Luckily, when I cut him out with my circle nesties it cut off the part that I screwed up on! I was really sweating that one! I then mounted it on a piece of dark green card stock and a piece of red card stock. Next, following the sketch, I layered on red card stock, green card stock and DP. I popped of the main image and drew in some white dots. Lastly, I printed off the sentiment and layered it on to the bottom using red card stock and DP. I drew the little bobber on (no, it is not a Christmas ornament! lol!) and colored it in. On the inside I wrote, "I guess we were out fishing! Happy belated birthday!" I can't wait to give it to my uncle. He loves fishing and his birthday was on September 15th, whoops!

The last project for today was a really fun one to make. It is this week's Try a New Technique Challenge over at SCS. The challenge is to make a Christmas tree box. Full instructions can be found here.

I don't know what my deal is but when I saw the triangle box, I immediately thought "birthday hat." Doesn't it kind of remind you of one? So I started off this project by printing off the template on a piece of fuchsia card stock. (Thank you so much Brenda for the fabulous template! It worked out perfectly). I cut it out and assembled it following the tutorial. Next I cut out three teal triangles and three DP triangles. Before attaching them to the box, I looped teal ribbon across the bottom to make it look like fringe on a hat. I then attached the triangles. Next I printed off Birthday Girl, a soon to be released stamp set from Pink Papery Studios and colored her in with my copics. I actually chopped off her legs (I know horrible aren't I) and attached her to a piece of fuchsia card stock. I then popped her off the box. Next I cut out three teal circles using my nesties and placed a looped ribbon in between them. I added the sentiment "happy birthday" to the front circle and stuck it on top of the box to make it look like a pom pom. Lastly I cut out two small circles out of teal and fuchsia and popped them of the main image. I stuck an eight sticker in the middle for my niece's birthday. Her birthday isn't until February, but there isn't any reason not to get a head start. I mean I don't want what happened with my uncle's birthday to happen again! lol!

Well that is it for me today! I am off to Michaels and the Post Office. Have a great rest of the day! Thanks for stopping by!

Exciting News and a Serious Problem!

Happy Friday!

We have safely arrived in Kansas City and Izzy did a really good job on the trip. It has been a couple of months since we went on a long drive, so I wasn't sure how she would handle it, but she did really well. I am proud of her! Of course she had Tuxy in the back seat with her, which keeps her pretty entertained. She kept trying to pet him. He stays just a millimeter out of her reach, but no further. I don't know how he does it! He must have super powers or something.

We had a wonderful dinner with Jason's parents and ice cream parfaits for dessert. Izzy wasn't sure if she wanted one. (We don't usually have dessert after meals at our house). We kept trying to get her to take a bite and finally she did. Then it was full on gorging time. I have never seen a kid eat something so fast. I kept telling her to slow down or she would get an ice cream headache!

Well on to my exciting news! I am a design team member for the new stamp company/web store Pink Papery Studios!!!! I can hardly type this I am so excited. Amy, the owner, has opened up the new website and has a ton of exciting stuff. She has Shimmerz Paints, Card Scents (coolest thing ever) and lots and lots of new stamp sets so check it out! She has also uploaded a group to Paper Craft Planet so be sure to drop in and say hello!

Okay, on to my first ever design team project! I don't know why but I am totally into making gift sets lately. I must have Christmas on the brain. When Amy sent me Simply Bath I immediately thought, wouldn't that make the cutest gift basket for someone. So I dropped another project I was working on, strapped Izzy into the car and drove to Target. (Are you surprised!) Here it is!

Here are some close up views of the contents. All contents are from Target!

Is this girl not the coolest thing ever! (This is what I imagine a relaxing bath would be like, minus the dog and baby trying to crawl in with you!) I actually got her in digi form (image is sent to you over the computer) but she is also available in regular stamp form. I really like the digis because you can resize them, rotate them, crop them, etc. It makes them so versatile. I started off by printing her off on some white card stock and coloring her in with my copic markers. I found the copics to be the best way to color the digis in. And let me tell you was she ever fun to color in. I then added a touch of glitter to the bubbles and wrote "Relax" in black pen and glitter at the top. I cut her out using my nesties along with a piece of DP and purple card stock and punched holes on either end with my rectangle punch. I threaded through an ivory organdy ribbon and tied it around a square basket I got at the dollar spot. Next I made tags for all the little goodies inside using the bottles and towel rack from Simply Bath. I colored them with my copics and mounted them on DP and purple or teal card stock that I cut out with my nesties. On a few of them I used my cuttlebug embossing folders to create texture. I attached most of them with ribbon and arranged them artfully in the basket. I just love the colors and the girl is going to be so much fun to play with over and over again. I can't wait to get the rest in the series!!!

Now on to my serious problem. I truly think I am 100% addicted to paper crafting. I think it has reached a pinnacle. I was driving to my friends house the other day, kind of daydreaming, thinking about how wonderful it would be to be rich and famous. I am sure there are lots of other people that do this. Here is where I realized how bad my problem is! The whole reason I want to be rich (don't really care about being famous) is because I wouldn't have to worry about how much I spent on stamping supplies! I even thought through what kind of job I would have to have that would allow me to make money, but still have plenty of time to stamp! What is wrong with me?! I spent thirty minutes just trying to come up with the perfect job! If there is a support group for people like me, please let me know! lol!

Well that is it for me tonight! I am off to visit with the inlaws. I have a short, quick project for tomorrow that I will be posting and lots to share about the family get together. As always, thanks so much for stopping in and leaving your wonderful comments! I read every single one!