Birthday Balloons!!!

Happy Friday everyone!

Another week down! Can hardly believe it! How time flies!! I am feeling a lot better. thank you to all of you who sent well wishes, I really appreciate it. I am just tired now. Jason is still sick, poor thing but has been going to work. I feel so bad for him because his birthday is tomorrow. He is turning the big 30!! And supportive wife that I am, I am so excited because now I get to tease him for the next three months about how he is married to a younger woman and I am his trophy wife!!! LOL!

Well Izzy is about 80% back to normal. She feels okay and is getting around like usual but is still congested. I feel bad for her, but it sounds like it is getting better! She actually played outside pretty much all day yesterday. It was so beautiful and today is supposed to be more of the same so I hope she can get outside some more. We have a few errands to run so we will see. Yesterday she walked all around the back yard and threw sweet gumballs on the pool tarp. It makes a thunking sound every time one hits. I am sure Jason is going to be so happy to clean them all off! LOL! Here is a picture of her playing outside yesterday.


In honor of Jason's B-day tomorrow I decided to show you a birthday themed card I made. And get this!! I did not, I repeat not, use a sketch! I know! Wow! When you see it though, you'll notice that it really doesn't need a sketch, but still, it is step in the right direction, right?


Do you not love that image! So, so sweet! My good friend Jess was generous enough to let me stamp this adorable image up and take it home with me to color! As soon as I got back from my trip I had to color it up and make a card with it! I started this card by coloring Lily and Milo - Congratulations by Stampavie with my copic markers. I then cut them out along with pieces of blue, red, green and yellow card stock using my nesties. I ran the blue card stock through my swiss dots folder and the green card stock through the swirls folder. I then stamped my sentiment from an old SU! set called All Around Argyle and mounted it on my yellow card stock. For the card itself, I layered on red and blue card stock along with some DP from Basic Grey. To make them look like balloons, I cut out little tabs for the bottoms of the balloons, glued on some black thread for the strings and then tied them together with a little red bow. I liked how this turned out, but for some reason Jason said he didn't want this card for his birthday. He mentioned something about how it was too kiddish for him and that he would prefer a more grown up card. Gosh I have no idea why he would think this was more of a kids card. LOL! Oh well, guess I have to go back to the drawing board for his card!

Izzy and I are off to run some errands this morning and then to catch up on some blogs. I hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping by!! Smiles!

Get Well Soon and Skate On By!

Happy Thursday everyone!!!

I hope you are having a great week so far. Mine has been a little bit frustrating. Nothing major or anything. Just little things that have been irritating have been going wrong. I think the main thing is that I just need to let them go and don't let them get to me. So from today forward I am going to be positive. So cross your fingers that my photo software will work this morning! LOL!

So, yesterday the wonderfully talented Maria Bell left me the sweetest comment and made the best suggestion!! She said that she was starting a feature on her blog called The Photo of The Day and suggested that I take a picture of Izzy everyday to go along with my Izzy stories!!! Isn't that the best idea ever! I can hardly wait to get started. Of course I don't have one for today, bad mommy, bad mommy, but I am hoping I will for tomorrow. The only thing is, if I had taken a picture of her on Tuesday she would have been wearing a pink and blue shirt with shorts, her pink striped leg warmers and pink and white checkered flip flops. Not sure if I want to capture this look for all eternity! LOL!

Okay so onto my real Izzy story for today. Yeah, I have a snitch in my midst here! I don't understand it, you raise them, you love them, you tell them to not tell Daddy when you buy things (so kidding here!), and then they rat you out the first chance they get! It all started Monday night when Jason had to go to Target to get some tennis balls. He was so sweet and offered to take Izzy since I had been babysitting all day. Well, according to Jason, when they pulled into the strip mall where Target is (we are not even talking the parking lot of Target), she started yelling, "Target, Target, Target!" OMG!!! That little stinker! We haven't even been there in a couple of weeks and she is basically telling Daddy that we go there every day! Oh boy! What will I do with this girl! LOL! Luckily, Jason has no reason to go to Michaels or the stamping store so I think I am still safe!

Alright onto the cards! I am really trying to be more diligent about playing my weekly sketch challenges. You know how much I love them and I feel like the last couple of weeks I have really been missing some of them. So it was with great relief that I was able to play in this week's Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge. I decided to make a Get Well Card for a friend.


Aren't these Anyas the best and they are so, so much fun to color!! I started this card by stamping Nurse Anya by The Greeting Farm on white card stock and then colored her in using my copics. Following the sketch, I layered on blue and brown card stock along with some DP from Basic Grey. Gosh I love that stuff! I then popped of my little nurse and added a red ribbon behind her with a metal brad I had from Making Memories. I finished the card off by printing my sentiment on the computer, mounting it on some brown and placing it on the side of my nurse. I really hope my friend likes it despite all the brown! (wink, wink)

For my second card of the day, I was finally able to participate in the SCS Sketch Challenge again. You miss one week and it seems like forever. Well, my poor Rachelle Anne Miller stamps have been neglected recently so I decided to ink one up for this sketch.

I really hope I am not jinxing myself by making a winter card. It has been so nice this week that I would be sad to be back in freezing temps again! Anywhoo, I started this card by stamping the Lily and Milo from Skating by Rachelle Anne Miller for Stampavie on white card stock and then colored them in with my copics, silver pen and glitter pen. I distressed the edges with a sponge and some bordering blue ink. Following the sketch, I layered on two different blue card stocks and three different pieces of Heidi Grace DP. To finish the card off, I added two white and silver ribbons and tied little bows. A pretty simple card, but I love the overall look.

Well, that is it for me! A winner for my first Pink Cat challenge has been selected and is now up on the Pink Cat blog and the Pink Cat discussion group on PCP. Thank you to everyone who participated. Your creations were amazing!! Thanks as always for stopping by! Smiles!

Flowers and More Flowers!

Happy Thursday everyone!

Last night's MFT party was a lot of fun and now I can hardly wait to get all my goodies in the mail! The new maid set just cracked me up!! I just know that Jason is going to love it! If you haven't seen the new release, check it out over at the MFT site.

Well, Izzy and I have quite a busy day planned today. We have to go to the stamping store this morning, such a burden, to drop off some supplies for my class I am teaching next weekend. (Truthfully though, I am always looking for any excuse to go to the stamping store. lol!) Then, this evening, we are going over to Aunt Tracy's for dinner. It will be so nice to see her. I haven't seen her since this weekend. I know that that doesn't sound like a long time, but we used to teach together and would see one another everyday, so missing days is a real shock to the system.

Izzy seems to finally be back in her routine after all the trips and visits. She is reading a ton lately and picking up more and more words. She has been super cuddly lately which has been really nice for me. She is such a good snuggler. Oh and she made me muffins and some sort of sauce last night. I have to say it was delicious, even though she didn't clean up the kitchen afterwards. She must have picked that up from her father. lol!

So, onto the cards! My first card that I would like to share today is a card I created for the Mojo Monday challenge over at Poetic Artistry. In case you didn't know, Mojo Monday now has their very own blog!! How exciting is that, be sure to check it out. I also incorporated Papertake Weekly's challenge which was to use spots on your card.

I just picked up this stamp and I am loving it! I am really into flowers right now and have been using the flower cutter feature on my Cricut machine quite a bit! I started this card by stamping Lily - Picking Flowers by Rachelle Anne Miller for Stampavie on white card stock and colored it in using my markers and copics. Following the sketch, I mounted her on a piece of maroon card stock and a piece of teal card stock. I made a belly band out of maroon card stock and DP and added three green brads on each side of my sentiment. The sentiment was stamped from Time for the Bubbly by MFT on white card stock, mounted on maroon card stock and cut out with my nesties. The final touch was adding a flower I created with some maroon card stock, teal card stock, DP, my cricut machine and a teal brad. I think it adds the perfect touch and would work well as a birthday card!

My second card for today is for the sketch challenge this week over at A Spoon Full of Sugar. This week's challenge was issued by my friend and fellow Pink Cat DT member Nikki. She is super talented with sketches and with making cards. Here is my take on her sketch!

See I told you the sketch was fantastic!! I started this card by coloring in Eloise Greengrass by Stamping Bella. I received this image for my friend Kimmie, and I fell in love with her!! She is so cute and pretty. Anywhoo, to give her some sparkle, I added touches of glitter pen to her dress, hat and flower. Following the sketch, I layered on pink and brown card stock along with some DP from Basic Grey. I added a brown and pink striped ribbon to the bottom, cut out flowers out of DP and card stock using my cricut, attached them to the corner with pink brads and added a metal swirl to the bow. To finish the card off, I stamped the sentiment from How Sweet It Is by MFT stamps and mounted it on a piece of pink and brown card stock. I love the color combo on this card, it is one of my favorites!

I am outta here for today. Need to squeeze in stamping time wherever I can. Don't forget the awesome contest going on over at Pink Cat Studio. I have loved all the cards I have seen so far. There are some really talented ladies out there!

I Made a Card that Wasn't about Christmas and Something Else!

Happy Friday everyone!!

The time is just flying by this year!! I can hardly believe it!! I was able to get a little bit more shopping done today, so now I only have one more person to buy for! It feels so good to be almost done. I really am not that highly organized but since we have to travel for the holiday it almost forces you to get things done in advance.

Izzy was such a sweetie today. We were gone all morning shopping and she never once complained. I was kind of surprised, since it was so crowded and hot at the mall, but she didn't seem to mind. She even helped me pick out a few things and carried around a bag. Lol!

Well, I have some exciting news!! I have been asked to be on a really fun and exciting DT!! Yeah!!! It is a challenge DT created by Jessica aka The Whimsical Butterfly's eight year old daughter, Madelynn. Every Tuesday, she will be issuing a new sketch for everyone to try. Can you believe it?!!!! I have the hardest time coming up with a sketch and Jessica's amazing daughter is going to be coming up with one every week!!! This is just too awesome! If you have a chance please come out and join us! I know Madelynn will be ecstatic to see what you create!

Here is Madelynn's first sketch (It was actually issued on Tuesday, I told you I am behind!). And here is my card for it!

Is this not the best sketch?!! Madelynn you rock girl!!! I had the best time creating this card. It actually started the other day with my Pink Papery card. I told my neighbor that my husband was a little carded out, I usually give him all my leftover cards, and since I had already made him a Christmas card, I wanted to know if she wanted it. I told her it was a little risque so she said she would look at. Well, her husband is a pastor, so when she saw it, she thought it might be a little too much for him! I can't imagine why, lol, so I decided to create her another, more conservative card. This image, Rachelle Anne Miller for Stampavie's Christmas Love, was actually stamped by my friend and fellow Pink Papery DT member Shelly, aka Jaspere. I colored it in using my copics and markers and then added touches of glitter pen to make it sparkle. Using Madelynn's awesome sketch, I layered on green card stock with DP, and using my new labels nesties I cut out my image and popped it off the background. I then tied on a brown ribbon that I picked up today at Archivers. A whole spool for two bucks!!! It has 15 yards on the spool!! You have to go get some! I digress, I then stamped the sentiment from Home for the Holidays by MFT on white card stock and mounted it on a piece of green card stock I cut out with my nesties. To finish the card off, I popped off the sentiment and added a metal swirl. Isn't it so sweet and romantic? All made possible by Madelynn's incredible sketch!

I want you all to know that my second card for today is not a Christmas card but a Valentine's day card!!! Yeah!!! See , I can make other things!! This card was created for my friend Carolyn Bound's Pink Cat Studio challenge over at PCP. The challenge is to create something for Valentine's day. Let me tell you, it was a little difficult to switch out of Christmas mode, but it felt good. So here is mine! I used this week's Sketch Challenge at SCS for the layout.

The sentiment on the inside will say, "You stole my heart!". I started this card by stamping pirate Billy from Billy Plate 1 by Pink Cat Studio on white card stock and colored him in using my copics and markers. I added touches of glitter pen and silver pen to add some sparkle and drew in little hearts. I also drew a little heart, cut it out and popped it off the bag. Turning the sketch on it's side, I layered on maroon card stock, pink card stock and two different kinds of DP. I stamped the sentiment on white card stock and cut it out along with a piece of pink, maroon and black card stock using my nesties. I finished the card by popping it off in the corner. I just love this card!! I can't wait to give it to Jason so he can give it back to me, LOL!!!

Well, I am outta here for tonight! I hope you have had a wonderful evening and thanks as always for stopping by!

Is Anybody As Freaked Out as Me That Christmas is Right Around the Corner?!!!

Happy Saturday everyone!!

Boy have we had a busy one! I did a whole lot of stamping this morning, this afternoon we braved the toy store to buy Christmas presents, and this evening we had a wonderful dinner over at "Aunt" Tracy's new apartment! Man was that fun! Izzy has been really missing her. I can't even count how many times she said Tracy's name on the car ride over. Needless to say, it was a lot.

Well, I can't panic too much that Christmas is so close. I have actually been doing really well with my shopping. I just need to buy books for all the kids, stocking stuffers for Izzy, a few small items for Jason and Tracy's gift. See not too bad. The only thing is we are leaving for Kansas City next Saturday, so that means I need to get it all completed this week. Izzy is definitely going to be going on lots of field trips to the mall!

I don't know what I will do when Izzy gets old enough to actually know that we are buying presents for her. Right now it is so nice to all go out together and pick something out. I guess next year we will have to figure out some way to buy the presents in secret and get them to grandma and grandpa's without her knowing. I think the mailman might have to be my secret helper.

I had a lot of fun today making my cards. There are some days when you feel like all the coloring that you have done and the papers you have chosen work really well together and today was that day. Sometimes, I pick papers and start coloring and for some reason they just don't work, but today everything seemed to come out just like I pictured it.

For my first card, I used my brand new Magnolia stamp, only the second one I have ever colored, to make a nice traditional Christmas card. I love my new Basic Grey Wassail paper. I don't know why I held out for so long to buy it. Anywhoo, I used the fabulous sketch over at Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge for the layout.

Isn't she lovely!! I just love these stamps!! I don't know why I don't own more of them. (Hint, hint honey!). Okay, so I started this card by stamping Tilda with Christmas Presents by Magnolia on white card stock and colored her in with my markers and copics. Using my gold glitter pen, I added some embellishments to the present and to the four corners. Following the sketch, I layered on red and green card stock, along with several different kinds of Christmas DP. I used my Martha Stewart edge punch to create the triangle border and added three brads down the side. I finished the card off by stamping the sentiment from Deer Ol Santa by SUInk and More on white card stock, cutting it out along with a piece of green card stock using my nesties, added some gold details and popped it off the card. I just love the combo of colors, they seem to scream Christmas!!

My second card for today is a funky take on Christmas. I was out collecting all of the challenges I wanted to participate in this weekend when I came across Jen Del Muro's Sketch For You To Try. I just loved the simplicity of the sketch this week and wanted to use a simple, not too complicated image for the card. Here it is!

Don't you just love this sketch!! It is so simple yet concise!! It was a lot of fun to work with! Okay, so I started this card by stamping the three potted Christmas trees from Santa's Little Helpers by SUInk and More on white card stock and colored them in with my markers and copics. I then mounted them on some pink glitter paper and popped them off the background. Following the sketch, I layered on green card stock and three different kinds of glittered Christmas card stock. I added some pink and green stitched ribbon for the final touch. Don't you just love it?! And the best part is, it was so quick to make! I honestly think it took me only 10 minutes to stamp, color and assemble after I had the papers chosen. The most difficult part was cutting the double angle in the ribbon! LOL!! Thanks Jen for your wonderful sketch!

For my final card I decided to not only follow a challenge but to also challenge myself while I was at it. I know I have talked in the past about how difficult it is for me to use white in cards, but the only other color that truly gives me fits is yellow. I love when other people use yellow in their cards, but for some reason, I usually hate it when I do. (That is why you rarely see any of my people with blonde hair!) Following today's Sketch Saturday Challenge for the layout, I decided to use some yellow!

I am so proud of this card!! I used tons of yellow in it and even made the little girl a blonde!!! Go me! So I started this card by stamping Cuddling by Rachelle Anne Miller for Stampavie on white card stock and colored them in with my markers and copics. Following the sketch, I used multiple layers of SU! DP and yellow card stock. For the scallops, I used my Fiskars, threaded scallops punch and for the flowers, I used my cricut machine. I added three blue brads to the centers of my flowers to complete the look. When I showed this card to my husband, he said he really like it because it looked so different from what I usually create!! I was so proud.

Well that is it for me tonight!! I hope you all have had a wonderful Saturday and have a great rest of the weekend! Thanks as always for stopping by!

Lots of Fairies and Santa?

Happy Tuesday everybody!!

Today was a beautiful day outside, a little cold but much nicer than yesterday. Izzy still didn't get to go outside and play but Tuxy was outside for awhile so things went much smoother this afternoon between them. Although, Tuxy now has this thing for licking Izzy, which she hates for some reason so that has been a little bit of a challenge.

Oh and now Izzy is completely obsessed with the potty. She has sat on it every hour all day long. Although she only went potty a tiny bit in it today. She now feels like she has to take everything off to sit on it. I don't know how to convince her she doesn't. I also walked in on her this afternoon in her crib to find her saying "Poop" with her diaper on the floor. Needless to say I ran as fast as I could to her crib, but luckily she did not go in the crib! Thank goodness!! This potty training stuff is hard.

Well I am a little bummed today. I am just not happy with my weight loss progress. I need to be more diligent about going to Curves, I know. I am only managing about twice a week and I think I need to be stricter on my diet. I don't eat horribly unhealthy (we never have chips or junk food in the house), but I know I could do better. I sometimes skip meals and eat late at night to make up for it. It is difficult though because Jason doesn't have a weight problem at all and never has to diet or exercise to stay thin. But it is not about him, it is about me and I really need to commit myself to this. Sorry to be a downer, but I appreciate you listening.

Okay, onto the cards! My first card is a card I created for Michelle Oatman's Sketch Challenge over at the Stampavie Group on PCP. This was another great sketch from Michelle!! I thought the threaded ribbon detail at the bottom was awesome!!!

See, amazing sketch right?!!! I need to admit something before I get started on the description of my card. I have a problem with sentiments on the outside of cards. I can never make mine look right so I tend to avoid them. That is why I cut out a stem of flowers instead. I just couldn't make the sentiment I had planned for this card fit! Maybe there is a support group for people like me! Lol! Okay, so I started this card by stamping Lily - Magic Fairy by Rachelle Anne Miller for Stampavie on white card stock and colored her in with my markers and copics. I then mounted her on a piece of brown card stock a piece of green card stock and two pieces of DP. Following the sketch, I placed jumbo eyelets at the bottom and threaded through the ribbon. I cut out a stem and flowers from the DP and popped it off the side adding a few rhinestones. I really love how this turned out. It is so beautiful in person.

My second card for today I am really excited about!!! I was checking out Lauren Meader's blog yesterday and she had a posting for a new digi stamp company, Squigglefly. Well you know how I am with my digis! Love them!!! So I had to go check it out! They have some of the most adorable images so I bought a couple and printed them off. I colored this image up right away and decided to use her for this week's Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge over at Poetic Artistry.

Isn't this little pixie fairy adorable ( I wish my picture had turned out better)!!!! I love her. And she was so much fun to color in! Alright, I started this card off by printing Pixie by Squigglefly on white card stock and colored her in with my copics and markers. Following the sketch, I layered on pink, green and white card stock with two kinds of DP. I ran my white card stock through my hounds tooth embossing folder to give it some texture. I put some ribbon behind my sentiment, that I also printed off, and my image. I then cut out flowers from the DP and placed them around. This reminds me so much of my niece. She always has this innocent look on her face right after she has done something she shouldn't. Lol!!

Alright, for my final card I dusted off an old SU! set called Ho Ho Holidays. I find that now that I have all sorts of acrylic sets and stamps from other stamp companies, my poor SU! stamps collect dust. So when I saw Mary Jo's Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge, I knew I could find an SU! stamp set that would work.

I wanted the reindeer to look like he was just taking off! Alrighty, I started this card off by stamping Santa in sleigh and the reindeer from Ho Ho Holidays by Stampin Up! I then colored them in along with the background with my copics and markers. I added a touch of gold glitter pen to make it sparkle. I also put on some liquid applique so it would look like it was snowing!! Following the sketch, I layered on DP and green and red card stock. Instead of a circle in the corner I created a present out of ribbon and green card stock and printed off the sentiment on my computer. I cut it out along with green and red card stock with my nesties so that it would look like a gift tag. To finish the card, I added three red brads and some gold glitter pen to the tag. I really love the little scene!

Well, I am outta here for tonight. Sorry I am so late in posting but this evening has been a crazy one! Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting, have a great rest of the evening!

Things I Love!

Happy Monday!!

I can't believe it is almost Thanksgiving! I can hardly wait! I absolutely love visiting my family! We only all get together once a year, so it is really special. I know that Izzy will really look forward to it as she gets older. She is a little too young to be excited about it now.

Well it is official, she is my little helper. I was cleaning up this afternoon and she kept handing me things and saying, "Helper. Helper". Isn't that cute! She was putting shoes away and all her toys. Now if I can only get her to fold all the laundry and clean the bathrooms we would be in business.

She and I have had quite the busy day today. We went to the post office first thing this morning to drop off my images for the swaps I am in. Then we came home and colored the morning away. While she napped I finished my cards, then we ate lunch, cleaned and have been playing ever since. She was able to sit outside for awhile, which she really enjoyed. The only thing is she cries when she can't get into her chair. We are working hard on asking first before we melt down. Although some days are harder than others.

Now what you have been waiting for, the cards!!!! In honor of my huge, exciting news, I decided to ink up some of my wonderful MFT images. I was scanning the Internet this morning when I came across this week's MFT Who's That Girl Monday Challenge. The challenge this week was to use your scraps in your scrap bins. (Which isn't too hard for me since I have six of them, all divided into colors. They are all almost overflowing. lol!) I decided to use my Say Charge set since I wanted to incorporate today's Try a New Technique Challenge over at SCS which was to create a pop up gift card.

Isn't it cute. I wrapped some ribbon around the middle so that the card would tie up. Instructions for the card can be found here. I started my card off by creating my pop up gift card holder out of green card stock. I then stamped the main image from Say Charge on white card stock and four different pieces of Christmas DP. I then cut them out and paper pieced the image together. I drew in the background and used my copic markers and stampin' write markers to color it in. I stamped the sentiment on a piece of white card stock and layered it along with the image on brown card stock and green card stock. I can't wait to give this to someone! I think it is such a great idea for a gift card holder.

For this week's Magnolia Vs. Stampavie Challenge, the theme was "Get The Feeling". You were supposed to incorporate texture into your work. Well, I haven't used this stamp in awhile and it reminds me of Jason and I. (I know Jason isn't blond, but I wanted a contrasting hair color, okay! lol!)

I just love their little faces. He looks so nervous! Well for my texture on this card, I decided to create grass out of cut up card stock. I then embossed some of my paper with my cuttlebug swirl folder and added some fabric flowers. I started this card by stamping Lily & Milo - First Love by Rachelle Anne Miller for Stampavie on white card stock and coloring them in with my copics and markers. I added highlights with my gel pen. I then adhered my grass and layered the image on red/orange card stock and lime green card stock. I then layered on card stock and DP to create the card. I wrapped around a piece of blue ribbon and added some flowers with a brown brad in the middle. To balance the card out, I added three blue brads to the corner. I really like how this card turned out. I love all the happy colors and the image is just so cute.

Well, my theme for today has been things I love; shopping, my husband and last but not least I love the snow and winter. I don't actually like being out in the snow, but I love to look at it. I think it just makes everything look so clean and new. When I saw Mary Jo's Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge over at Technostamper, I knew the perfect stamp to use.

Doesn't it look like fun!!! I wish I could be on their sled with them!! Anywhoo, I started this card off by stamping Lily and Billy on Sled from Lily and Billy Winter Stamps by Pink Cat Studio on a piece of white card stock. I colored them in with my copics and markers. I then masked them off and used a sponging technique that I adapted from Michelle over at Just Painting Around to create the snow drifts. I ripped a piece of paper and sponged on bashful blue and ballet blue. I then went over the lines with a gray marker and some glitter. I drew in the trees and accented them with my white gel pen. I cut out my image along with a piece of green card stock and a piece of red card stock using my nesties. Following the sketch, I layered on red and blue card stock along with DP. I tied a bow around the bottom and added a snowflake button. To finish the card, I cut out three circles of red, green and blue card stock using my nesties and added two swirls and a snowflake. I really like how this turned out. I am definitely going to have to use this technique again.

Well thanks for stopping by today!! It has been really exciting for me. Thanks for all you wonderful comments and have a great evening!!

Peek A Whooo? and I'll Have a Blue Christmas!

Happy Thursday everyone!!

Tonight we are going to our neighbors son's surprise birthday party. I don't think he has any clue that it is going to happen. I told him that Jason and I are going out for a late anniversary dinner and that we will see him on Sat. for his birthday. I am so excited. Beth, my neighbor, said that his favorite birthday was when everybody was there. He is such a sweet kid.

Well, Izzy and I had to make an emergency run to the grocery store this morning. Want to know why??? Okay, it all started yesterday afternoon. Beth came over to bake Ryan's cake because she doesn't want him to know about it. So I turn on the oven, got the behemoth mixer down and had just greased up the pan, when we heard, "Mom!". Alright so Izzy barely says "mommy" so I knew it wasn't her. (Secretly, I was crossing my fingers that it was Caleb because he is in on the surprise.) No, it was Ryan!!! Can you believe it. So Beth runs into the living room, I am quickly dusting flour off of my hands and ran to meet them in the living room. Well we sit down to talk and I am trying to talk about the most boring adult things I can think of, and Beth is trying to come up with all sorts of excuses for him to leave but no, he stays. His friend even stops by to ask him to come play, but that doesn't persuade him! (Okay, I am a little flattered that he would want to hang out over here for so long, but I mean come on!! He really needed to leave.) We finally give up and they go home. I called Beth later and told her that I would just bake the cake and not to worry about it.

I mixed the cake up and stuck it in the oven. Well, Jason being a sweetheart takes the cake out of the oven for me. The only problem is he took it out too early and it wasn't done in the middle. It sunk like three inches right in the center. Now if it was my cake I wouldn't have cared, but I couldn't give a misshapen cake to Ryan! (Also, I didn't think I had enough frosting to fill it all in). So, Izzy and I had to run to the store this morning and buy another cake mix. I have already baked it and it has not sunk yet. So, as long as the frosting goes okay, Ryan will have a birthday cake tonight! Boy am I tired!

Alrighty, on to the cards. As you might have guessed my first card has to do with owls. The title actually comes from my daughter's favorite book. It is by Nina Laden and has a little mirror at the end. She just loves it! Okay, well last night, this week's MFT sketch challenge was posted on SCS. I went ahead and pulled it up so that I would remember to think about what I wanted to do in the morning. Of course that is not what happened. About 11:30, while I was still awake laying in bed, I started to think about what MFT set I had not used recently. That is when the little owls popped into my head. I then thought, I wonder how I can make them into a circle and that is when the moon idea hit me!! I'd like to say I immediately fell asleep after this, but instead I was awake for another half hour thinking about how I wanted to put the card together, and here it is!

It really turned out well! I also incorporated this week's Cute Card Thursday Challenge to include snow or snowflakes into your design. I started off by stamping Christmas Owls by MFT on a piece of white card stock and coloring it in. I then hand drew a tree out of brown card stock and drew on some highlights with a brown marker. Next I cut out a large circle with my nesties and sponged on barely banana, more mustard and apricot appeal to create the moon. I assembled the card with red card stock and two different Christmas DPs following the sketch. I added a red ribbon around the middle and attached my moon and trees. Next I cut out the hanging ornaments and adhered them to the scene, drawing on cords with my silver gel pen. I then popped off my two owls that I cut off. To create the snow and ice, I used my liquid applique and some crystal effects with a little glitter on top. To finish the card off, I added three diamond brads down the side and cut out red and green snowflakes that I punched out with my Martha Stewart punch and put the sentiment in the middle. The sentiment was stamped from Holiday Greetings II by A Muse Artstamps. The inside will say "Place like home".

Don't you just love Elvis! His Christmas and gospel songs are the best in my opinion. Anyway, my card really doesn't have much to do with Elvis other than it is blue and it is a Christmas card. That song just popped in my head when I started typing. Lol! Okay, so my final card is a card that I created for the first Stampavie Challenge over at the Stampavie Group on Paper Craft Planet. Don't you just love that site? It is so easy to navigate through! I digress. Michelle issued a sketch challenge to all Stampavie lovers this week and there is even a prize. Well since I love my Rachelle Anne Miller stamps, I knew I had to play. Here it is!

I also incorporated today's Ways to Use it Challenge over at SCS which was to incorporate pearls into your project. I started the card off by stamping Lily - From the Heart by Rachelle Anne Miller for Stampavie on a piece of white card stock and colored her in with my markers and copics. I added touches of silver gel pen and a couple of pearl buttons as accents. I then mounted her on blue and white card stock that I cut out using my nesties. Following the sketch, I embossed a piece of white card stock with my snowflakes cuttle bug folder and adhering it to a piece of blue and another piece of white card stock. I then rounded the corners of all three. I place three silver brads in the corners. I then popped it off a piece of blue card stock that I stamped circles from In The Background by Lizzie Anne Designs with whisper white. I rounded the corners and added some white grossgrain ribbon. To finish the card off, I stamped the sentiment from Sugar Nellies on a piece of white card stock and adhered it to a piece of blue. I drew on the swirls with my silver gel pen and added the two pearls. I just think it is so sweet!! I love the two color effect.

Well I am outta here!! I need to go ice that stupid cake! It better be good! Have a wonderful night and thanks for stopping by!!

Warning! Christmas Cards are Contained in This Blog Posting!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

It is one cold but gorgeous day today! The sun is shining brightly today but it is only 36 degrees here! BRRRRR!!! Poor Izzy, that means that she is not able to get out and play. :( I know she just hates that, but I really don't want her to be sick for our trip next week.

So I have two children, not just one! No, I am not pregnant, my dog has now obviously turned into my second child! Today, I was cleaning the kitchen and I hear Izzy grumping. I look over and Tuxy is sitting in HIS bed, which Izzy was previously playing with. The two of them were fighting over it like toddlers. He only wants it if she is sitting in it and she only wants it if he is sitting in it. Since when did I have twins! Sheesh!! This is ridiculous.

She is also obsessed with all things jacket. She just tried to put on a skirt like a jacket! Which really is pretty handy since it is cold outside. Makes one less thing to have to argue about. Oh and she has discovered that she likes to have her hair combed. Weird huh? Usually kids hate their hair to be brushed, but not my daughter! Of course she still doesn't have that much hair, but it is kind of nice for me!

Alright, I am giving up on resisting! I am making Christmas cards and I am not going to feel guilty about it I tell you!! I am sorry if you like to wait until after Thanksgiving, but it is so close and it is all chilly and Christmas like outside, (WHINE, WHINE!). So that is why today I made three, count them, three Christmas projects.

The first project I made is actually a Christmas tag that I created for Mary Jo's Monday's Lunchtime Sketch Challenge to create a tag. Well, it was fate, because I just received a really awesome tag from Michelle Giraud as part of a little prize I won last month. Thanks Michelle!!! Here it is!

I totally cased MJ's card that she made two Sunday's ago! I just loved the "Ho, Ho, Ho" sentiment. I decided to include this week's Color Challenge over at SCS to used Red, Black and Kraft paper on your card. (I actually had some Kraft paper, who knew?). So I started off with my really cool tag as the background and layered on a piece of Kraft paper, black card stock and a piece of Christmas DP. I added two strips of Kraft paper with black and white polka dot ribbon to make the tag resemble a present. I next stamped the Santa and two reindeer from Deer Ol Santa by SUInk and More and colored them in with my copics and Stampin' Write makers. I highlighted them with my gold glitter pen and some liquid applique'. I finished them off by popping them off the tag. Next I used my Cricut machine to cut out white and black Ho, Ho, Hos and attached them to the tag. I finished it off by tying a little piece of black and white polka dot ribbon to the top. Thanks MJ for this wonderful idea!!!!

My next card is a card I created for this week's Blooming Marvelous challenge over at A Spoon Full of Sugar. The challenge was to create a card with a flower on it. Well, I just received this new stamp from Stampavie and really wanted to use it. I also had these great new non-traditional sheets of Christmas DP and knew they would be perfect, so here is what I came up with.

Isn't she so sweet?!!! Okay, I started off by stamping Lily-Magic Fairy by Rachelle Anne Miller for Stampavie on a piece of white card stock and colored her in using my copics and markers. The original image has her holding a ladybug, so I stamped a present from Deer Ol Santa by SUInk and more and pasted it in the center. I then cut her out with my nesties along with a piece of green card stock and a piece of Christmas DP. I then popped her off the background I created with green card stock, rose card stock and Christmas DP. I laid out the background myself (no sketch!, can you believe it?). I then cut out a green snowflake, a white snowflake and a Christmas DP snowflake using my Cricut machine and arranged them into a flower. I finished the card off by adding green and rose rhinestone stickers and a metal swirl. It is just such a fun and feminine Christmas card.

My last card is a Christmas card made for my mom. She was so sweet and bought me this stamp and has been asking me if I have stamped it up ever since. She just fell in love with the image. So here you go mom, this one is for you!!!

I decided that since the dog and cat were mailing a letter to Santa that I wanted the card to look like an envelope! i started off by stamping Crimbo Cat and Dog by Spiral Whisper on a piece of white card stock and colored them in with my copics and markers. I used a silver gel pen and some liquid applique to add some dimension to the card. I then mounted it on a piece of black card stock, a piece of red card stock and a piece of Christmas DP that I cut with some decorative scissors. I popped the image off the background that I created with a piece of green card stock and a piece of Christmas DP that I cut with the same pair of decorative scissors. I then drew in the return address and the post office marks. The stamp was created with a piece of DP and a piece of green card stock that I cut out with my nesties. I finished the card off by adding three bone buttons to the corner. The sentiment on the inside will say, "After Santa brings our presents, the truce is off! Merry Christmas!" I just know she will love it!!!

Well I am off to get some chores done that I have been putting off.

Oh two things, First a quick pick of Izzy! I feel that I have not been fulfilling my mom duties!

And, please stop by my friend Debbie's blog! She has some awesome blog candy up for grabs, so check it out!

Have a great evening! Thanks for stopping by!!

Birthdays, Cowgirls and Moose, Quite the Combination!

Happy Monday y'all! I am trying to get you in the mood for one of my cards.

Thanks for coming back to visit me. Well this morning started off somewhat pleasant, weather wise and has completely deteriorated. Man is it cold. I am hoping that Jason will light a fire tonight. The first one of the season!

Izzy was able to have a little playtime with the little boy next door this afternoon. I think it is so good for her. She seems to be in awe of him! She just follows him around and watches everything he does. The good thing is she shares! Now if I could just get her to do that with kids her own age we would be in business! Hopefully this week I can schedule a little play date with one of her friends!

Well November is definitely the month for birthdays. My cousin's birthday was last week, two of my other cousins birthdays are next week and my neighbor's son turns 11 (how the time flies) this Saturday. So I really need to get moving. That is why I created this card, (sorry I missed your birthday Holly) for this week's Magnolia Vs. Stampavie challenge. This week's challenge was a sketch!

I know that you are not a little girl anymore Holly, but I know you'll enjoy this anyway! I started this card off by stamping Lily - Teddy Travels by Rachelle Anne Miller for Stampavie on a piece of white card stock. I then colored her in using my copic markers and my stampin' write markers. Next, I layered her on a piece of green card stock and a piece of orange card stock that I scalloped one edge with using my Martha Stewart edge punch. I then layered her on a piece of DP and a piece of green card stock. I tied some pink organdy ribbon around the card and added three green brads to the corner of the image. I finished the card off by cutting out the sentiment "Birthday" in both green and orange, using my Cricut machine. I went ahead and popped it off to give the card some dimension. I really think she will like all the bright colors.

Okay, my second card for today has a little bit of a story to go with it. This card actually started out as a congratulatory card for my neighbor's son Caleb. He received a one at State for his piano playing two weekends ago! I am so proud of him. Well I have really been contemplating what kind of card to make. He is 12 and a boy, and I really don't have any 12 year old boy stamps. So, when I received this stamp set in the mail last week, the old noodle got to work and came up with the perfect card. I was going to stamp this little cowboy (I know he is a little juvenile, but you have to work with what you have) and then put "Congratulations" on the outside and "For wrangling up a one at state!" on the inside. Cute huh? Well, while I was coloring up the cowboy, I realized he is actually a cowGIRL!!!! Shoot! I can't believe this. So I decided to change it into my cousins birthday card. She is a tomboy so she will really like it. I figured Caleb might be a little insulted if I went ahead and gave it to him.

I used this week's MojoMonday Sketch Challenge for the layout and the idea for the buttons came from this week's Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge to use buttons on your card. I started off by stamping Giddy Up! by Sugar Nellies on a piece of white card stock and coloring her in with my copics and markers. I then layered her on two pieces of DP and a piece of blue card stock. Following the sketch, I layered on DP, red card stock and blue card stock. I looped a piece of brown ribbon across the top and used my Martha Stewart edge punch to create the border on the bottom. I stamped the sentiment "Howdy" from MFT's Ride'em Cowgirl on a piece of whisper white and punched it with edge punch. I then mounted it on a piece of blue card stock and popped it off the card. I finished it off by adding three star buttons to the top. The inside of the card will say "Birthday! I hope you were able to rustle up tons of fun!" I just know she will love it!!

My final card I made for my neighbor to give to their friends at Thanksgiving. Beth said that she wanted a card for Thanksgiving that include a moose. Well of course I grabbed my Turkey Mosse Riley by Hanna Stamps. I used last week's Hanna Sketch challenge for the layout.

Okay, so once I stamped him, all I kept thinking about was, wouldn't it be hilarious if he was asked to bring the Turkey for dinner and he actually brought a Turkey? (Sick, I know) but I just couldn't stop thinking about it! So, I started off by stamping Riley on a piece of white card stock and coloring him in with my copics and markers. I then hand drew the background scene, so that it would look like he was standing on some one's front porch and colored it in. Next, following the sketch, I layered on red card stock, brown card stock and DP. I printed off the sentiment and cut it out, along with a piece of red card stock and a piece of brown card stock using my nesties. I popped it off the background along with the main image. I already gave it to Beth and she loved it! I am so glad, I wasn't sure if anyone else would get it.

Well today has been a great day! I hope that all of you had as wonderful of a day has I did! Thanks for stopping by!

Two for one and It's an Ornament I tell you!

Happy Friday!!! Yeah!!

Well this is supposedly the last day of our heat wave, and by heat wave I mean temps in the fifties. I guess tomorrow is supposed to be only in the thirties and tonight it might even snow. I love the first snow, but I actually have some things to do tomorrow, so I really don't want to have to get out in it. Don't you hate getting out after the first snow? It seems like everybody forgets how to drive. Hopefully it will hold off until Sunday when I don't have to go anywhere.

Well I found out today that my dad got glasses!! My mom says he looks very dashing in them. It really is only fair since all the rest of us have had to wear them for so long. I guess he isn't able to see things far off as well as he used to. I heard though that they are super cool and even have clip on sunglasses, but not the hokey kind that just latch over the top, super cool, super neato ones that are actually magnetized. Man, mine aren't that fancy. I just have plain ones that without the ultra light, ultra thin lenses, would look like coke bottles. lol! I am so jealous!!

Well Izzy has been more back to normal today. She has been running around the house, playing with Tuxy, coloring in her book and wearing her little apron. Man she loves that thing! And, she made me discover something about myself that I think I would have rather not known! Today, I had on the radio, which I do just about everyday, when I asked her to dance with me. (Sometimes I break out into spontaneous dancing just for fun.) Well, she stood there, and as my neighbor Beth said, moved her arm around like she was riding a bucking bronco. She didn't move her body at all, just her arm. Is that how I dance?!!!! Oh my gosh, how embarrassing! I am going to have to take lessons or something so that she doesn't' become a horrible dancer like me.

Okay, on to something I am good at. So today, I wanted to try to make two different cards using the same layout and and same stamp, but with different colors. I incorporated a couple of challenges into this one. I used the sketch challenge over at Taylored Expressions. I also incorporated today's Limited Supplies Challenge over at SCS to only use acrylic stamps. Well since it seems like I have a million of them, I was more than happy to compete. Here is my first card.

I am not as happy with this one. I like the colors, and little girl feel to it, but I think there is something a little off in the execution. Oh well! I started this card off by stamping Lily - I Love Shopping by Rachelle Ann Miller for Stampavie. I colored her in using my copics and markers. I then layered on teal, purple, green and red card stock with two different DPs following the sketch. Using my nesties to create the scalloped rectangle. I popped off the main image and added some purple ribbon to the bottom. I think it will make a good back up birthday card, but my second version is the one I am really proud of.

For this card, I used this week's Color Challenge, color scheme again. I just love this color combination! I did the same steps as above except I used my snowflakes cuttlebug embossing folder to create the background paper. I then went over all the snowflakes with my versamark pen to give them some depth. I added a piece of organdy ribbon to the bottom and punched out two snowflakes in gray and blue using my Martha Stewart snowflake punch. I added some green rhinestones to the snowflake and followed up with some green rhinestones on the picture. This one I love. The colors are so festive yet cozy!

Okay, onto my ornament! It really is an ornament, I promise!! Maybe your tree has to be the size of the one at Rockefeller Center, but it is still an ornament. lol! I actually started this on Wednesday for the SUInk and More Whatchadoin' Wednesday Challenge which was to create an ornament for Christmas. (Side note: I am so excited!!! I am a featured customer on the SUInk and More blog!! Can you believe it!! I am so honored!) After I realized how big it was, I put it to the side for awhile and finally finished it this morning. I decided it could just be the tree's focal point. I mean every tree needs a focal point. I wanted to create an ornament like the ones I had when I was kid that were little scenes. Here it is.

I think if I make this again, I will add skylights so that the light can filter into the scene. I started this ornament off by creating a four by four open box. I then cut out one side with my scalloped rectangle nesties so that you could see inside. I added a couple of windows and pasted in some wallpaper. I then created cabinets and a shelf using the same open box concept and added some doors, a sink and door knobs. Then I stamped the girl, stove, and accessories from Kiss the Cook by SUInk and More. I colored them in with my markers and then placed them in my scene. I added a roof with some red card stock and drew on tiles. I punched a hole in the top to thread through some ribbon, so my ORNAMENT can hang. I then drew in some siding and finished off the windows adding trim. I added a touch of siding to the sides with my Martha Stewart edge punch and some Christmas Paper. I finished off the scene with some snow that I created with my goo punch and white paper. Despite the size I think it is really cute and sweet. It will be prominently displayed on our tree this winter, I mean how could you miss it even if you tried!! lol!

Alright, I am off to practice. I have put it off long enough. I have a little secret to share. I actually play the cello, and by play I mean, I played the cello for fifteen years growing up and haven't touched it in the last three. A friend of mine has asked me to play in her ensemble at church this weekend and I have agreed. I warned her that I am not very good. You would think I would be, since I went to college on a partial music scholarship, but as it turns out there were only two cello players in the whole school so they were kind of desperate!! So wish me luck. This will probably be the last time she asks me to play!

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by today!!!