Woodland Critters - Final Sneak Peek CDS

Last day of sneak peeks for Clear Dollar Stamps today and IMO, we saved some of the BEST for last (which is saying a lot, cause I loved some of the other sets!) --- Did you check out Sunflower songs on some of the other CDS blogs yesterday??? Go check em out-- Gorgeous! All of the sets will be available tomorrow, April 1st-- so get your fingers ready to click away! :)

Today's featured set is right up my alley--- cute little animals and some SUPER cute sentiments! Here's "Woodland Critters"!!

I just HAD to use the raccoon first, especially after I found this DCWV "Green Stack" Designer Paper!! I picked this stack up at Archiver's and it's full of fun, textured cuteness!! The raccoon was colored with colored pencils on watercolor paper. I blended it with odorless mineral spirits and a blending stump.

It's hard to tell from this picture, but his head is paper-toled and popped up on dimensionals. I made a mask with a post-it note and then airbrushed the background with a YG06 copic marker.

I also loved that the sentiment fit on the word window punch! Always a bonus in my book!
Next was this fun little deer. I used the tree background paper from that same "Green Stack" and made an attempt at sewing around corners. Still needin' some work with that!! Speaking of sewing... I'm thinking about upgrading from my Hello Kitty Janome and getting something with more stitch options--- if you have a suggestion or recommendation, let me know!!

The actual stamp is just the deer, after I cut it out with my Nestabilities die, I hand drew in the grass before I colored it. All coloring on this one is with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. The head is paper-toled and popped up on dimensionals. The "hoof prints" are another stamp in the set that I used to make a fun touch to the base of the card.

The card inspiration was actually a layout from a challenge last week at the OCCC by our own, extremely talented and newly appointed member of the Dirty Dozen--- Kim Teasdale. She's the queen of sewing around corners, paper tole techniques, and beautiful layers! Thanks for the inspiration Kim!! :)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you like these fun stamps! Hope to hear some good recommendations on upgraded sewing machines!! :) (Nothing too expensive--- goodness knows it won't see use for anything other than paper!)

Oh -- and make sure you check out the other cards with this set: Woodland Critters- Laurie, Candy, Monique, Linda, Kim

Raccoon Card

ALL CDSTAMPS STAMPS USED: Woodland critters

CS and PAPERS: SU Watercolor, Green Galore, DCWV pack, INK: Memento Tuxedo Black

ACCESS and EMBELLISHMENTS: Stampin Up Red Gingham ribbon, Circle and Pinking Circle Nestabilities, Sewing machine, copic airbrush, YG06 copic marker for green, Prismacolor pencils and gamsol with blending stump, Flame Dew Drops,word window punch (Stampin Up!), Nestabilities Labels

COLORING MEDIUM: Colored pencil with Gamsol on watercolor paper and paper tole layering

Deer card

ALL CDSTAMPS STAMPS USED: Woodland critters

CS and PAPERS: SU Watercolor, Taken with Teal, DCWV Green Stack pack, Certainly Celery

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, taken with teal

ACCESS and EMBELLISHMENTS: Stampin Up double stitched Bayou Blue ribbon, Oval and Scallop Oval Nestabilities, Sewing machine, prismacolor pencils and gamsol with blending stump, Cowboy Dew Drops,corner rounder punch (Stampin Up!), Swirl Cuttlebug folder

COLORING MEDIUM: Colored pencil with Gamsol on watercolor paper and paper tole layering

Rain Rain Go away...

Or in today's case--- Snow, Snow, Go away!! It's nearly April for garsh sakes!! We have at least an inch of snow that fell throughout the night. WHAT?!? We were outside in shorts a week ago!

On to today's sneak peek... It's time to meet this month's new Charlie... or in this case, Charliene!! Here is Clear Dollar Stamps, "Charliene April Showers" with her fancy boots and classy umbrella.

I found this K&Co Daydreamer paper and thought it would be fun for this set. We were challenged to use a one letter accent on a card, so I found a package of alphabet brads in my stash and used that for the first letter of the sentiment.
The next sneak peek with this set is using my favorite sentiment in the set--- "Friends through rain or shine". It fit perfectly on the nestabilities rectangle tag die.

The background DP is from a Basic Grey pack, I think?!?

Make sure you stop by the other gals blogs with this set today... there are some amazing cards that I saw in the gallery.

Lori and Candy

Katie

Kim

A couple of more days of peeks and then you can get these for yourself!!

Card 1

ALL CDSTAMPS STAMPS USED: Charliene April ShowersCS and PAPERS: PTI white, Ballet Blue, K&Co Daydreamer DPINK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Cranberry CrispACCESS and EMBELLISHMENTS: Label Nestabilities, Stampin' Up word window punch, Sewing machine,Stampin Up buttons, thread,Bubbles Cuttlebug Folder, copic airbrush, B24 copic marker for Background blue, Other copics: R59, YG03, YG06, R51, R35, R37, Y00, Y15, Robin's Nest Dew Drops

Card 2

ALL CDSTAMPS STAMPS USED: Charliene April ShowersCS and PAPERS: SU Watercolor, Regal Rose, INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Regal Rose, Summer Sun, Basic Brown, Chocolate chip, Creamy Caramel, Close to CocoaACCESS and EMBELLISHMENTS: Tag Nestabilities, Stampin' Up Scallop Edge punch, Sewing machine, Stampin' Up Rhinestone brad, copic airbrush, BG72 copic marker for Background blue, Ink Pads with Blender Pen, Robin's Nest Dew DropsCOLORING MEDIUM: Stamp pads with blender pen

CDS Sneak Peek - DIRT RIDES

Sorry, I'm a little late on posting--- Oops!!! My brother-in-law and nephew are here visiting (along with his little Yorkie, "Tess".) We've been busy keeping the kids at bay. Boy, is my nephew a handful!! I'm spoiled with Gabby being fairly laid back, she and my nephew, Corbin, are 3 months apart in age, so it's fun to see their stages together--- Corbin is 100mph from sun up to sun down!! I forgot (AKA- Repressed) all about that 2 yr old boy energy!! :)

So speaking of "Boy Energy"--- With two boys and two boy nephews, my first sneak peek set for you this month was automatically going to be a must have in my house!!!

This is "DIRT RIDES"--- a new Clear Dollar Stamps set releasing April 1st. I had a ton of fun coloring these... I especially like how this first one came out. It was based on an inspiration challenge with a Pier One pillow. I've been doing more watercoloring lately and I loved how it looked to get some highlights on the motorcycle.

No DP or anything super fancy on this card, just a really simple layout, some stitching, and fun coloring. The core'dinations paper with a little texture looked totally "Boy-ish"... which I think is always tough with card making!
My next DIRT RIDES card was with the 4 wheeler in the set. Stop by Lori McCroskey's blog to see pictures of the whole set.

This card was another without DP. I used lots a couple different stitches, handcut the sentiment, and cuttlebugged the backgrounds. If you have boys... You'll love this set!!

More sneak peeks over the next several days. For today's CDS peeks, stop by the following blogs:
Dirt Rides- Laurie, ME, Lori (Candy)
Horse Poetry- Laurie, Monique, Kim

I'll be back with more this weekend!! Wait until you see the rest! :)

Card 1
ALL CDSTAMPS STAMPS USED: Dirt RidesCS and PAPERS: SU Watercolor, Making Memories Red, Ballet Blue, Coredinations Cream INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Creamy Caramel SUACCESS and EMBELLISHMENTS: Stampin Up Copper Brads, Label Two Nestabilities, Sewing machine, Blender Pen SU, Reinkers - Riding Hood Red, Ballet Blue, Not quite Navy, Creamy Caramel, Basic Grey, Tracing Wheel COLORING MEDIUM: Reinkers with blender pen on watercolor paper Inspiration Challenge

Card 2
ALL CDSTAMPS STAMPS USED: Dirt RidesCS and PAPERS: SU Watercolor, Coredinations Cardstock (Yellow, red, and Turquoise), Basic Gray SU, Going Gray SU INK: Memento Tuxedo BlackACCESS and EMBELLISHMENTS: Stampin Up Earth Elements brads, Label Two Nestabilities, Sewing machine, copic markers - R23, R29, C3, C7, Y15, Y17, YG72, YG75, Sewing machine, Swiss Dots and Bubbles Cuttlebug FolderCOLORING MEDIUM: Copics

Life with YOU is sweet!

A quick card for my hubby tonight--- in case he pops over to my blog, I wanted to surprise him! :) We miss you!

This little trio of truffles is from Whipper Snapper and the sentiment is from the Sweet Expressions set(one of my all time favorite Anna cling sets from Whipper Snapper!) The paper is Basic Grey's Porcelain and watercolor paper from Stampin' Up! I used Anna's tip with the tracing wheel for the faux stitching and colored with an aqua brush and various reinkers. Edges are sponged with Vintage photo ink from Ranger.

So my day today was spent at the University of Iowa with my 3 yr. old. He has strabismus (crossing in his eyes)--- he also wears glasses to correct his actual vision. We've been going to the UofI for almost two years going from patching, to glasses, back to patching, back to glasses... (You get the picture!) lol.... it's been frustrating and the trips there are exhausting. You typically get passed from room-to-room seeing various students and doctors... back to the waiting room, etc. I've never been able to get out of there in less than an hour and a half... today we were there THREE hours! UGH!!

The good news (but still scary) is that they are finally scheduling him for surgery. He goes in July 7th, so while I'm excited that his eyes will hopefully get corrected, I'm nervous about my baby boy getting put under general anesthesia! There are always risks with surgery and he's such a little guy that seeing him scared makes me sad! He won't know what's going on until that day, so I'll have a while before I need to worry! What's a Mom to do?!? :)

Here is Kaiden and Daddy shortly after getting his glasses last year. Ummm... Any question who THAT child belongs too!? lol... this picture is one of my favorites!

Have a great today!

Not so routine...

Don't you LOVE those days where nothing goes by your normal routine?!? Yeah-- me neither! I'm not crazy, fanatical about things needing to be a certain way--- I mean I have minor things that get my "faux OCD" going, but nothing that requires medication! :) So here is a quick recap of today...

First-- a little back story--- I don't remember if I blogged about it, but my husband had a deer jump out at him a couple of weeks ago on his way to work (it was a reindeer if you ask Kaiden). So "Rudolph" did over $4000 damage to his explorer. It pretty much wiped out his passenger side from the front window to the back panel. So anyway--- we had the Explorer in the body shop for about a week and a half and got it back last Thursday night.

On Friday morning, he was driving to work when the entire rear window exploded into a gagillion pieces. EEK!! Scary! So back to the body shop it went--- they didn't have an available loaner vehicle and negotiations started taking place with the insurance company and body shop. Body shop claimed it was coicidence (yeah, cause windows spontaneously combust all the time?!?), our insurance company was claiming it under the original deer incident. They exchanged calls back and forth, and then finally came to an agreement (thankfully it was in our favor with having it included with the original deductible). We've been sharing rides together this week, totally throwing me off "normal"--- but we were supposed to get the vehicle back today. At 4pm this afternoon, they called and let us know it wasn't ready. Ugh!!

We had new eye glasses to pick up for Kaiden, Parker had soccer practice at 6pm, we needed to have the three of them picked up by no later than 5:30 from daycare, and we all needed to eat. HELLO McDonald's!! :) It wouldn't be a big deal if I worked near my husband... unfortunately-- he's about 20-25 minutes away from my office... so I had to leave early, blah.. blah.... Just a weird, chaotic schedule all day! He leaves for a trip tomorrow to Michigan... and needs to be at the airport by 5:30 am...which is SO not gonna happen with 3 tired toddlers... so my Dad is coming to the rescue and taking him to the airport in the morning!! Thank goodness for Dad's!! :)

By the time Jeremy gets back from his trip, we should be back to the typical craziness of work schedules and after school activities--- being back to a two car family will be nice!! :)

I guess I'll be a "single mom" the next couple of nights--- so hopefully the kids cooperate and then I can squeeze in some stamping at night if they go to bed at a decent time!!

I'm done whining now--- so ON to my card--- I had the majority of this image colored for a few weeks--I just kept procrastinating finishing it off. I found this DCWV Sweet stack jelly bean looking paper that I thought would look cute with it... so I stuck with the "GLOWING" colors and added some crystal effects over the eggs, bunny nose, and wheel caps. If you click a close up you can see the shiny parts!! (Don't pay attention to the bleeding colors!! My copics were a little "juiced" up and apparently I went a little dark--- so not perfect and I don't LOVE it, but it's bright, it's fun, and it's off my desk now! :) I've been staring at the partially colored image for too long!!

Thanks for stopping by!


Stamps: Whipper Snapper Bunny Train; Anna Wight - "Sweet Expressions"
Paper: DCWV Sweet Stack, Coredinations Green, Taken with Teal SU, Regal Rose SU
Accessories: Copic markers (lots of em!), sewing machine, word window punch, Nestabilities tags, Martha Stewart teal ribbon, SU Brads

A 2-Fer Wednesday - ATS and SUINK

Hi ya'll!! You know what day it is!?! My busy challenge Wednesday!! I had lots going on tonight (Tuesday), but luckily, thanks to my husband--- I had plenty of time to stamp. One Tuesday per month, I now have my CLUB NIGHT for Stampin' Up!, so I had some of my club gals over to stamp a few unprepared projects. We made it up as we went and they each made a cute little box and then a Cheep Talk card. I promised them I'd be more prepared next month!! We still had fun though!

I have a couple projects for you today--- both with the same layout. I decided to go easy on myself (plus I liked the look), so I made the same basic card with different stamp sets.

First up was my ATS "WHITE ON WHITE" challenge- ATSDTC42 (if you upload to SCS!). I love the crisp look of white on white, so I embossed the background with swiss dots, used a square faux sewing embossing square around my sheep, then cut the image out with a square nestabilities die.

This little sheep is from the adorable Gingersnaps set "Spring Things"--- it's the same set that includes the little bunny ear gal, playin' in the rain gal, duck, fence, butterfly, etc!! Boundless cuteness!!

I used some of the new white satin Stampin' Up ribbon for this card, which will be available in the new Occassions catalog--- I hope they add a bunch of satin colors next year--- I just love the rich look of it!

I also wanted to give you a close up of my little lamb--- Can you see the fuzziness??? I cracked open a brand new, never used container of white fun flock for this little cutie!! So much fun!!

HAVE YOU USED FUN FLOCK BEFORE??? It's super easy-- just use a little glue (I used Tombo Liquid Mono Adhesive from Stampin' Up and then shake the flock over top, tapping off the excess.) Easy as can be!

Stop by the ATS blog later today to see the rest of the team's projects for the White on White challenge!

Well in addition to the ATS challenge--- I "REPLAYED" the SUINK challenge (which I accidentally already did last week!) The REAL challenge this week was to use TEXTURE!! So I went with the exact same theme and thought from my other card.

This is actually my final design team card with SUINK (for now anyway!) ;o) Never say NEVER!! I've had such a great time being on that wonderful team and Denise gave lil' ol' me, my very first design team opportunity, which I was "BEAMING" about for months! She definitely opened the door for me to take chances and try out for other teams after she contacted me!

I loved the bunny in "You're Some Bunny Special" - such an adorable Easter set! So I used white fun flock and also grabbed the other color of fun flock that I bought a while back (a SUPER bright pink) and used that for her tail. (LESSON FOR YOU: If you use fun flock--- "squish it down with your finger and let the first color dry BEFORE you glue and adhere a second color!!) Why do I know this, you ask??!! Ummm... Do you notice the pink polka dots on my bunny!! Well I'll just say that he's being festive for Easter!! That works, right?! Since the challenge was texure, I thought that adding that, along with using my cuttlebug folder would fit the bill!

Thanks so much for stopping by!! Be sure to stop by both blogs to check out all the fun eye candy in both spots!!

Beachy Anya and Stampin Up peeks

Well, it's technically Monday right now--- I think I try to make my "Sunday's" last as long as possible to avoid the fact that it's the start of a new week! ;) Oh well--- I have a couple of bright colored projects to kick off the week.

I decided it was a beach theme today, so the first is a card with the Cosmo Cricket Scuba paper and Mermaid Anya (which I bought at All That Scraps). The sentiments is PTI's Pond Sentiments, which has some cute fish and frog sentiments for $5. (Notice the new scallop oval punch?!?--- that's another fun new item from the upcoming Stampin' Up mini-catalog! Perfect to go with the Nestabilities ovals and scallop ovals.)

I also had a chance to whip up a matchbox with the new Bigz XL die from the upcoming Stampin' Up! Occassions Mini-Catalog. I used one of the new stamp sets from that catalog as well called "Just Beachy". I was excited to see some cute sets with fun images to color. The big goofy teeth in the various fish that come in this set crack me up.

My favorite thing with the new die is the little accent pieces for the match box! These look really similar to the new Spellbinders Label Four dies--- so while I'm waiting on my order to come from Spellbinders, I'll settle for these instead!

I used my crop-o-dile to punch a hole on the side and then I used a short piece of Apple Green Grosgrain ribbon to make a handle. The box fits four Hershey's nuggets perfectly... so it will make a great little treat box for friends or co-workers. (They are so quick and easy that it would also make a fun little surprise to throw in my son's lunch box!)

That's my Sunday--- so I'm off to bed before it's back to work! Ugh... Monday's.

OCCC Lucky Duck

How can it be Sunday already!!! This weekend flew by, but it was nice and relaxing. We really just hung out at home all weekend. My wonderful husband woke up early on Saturday to run to the store and picked up the Twilight movie for me... How sweet is that!! I totally LOVED IT!! :) The casting was fabulous and for the most part, it fit the book really well. I can't wait to see the next ones now!!

I was busy stamping last night to finish some CDS sneak peeks for next week--- I couldn't help but take a little break to "play" with some of the toys in my new Stampin' Up order that was delivered Friday. I just had to use the "Lucky Duck" from Wagon Full of Fun first, so I picked up the layout from the OCC challenge this weekend and put together a SUO card (with the exception of sewing and Nesties.) Cause could I really make a whole card without my Nesties?? Nope!

During nap time this afternoon-- I'm going to try out the new Matchbox die from the upcoming mini catalog as well--- all of this FUN stuff to try! I'll take some pictures of how it works and give you all a sneak peek!

The Occassions mini-catalog items are available April 1st (and if you'd like to order these and other new releases early, there is still time left to take advantage of the new demo offers with the three payment options, free stamp set, and 10% discount during Sale-A-Bration!)

I'll be back! :)

Stamps: Wagon Full of Fun (New set from the Occassions Catalog available April 1)
Paper: SU Cameo Coral, Watercolor paper, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Ink: SU Basic Black, Cameo Coral, Summer Sun
Accessories: Aqua Brush, Nestabilities, Kiwi Kiss Satin Ribbon, Sewing Machine, Earth Elements Brads, corner rounder

Glimmery Enchanted Lily

I made a card just for fun tonight--- this was the sketch challenge at SCS today, so I colored the image while I watched American Idol and then put it all together.

For my AI blog buddies - I was bummed that Alexis was kicked off---she picked a really bad song for herself on country night, but I thought she was pretty fun. Her daughter is just a doll! I really thought that the oil rigger, Michael guy would get kicked off before her. They freaked me out with putting Adam in the last grouping, but they always do that. The gals at my office DESPISE him... I mean, really, really don't like him--- maybe I just like him because he reminds me of what I pictured "Edward Cullen" to be from Twilight! :) Ya think he's a vampire?!

Well before AI came on, we had a couple of extra munchkins at our house. I spent the first part of the night "playing" with a 7, 5, 4, 3, and 1 year old! My husband turned to me at one point and said "Five wouldn't be so bad"--- to which I looked at him and went "ah, yeah--- not thinkin' so!" Our three are about 2 years apart and Gabby will be 2 in the fall--- so I think he's missing that "baby" age. I miss the baby smell and the lying in a chair with a newborn snuggling and you both falling asleep--- however I don't miss the car seat, the crying, the bottles, the constant worry about an older one pounding them with something, etc. Sorry-- Gettin' off track! My point, no more babies! :) At least that's how I feel this week!

I've had this Marrakech Basic Grey paper for a while now and I thought it would be perfect for this new Pink Cat Studio "Enchanted Lily" stamp with the fun colors and little frog. I used Diane's Mushroom Friends sentiment... which was perfectly "fairy-ish" for the card!

I'm not sure if you can see it, but I used Shimmerz on her wings, and then I sprayed the entire iamge with Pearl Glimmer Mist... if you haven't tried either of those, you'll have to check them out! They are lots of fun!

I'm heading to bed, but the weekend is quickly approaching (YAY!), so I hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping by!!


Stamps: PCS Enchanted Lily, All That Scraps- Cookie Crumbs Mushroom Friends
Paper: Marrakech Basic Grey, Swiss Dots Bazzill CS, PTI White, Coredinations Melon, SU Pacific Point
Accessories: Copic Markers, So Saffron Ink (sponged on sentiment), Sewing, Glimmer Mist- pearl, Shimmerz, Making Memories primas, SU Old Olive Brad, Michael's Ribbon, SU dimensionals

Wednesday Challenges - AI chatter

Hope you had a fun St. Patrick's Day! I had to track down green shirts for the boys because Parker was very concerned that he would get "pinched" in school! Apparently a Leprauchan came in and made a HUGE mess in the 1st grade room... he was very concerned about it and then he told me when we got home that maybe the Leprauchan came into our basement and made the big mess in his and Kaiden's toy room. (Points for him on creativity!)

So it's challenge Wednesday with the ATS challenge and SUINK Whachadoin' Wednesday challenges--- but can we pretend it's Whachadoin Friday?? I really am ready to take the rest of the week off with the 70 degree weather we had today. I left a little early from work and enjoyed the beautiful day!

I whipped together a couple of cards tonight while I painfully watched American Idol. (Skip this paragraph if you don't watch AI!) Wow--- this was not a great season for a "country" night! As much as I luv my pick, Adam (the goth theatrical kid with the black fingernails and better make-up skills then me!), his "rendition" of Ring of Fire, scared the holy heck out of me!! That was just odd dawg! There were a couple that surprised me--- mainly Anoop and Kris (he's a real cutie!), but my top three picks all were less than I expected. Oh well-- I still love that show!

Okay, on to the cards... my first is for All That Scraps--- today's challenge is to use RIBBON, lots and lots of ribbon. I've got 5 on my card--- I didn't want to go too tacky, so I stopped myself at five. I loved the muted greens and pinks for this card. I picked up a pack of Bazzill Swiss Dots cardstock (LUV the texture on there!) and then I airbrushed the background behind my little bunny gal. (YG93 is the color back there!) I found a DSP that matched the colors pretty closely, so I thought it would be fun to paper piece her shirt and a few eggs. I used the egg from the "Hunny Bunny" set and the bunny gal from the "Spring Things" Gingersnap set from C.C. Designs. The sentiment is from Amy R Stamps, "Friends Sentiments". (Yep, that's three stamp sets in one card... how can you resist these sets, they're just too cute!) I don't know if you can see it, but I also used the eyelet border punch on here from Stampin' Up... it came in the mail last week and I love how it looks!

Stop by the ATS Blog to check out the rest of the cards-- they should be posted by late morning!

This next card is for Whachadoin' Wednesday over at the SUINK blog. HOWEVER, let me disclaim that this is NOT for this weeks challenge. I did what Suzanne did a couple of weeks ago and looked at the wrong challenge--- so SHHH... Maybe you can tell what the challenge will be next week by checking out my card!!

The ACTUAL challenge this week is to use SPRING COLORS on your card (Just pretend the card above is for that challenge!) (hee-hee!)

So despite my faux-pas-- here is my card... I picked up a pack of "Daydreamer" paper from K&Co that had these little bicycles on it (both sides of the paper has bikes on it, so how perfect is that for this stamp!) The stamp is another of the images in the "Let's Play" set. It's my favorite, especially since I have two little bike riders that are REALLY excited about the recent weather improvement so that they could ride their own bikes outside!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Wednesday!

Stampin' Up! New Demonstrator Special Offer Payment Plan!!

Just a quick FYI! If you've EVER thought about becoming a Stampin Up Demo--- NOW is the time to do it!!! In light of the state of the economy, SU is making it even easier and more economical to start up!! From now until April 30th, you can pay for your starter kit with an EASY three pay plan!! They are starting this while SALE-A-BRATION is going on, so you can even take advantage of the amazing 15% off discount (a $30 U.S. Savings!), in addition to receiving ANY stamp set FREE with your starter kit (up to $47.95 value depending on which set you choose!).

For more information on becoming a demo, see my previous post HERE: Become a SU Demo!!

If you already have all your questions answered, just go straight to my website to SIGN UP and you can be logged into the Stampin' Up! Demo website within minutes!! CLICK HERE FOR TORI'S STAMPIN' UP WEBSITE! (Click JOIN NOW to sign up!)

Payments Breakdown for the Sale-A-Bration Starter Kit Price (March 13-31, 2009)


*Payments indicated are for the cost of the Starter Kit, and, if selected, the Stampin' Memories add-on, including shipping. They do not include and any applicable state taxes. (Please note that any applicable taxes for the total amount of the Starter Kit and, if selected, Stampin' Memories add-on, price will be added to the first payment.)

From April 1st- 30th--- The cost increases to $199 total (so $10 more per month!)

Leave me a comment or email me with any questions-- Email access is at my Stampin' Up website!

It's Sunday Baby...

Hi everyone!! I can't believe it's been so long since my last post!! I've been so busy with stuff at home that I've hardly had time to stamp. Don't worry, I haven't let my craft room be too lonely... I managed to sneak in a few cards for some upcoming new releases...so I'll share those in the next couple of weeks. When I saw the featured stamper today was Stacy (TwinsHappy), I just had to play along. Stacy is on the CDS design team with me, so I chose a fun card layout to case this afternoon.

Stop by her blog, TwinsHappy and congratulate her!!

I also saw that one of my design team pals, Kim Teasdale, became a new DIRTY DOZEN gal!! How fun is that!! HUGE congrats to her and if you haven't been to her blog before, GO NOW, DO NOT PASS GO!! She amazes me every single time I stop by! Go HERE.

For my card, I used the moons and stars border edge punch from EK Success...I bought it with this specific stamp in mind (although I'm sure I'll find others that it will work great for as well)-- -Kind of like buying a GREAT pair of shoes for one specific outfit!! (hee-hee!) I love how it makes a fun little wave pattern when you punch it out. In addition, I have this huge container of miscellaneous ribbon and I found a little strip of this fun white star ribbon to use on it as well. Fun, Fun stuff!

My grandma was staying with my parents this weekend, so we spent Friday and Saturday with them... playing cards, eating at a Legion Hall dinner, snacking on kolaches, etc. I've eaten WAY too much food this weekend... always a sign of a fun time! :)

I'm working a few more fun projects, including some Stampin' Up stuff... so who knows, if I get CRAZY, maybe I'll have a post later tonight... I'm guessing now (Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters is on)... but you never know!

Hope you had a great weekend!

SUPPLIES

Stamps: Whipper Snapper Jayden and Baby on Board

Paper: Basic Grey Cupcake DP, Coredinations blue, Stampin Up Bayou Blue and Whisper White

Ink: Bayou Blue and Memento Black

Accessories: Autumn Leaves Buttons, EK Success Moon and Stars Border punch, White Star ribbon, Glue Dots, Button Brads, Sewing Machine

Chester and Ladybugs...

Say "Hello" to Chester!! A cutie pie stamp from Whipper Snapper. I hadn't made any Whipper Snapper cards for a while, so I thought I'd do some fun coloring tonight to relax.

I've had this Martha Stewart ladybug punch that I bought with a 40% off coupon a few weeks ago (which I just need to say that the MS punches are SO hard to use compared to the EK ones!). If they didn't have some that were so darn cute, I'd boycott! :) Some of these single ones just do a partial cut/almost like they are only embossing. You pull the stamp away and then have to peel the cut out of the paper. Annoying, but I "needed" the accent on here!

The paper on this card is "Blanket" from Cosmo Cricket... and I used an Anna Wight sentiment from her Blooming Expressions set. The cardstock is Core'dinations and I liked the silver bells dew drops to pull your eye to the sentiment.

Before I go--- Here is a pic of Kashmire with his new shorter ears and trimmed face and body. I don't think anyone will be paying me to be a groomer anytime soon, but hey, you couldn't beat the price! :)

Thanks to everyone yesterday for your positive thoughts and prayers for my friend.

I also had a couple of awards sent to me in the last week, I just haven't had time to acknowledge them. Thank you none-the-less and hopefully things calm down and get back to "normal" status!!

Have a great day!

SUINKWWC31 - Easter Wishes

Look what I've been up to tonight!! I'm in Big Shot bliss--- I never thought I could be converted from loving my Cuttlebug, but I'm a true convert!! It's SOOOO smooth and sturdy. Much more stable than my cuttlebug... plus I'm loving my new dies!

My first project was using the bag with Stampin' Up Scallops Bigz XL die. It makes this cute little gift bag, perfect for candy or small gifts.

I made this little Easter chick bag with the SUINK set "You're some Bunny Special" for the Whachadoin' Wednesday challenge today. The challenge is to create an Easter card/project.

I made a matching card for my little gift bag and used the same Coredinations paper and Reminsce DP. (This is actually the same DP that I used on the carrot card a couple of days ago-- this is just the reverse side!
I decided to test out one of my other new punches for the card as well... this is the EK Success Swiss Cheese punch, which I thought was fun with the polka dots on the eggs. I also used the Chicks in a Row Martha Stewart Border Punch to make the little Yellow family of chicks.

The entire image was airbrushed with BG13 to add a glow of blue--- and then I sprayed the entire circle with Pearl Glimmer Mist. That stuff is a BLAST... especially because this DP had a shimmer to it as well. (Click for a close up to see the shine!)

On a non-stamping related subject--- the information I've been waiting on came through from law enforcement regarding the malicious email that I received a couple of weeks ago and we have the person identified who did it. It was the person that I speculated, but optimistically hoped wasn't true. Completely unrelated to my blog--- but I'm glad to have the piece of mind knowing who was responsible. Everything isn't completely resolved, but I 'm relieved to have a few answers.

At the same time all of this is going on, a close friend and co-worker was diagnosed with breast cancer this week. It was caught early, (stage 1) which is the best case in bad situation... but still very scary none-the-less. My PSA for the day is to make sure you are doing self-exams!! She had no family history at all--- so it can happen to anyone!!

Sorry for the long rambling tonight--- Have a great Wednesday and I hope you play along with the SUINK challenge-- I'd love to see lots of fun Easter cards! If you upload to SCS, use keyword SUINKWWC31 so that we can check them out!!

SUINK Jump In and Dancing chatter

I'm sitting here watching Dancing with the Stars--- and I'm SO excited that Melissa from The Bachelor is the last minute replacement for Nancy Grace! She did SO well for only having 48 hrs to prepare and you could totally see her dance background. That gives me my Bachelor fix for Monday's now!! I'm also a big fan of Shawn Johnson (she's from Iowa, so I have to root for my home state gal... plus she's just so darn cute!) Go Shawn!
I have a card that I made the other night with SUINK's set "Let's Play". I used a really simple layout and some SUPER BARGAIN DP. I bought a mat pack of Making Memories paper from the $1.99 table at Archiver's and thought the colors would be fun with this playful set!

Can ya'll tell what my favorite new EK Success border is?? I love the wavy dots! :)

I used a Blue/Green copic to airbrush the background by masking off my jump-roping little gal... I thought it made a fun contrast with the colors in the paper.

I'm heading to my stamp room to go play with my new BIG SHOT!! It just came in the mail from my Stampin' Up order today!! New scallop box and basket dies to play with too-- WOO-HOO!!

Have a great night!

24 Carrot Friend - New EK Success and Organization tip

Hi all! I've been MIA all weekend spending most of the time in clean-up mode. It always feels like a successful day when you go to bed with the house cleaned up. We had family over on Saturday night, so we had the whole family organizing, cleaning, and doing laundry. Unfortunately by the time we went to bed tonight, it was a complete disaster again, but for those FEW hours on Saturday, it felt great! :) lol--- such is the life of a mother of three toddlers!

In addition to the few hours of cleaning bliss, we managed to get the other two dogs hair cut on Friday and Saturday, so they are all three ready for spring now. I need to take a new picture of Kash (my yorkie) and post it. I trimmed his ears and now they stick straight up again-- he looks like a teddy bear. So, So cute!

We promised the boys we'd go to Chuck E. Cheese at some point this weekend , so that was how we spent our lunch today. We've been "hosting" Flat Stanley for Denise's son (owner of SUINK) and the kids posed for some silly pictures with him. We'll be sending him back this week, so we thought we'd do something fun to end our visit. The kids had a blast and I CRUSHED my husband in a match of skee-ball! :) It doesn't matter what age I am, I always have fun with skee-ball!

After the kids were in bed, I snuck downstairs and made a card for the featured stamper challenge. The layout was just perfect for the sitting bunny in the ATS Hunny Bunny set. I picked up this Reminsce paper on my trip to Archivers last weekend, and it was PERFECT for this set and sentiment!!

While we were out and about today, we stopped by Michael's and I picked up a few more of the EK Success border punches. I ended up with the Scalloped scallop (which I used on the card above), Swiss Cheese, Birthday Candle, and the scalloped corner punch. I returned the zig zag stitch and lines and dots border punches... the stitches on the zig zag punch barely showed (they are supposed to emboss, but they were really light)... the lines and dots I couldn't get to line up at all---- only the dots show through the back, so you couldn't see where to start the next punch. Just a word of warning for you if you are picking some up!!
I also wanted to show you what I did with the EK Punch holder that I picked up. When I bought it, I didn't realize that it wouldn't hold the border punches. It's meant to hold the the smaller single punches from EK Success (the punch on the left is the scallop corner punch. I decided to test it with my copics and found out that each section will perfectly hold 6 sketch copic markers! How cool is that!! Each holder can fit 48 markers for 5.99 *and they were 30% off today when I was there, so only $4.20 (US)! I'll be heading back for more--- so don't all run out and grab them before I can get there! :)

Have a great Monday--- What will I do with no Bachelor to watch!?! I'll be suffering withdrawal!!

SUPPLIES for my Hunny Bunny card
Stamps: Hunny Bunny C.C. Designs from All That ScrapsPaper: Reminisce Carrot/Egg DSP, Coredinations and Very VanillaCopics: E51, E31, E35, R20, YR61, YR65, YR68, G21, G24Accessories: Scalloped Scallop EK Success Border Punch, Nestabilities (Circle and Scallop Circle), Michael's Ribbon, Sewing Machine, Large Oval Punch, Glitter Brad

Thanks for stopping by!

ATS Review Preview - AMY R and SUINK Challenge (Wed)

Before I go into my AI rant--- I just have to say YAY for spring weather. It was 68 degrees when I got home tonight and the entire neighborhood was buzzing with kids. Mine instantly grabbed bikes and headed outside. Meanwhile, my husband and I spent an hour working on one of our cocker spaniels (giving him a nice spring haircut!)-- wow--- he was like shearing a sheep!! I hope he's okay, we found a puffy fluid build up in his neck, so we're going to make an appointment tomorrow to have him seen. You couldn't see anything with his thick undercoat, so once his fur was gone, it really stood out. I guess we'll see... he's only around 6 yrs old, so I'm hoping it's just something minor. Cross your fingers for me!!

Okay-- so I mentioned my AI rant (it will be a short one, don't worry!) It was the wild card round tonight and let me officially say - THANK GOODNESS that they didn't put through that crazy chick, Tatiana. What's sad is that she actually had moments where she sounded good, but I seriously think that I would have needed to stop watching if she was on every week. Her reaction to the judges just made me run away from the TV! Really, no one else tonight was top 3 potential (IMO)... but I have my favorites with Adam, Danny, and Lil, so I'm excited that it will be down to the top 12 and we can hear some fun performers. There are quite a few that I like, but I'm putting my bet down now on the three above for the top spots!! (Alright-- Rant over!)

So on to my cards--- I made my FIRST Anya card featuring Amy R's Friends Sentiments set again--- ATS had several Greeting Farm stamps in stock, so I picked up Anya princess, mermaid, and angel. Isn't she SO cute!?! The review preview is going on over at the ATS blog later today, so go check it out by clicking my banner on the right and see the teams new creations!

I had some Imaginesce paper and brads that were a perfect match for the little Anya, so I used those as accents.

I've had some questions on my favorite copic color combos and this is one of them (for her hair)-
Anya's Hair: Y21, E31, E35, E37
Face: E00, E11, R20
Pink Dress: R81, R85 (I also used Shimmerz in Hottie Pink to add some glimmer.)

On most of my images, I use a shadow outline... depending on the color I'm going for, I use one of the following: BG10 (with BG13 close to the image), B000 and B00 (blues), YG91 (Putty) (That's what I used on this card)

Other favorite combos:
Browns: E50, E51, E57
Greens: G20, G21, G24 or G20 with G99
Red: R000, R24, R29

(I'll post some more later, but these are probably my most often used combos!) I really experiment a lot, but I always have some stand-bys!

Before I go-- I posted the card here to the SUINK blog last night, but forgot to add it over here... so here is my card for the SUINK Bling Challenge using one of the new sets "Let's Play". My bling is a little lacking, but I DID use some Silver Bells Dew Drops.

This is probably what Kaiden and Gabby will look like walking around out neighborhood in a few years!!

That's all I've got tonight-- I need to get some sleep-- but I hope you have a GREAT night and for my local Iowa readers--- I still have a couple of openings in my STAMPIN UP CLUB 6 group, so for more information, send me an email by clicking on the SU catalog in the right hand column!! You get a bonus CLUB MEMBERS ONLY stamping night at my house to learn new techniques and we'd love to have you join in on the fun!!

Thanks for dropping by and have a GREAT Friday!

ATSDTC39 - DRY EMBOSSING CHALLENGE

The ATS challenge today is DRY EMBOSSING--- Well heck, that's an easy one!! It's hard to MAKE a card without my CB Folders--- especially the Swiss Dots one!!

This is another Mushroom Friends card, again using Amy R's Friends Sentiments set. I loved these fun warm colors!!

I picked up a couple of the new EK Success punches-- and not to enable anyone (would I do that?!?)--- but they punch like a DREAM!! Much smoother than the Martha Stewart edge punches!!

The paper is from a DCWV pack that I picked up at Archiver's last weekend--- I saw Mushrooms and couldn't resist for this stamp set!!

I also am getting a little better with my airbrushing--- I finally think I figured out how to use the air compressor pressure gauge.

I'm going to try and get a card done for the SUINK challenge as well--- it's to use BLING!! And I LOVE bling!!!

Mushroom Friends and Bachelor chatter...

I was in such shock last night that I just couldn’t stamp… can we say HOT MESS on The Bachelor? WOW—that was a train wreck! I had my hands over my eyes going “oh my gosh!” while I watched. I felt bad for ALL of them. The only thing I will say about Jason is that at least he didn’t take the easy road and make it seem like everything was fine… he easily could have faked it to make it look like the fairy tale ending, then he could have slipped off to break up right after the show. Either way --- to quote Tool Academy, “Jason, You’re just a tool”. Bwahahaha…

Well on my crazy person front--- we’re getting closer to an answer. The subpoena should be signed on Thursday, so hopefully within a few days, I’ll get the physical address of where the email was sent from. Still hard to swallow a person being so sad in their own life that they have to try to hurt other people. My mind just doesn’t think that way… but it will be reassuring to get an answer.

I sincerely appreciate everyone’s extremely supportive emails… I needed to vent about it, and I really am thankful for you all tolerating my rant!

So have you all jumped over to ATS yet to see the new stamp set releases?? Tons of fun going on over there... (plus some fun conversations about The Bachelor at the release party last night!) The new C.C. Designs releases became available yesterday, as well as new Amy R and Cookie Crumbs sets!! PLUS, Christine got in stock new colors of dew drops, new Magnolias, ughhh… I’m at my spending limit this month, but there are SO MANY things I “NEED”. (Need is really a relative term, right?)

I’ve got a card for you tonight with the new Cookie Crumbs set, “Mushroom Friends”. Don’t these remind you of the little Smurf houses?? I just loved that show when I was little… I want to go get some DVD’s to see if my kids will watch it now, but they are so "in to" the Ben 10 Alien show, that I’m not sure if funny little blue creatures will be violent enough for them! Maybe Gabby will watch it with me when she gets older--- I’m already prepping her for My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake! (The sentiment is with Amy R's new "Friends Sentiments" again--- I just have to reiterate that I LOVE the sentiments in this set!)

Before I go—I just wanted to thank Peggy for a sweet ladybug “Favorite Blog” award. Isn't this little ladybug the cutest!? Thanks so much Peggy!

Have a great day and I'll be back later with some challenge cards--- ATS and SUINK both have some FUN challenges Wednesday!!!