Last Week's Unity :)

This first card was from the VSN warm up. The challenge was to make a manly card using green. I also incorporated a CAS (Clean and Simple) challenge to paper piece and the Stamp Something challenge to use black and white and one other color. When I was almost finished and had my pieces laying down, it felt a little naked. So I added the paper piercing to the border of the card!
The second card was also part of the warm up VSN challenge called "Time to Bake". I mixed up my own frosting;) There is a cool video tutorial link in the SCS thread. Boy, was it easy to mix that stuff up. {For SU demos, it is something you can demo at a workshop because there are only kitchen products, not any competitor stuff!!} I cased this card from a Hero Arts sample that my daughter snagged when we were browsing one day at Michael's. I am sometimes challenged to use Cameo Coral. I think I never used it the first 2 to 3 years as a demo, but now I am starting to like it!



I made this card using the sketch from Sketch Challenge 234 and was inspired by Ashley's Etsy Inspired Challenge #41. I chose the little owl tee as my inspiration. The tee is cute and my card is quirky! I fought and fought with this card to make it straight, but I just couldn't do it! I don't know how many times I stamped the Huh? sentiment on my scratch paper to try to get it straight. I thought I had it...I guess not!

This next card was from Hip Hop Thursday and the challenge was to create a Holiday card (your choice of holiday). I went with Christmas, even though it was only June. I think this one turned out pretty good, considering my heat tool kicked the bucket mid-embossing. I learned that you can emboss in a toaster oven, although I would not recommend it as it was quite stressful. I was totally worried about starting a fire! I went out a couple days later and bought a new heat tool. There is a story there too, but I will save it for later. It may be hard to see here, but I used my two-way glue pen and some ultra fine glitter to sparkle up those ornaments on the tree.


This card was for the second challenge of Hip Hop Thursday and it was to use pink and green on the same card. This was easy peasy as a couple of the soon to retire In-Colors go swimmingly together. I also had the American Crafts Flair that had both colors in it. I had to use the Distressed Dots background because the plain pink card base was just that, plain!


Sorry, this post seems too long to include all the ingredients, so I will just refer you to my SCS gallery for the descriptions with the cards.

All products used are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

I {heart} my Verve...

Verve had a release tonight and part of the festivities was a week long sketch challenge. There were five sketches and I managed to get all five done before the deadline. This first sketch also doubled for the Mojo Monday sketch! When I finished this card, I really appreciated the color combination. I will be repeating it for sure!
This was the second sketch from the Verve Release week sketches. You will notice some sewing on this card. I actually hand-stitched this card! I used a white gel pen to make the butterfly trail. I thought later that it would have really been cool to stitch in the butterfly trail. Oh well, next time!
This is the last card that I made and I made it this afternoon! I think it turned out quite nicely. I think this particular flower looks a bit like a lily. I wasn't quite crazy about the bow in the original sketch. I added it anyway and just adjusted the bow placement on my sketch to work better with my image! Love that Cosmo Cricket paper!!!


Here is the card that I made late last night! I took a photo of it this morning when we still had a marine layer. The photo above was in the blazing sun that the day turned into. Anyway, I have been admiring the Basic Grey Wisteria line (intact in my craft room) for some time. I finally cut into it last night! Wowzers! I love that stuff! I used some of my new dew drops that I won from Mandy at Limelight, during her 1st anniversary or birthday. The other dew drops came from my fabulous nephew who shopped right off my Christmas list for my gift! He is such a smart young man!



This last card I made yesterday afternoon. I really liked the designer paper when I bought it. I'm not sure that it is really my favorite, although I think it would make very nice manly cards. Fortunately, the Latte Kaisercraft pearls are a great match for the kraft ribbon!

Too many details to list here, check the description in my SCS gallery for the specifics.

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

OMG, did you see this?

Check it out! One of my creations was used to showcase a Unity Stamp that is on sale for Garage Sale Wednesday!!! You have to scroll down, but the stamps I used is the Linden Branch. I love that stamp!!!

Thanks for looking!

I'll try to be a better blogger. I've only been out of school for one very busy week!

Post ya later!

Let the Games Begin!

Woohoo! The games have begun in honor of Limelight's 1st birthday! You need to see this post here for all the details. This post is dedicated to Jennifer's Photo Scavenger Hunt. (I did this for the last World Card Making Day with the Limelight folks and it was a riot!) So this photo is "a cat nap" from Easter two years ago. It was a big day for my daughter. She got her first real boo-boo, a big bruise in the middle of her forehead, and held her bottle by herself for the first time. She is pictured here with my SIL. Doesn't my SIL look like Ozzy in this photo? If she ever reads this, she will laugh and know I don't mean anything by it;)
This is my photo to represent "something yummy". This one is multiple choice! Take your pick: a) the beautiful scenery of Koh Samui, Thailand, b) my YUMMY hubby, or c) the icy cold, tasty beverage in his hand. I looked for his traditional flexing pose, but just couldn't find one. Sorry to disappoint!



This last photo is "four". If you are a mom, you likely recognize it! This is the chaos of a "four" year old birthday party. I took photos for my bff at her daughter's party. Clearly, I'm not a pro, but I could hardly get photos of the birthday girl opening her presents. The swarm of other four year olds on top of her was helping to open the gift, seeing what she got and just generally feeding off the excitement in the air! Whew, talk about crazy. I am going to try to get away with family birthday parties for as long as I can! I didn't feature my daughter in this photo as she was only 2 then.

Do you think this is worth some Shimmerz Spritz? I hope so;) If not, it was totally worth the trip down memory lane this evening!

Limelight is Turning One!

I am sorry that I don't have a better picture, but I took this pretty early this morning before work. I made this jr. padfolio for a co-worker. She is going to have her pre-schooler give this to her teacher as an end-of-the-year gift! I thought I could easily work in Limelight Papercraft's Six Chicks Sketch. The product focus this time around is patterned paper. Since I just got this October Afternoon Ducks in a Row from Mandy at Limelight, I thought it would be perfect to cut into and cut into it I did. I cut up 5 sheets the first time opening it! That has to be a record for me!

But really my message for today is that Limelight is turning 1 and Mandy is planning some FUN STUFF! I was first turned on to Limelight during the last World Card Making Day! Mandy really knows how to throw a party and is super generous! She offers great products and excellent customer service. You just can't go wrong with Limelight! Check it out today!

Here are the specifics for my project:

Stamps: Much Appreciated
Paper: Summer Sun, Regal Rose, Whisper White, October Afternoon Ducks in a Row
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Basic Brown
Accessories: corner rounder, large oval punch, small oval punch, scallop edge punch, heart to heart punch, stampin' dimensionals

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Happy Memorial Day!

We had amazing weather yesterday for Sweet Pea's 3rd birthday party and here is her invite! She saw a sample card I had on my stamping desk and said I want those for my birthday. So I made the invitations look like Popsicles. This isn't a new idea, but is a very fun card! She liked the strawberry on the original card, only she wanted it sparkly! So I went over it with a glue pen and then sprinkled some glitter over the top.

The tiny bit of ribbon on the stick is supposed to hold it closed, but I think you need a wider ribbon for that to actually work. My little satiny ribbon is just there for looks! Now, all I need to do is get busy and make all the thank yous for the fun presents all the family got her!


May is a big birthday month in my household. It never was until I got married! My daughter's birthday is the 19th, my BIL's birthday is the 20th (along with my daycare provider and one of Pea's cousins) and then my MIL's birthday is the 27th! Yikes, I don't have her card made!

You see this cute little backpack. I made it, courtesy of an awesome template on SCS! It really wasn't all that hard. The hardest part for me was trying to do it and supervise an almost 3 year old during Saturday morning cartoons! I know I should only attempt these things during nap time!


Here is the matching card for the backpack. I slipped a gift card into the backpack and it fit perfectly. This ensemble went to my daycare provider for her birthday as she makes each and every day special and fun for the girls at daycare!






Here are the details:

Popsicle card -
Stamps: Tart and Tangy, Hugs and Wishes
Paper: Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red Old Olive, Versamark
Accessories: white ep, heat tool, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, scallop punch, two way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds, stampin' dimensionals, mini glue dots, red satin ribbon
Techniques: embossing

Backpack box -
Paper: SEI Mimosa. Groovy Guava
Accessories: thin coral satin ribbon, MM eyelets and snaps, velcro, sticky strip
Techniques: backpack box

Birthday Wishes card -
Stamps: Floral Symphony (Verve), Circular Sayings (Verve)
Paper: SEI Mimosa, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Cameo Coral, Summer Sun
Accessories: Scallop edge punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, sponge dauber, Soft Subtle brads, stampin' dimensionals, Sakura Clear Star gel pen
Techniques: sponging

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Limelight Card Challenges

Limelight Papercraft holds sketch challenges every other week. When Mandy hosts a challenge, there is always a product focus. The product focus for the first card was to use tulle, if you had it. I have so much stuff, I knew I could find some. I did. Good thing it was white, too. I combined the Limelight challenge with a VSN challenge to make a monochromatic green card with only one neutral.
This Limelight challenge is from about 3 weeks ago and the product focus to go with this sketch was pearls. Mandy carries an amazing selection of Kaisercraft pearls. They are so fun and easy to use! I tried to also use other products Mandy carries like Unity stamps and Basic Grey paper. I do like the way that this card turned out. I was low on mojo that week.



Here are the specifics on my cards:

Monochromatic Trees -
Stamps: Trinity Trio (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive, Haiku dp, I Wish dp, Holiday Treasures dp
Ink: Craft White, Old Olive
Accessories: Nestabilities, Bazzill mini brads, 1/4" circle punch, glue dots, white tulle, clear ep, white gel pen, two way glue pen, stampin' dimensionals
Techniques: embossing

Pearl card -
Stamps: Linden Branch (Unity), Sentiments O'Simple (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, BG Urban Prairie
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: white ep, heat tool, Kaisercraft peals, pink organdy ribbon, white taffeta ribbon, Nestabilities
Techniques: embossing

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.