A Triple Play! :D

Good afternoon ladies! Sorry for the late post but as you know I have not had any mojo the past couple of days so I have not made any cards. I finally did one though and I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. It's not too bad for having lost my creativity! Anyway, to make my life easier, I combined THREE challenges! Haha! 

I used yesterday's SCS sketch challenge, today's ways to use it challenge which was to only use scraps, and the Paper Pretties challenge to use polka dots! Well, lucky for me the sketch was a lot of fun, I have TONS of scraps, and I use polka dots all the time! :D It definitely made this card a lot easier to make! Here is how I did it. I stamped the image in StazOn ink and used my SU! markers, aqua painter, and blender pen to color it in. I then ticket corner punched the corners and added some brads. I popped the whole thing up on dimensionals for a more finished look. The ribbon was the last addition and I really love it down there at the bottom! I think that's really all there is to this card. The dp is more of the yummy My Mind's Eye dp and the ribbon is SU!'s wide regal rose grosgrain (we all know that's my favorite kind). I hope that everyone has a fantastic day! My parents and my brother will be here on Saturday so I had better get some cards made so that I have some to post! Stop back by tomorrow for another Cupcake Challenge!

Recipe:

Stamps: Paper Pretties (Simply Special)

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Watercolor, My Mind's Eye dp

Ink: Black StazOn

Accessories: SU! Markers, Blender Pen, Aqua Painter, Brads, Ticket Corner Punch, Ribbon, Dimensionals

Another Verve ATC!

I had time to make another ATC using my favorite Verve stamps! I love this new s.e.i dp that I got from the Mothers and Daughters creation blog! You can't tell in the picture but it actually has some shiny silver in it! This ATC was pretty simple to make. I just stamped and cut out the butterflies and glued them on. I then stamped the sentiment and punched it out with my word window punch. The last touch was the dew drops! The only thing I had left to do was mount it on a card! I kept this card simple too. I just don't think you need much when all of the focus should be on the ATC. I just put a couple of layers on the whisper white and paper pierced the corners. That was it! I hope you like it! I certainly do! I don't feel that the picture is doing it justice either. Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Recipe:
Stamps: Verve Stamps
Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, s.e.i dp
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Word Window Punch, Dew Drops, Dimensionals, Paper Piercer

Buttons Everywhere!

Good morning! It certainly is a great morning here! I just found out that my friend Megan is pregnant and I couldn't be more excited for here! (Hi Megan! *waving*) I don't know why but hearing that just made my day wonderful! :D She is going to be a fantastic mother! Today I am going to be in my classroom working with Leanne on some stuff so I probably won't be stamping again. I did get a card made last night but I have lost my mojo and I really don't like it. I am not a huge fan of today's card either though. Hopefully things start to get better...soon! Anyway, I made this card for the Paper Pretties forum challenge which was to use buttons on a card. I never use buttons and Ashley's Brainwave sketch challenge. I am not sure why so I struggled with this one. It just didn't come together like I had hoped. I finally decided to just use a lot of buttons! Haha! After I got it finished I realized that it fits the Verve button challenge on Splitcoast too! Woohoo! 3 challenges finished in one card! That's awesome! :D Anyway, I have to keep today's post fairly short because the boy I tutor should be here any minute! I hope that everyone has a wonderful day!

Recipe:
Stamps: Paper Pretties (One of Those Days)
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Ruby Red, So Saffron, Old Olive, Naturals Ivory, My Mind's Eye dp, Watercolor paper
Ink: Black StazOn
Accessories: SU! Markers, Blender Pens, Coluzzle, Buttons, Ribbon, Dimensionals, Paper Piercer

Meet Carly Jo! :D

Look at that hair! This is my cousin's new baby girl! Isn't she so cute??? I can't wait to hold her! They are in Iowa and I am sure Nick and I won't get back until September so I am sad! :( I don't want to wait that long!

Amber had a rough last week of pregnancy! Not only was she a week late but when she finally did go into labor it lasted over 30 hours! They weren't planning on having a girl either so they have had to go on a shopping spree for girl clothes! Haha! Nick and I bought her a little set of clothes and an adorable little doll! Her older brother, Carter, is a doll too and so this picture of them is my favorite! I love Carter's face too! You can already tell that he is going to HATE not getting all the attention! Haha! Well anyway, thanks for letting me brag! No cards to share for this post but I will be back bright and early tomorrow morning with one!
P.S. The man holding her is my uncle (Carly's grandpa).

My Very First ATC!

I made my very first ATC this weekend and it was so much fun to make! The Verve Project Parade for this month was to make these fun ATCs so I wanted to give it a try. For those of you who are unaware, an ATC is an Artist Trading Card. You can see Jen's tutorial on Splitcoast here. They are only 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" big and they are made to go on the front of a card! The great thing about an ATC is that you can use all scraps for it and the base card can be very simple! Here is my ATC before I put it on a card. Cute huh?
Now here it is on a finished card. Do you see how simple the base card is? The hardest part was the paper piercing and that was just a matter of keeping the holes straight!
For this ATC I pulled some of this gorgeous s.e.i paper that I received in the mail last week. I just love the elegant design on it. I added some flowers, rhinestone brads, pearls, and hat pin that fit the elegant feel I was going for. When it came to making my finished card I decided to offset the ATC panel so that the hat pin didn't stick off the side of the card. Now I can at least put it in an envelope! :D

I hope that everyone had a fantastic weekend! I definitely did. My cousin had her baby (after almost 30 hours of labor) and it was a little girl! She is so beautiful too! I can't wait to go home and see her personally! Then, last night Nick, my SIL and I went to the new Batman movie. We had a good time and I enjoyed the movie but it was EXTREMELY long! I am super glad I went to the bathroom before it started! 2 1/2 hours is a long time to sit in a semi-comfortable seat. My knees were so sore from sitting that long!

I am looking forward to this week for a number of reasons! First my parents and my little brother (he's not so little anymore) are coming out and I haven't seen them in, what feels like, forever! I miss them so much! It will be great to spend a few days with them! We are also excited because our new truck will arrive Friday evening! Woohoo! No more waiting! Oh...one more exciting thing about this week, the Paper Pretties release party is Friday! :D I just love the Paper Pretties stamps and I am excited to see what is coming! Make sure you check them out!

I hope you all have a great day! I am off to go walk my SIL's dog. She is out of town this week so guess who gets to watch him? Me!

Recipe:
Stamps: Verve Stamps
Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, s.e.i dp
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Pretties Kit, Prima Flowers, Dimensionals, Paper Piercer

Good Sunday Morning!

I love Sundays! They are just so amazing! I love that we have the freedom to go to church and worship our God! That is something that I am the most thankful for! Anyway, I wanted to post really quick before I went to church this morning so this is going to be short! I made this card for the 2 sketches for you challenge but I just realized that I didn't get it in on time! Oh well, life goes on! I really liked the sketch this week. It was a lot of fun to work with! For this card I used my new Basic Grey paper and pulled the colors from it. I watercolored my watering can from the Paper Pretties set "Simply Special". I just love this image! It is so pretty! As a final touch I added some ribbon and stuck my new prima flowers right on top! The sentiment was then stamped below! Thanks so much for stopping by this morning! I hope that everyone has a wonderful Sunday! I am going to work in my classroom this afternoon so I probably won't get a lot of stamping done!

Recipe:
Stamps: Paper Pretties (Simply Special)
Paper: Whisper White, Bravo Burgandy, Always Artichoke, More Mustard, Watercolor paper, Basic Grey dp
Ink: Black StazOn
Accessories: SU! Markers, Blender Pens, Ribbon, Prima flowers, Pretties Kit, Dimensionals

Another MFT Sketch!

As promised, here is this week's MFT sketch challenge over in the Splitcoast forum! I love how this card turned out! It took me awhile to get it to a point that I liked it, but once I got there...I REALLY liked it! :D I wanted to use my new "Ride 'Em Cowgirl!" set again so I inked her up and colored her in with my SU! Markers! I then used my new Basic Grey AND s.e.i paper that I received this week! I love this color combination. Pinks and browns always look great together in my opinion! I used some of my new ribbon and prima flowers that I received from my secret sis to finish the card up! It was a challenging sketch to work with but in the end, I love this card! Thanks again for letting me share my creations with you! I hope that you all have a fun and safe Saturday!

Recipe:
Stamps: MFT (Ride 'Em Cowgirl!)
Paper: Whisper White, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Creamy Caramel, Basic Grey dp, s.e.i dp
Ink: Black StazOn
Accessories: SU! Markers, Ribbon, Coluzzle, Corner Rounder Punch, Prima Flowers, Taylor Tots, Dimensionals

Happy Saturday! :D

Yay! I love Saturdays! :D Nick and I are going "down the hill" (which here in Colorado means we are driving to the flatlands of Pueblo) today to get some groceries and run some other errands. We usually have a good time together and have to make it an entire day. When you live an hour from places like Wal-Mart and Sam's Club, you have to make a day of it. I am hoping to make it to Hobby Lobby too! I have my coupons printed and everything! Anyway, here is a card that I made for last week's MFT sketch challenge. I pulled out my new "I'm Pullin' For You" set and inked it up! I colored in my bunny with SU! Markers and popped her up on dimensionals. I made my heart like you would make any regular heart, by folding a piece of paper in half and drawing it! :D It worked well! I will be back in a bit to show you my card for THIS week's MFT sketch challenge! Stay tuned!

Recipe:
Stamps: MFT (I'm Pullin' For You!)
Paper: Naturals Ivory, Certainly Celery, My Mind's Eye dp
Ink: Black StazOn, Almost Artichoke
Accessories: SU! Markers, Oval Punch, Ribbon, Taylor Tots, Dimensionals, Sponge Dauber

Another Forgotten Card!

I don't know how I keep forgetting about these cards! I must post them to Splitcoast and then forget about posting them on here! I really like this card too! I made it for Jen's Sketch For You To Try from last week! I also used last week's Our Creative Corner inspiration piece! I was inspired by the colors and the tulips in this picture so I pulled out my much missed Garden Whimsy set and went to work! I popped up the blooms on dimensionals and curled the edges of the leaves up so that it would have a little dimension! Other than that, I think this card is pretty self-explanatory! If you ever have any questions though, let me know! :D Have a terrific night everyone!

Recipe:
Stamps: Garden Whimsy
Paper: Apricot Appeal, Old Olive, Whisper White, Prints Pack dsp
Ink: Old Olive
Accessories: SU! Markers, Coluzzle, Ribbon, Brads, Ticket Corner Punch, Dimensionals

Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #26

Good morning ladies! Can you believe that it is Friday already? I certainly can't! This week flew by so fast! Well, to start your morning off, check out Taylor's fantastic sketch! :D I absolutely loved it and I know you will too!

Since the layout of this card is so fun I knew it had to have some fun colors so I used LOTS of them! I pulled out my polka dot dp from My Mind's Eye and used the colors in it. I love how perfect the SU! colors match it too! I also pulled out my hilarious Paper Pretties stamp set and went to work coloring in this cute little chick! I know I have felt that way before and I am sure most of you have too! :D Now, the only thing on this card I would fix would be the flat image. I wish now that I would have cut out the chick and popped him up so that it wouldn't look so flat. I tried to fix it by adding a shadow around the outside of him but I am not sure I like that either. I don't know, what do you think?

Make sure that you head over to Taylor's blog to check out the sketch, her card, as well as this week's featured stamper's card! For this week Taylor picked the fabulous Denise aka: peanutbee and I was so excited! I have admired Denise's work for a while now and she definitely deserved it because her card was fantastic! :D Make sure you check out her blog too! She is very talented!

Want to see more??? Sure you do! :D You should also check out the other girls' cards as well! You won't want to miss them!

Sherrie Siemens: Card Creme
Vicki Chrisman: This Art that makes me Happy
Jami Sibley: More is More
Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Lynn Mercurio: Stamperosity
Ana Wohlfahrt: Ink A Stamp

I hope that you hope that you find time to play today! Remember, Taylor will pick the card that she feels to be the most creative and that person will be next week's featured stamper! She will also choose a random card to receive this week's give-away! :D Have fun playing! I will be back in a bit with another card!

Recipe:
Stamps: Paper Pretties (One of Those Days)
Paper: More Mustard, Old Olive, Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Watercolor Paper, My Mind's Eye dp
Ink: Black StazOn
Accessories: SU! Markers, Blender Pens, Ribbon, Taylor Tots (For those of you who don't know what Taylor Tots are...they are the dew drops that Taylor sells in her store for a terrific price!), Dimensionals

Some RAKS and Some Candy!

I have more RAKS and goodies to share with you!

This first card is the card I received from Cindy! She is so wonderful! She made this card for me in honor of me being the featured stamper! Isn't she just so sweet? I think this card is hilarious too! Nick loved it and even wanted to do a little jig in the living room with me! Hehe. He's a goof ball! Thanks so much Cindy for making us dance! :D Oh, I should also mention that with this card, Cindy mailed us the movie 27 Dresses that she had rented through Netflix! We have yet to watch it but I will NOT keep bugging Nick about it! :D
This next card is from Nancy who is in my blogger pen pal group! Her card is just so pretty! I love the flowers and the color combination that she used! Thanks for making my day Nancy!

I also got some fantastic blog candy this past week! This first picture is of the Lizzie Anne Designs stamps that I won on Taylor's blog! I was so surprised because I wasn't the first name she drew! Taylor emailed me and said that the person never emailed her back so she drew again and she drew my name! Woohoo! I was so excited!

This next batch of candy was from the Mothers and Daughters Creations blog! They posted a sketch challenge so I participated and won! Woohoo! I couldn't belive all of the goodies that I got from them! The paper is absolutely gorgeous and I LOVE the little black fold-up trash bin! It will be perfect sitting on my desk!

FINALLY I got the best surprise from the UPS man this week! My secret sister, who finally identified herself (Hi Wendy!), sent me a HUGE package full of goodies! Look at all of this stuff! :D I was in heaven! Now...do you notice anything familiar between this picture and the one above??? I got the same cute penguin stamp in both packages but Wendy's packaged penguin has TWO stamps. The crazy thing is...I almost bought this stamp last week but it was sold out! Haha! Both ladies must have read my mind! Anyway, thank you, thank you, thank you Wendy for the awesome gift! You are such a sweetie! :D

A Lavender SFYTT

I finally got to ink up my new My Favorite Things Lavender image! I love it so much and couldn't wait to finally play with it! I used Jen del Muro's Sketch For You To Try on this card and I really love how it turned out! I colored the image with my SU! Markers and added crystal effects to the spots. I then popped the image up on dimensionals. I also put ribbon on the side with some added "Taylor Tots" and used my new flowers from Candy! I just LOVE the colors too! Thanks for stopping by again! Make sure you stop in tomorrow morning for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge! :D Goodnight!

Recipe:
Stamps: MFT (Lavender by Annie LaPointe)
Paper: Lavender Lace, Whisper White, My Mind's Eye dp
Ink: Black StazOn
Accessories: SU! Markers, Crystal Effects, Dimensionals, Prima Flowers, Pretties Kit, Ribbon, Taylor Tots

Another Verve Challenge

Good morning! It certainly is a good morning here. The weather is beautiful, I'm up to enjoy it, and I have a new post ready! Here is this past week's Meet the Verve Divas challenge card that I made! This time Amber challenged us to use this great picture as our source of inspiration! I was mainly inspired by the color and I picked up some of the pattern in my dp. I wanted to use these fantastic flowers that Candy gave to me and it (along with the flowers from my Pretties kit) was the perfect touch. I love the clean look of this card and am pretty pleased with the end results! I don't know where I got the layout from...it was just one I had in my head! It's kind of a crazy one and I am not sure I will use it very much! Well, that's all for now. I have a feeling that I am going to get a lot done this morning. The boy I tutor couldn't come so I don't have to worry about that. I need to make some banana bread because our bananas are starting to turn. Other than that I am not sure what I am going to do. Haha. I guess I will make a card or two and just clean. :D I love days like this!

Recipe:
Stamps: Verve Stamps (Uplifting Phrases)
Paper: Whisper White, Brilliant Blue, Bali Breeze dsp
Ink: Brilliant Blue
Accessories: Pretties Kit, Prima Flower, Brad, Ribbon, Word Window Punch, Taylor Tots, Dimensionals

Last Post of the Day!

But I almost forgot to share this card with you! I made this card for the Hanna Stamps challenge over in the Splitcoast forum which was to use acetate on a card. Now, since I had never used acetate I decided to use a lot of it! :D Haha! I used the chocolate chip piece for the inside of my card so that I would have something to write on. I colored Riley with my SU! markers and stamped the sentiment with my StazOn ink. Other than that, I think this card is pretty self-explanatory! Well, I'm off to youth group! Have a great night!

Recipe:
Stamps: Hanna Stamps (Fishing Riley), Stampendous (Totally Tags)
Paper: Acetate, Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Black StazOn
Accessories: SU! Markers, Ribbon, Brads

I've Been Awarded!

I've been given a lot of awards lately and I have been a bad blogger for not sharing them with you!

First I was tagged by Wendy Janson and Jen Tapler! Both ladies have fantastic blogs and I subscribe to both of them! :D Thanks so much for thinking of me ladies! Now, since I have already filled out the 7 random things in this post I am not going to do it again because I don't think it would be possible for me to think of 7 more things! Haha. I am also not going to tag anyone back because about everyone I know has already been tagged! If you haven't and you are reading this...consider yourself tagged! Hehehe. Sorry ladies! :D

I would also like to thank Jackie Pedro AND Maria Gurnsey for giving me this awesome award! I was shocked that both women picked me to receive it along with all of the other amazing women in their lists! Thanks so much ladies!

So, here are the rules of the award:
*Winner may post award logo on blog
*Link person who gave the award to your blog
*Nominate 7 other blogs and link them to yours
*Leave a meassage on the blogs you've nominated

Now, I hate choosing blogs because there are so many terrific ones out there but here they are anyway!
1. Jodi Collins
2. Dawn Easton
3. Leanne Stover
4. Nicole Lechelt
5. Ashley Bowen
6. Angela Jones
7. Carolina Buchting
8. Christi Thorsen
9. Cindy...What is her last name??? It's not Mothermark is it? Haha!
10. Clouds Shadler

Ok, I am going to stop there for now! Haha! I actually just ran out of time!

Now I am hoping that I wrote down all of the awards that I was given. If I didn't, let me know and I apologize ahead of time! :D