The Very Last Hip Hop! :(

I am sad to say that this is my very last Hip Hop for a couple of reasons. First of all, my guest position ends next week and second of all, things are changing with Unity. You will have to stay tuned to find out more but I guarantee you it will be a great change! :)

Anyway, you should be hopping from the fabulous Natalie's blog! If not, make sure you start at the Unity blog! :D This week's hop is showcasing the seriously amazing September KOTM! Ok, when I say amazing, I mean it! This is probably my favorite kit EVER!

So for my card I used the gorgeous wedding image and coordinating sentiment that can be found in the kit. I paper pieced the dress so that it would match my card and added some pretty pearls to it. The paper I used is Stampin' Up!'s Nouveau Chic. The sketch is from yesterday's SCS Sketch Challenge. I'll spare you the boring details for today but if you do have any questions, feel free to let me know! :D

So now that you've seen my card, hop on over to the crazy talented Heather's blog! She is sure to blow you away!

Before you go, I did want to share these two pictures with you! :D On Saturday I met up with some friends at the Scrapbooking Expo in Colorado Springs. Hillary (and her baby Ruby) and Leanne (and her baby Mason) met me down there and I was then able to FINALLY meet my dear friend Maria! :D I knew she was sweet but I didn't even know the half of how sweet she REALLY was!

Here is a picture of Leanne with sweet baby Mason, Maria, and myself! Besides the fact that I look like a sweaty mess, I really love this picture!

After we left the Expo, my husband and I met up with some of our other good friends for supper! Here is a picture of me with my very favorite little boy (their 3 yr old son)! He's my joy on a cloudy day! :D Can you tell we like each other a lot! ;) He calls me "his Stephanie" and I call him "my little sir".

Hip Hop Thursday: Back to School Style!

Welcome to another fabulous Hip Hop! You should be arriving here from Wendy's blog. If not, start here at the Unity blog! :)

For my card I used this fun school house from the August KOTM in celebration of school starting back up. It means I have to go back to work but I can't tell you how excited about that I actually am! I look forward to teaching some youngsters! :D I used yesterday's SCS sketch challenge for my card and pulled out some of my retired SU! paper. I felt like the colors in this paper were perfect for a school theme! I stamped my school house, colored it, and cut it out so I could pop it up on dimensionals. I then added some So Saffron ribbon as well as 3 brads and a fun clip! Other than that, I think you can pretty much figure out the rest of my card.

So now that you have seen mine, hop on over to Renee's blog so that you can check out her fabulous creations!

My First Hip Hop!

Welcome to my very first Hip Hop! I am this month's Unity Guest Designer and I couldn't be more excited! :D I have loved Unity since I first saw their Giggle Grove set and now have a serious addiction! You should be hopping over from the very talented AJ (whom I met at CHA and let me tell you, not only is she hilarious but she is super sweet)! If you did not come to me from AJ's blog, make sure you start here! This week's Hip Hop is featuring the fabulous new Store Kit of the Month 100% Happiness! You can only pick it up in stores so if your store doesn't carry Unity, make sure you ask them to...actually...just go ahead and beg! :D To see current store locations click here.
For my first card I used Jen's Sketch For You To Try. I used some Cosmo Cricket Early Bird paper for the background and can't decide whether I think it is too busy or not! I also decided to sew every strip on and it kind of tones it down a bit (I think). Haha! I used the sweet strawberry image for this card and punched them out so that it would fit in the circle. I colored them with my markers and blender pens and then added some crystal effects and stickles over the top. I tied some cute gingham ribbon over the top of the card and then popped my strawberries up over it. The sentiment was then stamped and punched out with my word window punch!

My second card uses this week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge. I used some fabulous Nouveau Chic designer paper for the background and sewed around the edge of it. I then tied on some Sage Shadow ribbon as well as a little piece of Basic Grey ribbon. For some detail I then used my ScorPal to create some scored lines next to the ribbon. I stamped the fun start twice and popped up the Apricot Appeal one for some added dimension! As a final touch I then added some pearls to the corners of the smaller square!

Now hop along to see what Maren has cooked up for us! I'm sure it will be amazing!

Hip Hop Hangover!

Good morning and welcome to my Hip Hop Hangover creation! :D I made this card for yesterday's challenge which was to create a black and white background! I took the swirly stamp from the Bevy of Butterflies kit and stamped it all over the piece of whisper white card stock. I then layered that piece on my black card base. The dragon fly was then stamped with stazon and I colored in the wings with my colored pencils and gamsol. For a prettier look I then added glitter to the body, wings, and antenna of it. I used some bermuda bay and melon mambo to balance out the color scheme too! I punched out the sentiment (also from Bevy of Butteflies) and popped it up with dimensionals after coloring it in. The last thing I did was add rhinestones and ribbon pieces to embellish the card!

Now for the news! Remember when I said I was taking a chance by trying out for the Unity Guest Designer challenge with this card? Well, yesterday I found out that they picked ME! I was blown away! I did not think I stood a chance among all the fabulous creations that had been submitted! Wowza was I excited though! :D My term will be for August and I am so thrilled!

I hope you all enjoy your Friday! I plan on getting a lot done today! :D

Yippee for Viva la Verve! :)

So...do you remember my card from last week's Viva la Verve Sketch Challenge??? What...you don't? Oh, that's right! I completely forgot to post it! Haha! Surprise, surprise! Well, I guess I will share it on the next post because Amber (the Viva la Verve hostess) emailed me this week asking me to be her Design Diva for today's Sketch with a Twist! Can you believe it??? I sure couldn't! Haha! Anyway, this is the card that I made for today's sketch. This week's sketch twist was to use some sort of embossing so I pulled out my fabulous Swiss Dots embossing folder. I wanted to use this piece of My Mind's Eye dp on my card so I pulled my color combo for it and then proceeded to pick out the Verve set I wanted to use. This set is one that I just love! It is called Jeremiah 29:11. I pulled the cross from this set and stamped it in Really Rust. I then cut it out and popped it up on some ovals that were punched out with my Nestabilities. I rounded the corners of my front panel, added some chocolate ribbon around the middle, and then popped it up on my card base. The final touch were the brads in the corners. I was originally going to put a sentiment somewhere on this card but couldn't find a place that I liked so I stamped the verse Proverbs 3:5 on the inside. If you want to see my card from last week's sketch, you can find it here. Make sure that you take part in this week's sketch because it was so much fun! You can find the details here.

Thanks so much again for stopping by! I hope you enjoy your evening!

Paper Pretties Monday!

Good evening! Today has been one long day for me. We had conferences after school and I didn't get home until 7:30. I have also had a migraine all day long so that didn't help things much. Anyway, I still wanted to share this card with you tonight. I used my Cuddle Me Sophia set from the Paper Pretties store to make this card! I just love how cute she looks! The paper is another sample from The Paper Studio set that I got over the weekend. I used Jen del Muro's Sketch for You to Try as well! Well, that's all I will write tonight. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow. I have conferences from 8-3 and once I am done, we are headed for Iowa. I am really looking forward to seeing my family! Take care!

One other side note:

Cutie Pie Contest!!

How would you like to be Paper Pretties Cutie Pie? I thought you would!! All you have to do is make a card using your Paper Pretties stamps and upload it to the Cutie Pie Contest gallery on the Paper Pretties forum, and Christie will chose a winner from the entries. Besides being able to call yourself a Cutie Pie, you will also win the entire release!! You have until November 30th at 8pmCDT to get your entries in!! Good luck!!

Also, on Monday December 1st, Paper Pretties will be having their monthly Stampin In Your Jammies party!! The party starts at 6pm CDT and will last until 9pm. We will be issuing a challenge every hour so be sure to come and play along!! Besides the challenges, chatter, and all around fun, we will also be releasing Trim the Tree to the public as well as re-releasing Snowflake Kisses in RUBBAH. Hope to see you there!!

Recipe:
Stamps: Paper Pretties (Cuddle Me)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, The Paper Studio dsp
Ink: Black StazOn, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Crayola Pencils, Ribbon, Felt Fusion Too, Dimensionals, Brads

Paper Pretties Monday...err...Tuesday!

So I may just be a tad late for my usual Paper Pretties Monday post! Hehe! I promised to be back last night and then completely forgot! I am such a ditz some days! Anyway, I had the card finished but had failed to take a picture so my wonderful husband offered to (while I worked on a project for school) and he did a fabulous job! I think it turned out better than mine usually do and he only took ONE! He even edited the picture and it looks really good (in my opinion)! Anyway, when I asked him what he thought of this card he said "I like the coloring but the background paper looks like something my grandma would wear!" I was appalled because I happen to think that this Bella Rose paper is gorgeous! Now it actually does surprise me that I like it because I would normally agree with him! Haha! This paper is just different I guess! Anyway, he said that I should send it to his grandma so I probably will! Hehe! She could probably use a pretty card! :)

For those of you who are wondering, this amazing image is from the Paper Pretties set "Simply Special". I couldn't find a place to squeeze on a sentiment without it looking too cluttered so I stamped it on the inside. The layout I used is Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge from Friday! I absolutely love this layout and wish I had some bigger brown brads to use on the side but have to make due with what I have!

Well, that's all I have to share with you tonight! Stop back tomorrow for another hand made creation from me! :) Until then, enjoy!

Recipe:
Stamps: Paper Pretties (Simply Special)
Paper: Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Bella Rose dsp
Ink: Black StazOn
Accessories: Crayola Pencils, OMS, Blending Stump, Ribbon, Brads, Dimensionals

Paper Pretties Monday!

Today's card is one that I made for the Paper Pretties Stampin' in Your Jammie's party (which I was actually unable to attend). This image is the newest Stamp of the Month! Isn't Sophia just adorable? She reminds me so much of some of my 2nd grade girls! Anyway, the challenge was to make a gate fold card so that's what I did! :)

Don't forget that Paper Pretties is having a HUGE sale right now! Make sure you stop by the store so that you can check it out!

Also, Paper Pretties has also just started a new blog called "The Paper Clip". There you can get all the latest news and updates! How exciting huh???

Little Drummer Boy Gift Tag

It's Paper Pretties Monday in my neck of the woods and I am so thrilled to share this adorable gift tag with you! Isn't this the cutest stamp ever??? This is one of the many fabulous new releases from Paper Pretties called Pa Rum Pa Pa Pum. I have to say that this is one of my favorites yet! The Little Drummer Boy is one of my absolute favorite Christmas songs though so that could be why! Anyway, I used the new Top Note Bigz Die (which is fantastic) from Stampin' Up! as the tag. To layer the colors I just trimmed off the perforated portion of the creamy caramel piece. I then gave it a dirty look by running the cardstock all over the creamy caramel ink pad. I just love how this turned out! My husband was really impressed with it too! :) Well, thanks so much for stopping by this morning! I had lots of time to stamp this weekend so I will have lots to share this week! I am so excited about some of them too! Until then, take care!

Recipe:
Stamps: Paper Pretties (Pa Rum Pa Pa Pum)
Ink: Black, SU! Markers, Creamy Caramel, Brocade Blue
Paper: Creamy Caramel, Whisper White, Brocade Blue
Accessories: Big Shot, Top Note Bigz Die, Brads, Hole Punch, Ribbon, Dimensionals

Pretties Monday!

Good morning! It's Paper Pretties Monday and I couldn't be happier with this adorable card! :) I just love how these bright colors all go so well together! I pulled the color combination from this piece of My Mind's Eye dp. The sketch is also one that Danielle posted over on the Paper Pretties forum last week. I completely forgot about it and decided to use it for this week! :) Doesn't little Sophia just look so excited to be going to school? That's definitely not how I am feeling this morning! Haha! Anyway, make sure you check out the Paper Pretties store to see this stamp along with all the other fabulous stamps for sale there! I will be back tomorrow to show you a new card, until then, have a wonderful day!

Recipe:
Stamps: Paper Pretties
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Close to Cocoa, Gable Green, Whisper White, My Mind's Eye dsp
Ink: Black StazOn, Close to Cocoa, SU! Markers
Accessories: Ribbon, Dimensionals

Paper Pretties Monday!

Isn't Cooper just adorable??? I love this Paper Pretties image so much! He looks so happy to be going to school! Hehe! If only all my students were that happy to go to school! Anyway, I used my stash of My Mind's Eye dp for this card and I pulled the colors from it. I then colored Cooper with my SU! markers and popped the image panel up on dimensionals. This card came together fairly quickly because of how simple it was. Oh, I almost forgot! I used the OCC sketch challenge from Saturday on this card! Well, that's it for now! I have to run! Have a great Monday everyone!

Recipe:
Stamps: Paper Pretties
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Ruby Red, Very Vanilla, My Mind's Eye dp
Ink: Black StazOn, Chocolate Chip, SU! Markers
Accessories: Brads, Dimensionals

A Late Paper Pretties Monday!

Woohoo! I am finally able to post a card! I have to tell you that it has been a rough past couple of weeks. On top of getting this nasty cold, I ended up getting the stomach flu! Yesterday, about 2 hours into the school day, I started feeling really sick to my stomach and at about 12:00 I ended up sprinting to the bathroom (I am lucky enough to have one in my room) to throw up. Not fun! Especially when the kids KNOW! Anyway, after that humiliating experience, I had to try to find a sub. Let me tell you, it's impossible to find one at 12:00 p.m. because most normal people have made plans! That meant two things for me, I stick it out for the next 4 hours or my (fabulous) teaching partner takes my class. Lucky for me, she's amazing and she offered to combine for the rest of the day! I was then able to go home and sleep (well...when I wasn't getting sick) and recover! Today I am feeling better than ever! It's amazing how fast and hard it can hit you and then how quick you can recover from it! So, where have I been? That's where!

This card is one that I made using the ADORABLE Paper Pretties set, Cuddle Me. Oh, did I mention that I was asked to be a Paper Pretties guest designer??? How awesome is that??? I couldn't be more thrilled about it! :D Anyway, I used the Paper Pretties sketch challenge that Danielle issued over on the Paper Pretties forum and couldn't be happier with how this card turned out. I just love this color combination and thinks little Sophia looks adorable in blue! I used my Urban Garden dsp for the background and accented it with some chocolate ribbon and brads. I colored the image with my Stampin' Up markers and popped it up with dimensionals. This was a fun card to make and I love how easily it came together!

Recipe:
Stamps: Paper Pretties (Cuddle Me)
Paper: Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Urban Garden dsp
Ink: Black StazOn
Accessories: SU! Markers, Ribbon, Brads, Dimensionals

I Was the Sketch Designer on Tamara's Blog!

Yes, I know it was last week Saturday but I sadly didn't get the opportunity to announce it then. I was hoping to, but with everything that happened, it didn't get done. :( I was SO excited when Tamara asked me to be her featured sketch designer. I was completely shocked too! I immediately looked for a sketch that I liked and chose this one. You should check out the picture I sent her too! Haha. It was my school picture. I literally could not find a picture of myself without Nick! Haha. That was the only one I had! It is funny. Here are my two cards that I made for the sketch. The first one I made for Cassie's wedding (dark purple was her main color) and the second card is the one I made for my mom's Mother's Day card! I love how they turned out!



Thanks for stopping by! Life has been completely crazy here. After missing 3 days of school I am killing myself trying to catch up and get everything done. Tomorrow is our last day of school and I haven't even started my report cards! Yikes! I have a feeling I am going to be completely stressed these next few days!

Recipe for Cherish Card:
Stamps: Baroque Motifs
Paper: Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant
Ink: Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: Pretties Kit, Dimensionals, Ribbon

Recipe for Mother's Day Card:
Stamps: All Holidays
Paper: Whisper White, Always Artichoke, Fall Flowers dsp
Ink: Always Artichoke
Accessories: Pretties Kit, Ribbon