Another Birthday Card!

Good morning everyone! I just wanted to show you the other birthday card that I made for a different girl in our youth group! This is another card that I made earlier this week so I plan on being back on today to show you a new creation! :D My husband went snowboarding so I will have plenty of time to play! (I am glad I got my cleaning done last night!)

I saw this card on Dawn's blog (can you say, blog stalker???). I am seriously addicted to her blog but for a good reason! She is one of the most talented stampers I have ever heard of AND she uses strictly SU! materials! Leanne came up with a term for us SU! lovers. She calls us Stampin Up! snobs! Hehe. Now, we really aren't snobs, we just love all of SU!'s materials and we love how well everything coordinates. I honestly have not found products that I like near as much! Ok, enough about that! I am not trying to push it on you, I am just letting you know my experience! :D So here is the card!
If you want the dimensions on this card, check out Dawn's blog because she has a great video tutorial on it! The only thing I changed on my card is the stamp image and the color scheme! Thanks so much Dawn for being such a huge inspiration!






Here is what the card looks like when the inner piece is pulled out.






Recipe:
Stamps: So Many Scallops, Lots of Thoughts
Paper: Rose Red, Taken with Teal, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Bali Breeze dsp
Ink: Taken with Teal
Accessories: Gel Pen, SU! Markers, Dimensionals, Punches, Ribbon

A Birthday Card and Gift!

Today felt like a Thursday to me and that is not a good thing! :( I know that I should be grateful that we can make our snow days up on a Friday instead of extending the school year but it still stunk to have to go to work today! Haha! I am getting used to this whole Friday off deal! I love being able to spend the day cleaning my house, doing laundry, and stamping without much of a distraction! Instead I had to go to work this morning, come home around 4:30 and THEN clean my house and do the laundry! Once I was done I was so wiped that I didn't get ANY stamping done. Oh well, I guess I am just going to have to do double the stamping tomorrow! Anyway, since I didn't get a card made today, I am going to show you the card that I made using this week's Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge. A couple of girls in our youth group had birthdays this week so I made a couple of bright, cheery cards! Here is one of the cards that I made! Again, you will have to forgive the frayed edges, my paper cutter just hates me! It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted this card to look like but I finally settled on this image from the Fun & Fast Notes set (which I had never used) and a scallop punched image to replace the star. I again sponged the sides of the image piece with pumpkin pie and layered it on some Bali Breeze dp. I added some brads to the long strip and glitter to the cake and it was finished! This was a pretty quick and easy card and I am pleased with the results!

I also wanted to share this cute bookmark that I put in her card. I saw the idea for this on Dawn's blog and loved it! Thanks so much for stopping by today! I will be back here tomorrow with (hopefully) some newly stamped cards! I have some RAKS that I want to send out so I will hopefully get those finished tomorrow! Good night everyone! Enjoy your Friday evening!





Recipe for Card:
Stamps: Fun & Fast Notes, So Many Scallops
Ink: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Bali Breeze dsp, Whisper White, Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: Brads, Dimesionals, Punches, Gel Pen, SU! Markers, Sponge Dauber, Glitter

Recipe for Bookmark:
Stamps: So Many Scallops
Ink: Regal Rose
Paper: Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana
Accessories: Punches, Build-a-brad, Gel Pen, Glitter

My Best Card Yet! (IMHO)

Good evening everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful day! Mine wasn't great. I have been feeling rather crummy all day. My stomach is so upset and I can't figure out why! PLUS, we have school tomorrow! On a Friday! The nerve! Haha. I am teasing. I know that we take for granted the fact that we don't have school on Fridays. This week we do though because we had a snow day earlier in the year! Oh well, on to the card!

Alright, so if you haven't noticed, I am a huge fan of sketch challenges but never find the time to participate in them! However, since my husband was gone for a few days I decided it was the perfect opportunity! *On a side note: He surprised me and came home early! He wasn't supposed to get home until tomorrow night but he came home last night!* One of my favorite blogs to check is MJ's called Techno Stamper! Every Monday she posts a wonderful card sketch called the "Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge". I had always wanted to participate in this challenge but had never had the time so guess what I did this week! I participated! :D Here is the card that I came up with!



I had not used my Merci stamp set yet (surprisingly) and I decided that this little butterfly was perfect for the square piece! I couldn't decide on colors at first so I started browsing through my dp and came across this beautiful 2 sided rose red dp! I loved both sides and decided it was perfect! I then contemplated on whether to add another color or not and finally decided that I should! So, what other color would I choose but the beautiful old olive??? :D So, I stamped my image with StazOn, watercolored it with my two colors and proceeded to make the rest of the card! Now, I am attempting to make my card and start gluing here and there when I suddenly realize that I glued the dp on UPSIDE DOWN! Yikes! I tried taking the dp back off but it was too late. I decided I was going to have to settle for a reversed sketch. I like how it turned out, I just hope it fits the challenge still! As for the rest of the card, I decided I wanted to use more of my build-a-brads with the polka dot dp along with a layer of striped summer picnic dp on the smaller rectangle. I did some paper piercing, added some bling to the butterfly, sponged the edges of the image, popped it up with some dimensionals, layered some ribbon at the top (using the "try a new technique" challenge on SCS) and voila, I'm done! Sorry about the long description, I just wanted to share in detail how I made it! :D (This happens to be my new favorite card!) Here is an up close picture of the butterfly!

I hope everyone has a terrific night and I will catch you all tomorrow! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Recipe:
Stamp: Merci
Paper: Bali Breeze dsp, Summer Picnic dsp, Rose Red, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: Black StazOn, Rose Red, Old Olive
Accessories: Build-a-brads, Ribbon, Punches, Paper Piercer, Dimensionals, SU! Glitter, Aqua Painter, Sponge Daubers

Leanne's Gift and a Near Impossible Challenge!

Hello everyone! It's Wednesday and my husband is gone which means that I am in charge of T-Church tonight! Yikes! I am going to admit, I am pretty nervous about it. Being in charge of 30+ kids by yourself can be very challenging! I don't have too much planned though. We will probably play a game, do some worshipping, watch a slideshow from the Mexico trip, and write letters to the child we sponser over in Bolivia. I can't believe how much I take for granted what Nick does! He is so amazing. It just blows me away! Anyway, I am going to share with you the gift that I made for Leanne but first I have to share this near impossible challenge with you! This week on Splitcoast the color challenge was to use Night of Navy, Glorious Green, and Real Red. I didn't really think about it being too difficultuntil I actually sat down and tried it! YIKES! Those colors do not look very good together AND I have no dsp that would match! So...here is what I came up with. To get myself started I got out the colors, looked at them and thought to myself "Only a man would want these colors on a card." So that's what I did, I made a masculine birthday card. Let me know what you think!


Now, onto something pretty and much more pleasing to the eyes! Here is the gift and card I gave Leanne yesterday! Now, I have to be honest, none of these projects were my ideas, I just made them my own! The peek-a-boo card tutorial that I used is on, who else, but Dawn's blog! I love how it works. On the front you see one image and when you open it up a new image slides in! You will have to look at her blog to know what I mean! The post-it note keychain tutorial is on the wonderful Angie Juda's blog. I had made one of these earlier but not with this fantastic scallop punch! Last, but not least, I made the box using a short tutorial that I found on Jen del Muro's blog! She has some incredible stuff as well! All three tutorials got the job done, that's for sure! I decided that I wanted to use the new Summer Picnic dsp and the new Tart & Tangy set from the New Mini Catalog and I am glad I did because Leanne doesn't have it yet! :D It's always nice to be able to look at something new.



Recipe for Birthday Card:
Stamps: Birthday Whimsy, Whimsy Wheel
Paper: Glorious Green, Real Red, Night of Navy, Whisper White:
Ink: Basic Black, Glorious Green, Real Red, Night of Navy
Accessories: Punches, Dimensionals, Brads, Sponge Daubers

Recipe for Leanne's Gift:
Stamps: Tart & Tangy
Paper: Summer Picnic dsp, Whisper White, Real Red, Bashful Blue, Old Olive
Accessories: Ribbon, Dimensionals, Punches, SU! Markers, Sticky Strip, Gel Pen

Jen's Saturday Sketch Challenge!

Before I get to the card I just had to share this with you. I am embarrassed to say that this is how I left my stamp room when I went to bed last night! I was stampin' like crazy and was so tired I didn't even care if it was still a mess. However, I did regret that decision this evening when I went to stamp because I had to spend a lot of time cleaning BEFORE I stamped. I just hate working in a mess! Anyway, I made sure to clean up tonight!


Here is the card that I created for Jen's Saturday Sketch Challenge! This is the first sketch challenge of her's that I have participated in and it was so much fun! I am definitely going to continue taking her challenges. Sketch challenges are my favorite anyway! I decided to use the big blossom from the Embrace Life stamp set along with some old olive paper. I watercolored the flower using my SU! markers (I'm not too impressed with my watercoloring skills yet). Now, I haven't seen very many green colored flowers but I decided it was ok! I just really wanted to use this designer paper and I decided I was going to stick with a green theme. Not sure why, I've never done that before! Anyway, I topped the card off with some black ribbon and I like the way it looks. I have, however, decided that I need a new paper trimmer because the one I have STINKS! It makes really rough cuts and the paper always looks half distressed (not a look I am going for on an elegant card). Just a helpful hint, don't buy the cheap one! Well, I think that's all I have for now. Tomorrow I will be sure to show you the neat gift that I made Leanne. I think it's neat anyway! :D Thanks for stopping by! I will see you all tomorrow!

Recipe:
Stamps: Embrace Life
Paper: Old Olive, Watercolor, Summer Picnic dsp, Bali Breeze dsp
Ink: Black StazOn
Accessories: SU! Markers, Aqua Painter, Brads, Dimensionals

A Double Slider Card!

I saw these awesome cards on Dawn's blog and decided I had to make my own! Dawn has a great video tutorial that shows exactly how they work so if you want to watch the sliders come out like magic just hop on over to her site! Again I decided to use my rub-ons and I have officially fallen in love with them! They are (in my opinion) so much easier than stamps because you know for sure that they are going to go on straight! Hehe! The image always comes out clear too! Now, they could NEVER replace stamps but they are fun to use! I have to say though, I am impressed with this card. Not because of how it looks but because of how it works! I made it and I still can't figure it out! Ha! Nick was even impressed with it! Speaking of Nick, he is gone! :( He left this morning around 5 a.m. to go work in Wyoming for the week. This will be the longest that we have been apart since we've been married. I have to admit, I already miss him like crazy! And to think, we did this for months at a time when we were dating/engaged! Anyway, I know he is making the big bucks up there and it will be worth it. I guess I am going to go to bed now though. It is getting late and morning will be here before I know it! Oh, look forward to some more fun cards/projects throughout the week! Leanne's birthday is tomorrow so I made her a cool treat. Make sure to stop by her blog to wish her a Happy Birthday! :D Until then, goodnight!

Recipe:
Stamps: None!
Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral
Ink: None!
Accessories: Ribbon, Build-a-brad, Punches, Plastic bag, Rub-ons, Staples, Paper Piercer, Sticky Strip

We Have a Winner!

But before I get to that, I have a card to share with you! :D I decided to participate in SCS's Limited Supplies Challenge from this past week! The challenge was to only use white and one other color that was NOT a neutral! Talk about a challenge! Yikes! I decided to use white and rose red since that is one of my favorite colors AND since I hadn't used my new rub-ons, I decided to include those! This card was SO simple and quick to come together! Take a look and you will see what I mean! There was no stamping involved and only one piece of cardstock!



Alright, alright! I'll be nice. For the blog candy drawing I had Nick pick a number randomly between 1 and 9 and he choose...drumroll...#7 who is Julie A.! Julie said "Hello! Thanks so much for the opportunity to win the great blog candy and congratulations on your hits! You do live in the most beautiful state- I live in the Midwest, and my family used to vacation in Colorado every summer (mainly Estes Park, Colorado Springs). We never tired of enjoying the mountains and gorgeous nature." Julie, please email me your address so I can send you your gifts! :D My email address is stephsstampinstuff@gmail.com.

Thanks so much for peeking over at my blog and for all of the wonderful comments everyone! You have all been so great! Oh, by the way, after Nick gave me the number he said "Why?" and I told him and you should have seen his face. It was hilarious. He had no idea why I wanted a random number. Hehe.

Recipe:
Stamps: None
Paper: Rose Red cs
Ink: None
Accessories: Rub-ons, Ribbon

SCS Sketch Challenge!

I finally got around to doing this weeks sketch challenge on Splitcoast Stampers and I like how it turned out! This card was so easy to make too! I decided that the long stemmed flower from the Embrace Life set would fit perfectly as the vertical image and I was right! I also like how well the Ginger Blossom dsp goes with this set too! That is one of the many reasons why SU! is so awesome! I wanted to make this another thank you card because I don't have very many. I used the sentiment from the Much Appreciated set. Well, I hope you all have a fantastic Saturday, I will catch ya tomorrow!


Recipe:
Stamps: Embrace Life, Much Appreciated
Paper: Ginger Blossom dsp, Watercolor, Ruby Red, Cameo Coral
Ink: Black StazOn
Accessories: SU! Markers, Aqua Painter

Be sure to leave a comment on my blog candy for a chance to win!!!!

A Sketch Challenge For Someone Sweet

I used Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #42 for this card. I made it for someone who I won't mention for fear she will check my blog! She will know who she is when she receives it in the mail! :D Anyway, I decided that I wanted to use the Tart & Tangy set along with the Summer Picnic dsp because I hadn't had the chance to yet and I was feeling like celebrating this warm weather we are having! I also wanted to use the build-a-brads and my rub-ons too! I have made a vow to myself to use all of my new stuff this weekend since my hubby is gone! So far, I am doing pretty good. I am just behind on stamp sets. My sets have tripled in number since I became a demonstrator! Ok, back to the card. I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. I feel like there is something missing but I can't put my finger on it. The circle isn't as big as I would have liked it to be but I am still waiting on my largest circle punch and my coluzzle to come. Well, I think that is about all for now! Leanne and I are going to go watch the promenade tonight. I am excited to see all of the beautiful dresses. I have to admit, I miss prom. Getting dressed up once a year is so exciting! I probably won't be doing much of that anymore, besides being in weddings. Hopefully I will be on later to show you some pictures! Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful Friday night!



Recipe:
Stamps: Tart & Tangy
Paper: Summer Picnic dsp, Old Olive, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Build-a-brad, Ribbon, Rub-ons, Dimensionals, Punches, Paper Piercer, Gel Pen
Technique: Paper Piercing

I Won Again and Again!

My mom tells me all of the time how lucky I am because I won a bunny on Easter day back when I was in 4th grade and sometimes I think she is right! Hehe. I won MORE blog candy recently and received both in the mail today! It was so exciting! :D The first blog candy that I won really had nothing to do with luck because I was the only one who tried for it. It was a shame really because Jeanna posted a wonderful challenge and I knew I wanted to take her up on it! :D Jeanna has an awesome blog and her cards are absolutely beautiful! I am definitely glad I did the challenge because the prize was AMAZING! She sent me all of this wonderful precut cardstock and premade cards for me to play around with. Just look at the picture and you will see how much work she put into the card kits! I can't wait to play with all of it! Thanks so much Jeanna!


The next piece of blog candy that I received came from Becky at Wooden Shoe Stamper! She was giving away this great SU! sale-a-bration set and cute keychain! I was in Mexico when she drew for the candy so you can imagine how excited I was when I got home! She really made my day, that's for sure! :D Be sure to check out her blog as well, she is a very talented stamper! Thanks Becky!

Finally! A Card Made By Me!

It took some doing but I think I finally pulled myself out of my stampin' rut! Woohoo! I made this card last night while my husband was having band practice with some of the guys in our youth group. I can't remember ever spending so much time on a card! I had really been wanting to use my new stuff and I had also wanted to try making a spinner card so I knew this was the perfect opportunity! I was a little unsure of the layout and overall look at first but this card is starting to grow on me now. Let me know what you think!

Recipe:
Stamps: Pun Fun, Whismy Wheel
Paper: Old Olive, Whisper White, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Taken with Teal, Bali Breeze DSP
Ink: Black StazOn, Rose Red
Accessories: Ribbon, Dimensionals, Pennies, Brads, Heat and Stick Powder, Teal Glitter, Crystal Effects
Tools: SU! Markers, Word Window Punch, Stampin' Around Handles,

BLOG CANDY!

Last post for the day, I promise!

Well, I FINALLY got around to posting my blog candy! I am sorry about the wait. Since I finally passed 1,000 hits (now 1,500) I decided I needed to celebrate! I am giving away a spool of banana yellow satin ribbon and a wonderful pack of photo mats and journaling boxes from Creative Memories! The pack includes 4 solid photo mats, 4 printed photo mats, and 3 journaling boxes in 8 exclusive colors! It all comes in a nice plastic case too! All you need to do to win is leave a comment about anything! Be sure to include your name and email address so that I know where to contact you though. If you need an idea for a comment, I would love to find out a little bit more about my readers so feel free to tell me something about yourself! I am excited to see what your responses are! I will draw a comment at random on Sunday.

I Have the Greatest Friend!

Yes, I again get to show you some amazing gifts that I received from my wonderful friend, teaching partner, and upline, Leanne! She spoils me so much! :D Before I forget, check out her brand new blog! It rocks! Ok, back to my story.

Leanne gave me this adorable card after I signed up to be a demonstrator and I just love it! I really like the colors of the card but my favorite part is the card closure she made. I am definitely going to try this idea on a card I make!
She also made me this super cute box for Easter along with the yummy treats inside (I ate all but the one in the picture...hehe)! I really like the ways she decorated the box and of course, you all know I like bright colors so it was perfect for me!

I won again!

A couple of weeks ago I won some blog candy on Angie Juda's blog chic n' scratch. The blog candy was a $15 gift certificate to her amazing stamp shop! It was extremely hard to decide on what to get but I finally choose and received it in the mail last week! Here is what she sent me:


Angie is an EXTREMELY talented stamper! One of the best I know actually! She has tons of video tutorials and posts a beautiful card or project every day (unless she is sick). Be sure to check out her blog. You won't regret it!

Thanks so much Angie! You are fantastic!

Pictures From My Trip and Stories!

Well, I can definitely say I am glad to be home! As I mentioned earlier, our trip was extremely eventful, TOO eventful! We left home around 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning and things started out well. We had a great trip all the way up until we were about 10 minutes from the place we were going to stay in Phoenix. Well, a long story short, my husband was driving a friend's vehicle and we got in a 3 car pileup! It was a disaster but thank the Lord no one got hurt. We totaled the car and had to find a new one to drive the following morning! Luckily, God has a tendency to work miracles, and we just happed to know someone in Phoenix who offered us their conversion van for the rest of the trip! The next day we arrived safely in Mexico and had wonderful weather for the entire week!












While in Mexico we camped in a little site where we were crammed in between lots of other youth groups but that didn't bother us much.









Here is a picture of me in our TEENY tent! Can you believe both my husband and I AND our stuff fit in there???







We built 2 houses for a couple of families in need and it only took us 3 days so we had one entire day to sight see and shop! Here are a few pictures of us working on the houses. We had to do EVERYTHING by hand. Power tools were not allowed.




Here we are finishing putting up the walls and stringing wire around them.














Here I am stuccoing next to my wonderful husband! He actually stuccoes as a second job so he is really good at it!










Here is a picture of one of the finished houses. Yes, that is my handsome husband standing in front of the house. We wouldn't have been able to build the house if we hadn't had him! He was an amazing leader!






The families that we built our houses for were amazing and it really made us realize how selfish we, as Americans, are! We had a blast playing with the neighborhood children (even though most of us couldn't speak much Spanish). There was one little 3 or 4 year old boy who really tugged at my heart though. His name is Kevin and he has a severe disability. They are not sure what is wrong with him because they can't afford a doctor who can diagnose him but we are almost positive that he has cerebral palsy. This little boy was a champ! It was very difficult for him to move but he would insist on doing everything that the other kids were! The last day that we were there we were mixing stucco (by hand) and he started carrying water in a little bucket from his home to where we were! It was the most amazing site I had ever seen. Here is a picture of him pouring the water.

The trip, overall was great! We had a wonderful time and grew so much closer not only to each other but to God. Amazing things happen when God is involved!

Well, for another tragic story. On our way back from Mexico we stopped again in Phoenix and spent the night in a church mission that was located in inner city Pheonix. That night my husband and I had to go pick up a rental car because we needed to give the conversion van back and we got back to the church around 11:50 p.m. By the time we got there, everyone was sound asleep so I decided to go take a shower (since I hadn't really showered in a week). While I was getting ready to take a shower I heard voices right outside the window and glass breaking. I then heard someone yell "Go, go, go!" and then tires squeal. It scared me to death but I had no idea what had happened. I had all of these thoughts running through my head but I was too scared to even move. I eventually calmed down, took a shower and went back to the room with Nick only to discover that he had heard the same thing. We didn't think much of it and decided it was probably just some of the neighbor kids goofing off so we went to bed. I wish we had have checked though because we woke up the next morning around 5 a.m. only to discover that one of our trucks and the trailer attached to it had been stolen along with ALL of our luggage, tools, camping equipment, and gear! It was pretty devastating at first because we had lost so much, but again, the Lord is awesome and He calmed us down and we were able to accept what had happened. We called the cops but they pretty much told us that we were out of luck because more than likely the truck was already across the border.

I guess I am going to end my story telling there. Sorry about going on so long. I just though you all might be interested in hearing how our trip went. Like I said before, it was a great trip, we just had a few major incidents. All I can say though is: Hallelujah no one was hurt!