Learning to Ride!

I made this scrapbook page for a challenge on AllyScraps. If you go HERE, and click on the message board at the bottom on the side, you can join and after you write 50 posts, which isn't hard to do, they will send you a $10.00 gift certificate to the AllyScraps store! How cool is that! So, hop on over there. Or do the allycat over there! Whatever, just get over there and start chatting! If you're into scrapbooking that is! LOL!

Anyway, the challenge for this page was to use paper that had a decorative edge. I don't have any of that super cool paper, so I had to make my own. :( I used nestabilities circles and made big scallops. I replicated the wheels on Jack's tricycle on the scallops. So, that's what they are supposed to look like..... (if you couldn't tell!) The little puffs that you see, because it's hard to see, are dust puffs, as if he's going so fast, he's leaving me in the dust! Got it now? Haha!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happ Scrappin'!

Black and white sketch

Hi all! This card was made for this past weekend's sketch challenge, #3 for Card Patterns! I really wanted to make something unique and out of my comfort zone. Athough, in making this card, I don't know if I omitte anything from the original sketch or not! Hope I qualify! Haha!
If not, no big deal! I had fun, and that's the whole point!

The paper is from Glittered All Dressed Up stack by DCWV. The flowers are prima and Sabrina from Making Memories. I don't remember where I picked up rhinestone brads. I think they are Making Memories too. I used my Martha Stewart punch for the scalloped edge at the bottom. And I used both black polka dot ribbon and SU! silver/gray taffeta ribbon. I stenciled the swirls and cut them out and adhered to add a little detail. Many Thanks is from All Year Cheer from SU!

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Stamping!!!

A little "goth"....

I made this clipboard for a friend of mine that I work with at Starbucks. She loved my Starbucks clipboard that I made for our outgoing manager, and she asked me to make one for her. She said that she would take whatever I made, but I wanted to personalize it, and Starbucks isn't her LIFE, so I thought I would tie in her personal life. She just recently got a black/grayish rose tattoo on her arm, so I definitely wanted to incorporate that, and she loves the color black, and doesn't mind the whole skull thing. So, that's what I went with. Now, when you look at her, she is such a bubbly, happy person, you wouldn't think that she would be into that sort of thing. So, don't think that she's some goth with weird hair and more piercings than there are capitals in the US. She is super sweet and so fun to be around. She's a shift manager, so I enjoy working with her.
Anyway, the skull is from a cutout from a stack of Halloween paper that I found somewhere either Michael's or JoAnn's. The letters for her name are from stencils that I cut out. The roses are from Kitchen Sink Stamps, and I just used Memento black to stamp those. The swirls are from stencils and I painted them white. Now, had I had more time, I would have done something on the edges and I would have moved the corner flower up or I would have done another sprig of swirl up there. But, time was not on my side, and I was running late for a meeting, so this was what she got. She really liked it, so it was worth it!

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Stamping!

Kids' Valentine's and From the Garden card

This first Valentine was made for my cousin. I made a similar one for my other cousin as well. We exchanged our Valentine's last night at my cousin's birthday party. I just want to say that acetate and I are NOT friends! It will be a long time until I pull it out again!
The kids liked their Valentine's so it was worth the hassle!



This card was part of a set of cards for my aunt who turned 70 earlier this week! What a milestone! Especially now, as she's battling a rare cancer. So, I wanted to make something special for her.
Just a little tip, if you have From the Garden, make your cards a little bigger than a regular A2 size card!

Happy Stamping!

You're a Rockstar!

This card was made for the second challenge for Card Patterns. I call Olivia a rockstar because I'm so proud of her with her potty training! So, I had rockstar in my head, and I have the Rockstar stack, so it kind of came together quickly. The silver stars are actually metal sheets. They aren't perfect because those suckers are hard to cut through! The swirls are stencils that I cut out. And I wrote "You're a Rockstar" in silver Prismacolor shaker pen (you have to shake it to get the ink out).

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy stamping to all the rockstars in blogland!

A cool song!

I went blog surfing, or "blurfing" as my friend Karolyn calls it! And I found this song on someone's blog, and thought I would share it! I just thought it had a cool beat! And look at those hair styles!!!! In one part of the video, they are taping these two girls dancing, and in between them you can see this nerd in the back dancing like a total geek! I laughed when I saw that!

Enjoy!

A sweet homemade Valentine!

I made this little paper heart bag for the little boy that I watch for Valentine's Day. He's only 3, so I didn't need to put a lot of detail on it. I wish that my cb folder was just a little bit bigger! I took a strip of paper, and scored each side and folded them in. I folded the middle of the strip and used that as support between the two hearts as well as to hold the candy! Talk about a lightbulb moment!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Stamping!!!

Aaahhh, Houndstooth! What a great pattern!

This card was made for a new sketch challenge blog, Card patterns. You can find their first challenge posted here. My friend Karolyn directed me to this site. She must have known that I love sketch challenges! Actually, she told me about this site because they are having a contest for a new guest designer. So, I sat right down and got craftin'! I just purchased some new flowers and embellishments from Making Memories under the name of Sabrina. She (they) have a lot of houndstooth patterns, black and pink and vanilla embellishments and different patterned paper. Just a cool collection! It can be found at Michael's. Last week on the Pickled Paper Designs blog, Amy used a frame, and I thought how brilliant to use a frame on a card! Well, I didn't have any, but when I went shopping and found some frames to go with this collection, I snapped them right up! The flowers are actually prima flowers. The flowers that come in the Sabrina collection are too big for this card, so I had to downsize. The sentiment inside is from All Year Cheer. The houndstooth is from my retired SU! background stamp. Another thing I snapped up before it was gone!

Hmmm, I think I'm really liking pink and black and white together! Or maybe it's just the pink??? Maybe my 2 year old daughter who LOVES pink is rubbing off on me!!!

Happy Stamping!!!

My Valentine!

I made this card after making another card, just using some scraps, and trying to come up with a cool card for my husband. Now, I know that it's using a lot of pink. But, Valentine's Day is all pink and red and hearts and flowers. So, he's going to have to suck it up for 1 day! Hey, at least I didn't use real lace or ribbon on it!

Stamp on, my friends!

Shirley's 2 Girls First Challenge!

This is the first challenge for Shirley's 2 Girls stamp company that my dear friend Karolyn is on the design team for! You can visit Shirley's 2 Girls here. It's a GO GREEN challenge! And if your creation is well received by Shirley's 2 Girls, then you can get a gift certificate for their store! How about that!

Anyway, this image is actually from Karolyn, as I don't have any of their stamps (they are new). So, thank you Karolyn! And this was perfect, because a Tazo tea fits in perfectly! Thank goodness I was sick at the beginning of my pregnancy, and I got China Green Tips from Starbucks, so I had some in my pantry! Woo hooo! I never have the right ingredient! This is a first! Anyway, I pretty much copied Karolyn's project. It's late, and I don't have a lot of imagination. The funny thing is that I was busy making this and my 2 year old daughter had picked out a piece of paper and set it on my desk to "stamp" herself. But, she walked away, and I just reached for it and it matched perfectly! Couldn't ask for a better "stamping buddy"!

I added some buttons on the corner for a little more detail. And the inside is actually Pretty in Pink because the background paper that I used on the outside, it was white on the other side. So, I glued a piece of PiP on the inside to match the pink on the circles of the background paper. I used PiP grosgrain ribbon to tie it all together.

Happy Stamping!!!

Mojo Monday Challenge 73!

This weeks' challenge was a little difficult for me. But, I prevailed! I was searching through all of my 12 x 12 Stampin' Up! paper and came across this Christmas paper. I don't know what the name of it is. I don't feel like digging my old catalogs out to look. Needless to say, it's retired! The stamp set is Season of Joy. I was all set to do my Christmas cards this past Christmas with this set, but for some reason, it never happened! So, this is my first time using this set! The Joy is from a snowflake set that has since retired as well. I used vanilla taffeta ribbon, and buttons that I think go with the Figgy Pudding paper from Basic Grey. Not sure though....

Happy Stamping!!!

Early Valentine card

I thought I would start getting on the ball a little early this year, as that is one of my New Year's Resolutions. Be on time for birthdays and holidays! It's not like I don't know when these things come up! I'm fully aware! So, hopefully I can be on time from now on! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

This card was made for my mom from my kids for Valentine's Day. It started as a totally different layout, but when I couldn't fit 3 roses in a row in the center, I had to improvise and rearrange my layout in my head. I think I like this layout better! The other one would have been boring and more of the same of what I have already made. I'm trying to put more stuff on my cards and make them interesting. And I recently subscribed to a blog, Pickled Paper Designs, where Amy Sheffer designs on the insides of cards. I think I may have mentioned this in a previous post. But, that's my new goal, to not forget the inside of the card! It's just as important as the outside! If not more so, because that is where we write our heartfelt message. Why not dress up that message?!

Elements of the card: The sentiment is from a Valentine set that my friend Mandy gave away, the roses are from Kitchen Sink Stamps, and I just stamped in Pink Pirouette and Robinhood Red and stamped off less and less for each layer. The heart is from a template I found on a challenge last January for a Technique Lover's challenge on Splitcoast. The hat pin with jewels is from JoAnn's as a vintage embellishment package. The rhinestones were found at Archiver's.

On the inside: Oh, on the outside and the inside, the scalloped circle and the circle inside of it are Nestabilities. The heart on the inside is from the same heart template. I have no idea where I acquired my heart brads. They are definitely cute, though, aren't they!

The paper that I used is Pink Pirouette designer series paper, and Bella Rose designer paper, vanilla, white, and pink pirouette c/s. I sponged the edges of everything in Robinhood Red. I think that's the one constant thing about my creations. Everything is sponged on the edge to give it that completed look. Oh, and on the bottom on the inside I used my new threading water punch! I bought it yesterday at Michael's, and was so excited to use it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!!!

A gift for a friend!

Today is my friend Karolyn's birthday! Hop on over to her blog and wish her a happy day! She's actually in New York celebrating her birthday! What a lucky girl she is!

So, I decided to make her a card, and then I thought, I can't just send a card! After all the stuff she's given me, I have to make her something! She really admired my clipboard that I made for a Christmas gift that was not well received, by the way. Talk about! So, I decided to make her a little clipboard too tat she could hang on her wall in her craft room and get a little inspiration! Or just think of me and laugh!

For the card: I used The Sweet Stack from DCWV, Cuppacakeabella, that wide ribbon from SU!, crystal brads, flowers from MFT, and square nestabilities from Spellbinders.

For the clipboard: I used Bella Rose background paper (My new favorite!), that wide ribbon again from SU!, assorted buttons from my collection from JoAnn's, vellum, and Kitchen Sink Stamp Roses stamped in Pink Pirouette and Robinhood Red. The leaves were stamped in Certainly Celery and Old Olive. I used pink and white taffeta ribbon for the top as well as pink gingham ribbon to splash things up a bit! I pretty much ran everything through my Xyron. Oh, the letters "Create" are from Inkadinkado and are stamped in Choc. Chop onto Pink Pirouette c/s.

I'm going to have a hard time sending this clipboard out, because I really love it! But, then I know Karolyn will love it too! Isn't it a good thing when you love a gift you bought or made for someone else and you want to keep it?!

All right, off to make a ton of cards tonight! We'll see how far I can get in my assembly line! I can't wait to see what they look like! I have NO idea!

Happy Stamping!!!

My First Mojo Monday challenge!

This is my first Mojo Monday challenge! I decided that I needed to start doing sketch challenges to help me get started. I do ok with other challenges, but I LOVE doing sketch challenges, because they really get me thinking.

The first picture is the front of the card. The only thing I'm not real crazy about is the scallop punched flower. Other than that, I really love this card! I wish I could keep it! It seems like the new thing to do is to decorate the inside of the card as well. And why not? Show some love on the inside too! Which you will find with the second picture!

All right, that's it for now.

Happy Stamping!!!