lauralooloo

Umbrella4You. . .and winner's last call!

2012-02-01T12:19:00.000-05:00

Hello, hello!!!! First things first. . . I still haven't received a response from my winner of the Paper Crafts blog hop. I'll draw a new winner tomorrow, if I haven't heard from Terri!

And now, onward to the BRAND NEW stamp set from The {Stamps} of Life. It's called Umbrella4You, and it is ADORABLE. I can honestly say I have liked all of the stamp sets I have worked with, from TSOL . . .but I get the sneak peek image of some sets, and I GASP. This is one that I GASPED at! It is DARLING! I couldn't WAIT to get it in my hands and play!

This first card was inspired by this print, called "Don't Rain On My Parade" that I found via my pal Angie, on Pinterest. I saw it right around the time that I saw this stamp set, and I KNEW it was MEANT TO BE!

The umbrella also makes an awesome beach umbrella, along with the beachy fun sets, called island2visit, and summer4fun.

The set also comes with a fun polka-dotted panel to insert into your umbrella if you'd like! (But it also looks awesome with patterned paper in that section, or just a solid color! I love to have OPTIONS! :)

What could be sweeter than an Easter chick inside an umbrella!? {LOVE!} (Using the eggs4easter set!)

And there you have it! If you want to see MORE MORE MORE, check out the TSOL gallery, filled with cuteness from all of the TSOL designers!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a terrific Wednesday! xoxo

and the winner is. . . .

2012-01-30T06:28:00.000-05:00

Thank you once again SO MUCH for stopping by for Paper Crafts Stamp It! 3 Ways blog hop this past weekend. It was such fun! I loved having so many visitors! And now. . . .for the random winner of the Stamp It! 3 Ways issue:

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max:

Result:

The winner is:

Terri E. said...

How much fun! Great job.

JANUARY 27, 2012 9:07 AM

Hooray Terri! I just sent you an email, but if you didn't get it, then email me your contact info and I will pass it along to Paper Crafts! :)

Paper Crafts magazine presents: Stamp It! 3 Ways Blog Hop

2012-01-27T06:00:00.001-05:00

Welcome to another fabulous Paper Crafts magazine blog hop!!!! We are celebrating the release of the special issue, Stamp It! 3 Ways.

In this magazine, groups of designers were given a particular stamp set, and each created different projects to show the versatility of the stamps. It was a lot of fun to participate in this creative challenge, and it was even MORE fun to find out that one of my cards (the chalkboard) would be on the COVER! Two covers within a month. It's insanity I tell you!!! (Thrilling insanity! ;)

I have two other cards within the magazine, and this is a card I created using one of the stamp sets I was assigned to. (you can see it below)

Please hop around and visit all of these fabulous chicks, and check out their great inspiration, using stamps from this issue. We each have a copy of the magazine to give away, so be sure to leave a comment as you travel around! (Comments must be posted by Sunday January 29th, at midnight MST)

· Jaclyn Miller

· Julie Masse

· Laura Williams (that's me!)

· Heidi Van Laar

· Emily Leiphart

· Mariana Grigsby

· Julia Stainton

· Sarah Moerman

· Karen Baker

· Laura O’Donnell

· Kelley Eubanks

· Kimberly Crawford

And then be sure to head to the Paper Crafts Connection and leave a comment, for a chance to win this HUGE prize - stamps from the issue! WOWZERS! That is going to be one heck of a package to open up!

Thank you SO much for stopping by. Hopping with Paper Crafts is such a privilege for me, and I totally enjoy (too much) reading each of your comments! I'll be trying to get around to YOUR blogs as well this week, to say HELLO!

xoxo

the queen of cards forgotten

2012-01-24T06:31:00.000-05:00

I have a pretty good-sized stash of cards sitting here in a folder on my desktop. All cards that I never posted on my blog, thanks to the holidays, traveling, birthdays, and all the fall and winter fun that drew me away from my blog. (and i don't regret it ONE BIT!)

because i am working on lots of publication projects that i can't share, i don't have anything new for you, for a few days. . . .so here are a few more well-loved but not-yet-posted cards.

I managed to pull together these three cards, which have absolutely nothing to do with each other - but their color schemes match, and look nice together. So here you go!

I am embarrassed to say I think I did this card over the SUMMER. it features stamps from Amuse. Super clean and simple, but I like it! (And I had fun coloring the lighthouse with colored pencils.)

This card was part of a blog hop for Operation Write Home, and I think it was featured on the Sizzix blog a few months ago. I used stamps and dies from Stephanie at The {Stamps} of Life. (That banner die is the BEST!)

And last but not least, a CPS card featuring Flower Soft, and stamps from My Favorite Things. Again I used colored pencils (because this was before I had my shiny new markers!!!) :)

Today's agenda involves Target, the grocery store, and baking my Amish Friendship Bread, which has been fermenting on the kitchen counter for 10 days. (Because it's SUPPOSED to, people, not because I forgot about it!) Have a beautiful Tuesday!
xoxo

Chillin' (TTC09)

2012-01-20T05:45:00.000-05:00

Look at me go . . . . .finding the time to participate in CHALLENGES. This card is for the Touch Twin Challenge, TTC09, and the theme is WINTER. It's kind of refreshing to create something that's for WINTER, but not a winter holiday! :) (Because I am sooo over Christmas cards at this point!)

I used some REALLLLY light colors on this card, and I am still very much trying to figure out what the heck I'm doing when coloring. But I used a super light blue for the shading on my showgirl. It's called Cool Shadow (BG 178) and it is soooo light, you can hardly see it! On the hat, I used Yellow Green (GY48) which has quickly become one of my FAVORITE colors in my stash, and Green Bice (GY163) love that one too! The scarf was Turquoise Blue (B68) and I think that Yellow Green and Turquoise Blue are going to be my two go-to colors! :) (Just like they're my go-to card stock colors!)

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great day!
xoxo

(card goodies: stamps - Unity Stamp Co, patterned paper - My Mind's Eye, card stock - Discount Cardstock, Touch Twin markers, die cut border strips - Bazzill)

NEW Winner Winner (but no chicken dinner)

2012-01-19T08:41:00.000-05:00

I never heard from my winner to claim her free copy of Cool Tools. . .soooooooo, here we go again! NEW WINNER -

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:14Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Patti Jo said...

Simple yet effective!!! Great color combination and design!!!

January 13, 2012 7:28 AM

CONGRATULATIONS Patti Jo!!! I am going to send you an email, but if you don't get it, send ME an email at TomatoL at aol dot com.

And because I certainly don't want to leave you without a card, here's a couple more that I never seemed to have posted! (Which is silly, because they are fun and full of COLOR - my favorite!)

(card goodies: all cards featuring stamps from The {Stamps} of Life, and card stock from Discount Cardstock)

Winner winner chicken dinner! (PC Cool Tools!)

2012-01-16T12:43:00.006-05:00

I have to admit something . . .this weekend I read the comments from this blog hop, like, umm. . . every ten minutes. I admit it - I was stalking my OWN blog. And it was SO much fun. Thank you so much, for each and every sweet and thoughtful comment. I truly loved reading all of your kind words and it gave me super big warm fuzzies! Thanks so much for blog hopping with Paper Crafts! (There might just be another hop soon! Wink! Wink!)

And now, for what you're REALLY wanting to know. . .my winner of the copy of Cool Tools!
EDT: (new winner chosen, see next post!)

You've got it girl!!!!! Please email me at TomatoL at aol dot com, and shoot me your address, and I will pass it on to Paper Crafts!

And now just a few random cards that I don't think I've shared yet, all featuring stamps from The {Stamps} of Life, over the past few months! I am off to enjoy my husband who's been out of the country for two weeks, and my wild and crazy little boys.

xoxo

Paper Crafts magazine Presents: Cool Tools Blog Hop

2012-01-13T06:00:00.051-05:00

The day I received an email letting me know that I would have a card featured on the cover of an issue of PAPER CRAFTS MAGAZINE was umm. . .MOMENTOUS to say the least! My husband thought something horrible had happened, because I suddenly shouted out, "OHH. MY. GOSH." across the room. I was completely in shock. (And completely THRILLED!)

I have to say, I'm still pretty giddy about the whole thing! So, there it is, up there - the HELLO card on the cover of Cool Tools for Card Makers. That's mine! Eeeek! :)

This issue was a ton of fun to work on, and it was a CHALLENGE. I don't consider myself one who thinks outside of the box all that well! It certainly doesn't come easily anyway. The three cards I created for this issue took some blood, sweat, and tears. But I love all three of them (especially my cover card!)

Today I have a card to share with you, another HELLO card. I LOVE this giant sentiment from The {Stamps} of Life! I started out with a basic circle punch, and then cut my circles into four equal parts (which was a little more difficult than I expected it to be!)

(card goodies: cardstock - Discount Cardstock, stamp - The {Stamps} of Life, ink - Close To My Heart)

Please go visit all of the amazing designers participating in today's hop! I am so honored to be listed among them! I gotta admit, some of my cardmaking HEROES are listed below! Before you go, leave a comment here at my blog, for a chance to win your own copy of Cool Tools! And then, when you're done, be sure to leave a comment at the Paper Crafts Connection, for a chance to win a HUGE Cool Tools giveaway! (comments due by midnight on the 15th!)

· Danielle Flanders

· Cristina Kowalczyk

· Heidi Van Laar

· Vanessa Menhorn

· Kim Hughes

· Amber Daigre

· Kalyn Kepner

· Emily Branch

· Laura Williams

· Stephanie Halinski

like peanut butter and jelly . . ..

2012-01-12T20:00:00.022-05:00

Last night I busted out my BRAND NEW Touch Twin markers, and my BRAND NEW stamps from Sweet N Sassy Stamps, and whipped up a card for the Touch Twin challenge blog! I haven't been able to participate the past few times, so I was happy to get this accomplished, having finished up lots of the other work on my to-do list! This month they are having a color challenge.

I fell in LOVE with this stamp set the second I saw it. . . .peanut butter and jelly!? Um, YES. Sign me up, baby! :) And the colors for the challenge were pretty perfect with it! I had to fudge on the yellow a little bit, because I didn't have that color. So I went with Yellow Ochre instead, and I think I used Pastel Peach on the sandwich bread. And okay. ..just at this VERY moment, I'm realizing that I didn't use Bronze Green. . .I used Bronze. (Partially because I totally missed the word GREEN on there, and partially because I don' thane Bronze Green anyway, so I probably would have gone with plain old Bronze.) Close enough. . .that's what we're going with. ;) I tried. And I got it done, hopefully that's what counts!

hope4us

2012-01-12T13:27:00.000-05:00

Hello there! This month's special release sets are available, at The {Stamps} of Life, and I am so happy to share some samples with you! I have to say, I just really love solid stamps. Probably because (until this week) I had no spiffy fabulous markers. So if I didn't paper-piece it, I probably didn't color it. (But this week, thanks to a precious friend, plus some Christmas money, I suddenly have about 36 Touch Twin markers all ready to be colored with! Eeeeek!)

Okay, getting back on track here. . .this stamp set, hope4us, is a solid stamp set, with lots of fun possibilities to get creative. I'll show you what I did.

I'm totally obsessed with the zebra background stamp that Stephanie came out with a while back. I pair it with EVERYTHING (as you may have noticed here on my blog!) For this card, I stamped the love block, cut out the negative space, and mounted it on the zebra background. FUN!!!! :)

On this next card, I stamped the image four times on pink card stock, using pink ink. First I cut around three hearts, and then I cut OUT the heart from the center, and adhered it all to my card base.

These next two are pretty straight forward. I used the fancy frames framelit die, which you can also find in the TSOL store.

And on this last card, I embossed the wish image in white, onto metallic card stock. I never thought I was going to fall in love with metallic cardstock, but it is REALLY fun to emboss on! (You can find a huge variety of colors at Discount Cardstock!)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I thought blogging was going to be easier now that the holidays are over, but I'll blame this week's lapse on my husband being out of the country! I'll find a new excuse next week! ha!

That being said, please come back on Friday for a BIG blog hop!!!!! It will be lots of fun, and you might just win something!

xoxo

(card goodies: ink - Clearsnap, card stock - Discount Cardstock, ribbon - Offray, twine - The Twinery, natural twine - May Arts)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012-01-02T06:35:00.000-05:00

Hello, hello! Welcome to 2012! Eeek! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the start of a new year. Granted, I am always sad to say goodbye to the festive holiday season, but wiping the slate clean, opening up a brand new clean empty calendar, and getting a fresh start is one of my FAVORITE things! The year is full of possibilities, and new blessings that we can't even begin to imagine! I hope your year is off to a TERRIFIC start! And if not. . .well, tomorrow is always a NEW day!

I like to start off the year by looking back at some of my favorite crafty projects over the past year, but I haven't quite had time to figure out WHAT those projects are. And I don't want to let another day get away before I share the new stamp set at The {Stamps} of Life!

On this card, I combined the sentiment from last month's set along with this FUN FUN FUN lined paper stamp in the list2write set. The line inked in pink is a separate stamp, so you can do it whatever color you'd like. The lines make a great background, OR a great place to write a note!

On this project I just folded a small card, (I think it's about half the size of a standard card) and I stamped a bunch of the lines onto copy paper, trimmed it, and stapled them inside. I was thinking this would be cute to throw in my purse, and I think I need to make up a bunch for the kids, because they will TOTALLY want some! (Bryce has already been asking for "some of that little lined paper that I stamped")

Easy peasy, and a fun little project. Be sure to check out all the great inspiration in The {Stamps} of Life gallery!

I'm looking forward to getting back to a regular life schedule (and blogging schedule!) now that the holidays are over. I've already informed my seven-year-old, that chore bootcamp is starting this week. I will get this child doing chores if it's the last thing I do. And the hubs is leaving the country for two weeks today - and I am determined to get this household whipped into shape while he is away! :)
We'll see how THAT goes. . . .
Have a great day!
xoxo

2011-12-24T07:44:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas Eve!!!!

As promised, I am back today with a few Christmas cards for you! Better share them now, before it's too late! ;)

This first one was featured on the Sizzix blog a few weeks ago, so perhaps you've already seen it! I used TONS of Sizzix dies, and stamps from The {Stamps} of Life.

The card stock is all from Discount Cardstock.

This second one also features stamps from The {Stamps} of Life. I embossed the sentiment, and I also dragged the edges of my cardstock block in embossing ink and powder. Its a fun technique to try! :)

Okay, both of my boys are up now, and I need to try to maintain the clean living room and kitchen that I've spent the last hour desperately trying to get under control, before they destroy it all again. I just gave the lecture of, "What I want for Christmas is a clean house tonight when we go to bed." But we'll see how well that works! HA!
MERRY CHRISTMAS FRIENDS!!!!
xoxo

thank you!

2011-12-23T11:47:00.000-05:00

Thank you SO much for your oh-so-sweet comments and congratulations on my first magazine cover! I still haven't seen it in person yet, but I cannot WAIT! :) {giggle giggle!}

This past week we've spent some time with my parents, celebrating an early Christmas, and managed to have EVERYONE sick. (again.) The boys have been passing some sort of cough/congestion thing back and forth since early November, and this past week Eric and I both got it, and Tanner got it AGAIN.

Yesterday Tanner (2 years old) peed behind the Christmas tree, and today I spilled a pint (quart?) of blueberries all over the kitchen floor. Yes, that pretty much sums things up. Despite it all though, we are working hard to have a festive and fun Christmas week. And I've been doing everything BUT blogging.
(Sorry about that!)

But TODAY, today I have a card to share! It's featuring all Close To My Heart goodies. . .I especially am diggin' these cool cork stick-on letters. You can order all the supplies on my Mom's Close To My Heart website.

And TOMORROW. . . I promise I'll be here with a Christmas card, just for YOU! :)
xoxo

(card goodies: kraft card stock, Typeset patterned paper, Color-Ready Alphabets Cork,)

EEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!

2011-12-14T09:30:00.001-05:00

All I can pretty much say is. . . .EEEEEEEK!
Do you see the HELLO card on this lovely cover of Paper Crafts Magazine's special Cool Tools issue?
Guess who made that card!?
ME!
ME!
ME!
(can you sense me jumping up and down!?)
My artwork on the cover of a magazine. . . .
EEEEEK.
This is a dream that I was never sure would be possible!
So I am THRILLED.
(And the icing on the cake . . . two weeks later I found out that I got ANOTHER cover. Holy GUACAMOLE.)

And now, you can get back to whatever you were doing. Thank you for humoring me, and listening to me FREAKING OUT!!!! {Giggle giggle!}

(card goodies: stamp - The {Stamps} of Life, card stock - Discount Cardstock)

cake time!

2011-12-12T18:14:00.000-05:00

this is my bad-blogger excuse of the week. . . (you know, aside from Christmas chaos and a week's vacation) My Mr. B is seven years old!!!! We've been celebrating for DAYS now, I think. For this weekend's celebration with family, he requested a giant cupcake with blue frosting. And his wish is my command (at least for one day out of the year!) I used some Target Dollar Bin fake "Thickers" and two circle punches to spell out my little man's name. (It took all of five minutes, and I think it looks pretty cute!)

And because I know you are really here to see some cards, here is a cute one using December's stamps from The {Stamps} of Life. I stamped the mint candy, and then wrapped it a little scrap of cellophane, and tied it with baker's twine. (The paper is from Echo Park.)

I hope your Christmas chaos is fun, and full of family, and festivity! Now that Bryce's birthday celebrations are officially OVER, I can concentrate on Christmas! We've made cinnamon applesauce ornaments, which are happily drying on a rack on top of the fridge, and making my house smell marvelous. Our gingerbread house (which I must admit was a royal DISASTER both creatively, and literally) is perched where it can't be touched by toddler fingers. I'm pretty sure I hear it begging to go into the garbage can, and to kindly be put out of its misery. I think next year we will have a gingerbread village, so we can each do our OWN house. ;)

And now, I must go clean up PlayDoh from the kitchen floor, and help my big seven-year-old finish his homework! Let's all hope for an easy bedtime, so I can get on to the FUN stuff . . .a little card-making with NEXT month's TSOL stamps. . . (oooooh! just you wait!!!!!)

xoxo

Sizzix!

2011-12-09T12:36:00.000-05:00

I have a card featured on the Sizzix blog today! They are having a BIG blog hop; head on over there and leave a comment, for a chance to WIN PRIZES!!!! ;)

Sizzix: Blog Hop Day #5

orlando recap!

2011-12-06T13:27:00.000-05:00

We are home sweet home from our week in Orlando. We hit all four Disney parks (at least once) plus the brand new LegoLand (about 45 minutes away from Disney). Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from our week! Still trying to recover, regroup, and get cracking on Christmas goodies! Add in a certain seven-year-old's birthday TODAY, and I am spinning like a top. Bear with me! I'll be back again soon, with some cards. . .or something! :)

xoxo

a BIG fish!

2011-12-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

Stamping Bella is this week's CPS sponsor . . .how flippin' ADORABLE is this little fisherman, and his GIGANTIC fish!? I just love it. I used patterned paper on the fish, and colored pencils on the little fisherman. I think he's cute as can be!

Be sure to check out the sketch at the CPS blog, and play along with us!
I'm still playing at Disney World all week, so I'm keeping this (once again) short and sweet!
I'll be back next week though with (hopefully) lots of new work to share! Have a terrific day! xoxo

Get Inspired!

2011-11-29T06:00:00.001-05:00

There's another new FUN magazine out - have you seen Paper Crafts Magazine's new special issue, called Get Inspired? Each page of the magazine features an inspirational piece - a shoe, a cool mug, a blouse, or interesting piece of jewelry. . .and then four projects, inspired by that item. It is so interesting to see how different designers interpretted the inspirational pieces. Here's one of my cards from the magazine, inspired by a really cool leafy votive holder.

(I have two other cards in this issue too! hooray!) You can see another one of them, here for a sneak peek! It's a magazine definitely worth checking out! AND the Paper Crafts Connections blog is giving away FREE ISSUES each day of the week - so be sure to stop by and check it out!

EAD hoppin'!

2011-11-28T00:00:00.012-05:00

Sigh. . .I am sad to say that this is my last Monday hop with EAD Designs! It has been super fun designing this month, and I've had fun with the Monday hops! Today is especially fun, because as you are here hopping. . .I am at Disney World!!! (So I super super hope that this blog post is schedules properly! LOL!)

As you're hopping, you should have come here from Laura C. If not, head on back to the EAD blog, and start from the beginning, okay!?

For today, I created a birthday card using Sweet Birthday Treats Stickerz, and Echo Park Little Boy patterned paper. Isn't it a PERFECT combination!? (other goodies: Discount Cardstock, and Whisker Graphics Divine Twine)

I'm telling you, every time I look at all the adorable Stickerz on the EAD website, (along with everything ELSE they sell) I see MORE that I just can't live without! They are ADORABLE. And since I'm pretty sure you feel the same way, head on over and do some SHOPPING today - because with the coupon code, CYBER40, you get FOURTY PERCENT OFF!!!! Plus Stickerz and Rub-ons ship FREE in the US! HELLLLO good deal!!!! Eeeek! I wish I wasn't at Disney today. . .(okay, wait maybe not. . .but I DO wish I could go and do some shopping!)

Alright my friends, since I have oodles to pack and clean, I am going to keep this short and sweet today! This is the last stop on the hop for the week. Thank you for coming by! And thank you to EAD Designs for inviting me to participate in all the fun this month! xoxo

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T07:08:00.000-05:00

A fall card to share with you today, on Thanksgiving!!!!

I am so thankful for my cute little family, my amazing friends, and my fabulous crafty habit!

Thank you to each of YOU who comes by to visit me throughout the year! I hope you have a cozy, comfy day filled with food, and fun!

The boys and I just dropped off my husband at a Thanksgiving half marathon, that he's running in, along with his sister. (Yes, they are completely insane!) While they run their tails off, I think the boys and I will make something yummy to eat, and listed to some Christmas music!

(I super-puffy heart Pandora at Christmastime!)

Have a beautiful day! We are leaving in a few days for Disney World, and LegoLand Florida. . .so let the holiday madness continue! I'll try to schedule some posts before we leave!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

xoxo

(card goodies: all from Close To My Heart, except May Arts twine!)

EAD Monday Hopping!

2011-11-21T00:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday! It's EAD Designs blog hop day!

(You should have arrived here from Laura C's blog,

but if not, head back to the EAD blog and start from the beginning!)

These Monday hops are making the weeks feel like they are FLYING by! (Yikes!) Can you believe it's almost THANKSGIVING!?

Today I have a project combining the beautiful products from both EAD Designs, and Whisker Graphics. (Be sure to see my previous post for more great EAD/WG inspiration, if you missed it!)

This bag is THE cutest thing - a paper bag that looks like notebook paper?! GENIUS! I just love it. I used EAD's Back To School Stickerz and created a fun little bag. I think I'll put some hot cocoa packets, and a card in here for my little man's teacher.

Well you've made it to the end of the hop for today! Thanks so much for coming by! Have a VERY happy Thanksgiving!

Hop with Whisker Graphics/EAD Designs

2011-11-18T09:00:00.001-05:00

There just isn't anything much better than cute little bags. . . .and twine. . . .and stickers. . .throw in some fabulous paper, (and well, maybe some stamps and ink) and my life is pretty much complete. For this reason, Whisker Graphics and EAD Designs is pretty much a BEAUTIFUL combination!!! Whisker Graphics sells these flipping' ADORABLE bitty bags (among other things. . .like terrific printables, twine, and paper goodies!!!) And EAD sells stickers that work just beautifully with them!

I created a card with a super secret (well, hopefully not TOO secret) gift card holder on the front of this card. The Little Bitty Bags are the PERFECT size to tuck a gift card into. You could use it as is - but I decided to put my bitty chevron beauty onto the front, tie it up with some of this FABULOUS Christmas twine, and add some stickers from EAD Designs! (Funky Christmas Tags, and Celebrate the Season)

If you're just starting here, make sure you get around to all of the other blogs participating in the hop! One random commenter from the hop, will get the prize pack: a $25 EAD gift certificate, 15 yards of the original 12 Divine Twine colors plus 15 yards of Holiday Divine Twine, and an assortment of Bitty Bags and other goodies from Whisker Graphics. (And a lot of the blogs are offering some extra little goodies too!!!) So what are you waiting for!? Leave me a little love, and then hop on, my friends!!!! :)

EAD Designs Blog

Whisker Graphics Blog

do you hear that?

2011-11-17T06:03:00.000-05:00

Is it totally bugging anyone else, that once again Christmas seems to have started even EARLIER this year!? The 24-hour Christmas music started up here, on like - November 5th, I think?! What the heck!? Remember when it started the day AFTER Thanksgiving?

Now, don't get me wrong - I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas music. But I don't want to miss out on FALL FESTIVITIES (anyone remember poor old Turkey Day!) because I am already stressing about Christmas! At any rate, I made myself wait until November 15th. And now, I have deemed it OFFICIALLY Christmas music season in my household.

HOORAY!!!!!

(But we made hand print turkeys this weekend, just to make sure Thanksgiving didn't get lost!)

If you are making Christmas cards this year, I hope you've started! It's time to get busy! If you read my post a few days ago, about ORDERING Christmas cards. . .then you KNOW I'm not sending out a zillion homemade cards, but I WILL send out SOME.

Here are three Christmas cards I've made recently. . . .

(Unity Stamps, and Bella Blvd patterned paper)

(Discount Cardstock, October Afternoon paper and Wild Card, pinwheel die from The Cat's Pajamas)

(Discount Cardstock, and Close To My Heart stamps)

Alright my friends, that's all I've got for ya today. All those blog hops (and one more to come, on Friday) have my little blogging self, WORN OUT! It's almost the weekend, so hang in there! Thanks so much for coming by! I seem to have lots of new friends stopping by lately, (probably thanks to all these blog hops) - feel free to say HI! :)

xoxo

EAD Monday hop

2011-11-14T00:02:00.000-05:00

{Click HERE for Paper Crafts Magazine's 365 Cards blog hop post, and click HERE for the TSOL/Twinery blog hop!}

WELCOME to the first stop on the EAD blog hop!

In the past seven days, I have participated in FOUR blog hops! (And there's one more coming soon!) How FUN to have so many friends stopping by my little ol' bloggity-blog. I have had THE best time reading all of your comments. THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart, for all of your sweet words. It has been a FUN FUN week around here! And. . .the fun CONTINUES!!!! It's already MONDAY again, which means I am blog-hopping with the girls at EAD Designs. Today I have the cleanest of clean and simple cards, although it sort of took forever to make! (But it was fun, so it's okay!)

Remember last week, when I told you how to lay your sticker down, sticky side up, and stick card stock pieces down on it? I did it again. . . .only this time, I had to hand cut the pieces, instead of hole-punching them. So it took some tricky business to make it happen. But I did. And that's what counts! And although it's hard to see, I DID use a tiny hole punch, and added some tiny yellow dots as details. I used the stickers from the Flourish Dove Stickerz sheet. I LOVE this sheet of stickers. They are beyond BEAUTIFUL.

Alright, my friends, you have some more hopping to do - so GET TO IT!!!!

From here, hop on to Jenn's blog!

Note: Be sure to check back on the TSOL or The Twinery blog on Wednesday, to see if you are a winner. (There's still time to participate, if you haven't yet!) Also, be sure to check the Paper Crafts Connections blog, and the designers blogs to see if you won a copy of 365 Cards, or the BIG prize on the PC blog!

winner winner chicken dinner!

2011-11-14T00:01:00.001-05:00

I already mentioned how MUCH fun I've had during this past blog-hoppity week! And before I forget, in the midst of all the chaos, I owe you a WINNER of Paper Crafts Magazine's 365 Cards!

Thanks to random.org, the winner is:

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:11Powered by RANDOM.ORG

And that means, my lucky winner is. . . .

reeree62 said...

Bright, fun card!!! Nice work...

November 11, 2011 10:17 AM

Hooray for you, reeree62! I just sent you an email - (be sure to check your spam, if you didn't get it!)

And thank you, thank you, again to everyone who commented! I had so much fun reading your sweet words! You certainly know how to make a girl feel FABULOUS! (Even if it WAS just to win a magazine! wink wink!) If you'd like to go grab your own issue of 365 Cards, and you can't find it on the newsstands, check out Scrap and Paper Shop to scoop up a copy of your own!

going digi for christmas?

2011-11-13T06:00:00.007-05:00

{Click HERE for Paper Crafts Magazine's 365 Cards blog hop post, and click HERE for the TSOL/Twinery blog hop!}

Can I confess something?
I don't make Christmas cards. Not in mass production anyway.
Who the heck has time for that in November and December? (Geesh, I don't even have time to do it in September or October!)
I used to think that sending a photo card was a cop-out. . .I'm sorry, but I did.
So I just didn't send anything at all.
(Bad, bad me!)
BUT. . . .family photo cards have come a LONG way. Have you noticed? There are about a million totally adorable and creative cards that you can design, order, and have on their way to your doorstep in a matter of minutes.
And I pretty much LOVE them. I am a total believer in family photo cards now!

I've been perusing tiny prints and LOVING their cards!

I really like this tri-fold candy cane card.

But I really love the adorable trees on this card. . .

I think the hardest part is deciding WHICH adorable card to pick!

Thinking about ordering Christmas cards? Check out tiny prints.com Here is just a little bit more about them:

(*Because i reviewed holiday cards from tinyprints.com, i will be compensated with 50 free cards. you can earn this great reward too! find out more on this post, at the tinyprints.com blog)

Paper Crafts magazine Presents: 365 Cards Blog Hop

2011-11-11T06:00:00.007-05:00

Eeek! It's here, it's here! I've been waiting for Paper Crafts Magazine's 365 Cards issue to come out for what feels like FOREVER! This magazine literally has a card a day to inspire you throughout the entire YEAR! I will not soon forget the day that acceptance emails went out, and I found out that I had NINE cards picked up for publication in this issue! I was walking on air for QUITE a few days! I am thrilled to participate in the 365 Card blog hop today, with a September card.

My card features beautiful Brilliant White card stock from Discount Cardstock, stickers from EAD Designs, a chipboard apple from October Afternoon's Schoolhouse line, plus lots of blingity-bling from Want2Scrap. And what card would be complete without a great big red BOW!?

I hope you'll visit all the talented designers on the hop, for some month-by-month inspiration, and then head to the Paper Crafts Connection blog, (if you haven't already!) and leave a comment for a chance to win a spectacular prize! Be sure to leave a comment on the designer's blogs too, because we'll each be choosing a random winner to have their very own copy of 365 Cards!

Chan Vuong (January)
Kalyn Kepner (February)
Carly Robertson (March)
Cristina Kowalczyk (April)
Kelley Eubanks (May)
Amber Daigre (June)
Vanessa Menhorn (July)
Windy Robinson (August)
Laura Williams (September) (you are here!)
Betsy Veldman (October)
Teri Anderson (November)
Julia Stainton (December)

(*Comments must be posted by midnight (MDT) on Sunday, November 13th! Be sure to check back and see if you are a winner, and leave us a way to contact you!)

Thank you so very much for coming by today! I cannot explain how excited I am to be participating in a Paper Crafts Magazine blog hop! Eeek! It's so exciting! Please come back and visit me again! Happy hopping!!! xoxo

EAD November Color Challenge

2011-11-10T09:56:00.004-05:00

{Scroll down or click HERE for The Twinery/TSOL blog hop!}

Have you seen the November color challenge over at EAD Designs! You NEED to participate, because everybody is a winner! Play along and receive a 25% off coupon... (how awesome is THAT!?) Maybe you'll be the winner and win a $20 Gift Card to the EAD Store! PLUS the winner of the color challege will be invited to be a EAD Guest DT. (just like me, this month!) The challenge runs through November 24th. Head on over to the EAD Designs blog to link up your project!

This is my card, using Discount Cardstock, The Twinery twine, and Funky Christmas Tags Stickerz from EAD. A sheet of these Stickerz is only $2.50, and FREE shipping. I bet you even have time to grab them now, and use them before the challenge is up! (Although you don't HAVE to use these stickers, or even EAD products to participate! Very cool, huh!?)

Think about it! What have you got to lose!?

(And scroll down if you haven't stopped by for The Twinery, TSOL blog hop!)

Christmas hopping! (TSOL and The Twinery!)

2011-11-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

Hey there friends! I'm having a blog-hopping WEEK!!! Today we're hopping with The {Stamps} of Life, and The Twinery! If you are starting here, head back to The Twinery blog to start at the beginning! (If you've been hopping, you should have come here from Katrina Hunt!)

I created a Christmas card to share with you today! I used TSOL's stamp set called Holly4Christmas. This set is one of my FAVORITES. The sentiments are sized perfectly, and the holly and ornaments are so fun to stamp and paper-piece. I also used the stamp set called trees2build, for the branch and birdie. (Should I mention, it's another one of my all-time favorite sets!?)

Here's how I created this card:

I stamped the branch, and then paper-pieced my ornaments from card stock. I attached them to the card, using foam tape on the red ornament. Then I carefully pierced holes in the card, and threaded the twine through, tying a tiny bow above each ornament.

Clean and simple is TOTALLY who I have become, and I LOVE it. I love the contrast of the crisp sharp lines, and circular ornaments on this card. I hope you like it too, and I hope you'll come back to visit me again!

But NOW. . . .head on over to visit Jen Carter!

And remember. . .

As you make your way through the hop make sure you comment on each and every post. There will be 2 prize winners chosen randomly among the blogs:

One winner will win 2 stamp sets (winners choice) valued at $12.95 -total retail value: $26.90 per prize! from The {Stamps} of Life.

One winner will win the Ultimate Color Sampler Pack ($25 value!) from The Twinery!!!

The prize winners will be announced on The {Stamps}of Life and The Twinery Blogs on Wednesday November 16th.

Want to know more about The Twinery, and The Stamps of Life?

About The Twinery:

Our twine is made from 100% cotton, it’s eco-friendly and made in the USA. Whether you’re gift wrapping, crafting or tying up baked goods to give to a friend, our baker’s twine adds a fresh, yet nostalgic look to any project at hand! Our baker’s twine comes in 14 delicious colors and is uniquely twisted against a bright white hue, creating an eye-popping burst of color and a creative embellishment! Our twine has lots of color which lends to a fun, candy-striped look. For creative ideas & more…visit OUR BLOG!

About The {Stamps} of Life:

We feature high quality, made in the USA, clear stamps and digital stamps/brushes for stampers, card makers and scrapbookers. Feel free to browse our gallery with more than 2500 samples using our stamps, watch our free how-to videos and join our club!

EAD Blog Hop!

2011-11-07T00:00:00.001-05:00

I am so happy to be guest designing with EAD Designs this month! (Happy November to me!) This is the first of their Monday blog hops that I am participating in! If you are just starting here, be sure to head back to the EAD Designs blog so you don't miss a thing!

Today I'd like to share a card with you featuring their Stickerz called, Fly Away With Me. To create this card I peeled the hot air balloon sticker off the sheet, and carefully laid it sticky-side-up on my desk. Then I used a hole punch to punch little yellow circles, and I carefully placed them on the sticky side of my sticker. Then I stuck the whole thing down on the purple dotted paper, and trimmed around it.

If you are new to EAD Designs, you really should check out their products. These stickers are AWESOME. Once they are stuck down, it is HARD to tell that they are stickers! They are smooth and beautiful to work with. Oh - and REMOVABLE. So if you screw it up, you can totally recover the situation! (PHEW!)

Thank so much for coming by today!

From here, be sure to hop over to Jenn and see some more fabulous EAD inspiration!

(card goodies: patterned paper - My Mind's Eye, card stock - Discount Cardstock, Stickerz - EAD Designs, twine - The Twinery)

a little Close To My Heart goodness

2011-11-06T09:36:00.001-05:00

Hello, hello!

Once a week (or so) I'm the resident blogger (tee hee!) on my mom's blog. She's a Close To My Heart consultant, and I have quite a stash of CTMH product, thanks to her! She's been my supplier of all things crafty for QUITE some time, and she's been a consultant for QUITE some time. . .and I have reaped the benefits for QUITE some time! ;)

Today I thought I'd share two cards that I've recently shared over there . . . if you click on over to my mom's blog, you can find all the nitty gritty details if you'd like!

I trimmed these pretty flowers and the flourish from patterned paper on this first card. the only stamping is the sentiment.

and I LOVE the way the layout of this card came together. i love using patterned papers together, and this is a great way to use up skinny little strips of paper. I totally want to make more cards with this layout! :)

Thanks for coming by today! I know I've been totally MIA the past week or so - between Halloween, the hubby's birthday, and LOTS going on, I have NOT been blogging, as you can see! BUT I have a LOT of posts getting prepped for the coming week or two - so hang in there with me! Lots of fun and excitement coming your way!

xoox

before october's gone. . .

2011-10-31T10:53:00.001-04:00

Here are a few of the cards I created with the Apron Strings All Year Cheer card kit for October! I figured I better show you QUICK, before October is over! :)

This kit featured paper from Girls Paperie, Fancy Pants, and Basic Grey.

You can find out all about the terrific card kits at Apron Strings, on their website!

(They also have fabulous scrapbooking kits too!)

Come back and visit me tomorrow, and I'll have some brand NEW stamps to share from The {Stamps} of Life! (Trust me, there is serious CUTENESS coming your way! I can hardly stand it!)
xoxo

Happy news! :)

2011-10-29T12:34:00.003-04:00

Eeeeeeek!!!!! I'm so excited! :)

http://stencilwords.com/blog/2011/10/28/color-challenge-winner-7/

EAD Color Challenge #17

2011-10-27T11:00:00.001-04:00

Cheerio! Yesterday I was perusing the E.A.D Designs website and blog. They make amazing stickers, (called Stickerz) that are really fun to work with! I was introduced to EAD through the Card Positioning Systems blog, and have had a great time using their products. You can see some of my other projects using EAD here . . .EAD Designs projects.

Okay so I found that they have a color challenge, and TODAY is the deadline! So last night I sat down and whipped something up. I had to think VERY creatively, because I only have a few sheets of their Stickerz, and none of them really coordinated with the color scheme. So I MADE it work. I was inspired by the Thanksgiving stickers they showcased on the blog, which have a beautiful aqua color along with the challenge colors, so I added that in (Because if you know me, you know I can't get enough of aqua on my cards!)

I used the London Town stickers, and I stuck them onto card stock, and trimmed them to attach to my card. . .they totally look like stamped images, don't they!? Then I went in with a white pen and colored in the windows. (the pen has yet to dry. . .I am keeping my fingers crossed!)

The prices at E.A.D. are terrific, and they offer free shipping on their Stickerz. (I {super puffy heart} free shipping!) And if you participate in their challenge, you get a 25% coupon code! (Guess who's shopping for more Stickerz next week!?) ;)

Have a TERRIFIC weekend! We are going to go to the zoo tonight, for their Spooktacular event . . .trick or treating with giraffes and elephants!? What could be better!?

Happy day, friends!!! Thanks for coming by!

xoxo

You Go, Girl!

2011-10-25T09:00:00.002-04:00

I am so happy to show off some new Gina K Designs stamps, designed by my dear friend, Tami Mayberry! Tami's newest stamp set is called You Go, Girl! It has really fabulous quotes and sentiments in it. Super for cards for your girlfriend, whether she is battling cancer, or even if she's just having an end-of-her-rope kinda day.

I have a few cards to share with you today, so without further ado, meet You Go, Girl!

(My Mind's Eye patterned paper, Discount Cardstock)

(Discount Cardstock, Prismacolor pencils, The Twinery twine)

(Discount Cardstock, Prismacolor pencils, Want2Scrap jewels, Papertrey Ink ribbon)

I did something a little different with this one - it's always valuable to have a stamp set that you can do something TOTALLY different with! Same stamps, different purpose!

(Discount Cardstock, Prismacolor colored pencil, Want2Scrap pearls)

Be sure to head to Tami's blog, if you aren't coming from there already! She's got great designers and inspiration to share with you!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a beautiful day!

CFC25 - Just Add Color (baby twin girls card!)

2011-10-23T10:27:00.000-04:00

My neighbors just had twin baby girls a few weeks ago. I reached right for the PERFECT stamp set, one of Kim Hughes sets, from way back in the days of Cornish Heritage Farms. (Kim's stamps from CHF are some of the VERY FEW discontinued stamps that I keep have in my stash!)

I have never used the "twins" stamp, and I was super excited to finally have a reason to use it! (The photo below is the inside of the card.)

Thankfully this was a card with a PURPOSE and it immediately LEFT my house :) because I have GOT to purge my gigantic collection of cards - since they didn't sell at this weekend's craft fair (see previous post for my sob session) I have GOT to figure out what to do with them all.

I am also entering this card into the challenge at CAS-ual Fridays, for this week's challenge, CFC25, "Just add color". I used colored pencils to add color to my little baby girls! I was so excited to see that I was recognized as a VIP for last week's challenge (CFC24) - SO FUN!!! I have the super-cool badge in my sidebar now! (Thanks CAS-ual Fridays!!!)

Thanks for coming by! Sorry about my double-posting day! Just gotta do that every so often!
xoxox

(card goodies: card stock - Discount Cardstock.com, stamps - Kim Hughes Collection from Cornish Heritage Farms, colored pencils - Prismacolor, tulle ribbon - October kit from Apron Strings Designs,)

craft fair recap!

2011-10-23T10:09:00.003-04:00

I don't know WHAT I was thinking, but I didn't take any pictures of my overall booth. . . so you can't see the CUTE CUTE pennant banner hanging on the table (I'll have to hang it somewhere, photograph it, and post it.) I used my NEW CUTTLEBUG! (Thank you, sweet Latisha!!!!) I also used my Cuttlebug and Sizzix dies from Stephanie Barnard's collection for my tags and labels.

So at least you can see a few of my projects and goodies. . .(most of which didn't sell. Sigh!)
The pinwheel clothespins ALL sold. . .above you can see the magnetic ones, which I sold individually, and below, three-packs of the non-magnetic ones. They make great bookmarks, chip clips, paper clips. . .just about anything! I used a pinwheel die from The Cat's Pajamas to make those, plus the pinwheel pencils. (I think only ONE pencil sold. What the heck am I going to do with all those pencils!?)

I thought my mini composition books, that were packaged with a few coordinating crayons, would be GREAT stocking stuffers. (Too bad MY kiddo has seen them already, so Santa can't bring them!) But NONE of them sold. Apparently I totally missed the mark on that one! I sold quite a few Christmas gift tags though, and two whole Christmas cards. (WHAT THE HECK!?)

So I am left with TONS of candy, (those cute M&M sleeves we discussed last week. . .yeah, I sold ONE.) And TONS of cards left. UGH. I was really hoping to unload a lot of cards!!!

So that's the scoop. I covered my expenses, and helped pay for next week's groceries. . .so I can't complain. But I spent an awful lot of time on everything, and energy, and thought. . .and I was hoping it was going to be AWESOME!!!! But I also knew it might not be. You just never know with these shows!
No regrets though. . .but now I must go, and find a home for all this STUFF I have leftover!
Have a GREAT Sunday!!!
xoxo

BOO!! (TSOL, The Twinery, and Cas-ual Fridays)

2011-10-18T12:26:00.000-04:00

I decided to MAKE the time to play along with the CAS-ual Fridays blog this week. If it's new to you, the premise of CAS-ual Fridays is clean and SIMPLE. (Hmm, did you know I really REALLY dig CLEAN and SIMPLE?!) So why I haven't MADE the time to participate a long time ago, I don't know.

This week's challenge is to create a Halloween card without a SINGLE SPECK of orange.

Fun, fun, fun!

So here, my friends, is my orange-less Halloween card. I used stamps from The {Stamps} of Life, and twine from The Twinery. The card stock is from Discount Cardstock (Brilliant White, and Soot) and the teal gems on my ghostie's hat are from Want2Scrap.

It is rainy and dreary here today (which I love in and of itself!) but I love it EXTRA today, because coming behind this weather is a few COOL WEATHER DAYS!!!! I even saw a 49 for the low one night!!!! (And in October in Florida, THAT my friends, is unusual!) We are DEFINITELY going to the park after school tomorrow. And hopefully the cool weather will make everyone want to spend lots of money at this weekend's craft fair!!!!

candy! candy! candy! (treat pails and craft fair oh my!)

2011-10-16T07:29:00.001-04:00

I finally finished up the candy pails that I'm making for next weekend's craft fair! I set up my "practice booth" in the garage yesterday, took pictures of it, and figured out what all I need to finish up. (If you missed some of my other craft fair goodies, you can see them HERE)

I used the FABULOUS stickers from E.A.D Designs on these pails and tags. They are AWESOME stickers. You can hardly see that they are stickers! Totally amazing, and FUN to work with. They sponsored us at CPS a few months ago, and I just happened to have a few stickers left! The little monsters are PERFECTION on these fun treat pails! I made some matching cards too. . .but I think I forgot to photograph them!

My mom is a ROCKSTAR, and has this amazing stash of every shape and size of clear bags, from www.clearbags.com She helped me a TON to get ready for the craft fair, because she's done about a thousand of them in her life! She gave me these cutie patootie skinny bags, and the idea to do these little M&M treats. I used fall M&M's, and just added little tags and ribbon. I am trying to decide how much to sell these for. . . . so do tell, how much would YOU pay for these? And how many would you likely purchase? (I'm trying to decide if I need to package them in 2's or 3's.) I think they would make darling Thanksgiving table favors/decor. . .or party favors. Or Halloween treats! Or the perfect add-on to a birthday gift!

And because I REALLY DO want your input, if you leave me a comment on this post, (whether you tell me how much you'd pay for a cute little sleeve of M&M's or not) I'll save one little treat bag, and send it along with some other goodies to a lucky person! Okay? I'll give ya a day or two, so check back and see if you won! (Make sure I can reach you via email, Facebook, 2peas PM, or SCS - okay?!)

EDIT: here's part of my challenge with the candy pricing. . .i have to use whole-dollar increments (because there's going to be one central place to pay - which means i don't handle the money) so if i charge 50 cents each, I have to package two together .. .and charge a dollar.

me and purple (Touch Twin challenge TTC03)

2011-10-13T13:41:00.001-04:00

If you've been hanging out here with me for a while, I'm sure you know my feelings about purple.

We don't play nicely together.

Perhaps, because my school colors were purple and gold. . .from 3rd-12th grade. In high school, I embraced my purple panther pride, and even decorated a Christmas tree ALL in purple. I wore a purple letter jacket, and painted a purple paw print on my cheek for every football game.

But now. . . me and purple? Not so much.

And the girls on my design teams KNOW THIS. They know this, and we joke about it.

"PLEASE", I'll say, "PLEASE don't make me work with purple!"

So a few weeks ago, I got a box in the mail with some free product, for being published in the August issue of CARDS Magazine . . .a whole package of SEI patterned paper. And of course PURPLE was one of the main colors!

And when I won those two Touch Twin markers, last month. . . . (you know where I'm going here, don't you?)

What color was one of them?

Yes, of course it was.

PURPLE.

But, I love these markers so much, that I was willing to make PURPLE work for me. (And I decided to dive in and use that SEI paper too!)

This week's challenge (TTC03) on the Touch Twin challenge blog is to create a card with florals. I used my purple Touch Twin, and also a green water based Tombow marker for the leaves on my flower

Now I know this is sort of a weak excuse for a FLORAL card. . . .but the fact that I used PURPLE should make up for it, I'd say.

And flowers are flowers, no matter how small.

If you'd like to join in, visit the Touch Twin Challenge Blog for the whole scoop on the challenge!

(But if you win the 12 markers, you and I are NOT friends anymore! giggle giggle!)

(card goodies: patterned paper - SEI, flower stamp - Close To My Heart, sentiment - The {Stamps} of Life, ribbon - Offray, purple marker - Touch Twin by Shinhan, green marker - Tomnbow)

2011-10-12T10:38:00.000-04:00

I realized that I have a few Apron Strings cards that I never shared, from the August All Year Cheer Card kit. Hello, where have I been!??? ;) We'll just pretend that it isn't actually OCTOBER already.

Here are four of the cards I created. This kit has Pink Paislee Hometown papers, which I LOVE LOVE LOVE. There is also some Fancy Pants, and Cosmo Cricket papers in the kit. Lots of bright colors, which I LOVE!!!! :)

Apron Strings kits are always PACKED with goodies. There is always enough paper and cardstock to make at LEAST 8 cards. Usually more!!!! I create, create, and CREATE, and still have supplies left over! Even if I didn't design for them, I would still recommend them to you!!! :)

My littlest man has tipped over all of the chairs at the dinner table, and is now attempting to drag them across the room. I think I better stop this before things get ugly!!! :) Have a terrific day!

xoxo

bring the BLING!

2011-10-10T06:09:00.000-04:00

I think that Want2Scrap has been one of my favorite sponsors at CPS this year. . . another great example of a company that I might not have purchased from, but WILL be purchasing from in the future, thanks to the Card Positioning Systems blog. Want2Scrap was a new-to-me company. They have BLING, BLING, BLING, and a lot of it coordinates with Nestabilities dies. But I don't HAVE any Nestabilities (yet - but that's a different story!) so I kind of thought - Ugh, is this going to be a drag to use? But guess what, they are super EASY to use and a lot of fun. Plus the big sheets of pearls and jewels will last you through MANY a project. I've used them on just about everything I've created lately, and I think I WILL be restocking shortly!!!

Today I'd like to share two cards featuring the Want2Scrap jewels with you. This first is based on this week's sketch at CPS.

I used Christmas trees from The Cat's Pajamas (you may recognize them from the craft fair Christmas tags I shared a few weeks ago!) The sentiment, that sweet little bitty "merry" is from The {Stamps} of Life. The cardstock here (from Discount Cardstock) is called Posh Wagon Red Dungaree. If you look closely, it has a really nice subtle texture to it, that looks a lot like denim. So beautiful!

On this second card, I created a nice little row of pearls, along with stamps from Gina K (Tami Mayberry's All Occasion Tags set. . . .HOW much do I love this stamp set? TONS!) The yellow crepe paper from Discount Cardstock totally adds an added texture and detail to this project that I just LOVE.

Thanks so much for coming by today. And thank you so much to those who hopped this weekend for Operation Julie's Smile. I had so much fun reading allllllll of your comments! And finally, with a few hours to spare, I finished the hop myself, last night! Phew! 121 blogs?! That's a LOT!!!!! Have a terrific week! We are in the midst of some blustery, rainy weather here - and I LOVE it. Going to drink coffee, and fill a box of junk-I mean treasures - to take to Goodwill today.
xoxo

Operation Julie's Smile :)

2011-10-07T08:00:00.077-04:00

If you didn't arrive here from Michelle Mathey, head to the Sweet Stamp Shop blog to start at the begining (you have all weekend to complete the hop and win a prize)

“The creative blogging community is coming together this weekend to help one of our friends, Julie Ranae. You may know her as the Design Team Coordinator for many wonderful companies from bakers twine, die cuts, rubber stamps and more. What many people don’t know about Julie Ranae is that she has had some pretty major dental surgeries in her lifetime due to medication she had to take as a child. It was in her plans to think about having all of her teeth replaced at some point in the next 5 years, a decision that was pretty easy to plan out. But then it happened…she chipped her front teeth on a weekend a month ago. The dentist told her there was no way to save them & that it was his recommendation that she give in and have them all her teeth removed soon, but for that day, they needed to get her front teeth done so her gums could begin to heal. He said he would 'work out payments with her to have ALL this work done...but when she called to make her appt for the first step of impressions, they told her the amount of money that was needed and that the 'payments' applied only to the two teeth that were extracted that day. Her husband Paul was with her & that too, was his understanding as well. So this is how she has found herself in this situation…Needing at least $4000 to get started and another $3000 to finish the process…a total of $7000.

Nicole Rixon, owner of Sweet Stamp Shop, put together this benefit after finding out about this situation and before Julie Ranae knew it, it took flight! It is the goal of all of these generous friends & sponsors to help make this situation more do-able for our friend so that she can share a brand new smile with all of us soon.

If you can contribute a financial donation, there is a PayPal button in my sidebar. Any amount is appreciated and ALL DONATIONS will be eligible for prizes from our sponsor pool of over $2500.”

I created two cards (with lots of paper-piecing) for today's hop. I used products from Sweet Stamp Shop, My Mind's Eye, and Discount Cardstock. I hope you like them!!! :)

Thank you so much for coming by, on this GIGANTIC blog hop! I hope you'll come visit me again!

And now my friends, hop onward to my friend,

Deb Felts' blog!

Be sure to leave a comment before you go, for a chance to win AMAZING prizes (plus it will just make me happy if you say HI!) And if you can, please consider donating via the PayPal button on my sidebar!

YOU can help bring back Julie's SMILE!

Fall Fun!

2011-10-04T08:33:00.000-04:00

I created this card and candy pail for my mom's Close To My Heart blog. You can find out all the specifics HERE on her blog! The funny thing about this project, is that I totally had a bag of candy corn to put into the candy pail. But. . .welll . . .we ate it all before I could fill it. So just use your imagination, okay?

And as promised, some pictures of my crazy boys at the farm we went to on Saturday. Corn maze, homemade ice cream, amazing BBQ, a pumpkin patch, hay bales to climb, tractors, dirt, animals to feed, and LOTS of fun.

(apparently, ice cream is HILARIOUS!)

HAPPY FALL!!!!! It's my FAVORITE time of the year!!!

Thanks for stopping by today! Leave me some love, let me know what you're up to on this happy October day!

Ahoy There!

2011-10-03T07:06:00.001-04:00

The Cat's Pajamas is our awesome CPS sponsor for the week! As soon as I saw this sweet little whale, I knew I wanted to paper-piece him, I knew I wanted to see him covered with polka-dots, and I KNEW it was love at first sight! I used the Neptune Trio of Dotted Swiss cardstock (by Bazzill), from Discount Cardstock for this card. I just love how my happy little whale turned out! :) Be sure to visit the Card Positioning Systems blog to see the sketch for this week!!! Play along and you might just win yourself some great goodies from The Cat's Pajamas!!!!

We had our first few days of COOL(ish) weather this past weekend, and it was PERFECTION. We went to a farm on Saturday, and had THE best time - I'll share a few pictures in my next post!!! I have some cute fall and Halloween ideas to share with you too!!! Watch for it Tuesday or Wednesday! :)

Have a TERRIFIC WEEK!!! Happy October!
xoxo

penguins4christmas anyone???

2011-10-01T08:50:00.000-04:00

Welcome to October, and a new stamp set from The {Stamps} of Life!!!! This month's set is called penguins4christmas, and without further ado, here are two samples I created with it!

The font for the sentiments is AWESOME. I am BIG on fonts. They make or break a sentiment! If you scroll down to my last post, I also used this set for the "to/from" on my white Christmas tags. The penguins are quite versatile though. . .you can use them for ANY kind of card, it doesn't have to be only for Christmas! You can see the whole set, HERE at The {Stamps} of Life website, and lots of great examples in the gallery!

crafts for sale! :)

2011-09-29T05:00:00.004-04:00

One of my favorite childhood books is, Caps For Sale. I don't have any caps for sale, but I will have some CRAFTS for sale, (but hopefully I won't have to balance them on my head, and hopefully they won't be stolen by monkeys . . .if you're confused, read the book!) Next month my church is having a craft fair and I've decided to have a booth. My plan was to try and sell of the 200 or so cards that are sitting ALL OVER MY HOUSE. But I've gone a little crazy, making OTHER things to sell as well. Hopefully they will sell, otherwise I'll have a lot more than just cards sitting around!

The Christmas tags are about the only things (other than cards) that are fully packaged and ready to go. There are assorted patterns of paper, but they all have a red base, and extra twine for hanging. I LOVE the way these turned out!

a mini composition book. these books are a little less sturdy than the ones shown below. I think I'm going do do some kid-themed ones, and package them with a few crayons.

Thanksgiving Place Cards . . . .loved pulling out my old Kim Hughes stamps from Cornish Heritage Farms, to make these. They took some time, with all the cutting - but I enjoyed it. I'll probably sell them for less than what my time is worth, but I had fun - so it's okay!

A full sized composition book. I have one all packed and ready to go, but I forgot to photo it. This one is sort of a vacation/beach theme - a vacation or summer journal maybe????

another set of Christmas gift tags. These will have self adhesive on the back. Pretty quick and simple. I'm hoping to make up a bunch more of these. I wasn't originally planning to sell them in the tin, but they might be kind of cute - a tin of tags?????

These are the "nicer" mini composition books. They have the nice binding on them, and they are a little more detailed. I love the way they turned out!!!

I haven't finished them yet, to photograph them, but I've done a bunch of candy pails (like the plain pail shown above) They are decorated and have lots of ribbon tied on them. I'm going to fill some with candy, and some with crayons. I'll show them to you when they're ready!!!! I have a few other projects I am hoping to get done. I still have some time!

This has been a great project to use up a lot of STUFF. . .patterned paper that's been sitting around, and the MASSIVE tangle of baker's twine that a couple of friends and I bought in bulk. :) I promise I'll share more pictures when it gets closer!!!

Also, speaking of SALE. . .I still have stamps for sale at 2Peas - you can find the threads here:
assorted stamps for sale
Close To My Heart stamps for sale
PM me at 2Peas if you are interested, or email me at TomatoL at aol dot com.

(project goodies: patterned paper on all of these projects is October Afternoon, all cardstock is Discount Cardstock, felt pineapple - Sassafras Lass, Thanksgiving stamps - Cornish Heritage Farms, to/from and "just a note" stamps - The {Stamps} of Life, "tooty fruity. . " stamp - My Favorite Things, frame stamps on mini comps - Gina K)

my heart is spinning. . .for markers!

2011-09-28T06:05:00.001-04:00

Remember those Touch Twin markers I told you about last week? The ones I am wishing for? Well. . . .it's not a lot, but I did win TWO of them this past week! Remember to visit their blog every day for a chance to win! I actually had a very winning weekend, because I also won a set of baker's twine, in The Twinery blog hop! Pretty exciting! :)
Anyway, back on track - this week's challenge is a color challenge. I used my dear friend, Angie's markers, and it was really fun! I also used brand new stamps from The Cat's Pajamas and of course, coordinating cardstock from Discount Cardstock.

CPS ketchup

2011-09-25T08:43:00.000-04:00

No, not THAT kind of ketchup. . . .CATCHUP. I just wanted to get your attention!
I have a few CPS cards that I haven't posted here yet. . . .so here they are, for your daily procrastination from whatever you (and I) should be doing.

This first card was last week's. . .I think. Our sponsor was EAD Designs. They make the MOST FABULOUS rub-ons and stickers. I used stickers on this card. (Aren't they COOL!?!) They are really thin, and smooth, and you can hardly tell they are stickers at all! LOVE THEM. Check out EAD Designs HERE!

I have LOVED this sock stamp since the day I saw it! Unity Stamp Co sponsored us a few weeks ago, and we could choose two of their Itty Bitties. I chose this one, as well as the stamps in the card below. Tons of fun, and I loved the way this bright crazy colors came together. Visit Unity Stamp Co HERE!

I also used Unity Stamps here, along with jewels from Want2Scrap. These are from their Nestabling collection - they fit about a million sizes of Nestability dies, but as you can see, they are terrific even if you don't have dies to use. Check out Want2Scrap HERE!

All cardstock I used was from Discount Cardstock, and the ink is Clearsnap's Stephanie Barnard Collection. (Those ink pads are so juicy and fabulous!!!!)

Have a BEAUTIFUL week!!!!! I've decided to break my rule, and get out our little bucket of Fall decorations before October 1st. So THAT is what I am off to do!!!! xoxoxo

loved and unloved . . .

2011-09-22T06:00:00.000-04:00

I have QUITE the stash of October Afternoon papers and goodies, leftover from my stint as a "Designers We Love" at OA. Apparently, somewhere along the way, us "designers they loved" were dropped, without a word, but at least I have this big fat box of papers to ease my disappointment! These are just two REALLY quick cards I made, using Campfire papers. I have been a busy little bee making cards, and little goodies for the craft fair at my church next month. Not too many cards, since I have about 200 of them already, but I needed a few more masculine looking cards for the selling-stash.

And now, onto my treasured Scenic Route paper. I was THE saddest person the day I found out that Scenic Route was closing its doors. I have HOARDED this paper ever since, but really, I NEED to use it up, and purge the stash of unused products. SO, I have been making up card sets, using this super simple paper-strip design, with cute simple sentiments from Tami Mayberry's stamp set at Gina K. I LOVE the hodge-podge feeling of the papers together, and the way all the cards come together in the set, coordinating . . .but NOT coordinating. And it feels AWESOME to use up all this paper. So far I've made about 40 of these cards. (And yes, I am getting pretty sick of them now!)

I was going to use these sets as Christmas gifts, for teachers and such. But I think I'll try to sell them first! If they don't sell, I'll have built-in gifts, but if they DO, it's not big deal to whip up some more simple card sets later in the year!

this and that!

2011-09-20T08:49:00.001-04:00

A few quick things today!

First up, you can find some instructions on how to make this fun back to school ensemble, that I made, on the Discount Cardstock blog. (You'll also find a link to it, in my new TUTORIALS tab right underneath my blog banner.)

Also, I was blogging on my mom's Close To My Heart blog this week, and I shared this autumn card. You can get the full scoop, on her blog!

And let's see. . . because I feel like giving you a BUNCH of cards today, here's a quick and simple card I made using some OLD Kim Hughes stamps, from Cornish Heritage Farms. I colored my little germs with colored pencils, and added some purple twine from The Twinery. Can't get much more clean and simple than this, but I LOVE it. (Which either means, I am SUPER LAZY, or super minimalist! Or both!)

Okay, gotta go wrangle my toddler man, who is walking around with sticky pumpkin muffin fingers!!!!

Happy Tuesday!

xoxo

what? what's that you say?

2011-09-17T06:59:00.000-04:00

You say she blogged yesterday AND today? (too much Dr. Seuss in this house, I tell ya!)

So, I can't even SAY the last time I did a card simply for a blog challenge. I do what I "need" to do - assignments, publication calls, and maybe some Christmas gifts, or a card that I need. That's about IT. But. . .you see, there are these markers. These fabulous, make me swoon MARKERS. If you know me, you know I don't color on my cards, hardly at ALL. I'm a paper-piecer. I LOVE paper-piecing. But I think my love of paper-piecing grew because I didn't have great markers. It was out of necessity! But now, i am pining for the ShinHan Touch Twin Markers. . . .and they are giving some away. (Which I shouldn't even TELL you, because you'll spoil my chances! ha!)

BUT for the sake of my pathetic cause, I stepped right up and made a card for their challenge. . .make a card with a PERSON, and color it with markers. Easy enough. (Except I had to hunt for a person. People aren't always easy to paper-piece, so I don't HAVE lots of people in my stamp stash!) But I found this cute stick figure from Close To My Heart, and I pulled out the ten year old Tombow markers. They streak, and they don't blend, and they just aren't magical (and I am quite sure that the Touch Twin markers ARE magical.) And this, dear friends, is what I made. My go-to colors of aqua and green, Jillibean Soup papers, and this cute little guy. (The sentiment and circle are from The {Stamps} of Life. Something else I RARELY do - combine stamp companies!)

So there ya go, my card with a person colored in marker, for the Touch Twin Marker challenge. (And by the way, can I just mention this is the ONLY challenge I'm entering this card in? It's seriously driving me crazy how people create one card, and it's literally for like 15 challenges. Come on. Let's not be ridiculous people. Two challenges, fine. Even three I can deal with, but stop workin' the system! Sorry if I offended you, but it's REALLY aggravating me!) Okay, I've rambled, I've rhymed, I've vented, and I've earned a chance to win markers. Pretty good for one blog post. ;) (And a blog post which happened the day AFTER another blog post - two in a row baby!)
Happy weekend!!!!
xoxo

a little more BOO for you!

2011-09-16T14:08:00.000-04:00

Okay, so the days are just WHIZZING by. Seriously, how does this HAPPEN!? I looked at my blog, and thought - NO, it was not MONDAY that I blogged. It was like - um, YESTERDAY. But clearly, it was not. So here I am, finally back again with a few more projects from the new TSOL Halloween stamps!

I gotta make this snappy, because I need to head out the door to get mr. first grader from school, in like, TWO MINUTES. (Why do I finally get motivated to blog, when I DON'T have time to!?)

First up, a super simple treat bag - seriously, you could whip this up in like three minutes. Finish it off with some rockin' twine from The Twinery, and away you go!

I am SO in love with embossing lately, ever since I got the Clearsnap Mix'd Media Inx. . .clear embossing powder, and these inks are a DREAM to use!!!! I used the black on both of these cards, and it gives it such a sharp crisp look.

Okay - did I do it? Did I blog in TWO MINUTES!? (It's sort of a sad excuse of a blog post, but lots of pictures will hopefully make up for my quick little ramblings!)
Have a FABULOUS weekend. . . .I sure plan to!!!!
(Especially since I just cleaned almost my WHOLE house today. . .which should last all of like ONE hour, if I'm lucky! ha!)
xoxo

Making up for lost time!

2011-09-12T10:46:00.002-04:00

Echo, echo, echo.

Me + blogging = nonexistent lately!

Not sure why, but TODAY I have NEW goodies to share with you! The special release stamps from TSOL this month are FUN FUN FUN!!!! These two projects feature the new Halloween set. It's a solid set, which I LOVE, because I am not the biggest, or best colorer (is that a word?) No fancy markers in this house (although, I'm pining for the ShinHan Touch Twin Markers!!!)

Okay, so anyway, a quick easy card. . .featuring Stephanie Barnard's new Colorbox ink from Clearsnap! (LOVE IT!!!)

On the treat can, I didn't have much luck stamping RIGHT ON the can (although the stars are stamped directly on it) but I stamped the pumpkin on orange cardstock, and adhered it to the can, which was WAY easier!!! I used Clearsnap Mix'd Media Inxs and embossed it. LOVE the way this ink embosses!

The can is filled with candy corn (just don't tell anyone that it's LAST YEARS candy corn, and it went immediately in the garbage after I took this picture!) ha! It will be filled with NEW candy corn when I try to sell it at my church's craft fair next month!!!!

SO there you have it, head on over the The {Stamps} of Life to check out the amazing samples in the gallery, and to see the full sets for sale!!!!! And then head over to the ShinHan Touch Twin marker blog, for info about their new CHALLENGES. . .you (I mean I) could win some MARKERS!!!! On second though, DON'T go. . .it gives ME a better chance of winning! {giggle giggle!}

to the sweetest friend

2011-09-03T15:31:00.002-04:00

Featuring those cute, cute stamps from Sweet Stamp Shop! (Psst. . . head over to their blog for a coupon code for FREE SHIPPING THIS WEEKEND!!!!!) This is my card for this week's CPS sketch, number 233. I made the gumballs with a hole punch, using the tiniest scraps of my Echo Park paper! Not going to waste a smidgen of that stuff! :)
The boys are running wild around me. . .I wish you could see my living room right now (well, really, I'm SO glad you CAN'T.) So really, I REALLY should go. Must. Supervise. The. Monkeys. ;)
Happy Long Weekend!
xoxo

PS I blogged over on my mom's blog today! Check out my fall card, and some Halloween links! :)

Hoot Hoot! It's September!

2011-09-01T06:38:00.000-04:00

September 1st. . . .slowly creeping toward the fall. SLOWWWWLY creeping. But these cutie patootie owls will be perfect whether you are creating for fall - or any other seaon! Meet owls2love . . .Stephanie's newest stamp set at The {Stamps} of Life!

On both of these cards, I made party hats out of the pennant flag from the banners4all set. It was perfect!

Super cute puns and sentiments, in a super cute and easy to read font. Stephanie ROCKS! You can find the set over on the Products page of The {Stamps} of Life website.

more! more! more!

2011-08-30T13:36:00.001-04:00

another list of stamps for sale! this one is all Close To My Heart stamps. email me at tomatoL at aol dot com, if you are interested, or PM me through 2peas! :)
xoxo

Message Boards - " used CTMH stamps for sale (UPDATED 3/28)" - For Sale or Trade - Two Peas In A Bucket

for sale!

2011-08-29T16:23:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to let you all know that I have a bunch of stamps posted for sale at 2Peas. . .and I'll be posting some more stuff throughout the week, as I can get it photographed and uploaded!

Message Boards - "October Afternoon, Unity Stamp Co, Gina K, etc. . ." - For Sale or Trade - Two Peas In A Bucket

PM me through 2peas, or email me at tomatoL at aol dot com if you're interested in anything!!!

xoxo

sending a line. . .

2011-08-29T08:41:00.000-04:00

Yikes, a week since I posted anything!? I have to bop out of here in just a few minutes, but SUPER QUICK. . . .here's a card I made a few weeks ago with NEW stamps from Unity Stamp Company, (Watermelon Gazpacho Soup, from Jillibean Soup!)

The paper is Seaside by October Afternoon, and the cardstock. . .of COURSE, Discount Cardstock, silly! ;)

I used a combo of paper-piecing, and coloring on this card, even busting out a few of my ancient Tombow markers, which I hardly EVER do (because. . .well, they're ancient, and don't work that great!)

OKAY, a million things to do, and very little motivation. I MUST get moving!

Have a fab week, and I'll be back in LESS THAN A WEEK, to share new new NEW stamps from The {Stamps} of Life, on the 1st of September!

xoxo

spooky!

2011-08-22T10:36:00.000-04:00

It's the first day of school around here! And it is, I must admit, glorious! I sort of feel like I'm having a vacation! I'll admit, I was a little teary, walking out of the big man's first grade classroom this morning, but I am ready for some routine and schedule in our days! (Ask me at 2:00 though, and I will be SO READY for him to be home!)

Halloween still feels a million years away, as we sit here and sweat - but I want to share these cards with you, because you can only get this oh-so-sweet-and-spooky stamp set THIS MONTH, from Close To My Heart.

You can find out the whole scoop, right HERE on my mom's blog, including an image of the whole stamp set.

I used paper on both of these cards, from CTMH's new Mischief collection. I am not usually REALLY into Halloween - at least not spooky Halloween, but something about this witchy woman was really appealing to me! I've had a ton of fun playing with these stamps and papers. (How cool is that honeycomb stamp, that I used behind the sentiment, and behind the cat, below!?)

I outlined this spooky cat with white colored pencil, and I really like the way it gave it a subtle POP.

I hope your week is off to a great start!!! I'll be back in a day or two, and I'll probably subject you to my little man's first-day-of-school pictures. (Complete with two missing front teeth - he's adorable!)

xoxox

Brrrrr. . .

2011-08-16T11:17:00.001-04:00

it's sweltering here. august is SO hot in Florida!
seriously.
hot.

but this card makes me feel cool and crisp, and ready for WINTER. (well, really i'm just ready for fall!)
i used brand-spankin'-new stamps from Unity Stamp Company, and fabulous Polar White Flowersoft, provided to the CPS girls for last week's sponsorship. i also used the beautiful twine from The Twinery. (Did you know they are having an anniversary celebration!!??? check out their blog for LOTS of fun giveaways!)

We are in the final week of summer vacation here. . .so I better get back to it, before the kids climb the walls or jump off the furniture (again!) Have a TERRIFIC week!!!

xoxo

Sweet Sweet Sweet!

2011-08-12T00:00:00.002-04:00

Happy Friday!

Okay, so you remember all those stamps I won, (eight sets to be exact!) during the grand opening festivities at Sweet Stamp Shop?

I've finally had some time to get them inky, so I have two cards to share with you today.

Well - technically THREE. . .the third one is posted the Sweet Stamp Shop blog - so if you haven't been there yet, go check it out!

I added just a bit of colored pencil shading to the hair dryer, after I cut it out from pink patterned paper. (Patterned paper - Echo Park, cardstock - Discount Cardstock)

Paper-piecing these ice cream cones is so much fun. I kept this pretty simple, and I pulled my color scheme from this piece of ribbon I had. It was begging to be used! I {super puffy heart} polka-dotted ribbon!!! (Discount Cardstock - Sunflowers Medium Prismatic, Frosted Pink Prismatic)

Remember to check out all the great inspiration from Sweet Stamp Shop!

Visit their

Flickr

Facebook

SCS gallery

Thanks so much for coming by! If this was your first time here. . .I hope you'll be back!

I'll have much more to share from this fun new company, as I continue to play with my stamps! (I still have some sets I haven't even opened yet! GASP!)

Have a SWEET weekend!

xoxo

Rock ON!

2011-08-11T05:47:00.001-04:00

It's the 11th of the month, which means I FINALLY get to share Stephanie's monthly special releases with you! HOORAY!!! Steph was awesome and got us these stamps pretty early, and I whipped up my cards RIGHT away (which is usually what happens, when I have NEW STAMPS in my hands!) So it pretty much feels like I've been waiting FOR-EVER.

So here it is - the first stamp set I'd like to share: guitars2play!

I LOVE these guitars! I have had THE best time with them. As you'll see below, they fit perfectly with the kids2love set, and I totally love the way it works with the animals4backgrounds zebra print.

FUN FUN FUN!

So without further ado, two cards for you today!

Enjoy!

So, what do you think?! Don't you love my rocker chick? As soon as I saw the guitar, I knew I wanted to make a hippie chick playing music!

I'll be back on Friday with some work featuring Sweet Stamp Shop! (Remember all those stamps I won!?) Their store is up and running now, and I can't wait to share with you a card on their blog, and on mine!

XOXO

PS - I shared a link to my Pinterest page, over on the sidebar! Are you on Pinterest!? Let me know! I'd love to check out your boards!

card goodies: cardstock (Discount Cardstock) patterned paper (Basic Grey) jewels (Want2Scrap) ink (Close To My Heart)

call me!

2011-08-05T08:34:00.000-04:00

Good morning, good morning!

Today's card is all about trying something NEW, and realizing that something different (and maybe a little scary) can turn out to be a FABULOUS thing!

You see, I am a die-hard Close To My Heart ink fan. It's pretty much the only ink I have ever owned and ever used. . . .and I DO still love it.

But we have had a super generous sponsor at the CPS blog this week - Clearsnap. And they sent each of us a WHOLE SET of brand new ink, released at CHA, the Donna Salazar signature line of Mix'd Media Inx. They are pigment ink. And I must say. . .

I am TERRIFIED of pigment ink.

It's sticky.

And it takes freakin' FOREVER to dry.

And it smears.

And it stresses me out.

BUT, .. .

I made an awesome discovery, when I took the time to READ THE PACKAGE. (duh!)

You can EMBOSS with it.

SO, I pulled out my fun little collection of colors (the black and peridot are my fave so far!)

And then I grabbed my ultra fine clear embossing powder (from CTMH)

and I got busy making this FUN CARD! I think the embossing is what really makes it.

The black becomes SO bold and dark when you add that pop of embossing to it.

PERFECTION.

So I have been an embossing fool this week, making LOTS of cards with my new pigment inks, and clear embossing powder!

(card goodies: Unity Stamps (phone, sentiment), The Stamps of Life (circle stamp for background) Discount Cardstock, CTMH ribbon, Want2Scrap jewels)

branches4flowers - new from TSOL!

2011-08-01T06:34:00.000-04:00

Happy first of August! (ACK!)

Today marks the last three weeks of summer vacation, and I am pretty much wondering WHERE the heck it went to! We had a FABULOUS week in North Carolina. I'll be sure to share some pictures with you, when I get them off my camera! We stomped in the creek, played in the rocks, got covered in bug bites, and scratches, and bruises, wandered in the woods, and had all sorts of adventures. The boys LOVED every second of it!

But for now, onward to NEW STAMPS, from The {Stamps} of Life. The new month brings the new stamp set, branches4flowers. This set may at first seem fairly feminine, but later in the week I'll share a great masculine card I also created with this set.

To get back in the swing of things, little man and I are off for our morning walk, before anyone else wakes up! I'll be back in just a day or two though! And hey - thanks SO much to those of you who went over to visit Sweet Stamp Shop on Facebook! Aren't their stamps ADORABLE!? And thanks to YOU, I won ALL EIGHT SETS!!!! Wahooo! I look forward to sharing LOTS of SWEET projects with you soon!
Happy Monday!
xoxoo

got purple?

2011-07-24T06:49:00.000-04:00

This week's CPS sketch is sponsored by Tami Grandi, an a*muse consultant. The patterned paper, cardstock, bling, and stamped image are all from a*muse. I think I've made it fairly clear how I feel about purple. Maybe it's because it was my elementary, middle school, AND my high school's color and I just got SICK of seeing PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE, but it just doesn't work for me. But by golly, this is the second purple project in a row that I have been HAPPY with! Hooray!

Today, after the hubby preaches two sermons at church, we are driving, driving, driving up to North Carolina to visit with my parents for the week. I am in crunch mode, trying to get everything done, and get the kids and I out the door to church on time, plus packed and ready to head out, so we can GO when Pastor Daddy is finished!

I don't know if I'll get a post up this week while we're away or not. I've given up on scheduling some posts before we leave! It ain't happenin' people!

Don't forget to stop by Sweet Stamp Shop's Facebook page. . .LIKE them, and then tell them that Laura Williams sent you! Thank you OODLES to those who have done it already! I would LOVE to win those stamps being given away to the person who refers the most people! PLUS it earns a guest designer spot!!! And really, I wouldn't send you over there if the stamps weren't CUTE CUTE CUTE! You'll love them - I promise!

You guys are the BEST! Have a great week! I'll pop in when I can!
xoxoxo

(please) and thanks thanks thanks thanks!

2011-07-22T08:18:00.001-04:00

First the PLEASE. . . .are you on Facebook? Go and check out the brand new Sweet Stamp Shop on Facebook, and LIKE them. And leave a comment that I sent you (Laura Williams)! They are giving away ALL their new stamps to the person who sends the most visitors. And besides the fact, that I would LOVE to win their cute stamps, I really DO want you to go check them out - because they are ADORABLE! Sweet Stamp Shop is BRAND NEW - grand opening August 5th. Go to their blog to see all the sweet sweet stamps they will be releasing! (The gnomes, and the scooter are my faves so far!)

Okay, on to the THANKS THANKS THANKS! I created this card for last week's CPS sketch, #226. And somehow I'm pretty sure I never posted it here! Silly me! I had FUN with this card. All of the product is from Close To My Heart, and you can find all the links and the full scoop over here on my mom's CTMH blog.

Alright. . .have you forgotten already? SWEET STAMP SHOP on Facebook. LIKE them. (you'll be glad you did!) And tell them Laura Williams sent you! (mwaaaahh! i love you to pieces!)
xoxox

You Rock

2011-07-20T07:00:00.000-04:00

This week's CPS sketch is sponsored by Want2Scrap. They have fabulous BLING, in an array of colors and sizes. They also have their own Nestabling. . .bling that fits the sizes of the Nestability dies. I do not own a diecut machine, nor do I ever plan to. I'm just not a die-cuttin' girl. Too much effort for me! But the Nestabling works just as well without a diecut. On this card, I used a Silver Square Nestabling. Want2Scrap also has about a billion colors and sizes of individual blingy delights, aside from the Nestabling. (I used some of the tiny ones in the corner of this card!)

I paired the Nestabling with Tami Mayberry's Live Life Loud stamps, from Gina K Designs, and dotted swiss cardstock from Discount Cardstock.

In a few days we are headed up to the mountains for a few days to creek-stomp, explore, dig in the dirt, pick up rocks and leaves, build a fort, pick wild blackberries, and relax with my parents. Ahhhhh! I can hardly wait! And then, I'll blink my eyes, and it will be AUGUST, and almost time to start gearing up for back to school. (ugh!)

But we won't think about that yet. . . . I need a few more lazy days of summer!
Enjoy yours! It's almost the weekend. . .(well sort of!)
xoxo

sun, sand, and palm trees

2011-07-18T06:47:00.000-04:00

Ahhh, summer time! The July stamps from The {Stamps} of Life are perfect for summer time cards, and scrapbook layouts! Palm trees, a relaxing hammock, sand, shells. .. . AHHH, life IS good!

Here are a few samples I created with the stamps! You can find the stamp set, Island2Visit, along with all the other TSOL stamp sets, here!

And now that I'm in the mood, we are heading to the beach this morning!

Have a TERRIFIC week!

card goodies: all stamps from TSOL Island2Visit set, cardstock - Discount Cardstock, twine - The Twinery, ink - Close To My Heart

Up and Down . . crossword style!

2011-07-14T16:03:00.000-04:00

Hey there chickies! How much FUN was the DCS/The Twinery blog hop last week!? Thank you SO much for all of your sweet comments. I had THE best time reading them all!! I am trying to swing by some of YOUR blogs to say hello too!

Today I'd like to share two of my cards using one of the new releases at The {Stamps} of Life. It's called standup4sentiments, and as you can see. . .the sentiments are standing up! Fun, huh!? I immediately thought of this October Afternoon patterned paper with the crossword print on it! PERFECTION!

On this second card, I used TWO of the new sets. The sentiment is another from standup4sentiments, but I also used type4backgrounds. It's an alphabet background stamp, and after I stamped it, I punched out some circles to put behind my buttons. (I also used the dotted circle from the very FIRST TSOL stamp set, called Back2Basics.) You can find all of the sets on the PRODUCTS page.

I must say, I am rather proud of this second card, mainly because I used PURPLE. And I HATE purple. But I also HATE wasting paper. I had the cardstock, plus some unloved, unused purple buttons, and I was determined to make it work! And I don't even hate the way it turned out. Miraculous!

Thanks so much for coming by today, especially if you are new to my blog! I didn't update this week, because I was trying to keep the blog hop post at the top, but I will be back in a few days with some more NEW CARDS!!!

Happy Thursday!
xoxo

twine and cardstock and prizes - OH MY!

2011-07-07T05:00:00.001-04:00

The Twinery and DiscountCardstock.com Design Teams are joining up today for a Summer Party themed blog hop!

As you hop from blog to blog make sure and comment on every post because there will be two winners chosen randomly along the hop. If you get lost anywhere along the hop (or if someone is having a blog glitch!) a complete list of participants will be posted on The Twinery and DiscountCardStock.com blogs. The hop will end on 7/13/2011 and winners will be posted on The Twinery and DiscountCardStock.com blogs the following day.

The prizes!

Colorful Bunch Sampler Pack ($20 retail value!) from the Twinery (shown)

A paper sampler pack (a $20 retail value!)from DiscountCardstock.com

The Twinery

Our twine is made from 100% cotton, it's eco-friendly and made in the USA. Whether you're gift wrapping, crafting or tying up baked goods to give to a friend, our baker's twine adds a fresh, yet nostalgic look to any project at hand! Our baker's twine comes in 11 delicious colors and is uniquely twisted against a bright white hue, creating an eye-popping burst of color and a creative embellishment! Our twine has lots of color which lends to a fun, candy-striped look.

DiscountCardStock.com

DiscountCardstock.com was launched in 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Our mission is to provide great quality cardstock and specialty papers at discount pricing. We offer 100% acid and lignin free, archival quality uncoated cardstocks, as well as metallic, vellum, hand-made specialty papers, envelopes, scored cards and high qualify art paper and cards that are specially coated and developed for use by professional artists and card makers using ink jet printers.

Okay, are you still with me? My project. . . .
I created a gift bag and matching card, full of summer colors and fun! This project was quick and simple, and lots of fun to make. I was inspired by the oh-so-popular trend of color blocking. Have you heard of it? Go do a Google image search, or Pinterest search for it, and you'll immediately recognize it! It's hot in fashion, home decor, and of course - PAPER CRAFTING!

To create this project, whether you do it on a bag, a card, or something else, just wrap cardstock blocks (in varying sizes) with twine, and adhere to a clean white background. (I love clean white backgrounds!) I added some cute little tags, stamped with Unity Stamps in coordinating colors, and a big white bow on my gift bag. (This bag was just a plain white bag from Target, but think about how you can recycle a shopping bag, or solid colored packaging you have laying around!)

Thanks so VERY much for stopping by today! I hope you'll come back soon! Happy blog hopping!

The Twinery http://www.thetwineryblog.com/

Jeanne Streiff http://inkypaws.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/?p=14833

Emily Leiphart http://www.leiphartonart.blogspot.com/

Trudy Sjolander http://truesgiftsfromtheheart.blogspot.com/
Tifany DeGough http://www.inkblotsbytrd.blogspot.com/

Heidi Blankenship http://embellished-dreams.blogspot.com/

Grace Hester http://www.gracehester.typepad.com/

Debbie Seyer http://www.debbieseyer.com/

Monika Wright http://iloveitallwithmonikawright.blogspot.com/

Laura Williams http://www.lauralooloo.blogspot.com/ (THAT'S ME!!!)

Angelica Suarez http://handmadebyangelica.com/

Ivona Foster http://blog.sugarsticksparties.com/

Angie Hagist-Discount Cardstock Blog http://www.discountcardstock.com/blog/

the key to my heart

2011-07-05T08:16:00.000-04:00

Discount Cardstock, October Afternoon, and Unity Stamp Company - three of my favorite things! Oh - and polka-dots. FOUR of my favorite things!

The big boy was up with Daddy until ELEVEN o'clock last night, so I am pleased to report that he is still asleep, at 8:15am. But as soon as he wakes up, we are off to the grocery store after this fun busy beachy weekend. I hope your 4th was safe and happy, and filled with family, fun, and food!

(card goodies: Kraft, Coco, and mulberry - Discount Cardstock, patterned paper - October Afternoon, stamps - Unity Stamp Co)

bye bye june!

2011-07-03T11:54:00.000-04:00

My poor Apron Strings cards from June never got posted! ACK! So here are a few of them, for ya, along with an image of all the goodies in the kit!

Be sure to check out the June and the July kits at Apron Strings. I always make a TON of cards from each kit. There are tons of embellishments, and lots of paper and cardstock! And when you get the kit, you get instructions and measurements for all of the cards shown! A quick and easy way to knock out

some cards!

Happy 4th of July weekend! Stay safe, and have a GREAT time!

Posh Cherry Satin Sparkle

2011-06-28T11:49:00.000-04:00

Cleaning like a madwoman today, because I suddenly looked - REALLY looked, at my kitchen cabinet doors. Ever since toddler man started wandering around the kitchen on a regular basis, with his sticky dirty fingers, my white cabinets are ATROCIOUS!

I LOVE deep cleaning! It feels SO good (for about two seconds, before it's all filthy again!)

Just thought I would take a break and share this little box I made, using the Scor-Pal. Posh Cherry Satin Sparkle cardstock is on sale at Discount Cardstock this week. (Details below!) It has these fabulous little specks of color in it - it's just gorgeous!

June Special:

Blog10%June11

Use this code at checkout for 15% off the lowest price item in your shopping cart.

This week’s sale item is Posh Cherry Satin Sparkle 105#.
up to 50% offSale ends 7/04/2011

Supplies:

Posh Cherry Satin Sparkle 105#

Nautical Dark Prismatic 70#

star stamp – The {Stamps} of Life, glittered brad, ink – Close To My Heart, ribbon – Offray

Eric and I both have family in town this week, so we will be bopping from one family function to another. . . gotta love SUMMER!!!!

Have a terrific week!

xoxo

summer time means. . . .

2011-06-23T16:00:00.000-04:00

The summer means that I have two kiddos who REALLY need my attention.

The summer means that there are things I'd rather be doing than sitting at the computer.

The summer means that I need to give myself permission once again, to be a BAD BLOGGER.

So don't go away.

I'm not LEAVING or anything.

But I'm probably going to be a once-a-week or so blogger again. (Or maybe even ever two weeks, if I dare!) (Or whenever I have something really exciting to report!)

This is my CPS card for the week.

My Mind's Eye paper and diecuts. (LOVE!)

I hope that your summer is off to a great start!!!! It's about nine thousand degrees, and smoky here.

And our electric bill was about ten kagillion dollars this month. (HATE.)

But the beach is nearby.

And the pool is nearby.

And somehow. . .just somehow, I'm sure we'll make it through! (GRIN!)

xoxoxo

Pucker Up!

2011-06-18T10:41:00.000-04:00

Sketch #222 at the CPS blog was sponsored by My Favorite Things. I just adore the line of Pure Innocence stamps. They are so sweet!!! I struggle with them though, because I am not a marker-colorer. No Copics or fancy markers in this house. I love colored pencils, but I don't often love the way they turn on on my cards. This one miraculously worked out though. I used a combination of paper-piecing, and colored pencils to add color to this sweet little image. (And yes, I know - again with the aqua! I can't help myself!) This fun paper collection is from My Mind's Eye and the ribbon is from Offray (I might as well go back and buy six more rolls of this aqua ribbon!) I also added just a little bit of twine from The Twinery (swoon!)

On Monday I'll pop back in and share the Father's Day card we made (well, *I* made) for the hubby. It looks pretty stinkin' cool, if I do say so myself!!!

Have a fabulous weekend!
xoxo

retro tech and geeky!

2011-06-16T10:05:00.000-04:00

Good morning, good morning! It's a gloomy RAINY (thank GOD!) day here today. We need the rain SO badly, and the wildfires in FL and GA have been awful. We stayed inside all day yesterday because of the smoke. But thankfully, we had a MAJOR storm this morning, and things are not quite as smoky so far. And we certainly need the rain.

Okay, I have a few things to share with you today! First off, two cards. (Yes, TWO!) I created both of these with a stamp set from Close To My Heart. It's called Retro Tech, and it has very cool vintage looking images of phones, a television, record player, camera, etc. I have been making some SUPER SIMPLE, clean and graphic cards with these stamps. And I love them! They are so quick and easy, I thought I'd better share two of them today!

On this first card, I cut some squares of cardstock (great way to use up scraps!) to create the bottom border. And i stuck a rhinestone jewel over the camera flash.

I stamped the records on Close To My Heart cardstock, using the colors Cotton Candy, Pear, and Breeze. We've recently discussed my obsession with Aqua shades, and Breeze is probably the color that started the obsession. CTMH discontinued the color last year, and I have never really gotten over my despair! I keep trying to stop using it. . .but I just can't. (Sniff, sniff.) Me and CTMH need to have a serious conversation!

Have a fabulous week! I am off now to create a Father's Day card with my little men. I won't be stamping on it, but if you want a sneak peek. . . .check out this link. If you have a technology geek in your house, you might want to try it too!!! It's clever and cool, and PERFECT for my (adorable) geek husband. (I think it's safe to assume he won't be reading this!!!)

Have a fabulous day!!!!
xoxo

a little more banner madness

2011-06-14T21:25:00.000-04:00

I created this card a month or so ago, using the same cute little banner stamp from Paper Smooches "Hang Ups" stamp set, that I used on yesterday's card. It's super simple, and sweet - just the way I roll!

I'm kind of obsessed with teal, if you hadn't already figured that it. This Frosted Teal Prismatic cardstock is TOTALLY my go-to color. (We've probably discussed this many times, but I feel the need to say it again.) It's perfect for summer. And it's perfect for winter. And for us in Florida, those are about all the seasons we have!

I am determined to be in bed before 10pm tonight. Mr. "I Wake Up at 4:45am" is about to be the death of me. Especially now that school is out, and everyone else wants to sleep in! So off I go, to clean off my craft table, and hit the hay! Thanks so much for stopping by!

xoxo

birthday fishes!

2011-06-13T18:31:00.000-04:00

I LOVE having friends close by with a like-minded stampy addiction. That way, we can share stamps, and share ideas. It's the best. I made this card using Paper Smooches stamps from my stash, plus my sweet girl, Angie's stash. (Thanks, Ang!)

This card is based on last week's CPS sketch, #221.

We've come through our first day of summer vacation SWIMMINGLY. . .a trip to the library, 20 or so books, a strawberry lemonade and cookies from McDonald's, and then a major rainstorm this afternoon (which hopefully made our peppers, tomatoes, and basil plants VERY HAPPY!)

Have a fabulous week!

xoxo

Card goodies:

Discount Cardstock Products:

Intense Teal Prismatic
Intense Orange Prismatic
Sunflowers Medium Prismatic
Intense Kiwi Prismatic
Dotted Swiss Mermaid (Deep Sea Trio)

Other supplies:

stamps – Paper Smooches

ink – Close To My Heart,

twine – The Twinery

my favorite and my best. . . (polaroid fun!)

2011-06-12T07:40:00.000-04:00

I LOVE all of the new Polaroid goodies I'm seeing these days. Stamps, digital elements. . .lots of cool stuff for making fun retro looking projects. I don't happen to HAVE any of the cute stamps and products featuring Polaroid or retro photos . .. so I decided to attempt my own.

And, I have to say, umm. . .hello EASY PEASY!
It's a white rectangle.
With a blue square.
(Seriously, you can handle this!)

And then I stamped my cutie patootie pals, from The {Stamps} of Life. I added a little sentiment/caption - and TA DAHHHH!!!! A Polaroid!

I had to do a little fancy work with these two boys, because I rearranged their arms, and drew the hand on. The boy is from this month's regular release at TSOL, called Kids2Love, and some of the hair and accessories are from the Extras4Kids, this month's special release set.

Once I spent all that time on the Polaroid, I was worried that I wouldn't know what to do with it. But I kept the card super simple, to keep the focus on the image. Just a fun little strip of Echo Park paper, and a few tiny buttons.

I hope you like it, and I hope you have had THE best weekend!!!!! I am excited to spend the first week of summer vacation with Mr. B, my first-grader to be!

happiness is a snazzy color combo!

2011-06-08T15:33:00.000-04:00

Once a week I blog over at my mom's Close To My Heart blog, and this is the card I'm sharing over there today. And since I haven't blogged at my own stinkin' blog in almost a week, I thought I'd share it here too!

A few weeks ago I made a similar card, for The Playdate Cafe. (You can see my original card HERE.) When I'm feeling stuck, and I don't know where to start on a project, sometimes I steal my own ideas. So that's exactly what I did. I loved the card I did a few weeks ago, so I just copied it using different paper, colors, and stamps.

I used Sky, Sorbet, and Sunflower together on this card. I think it's a really fun summery color combination. I came up with it, because the stamp pads happened to be stacked next to each other, and I thought, "Oooh, that would be nice together!" And then I came up with a few other color combos to try, that same way. (So I have a head start, the next time I sit down to create!)

The stamps are both from the Paper Lantern stamp set. (Swooon, I love that stamp set!)

To create the card, I simply cut a bunch of Sunflower and Sorbet strips, layered them onto a block of Sky cardstock, matted it with Sorbet, and adhered it to my Sky colored card base. And then I added my sentiment and lantern. Super fun, and easy to do. (My favorite things!)

Friday is FINALLY the last day of school. (I swear, this has been the LONGEST week ever, even for ME!) We're all looking forward to the lazy days of summer vacation! And I don't have a Kindergartener anymore!!! First grade!? YIKES!

Have a great weekend!!!!
XOXO

Surf's Up, dude!

2011-06-03T08:03:00.000-04:00

The month of June brings kids2love, the new sweet stamp set from The {Stamps} of Life! Check out Stephanie's cute video showcasing some of the great things you can do with this stamp set!

I drew some hair on my little surfer dude and I paired him up with the surfboard from summer4fun - it's the PERFECT size! And I love the way this Sky Blue Crepe cardstock from Discount Cardstock looks like water in the background.

I have to go get the big man to school, so I better get the heck outta here! Only one more week to go!
Have a fantastic week!!!!!
XOXO

"Delightful" favor box!

2011-05-31T18:37:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post tonight, the kids are literally climbing all over my husband, and I am trying to get the house straightened up before the bedtime crazies! (so that i can go STAMP after they're in bed!!!)

I covered this pillow box (I think it was from Stampin' Up) with Daffodil cardstock from Discount Cardstock - and guess what?! It's on SALE this week! This project was a super simple way to dress up a plain box - it's just a strip of paper, a piece of ribbon, and two cute stamps from Unity Stamp Company for the tag! (Oh, and of course a little bling to finish it off!)

Have a great day! I'll be back soon to share NEW stamps from The {Stamps} of Life June release! (Tomorrow is JUNE FIRST!? How can it be!?)
xoxo

You Rock!

2011-05-30T10:21:00.000-04:00

Happy Memorial Day! I am in a cleaning frenzy, while entertaining the kiddos at the same time. . . and we've been at it since pretty early this morning, so although its only 10am, I think I'm wearing down!!!!!

Today's card was my CPS card last week . .no two weeks ago. . .I don't know - sometime recently!!! Gina K Designs was our sponsor, and I used this super cool stamp set, designed by Tami Mayberry. I KNEW I needed this set when I saw it! It's called Live Out Loud, and it is PERFECT for masculine cards, and cards for people who my stamp stash just don't usually quite work for (like teenage boys!) I embossed the sentiment and guitar, and then added Stickles over the guitar. It's quite sparkly in real life!!!

I'm looking over at my littlest man, and his hands are COVERED in green marker. Apparently, supervising from across the room just isn't cutting it. I think I better run before his entire shirt and high chair are covered in it!!!!

Have a wonderful week!!!
XOXO

happy owl duo

2011-05-27T05:50:00.000-04:00

5:30 am. Not the time of day for Blogger to hate me and delete my post.

I attempted to keep it short anyway, and save you from my bleary-eyed, early morning ramblings.

This is my CPS sketch card for the week. I used cute Jillibean Soup papers on it (I trimmed the owls from patterned paper.) Is there anything cuter than animals with party hats? I think not!

The "happy" stamp is from The {Stamps} of Life.

I'm up at the crack of dawn these days because I have an early rising little man. His big brother was a way-early riser at this age too. I know this too, shall pass - but dang, 5am is kicking my booty! There are few worse feelings that being forced to be awake, when all your body wants to do is fall asleep. And it makes me CRANKY. But I am trying to use the early mornings to get things done, which at least helps me feel like slightly productive. (It doesn't always work though!)

And just now, as I typed, Mr. Little Man decided to push his chair to the sink, stand up on it, and attempt to play with the soapy dishes resting there. 20 months old, but he thinks he's six, like his brother. I suppose it's the Second-Child-Syndrome.

So now, before he climbs on top of the refrigerator, or starts cooking on the stove, I think I'll go supervise my child more closely and leave you to your weekend. Happy Memorial Day! We spent yesterday after school at the beach. . .and I suspect we'll have one more beach visit before the long weekend is out! (Although I also have some top-secret scrappy business to attend to as well!!! Bwahahahaha!)

XOXO