Happy New Year!

I am super excited for 2009.  I hope that the new year is bringing a lot to you too.  :)

This year, I'd love to do more with my CTMH stuff.  I really enjoy scrapping and stamping with friends and would like to share that with others.

Getting published would be great too.  I need to get over my fears and submit to magazines.

The many challenges online have helped me grow a lot.  I'd like to set aside time a couple of days a week to participate.

What do you plan to do in 2009?

Riley relaxes

I love the Urban Prairie collection from Basic Grey.  They are bright and so fun.  

My Scrapling!

Sparkle posted about Scraplings on her blog. I decided to try one!

My kids brought home these super cute magnet/bookmarks and they were the same size as the Scraplings. You can see in the second photo, that you just put a couple of strips of magnet on the bottoms so that the bookmark stays on the page. :)

This is Bookabella. I paper pieced her with Basic Grey's Urban Prairie. LOVE that paper! :)

My gift to you

This is for your entertainment. Hope it brings you a chuckle. :)

This is a picture Kait drew of me.  The letter of the week was W.  She picked the word MOM to draw.  I think if she had flipped it over, WOW would have been more appropriate and matched the assignment too.

Happy Belated Birthday

While I make a lot of cards, I often forget birthdays, anniversaries and am late sending out holiday stuff.  :P

This card is for my nephew who had a birthday on the 12th.  Oops!

Pink Poison/Greeting Farm Anya

These Anya stamps are not my typical stamping style but I keep seeing them over and over again on blogs and I love what people have done with them.  Pink Poison (soon to be Greeting Farm) makes these and several other adorable stamps.  Their stamps are mounted onto cling foam so I can use them with my acrylic blocks (LOVE that).

This is Teacher Anya.  I thought she would be cute for the girls to make gift card holders for their teachers.  The third picture is what the inside of the gift card holder looks like.  I learn how to make this particular design at an A Muse Art stamps open house about two weeks ago.  *I'll try to remember to post those pics with instructions in the next couple of days.

Super simple, nothing fancy.  :)

I embossed Anya with black embossing powder and then colored her with my Copics.  The paper is from Evensong (Close To My Heart).  

Snow day without the snow

I have been making tons of scrapbook pages and cards the last few days even though I have been a slacker at blogging them.  This is one I did for The Cat's Pajamas Tuesday challenge.  :)  We had to use a tree stamp (preferably a TCP tree if you have it).  I used some old Basic Grey paper for this.  I love this paper and have two packets of it.

If you were wondering why I was slacking, read on.

As a child growing up in Colorado, we did not get snow days unless there was a snowstorm that the weather people called "The Blizzard of 19--".  And usually, we got maybe one or two days (at the most) off from school.

This past Wednesday, it was supposed to snow in Kirkland.  Nothing major, just snow.  The whole school district closed school because of the THREAT of snow.  Guess what?  IT DID NOT SNOW ON WEDNESDAY!  Not a flake.  It did snow on Thursday and Friday though so school was cancelled those days and winter break began three days early.  

While this may be every child's dream, it is definitely not every parents dream.  These little stinkers are going to be home for two more weeks.  During this time, we will have the crazy before Christmas, the mess/joy of Christmas Eve and Day and then the crash of it all.

It might be time to start adding something to my eggnog...

magnet purse/gift card holder thingy

These are the gift card holders that are so popular every year.  It is a simple piece of 4x12 card stock that is scored at 4, 6 and 8.  The middle peak is glued together (just don't glue the fold). Then punch a slot for your card on the 6" fold.  You end up with a 4x4 card to work with.  I turned my cards so that they open at the top and added some ribbon handles.  These "purses" are going to go to my sisters-in-law.  :)

The stamps are from Eat Cake Graphics.  :)

Retro owl

Just something fun.   I saw this pattern in a blog and thought it would make a nutty card.  :)  The eyes are from a hat box of buttons I bought at a garage sale over the summer.  

I haven't stamped over the last couple of days.  My migraines got really bad and the side effects from the old meds were too much to take anymore.  I called the doctor and we are trying something different.  I am happy to say that I have been pain free for two days now and I am starting to remember some of the stuff I had forgotten.  :D  I am not dreaming yet but I am hoping that will change this week and I can get some super rest.  I really want to do some challenges this week so stay tuned!!!

All bummed out?

I tried shading this guy with my Copics in a different way.  I like how it turned out.  I am still dying to take a Copic class so I can learn for real but I think this is a good start.  :)

This image is from the Stamping Bella.  It reminded me of Alex.  Especially the butt part.  ;)

My house v.s.

This week it has been My House v.s. Alex and whatever stamping supply he gets into.  He has put Stickles on the couch, cut up paper (and the couch) with my good scissors and today it was a Chocolate reinker.  He is three and I think he is trying to not make it to four.

This is totally one of those days I need to bring Andrew Taco Bell so we can plan to go do something both of us know we shouldn't.  Andrew!  I need you!!!  You are the only one who can break the cycle of madness!!!  ;)

Paper Craft Planet- 12 days of Christmas

I am getting a bit of a slow start since it is already day three but here's my card.  Today's challenge was to use a hen, rooster or owl.  It is impossible to tell in the photo but the hen is holding an ornament I punched from the same paper below.  

The paper is from PTI and the hen is from Gina K (I think...).

Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Have a terrific Turkey Day.  :)

This year I am so thankful that our move to Washington, as hard as it was to do, was the right decision for our family.  We love it here and are growing in many positive ways.  Change is good even if it's hard sometimes.

Home Sweet Home

I saw this super cute card at CKC in Bellevue last weekend.  I quickly sketched it out and put it together when I got home.  The original card had Home Sweet Home done in rub ons but I did mine with paper ran through my Dyno label maker.  :)  The paper is from the new Basic Grey collection- Urban Prairie.  :)

Three Riley cards!

Last time we got together, Sparkle let me stamp some of her Rileys.  :)  Here are the cards I've made so far-

Turkey Moose- This is a matchbook card just turned on it's side.  I colored Riley with Copics and gave his buckle a little sparkle with a Sakura pen.
Fishing Riley-  The sentiment is "knew you could tackle it!  congrats!" and is from Stamping Bellas but I thought it went well with Riley.  He is also colored with Copics and a little Sakura.

Snowmoose Riley-  I don't usually use buttons.  I don't know why.  Sparkle uses buttons though and I was inspired.  :)  The snowmoose is colored with a white souffle' pen but it doesn't show in the pic.  :P

I think you're swell

I saw this layout and thought it would make a nice transparency card.  It is a little hard to see but I stamped "I think you're" in the upper left hand corner.  Then I used a chipboard sticker, Swell, from the Basic Grey Offbeat collection to finish off the sentiment.  The paper and other extras are from Basic Grey.  :)

Call me crazy but my favorite thing about this card is the shadow from the word swell.  :)  Transparency cards are great for that.  It is so fun to put a bold shape on the front of the card that will cast a shadow on the paper you put on the inside.  You should definitely try it.  ;)

TCPTUES- use cake!

This week we needed to use a cake stamp.  Man!  This challenge was made for me!  I LOVE the cake stamps at The Cat's Pajamas!  I think they were some of the first ones I bought.  :)  And this is hands down, my favorite sentiment.  :)

My paper is Basic Grey (no big surprise there) and I used stickles for the fire on my candles.

If you watch Tommy while you make cards...

your card will look like this.  Let's call this my The Who inspired card.  :)  

Actually, I saw this article in PaperCrafts (I think) about cutting out detailed images from paper and using them on cards or layouts.  When I first read the article, I thought that sounded nuts.  It is a lot of time to spend on something that wouldn't be the focal point if you added a photo or sentiment.  But what if I didn't add those things...

I love the twisting vines and leaves on this paper and cut them out with an Exacto knife.  The flower in the corner is on Pop Dots.  I added Liquid Glass to some of the detail on the flower and the darker vine parts.   

I am going to leave it how it is.  No sentiment.  I like it just like this.  :)

I confess...

nothing stops a migraine like a soy vanilla latte from Starbucks.    I think I drank several in the last couple of days.  This is me- pale, shaky and a little crazy without a little latte in me.  :)

The stamps are from Starving Artistamps and the paper is Basic Grey.  I have a ton of these Autumn Terracotta photo clips from CTMH so I decided to use them as a funky decoration.  I love how it turned out.  :)

Hey cupcake

The A Muse weekly challenge is to use a sweet stamp.  :)

Here you go!

#68 You're Sweet

I used Basic Grey paper, A Muse ribbon, Cupcake Builder and Twin Cupcakes.

Cupcake social at A Muse

I went to Seattle last night for a Cupcake Social at A Muse Art stamps.  It was a dream come true!  Getting to bump elbows with super stars, eating yummy cupcakes, laughing with new friends and a super cute make and take; does it get any better???

This is what the yummy cupcakes looked like last night!  I made them using the new Cupcake Builder set.  :)

Julie MADE me buy this cityscape stamp and I couldn't leave the store without the space needle and 'Greetings from Seattle' to go with it.  I stamped the cityscape and the space needle on newspaper and paper pieced the image back together.  I colored the windows with a yellow glaze Sakura pen.  The card is from A Muse's Maderia line.  *I think I need to add some ribbon...
Our sweet little make and take!
I also saw these A Muse stamps and this Elzybells sentiment.  The card is also from A Muse.  :)



We are heading over to Alki beach so I can snap some pics for a paint chip album (more on that later) but I was so jazzed after the party that I stayed up until 2 am stamping with my new stuff.  I might have a problem...  ;)

Have you seen the new Cat's Pajamas stamps?

They are too cute! The three new stamp sets are-

Candyland Christmas
Elegant Christmas
Deck The Hall

There is a great bundle package being offered right now where you can get all three sets for $45.50 instead of $60.50!

There is also FREE SHIPPING within the US. How can you go wrong?

I stamp with these all the time and have been a fan of theirs for many years now. These acrylic sets are a great way to try them out since you get images, coordinating sentiments and small stamps that can be used to create backgrounds. :)

GO VOTE!

I am a total news junkie. You can bet I will be glued to the tube to see who our new president will be and what will be happening out here in Washington.
Go out and vote. Then go get yourself some free coffee at Starbucks, free ice cream at Ben and Jerrys and all the other free stuff that places are giving away for Super Tuesday!

Happy Halloween

Kait had surgery on her ears today. Her left ear drum appears to be too thin and that maybe what is causing some of her hearing loss on the left side. Anyway, I haven't stamped in a couple of days but I didn't want to slack off either. Hope everyone has a safe, fun Halloween. :)

Here's a family pic taken at the apple orchard a couple of weekends ago. :)
*You can go here and eat all the apples you want, right off the tree, for FREE! It was so fun and yummy to taste tons of different kinds of fresh apples.

Flowers in Fall

I love these tulips from Kim Hughes. They are really fun and so easy to paper piece with. Paper piecing is my favorite technique and I do it all the time. The card layout was also copied from a card Kim Hughes did in Papercrafts magazine many issues ago. :) Did you know I am a super fan of Kim Hughes??? ;)

The paper is all from Paper Garden from CTMH. This paper is BEAUTIFUL and works for lots of different cards and layouts. It is a must have in my opinion.

A different shape

There was a challenge for SCS people to make a card that wasn't a standard card shape. I like to play along with these challenges but don't always post there. Anyway, here is my circle card that I made. :)

Stitching!

Close to My Heart released several collections of embroidery floss that coordinate with our colors. I have had so much fun playing with them! They are the perfect way to add something special to your art. :)

Here's a card I recently made using the floss with the coordinating card stock color-



Simple and yet so fun!

Boo banner

I saw a picture of a felted wool BOO banner on twitter. It was so cute and very easy to copy. However, I know myself well enough to say that if I had gone to Ben Franklin and bought the felted wool to copy this, it never would have been made. I would have brought it home, maybe cut out the circles and ghosts and then lost interest. So I decided to make my BOO banner out of card stock.

The letters are traced from chipboard letters (from Close to My Heart) onto black card stock. The white paper is textured card stock (also from Close to My Heart) so it would still look a little like fabric. I stitched around the edges and made french knots for the eyes with black embroidery floss. The ribbon is from the Autumn Terracotta ribbon round (retiring soon so get yours asap).

Simpler. Easier. Faster. ;)

*This is a close up of the ghost. I just drew the ghost myself. No specific pattern...

To all those mommies who have 7 year olds that love them

I went to make some cards today and found this message on my desk pad...



It says, "Your a evil mommy Love, Lauren"
Lauren was very proud of this little joke and laughed her evil laugh when I asked her about it.
Hope this brought a little smile to your face. :D

For a friend :)

I have a friend in CO who has been having a rough time lately. This is for her. :)



*I love Perfect Day (from Close To My Heart)! It is so fun and bright.

Shoot!

I can't believe I haven't posted in so long.  :P

This is my card for week 3 of Leigh O'Brien's Frightfully Delightful Freaky Friday challenge.  This week the challenge was to use only black, olive green, dark orange and purple. The only stamping on this card was the Itsy, bitsy spider part (Hodgepodge Alphabet from CTMH). The paper is from TAC.

I participated in last week's challenge too so here's the other card... (The paper and brads are from CTMH and the vampire, branch, trees and saying are Doodle Factory!)

Week 2 (make a non-Halloween card using a Halloween stamp)

I've been tagged!!!

I've been tagged by my friend Angie. :) We met (and slept together) at the CTMH convention. ;)

If you click on the title of this blog, you can go see her blog.  

7 random or weird facts about myself-

1.  I dance and sing a lot but just for fun and usually just around family or friends.  In reality, I get really embarrassed when I am asked to do either when it is serious.

2.  I eat clay.  Every morning before breakfast, I have been eating clay to try to manage my migraines without medication.  It is actually working pretty well.  

3.  I think that the bull whip is awesome and I would love to learn how to do some cool tricks sometime.  

4.  I have to bring a Sam's package of Clorox wipes with me when we travel to combat germs.  I don't have a lot of OCD normally but when we travel, germs really get to me.

5.  I am allergic to chocolate but eat it anyway.

6.  I think I am kind of a chicken but if someone dares me to do something, I can't back down.  :)

7.  I adore Elton John.  I only have Elton John on my ipod.  :)

I am going to have to think of 7 people to add since I am not sure everyone I have in mind has a blog.  But to start with-

1.  Karen

2.  

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

*Blogger seems to be having problems today.  :(  I hope all the links come through.

Crap, all the links are gone.  You can see Angie's blog at www.theblocksoms.blogspot.com

Crappy parents

Some little crap took Kait's glasses off of her face today on the bus.  What the hell is wrong with people today?  Are parents really that stupid, ignorant and horrid that they can't teach their children that picking on another child is wrong BEFORE they do it?  I swear, I will beat my children if I ever find out that they were picking on someone else.  And they know it.

Okay, I am done ranting.  Still mad but done ranting.

sad news

We got a notice from Madi's school today that her principal passed away very suddenly over the weekend.  Our prayers are with the Ellis family at this time.  Mr. Ellis was a good principal and I think the kids will really miss him.

How does it happen???

I can't believe a week has past since I last posted.  :P

I have been busy creating.  I load stuff on Splitcoast Stampers all the time and my id there is stamp4hobby.

This is a card I loaded there today.  It was for a sketch challenge.  I love how it turned out.  This is a great paper packet (Perfect Day) too.  It is a must have in my book.

I also saw a tutorial on to flatten bottle caps with my Cuttlebug and decided to give it a try.  What do you think?  This was a very fun and inexpensive accent.  I got 100 bottle caps for $2.50.  You have to get ones that haven't been used yet.  I got mine at a brewery supply store.

EEEKK!

I LOVE Halloween.  I love to decorate for it, by the treats for it, make cards for it and dress my kids up for it.  I love listening for little hands to knock on my door and hearing little voices shout, "Trick or treat!".  

I probably own more Halloween stamps than anything else.  I think this is kind of funny since Halloween obviously isn't a major card giving holiday.  :)

Someone just introduced me to Stampotique.com  They have some GREAT images there.  This is Spider Girl.  Isn't she cute?!  I put a lot into this card and I feel really proud with the way it turned out.  Hope you enjoy it too.

Hot yoga

I have always wanted to try hot yoga.  

It is pretty popular here.  

Peakie and I went to a class at 6:30 this morning.  

I am barely alive...

I am just crazy enough to seriously consider going again tomorrow...

Procrastinate? Me???

"Even with eight arms, I'd still be the queen of procrastination."

I don't know if I procrastinate so much as I forget.  All the time.  Even the simplest things slip my mind sometimes.  :P

I love the Doodle Factory images.  They are so super fun and funky.    You can buy all the images unmounted so that they will work with your acrylic blocks too.  :)

BAD robot!

Train

I have had this Cuttlebug die forever.  I finally pulled it out and used it with my Basic Grey Cupcake paper.  :)  I think I will send this to Aidan (my nephew) with a little gift card so he can get a happy meal or other little treat.  :)

Teacher gifts

I saw these cute little rose tins at Trader Joes.  I thought they would make a cute first day of school gift for the teachers but they need a little something...

I used some Kim Hughes sets I have and stamped some little pencils on kraft paper.  I colored them with my copics and added a little silver with a gel pen.  A very simple paper pieced 3x3 card finished it off.

Hip hip hooray!

It is back to school today!
Rachel is going to party!
Will I clean the house today? HELL NO!
Will I do laundry today? HELL NO!
Will I make dinner today? I think today is a day for Ben & Jerry's on the waterfront. Just heard that there is a new flavor- Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road. Can you guess why I am dying to try it??? I *heart* Elton John.
I am going to be a stamping fool too. Time to catch up on all my TIVO shows. Yeah!
Tell me what you have been up to since your kids have been back to school. Maybe I will randomly pick one and then give away some fun blog candy. :)

Yikes!

More than a month has passed since I last posted here. :P Our life in WA has been a little crazy. Many good things have happened but so have many bad things. I won't go into the details about the bad here. It feels too personal right now but maybe sometime in the future.

One good thing that happened is I went to Close To My Heart convention. I worked hard in 2007 and 2008 to try to come out of my shell a bit and send some things in for contests and stuff like that. I was elated to go to convention and see my artwork on the Art Wall. It felt good and was encouraging. My goal is to participate in many more contests and challenges so that my art can get better and so that I can continue to think out of the box. Here are some pics from convention-


A layout of Bub.


A card that could be used on a scrapbook page with Jason and I.


A Halloween card featuring the girls. Could be used on a scrapbook page as well.

secrets

I am keeping a secret. To this person, your secret is safe. I love you, no matter what.

Is it really the worst thing in the world...

to still be carrying a little pregnancy weight 3 years after your last child was born??? I went to the gym today for a free personal trainer workout. It is a miracle that I can type this. If I am typing like a crazy person, you know why.

It was so easy to get a little soft around the middle... why does it have to be so dang hard to get rid of it?!

Happy 4th

We went to Lake Washington today and could see four different fireworks displays! It was wonderful. I have never seen square, star, heart or smiley face fireworks before! AMAZING!

Hope you had a great 4th too!

House worries...

Please pray for our family that our Colorado home will sell or can be rented out soon. It is difficult for us to be paying for two mortgages. I hate posting super personal stuff here but I strongly believe in the power of prayer and need your help.
Thank you. :)

The moving truck came!

This Bambino paper is so cute. I love the little sock monkey faces paper. The sentiment is from an old (maybe retired) Stampin' Up set.


The movers came on Thursday... Oh the horror! How did we get so much crap?! LOL
Slowly but surely we are opening boxes and digging through everything. We are definitely going to have to have a garage sale. :P

AMUSEAPALOOZA!

Amuseapalooza is coming soon! I am so excited to be living close to this store. I am definitely going to take some classes and play along. Check out these super cute stamps at www.amuseartstamps.com

Loving Washington & a card for Jason

I am not sure how to rotate my card. Sorry. :(
Jason got the "Blue Screen of Death" on his new work laptop the other day. Poor guy...
The card, computer stamp and sentiment were all from an AMuse kit. I had the little steam squiggle from The Cat's Pajamas. I used one of my Copic markers for the screen and then put Liquid Glass over it so it would look like a screen.
I hope he likes it!

If you ever get a chance to visit Washington, make sure you give yourself time to visit Pike Place Market. It is an amazing place to buy fresh fish, fruit and veggies from the farmers market and yummy, authentic food from different countries. I swear I would live there if I could. :)

Did you have a good Memorial Day?

Our ward had a breakfast that was actually really good. We played at the park for a long time and then went to Home Depot to get supplies to start our garden. It is coming together very nicely and I will post pictures at the end of the week when it is done. :)
Until then, how about a card?



A friend of ours just found out that her husband's cancer has returned. :( I wanted to make a simple card that could work as a sympathy card but be masculine too. I hope it brightens their day a little bit. Keep them in your prayers.

Flowers from the house in Washington

These are on Shirk Island. It is a huge bush full of these pink flowers. Honeybees fly in and out of the blossoms and their legs are covered in pollen.


These smell so good. When it is a little warm outside, the scent of them is everywhere. I love their color too.


I don't know if these are flowers but they are my favorite plant in the yard. The green and yellow on them is unreal.


These yellow poppies close every night and open every morning. They are everywhere in the front yard.


I wish you could see the detail in these flowers. It is amazing. I love the pink and green in them.


I think these are called Bleeding Hearts. I LOVE them.


BLUEBERRY BLOSSOMS (*Each flower will be a blueberry soon! YUM!)

Our gardner Jon (awesome guy) said that he has planted flowers all over the yard so that there is something blooming all year round. I can't wait to see what else will spring up!