Many Thanks

Yep, it's that time of year again.  It's time for the MS Walk and I'm excited.  This will be the first year that we have someone on our team that has MS besides little ol' me.  A friend of ours that works with Shawn, who was diagnosed years before I was, will be joining us this year.  And following my tradition, I've made thank you cards for all the people who donate to the walk.  I think it's awesome when people are actually able to do it.  I'm always super grateful and feel genuinely lucky to have so much support.

Also tradition with me - variety. I get bored doing the same thing over & over. I like seeing what the same thing looks like in different colors. I also buy clothes like this. If I see something I like, and it actually looks good on me, I'll buy 2 different colors.  I hate clothes shopping and this is just a time saver for me.  Plus, I'm notoriously lazy.

And of course, we have to have the guy version. My father-in-law donates every year and I can't go sending him flowery cards. Well, I can, but that would be silly when I have a perfectly good "guy enough" card to send his way.  Plus, I have a couple of guys donating this year and the design switched over easily enough, so there ya have it. Another year of thanks taken care of.

Stamps: Fillable Frames #2, Turning a New Leaf & Life (PTI), single flower (Inkadinkado), Ink: Hibiscus Burst, Plum Pudding, Spring Moss & Ripe Avocado (PTI), Versafine Onyx Black, Paper: PTI white, Accessories: Fillable Frames #2 die

Alrighty, I'm Back

Betcha thought I wasn't coming back, huh?  Were you worried Zion was gonna be 2 by the time you saw something new?  Yeah, well, here I am. Besides being crazy busy, I also wasn't in the mood to make anything, so I didn't.  But I got some new stuff, which means inspiration, and here ya go.  I got this set that Becky designed and I just love it.  I'll try to space out my creations with it so you don't go crazy looking at the same stuff over and over. But so far, this is the only thing I've made with it, so breathe easy. For now.  But I'm loving the tree in the set. And the hill. And the other houses. And I think you get the idea. So stinkin' cute! And, I had to make some thank you cards for the MS Walk again *here's my walk page in case you get the sudden urge to donate money which is tax deductible. phew!* so those will be coming up soon, too.  And there you have it.  New stuff to look at and a worthy cause all in one. I know, I amaze myself!  You're welcome!

Also, about the card - I wasn't sure how to ground my houses, so I made a street.  It's just gray cardstock and white lines made by my faboo white pen. Cuz my mom would want to know!

Stamps: Wonderfully Whimsical & Vintage Picnic Sentiments (PTI), Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black & Versafine Onyx Black, Paper: Hawaiian Shores & white (PTI), not sure which gray I used, Accessories: Signo white pen, Copics~

Zion is 1!

So, my nephew Zion turned 1.  He is seriously one of the cutest babies I have ever laid eyes on. So stinkin' precious.  And big. He's wearing 3T clothes and,  yes, he is a big boy!  You don't see it coming tho.  I was so very excited to see him when we went to his birthday party.  It's been a long time since I've had a baby-baby, so of course, I wanted to hold him. I picked him up and almost went down to the ground. He is heavy! My back started hurting after holding him for about 5 minutes.  He's more of a "sit on my lap" kinda baby. And at 1, he still has that yummy baby smell.  Now, don't go getting any crazy ideas. No, I'm not saying that I want more kids!  3 girls are good enough for me. Especially since they're not little anymore.  I don't think I have the kind of energy to start over, so I'll just be grateful for what I have.  And enjoy whatever loaner babies I'm lucky enough to get my hands on.

Stamps: Boof the Bear (Rubber Stampede), Smells Like Cake (The Cat's Pajamas), Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Spring Rain (PTI), Paper: white, kraft, Spring Rain (PTI), Accessories: Bashful Blue ribbon (SU!), Vintage Buttons (PTI), twine, Copics~

Happy Birthday Amanda

Seventeen. On the verge of being an adult, but still in that brief moment where mom (and perhaps dad?) wants to hold on for as long as you'll let her before you're officially legal.  An adult. A grown up.  Old.  This will be me in September...trying to hold on to my first baby as long as possible.  So I can only imagine what my girlfriend is going thru with her firstborn turning 17.  We've been friends since before we were 17 and that suddenly seems sooo long ago. But, luckily, we're both still young & cool enough to keep up with our teens. haha.  Ask mine & you're likely to get a smidge of a denial...and perhaps some delirious laughter.

So, the card. I am still loving my butterfly set and thought it would be good here.  A little text stamping in the background, a butterfly background stamp, a little sponging on the edges for a subtle look and then pink for some color. And it shows up more in person, but there's a little rhinestone in the middle of the butterfly for a subtle bling that I colored with my Copic to match.

Just a different angle so you can see the doubled up butterflies. I die cut 2 of my lovely winged friends, colored them in, glued one flat and placed glue dots in the bend of the one on top so it would look like it's getting ready to fly right off the card.  Now this had to be mailed, so I hope it gets there in one piece.  It had a little protective cushion in there, but if you could see the condition some of my mail is in sometimes. Sheesh!

Stamps: Background Basics: Text Style & Butterfly Dreams (PTI), Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Antique Linen Distress (Ranger), Paper: Rustic Cream & black (PTI), Accessories: Nestabilities, butterfly die (PTI) & copics: RV00, RV13, RV14 & R21

Birthday Balloons

This image is what pushed me over the edge to get this set. I saw it used in a card made by Heather Nichols, and the idea seemed so simple and obvious that I was annoyed with myself for not seeing this potential earlier.  Really? That's it? That's all there is to it? I don't know why this seemed so much more okay than buttons (which I love and now have a ton of), but it did. And of course, I've used the set with buttons already and love that, too.  I guess I just needed a push, shove and a kick in the right direction. And just in case you can't tell what makes the balloons, I stamped my beloved polky dots on some cardstock, punched out circles and then covered them up with clear dome stickers. So easy and good for mass producing...which I did not remember to do this time. Darn my addled brain!

Stamps: Everyday Button Bits (PTI), Ink: Versamark & Versafine Onyx Black, Paper: Raspberry Fizz, Plum Pudding & white (PTI), Bermuda Bay (SU!), Accessories: epoxy dome stickers, 1/2" circle punch

Butterfly Dreams

Happy March! March already? Crazy, right?  March, in my mind, is Spring.  (it's probably easier for me to think that since i live in california) So I thought I'd bring out some Spring butterflies.  I'm gonna be honest here and let you in on something.  When Nichole was doing previews of the February sets over at Papertrey, I saw butterflies and thought, well, there goes some more money that's safe.  I'm not really into butterflies.  Then I saw the whole set.  Wow.  It is truly beautiful and suddenly it became a must have. (i know, when do i not say that about their stamps?)  Anyway, I learned a very valuable lesson that day.  Don't make up your mind when you don't know everything that's involved.  Hmmm. Actually, I probably should've learned that when I was about 8 and saw what I thought (in my 8 year old mind) was a very unattractive woman and later found out it was a guy.  K, totally veered off topic there, but you see what I'm trying to say. I will no longer declare money safe until...oh, who am I kidding? No money is safe around me!

Stamps: Butterfly Dreams (PTI), Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black, Raspberry Fizz & Orange Zest (PTI), Paper: PTI white, Accessories: rhinestones, Butterfly die (PTI) & Copics - BG000, BG01, BG05, RV19, YR68

Buttons, Buttons...

I can be a little slow sometimes. I know this is not my first time telling you guys this.  This stamp set came out quite a while ago, some time last year, and I just didn't get it. I mean, I got the idea but it just seemed like way too much work to me.  You gotta stamp something and then you gotta figure out exactly where to put the buttons  & which buttons to use.  Round buttons, square buttons, flower buttons, heart buttons.  I guess it's just a challenge for indecisive people like myself. You would laugh if you could sit here & watch me try to make a decision about things like this. I try to nail down which colors to use and then I have to find just the right buttons.  This is important stuff!  Then I realized, it's supposed to be fun.  Oh, yeah.  Plus, I'm the same exact way with my Copics and I wouldn't trade those for anything!  Not to mention, I already had a pretty good button collection (that I was hoarding & not using!) thanks to Nichole.  May as well get something that will inspire me to use them...and the new buttons I added to this order to use with my new button set. Don't you love how I justify these things?

Stamps: Everyday Button Bits (PTI), Ink: Ripe Avocado, Spring Moss (PTI), Versafine Onyx Black, Paper: PTI white, Pink Pirouette (SU!), Accessories: Vintage Buttons (PTI)

Mmm Mmm Good!

Hey there! I actually got some cards made. Yay me! I made a bunch of cards, but this is the only original one I made. I needed some back-up cards for those extra busy times (ummm, that would pretty much be my every day!), so I made a bunch of different versions of my older cards.  Was pretty easy to look at pictures of cards I'd made and copy them. Such a time saver. Of course, if I would just make more than one of my cards as I'm making them, I wouldn't need to go back for a bunch of do-overs.  Although, sometimes, one is enough.  I only made one of this card because of the coloring.  And it's not like it takes tons of time to do the actual coloring, it's the decision making that goes into the coloring.  Hmmm. Brown mouse, gray mouse? Orange flowers, purple flowers?  This is what holds me up.  No, it's not the reason for the big gaps in between my posts.  That would be laziness and busy-uh, ness.  But if I wanted another copy of this card, I know I could whip one up with no problem since I've colored it once already and have a picture of the Copics I used.  Now I'm thinkin', huh?

Digi Image: Sooo Good (Phindy's Place), Paper: black & white (PTI), Accessories: corner round punch, Copics~

The Guy Card

I know, I know. How terrible of me to just leave you here with nothing new to look at for over a week! Part of it is because I just love that last card so much that I wanted it sitting on the top of my blog. I can't wait for whatever stamp set Becky has up her sleeve to come out, cuz I'm just sure it will have the same feeling as that image. Love it! The other part is I'm just plain ol' lazy. I actually made this card before my wonderful house card, I just haven't gotten around to posting it until now. I needed another dreaded "man card", so I thought I'd sorta copy the card I made Shawn for his birthday. Only I wasn't in the mood to hand trim those rectangles & try to get them the exact same shape again. Dang OCD!  Sorta close just won't do!  But then there are things that drive me crazy about this final product (I won't bore you with my anal retentiveness) that I just had to leave & deal with cuz I was on a birthday deadline (sounds like a nice, official excuse, right?).  Anyway, I'm hoping to get some actual cards made this weekend so I have something to show you on a more frequent basis. Ha!  And if I can't think of anything wonderfully witty to say to go along with the cards, I'll just throw pretty pictures up to mesmerize you and maybe you won't notice!

Stamps: Limitless Labels, Polka Dot Basics II, Faux Ribbon, Simply Stationery & Birthday Basics (PTI), Ink: Versamark & Versafine Onyx Black, Paper: white, Ocean Tides (PTI), Certainly Celery & Baja Breeze (SU!), Accessories: square punch, 0.1 black pen (Sakura), handy dandy ruler

Happy Birthday Papertrey

Hiya!  So, as you all know, I loooooves me some Papertrey. And this month is their 3rd Birthday/Anniversary, whatever you wanna call it.  There's this big celebration going on over there and normally I just sit back & watch.  I'm really not one for challenges.  I'll take a contest where all you have to do is comment, but I just say nah to the challenges.  Not sure why, I just see "challenge" and it's like, ugh, nevermind. It's probably cuz I'm lazy.  But this time...I saw this image on Becky's blog and fell in love with it.  It was my favorite image of all the stamp designers and I was so excited to use it, I ended up making a card with it.  Then I thought, I may as well throw it out there.  So out there it is. And it makes me happy - the sun, the balloon, even the yellow and ya'll know I'm not the biggest fan of yellow.

I feel like I should explain what happened here. Becky has this image on her blog. So, I printed it out and went to work. I colored and cut out the clouds, sun and balloon so I could have that 3D effect Krista loves so much. Then, after I finally nailed down colors for the house and got that colored, I had to figure out a sentiment. I didn't want to add anything separate under the image, cuz it's a pretty good size, so I thought I'd add to the image.  I just so happen to have a loooong sentiment (courtesy of Papertrey!) that I could mold to the shape of the "grass".  So I did. Ha! Take that, rubber stamps!  Sponged the sky and the grass, popped the cut outs on there and there you have it.  I feel like I accomplished so much.  Did a challenge, made a card, used yellow...yes, it has been quite the day. And I did all that with a head cold. Man, when the girl is hot, she is smokin'!  And possibly delirious from Robitussin.  Who knows?

See my lovely cut outs?  Oooh, Aaah...

Stamps: Around & About Sentiments (PTI), Image: Birthday Balloon ({Studio 64}), Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Soft Sky & Green Galore (SU!), Paper: White & Lemon Tart (PTI), Accessories: Copics~