A Little Love Monkey and a Trip to the ER...

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! It feels really good to be stamping again - I am excited to actually have something to share with you today - I've been working on some other stuff too - but well....those are some things I can't share with you until next week - you know - RELEASE week - hee hee...I'm such a tease - LOL!! I did get up though and make a card for today's SCS sketch challenge - here's today's sketch. The card I have for you today was made with a couple of Valentine Changito clear sets I found at Archiver's on Monday - they are just the CUTEST sets!! I started my stamping the heart frame and embossing it with red embossing tinsel by Ranger. I stamped and colored my Changito in the middle and then cut the whole image out. I finally got to use my Labels1 Nesties (LOVE these) and dug thru my stash for some Valentine papers - I believe these are from Hobby Lobby. I added some ribbon and heart brads too.

Oh - and did you see in my post title about a trip to the ER??? Yes - I spent 3 hours last night in an ER with my boys - keep in mind they are 6 years and 3 years old. It all started late yesterday afternoon when Calvin (my 3 year old) fessed up that Andrew (my 6 year old) had a sticker stuck in his ear!! Yikes!! How did the sticker get in his ear, you ask? Well - that story may actually never be known - their story about how they got the sticker stuck in his ear has changed about 10 times since last night - boys, huh? So anywho - I had to call the nurse help line at our pediatrician's office since it was after hours and she proceeded to tell me that we were gonna have to go to the ER because the sticker had to come out. Keep in mind this is a small sticker - about 1/4 inch big or so - I couldn't even see it with a flashlight which meant it was way down in his ear canal at this point. So about 6:00 last night - and since my husband was on a flight home from Boston - I had to pack 2 small kids into the van and head down to the local ER. Thank goodness there wasn't hardly a wait at all - we got right back and checked in with no problem - but once they started working on his ear - it took 2 doctors over an hour to get the darn sticker out!!! They tried everything - irrigation, tweezers, suction - it was quite the stubborn little sticker. Andrew was SUCH a trooper though - he was very brave and let them work on his without a single complaint. At some point - the word got out about the little boy in the ER with a sticker in his ear - we had firemen bringing my boys firehats, nurses with goodies bags - I kept telling them they weren't helping my case about NOT putting things in their ears - LOL! But they did get the sticker out - and needless to say - his ear is pretty sore from all the things they stuck in his little ear trying to get the sticker out. We were home by 9:00 last night and everyone went straight to bed - we were pooped!! Andrew is doing MUCH better this morning - the Dr. gave us some drops for his ear to use over the next couple of days. And the moral of the story?? Well - apparently - little boys will stick ANYTHING in their ears or noses - that should seriously be in a little boy instruction manual somewhere, right?? LOL!! Thanks so much for stopping by - hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's Eve and if you are heading out tonight - please be safe!!

Merry Christmas...

...from our house to yours! Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed holiday!! Here's to a VERY Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! Hope all your wildest Christmas wishes come true!!!!!!!

Faux Wood Floors and Some Exciting News...

Happy Christmas Eve!! So are you all ready for Santa to come? I think we are - we have our Christmas Eve traditions to do - baking cookies for Santa, spreading reindeer food, etc. - those sorts of things. All my presents are wrapped though - I just gotta figure out how to get my 6 year old and 3 year old to bed tonight - they are CRAZY today - LOL!!! Anywho - I got some FUN stuff to share with you today - I did my first tutorial over on the SCS MFT forum for today's What's Up Wednesday? activities - see that wood floor on my card here?? Well - I've got a tutorial up over on the MFT forum showing how to do them - you can view it here. It was a lot of fun to do - I hope you all enjoy it!! Oh - and see that cool Houndstooth paper I used on my card? I had been searching for Houndstooth paper EVERYWHERE - I love the classy look of Houndstooth and thought it would be cool to do some paper piecing with - well - it turns out that Kim has some beautiful Houndstooth Digital Papers for sale on her site - www.mftstamps.com!! And let me tell you - it's awesome! Very easy to download and print off - and it doesn't take that much printer ink at all! You don't have to worry about using up your pretty papers with it either - if you want more - all you gotta do is print more off - how cool is that!?

While I am on my MFT kick today - I've got some REALLY REALLY REALLY exciting news to share with you - as most of you know - I have been a guest designer for MFT for this past month - well - right before the December release - I had e-mailed Kim with a couple of questions about the release and she e-mails me back asking for my phone number - hee hee...I seriously thought I was in trouble - LMBO!! Later that day - I got a call from the fabulous Jody Morrow (who really got the ball rolling on my whole MFT journey) who invited me to be a permanent part of the MFT Design Team!! OMG - I was SPEECHLESS (which very rarely happens - LOL) - and once I got my voice back - I immediately said "yes"!!!! Kim called me later on to fill me in on all the deets and it was SO awesome to get to talk to too stamping rock stars in one day!! I am just beyond honored and thrilled to be joining a team of such extraordinarily talented stampers and hope to bring you guys lots more MFT eye candy to view here on my blog. Thanks to Kim for this wonderful opportunity and to Jody for the very special invite ;)!! Whew - can you tell I've been excited? Hee hee...so anywho - thanks for letting me share my news with you all - I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL holiday tomorrow and if you are travelling - please be safe - I know there are some dice-y weather situations around the country right now. Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Santa's Little Helper

Happy Friday!! I hope everyone has been having a wonderful week! I have been such a bad blogger this week - I am so sorry - would you believe that my butt has been officially kicked by the holidays? LOL!! Hee hee...totally kidding - but it has been one of those weeks - on top of fighting off a cold - we've had school parties, last minute shopping and projects, and not to mention a couple of near ice storms this week!! Don't get me wrong - I LOVE the holidays and actually do enjoy the hustle and bustle - I'm just bummed I haven't had much to share with you all this week. ;) Anywho - I did get a chance to sit down yesterday and make a card for today's Hanna Stamps challenge - today's challenge is to make a non-traditional Christmas card using either non-traditional colors or a non-Christmas set. I pulled out the recently release "Slumber Party" set and stamped by favorite little gal from the set. I turned her into Santa's Little Helper by coloring her in red and green and piecing a Santa Hat onto her. The Santa Hat is from an old Santa stamp that I have in my stash - I stamped the Santa image - cut out the hat and colored it and pieced it to my Hanna. My image was colored with Copics. The background paper is from the DCWV Christmas Glitter stack. The little hearts are brads from Hobby Lobby (Spare Parts brand). The sentiment is from a Studio G clear $1 stamp set. Thanks so much for stopping by - I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and if you are getting this icy weather that we are - PLEASE be safe out and about!!

Daydreamin' with an MFT Blog Hop!!

Welcome to the BC Dzyns Blog Hop!! If you didn't hop over to my blog from Julie's blog - then hop back over to her blog and start from there - I'll still be here waiting for you!! If you are here from the very talented Julie's blog - then here's a little peek at the new BC Dzyns "Day Dreamer" set that is being released today by My Favorite Things. Isn't she B-E-A-Utiful??!! I colored my chica in with Copics and added some Cotton Candy stickles to her tank top to make it sparkly. I drew on her necklace with a Copic mulitiliner pen and then added a pink Hero Arts gemstone for the "pendant". The flower behind her was hand-stitched using a flower In Stich'z template by Bazzill - I just use regular embrodiery floss with mine. I added some more gemstones to the center of the flower as well. The strip of designer paper is by My Mind's Eye and I added just a hint of pink ribbon to it. The sentiment is from the new BC Dzyns set as well and very fitting for our pretty daydreamer. Thanks so much for stopping by - I hope you'll pop over to the MFT forum on SCS for all the What's Up Wednesday? fun today - chatting, challenges and another fabulous tutorial! The next stop on the blog hop is the amazing Maren - enjoy the rest of the hop - there may be a chance to win an MFTreat waiting for you at the end!! ;)

Make the Season Bright

Hee hee...told ya I'd be back with more Christmas cards ;) - LOL!! Check out Riley - he's got his trailer all decked out for the holidays!! I LOVE this new Trailer Riley image - it is SO much fun!! To get the lights on Riley's trailer - I masked off the windows, doors and Riley and then stamped the lights on with a clear Studio G Christmas lights stamp. I colored the image in with Copics and then cut it out so I could add it to my forest scene. I toor a strip of white paper for the snow under the trailer and the trees in the background are from the Martha Stewart Christmas Tree punch. I embossed my white panel behind my image with the Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder and then added a strip I punched with the Martha Stewart Zig Zag edge punch to the bottom of my card. I accented my card with three buttons threaded with hemp twine. The sentiment is from an old Hero Arts clear Christmas set. Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Peppermint Cats

Happy Thursday!! I've been up and working on some Christmas cards this morning - my kiddos last week of school before winter break is next week - so I wanted to get my teacher cards finished up. I used today's MFT sketch to make this Christmas card - you can view Frances' beautiful sketch here. I used Stephanie Fizer's "Peppermint Cats" image for this card - I cut the image down with a circle nestie and then pieced the tails back on to look like they were hanging out of the circle. I drew in the lines for the fence at the bottom of the image using a mulitliner pen and then colored my entire image in with Copics. I added just a dab of Cotton Candy stickles to the stars to give them a little twinkle. The scallops at the bottom of the card were done with the Martha Stewart Lace Doily edge punch. The stars are brads by Making Memories - I accented them with some red Hero Arts gemstones. Thanks so much for stopping by - I hope to have some more Christmas cards to share with you later today!!

You Warm My Heart

I just LOVE MFT's "Baby It's Cold Outside" set!! I used it today to create this little house card for today's Paper Craft Planet 12 Days of Christmas challenge - it's Day 12 - so today's challenge is to create a card/project using 12 embellishments. I really wanted to see if I could do it and all the little details to my house really helped the challenge along for me. So my 12 embellishmentsa are - 3 Heart Buttons, 3 Pink Gemstones, 3 Pearls, 2 Pink Brads, and ribbon - hee hee...sounds like a cardmaker's "12 Days of Christmas" song, huh? LOL!! The base of my card is 4.25 in. by 3.75 in. - I added a triangle for the roof and a rectangle for the chimney. I added some liquid applique to the white of the roof and the chimney as well. I colored my image in with Copics and added some liquid applique snow to it as well. The sentiment is from the Baby It's Cold Outside set as well. Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Paper Doll Fun!!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to your week! I wanted to share a project that I did yesterday afternoon with you - I LOVE when my Colts blow out a team (sorry Bengals fans) - I can relax and do something like color a bunch of paper doll images while I watch the game instead of nervously biting my fingernails the entire game like we Colts fans have so often done this year. ;) So - while the Colts were playing the awesome football like they used to - I decided to use this opportunity to do my MFT Paper Dolls project I've been itching to do. It started with this $1 Gift Card Tin I found at Michael's - isn't it cute? I didn't do much to the front except add little Isabelle to it - the tin was already decorated with the polka dots to match and measures about 3.25 in. X 5 in. - so a nice little mini-tin for our dear little paper doll Isabelle here.

Here is a pic of the inside of the tin - I colored all my pieces with my Copics, cut them out and then covered them with a coat of UTEE - this was my first experience with UTEE and I am proud to report that this klutz has no burnt fingers - LMBO!! Once they were all coated - I attached self-adhesive magnets to the back.

Here's a pic of all the pieces in the set - because they are all backed with magnets - you can play with them alone like this - or....

You can dress little Isabelle on the front of the tin!! How cute is she!? I LOVE this new Paper Dolls set from My Favorite Things - Kim has an awesome Paper Doll bundle available over on the MFT website right now - it includes everything you need to make your own Paper Doll set - including the UTEE, magnets and tins!! Also - check out JoAnne's wonderful tutorial over on SCS - she shows you step by step how to do the Paper Doll project as well! Thanks so much for stopping by!!

On the 9th Day of Christmas...

Have you all checked out the 12 Days of Christmas challenges over on Paper Craft Planet?? Today's challenge is being sponsored by Hanna Stamps and in honor of the 9th Day of Christmas and the 9 Ladies Dancing - today's challenge is to use a girl on your card/project! The winner of today's challenge will receive a prize from Hanna Stamps!! YAY!! My sexy little gift tag is pulling a double-challenge duty - it's both for today's Paper Craft Planet challenge and yesterday's Hanna Stamps challenge which was to create a gift tag using your Hanna Stamps. Well - I loved the way both Amanda and Frances had made their Pin-Up Hannas into Santa Babies - so I had to try it too! I colored my Hanna in with Copics and then added some liquid applique for the "furry" parts of her little Santa outfit. I added a small flower brad in her hair and then accented it with a red Hero Arts gemstone. I created the tag itself with heart and oval nesties and added a ribbon loop so you can attach to a package. The sentiment is from a Studio G clear $1 stamp set. Oh - and check out my new watermark - YAY!!! Beth designs them for the team - she ROCKS - check out her blog for all your blogging needs - banners, watermarks, etc. - she's the best!!! Thanks so much for stopping by - hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Let's Stay Warm Together

Happy Friday!! So did you guys have fun with all the new releases this week? I sure did!! I want to thank everyone for stopping by this week and leaving such wonderful comments on my blog - you guys are the best and make blogging fun - so ((HUGS)) to all my blogger friends! I wanted to share a project that I did yesterday with the new Snow Bunny Flopsey set from MFT - I combined Cindy's sketch challenge with yesterday's Ways to Use envelopes challenge to make my little Flopsey set here. I started with the card - I colored in my Fopsey with my Copics and added some liquid applique to his mittens, hat and scarf as well - then I cut him out. I cut some patterned paper with my rectangle nesties for a little snow-y background for him. I punched the edge of my white panel with the Martha Stewart lace doily edge punch and then embossed it with the Cuttlebug Snow Dots folder. I layered my snowflakes - the one at the top was first done with some embrodiery floss and Bazzill In Stitch'z template and then I added a punch from the Marth Stewart Alpine snowflake punch and a snowflake brad. The pink rick rack is from Hobby Lobby. Once I had the card done - I decorated my envelope to match. I stamped the top half of Flopsey on my envelope - and then before I colored him in - since the paper of the envelope is so thin - I put a scrap piece of cardstock inside my envelope so that my Copics wouldn't bleed thru the envelope. I then cut a strip of the same patterned paper I used on my card to accent the edge of my envelope. Thanks so much for stopping by and hanging out with me this week - you all really do make blogging a blast!!

You're Invited...

...to a Release Party!! Hanna Stamps is having a release party over on SCS tonight from 9-11 PM EST - I hope you'll all pop over - it's always fun - chatting, challenges, giveaways - SO much fun!! Plus - you gotta go and have some fun for me - I won't be able to attend as my hubby's company holiday party is tonight - I am so bummed I'll have to miss the Hanna party...hmmm...I wonder if I could get one of those cool hi-tech phones so I could chat with you guys under the table at the party - LOL!! Wouldn't that be hilarious!!?? Hee hee...anywho - even though I do have to wear panty hose this evening - I was promised a steak - so I think that works out to be a pretty good deal - LMBO!! Hee hee...anywho again - I do want to leave you with a couple of sneak peeks of the new Slumber Party Hanna set - this set is SO adorable AND you get THREE gals in this set - how cool is that!? I love the jammies on the Hanna in this first set - I used her to make a criss-cross slumber party invitation - this first pic is of the card all together...

And here it is with the insert pulled out - wouldn't that be fun for a little girl's party invite?? The little popcorn and watter bottle are images from this set as well.

This next card is for yesterday's sketch challenge over on SCS - LOVE this sketch!! I had a fun time making this card - I LOVE this pose of Hanna and her slippers and shorts are to die for! I bought this beautiful My Mind's Eye stack at Hobby Lobby recently - it's called the "Just Dreamy" stack - and when I saw the beautiful and bright oranges, pinks and greens - I thought it would be awesome to use with this adorable Hanna set. I pulled out some bright polka dotted ribbons from my stash to accent the card - I just love these colors!! So don't forget - the party is tonight at 9 PM EST - Kristi is releasing 3 new Hanna sets and 2 new Rileys - and she'll have that very convenient "Buy It All" button up as well ;) - hope you all have a wonderful day and wish me luck wrestling myself into a pair of panty hose tonight - LOL!!!

December MFT BLOG HOPPIN' Fun!!

Hoppity Hop Hop!! So are you having fun so far? If you haven't hopped over here from the fabulous Julie Dinn's blog and want to go back and join in on the MFT Blog Hop fun - then hop over to Kim's blog - the blog hop starts there!! I've saved my samples that I did with the new Isabelle Paper Doll set for the blog hop - I absolutely adore this set - it's just fabulous and the possibilities are endless with it! For this first card - I dressed little Isabelle up in her Teddy Bear get-up - doesn't she look sweet? And that ADORABLE puppy sitting next to her - that's in the set too!!! I just thought he was soooooooooo cute!! I colored my images in with my Copics and then accented the image with some Heart Rain Dots. The little white heart in the corner was hand-stitched - I used Bazzill In Stich'z Flourish templates and white embrodiery floss - I had to flip the flourish over to make the heart shape. The background panel was embossed with the CB Hearts Embossing folder and the heart brads are from Hobby Lobby. The sentiment is from the MFT "Friends Furever" set.

This next card uses the Paper Doll set as well - I just changed her outfit to the mermaid - isn't she pretty? I wanted this card to have more of a "fairy tale" feel to it - so once I got her colored and cut out - I added just a hint of Stickles to her tail to give her some sparkle and I dug into my DCWV Once Upon a Time Stack for some whimsical paper. The circles behind her were cut using my Nesties and embossed with the CB Swirls folder. I threaded some gold ribbon thru the top of the card and tied it off at the top and then added some little pearls in the corner for accents. The sentiment on this card is from the "Meet Me at the Cafe" set.

Thanks so much for stopping by - to continue on the Blog Hop - hop on over to the very talented Christina's blog - she'll have more fabulous creations for you!! I hope to see you all at the MFT Release Party tonight over on SCS from 9-11 PM EST and have fun hopping - there may even be a sweet treat waiting for you at the end!! ;)

Your Wish is My Desire!

I literally squealed when I saw the "I Dream of Hanna" set - LOL!!! Isn't she just beautiful?? There's a special place in my heart for the "I Dream of Jeannie" TV show - those re-runs on Nick at Nite got me thru some late nights in college! This is another one of the new Hanna sets that will be released this Thursday night - December 4th - after the Release Party over on SCS. I colored my Hanna in with Copics - you know I am a Copic nut - so her pants were fun to color - I did some work with the colorless blender on them - trying to give them a transparent look with just a hint of color. The sentiment is from this set as well. The pink flourish on the card was stitched using a Bazzill In Stich'z template and bright pink embrodiery floss. The flowers were punched and then I put a Hero Arts gemstone in the center of each one. The patterned paper is from the My Mind's Eye Just Dreamy stack. And if you look really close - you'll notice there's a little bit of sparkle on Hanna - I added just a hint of Stickles as well. Thanks so much for stopping by and don't forget about the Hanna Stamps release party over on SCS Thursday night from 9 - 11 PM EST!!

A Bag-Lady and A Snow Bunny...

Sounds like the start of a bad joke, doesn't it? LOL!! I've got a couple more fun MFTeasers to share with you this morning - this first one is using the new "Tote-Ally Fantastic" set - I LOVE this sentiment - it just cracks me up! Now I love the main image in this set - but I wanted to try to create a storefront scene using the adorable purse images that come in this set as well. This card was A LOT of fun to make!! I used the main Who's That Girl? image that comes in the set as inspiration for the scene I created here. Just using my Copic Mulitiliner Pen and a ruler - I started with the bricks at the bottom of the store - I then added the boxes that the purses are sitting on with my pen and ruler. I finally stamped the purses on top of the boxes and added a couple of lines to the "window" to create some reflection. Once I had my scene drawn and stamped - I colored the image in with Copics. I stamped the awning from the "Meet me at the Cafe" set onto paper from the My Mind's Eye Out and About stack and popped it up with pop dots. I accented the awning with a couple of Prima flowers and tied the sentiment on with some ribbon from Hobby Lobby.

This next card used the new Snow Bunny Flopsey set - isn't he sweet?? Who wouldn't want to cuddle up with this snow bunny on a cold winter's day? We just got our first accumulated snowfall here in Indiana - so I know how little Flopsey feels - LOL!! I stamped him onto my rectangle and then drew a little snow patch underneath him - colored him in with Copics (the sky as well) and then added some snow using my white gel pen. The background paper is from the DCWV Christmas Glitter stack. I accented my card with some ribbon and snowflake brads from Hobby Lobby. The punched snowflakes are from the Martha Stewart alpine snowflake punch. Thanks so much for stopping by - I hope to see you all at the MFT Release Party tomorrow night from 9-11 PM EST over on SCS!!

Oh Baby! Isn't she hot!?

" Oh Baby!" is right - check out Pin-Up Hanna - she is the absolute BOMB!! I tell ya - everytime I think that Kristi can't top her last releases - she goes and out does herself again - her and Hanna come up with the best ideas!! I used the main image in the Pin-Up Hanna and masked her onto the pillow that comes in the set. I colored the image in with Copics. The hearts were cut with my nesties and embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. The patterned paper at the bottom of the card is from the My Mind's Eye Out and About stack. I accented the bottom panel with some heart brads. The sentiment is from the MFT "Twisted Sentiments" set - and just perfect for our sexy little Hanna here! This Pin-Up Hanna set will be released this Thursday night after the Release Party over on SCS along with 2 other adorable full size Hanna sets and 2 new Rileys. The party is from 9-11 PM EST - I hope you'll pop over - there's gonna be challenge, prizes and lots of fun chatting!!

You're Tote-ally Fantastic!

Ack!! Check her out!! Isn't she awesome!? Here is my first sneak peek of the new Who's That Girl? set being released by My Favorite Things this Wednesday night, December 3rd - it's also my first MFTeaser as a Guest Designer for the month of December! I went a little nuts with this image and my Copic multiliner pen - I had way too much fun - LOL!! I used my pen to draw the bricks on the bottom of the store building and then the lines on the sidewalk too. I colored in the entire image with my Copics. The skirt was paper pieced with paper from a new My Mind's Eye stack I bought at Hobby Lobby the other day. I used the same paper for the panel at the bottom of the card. The ribbon is Stampin' Up and the buckle is a die cut. The flowers are Petaloo and I accented them with punched branches from the Martha Stewart punch. The sentiment is from this new set as well. This is just the first of some really fun MFTeasers I have for you this week - just wait until you see the new Stephanie Fizer set!! The release kicks off midnight on December 3rd with a Blog Hop and then the release party is that night from 9-11 PM EST over on the MFT forum on SCS - hope to see you there!!

Let the Sneak Peeks Begin!!

Happy December everyone!! So did you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend? I hope so!! It was so crazy around here - between the actual Turkey Day and then 3 AM Black Friday shopping - it feels so good to be back into the swing of things again!! I've got LOTS and LOTS of fun things to share with you this week - both Hanna Stamps and My Favorite Things have SO many fun new sets that are releasing this week and I am as giddy as can be that I get to share all these fun new sets with you!! First up is a peek of the 2 new Rileys that will be released by Hanna Stamps this Thursday night, December 4th - after the release party over on SCS. I started my scene by stamping the 2 new Rileys - Van Riley and Trailer Riley - they fit perfectly together - a definite must have set!! I hand drew the road in after I stamped my Rileys and then used the cloud image from the Hanna Stamps Route 66 stamp set for the clouds in the sky. I then colored the entire scene in with my Copics. The patterned paper is from a DCWV Summer Stack that I bought at JoAnn's - I added some eyelets to the panels and then threaded some hemp twine thru them. The sentiment is from the Hanna Stamps "Things Riley Would Say" set. Be sure to check out the other Hanna Stamps Design Team's blogs - LOTS and LOTS of eye candy for you to look at!! ;) And don't forget about the release party on Thursday night from 9-11 PM EST over on the SCS Hanna Stamps forum - it's ALWAYS a blast - challenges, giveaways, and just lots of fun chatting!! Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Seriously? and a couple of Thank You's...

Happy Day Before Thanksgiving!! LOL!! Sorry I've been so quiet all week - it's been a crazy week - and now my kiddos are out of school and VERY anxious about the upcoming holiday so it's been pretty crazy around here today! I did manage to get a card done for today's sketch challenge - I wanted to try to do some stamping this morning since we didn't have anywhere to be and the sketch challenge is a good way to keep my mojo flowing, kwim? I got the new BC Dzyns set (by My Favorite Things) in the mail on Monday and have been itching to ink her up - I LOVE this chicas - I'm telling ya - they are just the MOST fun to color and great for practicing shading with skin tones on. I took the book image from the "Bookworm Hanna" set from Hanna Stamps and masked it under my gal's hand - it's like she's saying "You seriously want me to read this book when there are books like "Twilight" out there!!??" - BWA HA HA!! After I masked the book under her hand, I colored in the entire image with Copics. For the black background -I stamped school images with Moonlight White Briliance ink and the yellow panel was embossed with the Numbers Cuttlebug embossing folder. The patterned paper is from the DCWV Grade School stack. The ribbon and brads are from Hobby Lobby. I am also VERY honored to have received a couple of blog awards from my blogger friends and wanted to share and send a couple of very special "Thank You's"...

This first one is from Janna - I just LOVE Janna's work and was honored that she sent me this Kreativ Blogger award - you MUST check out her blog - it's absolutely AMAZING!!!! Thank you, Janna - you are SO sweet!!!

This next one is from my dear, dear friend Vicki - thank you, Vicki!!! Here is the translation for this award - "Translating the words on the above award from Portuguese to English: "This blog award invests and believes in proximity - (creating friendships)!" [meaning, that blogging makes us 'close' -being close through proxy]. These are the other words to be included with the award:These blogs are exceedingly charming. These bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbon of these awards are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these bloggers!" Isn't that awesome!? Vicki and I got the chance to meet at CHA this past summer and hit it off immediately - and the more we chat - the more we realize just how much we have in common - it's amazing really!! Vicki is awesome and I am SO glad to be able to call her my friend!

So in the spirit of these awards - I am giving them both to my best friend Jennifer - I am SO excited that she finally got her blog up and running - she's so talented and an amazing friend - be sure to check her blog out - she ROCKS!!!!!

Let's see - some other exciting news - you may have noticed a new little button on my blog sidebar - I am gonna be a Guest Designer for My Favorite Things for the month of December!!! YAY!!! I was SO excited and SO incredibly honored when Kim asked me to join her crew for the month of December!! It also means I've got LOTS and LOTS of exciting things to share with you next week - can you believe it's almost time for yet another release week for Hanna and MFT? Crazy, huh? Time is just flying by!! Thanks so much for stopping by - for those of you starting your Thanksgiving travels a day early - have a safe journey!! I will be back tomorrow with some Thanksgiving wishes!

Makin' a Scene

Happy Friday everyone!!!! So does everyone have their "Twilight" tix for tonight??? I do!!! My sister, my nieces and I are making it a girl's night out and going to see a 7 PM show tonight and I am SO excited!!! I do have a card to share with you today - it's for today's Hanna Stamps challenge over on SCS - today's challenge is being hosted by one of our new members - the super-talented Diana - she came up with an awesome challenge - and that is to use your Hanna Stamps to make a scene! I really took on this challenge head on - I am always so initimidated by the beautiful scene cards I see people make - don't get me wrong - they are BEAUTIFUL and AMAZING - but they look like they just took loads of time, kwim? Well - I am a bad Hanna girl because I have all these beautiful Hanna Stamps sets that have loads of accessories in them that are perfect for making scenes - but have never actually made a full blown scene with my Hannas. I have made little mini-scenes with Riley - but really wanted to go to town with one of my Hanna sets for this challenge. So I pulled out the "Get Well Hanna" set from this past release and just started stamping away and I really like how it turned out. The main image, night stand, flowers, balloon and tissue box are all images from this set. I hand drew the window behind her and the hardwood floors with a Copic Mulitiliner pen and a ruler. The entire image - even the wall was colored with Copics. Oh - except for the blanket - it was paper pieced with paper from the DCWV Nana's Kids stack. ;) I decided to add some dots with my white gel pen to the window to make it look like it was snowing outside - and if you look really closely - I even threaded a reall piece of tissue thru the Kleenex box - I am a sucker for details - hee hee...so anywho - that's my scene for today - I hope you like it - it did take a bit of time to do - but was fun to do and I love the finished product! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend - we are planning on putting our Christmas decorations up this weekend - YAY!!! And to all of those Twilght fans - I wish you sweet Edward dreams tonight - BWA HA HA!!!

An Elf and An Appletini

So who else had the "OMG - Thanksgiving is a WEEK away!" freak-out this morning?? LOL!! It actually hit me yesterday how close we were to the holidays and how I need to get my butt in gear and figure out my Christmas shopping!! After all - while I love Thanksgiving - it also means that Black Friday is just around the corner too and yes - I am one of those crazy people waiting in line at the stores at 3:30 in the morning in 20 degree weather - yup - that's me - I don't camp out though - I refuse to do that - I'll leave that to my crazy sister - hee hee...love you, Tammy!! ;) Anywho - elves and appletinis for all today I say - I love this image and sentiment from the MFT "Merry Christmas?" set. I used them for today's MFT sketch challenge - another awesome sketch by Cindy - you can view the sketch here. I colored my image in with Copics - the entire image - even the background. The patterned paper is from the DCWV Chrismas Glitter stack - it kind of has a retro feel to it and thought it works well with the martini glass. I used the Martha Stewart Embossed Diamond edge punch for the panels at the bottom of my card. The ribbon is from Hobby Lobby - not sure where the little swirl-y clip came from - I was digging thru my stash this morning for some things I hadn't used in a long time and pulled those out and then some eyelets as well. Thanks so much for stopping by - I wish you all a wonderful start to the holiday season - not sure I can help you in finding an elf - but if you need an appletini - I can definitely help you with that - LOL!!! Have a wonderful Thursday!!

Warm Penguin Wishes

I'd like to start today's post by sending my deepest sympathies to our wonderful boss lady and owner of Hanna Stamps, Kristi Ferro - I am sure most of you know by know that Kristi lost her father yesterday after he suffered a massive heart attack earlier this week. Please keep Kristi and her family in your thoughts and prayers - they have some tough days ahead of them. Kristi - we are all here for you and are thinking of you - ((HUGS))!

The card I have for you today is for today's sketch challenge over on SCS - you can view the sketch here - I started with a 5 1/1 inch square base for my card. I stamped my penguins first on 1 1/4 inch squares - they are from the Hanna Stamps "Penguin Antics" set - I created little winter scence with them - colored them in with Copics and then added snow with my white gel pen. I embossed by light blue panels with the CB Snowflakes embossing folder. The snowflake in the center of the card was stitched - I used one of the snowflake templates from the Bazzil In Stitch'z Christmas set and regular embrodiery floss. The sentiment is from the MFT Stephanie Fizer snowman set and I added a little dark blue button to accent. Thanks so much for stopping by - I hope you all have a wonderful day and will continue to keep Kristi in your thoughts.

The Return of the Disney Card Tin

Happy Tuesday!! So did everyone have a nice weekend? I hope so!! I had a busy busy weekend and I can finally show you guys what I was up to this weekend - my Disney Card Tins!! I made these last year as Christmas gifts for my sons' teachers - you can see my tins from last year on this post - I hesitated doing them again this year - I thought about doing something different - but they went over so well last year and I do love playing with my Disney carts! LOL!! I made 3 of these - one for my oldest son's first grade teacher and then 2 for my youngest son's preschool teachers - well - OK - the cards are all done - I did them this weekend - 27 total - and the one tin is done - so I have to finish the other 2 tins for the project to be officially done. ;) I thought I'd go ahead and show you the project though since this first set was all done...here are some close-ups and for you Cricut fanatics - deets and cut sizes on the cards...

This is the tin that holds the cards - the tin is the white Provocraft Lunch Tin - I buy mine at Michael's. I had this cute idea to make the tin into a pair of Mickey pants - it was really easy to do - I am glad it turned out - this idea could have really flopped - hee hee...I started by painting the top of the tin with black acrylic paint. I then covered the body of the tin is just basic red cardstock (a thinner weight). The white "buttons" on his pants are skinny ovals from the George cartridge - cut at 3 3/4 inches. I cut Mickey's signature from the Mickey and Friends cartridge - cut at 1 1/4 in. with Real Dial Size on. I finished up my tin by tying lots of 6 inch pieces of ribbon to the handle.

I am going to do the best I can with cut sizes and stuff on the cards - I tried writing them all down - but not sure I got them all - so here goes...

Piglet card - Piglet was cut at 4 1/2 in. with the Pooh & Friends cart, light pink panel was embossed with the Cuttlebug "Hearts" folder, brads are from Hobby Lobby, and the sentiment is a stamp by C.C. Designs

Dopey card - Dopey was cut at 4 inches from the "Happily Ever After" cart, patterned paper squares are by My Mind's Eye, sentiment and gemstone are by Hero Arts.

Eeyore - he was cut at 3 inches using the Pooh & Friends cart, flowers are by Petaloo, and sentiment is a $1 Studio G wood stamp.

Tigger - Tigger was cut at 4 3/4 in. and his hat was cut at 3/4 in. - both are from the Pooh and Friends cart, paper is from the DCWV Christmas Glitter Stack, diamonds were cut using George, pink panel embossed with the CB Ornaments folder, and the sentiment is from a Studio G clear $1 stamp set.

Mickey card - Mickey was cut at 4 1/4 inches from the Mickey & Friends cart, sentiment is from the Hanna Stamps "Read my T" set, oval was cut using nesties, yellow panel embossed using the Paisley CB folder and red panel embossed using the Swiss Dots folder.

Donald card - Donald was cut from the Mickey Font cart at 3 1/2 in. The start behind him is from George - cut at 3 3/4 in. and embossed using the CB "Swirls" folder. The panels behind the star were embossed with the Swiss Dots folder and the sentiment is from a Studio G clear $1 stamp set.

Pooh B-day Card - Pooh cut at 4 1/2 in. with the Pooh and Friends cart, cupcake is from Doodlecharms cut at 2 1/2 in. The "sprinkles" on the cupcake are Hero Arts Gemstones. The orange panel was embossed with the CB "Happy Birthday" folder and the sentiment is from the Stampendous "Merry Muffins" set.

Guido Card - Guido was cut using the new "Cars" cart (LOVE this cart) - he was cut at 3 3/4 in. The background was embossed with the "Traffic Jam" folder. The tools that were stamped on the aqua circle are from the Hanna Stamps "Tool Time" set, the sentiment is from an Inkadinkado clear $1 stamp set and the screw brad is from Hobby Lobby.

Belle Card - Belle was cut at 4 1/2 in. using the "Dream Comes True" cart. The blue background was embossed using the CB "Birds and Swirls" folder and the ovals were cut with nesties. The strip of patterned paper is Crate Paper and the flowers are by Petaloo.

Thanks so much for stopping by today - all these paper piecing has put me back in a stamping mood - so I'll be back with some Hanna Stamp creations tomorrow!!

Knit Happens

Because sometimes indeed - "knit" does happen - LOL!! Hee hee...isn't Knitting Riley so sweet? This is my card for the Friday Hanna Stamps challenge over on SCS - today's challenge is a sketch challenge from Janette - you can view the sketch here. I colored in my Riley to match this beautiful patterned paper that my dear friend Jennifer (who has a very cool blog now that I can link too - YAY!!) sent me - we have no idea who makes it - but it sure is pretty! :) I paper pieced Riley's chair with some of the plaid paper and then colored in the rest of him with Copics - the floor was handdrawn with my Copic multiliner pen and a ruler. The sentiment was done with Doodlebug Rub-ons - I love this saying with this Riley - but didn't have a stamp that said this - so I had to be creative. :) I added some eyelets to accent and then criss crossed some pretty purple fibers on the bottom of my card. Thanks so much for stopping by - I hope you'll all swing by the Hanna forum over on SCS and play in today's challenge!!

Going Somewhere? and a Little Love...

Happy Thursday! I've got a couple of cards to share with you today - they are for a couple of the MFT challenges over on SCS - I was just having some fun with some "Who's That Girl?" images. This first one is a little different - it's for today's sketch challenge - you can view Frances' awesome sketch here. I think my creative mind is acting a little wonky today because when I saw the sketch this morning - I thought of a suitcase - LOL!! Weird - I know - but I decided to roll with it and this is what I came up with. I started with a 5 in. X 4 in. base and built the card from there - my suitcase's handle was done using rectagle nestibilities. I chose the "Going Places" set for this card - obviously - and just used the top half of her for the card. I colored her in with Copics. The dark red background was embossed with the Cuttlebug Houndstooth embossing folder to give her a stylish suitcase :) and the 3/4 in. brown strips were embossed with the CB Mesh embossing folder to give them a bumpy "leather-y" look. I used some screw brads from Hobby Lobby to give it a more authentic look. I dug out the silver bookplate from my stash - I love these - just never know what to do with them - and I thought it would be perfect for my suitcase - I believe this bookplate comes from a set I bought at JoAnn's. I finished off my little piece of luggage with a luggage tag - it appears as though our girl is heading off to beautiful Paris - LOL! I cut a tag with my circle nesties - punched a hole and added an eyelet before I tied it to my handle. The postmark stamp is an old stamp by Stampabilities that I have.

This next card I have to share with you today is another MFT card - it was made for yesterday's What's Up Wednesday challenge - yesterday Joanne posted a wonderful tutorial on the MFT SCS forum and she gave this tip about using your Quickie Glue Pen with Embossing Powder -it's genius really! I used this little trick to give my E-Girl a red sparkly laptop - after covering it with my Quickie glue pen - I covered it in red Ranger Embossing Tinsel - let it dry - then heat embossed it - her laptop is SO sparkly! I paper pieced her skirt with some paper from the My Mind's Eye Magnolia stack and used the same paper for my heart background. I embossed my red background with the CB "Hearts" folder and added some heart brads from Hobby Lobby. Thanks so much for stopping by - hope you all have a wonderful Thursday! Oh - and don't forget to check back in tomorrow for the Friday Hanna Stamps Challenge - it's a fun one - I'll give you a hint - if you love sketches - you'll definitely want to play tomorrow - LOL!!

B is for Baby

I just LOVE this new "B is for Baby" set from Hanna Stamps - this image is SO sweet and I hadn't gotten a chance to use this one yet. I saw today's sketch challenge over on SCS and immediately thought if this image. I think it's the onesie in this image that I love the most - if I saw this onesie out and about - I would SO have to buy it for a baby gift - hee hee...I colored my image in brighter colors with my Copics - just something different. The marigold background was embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder and the little squares of paper are from a DCWV Summer Stack. I adhered little blue safety pins to my squares - I tried pinning them thru the paper - but the paper kept buckling and it just didn't look that good - not sure what I was doing wrong - so I decided to just glue dot them down instead. I believe they are from Hobby Lobby - I've had them for so long. Thanks so much for stopping by - hope you all are having a great week!!

And Now for a Something a Little Different...

Hello!! Hope everyone has had a wonderful start to their week! I am SO excited because I scrapbooked today!! I haven't done a layout in forever and it felt so awesome to get one done today! So what brought on this sudden desire to do a layout you ask? Well - I picked up a little treatsie-poo for myself yesterday - I was in Michael's and they had their Cricut cartridges on sale for pretty cheap - so I picked up the Disney "Cars" cartridge! I am so excited - I LOVE the Disney cartridges - they are a lot of work - but SO much fun!! Plus - we are big race fans here and this is our favorite Pixar movie! The picture on this layout is from this past summer - it's a pic of my hubby and my oldest son out at the Indy Motor Speedway for the Brickyard qualifications. I chose these cute little "race fan" cuts of Luigi and Guido for the page - we LOVE the movie cars and crack up at Luigi's obession with Michael Schumacher - LOL!! The characters were cut at 4 1/4 inches using Colormates cardstock. The tires are from the "Cars" cart as well - the front one was cut at 2 1/2 in. and popped up using foam squares and the back 2 were cut at 2 inches. The title was done using the Printing 101 cart and Design Studio. I did my journaling on the computer.

Here's a close-up of Luigi - he was cut at 4 1/4 inches and really not too bad to piece together at that size.

And a close up of Guido - one of my favorite character poses on the cart - I LOVE his Italian Fro!!! LOL!! He was cut at 4 1/4 inches as well.

And then I have one more "Cars" project to share with you - I cut Lightning McQueen yesterday afternoon as my "test" cut - I wanted to see how hard they were to piece together and to try to get a feel for how the sizes cut. This Lightning was cut at 3 inches - which is his height - he is actually about 5 3/4 in. long. The "Kachow" is from the cart as well - cut at 2 1/2 in. and layered. I used some old Karen Foster checkered flag paper for the top half of the background and then accented the bottom border using the Martha Stewart Checkboard punch. The "flashes" were cut using the Accent Essentials cartridge and then covered in Stickles. The stars are Making Memories star brads. Thanks so much for stopping by and indulging me with my different creations today!!

Christmas in Halloweentown

Just having some more fun with stamps that I've gotten at Papertrix in Nashville - Cindy and Wayne carry the FABULOUS Daniel Torrente Stampotique images - if you are looking for some very unique and different images - these are for you - I just adore these stamps! They remind me of characters in Tim Burton's "A Nightmare Before Christmas" - hence the title of my post - Christmas in Halloweentown. My dear friend Vicki inspired me to get my Stampotiques out this morning - she made a stunning card with one of the new Christmas images on her blog - and of course - now that I've seen her card - I'll have to have that one too - LOL!! You enabler you, Vicki!! Hee hee...for my card - I used 3 different images - from left to right - "Moth Fab", "Joy" and "Gooseneck". I colored them with my Copics in Christmas colors to make them a group of Christmas misfits - I added some stickles to the gals' dresses - hmmm...maybe their off to a Goth Christmas Ball - LOL!! I used snowflakes from the Hanna Stamps "Ski Bunny" set to stamp around my images - I stamped them in silver ink - but that's kinda hard to see. The sentiment is a Hero Arts sentiment that I got in a Christmas set from last year - it's one of my most favorite Holiday sentiments I have. The little gemstone is by Hero Arts as well. Thanks so much for stopping by - hope you all had a wonderful weekend!! GO COLTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Celebrate the Journey

I know, I know - I said I was taking the weekend off from stamping - but I couldn't help it - it's becoming a serious addiction and I think I may need help - LOL!! Hee hee...anywho - I had some extra time after dinner tonight and thought I would use it to make some samples to send down to Papertrix in Nashville. I don't think I am gonna be able to work in a class there in December :( - crazy holiday time - so I wanted to send some cards down with some new stamps I got from the store. This was one of the sets - it's the My Favorite Things "Nature Calls" set - isn't she sweet? I just LOVE her backpack!! I colored the entire image in with Copics - including the sky and the grass. The squirrell is from this set too - I colored him and then cut him out and adhered him with pop dots. The trees are from the "Nature Calls" set as well - they were stamped in SU! Old Olive ink and the trunks were colored with Copics. The sentiment is from the MFT "Going Places" set - but I thought it went well with this image. The pewter brads are by Spare Parts from Hobby Lobby and the red and orange panels were embossed with the Cuttlebug "Branches" embossing folder. Thanks so much for stopping by - hope you are all having a good weekend!!

Chocolate Moose Anyone?

Hee hee...isn't this new Riley adorable?? This is what I would like to be doing this weekend - LOL!! This is my card for the Friday Hanna Stamps challenge - you can view the challenge here - this week the super sweet and talented Tex challenged us to use chipboard on a card or project. I dug thru my stash to find these really cute Basic Grey chipboard hearts and thought they would be perfect for this sweet Riley!! I painted the heart with pink acrylic paint and then used my Crop A Dile to put an eyelet in the center of each one - I pulled out things I hadn't used in eons!!! I colored my Riley in with Copics - drew in my floorboards and then colored the background with Copics as well. The sentiment is from the "Things Riley Would Say" set - if you are a Riley love - I would HIGHLY reccommend this sentiment set - the sentiments are just pefect - especially for the Rileys released this month!! I accented my sentiment with a Hero Arts Gemstone sticker and then added some knotted ribbon to the edge of my card. Thanks so much for stopping by - I think I am gonna take a stamping break this weekend - my house sure could use a good cleaning and we've got some fun stuff planned with the kiddos too - have a SUPER weekend!!!!

My Very First Sketch!

Happy Friday!! YAY!! So was that an exciting release week or what? Thanks to everyone for stopping by my blog and checking out my sneak peeks and leaving comments - you guys are the best!! Well who doesn't like sketch challenges? I am SO addicted to sketch challenges and have always admired the ladies who come up with all the wonderful sketch files around blog-land. I am hosting one of the Release Party challenges from last night - so I decided to try my hand at a sketch. Here's the sketch and the card I made with my sketch is posted above...
I really love this LO - I use a similiar LO in my Copic class and it always goes over well - I think it's really pleasing to the eye. For those of you that like measurements with your sketches - the four panels in the background of my card are each measured at 1 7/8 in. by 2 1/2 in. I used the newly released "B is for Baby" set on my card - this new baby set is SO adorable - the images are just darling!! I cuttlebugged my background panels using the Swiss Dots embossing folder and the sentiment is from the baby set as well. I hope you'll come over to the Hanna Stamps forum and play in the release party challenges from last night - you have until Monday evening to participate - you could win one of the newly released sets!!

If you haven't been over to www.hannastamps.com to do your shopping - hop on over - Kristi has all 4 new sets availabie in a "Buy It All" option where you can save $$ for buying them all together!! Also - free shipping on orders over $35 - so not only can you get all the sets with one click but you can have them shipped for free too!! And don't forget about the 2 new adorable Rileys that were released last night! Have fun shopping!!!