My First Twilight Card

Happy Friday!! I hope everyone has had a wonderful week! It's been an eventful week here - my youngest started his last year of Preschool this week so we've definitely had some adjusting to do. I got some YUMMY stamps in the mail today - I placed an order for a couple of Twilight-inspired sets from Artful Inkables and I have been stalking the mailbox all week waiting for them to come - hee hee...the Artful Inkables sets have to be my favorite Twilight sets - the collage image that I have used on this card is just perfect!! (Oh - and BTW - thanks to my friend Laura for sending me the link to the stamps when they were released this summer - you have officially enabled me - LOL!!) I thought it would be appropriate to make a removable bookmark card with these stamps - so you can send this card to your fellow Twilight lovin' sistahs - I know exactly who I'm sending this one to and I'm hoping it'll put a smile on her face! I used Michelle's HTDT? Tutorial from back in March to create this bookmark card - here is a link to the tutorial. All images are by Artful Inkables - the diamond background, feathers, sentiments and main image. I used the Nesties Labels2 set for the main image. The red satin ribbon is from a Michael's $1 bin - it's perfect for a Twilight card!! Here's a pic of the bookmark pulled out so you can see what it looks like...
Hee hee...I love that line from "Breaking Dawn" that's on the bookmark...**sigh**...hee hee...thanks so much for stopping by - hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend!!

Cowabunga, Dude - I found some inspiration!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to their weekends!! Today was a big day for my youngest DS - he's 4 - and he had his very first soccer game this morning!! He did awesome - a little hesitant at first - but by the end of the game he had gotten some good kicks in. It's a fun age I think - they aren't into the competitiveness of it yet and they're just having fun - plus they're all just too cute to boot too!! :) I did do some stamping when we got home - participated in my very first Inspiration Challenge in SCS. I was perusing the Creative Wall Coverings site that is today's inspiration and came across this wallpaper border...
...and I knew exactly what I wanted to do!! I didn't have any images of dogs surfing - but I do have images of turtles surfing - so I went with that. The set I used is OCL's Hangin' Loose with Kona (an Eclectic Paperie exclusive set) - the sentiment is from this set as well. I've had this set forever and I need kicked in the behind for not inkin' it up yet because it's just too darn cute. I think I made up for it though by using every turtle in the set to create this scene - hee hee...the matching wall paper that goes with this border on the inspiration site was striped - so I drew inspiration from that too by adding some striped paper behind my image panel. I colored the image with Copics and sponged my sky on like I did on my card yesterday. I added a few flower brads for accents and even got to play with my new Nesties too - the inverted scallop circle set. Thanks so much for stopping by - hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Tell me if you've heard this one...

...the Wicked Witch, a turkey and Santa Claus walk into a bar....hee hee...doesn't this card remind you of one of those jokes?? LOL!! I know what you're thinking - she disappears for a month and comes back and thinks she's a comedienne! ;) I'd like to give you some exotic excuse as to where I've been - backpacking in Europe, summering in the Hamptons, etc. - but alas - it's nothing that exciting - hee hee...I had some medical problems (nothing serious) that I had to deal with in June and then took some time away from blogging and DT work to make time some more time for my family. We had a great end of summer vacation though and I sent my oldest back to school last week for his 2nd grade year!! Yikes - where does the time go?? With the kiddos heading back to school (my youngest starts his last year of Preschool next week) - I feel like I'm getting back into a stamping groove and would like to get back to regular blog posts (I'll try my best). I'm still teaching Copic classes though and will update my blog later today with upcoming dates if you're in the area and are interested. Now onto my card I have to share with you today...

It's been a long time since I've had this much fun making a card - this one just sort of came together really easily too...I've been drooling over this OCL "Holiday Cruiser" set since I discovered the new releases. I ordered it from EP as soon as it was back in stock and inked it up as soon as it got here yesterday - it's such a fun set to play with - I just love the way everything in the set interchanges - the possibilities are endless really. I did a lot of masking to create my scene - and it's sort of an ironic scene too, isn't it?? It certainly feels like the holidays fly by - one right on top of the other - Halloween stuff has been in stores for a month or so now and I saw Christmas stuff out at Hobby Lobby the other day - crazy!! Anywho - I colored the scene in with Copics - well - except the sky - it was sponged on with Versamagic Sea Breeze ink. The three panels were embossed with Cuttlebug folders - the purple with the Spiderweb folder, the orange with the Pumpkins folder and the red with the Snowflakes folder. Thanks SO much for stopping by and for those of you still following me - for not giving up on me - you guys are the best!!! ;)

I'm Feelin' Fruity!! **MFT Hop Around the Block**

Hello and welcome to the July mid-month MFT Hop Around the Block!! If you've just happened onto my blog - then hop back over to Kim's blog and start the hop from there - I'll see ya when you get back!! ;) We've got some of the cutest sets to show you along the way - I'm gonna start by sharing a card made with the UBER-CUTE "Feelin' Fruity" set - OMG - the fruits are just precious and the sentiments are so sweet - you are gonna LOVE this set!! I used the pear image from the set - I stamped one pear onto my MFT Perfect Paper panel - masked it with Eclipse masking tape - then stamped my second pear to create the "perfect pair" - LOL!! I colored them in with Copics (and BTW - if you want to see how to get that cool 2 tone effect on the fruit - check out my new HTDT? Tutorial this week here). The paper is from the MFT 6X6 Spring Collection - the buttons are from the Spring Button collection too and I don't know if you can see - I added a little stem and leaf to each one. The pink ribbon is from the yummy MFT Plaid ribbon pak.
This second card was done with the new Annie LaPoint "Harvest of Hope" set - what a beautiful image, huh?? I can see this one being VERY versatile!! The image was colored in with Copics and the new HTDT? tutorial also shows a great trick on getting shading in those small leaves and flower petals. The paper on this one is from the MFT Spring collection as well and the ribbon from the MFT plaid ribbon pak. I punched my flowers and put a small pink gemstone in the center of each of them as well.

MFT is releasing 3 sets - which will be available starting at midnight - Feelin' Fruity, Spread a Harvest of Hope (Annie LaPoint) and Bubble Bunny. Be sure to get your order in early to qualify for the "First 50" - the special "First 50" Memento Dew Drop collection continues this week with "Bamboo Leaves"!! And in honor of another Copic tutorial - this week's spotlight is on the My Favorite Copic Collection - the perfect way to either start or add-on to your Copic collection!!

Thanks SO much for stopping by - your next stop on the hop is Cindy- and I know she has some BEAUTIFUL eye candy to share with you!!!

Just Beachy! **MFT July Hop Around the Block**

Hello and welcome to this month's MFT Hop Around the Block!! If you've just happened upon my blog - then hop back over to Kim's blog and start the hop from there - I'll see you when you get back!! For today's hop - I chose to share a card I did using the new MFT "Catch Some Rays" set being released Wednesday night at 10 PM EST - I figured it was pretty appropriate considering I just got back from a week of doing just this - LOL!! OK - well - exchange the books for an Amazon Kindle and my margarita was on the rocks - but hey - it was pretty darn close to this image - hee hee...I even included a little memento from my trip on this card - but I'll show you that in a minute. ;) I started by coloring my image with Copics - I paper pieced the umbrella with paper from the MFT 6X6 Spring Paper pak (the background paper is from this pak as well). The big button is from the Spring Button Collection and that yummy yellow gingham ribbon is from the MFT Perfect Plaid Ribbons pak (this ribbon is BEAUTIFUL!!). Now for the fun part...check it out...the sand underneath my Who's That Girl is ACTUAL sand...here's a close-up...

We just got back from Myrtle Beach and like the total dork that I am - I brought back a small bag of sand for crafting purposes (scrapbook pages, keepsake bottles for the boys, etc.) - so I thought it would be fun to add a little bit of my vacation to this card. I started by putting down 2 strips of 1/4 in. redline tacky tape - I cut the ends to fit the image. Then I just sprinkled some sand onto the sticky strips - patted it down to make sure it was nice and stuck and then shook off the excess. And believe it or not - it's really stuck on there - I thought that maybe I'd have to seal it - but it seems to be OK without it.

We've got a FUN release for you this month - MFT will be releasing 4 brand new sets Wedneday night after the new release Cocktail Party over on SCS from 8-10 PM EST (remember TLC'ers get to order the releases starting at 9 PM EST). MFT is also releasing some new polka dot ribbon - a perfect choice for those summer projects!! Also - this month starts the First 50 Memento Dew Drop Collection - for the next 24 weeks, the first 50 prize will be a Memento Dew Drop and each week - we will feature a NEW color. If you place an order each Wednesday and are in the first 50 orders - you will earn the complete collection for FREE over the next 24 weeks. For this Wednesday - the first 50 will receive a FREE Memento Dew Drop in Angel Pink with their order - how cool is that!? And what a way to complete your Memento Dew Drop collection!! Hope to see everyone at the party - Paula and I will be announcing the One Click Collection winner as well - see you then!! Your next stop on the hop...the FABULOUSLY talented - Cindy - enjoy!!!

I'm ba-aack!!!

Happy Monday!! And a big hello to all my blogger friends!! I'm back!! I've missed blogging and stamping and chatting - so I'm very excited to be posting this morning! Where have I been?? I'll show you in a second - first - I wanted to share an MFTeaser of one of the new MFT sets being released this Wednesday night - it's a new set by MFTPresents illustrator Amanda Baird called "Puttin on the Glitz". Isn't she fabulous!? I love Amanda's sets - they are so whimsical and very "Vogue"!! I created a little scene with the set - drew in the flooring and colored everything in with Copics. All the silver on the scene - around the mirror and on the make-up cases - were colored in using Silver Fox Smooch Ink - these are VERY cool for accents!! This card is for the July One Click Challenge - hosted by Paula and I this month - our challenge for you is to create a card using FLOWERS and POLKA DOTS!!! The sky's the limit and I can't wait to see what you all come up with - you have until 10 PM EST Tuesday night to enter - you could win all the stamps from the July release!!! I went with a black and pink theme - my polka dots were done with circle punches and my flowers were punched as well - I added little pink gemstones to accent them.
So where have I been?? Well - we just got back from a week in beautiful Myrtle Beach, South Carolina!! Here are my 2 beach boys having fun in the water - we just had an absolute blast and I am SO itching to scrap our trip already - so you may even start seeing some LO's soon!! ;) I think I mentioned we were leaving in my last post - but I normally don't like to splash all over my blog that we were leaving our house for a week, kwim?? But I'm back now - feeling great and ready to get back to blogging!! I hope to see you all at the MFT Release Party over on SCS Wednesday night from 8-10 PM EST - and don't forget about the blog hop - it starts tomorrow at 10 PM for lots of eye candy and maybe some blog candy at the end too!! ;) See you then!!

A Little Java...

...to get you hoppin'!! Hi everyone! Sorry for the week-long absence - I did not end up having my wisdom teeth out on Tuesday - I had a bit of a medical emergency happen on Sunday and while I'm not quite ready to talk about it yet - I will tell you that I'm OK and was even able to finish up this adorable little Flopsey jar this morning. I missed the MFT new release blog hop this week :( - this was one of the projects I had planned on sharing during the hop - so since I finally finished it I thought that I'd share it with you today. I started with one of the MFT Perfect Packaging squared jars and the newly released "I Need Coffee Flopsey" set. I stamped the new Flopsey on an MFT Perfect Paper panel - colored him with Copics and then cut him out. The sentiment is from this new set as well. I tied some ribbon around the jar lid and then decorated the top as well. I used a piece of the 6X6 MFT Chocolate Kiss paper as well as a button from the Spring Collection button mix to accent the top. The kicker though are the bunny ears I added to the lid - LOL!! I just die cut a couple of skinny ovals and then folded them right at the tips to adhere them to the top of the lid. The jar is filled with - well - java of course - but not just any coffee - it's filled with Dunkin' Donuts coffee - YUM!!! What java fanatic wouldn't love this adorable jar!?

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope that after my long absences - I still have some blog readers left - LOL!! I really hated not posting this past week as we are getting ready to head out on Saturday for some week-long R & R in Myrtle Beach, SC - ahh...I'm SO looking forward to vacation!! If you're looking for some MFT goodness though - be sure to check out the other MFT design team members' blogs as well as the MFT forum on SCS - there's ALWAYS some fun going on there!! Talk to you all soon!!

Just a Little Dirty

Happy Thursday!! Thanks for all the well wishes on my little dental fiasco ;) - I think that antibiotic is starting to help and the pain in my tooth and jaw has really improved - hmm...does that mean I can forgo my procedure next week??? LOL!! Wishful thinking, huh?? Anywho - today starts a new week of challenges and chatting over at the MFT forum on SCS - Christina and Cindy have this week's My Favorite Challenge and Sketch challenges up - you can view them here. The card I have for you today is for the My Favorite Challenge - this week's challenge is to make a tri-fold card!! Cool challenge, huh?? I had fun with this one - I tried a style of card I had never done before (which in my opinion - any challenge that gets you to try new things is truly the sign of a great challenge;) ) - I chose to try a Triangle Trifold card. It's amazing what a couple of extra score lines can do for a card - you can really make a "wow" card in no time!! I chose to use the MFT "Maid For You" set (this is one of my fave WTG sets). I paper pieced the wallpaper, drew on the flooring and her fishnets and then colored the rest of the image in with Copics. It really is a sexy little card and I think what really sets it off is that flirty white bow holding the card closed - it's some beautiful white ribbon from the MFT Chocolate Kiss Ribbon Nest. Here is the inside of the card - and you can see how it folds out as well...

The frame around the sentiment is actually a sticker frame - it came in the same stack as the paper I used for this card came in (it's from an old paper stack by a company called Stemma - the Damask Scrap Pad). I did one of the larger Triangle Trifold cards - so the finished size of my card closed is a 4 in. square. Such a quick little card to do - but can you imagine your hubby's face when he finds it in his briefcase one morning??? Hee hee...thanks SO much for stopping by - I'm feeling better and things are starting to calm down around here a bit - so I'm looking forward to more stamping time over the weekend!

Ugh...update...

Hope everyone has been having a wonderful week!!! I thought I'd pop in this morning and let everyone know that I am alive - LOL!! I was out of town over the weekend (my niece and I went to Louisville, KY to see the musical "Spring Awakening" - OMG - what an AMAZING AMAZING show!!!) and then I've been battling a pretty severe toothache since late last week and really haven't felt much like stamping. :( I finally made it in to see the dentist yesterday afternoon - it was one of my wisdom teeth that was hurting and the pain had gone all the way into my jaw - yikes! The tooth that was hurting had only partially erupted and had gotten infected which was what is causing all that pain. I'm on antibiotics - but my wisdom teeth have to be removed - ICK!! I only have 3 (one never formed) and 2 of them are fully in - so I don't think it's as invasive as a procedure as actually having them cut out - but I am still not looking forward to it. I am having the procedure done next Tuesday and am hoping that the antibiotic will kick in soon and I can get some relief before then. I am gonna try to get some stamping done this afternoon and hoping to be back to posting cards on here tomorrow. In the meantime - if any of you have had your wisdom teeth out and have any words of advice - that would be wonderful - foods I should stock for next week, things to avoid, etc. Have a great Wed. and I'll be back tomorrow!!!

Something's Screwy...

So I took on quite a task with this card - LOL - I missed a very special little boy's birthday (well - I remembered it - I just didn't get a card there on time :( ) and I wanted to have something extra special to send down to him. I was in Archiver's the other day and I splurged and bought the Sizzix Bigz 3-D Three Tier Cake pop-up die - and OMG - how cool is this die!? It actually wasn't as hard to assembles as it first looked and this card was actually my first try with it. The base of my pop-up cake was done with some shimmery silver paper - I thought that would be a good base for a robot cake. In keeping with the robot theme - I stamped, colored and cut out one of the robots from the Our Craft Lounge set "The Botz Family" (LOVE this set - I do lots of boys cards - so this set is perfect for me!) for the topper of my cake - he fit perfectly at the top!! I decorated the sides of my cake with "cog" die cuts - I cut these with my Cricut (from the Accent Essentials cart). The patterned paper is from the DCWV "All About Boys" stack. Here's a pic of the outside of the card...

I kept it simple - because when the inside of your card looks like that - who needs a fancy outside?? LOL!! I used the same paper as on the inside - and the robot cake image and sentiment are from the same OCL set ("The Botz Family"). Oh - and this is a 5 1/2 in. square card - I had to make my card a bit bigger to adjust for how tall my robot was on top of my cake. One more pic - here's a close-up pic of the robot "cake"...

So what do you think??? Do you think he'll like it?? I hope so - I've got a million more ideas that I want to try with this Sizzix 3-D cake die - so you'll probably be seeing a lot more pop-up cards in the near future - LOL!! Hope everyone has had a wonderful Thursday and thanks so much for stopping by (again!)!

Guys Like You Are Rare

Happy Thursday!! Well - first of all - let me say a big CONGRATS to the 2 newest members of the MFT Sweet Sixteen - Barbara and Kathy!! YAY!! They were the 2 chosen from the Top 4 MFT Finalists to be on the team and I definitely don't envy Kim the decision - all 4 were MFT design-team worthy!! So really - congrats to all the MFT Idol finalists - they worked so hard week after week and really came up with some spectacular projects! There is still lots of fun stuff going on over in the MFT forum - check out this thread over on SCS for the new challenges and some fun chatter. The card I have to share with you today is for today's sketch challenge - Frances came up with another awesome sketch to work with!! I used the new MFT "Who's That Grillin' Guy?" set for my card - I just LOVE this image - I think it's because it makes me think of my hubby. :) This was my first chance to color him on paper (an MFT Perfect Paper Panel to be exact) and boy is he fun to embellish!! I saw Susan's "Texas" t-shirt on her grillin' guy card and I knew I had to make a guy wearing a Cubs shirt for my hubby - yes - we are Cubs fans here. The funny thing is my son is on the White Sox for his little league - trust me - the irony is not lost on us - LOL!! I added some charcoal and some flames to the grill as well - if you haven't seen Amy's charcoal trick in this week's HTDT? post - then you must go see it - especially if you've ordered this set!!;) I stamped and cut steaks out (image is included in the set) for my guy to be grillin' - I paper pieced his apron and then colored the rest in with Copics. The sentiment is from the new set as well. The patterned paper is from last year's DCWV Summer Stack (which reminds me - I have to go buy this year's - hee hee...). I added some Making Memories metal star brads to accent my card. Thanks so much for stopping by!!

A ROCKIN' MFT Blog Hop!!

Hello and welcome to another ROCKIN' MFT Blog Hop!! So have you spied those little MFT rockers "The Poppies" yet?? Aren't they just adorable!!?? If you've just happened onto my blog - then hop back over to Kim's blog and start the hop from there - I'll be waiting for you when you get back!! For my project that I am sharing with you today - I have chosen to use the new Who's That Grillin' Guy? set - this set is PERFECT for my family - my hubby grills year round - seriously - he'd stand out in freezing weather just to grill - hee hee...I wanted to use the set to make something for my youngest DS - he's 4 and wants to be just like his Daddy (of course) - so I made him a little "Grillmaster" set for him to play with!! I got the idea while perusing the kids $1 bins at Michael's recently - see - I used to teach parent/child art classes at Gymboree and this is the kind of stuff we used to have to come up with - crafts that not only kids can make - but that they can take home and play with too. I'll show you the individual pieces of the set and explain how I did each one...

Here's the apron I altered - I got the apron for a $1 - can't beat that!! And to make it match my little set I made - I stamped the Grillin' Guy onto a piece of craft fabric and then colored it in with Copics (for more about coloring on fabric - see today's HTDT? here). Once I had my grillin' guy colored - I trimmed it down and matted it onto some red fabric and then machine stitched it onto the apron. I even found a little plastic spatula to put in the pocket of the apron.

Here's the little tote bag that holds all the food in the set - it's another little $1 bin find - it's just a plain old white mini tote bag that I've stamped on. I stamped the image directly onto the tote bag using Memento ink - then once again colored the image in with Copics.

I made all the play food too - I started with sheets of the adhesive backed Fun Foam. I die cut the various shapes I needed of the foods using my nesties - the nesties cut the fun foam like a dream - I only had to run it thru once. Each food has a double layer of foam on it - so for like the hamburger - I die cut 2 circles of the same size - then peeled off the backing and stuck the 2 sitcky sides together. Also - I wanted to give the hamburgers some texture - so before I stuck the two circles together - I ran them thru my Cuttlebug in the "Mesh" embossing folder and again - the folders emboss the foam just perfectly. Also pictured here are the cheese slices (just cut the foam into squares) and the sesame seed bun - hee hee...the seeds are just some mini circles I punched from the white fun foam.

Here are our veggie fixin's for our cheeseburger - I used the scallop circle nesties to cut the lettuce - red circles with bigger seeds for tomatoes - little circles with small seeds for pickles. The yellow ovals are mini corn on the cob ears (as suggested by my kiddos - we LOVE to grill good ol' Indiana corn on the cob) - the corn was embossed with the "Bubbles" embossing folder to give it some texure. And finally - here is my little "Grillmaster" himself - enjoying the fruits (and veggies) of our labor...this is my youngest DS, Calvin...

So what all is being released this Wednesday night from MFT?? Well - we are releasing 3 brand spankin' new sets along with a couple of new goodies...the sets being released are "The Poppies" (MFT Presents), "Who's That Grillin' Guy?", and "Let's Picnic" (the new Who's That Girl?) set - the sets will be released at 10 PM EST Wednesday night (9 PM for TLC'ers) and be sure to watch out for a special one click collection price which will be good for 48 hours following the release!! Also being released is a Clear Crystal Collection and a Checkered Ribbon Bundle (perfect for our new summer images!). MFT is hosting a new release Cocktail Party on Wednesday from 8-10 PM EST over on the MFT forum at SCS - during which a couple of BIG annoucements will be made - our 2 new designers from the MFT Idol contest will be annouced as well as the winner of the June One Click Collection challege so be sure to get your entry uploaded!!

Thanks so much for stopping by - your next stop on the hop is the UBER-talented Susan - I know she's got some fabulous eye candy for you - enjoy!!!!

Not Too Cute to ROCK!!

Happy Monday!! I hope you're all having a great start to your week! Summer's in full swing here as both my kiddos are now officially done with school for the year - although I honestly think they're already a little stir crazy - YIKES!! I guess we will be spending LOTS of time at the pool this summer! I've got a fun little card to share with you today - it's a little peek at the new set being released from MFT this Wednesday from the MFT Presents line called "The Poppies" and OMG - this is one of the cutest sets EVAH!!!! These are some rockin' chickies!! I chose the drummer Poppy for my card - I stamped her on an MFT Perfect Paper Panel and colored her with Copics and put her inside one of those little plastic maze toys (I had a blast in the kids $1 bins at Michael's yesterday - you'll see more fun stuff I found during this release). I used the previously released MFT "Bling 'Bet" set for the word "rock" - I stamped it in Memento Rose Bud ink and embellished it with some little gemstones from Hobby Lobby. Not sure where the dp is from - but the stars were die cut with my Cricut.

I hope to see you at the MFT new release Cocktail Party this Wednesday night from 8-10 PM EST over in the MFT forum at SCS - and there is still time to play in the June One Click Collection challenge - one lucky winner will receive ALL the June releases!!!! Thanks so much for stopping by!!

You're Not Quite Extinct

It's me again!! LOL - who else would it be?? Hee hee...I'm a smidgen loopy this evening - it's either the heat or the sunscreen - not sure which! ;) I wanted to pop in really quick and share this cute b-day card I made with the new Hanna Stamps "Stamposaurus" set - which will be released tomorrow night. I thought it would be fun to pair this dinosaur fossil image with this Our Craft Lounge sentiment (from "The Tribe" set). I stamped the dinosaur head first - then stamped rocks from the Hanna Stamps "Route 66" around it - colored it with Copics and then dotted in some specks of dirt with a multiliner pen. I embossed the light brown panel with the Cuttlebug "Bubbles" folder - then to give it a sort of reptile skin look - I inked over the embossing with a Versamark watermark ink pad - then covered it with UTEE and heat embossed it. It feels REALLY cool in real life - gives the card LOTS of texture!! I accented my card with a few bone buttons down the side.

Hanna Stamps is hosting a release party over on the Hanna forum at SCS tomorrow night from 9-11 PM EST - I hope you'll stop by - it's always a blast - fun chatting, prizes, challenges. etc. And thanks for stopping by my blog today!!

Picnics are a Moveable Feast

Happy Sunday!! Hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend!! Ours was pretty good - although I'm nursing a fat lip this morning - yes - a big ol' fat lip - LOL!! Most of my friends and family know that I am one of the most accident prone individuals - so why my brothers would dare me to do a STOOPID trampoline trick is beyond me - LMBO!! I was at my oldest brother's house for his step-daughter's graduation party yesterday afternoon and well - when all of us get together - we seem to regress back to being adolescents - so when my big brother dared me to be the piece of "popcorn" in a trampoline game they were playing - well - I did what any other little sister would do and hopped on the trampoline and made myself into a ball. (BTW - Popcorn is a game played on a trampoline where one person makes themselves into a ball and so when the other people on the trampoline jump - the "popcorn" person pops up and down like a piece of popcorn - a safe game?? Probably not - LOL!!) I think they thought it would be funny because I was the lightest person there and boy did they have me bouncing - I lost control of my grip on my knees - my left knee came up and hit me right in the mouth - HARD - OMG - I saw stars!!! It's a wonder I still have my front teeth still intact - geesh - so I guess I was lucky I came out of the trampoline incident with only a fat lip - but boy did I look ridiculous when I woke up this morning! Geesh - one of these days I will learn not to act on a dare from my big brothers - I just thought at 32 years old - I would have already learned that lesson - LOL!!

So anywho - I do have a card to share with you today - it's for today's Featured Stamper challenge over on SCS - today's challenge features the SCS sketch queen herself - Rox - YAY!! I chose this card to case - I fell in love with it on the spot and knew exactly how I wanted to CASE it. I wanted to keep the insect theme of the card - so I pulled out the ant image and the food images from the new Who's That Girl? "Let's Picnic" set (being released this Wednesday, June 3rd) - I stamped the food images on top of the ants like they were carrying the food off and the sentiment from this new set provides a good warning for all of our summer picnics - LOL!! I kept the overall layout of Rox's card - although I did add an extra black layer to make my main panel a bit wider. I also kept the punched flowers on the card - I just changed the placement of them on my card.

Thanks so much for stopping by - don't forget to pop over and check out the June One Click challenge contest - Joanne and Christina posted it yesterday - pull out some chipboard from your stash and play along to win all of the June releases!!!

Sweet Charlotte **KETTO BLOG HOP**

Welcome to the first KETTO blog hop sponsored by Stamping Bella!! If you've just happened upon my blog - then you can CLICK HERE and start at the beginning of the blog hop at Blogabella. I inked up the oh-so-sweet "Charlotte KETTO" for my card - I colored her in with Copics and doodled some grass under her feet. I had been wanting to try one of the Flower Pot Pocket cards from the TLC215 challenge over on Splitcoast a few weeks ago - but instead of putting a bunch of flowers in my flower pot card - I opted for one big blossom with Charlotte KETTO in the center. The flower and the leaves were cut with my Cricut (using the Walk in my Garden cartridge). I used some terracotta colored Core'dinations cardstock for the pot - I used my Martha Stewart Lace Doily edge punch on the decorative edge of the pot. The sentiment is from a Studio G $1 stamp set. Here's another a pic with the insert pulled out of the flower pot pocket...

The sentiment on the inside of the card is from a Studio G $1 stamp set as well. I hope you've enjoyed this stop on the KETTO hop - CLICK HERE for your next stop on the hop and some more KETTO eye candy!! Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Hanna Sneak Peeks and Some News...

Happy Friday!! Is everyone ready for another round of Hanna Stamps releases?? I can't believe how fast the months fly by!! I've got a couple of sneaks for you today - this first one is from the new "Stamposaurus" set - and OMG - is it an awesome set! (Think "Night at the Museum" meets "Jurassic Park") I used the pterodactyl (sp?) images in the set to make this adorable little dino-scene for my card - I did do a bit of masking and added the clouds from the Hanna Stamps "Route 66" set (this month's featured Retro Set). The image was colored in with Copics and cut out with circle nesties. The patterned paper is from an old DCWV Fall stack I have in my stash and the green cardstock was embossed with the Cuttlebug "Bubbles" folder - although I think it looks more like the texture of reptile skin. ;) I added a couple pieces of ribbon onto a little bone clip to accent my card.

One more sneak for you today - this image as well as the sentiment is from the new set called "Five Little Dresses" and let me tell ya - you fashion lovers are going to go bonkers over this set!!! I love this mod girl's little swinging dress - and of course - what mod girl is complete without her white go-go boots??? Hee hee...this card is for today's Hanna Stamps challenge as well - which is a sketch challenge hosted by Frances - you can play along at the challenge here. I love this paper with this image - although I can't for the life of me tell you where it came from - I found it at the bottom of my dp stash - which means it's been there for a looooooooooong time - LOL!! Besides my Copics - the only other accessory I used on this card was the CB "Spots and Dots" folder to emboss the circle on the corner of my card.

And now for some news...this will be my last release with Hanna Stamps :( as I am stepping down from the team at the end of this month. I can't even begin to tell you what a difficult decision it was - Hanna Stamps will always be my first stamping love and I have made so many amazing friends on the team. There is no big drama involved in the decision though - I really just needed to free up some more of my time here at home - especially for my kiddos. I've been with Hanna Stamps for a little over a year now and it's just been an absolutely wonderful experience!! So I would like to take this opportunity to thank the sweet and extremely generous Kristi Ferro, our fearless (and amazing) DT leader Vicki Garrett and all the other wonderful ladies that I've had the honor to work with on the Hanna team - I will miss you all!!!

To end on a happy note - Hanna Stamps will be hosting another fabulous release party on Monday June 1st from 9-11 PM over on the Hanna forum on SCS - there'll be lots of fun challenges, prizes, and chatting as well as the release of the 2 new sets and 2 new Rileys - hope you'll stop by!!!

Celebrate Summer with an MFT VIP!!

Happy Wednesday!! It's my turn to do another Copic installment of HTDT? over on the MFT forums at SCS. In the past Copic HTDT?'s - we've gone over basic coloring and blending and coloring skin tones - for this week's tutorial - we are talking about light source and WHERE exactly to add your shading to your images - you can view my tutorial here. I thought I'd go ahead an post my sample I did for the tutorial here on my blog as well as it also serves as a bit of a teaser for the nwe Who's That Girl? set being released next Wednesday, June 3rd. The set is called "Let's Picnic" and it's just a FABULOUS summer image!! The set comes with lots of little accessories you can put on her picnic blanket - even the little ants come in the set. So do you want a chance to own this set early??? Well - it's VIP time - for TODAY ONLY - you can purchase the VIP kit from MFT - the kit includes this set as well as lots of other goodies - you can purchase this set here - but act fast - quantities are limited - last month's set sold out fast!!

Also - don't forget to vote for your fave MFT Idol - it's the big finale this week and we'll be crowning the first ever MFT Idol after this vote - you can view the voting details here. Our finalists - Kathy and Shannon - have absolutely outdone themselves - so make sure you leave these amazing ladies some love!! I wanted to say a BIG CONGRATS to all the Idol contestants over the past couple of months - the top 10, the judges - each and every week the galleries were packed full of AMAZING AMAZING entries and SO SO SO much inspiration - everyone should be extremely proud of themselves - you guys ROCK!!!

Bubbles Happen

TGIF!! Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to their Friday! With my preschooler on summer break already - I am finding that I am really enjoying these mornings where we don't have anywhere we have to be - it's been nice to start my mornings with a bit of stamping! I made a card for today's Limited Supplies challenge over on SCS. Today's challenge was to use circles on your card and to use only ONE stamp set. Well - I immediately reached for one of my Our Craft Lounge sets - I LOVE OCL sets - not only are the main images wonderful - but the sentiments are always SO clever and you get lots of fun borders and accessories. The sentiment, main image and border image at the bottom of this card are all from the OCL "Bubbles" set - the turtle is cute enough - but that sentiment - OMG - it's SO flippin' cute!! LOL!! I started by stamping my turtle and then coloring him in with Copics. I cut him out using my circle nesties in keeping with the challenge and then cut some smaller circles as well so I could make a row of bubbles with them. To make them look like bubbles - I shaded around the edges of my circles with a BG10 (Cool Shadow) Copic marker and edged them with a BG13 (Mint Green) Copic. To really give them a faded out look - I went around the edges where the BG10 meets the white with my Colorless Blender. The border image was colored with Copics as well. I embossed the light purple background with more circles - using the Cuttlebug "Spots and Dots" embossing folder. The sentiment is accented with a Hero Arts gemstone. Thanks so much for stopping by!! I know a lot of my friends in the States are having a nice long holiday weekend and if you are planning on travelling this weekend - I wish you safe travels!! Have a wonderful weekend!!

Eight ladies bathing...

Hee hee...sounds like a line from a naughty version of "Twelve Days of Christmas" - LMBO!! I made this card for today's Ways to Use It challenge - you can view the challenge here. Today's challenge were ways to stamp an image over and over again and this is what I came up with. I used part of the main label image from the new MFT "Time for the Bubbly" label set for my images in the circles. When I first saw the label - I kept thinking about how cute the little miniature Who's That Girl? image was in the corner - so I decided to just stamp that part of the label onto small circles (of MFT Perfect Paper panels) for this card. (And BTW - how cute would some Who's That Girl? mini images or maybe even inchies be??? **hint, hint Kim** LOL!!!) Anywho - I colored my images in with Copics and even drew a mini hardwood floor on all of them - hee hee...the DP is 1 1/4 in. squares of the 6X6 Chocolate Kiss paper by MFT and the sentiment is from the new label set as well. I finished off the card by accenting the circle with the sentimet with some pink gemstones. This was such a fun card to make and I hope I've given you yet another idea on what you can do with the new label sets by MFT - thanks so much for stopping by!!

What's in Your Jar? **MFT Hop Around the Block"

Hello and welcome to a special edition of the MFT Hop Around the Block - this month we are gonna change the way you gift!! If you haven't come here from Cindy's blog - then hop back over to Kim's blog and start the blog hop from there - I'll see you when you get back!! ;) So how are we changing the way you gift?? Well - MFT is releasing 2 new label stamp sets that are awesome for creating one of a kind handmade gifts!! One is a Teacher set (which I have used in my project) and there is also a Time for the Bubbly label set being released as well. MFT is also releasing some REALLY cool jars that can be used the new label sets - the labels were made to fit perfectly onto these jars!! So what did I fill my jar with?? I made a candy jar for my DS's teachers - but with a twist - the candy inside has been incorporated into a special message for my son's teacher - here is what the inside of the card says...

Dear Mrs. Henderson,
I can’t believe it’s the end of another school year already! I remember how nervous Andrew was about starting first grade – he thought he was going to have (MOUNDS) of homework and was nervous that his new teacher might think he was an (AIRHEAD). When he found out he had you for a teacher – he thought his eyes were playing (TWIX) on him – he was very excited to be getting a fabulous teacher like you!! And it turns out you were a (LIFESAVER) as Andrew has turned into quite the Honor (ROLO) student! I had (STARBURST) in my eyes while reading his progress reports!

So, as our thanks to you, we are going to go to Mr. Land and ask him to give you a big bonus of (100 GRAND) for being such a great teacher! Have an (EXTRA) fun summer and here are a few (HUGS & KISSES) for you to enjoy (NOW AND LATER)!

Love,
Andrew and Candice Lighty

So all of the candy that is in bold in the message I put in the card is included in the jar - how fun, huh?? We had such a fun time picking out all the candy we could include in the note! Here's a close-up of the jar - notice how I put a strip of DP inside the jar - it's a 2 inch wide strip of the new Stephanie Fizer School digi papers that are being released with the label sets as well - I just LOVE how everything works together!! The new digi papers are AWESOME!!! The chalk board is from the new school label set - I stamped my chalkboard on black paper and then embossed it with silver EP - my sentiment on the chalkboard was stamped and embossed with white EP. The books and the ruler images are from the set as well - I colored them with Copics and then cut them out and adhered them to the chalkboard label.
This was such a fun gift to put together and very thrift-y gift-y as well!! We went thru a lot of the candy we had at home to find candy that would work in our message - and with a pak of the jars, paper and label sets being released by MFT - think of all the teacher gifts you could put together quickly as we are fast approaching the end of the year!! I hope you've enjoyed this stop on the hop - you're next stop is the very talented Natalie - I know she has something amazing to share with you!! Enjoy!!

Don't forget to vote for your favorite MFT Idol HERE!!!!

Sunday with my Copics

Happy Tuesday!! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!! I thought I'd pop in today and share the cards we made over the weekend in my Copic classes. I taught 2 Beginner Copic classes at Papertrix on Sunday and had a wonderful time!! I want to say a BIG thank you to everyone who came and took the class - I hope you all went away with a bit more knowledge about Copics and had a great time as well! ;) I got to meet some fellow SCS'ers too - so that made these classes all that more special. We made 3 cards again in each class - this first card features "Get Well Riley" from Hanna Stamps. Besides Copic knowledge - I try to incorporate some fun ideas into the cards for the class as well - so since I had bought a bunch of those little plastic mazes in bulk - I decided to share with my students and make this fun get well card. The paper on this one is from the DCWV Grade School stack.

This next one we did features one of the KETTO's by Stamping Bella - yes - Cindy carries the KETTO's in her store - how fun is that!? I'm telling ya - if you live close to Nashville, IN - RUN over there and get yours today - they are flying out of the store!! ;) This one is "Ginger Ketto" - I paired her with some paper from the DCWV Far East stack and a Hero Arts sentiment (Arigato means "thank you" in Japanese). We accented the card with some donut Schmintz from Stamping Bella - Cindy has started carrying these in the store as well and they are so much fun - the little Hero Arts gemstones fit perfectly in the middle of these! I think everyone had fun using the Ketto images as well.

The last one we did was a little circle card - this card features one of the new Shirley's 2 Girls sets that Papertrix is now carrying - this image and sentiment is from the "What's New?" set. (And BTW - I am totally in LOVE with them - I have an Airedale Terrier and this dog looks EXACTLY like my Bailey!!). We used paper from the DCWV Pets stack and a little bone clip with some ribbon tied to it. These Shirley's 2 Girls images are fun to teach Copics with because of the little backgrounds they have incorporated on them - it's a great image to really talk about shading and adding those background shadows to make our dog pop out of the background.

So I hope my gals (and guy) on Sunday enjoyed the class and were pleased with what they went home with - I think I'm getting better at creating card designs that are feasible for all levels of cardmakers and that we can get colored and assembled within the class time we have. And as long as they leave knowing better how to use their markers - well - that makes my day because that means I'm doing something right - LOL!! Thanks so much for stopping by!!

A One Layer Challenge!

Happy Friday!! So this week it's my turn to host the Friday Hanna Stamps challenge and have I got a doozy of a challenge for you guys - hee hee...this week I challenged everyone to make a ONE LAYER CARD using their Hanna or Riley stamps!! *gasp* I know - a ONE layer card!? Yikes - you know I love my layers - so this was an actual challenge for me - not only that - but my Copics are pretty much glued to my right arm - but for this card - since it was only one layer I had to use my Prisma pencils/Gamsol to color my image (I'm not very good with them so be kind - LOL!). I did use my Copic airbrush and air compressor to do the coloring on the background wall - when you use the airbrush - it puts on such a fine mist of color that it doesn't bleed thru the back. I used the doctor and eye chart stamp from the Hanna Stamps "Hospital" set to create my scene in the center of my card - I drew in the boards on the wall with a ruler and my Copic multiliner pen. I did the Cuttlebug embossing around my image with the CB Spots and Dots embossing folder - I used the technique seen here on the Cuttlebug Spot blog for this card. I finished off my one layer card by accented it with some knotted ribbon. I hope you'll pop over to the Hanna forum and play with me today!! You can view today's challenge here. I SO admire those who can put together amazing one layer cards and can't wait to see what you'll come up with!! Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Thanks for Being my Teacher!

Happy Tuesday!! Can you belive it's getting to the end of the school year already?? My youngest son's last day of Preschool is tomorrow and then he's officially on summer vacation - so I needed a couple of cute and quick Thank You cards for him to take into his teachers tomorrow. We are really blessed that we have found such a great little Preschool for our kiddos - it takes really amazing and patient women to teach preschool and every year I am more and more impressed with the teachers there - they are some really special people in our lives! Calvin and I hung out in my scrap room and designed these fun cards for his teachers - he even helped me pick out the colors for the crayons! ;) I started by stamping my Changitos from the Archiver's exclusive "School for Changitos" set and coloring them in with Copics. The sentiment is from this set as well. I made the background of my card by cutting 3 crayons using my Cricut - for my fellow Cricut lovers - they are from the "My Community" cart cut at 5 inches. Such a simple card - but bright and fun - perfect for a preschool teacher!! Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day!! I hope you all are having a wonderful day - whether you are the mother of little ones, big ones, fur babies and to all the grandmothers out there - I wish you all very special Mother's Day!! I don't have anything craft-y to share today - so I thought I'd share the 2 most wonderful blessings a mother could ask for - my Andrew and my Calvin - I lost my own mother 8 years ago and I honestly didn't think I'd ever enjoy Mother's Day again - these 2 sure make this day special again for me. For Mother's Day - my hubby took the boys over to Portrait Innovations and had their pictures taken (he even bought them adorable new outfits!!) - and then he gave me a HUGE packages of prints and the photo CD of their session as a gift for Mother's Day - the best present ever!! I picked some of my faves off the CD and thought I would share them with you all in honor of Mother's Day - enjoy!! Here's a cute one - my husband said the photographer was just awesome with them - she made them laugh the whole time...

Ahhh...gotta love these tender moments - makes me forget all the fights I've been breaking up recently - LOL!!
This one was Andrew's favorite - he's got the best laugh!!

Here are my baseball boys - Joel took them over before their opening day ceremonies at the baseball fields so he had some taken in their jerseys and hats - LOVE this one - these are their "game faces" - hee hee...

My baseball boys again...

And I thought this one was just adorable!!

Thanks so much for stopping by - I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Mother's Day and are doing something for YOU today - whether it's an afternoon nap, a day off from cooking or maybe a nice looooooooong bubble bath - HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Treat Yourself!! **MFT May Hop Around the Block**

Welcome to a relaxing MFT "Hop Around the Block"!! If you've just happened onto my blog - you may want to go back and start the hop at Kim's blog - I'll be waiting for you when you get back!! ;) Oh la la - wouldn't you LOVE to be hangin' at the day spa with our Who's That Girl?? For this first card - I've used the new "Girls Day In" set along with some of the new GORGEOUS 6X6 Chocolate Kiss paper that is being released as well (I paper pieced the robes with it). I really wanted to showcase the set with this card - there are so many adorable images in this set - each of my panels on the card show one of the images. The pink panels are 2 1/2 in. squares and the MFT Perfect Paper panel squares for my images are 2 1/4 in. squares. For the WTG? images - I had to just stamp part of the full image on my squares and for the other squares - I had to do a bit of masking with the bottles. All images were colored in with Copics - and the white puffy parts on the robe were accented with white Liquid Applique. The sentiment is from the new "Girls Day In" set as well.

And before you go - I've got a card to share with you using the new "Birthday Flopsey" set - he's pretty much just irresistable, isn't he?? LOL!! I stamped my Flopsey on an MFT Perfect Paper panel and let his ear hang off the edge so I didn't cover up too much of my birthday cake background. I colored in Flopsey with Copics. My b-day cake background was just pieced together with various rectangles - I did emboss the "candles" with the Cuttlebug Swirls embossing folder. I used buttons for the candle "flames" (since Kim is releasing some YUMMY Spring and Summer Cup o'Button collections - I thought it would be neat to show some fun uses for buttons ;) ) The striped paper on the bottom of my cake background is from the 6X6 Chocolate Kiss paper line (have I mentioned how GORGEOUS this paper is??) The sentiment is from the new Flopsey set as well.

These 2 new sets - along with "Owls and Bluebelles" and "Snuggle Bunnies" will be released after the MFT Cocktail Party (8-11 PM EST Wednesday night over on SCS). During this release - MFT is also introducing the Chocolate Kiss 6X6 paper, ribbon and crystal adornments - new Spring and Summer Cup O' Buttons and Smooch Paint (I've tried this stuff and it rocks!!). So there is LOTS of new stuff for you to check out!! K - hope you've enjoyed this stop on the hop - it's time to hop on over to Michele's blog - I know she's got some YUMMY eye candy to share with you!!