Back to School!

It's that time of the year again!! I sent my baby boy, Andrew, off to the first grade this morning!! :( What a big change it is for him - our Kindergarten here is still a half day - so today is his first day of being at school all day. It's such a big adjustment - I hope he's having a wonderful first day!! I am very lucky to have a son who gets excited about school and really enjoys it - it sure makes days like this a smidgen easier!

Here is a card I made for Andrew - I am going to give it to him when he gets home today along with a new Webkinz pet (he is OBSESSED with these things) - just a little way to let him know how proud his mommy and daddy are of him. I used School Riley (he is also one of Andrew's favorite Rileys) and I also used stamps from the Hanna Stamps "Teacher Hanna" set to do the background. All images were colored in with Copic markers -even those in the backgroud. The strip of paper in the middle was embossed using the "Numbers" Cuttlebug embossing folder - you know - it's funny - because this is one of the embossing folders I didn't think I wanted - I bought it to do some back to school projects with and I am finding I am using it all the time! The sentiment on this card is from a Studio G clear $1 stamp set from Michael's and all circles were cut using Nestibilities. Thanks so much for stopping by - I am gonna send some ((BIG HUGS)) to all you other Mommies out there who sent your little ones back to school this week too!!

A "Wicked" Birthday!

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I've been busy busy getting things ready for the start of school this Wednesday - can you believe summer vacation is over already? Summer sure flew by!! I had to take a time out this afternoon though and make a card with the new "Totally Witchin'" set from My Favorite Things - I love all things Halloween - so I am completely in love with this set. Although - the first card I made with this set was not a Halloween card - it was a birthday card for my niece. During the MFT sneak peeks last week - a couple of gals on the design team turned the Halloween witches into witches from the musical "Wicked" - Elphaba (the "Wicked" Witch of the West) and Glinda (the Good Witch). After I saw these - I knew I must get this set and make a card for my niece - both she and I are BIG fans of the musical - I took her up in April of 2007 to see "Wicked" in Chicago - what an AMAZING show!!! Her birthday is this week - so I got the set just in time to make her a "Wicked" birthday card. I used Copic markers to color in the image and the sentiment is computer generated. The paper is from Hobby Lobby - I believe it is by "The Paper Studio". The flowers are Primas and the brads are "Spare Parts" from Hobby Lobby. Thanks so much for stopping by!!

A Challenging Friday...

OK - so my Friday hasn't been that challenging - but my cards for today sure were - LOL!! Here are a couple of cards I made for 2 different challenges over at SplitCoast Stampers - I am fast becoming addicted to challenges - they are SO much fun!!
This first card is a Riley card I made for the Hanna Stamps Friday challenge - the challenge today was a sketch challenge by Amanda (Sewell) - it's an awesome sketch - here is the link...http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=371208 - I hope you will pop on over and play with us this week!! I used Witch Riley for my card - I LOVE Halloween and realized I hadn't used my Halloween Rileys enough - so you may see a lot of cards with them over the next few days - tee hee...I colored him in with Copics and added a bit of Stickles to the stars and the moon. The paper is from the Die Cuts With a View Halloween Glitter stack and the ribbon is from Hobby Lobby. The broom, star, and moon are all buttons from my stash (thanks to my dear friend, Jennifer, who just sent me some more awesome Halloween buttons!!;)) - and the sentiment is from a Studio G clear $1 stamp set from Michael's.

This second card is for today's Limited Supplies challenge over on SCS - LSC#180 - what a fun challenge! Today's challenge was to create a "Lunch Note" - a little ATC sized card to tuck into lunches, briefcases, bags, etc. - just a little note to let someone know you are thinking of them! This was really fun and really quick to make - I am going to be making some more of these to stock up as my boys head back to school over the next couple of weeks. I used the Stampendous "School Changito" clear set from Archiver's for this little card. I stamped the "A+" and the apple in Brilliance Moonlight White ink onto black cardstock for the background from this set. I stamped the little lunchbox and the rest of the images onton white cardstock and colored them in with Copics. I cut the lunchbox out with circle nesties and used just a touch of RibbonFX from Hobby Lobby as well. The card measures 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches - here is the link to the challenge for more info...http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=371092 Thanks so much for stopping by - hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Lily & Milo...I pick you

I love Lily and Milo!! I have two of these stamps and don't use them near enough - they are just too precious!! This is my card for the weekly sketch challenge over on SplitCoast Stampers - I could seriously become addicted to sketch challenges - they are a lot of fun!! They are great for getting design ideas and to help sort of freshen things up and break the monotony if you every get stuck in a layout rut - LOL!! The card sketch can be seen here...http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=370457 - I love this sketch - it's great for those bigger stamped images. For my card - I used paper by Kaiser - this is some more of that beautiful paper I got from Papertrix. Lily & Milo were colored in with Copics and I used a drop of Stickles on those little stars around them. The sentiment is from the "Things Hanna Would Say" set and was cut out using my heart nesties. The flowers are Primas and the jewel and ribbon in the centers are from Hobby Lobby. Thanks so much for stopping by!!

For You...From Riley

Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to their week! This is a sweet little birthday card I made yesterday afternoon with Cake Riley - my oldest son has a birthday party today and he asked me to make him a special card for it because this little gal is his very best friend. :) She is such a sweet little girl and they have so much fun together - they are a lot alike! Andrew is my sensitive soul so it doesn't surprise me at all that his best friend is a little girl. Of course - they are only 6 years old - so when he told me the other day that they were in love and going to get married - I nearly fainted - I wasn't ready for that - LOL!! We decided on using a Riley for her birthday card because he is everyone's favorite little moose around here! ;) I colored in Riley with Copic Markers and added a little bit of Stickles to the layers of the cake. I used my biggest heart nestibilitie to cut the scalloped card. The paper is from the DCWV Summer Stack from JoAnn's. The flowers are Primas and the little jewels in the middle of them are by the Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Now THIS is a Gumball Machine!!

Hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend!! I spent some time this weekend getting some samples done for Papertrix - I picked up a couple of stamps while I was there last weekend teaching my class and Cindy (the owner) sent me home with some beautiful paper - so I have been having fun playing this weekend! :) I managed to get 3 samples done - I had wanted to get a few more done - but I ended up with a massive case of heartburn on Saturday night that is still bugging me this evening - ick!! It's been one of those days where I could have used a quarter to put in this gumball machine - check it out...
This is a stamp by Impression Obsession and I just fell in love with it when I saw it!! If days at the beach could be had by putting a quarter into a gumball machine - I'd be feeding that thing quarters all the time - LOL!! The image was colored in with Copic markers. The sentiment is from a clear set by Impression Obsession. The patterned paper is from the Die Cuts With a View Summer stack from JoAnn's.Here's a cute little doggie card I made with the Hanna Stamps "Large Breeds" set - don't you just want to take him home? I had a blast coloring him - he was colored in with Copic markers. The sentiment is from the "Things Hanna Would Say" set. The patterned paper is from the DCWV Pets Stack - I LOVE the paper in tihs stack!! I cut the scalloped circle card using my nestibilties. The dog bone clip is by Spare Parts from Hobby Lobby and the little paw print is a button.
And one more for the weekend - this was made with one of the My Favorite Things sets that Papertrix carries - this one is called "Going Places" - all images on the card are from this set - even the plane and the little banner. I masked the city skyline behind the gal and colored the images in with Copic markers. I used paper from a new line by Kaiser for this card - isn't is so pretty? I love the color combos in it - it's so rich! I even used some of the Kaiser paper to paper piece her dress. The polka dot button is actually a brad from Hobby Lobby.

All of the stamps that I used on these cards can be purchased at Papertrix in Nashville, IN as well as the Pets stack and the Kaiser designer paper. If you are in the area - you really must stop in! Also - Cindy can also special order stamps and is willing to ship stamps to you as well - contact information for the store is located on my side bar. Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Buttons! Buttons! Buttons!

Happy Friday everyone!! Is it REALLY August already?? This summer has just flown by - my baby starts 1st grade in just over a week - he's gonna be going to school ALL day this year - WAHHHH!! Oh my - I better stop talking about before I have another breakdown - oh - the perils of being a Mommy - LOL!! Anywho - I do have a card to share with you today - it's for the Hanna Stamps Friday challenge over on Hanna forum on Splitcoast Stampers - the challenge today is to use buttons on your card - which is a great challenge because I figured it would force me to use some of those buttons I have in my stash! Well - I had fully intended to dig thru my stash for buttons - but then I ran across these VERY cute tool buttons at Archiver's in the $1.99 bins and I thought "OMG - these are perfect for Tool Time Hanna and Beth's button challenge! I must have them!" - LOL!! The saw, pencil, and wrench are all buttons from the little set I bought - they are made by a company called Buttons Galore and what is nice about them is that they already have the little backs cut off of them so you can just stick them right down to your card! This was a BIG bonus for me because the last time I tried to cut one of those little backs off a cutesy button like this - I nearly took off my finger as well - hee hee...did I mention that I am accident prone? ;) The Hanna image is from the Tool Time Hanna set - I really love this Hanna - I think I am drawn to this set because my Dad and brothers were all painters (my Dad has his own subcontracting business) and this set reminds me of them! I colored her in with Copics and did the feathering blending techinque on her shirt - I feathered the light purple into the dark purple - I love this effect - I just need to get better control with it - LOL!! I stamped the purple background with stamps from the Tool Time Hanna set as well and the sentiment is also from this set. The circles were cut with Nestibilities. Thanks so much for stopping by - hope everyone has a great start to their August!!