Busy, Busy, Busy!

Wow, I have been keeping CRAZY busy with subbing. I have worked every day since I started!  I love keeping busy but it is also challenging trying to get in my crafting time!  I was expecting to have the whole day off today but then received a call this morning asking me to sub in the afternoon, so of course I agreed!  That only left me with two hours to get 2 cards completed and all of my housework finished for the day. Yikes!  I made it though!  One of my cards was for our Clean and Simple challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.  I was able to use this fabulous sketch at retrosketches for my card, as well as the challenge at The Paper Players:

I just noticed the other day that I was running low on male cards, so this was a great challenge to participate in!  

I got to use a few of my new goodies on this card, so that made me feel good!  The mini stapler in the Holiday Catalog is so stinkin' adorable!  This was also my first time using the star mask. LOVE it!  I don't know what I have been waiting for!  Time, I guess. :)

Thanks for stopping by. Make sure to stop by the Addicted to Stamps and More! blog to see the other ladies' lovely creations!  

Kind Koala

Wow, is this school ever going fast!  I can't believe it is almost October already. I have started substitute teaching in the schools since all three kids are now in school and I am having a great time with it!  It's nice not having to do the same thing every single day. My favorite part is that I can choose if I want to work on a particular day or not!  It's really the perfect job, in my opinion. :)

It's time for a new challenge at Addicted to CAS and it's a great one, as usual! Make sure to check out all of the fabulous creations by our design team, as well as our Guest Designer, the AMAZING Tenia! I just love her style, and I am sure you will too! Now on to the code word...

Awwww, isn't that a great word!  So many opportunities there!  I went straight for my favorite little cuddly creature stamp for my card...

Isn't he so cute?!!! I just love him. :) He is colored with my Blendabilities, as well as the rhinestones. They are Wisteria Wonder...hard to capture that on film but they look great in real life!  I have also seen where people are going around the image with gray so I gave that a try and I really like it!  Makes him really pop right off of the card.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a fantastic weekend and happy crafting! :)

The Stamp Review Crew: Truly Grateful Edition

Wow, it is already the third Monday of the month, so you know what that means?  It's time for another edition of the Stamp Review Crew!  This week we are working with one of my favorite stamp sets from last year's Holiday Catalog, Truly Grateful.  I am a sucker for fall images and colors, and couldn't wait to make a project for this challenge.  My good friend Mandy was over to work on some Project Life scrapbook pages, and she helped me out with some inspiration for my background. I love how it turned out!

That background stamp is probably my favorite stamp in the set. I just love those chevrons!  The little pearls are colored with Blendabilities. Coloring embellishments has been so much fun with the Blendabilities.  I love the pop of color it adds!  

Thanks for stopping by to visit. If you are continuing on through the hop, you won't want to miss the FABULOUS Tanya's project.  She is sure to have something creative and amazing for you to see! Or if you are working backwards, make sure you stop by the oh so TALENTED Holly's blog to see what she has for us this week!  Of course, if you are completely lost, like I tend to be most of the time lol, you can see the entire blog roll at the bottom.  See you next time!

Blog Roll:

1. Kerry Willard Bray   http://www.peoniesandpaperchains.com/2014/09/stamp-review-crew-truly-grateful-edition.html
2. Mike Funke    http://stampin-style.typepad.com/stampin-style/2014/09/stamp-review-crew-truly-grateful.html
3. Holly Krautkremer   http://rubberredneck.typepad.com/rubber-redneck/2014/09/the-stamp-review-crew-truly-grateful.html
4. Shana Gaff   http://stressfreestamping.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-stamp-review-crew-truly-grateful.html
5. Tanya Boser    http://tinkerin-in-ink.blogspot.com/2014/09/stamp-review-crew-truly-grateful-edition.html
6. Wendy Weixler  http://wickedlywonderfulcreations.blogspot.com/2014/09/stamp-review-crew-truly-grateful-edition.html
7. Yapha Mason  http://yaphamason.com/blog/2014/09/14/stamp-review-crew-truly-grateful-edition/
8. Cindy Beach   http://stampspaperandink.typepad.com/stamps_paper_and_ink/2014/09/my-entry.html 
9. Dawn Tidd   http://tiddbitsfromdawn.typepad.com/tiddbits-from-dawn/2014/09/the-stamp-review-crew-truly-grateful-edition.html 
10. Heidi Baks   http://runningwscissorsstamper.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-stamp-review-crew-truly-grateful.html
11. Debra Burgin  http://heartfeltinkspiration.com/2014/09/14/stamp-review-crew-truly-grateful

Holiday Home

It's time for another challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More and this week our challenge is Make Your Mark!  Use markers, crayons, watercolor pencils...whatever coloring medium your little heart desires. :) I have been using this opportunity to practice with my Blendabilities.  The little houses from Holiday Home are so much fun to color in!  I used this sketch from retrosketches on my card:

I like this simple sketch and it worked nicely with my row of houses that I colored in.

I had all of my houses colored in except the shingles on the roof of the blue house and I grabbed the darkest marker in the Night of Navy Blendabilities set.  I colored it in and it was so dark you couldn't even see the shingles anymore!  I grabbed the Color Lifter and ran it over the shingles to remove some of the color and you can see them now!  That's a pretty cool little tool!

Thanks for stopping by. Make sure to visit the rest of the design team at the ATSM blog. They are constantly showing me new tips and tricks, as well as BEAUTIFUL cards!

Hmmm...a stumper!

When I looked to see what our challenge at ATCAS was this week, I was truly stumped!

I have no stamps that remotely look oriental to me, so I had to go out of my comfort zone and do something that I have never done before...freehand an image!  I googled the word and found quite a few of these beautiful flowers that were easy enough for me to duplicate. lol

This was also a great chance for me to practice some more with my Blendabilities. It's hard to tell but there is even a little shading going on at the top of each branch.  The cute little flower punch complete with some pearls finished this card off really quickly! 

Thanks for stopping by. Make sure to check out the ATCAS blog to see the rest of the design team's beautiful creations! 

The Stamp Review Crew: Mosiac Madness Edition

Wow, can you believe it is September 1st already?!  This summer has flown by. The kids are in school and I am here at home all by my lonesome self. One would THINK I have all the time in the world to craft, but I have actually been busier than ever with things. I completely forgot about one of my design team challenges yesterday because of all of my planning I had been putting into my Holiday Catalog Party and Sale, and just had a few minutes to get to my Stamp Review Crew blog hop card today!  Luckily I already had the idea in my head for this week's fun geometrical set, Mosaic Madness, and it came together in only about 20 minutes!  Gotta love that when you are in a time crunch!

I thought I had some red ribbon but realized it was Melon Mambo, so I went with that instead. At the last minute I decided this would make a fabulous shaker card so I dug out my In Color sequins, a window sheet scrap and some circle Dimensionals. I love the result! The Strawberry Slush and Baked Brown Sugar ended up being a fabulous compliment to the Crumb Cake cardstock and Melon Mambo ink and ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by to visit me. Make sure to continue on through the blog hop to Deb's fabulous blog, or if you are working backwards you can click on the previous tab to see Holly's amazing project!  The complete list is at the bottom if you are completely lost, which is usually what happens to me! lol

Blog Roll

1. Kerry Willard-Bray http://www.peoniesandpaperchains.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness-edition.html
2. Nancy Smith
3. Holly Krautkremer  http://rubberredneck.typepad.com/rubber-redneck/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness.html
4. Shana Gaff    http://stressfreestamping.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-mosiac-madness.html
5. Deb Currier   http://artfeltimpressions.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness.html
6. Mike Funke *Christmas theme  http://stampin-style.typepad.com/stampin-style/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness.html 
7. Ann Schach   http://www.stampinchic.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness.html
8. Beth Beard    http://www.mylittlecraftblog.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness.html
9. Paula Wright  http://paulastamps.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness.html
10. Dawn Tidd   http://tiddbitsfromdawn.typepad.com/tiddbits-from-dawn/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness-edition.html
11. Tanya Boser  http://tinkerin-in-ink.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-mosaic-madness-edition.html

ATSM Photo Challenge!

I always love these photo challenges that Kylie puts together for us at ATSM and this one is particularly fun!

I love the black and white, the woodgrain, and the big white flower. I, as usual, was very literal with my card. lol

This card was so fast and easy to put together. I used some retired supplies, which I almost NEVER do, but they really fit for this challenge so I just had to. :) I wanted my pearl to match my Basic Gray cardstock and ink, so I colored it with my Blendabilities.  I'm not so great at coloring images YET (mostly because I haven't had time to practice! Boo!), but I can handle coloring embellishments! :)

Thanks for stopping by to see my card. Make sure to stop by the ATSM blog to see the rest of the design team's amazing work! 

The Stamp Review Crew: Daydream Medallions Edition

 It's the second Monday of the month, which means it's time for another round of The Stamp Review Crew! This set, Daydream Medallions, has been one of my favorites since it came out, and I don't use it enough!  I was glad to be forced to get it inked up. :)  I chose to do a pull-out card in an envelope because I think the big medallion makes a nice topper. Here is a look at the finished card in the decorated envelope:

 I used Soft Sky, Old Olive and Blackberry Bliss, a combination I got off of the Color Coach. Gotta love the Color Coach!  I colored the rhinestones with my Rich Razzleberry Blendabilities.  Not exactly the same color, but the different hues allow them to coordinate nicely.  Here is a look at the card once it is pulled out.

I used Dotty Angles to add some interest to the edges of the card portion.  The sentiment comes from Starburst Sayings. It fits quite nicely in the center of my medallion! I love how Daydream Medallions works with these stamps that you wouldn't necessarily match them with. It's really actually very versatile, don't you think?

Thanks for stopping by. Make sure to click on the links below to return to Kerry's blog or to continue on in the hop to Ann's blog. They have some wonderful projects to share with us as do the rest of the team, and you won't want to miss a single one!





Blog Roll:

1. Dawn Tidd   http://tiddbitsfromdawn.typepad.com/tiddbits-from-dawn/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallions-edition.html
2. Debra Burgin   http://heartfeltinkspiration.com/2014/08/17/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallions
3. Cindy Beach    http://stampspaperandink.typepad.com/stamps_paper_and_ink/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallion.html
4. Heidi Baks    http://runningwscissorsstamper.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-daydream.html
5. Mike Funke   http://stampin-style.typepad.com/stampin-style/2014/08/stamp-reviewcrew-daydream-medallions.html
6. Yapha Mason   http://yaphamason.com/blog/2014/08/17/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallions-edition/
7. Lisa Young   http://addinkandstamp.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallion.html
8. Tanya Boser  http://tinkerin-in-ink.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallions.html
9. Paula Wright   http://paulastamps.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-daydream.html
10. Kerry Willard Bray    http://www.peoniesandpaperchains.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallions-edition.html
11. Shana Gaff    http://stressfreestamping.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-daydream.html
12. Ann Schach -Christmas themed project   http://www.stampinchic.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-daydream.html
13. Betty Traciak  http://kittystamp.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallions.html
14. Beth Beard   http://www.mylittlecraftblog.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-daydream.html
15. Wendy Weixler   http://wickedlywonderfulcreations.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallions.html
16. Adriana Benitez  http://escape2stamp.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-daydream-medallions.html

Fun with Shapes

It's time for another challenge at Addicted to CAS and it is right up my alley, being a major in math and all! :) 

We have the lovely Lyndal joining us once again as Guest Designer. She has made a really cool shaped card for us to enjoy. You must check it out and I must give it a try some time!  It looks really easy and a great way to add interest to a card while still keeping it CAS. For my card, I used the CASE with a twist challenge at Time Out Challenges. I had lots of geometric shapes to choose from, but I decided to go with triangles and hexagons.

I started by sponging the rectangle with four different shades of blue and blue/green. My card was originally supposed to be a one layer white card but stupid me sponged my rectangle in the wrong spot so it would have been on the right of the card instead of the left. Duuuuhhhhh!!! I put all three triangles on one clear block and stamped the row of them first in the center, then worked my way up and down, making five rows altogether. Then I filled in the spaces with the hexagons for some more geometric interest. I love how it turned out!  I then simply finished it off by adding my sentiment and a few rhinestones. I just LOVE CAS cards and there is a lot of fun inspiration from the design team so make sure to hop on over there and check it all out!

Beauty of the Season

Wow, it's been a while since I have blogged!  This craziness of a summer is winding down, but I have a feeling things aren't going to be much better once school starts. All three kids will be in school now, so I have decided that I will substitute teach a few days a week to keep me busy.  That means even less crafting time than I already have. Waaahhh!!!

Today we have a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More...Holiday!  I don't generally make Christmas cards this early, but I earned the Beauty of the Season stamp set for free during a Stampin' Up! promotion, so I decided to give it a try. Sometime between then and now I have managed to misplace that silly stamp set, so you know what that means I have in store for me today?  Stamp studio cleaning session! And my kids thought they could sit here and enjoy their last few free days before school starts. Riiiight. :)

I decided to keep this one CAS in case I decided to make a few more for my actual Christmas cards. I generally don't do that because I have enough cards left over from challenges I participate in, but I have really slowed down with the challenges, so I am thinking I might have to reproduce a few!

I pulled out my gold embossing powder for the image and the sentiment. I looks gorgeous on the Kraft paper. So much better in real life!  I then used my Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities to color in the bird, the branch and the berries. I love how the Blendabilities allow you to color on the Kraft without really changing the color of the marker.  To finish it off I folded down the corner and added some gold glimmer paper underneath for a little extra sparkle.  Easy peasy!

Thanks for stopping by. Make sure to stop by the ATSM home page to see the other beautiful holiday creations by the design team and to play along!

The Stamp Review Crew: Flower Patch Edition

Today we have another Stamp Review Crew Convention hop for you!  Flower Patch, my first MUST HAVE set from the new catalog, was one of the sets we agreed to use for our Convention display board.  I love flowers and this one is so funky and fun and it also has a coordinating set of framelits, which is one of the reasons it is a must have in my opinion. :)

I did two projects with this set, a scrapbook page and a card.  I decided to use a black and white photo of Janae for my scrapbook page so the colors in the picture didn't fight with the colors of my page. I used some In Colors on this one, Coastal Cabana and Strawberry Slush, as well as some fun and shiny silver.

I had so much fun layering these flowers!  The outside of the big flowers is cut with the framelits, but each of the smaller layers is hand cut, so it took me quite some time to get them all cut out! Totes worth it though because after layering each of them with Dimensionals and popping an In Color sequin in the middle, they look like store-bought embellishments to me!  Don't you just love the Striped Scallop Thinlit with the flowers, too?! I think it looks like lattice!  I chose to pop in some of the leftover silver pieces. I saved all of the rest of them, hoping to find a project for them soon. :)

My next project is a CAS card. These flowers are all cut out with the coordinating framelits.  Aren't those little dots adorable?!  I love that there is a framelit to cut all those little puppies out!

The larger flowers have little circles of Crisp Cantaloupe baker's twine behind them. I just love this stuff!  It's thick enough to add a lot of extra texture, and it coordinates with our colors! And at $3.50 a roll, it's a bargain. Can't go wrong there!

Thanks for stopping by my blog.  Click on the links below to continue on to Mike's blog, or if you missed someone you can always go backwards to Beth's blog too!

Blog Roll:

1. Mike Funke    http://stampin-style.typepad.com/stampin-style/2014/08/src-flower-patch.html
2. Betty Traciak  http://kittystamp.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-flower-patch-edition.html
3. Kerry Willard Bray
4. Tanya Boser  http://tinkerin-in-ink.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-flower-patch-edition.html
5. Nancy Smith  http://iguanastamp.wordpress.com/2014/08/03/stamp-review-crew-flower-patch
6. Heidi Baks    http://runningwscissorsstamper.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-flower-patch.html
7. Dawn Tidd    http://tiddbitsfromdawn.typepad.com/tiddbits-from-dawn/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-flower-patch-edition.html 
8. Lisa Young  http://addinkandstamp.blogspot.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-flower-patch-edition.html
9. Holly Krautkremer    http://rubberredneck.typepad.com/rubber-redneck/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-flower-patch.html
10. Yapha Mason   http://yaphamason.com/blog/2014/08/03/stamp-review-crew-flower-patch-edition/
11. Debra Burgin    http://heartfeltinkspiration.com/2014/08/03/stamp-review-crew-flower-patch
12. Jill Coleman    http://www.jillstamps.com/2014/08/stamp-review-crew-flower-patch-edition.html
13. Adriana Benitez    http://escape2stamp.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-flower-patch.html
14. Beth Beard     http://www.mylittlecraftblog.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-flower-patch.html
15. Shana Gaff    http://stressfreestamping.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stamp-review-crew-flower-patch.html

Kinda Eclectic

It's time for another fun challenge at Addicted to CAS and OHHHHH did I have fun with this one! :)

We have the talented Lyndal joining us for this challenge. Make sure you stop by her blog to leave her some love. She has some great style!!!

I used this fun sketch from Freshly Made Sketches to kickstart my creativity. I knew I had to dig out some gold glimmer paper for this challenge and this sketch was perfect for some!

I have always been in love with gold. When all of my friends were getting silver engagement rings, I was THRILLED to get a gold ring. And I'm not talking white gold here! lol  I just love the shine that true gold has. It's so elegant and princess-like. :)

Oooh, just look at all that gold!  Gold Glimmer Paper, Gold Encore Ink and gold stretchy cord. Yummy! And paired with Kinda Eclectic? Really, can you ever go wrong with that set? I just love it so much!  This Be You Tiful sentiment from Flower Patch is pretty fabulous too!

Thanks for stopping by!  Make sure to check out the rest of the design team's beautiful creations. Lots of beautiful and shimmery cards this week! 

Kind Koala

It's time for a new ANYTHING GOES challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More!  I know this should be easy because you can do anything, but that's why it is so challenging for me...I have to do whatever I want!  No rules or regulations...anything!  For that reason, I just HAD to find a challenge to help me out and I found a fun challenge at retro sketches that gave me a chance to use one of my fun new stamps that has been sitting uninked, Kind Koala. I also decided to use the rainbow challenge at CASology.

Those rays are so much fun but I really struggle at getting my paper cut just right, so I opted to use one of my favorite stamps instead for the rays, Work of Art.

Eeeek!  Isn't he so cute!  I was so happy to get my gray and pink Blendabilities so I could finally ink up this little fella!  I know, he doesn't have to be gray with pink in his ears, but that is how I first imagined him. lol   And don't those Work of Art stripes make for a quick and easy rainbow of color!  I just love the options that stamp set offers! 

Thanks for stopping by. Make sure to check out the rest of the ATSM design team's wonderful creations!  

Addicted to NEW STUFF! :)

It's time for a new challenge at ATSM and it's such a fun challenge that it's not even my design team week but I wanted to make a card for the challenge anyway!  It's a photo challenge and I just LOOOOVE it. :)

I just love the colors and the flowers on this picture. I have a lot of NEW goodies from the 2014-2015 Stampin' Up! catalog that I haven't even touched yet so I thought this would be a great time to play...I mean work. hahaha

I saw a pretty cool technique SOMEWHERE out there in blog land to do my background. I sponged Elegant Eggplant ink all over a piece of Whisper White cardstock. I then spritzed this gorgeous new embossing folder, Lovely Lace, with a bit of water, turned it upsidedown on my cardstock, and pressed it down so the ink would absorb the water. It turned out pretty good for my first try!

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to drop by ATSM to see the rest of the team's lovely creations!

The Stamp Review Crew: Lovely as a Tree Edition

This past week The Stamp Review Crew had the opportunity to create a display board for Convention.  We decided to choose one older stamp set and one new stamp. The new stamp set we chose is a classic, Lovely as a Tree.  I've seen so many cards made with this stamp set that it is actually hard to think of something new to do with it!  I decided to try a technique that I have not done before.

I started by stamping my trees in Early Espresso on a Whisper White piece of cardstock. Then I took a brand new pencil eraser and used it as my stamp to color in my sky. This was a really fun technique!  I used mostly 2014-2015 In Colors, along with some Wild Wasabi in the grass.  After I had my colors dotted on I went back with a sponge to fill in the white spaces on the cardstock.  I really like the finished look!  I will definitely be trying this one again!

Thanks for stopping by. Click on the links below to continue on through the hop to Yapha's amazing project or to go back if you missed seeing Deb's creative project!

Blog Roll:

1. Mike Funke   http://stampin-style.typepad.com/stampin-style/2014/07/stamp-review-crew-lovely-as-a-tree.html
2. Ann Schach  http://www.stampinchic.com/2014/07/the-stamp-review-crew-lovely-as-tree.html
3. Holly Krautkremer  http://rubberredneck.typepad.com/rubber-redneck/2014/07/the-stamp-review-crew-lovely-as-a-tree.html
4. Beth Beard
5. Debra Burgin  http://heartfeltinkspiration.com/2014/07/20/stamp-review-crew-lovely-as-a-tree
6. Deb Currier  http://artfeltimpressions.blogspot.com/2014/07/stamp-review-crew-blog-hop-lovely-as.html
7. Shana Gaff   http://stressfreestamping.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-stamp-review-crew-lovely-as-tree.html
8. Yapha Mason  http://yaphamason.com/blog/2014/07/20/stamp-review-crew-lovely-as-a-tree-edition/
9. Nancy Smith   http://iguanastamp.wordpress.com/stamp-review-crew-lovely-as-a-tree
10. Kerry Willard-Bray  http://www.peoniesandpaperchains.com/2014/07/stamp-review-crew-lovely-as-a-tree-edition.html
11. Jill Coleman  http://www.jillstamps.com/2014/07/stamp-review-crew-lovely-as-a-tree.html
12. Lisa Young  http://addinkandstamp.blogspot.com/2014/07/stamp-review-crew-lovely-as-tree-edition.html
13. Cindy Beach
14. Heidi Baks  http://runningwscissorsstamper.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-stamp-review-crew-lovely-as-tree.html
15. Wendy Weixler
16. Tanya Boser   http://tinkerin-in-ink.blogspot.com/2014/07/stamp-review-crew-lovely-as-tree-edition.html
17. Paula Wright   http://paulastamps.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-stamp-crew-review-lovely-as-tree.html