Some Sweet Stuff

Stamps, Paper, Ink...and...Beads??

Let me explain. I LOVE to stamp (who doesn't...right? LOL) Truth is...I love doing many crafty things. Beading was something I started when I was real young. I remember my dad taking me to some really cool bead shops. Can you believe I still have some of those beads from way back then! Like over 30 years ago! WOW! OK....I think I just freaked myself out on that one! ha ha. Didn't realize it was soooo long ago...and how OLD I am getting. aacckk!! I'M A GRANDMA!! (that "G"word really hurts ya know!)

Last week I was over there on Splitcoaststampers doing what we all do best over there -- chatting, creating, sharing and having fun. There were several of us on a forum anxiously waiting for a GinaK party to start. I mentioned that I went to a big sale at a bead store earlier that day. Well...sweet little miss Linsey (aka scrapperLinsey) noticed my beading comment and sent me a cute beading-related bookmark. :) Not only did she send the bookmark (very humorous - fitting for me) but an AWESOME card too! HOW SWEET IS THAT!!

Thanks Linsey! You made my day =)

Check out Linsey's blog Outside The Lines and her SCS Gallery. She has awesome creations.

Bella Bella Bella Dancerella

Bella TV Pop Star!

So what am I talking about?? LOL!! Whenever I stamp with my Bella stamps I think of my daughter's DVD Bella Dancerella Dance Party. I get the song from the DVD stuck in my head! Ok...on to the card...

How about some stamping Bella to Cheer ya up?



This card really does Cheer Me Up! I made this for a Bella Sketch Challenge on Splitcoaststampers. Michaela likes Bella stamps...but not as much as I thought she would. She said it's because they don't have hands! LOL Of course this Bella you don't see her hands...so I'm thinking Michaela will be ok with this one :)

I love the sparkly glitter sprinkled on the pom poms, flower and "!" on sentiment. Gotta have that sparkly stuff! If you click on the closeup pic, you can see I put Spica Clear Glitter Pen on her hair ribbons, eyelashes, shoes and a little here & there on her outfit. The main image and sentiment are attached with Dimensionals.

Recipe:
Stamps -Stamping Bella Pompomabella, you cheer me up.
Inks - Ranger Adirondack - Pitch Black; CTMH - Hollyhock; Copic Marker - Skin White; Prismacolor Markers - Aquamarine, Magenta, Light Tan, Deco Pink, Warm Grey 20%
Paper - SU Designer Paper, Whisper White & Taken with Teal CS.
Misc. - Art Glitter - Angel Dust; 2-Way Glue Pen; Robins Nest Dew Drops; SU Ticket Corner punch; Crystal Effects (to attach Dew Drops); Copic Spica Glitter Pen - Clear; Dimensionals.

Want to see other cards done for this challenge? Click here

Having Fun 70's Style

A Muse VMAA Party
VMAA is the Virtual Meeting of the A Muse Addicts

All about the 70's was the main theme used for the A Muse Addicts VMAA Party Saturday night. There were 4 main challenges and 1 bonus challenge - each with a different theme. We had 30 minutes to complete each one.

Talk about FAST!! WOW! But...if you know A Muse -- they are about clean and simple so that made it easier when coming up with a creation. This was pretty darn fun! Lucky for me that Michaela had a clear set from A Muse - so I had several stamps to play with.

Challenge #1 - Let It Be
No frills card - just stamps, ink & paper

Recipe: A Muse Elzybells Stamps; SU Whisper White Cardstock; Fiskars Heidi Grace Designs Patterned Paper - A Little Birds Tale; Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black; Copic and Prismacolor Markers; SU Scallop punch; Dimensionals.

Challenge #2 - Disco Ball
Glitter it up with good 'ol fashion glitter! (no Stickles, Spica or fancy new glitter stuff)

Recipe: A Muse Clear stamps set Animal Wishes; Green and Brown Bazzill Textured Cardstock; Adornit Carolee's Creations Family Collection patterned paper - Family Fun Trees; Lasting Impressions paper - Citrus Dots; Ranger Adirondack Pitch Plack; Copic Marker Skin White; Stampendous Melon Fine Pearl Glitter; Art Glitter Black ; Grossgrain Ribbon; Orange Brads; Marvy Uchida Scalloped Punch; SU Large Oval Punch; 2-way glue pen; Dimensionals.

Challenge #3 - Do the Hustle
Card Layout

Recipe: Cardbase is 5x5; Stamps A Muse Animal Wishes; SU Whisper White cardstock; Fiskars Heidi Grace Designs patterned paper - A Little Birds Tale; Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black; Copic Markers; Micron Black Pen; SU Scallop and Circle Punches; White Grossgrain Ribbon; Dimensionals.

Challenge #4 - Saturday Night Fever
Black and White only - like John Travolta's black and white suit!

Recipe: Stamps A Muse Animal Wishes; SU Whisper White and Black Cardstock; Reminisce Black & White Basic Dot pattern paper; Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black ink; Marvy Uchida Scalloped punch; SU Corner Rounder; Black Paper Flower; White Grossgrain Ribbon; Dimensionals.

Bonus Challenge #5 - Happy Days
Our interperation of the word Weekend

Recipe: Stamps A Muse Animal Wishes & Elzybells; SU Whisper White; American Crafts Patterned Paper - Baby Miss Muffet; Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black and Espresso ink; Prismacolor and Copic Markers; Marvy Uchida Scalloped Punches;Dimensionals; Dress is paper pieced from the pink dots paper.

Cards also posted on my Splitcoaststampers Gallery.

The Other 2

Cards for Challenge 2 & 3

Here are 2 more cards I made for the Gina K Designs Release Party.



Card Challenge 2 was a layout. The Wild Wasabi layer I scored around the edges with Scor-Pal then distressed. Large flower stamp is from SU Time Well Spent stamped with Taken with Teal Classic. Then I used a VersaMark Marker to fill in some of the areas - sprinkled with embossing glitter and heat set. Punched out and did hand paper piercing. Attached to card with dimensional. Sentiment stamped from Gina K set Tag, you're It! set with SU Taken with Teal classic ink. Punched out and paper pierced by hand. Attached to flower layer with Dimensional.

Recipe:
Stamps: GinaK Tag, You're It!; SU Time Well Spent
Paper: SU Cardstock - Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, SU Double Sided Designer Paper
Ink: SU Taken With Teal Classic; VersaMark Marker
Misc: Marvy Uchida Scalloped Punch; SU Large Oval Punch; Robins Nest Dew Drops, SU Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder; SU Mini Glue Dots & Dimensionals; Grossgrain Ribbon; Edge Distressing tool; Paper Piercing Tool, Scor-Pal



Challenge 3 was to use Very Vanilla, So Saffron and Old Olive. This card base is 3 x 3. The stamps are again from Gina K Tag, you're It! Friend and the frame stamped with SU Basic Black. Hearts stamped with Versamark and embossed with SU Iridescent Ice EP. Hand doodling around edges. Top layer attached with Dimensional. Very quick and easy!

Recipe:
Stamps: GinaK Designs Tag, you're It!
Paper: SU Very Vanilla, Old Olive, So Saffron
Ink: SU Basic Black Classic; Versamark; Black Micron Pen
Misc: SU Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder; SU Dimensional; Grossgrain Ribbon; SU Mini Glue Dot

Card for challenge 1 click here

Tag, You're It!

It's a Stamp Set Silly!

You thought it was another post about being tagged huh! ha! Got Ya!! Today was a good day here in sunny Gilbert, Arizona! I got to play! :) Ok, I'm gonna keep this post short & sweet. I made this card for a Gina K Release Party that was Sunday evening on the Gina K Forum at Splitcoastampers. The stamp set I used is from Gina K Designs. It's called "Tag, you're it!" It's the set I received for free when my name was drawn at a previous release party. Pretty amazing what a few little stamps can do. I think it turned out pretty darn cute. What ya think?

Click the pic to see the sparkle close-up :)

To see the details of this challenge click here.
To see other cards made for this challenge click here.

Recipe:
Basics - Cardbase 5" x 5"
Paper - SU Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise & Double-Sided Designer Paper
Ink - Black StazOn; SU Tempting Turquoise (sponged around the edges), SU Pretty In Pink Craft Ink; Versamark.
Misc. - Bazzill Paper Flower; S.E.I. Brad; Black Copic Spica Glitter Pen for Faux Stitching; SU Iridescent Ice Embossing Glitter; SU Dimensionals
Tools - SU Paper Piercing Guide

I'm on top of this one!

Tagged and I Know Who Did It! :)

If you read my post below.....my title for this post will make sense! I opened a message from Judy over at Joy in a Jar saying she had tagged me. So I'm like....NO WAY am I gonna come back to do this later...I'll certainly forget again! LOL I was tagged 2 times before. You can read them (or not - ha!) here and here.

This is the list Random/Wierd Things about yourself game - and here are mine:
1) Keri tagged Judy - then Judy tagged me - and both Keri & Judy say they crochet - and guess what.....so do I :) My great gradma taught me. I've actually been crocheting LOTS lately!
2) Everytime I hear the song My Jesus, My Saviour by Michael W. Smith I cry. I try to sing along...but I get so choked up it just doesn't work.
3) When I was like 9 years old, I had the end of my finger cut off! Gross!!
4) I LOVE animals. All kinds except bugs. We usually have a rat, but at the moment we don't. May Goldie rest in peace. I love those little creatures. I hold them, pet them, let them sniff my nose, let them crawl all over me. (so how many of you are creeped out by that! LOL) Right now we have a dog, a bird, fish, and a cat has us. It's a neighborhood cat that loves our house. See Kitty here and Dog here and here and Rat & Bird in the post here.
5) When I sit and cross my legs, I like double-cross them!! Like twist my foot behind and back around the other side.
6) I have pierced ears - 1 hole on 1 ear and 3 holes on the other.
7) Back on the craft stuff - I have tons of unfinished cross-stitch projects and tons more patterns and kits I've never started! Good thing that cross-stitch thread can be used for paper crafting because I have 2 thread boxes full!
I'm not sure how many we are supposed to list...so I'm stopping at lucky number 7 :)

I don't mean to be a game-party-pooper, but I seriously have some stuff I gotta get done and I'm spending way too much time having computer fun. As you can see from my last several posts....I have no stamping/crafting creations on there. Hope you all understand :) That being said, I'm re-listing the people that Joy posted so you can go visit them and leave some nice comments on their blogs. Of course I will leave my name off the list! LOL. I recently ran across Judy's blog from a forum at Splitcoaststampers. Not only does Judy have amazing cards and crafts, but she has recipes AND pictures that are to die for! Just looking at the pics will pack on the pounds! ha ha. So go check Judy out and the other bloggers she listed. Have fun everyone!

Judy tagged these:
Julia
Riley
Silvia

Thank You to Who?

I'm All Mixed Up!!

Ok....I just did the Arte Y Pico thing and I don't know if I gave the right bloggers recognition for giving it to me. I'm REALLY embarrassed!! I guess that's what happens when I let my e-mail messages sit in my mailbox longer than 24 hours. I swear I read them right away...and then think..."ok...I can't get to that right this moment...so I'll come back and take care of it" Sooooo.....I don't know what happened, but I'm thinking I messed up somewhere and I want to apologize for missing anyone who Tagged Me, Awarded Me, Recognized Me, etc. Please PM me if I missed you. I'm really really sorry.

Looking back through my comments I found 1 that I missed. Well...I didn't actually "miss" it...I "forgot" it. (ok...I'm hiding under my desk right now in shame!)

THANK YOU to Jean over at It's in the Cards! for the You Cheer Me Up Award. I used to LOVE watching I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show. (Right at this moment I feel as messed up as she always acted!!!) Jean has amazing talent and I love her stuff. You need to go check out her blog to see:)

Now...since I'm so messed up with these award thingies (like that word!) I'm just gonna give out a big shout to everyone....so here goes....I'm shouting really loud so you all can hear me.....

YOU ARE ALL GREAT!!

Recipe for Arte Y Pico

How to Make Arte Y Pico

Ingredients:
1 pad of ink
1 rubber stamp (clear stamp may be used as substitute)
1 piece of paper

Directions:
Place piece of paper on solid surface. Take rubber stamp and dab it on the ink pad - making sure it is coated well. Press the stamp - ink side down - on piece of paper - but don't let go of the stamp. Lift the stamp straight up off the paper and set aside. When ink has completely dried, decorate as desired. Take picture of finished product and post it on your favorite website. This recipe serves 1,000's!

Now doesn't that just sound yummy! LOL I honestly don't know who I come up with stuff like this...it just "happens" :) Actually, it's because 2 awesome stampers. Pam over at Made By Me and Karen from Karen Kreations gave me the Arte Y Pico Award. Check out their blog's to see how some of their recipes turned out. Thanks ladies! What an honor!!

This award is given to bloggers who share their art and creativity making their contribution to the blogging world. Here are the rules:

1. Choose 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language. 2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone. 3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and the link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself. 4. Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

Now it's my turn to award this to 5 bloggers.

Misty at Li'l Buck's Creations

Nancy at Paper Smiles

Rachel at Get Carded by Rachel

Renee at Renee's Rubber Stampin' Ramblings

Sara at Desperate Stamper

Check 'em out! These are just 5 out of 100's that I visit regularly. With so many crafters out there in the blogger world, I never run out of ideas. I can always find an answer to a question. Isn't it amazing how one Arte Y Pico recipe can be made over and over...and each person who follows that recipe comes up with something completely amazing! Now start cookin'!!

Blog Candy Winners!

And the WINNERS for my first Blog Candy are............

Nancy Riley - iStamp
Renee Ondrajka - Renee's Rubber Stampin' Ramblings
Lorie Ames - Live-Love-Laugh-Create

Thanks to everyone for stopping by my blog and leaving all your comments! Oh...and also for the comments left on my SCS gallery pics. If you've never stopped by the winners blogs before, make sure and visit them. What wonderful talent! You ALL have wonderful talent!! I've learned so much and ALWAYS look forward to seeing what you have to share. Not just crafts...but family, friends, happy stuff, sad stuff, silly stuff...everything! I've listed this on my blog before...but I want to share it again.

Stampin'UP!'s Statement of the Heart

To love what we do
and share what we love,
as we help others
enjoy creativity
and worthwhile
accomplishments...
in this we make a difference!

Congrats to the winners. Have an awesome weekend everyone!

Say Cheese!

Funny Little Emalie

Yesterday morning I babysat my little grandaughter Emalie. Words can't describe how funny this little cutie is. She opens her eyes HUGE! It's the funniest thing ever!! So yesterday she was being so cute smiling and ALMOST laughing so I ran and grabbed my camera for the Kodak moment! Well....of course as soon as I snapped the first picture....here came those BIG EYES! ha ha ha ha ha We laugh so much when she does this! Ok...so I'm taking pictures and then I got "THE ONE!" I just stood there laughing and laughing. TOO FUNNY. I took several pictures...but these are the cream of the crop right here:


Now that there's funny...I don't care who ya are!

Don't forget to enter my blog candy on the post below :)

TFL and Blog Candy

TFL
Do you know what that means? That's short for Thanks For Looking. We see it all over the place on blogs & forums. So why am I bringing this up? Well, I noticed my hit counter is now over... 20,000! That means someone is LOOKING! Sooooooo TFL!

Blog Candy
Another fun thing I see on blogs is something called Blog Candy. I don't know who thought this up or when it started, but I know everyone likes it! :) When someone has Blog Candy, they are usually celebrating something. I'm thinkin I need to celebrate that you all have come to my blog.

I started my blog a little less than a year ago. Some of you might not realize that not only am I a demonstrator with StampinUP, but I'm also a demonstrator for Gold Canyon. Gold Canyon candles started here in Arizona a little over 10 years ago. Their candles and other products are awesome! If you want to read more about this company and their products click here. You can also check out my Gold Canyon Home Page for info as well here.

I've decided to share Gold Canyon products for my 1st Blog Candy!
Here's what is up for grabs:
1 Fresh Orange Auto Freshener
1 Macintosh Apple Book Mark
I will also be sending a little stamping related surprise as well :)


Here's how to enter:
To be entered into the drawing for this Blog Candy please submit a comment to this post and tell me how you found my blog and if you have visited more than once before. I will accept comments until 10pm GMT (Arizona time) Friday April 18th. There will be 3 winners for my drawing!! The items come in packs of 3 so I'm dividing them out to have more winners! Winners will be posted Saturday morning April 19th. U.S. Shipping Addresses only please.

Thanks to ALL of you who read my blog, subscribe, and leave me nice comments. It really does make my day :) Not to mention Michaela too! She LOVES to read the blog as well. This has been, and continues to be, a fun and inspiring adventure for me!

added 4/16/08 --- Just a little updated info. Here are a couple other blogs that have Blog Candy - and some awesome creations to check out:
Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust
Inkling of Love
Li'l Buck's Creations
Stamp a Little Love Baby!
Sunflower Studios
The Voices in My Head...Lim's Blog
Now hurry on over to these blogs and enter ! Don't forget to check out what they have been creating and leave some nice comments too :)

More More More!

Splitcoaststampers Challenge and More!

What can I say...I just HAD to whip out a couple more cards today. Wanna see them? Sure you do! LOL

The first one is done for Sketch Challenge 171 on Splitcoaststampers. See the details for the challenge here. This Elzybells Stamp fit perfect in the tilted oval. The flower gems on the bottom are from CTMH. They are actually green - click on the picture to get a closer look.

I love how the ribbon matched the paper! To use up this piece of paper I decided to make a few more cards. Used my Janome Sew Mini machine too! :)

The next 2 are made with a new stamp from Denami Design. Both cards are stamped using Black StazOn Ink and colored in with Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol. The first card has fine glitter accents put on with a glue pen. The 2nd card has a more chunky glitter.

1st card is 5 1/2" x 4 1/4".

2nd card is 4 1/8" x 3 1/4"

Supplies - Stamps - Elzybells; SU Fancy Flexible Phrases; Denami Designs. Papers - Bazzill White Textured Cardstock for Card Base; SU Green Galore, Chocolate Chip and Whispser White. Inks - Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black and StazOn Black; SU Markers Pretty In Pink, Green Galore; Copic Marker Skin White and Cool Grey no.1; Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol. Misc - Glue Pen; Glitter; Ribbon is from Michaels; SU Brads; CTMH Rhinstone Flowers; SU Dimensionals; Tacky Tape. Punches - Marvy Uchida Ovals; SU Horizontal Slot and 1/4" Circle.

I'm sure I forgot something.

Sweet Birthday Treats

Something Old & Something New

The old is the background stamp called Crosshatch. It's retired from StampinUP. The new is a stamp from Stampendous called Tiers of Treats. It's new to me, but it actually came out in 2006. I LOVE this stamp! Sweet Birthday Treat is new this year from Studio G - Hampton Art. It's one of those $1 clear stamp mini sets.



I stamped the background with Versamark and embossed with Iridescent Ice powder. Main image is layered on Dimensionals. I also took strips of the brown SC and scored a line on them. They are also attached with Dimensionals to give it a little window kind of look. I used scalloped edge scissors to make the scallopes on the top piece.



Recipe:
Stamps - SU Crosshatch Background; Stampendous Tiers of Treats; Studio G Clear Stamps
Cardstock - SU Cranberry Crisp, Glorious Green, Whisper White; Bazzill Brown Textured
Ink - Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black; Versamark Ink; SU Markers; Prismacolor Markers
Misc - 2 Way Glue Pen; SU Dazzling Diamonds; SU Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder; Dimensionals; Grossgrain Ribbon
Tools - SU Paper Piercing Mat; Paper Piercer; Scalloped Edge Scissors; Scor-Pal

Big Blooms

Check out this HUGE rose from one of my rose bushes.



I'm not all into taking a picture of myself...but I wanted to show how big this flower is in relation to my head!

And another big bloom...my son RJ turned 18 on Monday!

Don't I look so young next to him! ha ha ha Ok...just don't zoom in :)

Just Monkeying Around...

...with my new Stampendous Changito Stamp.

There are several series of stamps that I love from Stampendous...like Fluffles, Max the Mouse and Bee Happy. When they released their new Spring 2008 stamps and I saw the Changito B-day stamp I just "HAD" to have it! LOL You all know what I mean...those gotta have moments :)



Recipe:
Stamps - Stampendous Changito B-day and Palm Fronds; SU All Year Cheer II (retired); Stamping Bella (part of a sentiment stamp that I used "to you" from)
Cardstock - SU Naturals Ivory; Glorious Green; Only Orange; Basic Black; Kraft
Inks - Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black Ink; SU Glorious Green Classic Ink and Marker, Prismacolor Markers; Micron for hand doodling
Misc - Colored Staples from CTMH; SU Orange Ribbon; Twine; Glue Pen; Glitter; Brown and White Fun Flock; Eyelets; Dimensionals; Sticky Strip
Punches - SU Oval Punches
For the monkeys on the front I stamped once on Kraft CS and then once on Ivory CS. Cut out the little mouth part and pieced it on top of main image. Stamped again on Only Orange and pieced the Happy B-day section. Stamped the monkey again on Ivory and cut out for the inside. Both layers are attached with dimensionals.

Stampin Good Time!

Challenge Crazy

Sunday was FUUUN. I got to craft for several hours. :) I was looking at some of the challenges on Splitcoaststampers and found one that got my creativity flowing. It was a Limited Supplies Challenge - LSC162. The challenge was to use only white and one other color that is NOT a neutral. See details here . Be sure to click on my pictures if you want to see them in larger detail.

I LOVE this bunny stamp from Whipper Snapper.

Recipe: Base is a 4 x 4 Gate Fold. Stamps used are Stampin'UP! Linen Background Stamp, Anna's Potted Bunny from Whipper Snapper, Some Bunny Loves You! from Great Impressions. SU Whisper White and Blue Bayou Cardstock. Blue Bayou Classic Ink to stamp background, sentiment and bunny and sponge edges. Aqua Painter and Blue Bayou ink to color image. Clear Copic Spica Glitter Pen on the bunny and the flower centers for some sparkle. SU Corner Rounder Punch, Paper piercing and faux stitching. Flowers punched with Boho Blossoms Punch. White Centers punched with Crop-a-dile and glued on. BTW...I think something is wrong with my Boho Blossoms punch....it is WAY hard to punch out cardstock and looks like it actually like rips on some of the edges. Anyone else have this problem? I'm thinking I might have to call DS and get this one replaced.

This next card I used a stamp set that I bought from my up-line. She had a garage sale to get rid of old retired SU items. Unlike me...she only keeps current products. Works for me cause I got some good deals. The set is called Garden Collage.

Recipe: 4 x 4 Gate Fold Card - My VERY first using my Scor-Pal :) VERY COOL tool!!! Main image stamped with StampinUP Blue Bayou. Sponged the edge with Blue Bayou. The 2 torn layers are attached with Dimensionals. Cardbase is stamped with SU Linen Background Stamp. White brads and spiral clip from CTMH.

For the next card I used the 2 other stamps in the Garden Collage set.

Recipe: Images stamped on Glossy White Cardstock with Classic Apricot Appeal Ink. Distressed the edged and Layered on Dimensionals. I used my Scor-Pal to score all the vertical lines on the card base. Apricot Appeal Cardstock for flowers and then hand doodled lines on them with Apricot Appeal Marker. Punches used on card are SU Ticket Corner, SU Spiral Punch and EK Success Flower Punch.

This last card was not for any challenge. I just made it for fun.
Recipe: 4x4 Card Base. I cut the cardbase about 1/2" longer and then scored and folded over the edge. Used SU Corner Rounder Punch to scallop edge. Sponged Brown on edges and on top of scalloped strip. The main image is from the Garden Collage set stamped on Glossy White CS with Basic Brown Classic Ink. Background stamp is from Inkadinkado stamped with Basic Brown. I used Cinnamon Stickles all over the background image and on the little flower. It really sparkles. SU River Rock Designer Series Paper and Brown Bazzill Textured Cardstock for layers. Marvy Uchida Scalloped Square and SU Ticket Corner punches. Wonderful Friend stamp is out of the SU set Boho Backgrounds. I used SU Chocolate Chip Marker direct on stamp to ink up just those words and a Stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up - another one of those "gotta have" tools! Flower stamped on River Rock Cardstock from SU Set One of a Kind with Basic Brown ink and punched out with Boho Blossoms Punch. Aged Copper Eyelets and Brad.

Some Fun in the Kitchen
For breakfast Michaela found this "recipe" in a Children Highlights Magazine. We didn't have bacon or banana...but we still got it done :) Michaela ate it all up!

That's it for now. Hope I didn't bore you all to death!

Ink Storage

Angie Noe Storage Solutions - from Sixxle.com

I love my new ink storage unit! I wanted one with only the ink and marker slots but didn't see one pictured on the website. I decided to e-mail the company and ask. They forwarded my inquiry to Angie. She e-mail me back and was happy to make what I wanted. How cool is that!! Angie makes these herself in her basement. She started out as a Stampin'Up! demonstrator and couldn't figure out a way to stay organized, so she made a unit for herself. Then someone else saw it and wanted one, and it just took off from there.





I also have the ink storage unit with the extension from Stampin'UP! My Classic pads - as well as some Craft pads - are in that sorted by Color Families.



The little shelves on the wall unit slide out so you could make the slots bigger (taller) if you needed. Another thing I love about this is that the ink pads stick out from the end of the shelf so they are very easy to grab.



I do have more ink pads that I keep in a drawer under my workspace. Stuff that is too big or to small - like all my Craft Stampin' Spots. If my wall space was bigger I would have got the BIG wall unit! That would have been a dream come true :)

I'm Seeing Spots

Bella Birthday Spots!

I made a couple cards last night. I had already stamped and colord these Bellas a few days back but just finally got around to putting them on a card. The sentiment is also from Stamping Bella.

This one I did for Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge - SC170. Go on over there and check out all the great cards everyone has done. Maybe you will want to make one too :)


Recipe: I used Groovy Guava Designer Paper, Certainly Celery and Whisper White Cardstock from Stampin'UP!; Bazzill Bling Purple Cardstock. Stamping done with Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black. Colored with Prismacolor markers and Copic Marker for her skin. 2-way Glue Pen and Dazzling Diamonds to add lots of sparkle. Tacky Tape down the middle of the present and then more Glitter. Cutting her out was a challenge...I don't know if I'll do that again. I attached her flat on the purple strip, but had to put teeny tiny little strips of foam dimension under her feet and legs to keep them up. The purple layer is upon Dimensionals. The Brads are from Bazzill. The layer with the flower from Bazzill is flat. Stampin'UP! silver cording wrapped around the button and the layer. I also used 2-way glue pen and Dazzling Diamonds on the dots of that layer.

This next card I think turned out really cute! When I found this dotted paper I knew it would work perfect with this Bella. The paper is from Paper Salon by Karen Neuburger - hip-hip-horray: mini dots collection. It's a nice thick double-sided paper...more like cardstock. The back side is the very pale moss green color that I used to layer under Bella.


Recipe: Cardbase is Stampin'UP! Whisper White Cardstock. Purple is Bazzill Bling Cardstock and Patterned paper is from Paper Salon. Stamping done with Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black. Colored with Prismacolor markers and Copic marker for her skin. I embossed Happy Birthday with Clear Ultrafine Matte powder from B & J's Art Stamps. Robins Nest Dew Drops attached with Crystal Effects. Main purple layer is up on Dimensionals.

It's beautiful outside

Gilbert Arizona - High in the Mid 80's!

Thought I would share a couple pics I snapped out in my yard. I love this time of year. Flowers blooming all over the place!

I absolutely love hibiscus! They are one of my favorites. Really tropical looking and so many varieties and colors. I have a hibiscus stamp on order from the Penny Black 2008 Collection.I can't wait to get it! My rose bushes have buds all over them. In the next week or two I'm sure I will be able to cut a vase full :)

Fruit is growing on the trees. These are apricots. We also have peaches and oranges.

And of course birds are singing AND BUGS BUZZING!! YIKES! Check out the HUGE BEE that flew in my front door as I was taking a picture.

I heard this LOUD buzz and ran in the door only to have this monster follow me in!! I waited for the right moment -- when it was next to the door -- and then quickly slammed the door shut! WOW that thing was big!

My hubby did this flower box for me on our anniversary. He had it all set up outside the windows in the craft room. When I'm crafting I look right out that windows and see beautiful flowers. I love it!


I also got my vegetable garden planted. Still a little more to do....but most of it is done. Hopefully we will have luck this year and get a good crop. Tomatoes, Zucchini, Peppers, Okra and more!

Happy Friday :)