Just Add Kathy!

I hope you don't pass out when you see this post!   I actually did a challenge that I'm NOT on the design team for!   It feels like forever since I've done that.   I just had to play along with this one though.   The challenge this week at Just Add Ink is to CASE my awesome friend Kathy!   So, I did!  :)

Here's the card of Kathy's that I picked to do:

Gorgeous, huh? I thought so.  In fact, I got bought the square punch just to make similar cards!   I just hadn't found the time to do one yet, so this challenge was perfect!  I wanted to do a birthday card for mine, and here is what I ended up with:

My pictures never turn out that great anymore, but I promise this is just stunning in person.   I combined some of my favorite sets, both current and retired, along with one of my favorite colors, Early Espresso.    I didn't have the Neutrals brads, so I used some of the much-neglected Vintage Trinkets instead.   I think it turned out wonderfully and now I'm thinking up other stamp sets that would work with this design.   Thanks so much Kathy for the inspiration! 

Stamps:  Gently Falling (R), All Holidays (R), French Foliage

Ink:  Early Espresso

Paper:  Early Espresso, Naturals White

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Framed Tulips embossing folder, sponges, 1 3/8 square punch, Vintage Trinkets

FM43: Sketchy Fun

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :

1. Make a project using the "Sketch".
2. Or Make a project using "Something NEW in your stash". (Stamps, ribbon, pretty paper...anything!)
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project "using the Sketch & something NEW in your stash".

It's Friday, Friday, Friday!   Oh sorry.  I got stuck on the most annoying song ever.   Goodness.   Anyway, it IS Friday and time for a challenge from The Friday Mashup!   Kim has a fun sketch challenge for us this week!  The other part of the challenge is to use something NEW in your stash of stampin' goodies.   I just know you have something that's sitting there unloved, so that part should be easy!  :)

I went to bed on Wednesday night knowing that I had to make my card yesterday morning.  I guess my brain was processing the sketch all night because I had the idea for this card when I woke up!  Don't you love when that happens?   I couldn't remember the colors my brain picked, but I wanted to use Crumb Cake for some reason or other.   The new product was the Wisteria Wonder baker's twine and of course I had to use my new diagonal scoring plate!  :)

This is a very different card for me.   I love clean-and-simple, but to me they are the most difficult cards to create.   I like to challenge myself to try them sometimes but get frustrated with them pretty quickly.   My sweet friend Marla helped me via our iPhones yesterday so it was good to have a buddy to talk out the design with. I love my demo friends so much!  I hope you enjoy it and will come play along with us!  

Stamps:  Fresh Vintage (SAB), Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Versamark, Elegant Eggplant

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Very Vanilla, Neutrals DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Beautiful Butterflies die, Boho Blossoms punch, Simply Scored w/ Diagonal Plate, In Color Dotted brads, Wisteria Wonder baker's twine

Baby Talk

So I thought I'd do a little sharing about the little one.   Since she is apparently eating my creativity, I don't have cards to post as often as I wish.  I sure hope she comes out stamping!   lol    I've already discovered one huge drawback to having a girl...pink!   Everything is PINK!   Guess who doesn't like pink?   Yeah.   So, I keep looking around for yellow, green, purple...anything that's NOT pink.  However, seeing as how we are doing her room in giraffes, I had to buy this cute little sleeper last week.   The giraffe print caught my eye and had me laughing and the cute little giraffe on the front just won my heart.  So, we have some pink in the house now.   

The other part that has been making me crazy is trying to pick a name!  I wanted a traditional name (Elizabeth, Catherine, something like that) while Jason was all into unique or different names.   The only thing we both liked was Elise for the middle name.   To be funny, during my Target trip this week I went and checked out the names of the Cabbage Patch Kids.    Well, there were two that actually had good names!   (I still have mine from childhood and her name is Lorna Zora.  What?)   Anyway...we talked about the two and decided that we did like one of them a lot!   AGREEMENT?  Sound the alarms!!  That night we went back and purchased Laila Elyse!    So now we have a strong possibility for a name, but have to figure out the spelling.   It's never just simple, right?    I like Layla Elise, but he likes Laila.   I'm thinking a good game of paper, rock, scissors might happen at the hospital!   Either way, our little girl will have a cute doll with her name.   That's kinda cool, but I hope she isn't upset about being named after a doll!  

The moral of that story? You can find everything at Target, even a name for your baby.   :)

FMS19: Roar!!

The fabulous Jen Mitchell has a great sketch for everyone this week at Freshly Made Sketches.   I love scallop borders, so I was all ready to jump in and get to stamping!    I hope you'll find some time to join us as well!

I had so much fun making my card.   I used some new products and a new-to-me stamp set.   I have always loved Wild About You and was thrilled when my former demonstrator gave me of box of things with it in there.   I think it is one of my favorite sets ever!   I paired it with my favorite die, Tasteful Trim, and a brand new product that will be available on March 1st, the Simply Scored Diagonal Plate!   I was lucky and won it at the Regional on Saturday!   Exciting, huh?  I hope you can see the scoring on the Baja Breeze card stock.   The Color Coach picked out the colors for me.  I wanted to use Island Indigo since it has been a while.  I love that color and I think I was trying to hoard it a bit.  :)    

Be sure to stop by and check out all the fabulous cards by the design team!

Stamps:  Wild About You

Ink:  Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry

Paper:  Island Indigo, Baja Breeze, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Tasteful Trim die, Simply Scored Diagonal Plate, Brights brads

Sale-a-brate Good Times!

Woo Hoo!  I hope you are as excited as I am to welcome in the most wonderful time of the year, Sale-a-bration!  There are some amazing products this year that you can get for FREE!   Who doesn't LOVE free?   I know I do.   I've been enjoying my SAB goodies for a while, but now it is your turn!    Be sure to go check out the catalog here.  

For customers, you guys get one free product from the SAB catalog for each $50 you spend (before tax/shipping).    Yay for free stuff; there are lots of fun goodies to pick from too!

For workshop hostesses, you earn an exclusive tote bag for a $150 workshop and a free Hostess Bundle for a $400 workshop.    The bundle includes the Fresh Vintage stamp set, the Everyday Enchantment designer paper, and the Everyday Enchantment ribbon and brad bundle.  Those are my favorite products from Sale-a-bration, so what a deal!

If you want to sign up as a demonstrator, you get a great discount on the Starter Kit!  It's only $125 during SAB AND you get an amazing bonus!   For each month that you remain active in 2012 and place an order, you get a free pack of designer series paper or digital download!  I wish I could sign back up for that deal!  Wow!

Be sure to contact me if you want to place an order, host a workshop, or want more information about signing up as a demonstrator!   :)

San Antonio Regional 2012

I thought I'd share some pictures from my day at the Regional on Saturday.   It was a huge event and freaked me out a little.  I don't do that well in crowds, so I was thankful to have some wonderful friends to lean on.  I finally got to meet my sweet friend Anne Marie and she came with two bonus friends, Amy and Minnie!   As we were wandering around, we ran into Shellie and got this awesome picture!  I also got to see my friend Ann Schach again which was wonderful.   She is so feisty and cracks me up!

These pictures are our make-and-takes.   I can't even tell you how stressed we were trying to make these!  You would have thought we'd never stamped before in our lives!   I think being in unfamiliar settings was stressful for our creativity or something.  :)    Both cards use the adorable kite set that you can find in the Occasions Mini catalog.   

This card is too cool because it turns so you can see 3 different kites!   It was a bit of challenge to put together and I totally forgot a few details, but I still love it.  I think both cards have a whimsical feel to them.  While I love that look, I have no idea how to design cards like that!

Finally, my sweet roomie from Convention, Jackie Topa, found me and gave me this adorable gift!   Isn't it the cutest?  I LOVE purple, so it was just perfect for me!  

It was a very nice weekend away with one of my best friends, Rebecca.  I hope she found some inspiration in the event and enjoyed the magical feel of a Stampin' Up! event.  

FM42: Lovely Heart

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :

1. Make a project featuring "Paper Piercing".
2. Or Make a project using the colors "Blushing Bride, Riding Hood Red & Early Espresso".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project using the colors "Blushing Bride, Riding Hood Red & Early Espresso with some Paper Piercing" .

It's Friday, which means a new challenge from The Friday Mashup!   I am the hostess this week and I'm excited to share my fun challenge.   You already know that I've been stuck on Valentine's Day cards, so my challenge includes some fun colors that are just perfect for those.   However, if you are not really lovin' your Valentine right now, this challenge is also for you.   You can work out some of that anger and frustration by paper piercing!  :)    

For my card, I used the sketch from this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch to help get me going.  I also used a new product, the Lots of Love letterpress plate!   It looked so pretty that I was a bit sad to cover up all that Early Espresso.   I definitely want to make a card that will let that part shine, so stay tuned.   I love the look of the letterpress plates with Versamark.   So, so pretty!    Other than that touch, I kept it pretty clean, simple, and sweet!  Not much stamping at all in fact.  :)

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Versamark, Riding Hood Red

Paper:  Riding Hood Red, Blushing Bride, Early Espresso, In Color Hostess DSP stack (retired)

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Lots of Love letterpress plate, Scalloped Heart of Hearts embosslit, Full Heart punch, Itty Bitty Punch pack, Mat Pack, Paper Piercing tool, Riding Hood Red ribbon (retired), Basic Pearls

I'll be heading out today for a fun weekend in San Antonio!   I can't wait to attend the Regional event and hang out with some of my fellow demonstrators.   Blogging has really blessed me with some amazing friends and I sure hope they aren't afraid of hugs because I am a hugger.  :)

FMS 18: Candy!

My buddy Linda has a fun new sketch for everyone this week at Freshly Made Sketches.  I love simple sketches because it really allows my mind to think up so many possibilities!    I did struggle to narrow down what I wanted to do this week, but as I was waking up yesterday I got an idea for a card.   I love when that happens.  

My idea was to make a shaker card using the Candy Conversations a la carte stamp from the new Mini catalog.   I LOVE candy hearts, so this stamp was on my very first order from the catalog.  Unfortunately, it didn't turn out quite like what I wanted as I am not feeling very creative lately.   I know I had mentioned that I wanted to stamp every day this month, but it just hasn't happened.  Hopefully I will get around to doing it a bit more. I've just been so discouraged with my results lately that I've been avoiding my room.   I do think I'll try the idea again in some different colors.  Pretty in Pink is just not a color that I like that much so maybe that's why I'm not loving my card.

I hope you'll come play along with us this week!   I'm off to find some candy now.   :)  

I'll try to post a few pictures of the new things I picked up for the baby this week and some ideas I had for the wall color of the nursery.   I know a few of you warned me about the gray, but Pinterest has me determined to make it happen!