I made Kristina's TOP TEN!

OMG... I am so excited! I made Kristina Werner's TOP TEN!

After reading her blog for more than a year, I finally started participating in her challenges two weeks ago (after much pestering from my downline Tina).

There was more than 200 entries. You can see the other top choices by clicking here, I am super small potatoes compared to everyone else. Nancy Riley from AZ (my blog fairy) was also one of the other cards chosen, you can see her card by clicking here!

Thanks for stopping by, I am in la la land! I'll have a card to post tonight.

Bye Bye Baby Room

It is with much sadness that I started to 'dismantle' our daughter's room this past week. She is over 3 yrs old now and it's time to move from baby decor to "little girl stuff". It was long overdue. I hated to take all the stuff down, I remember how much thought and time went into putting the room together when I was pregnant.

We had a garage sale this weekend and everything was purchased in a matter of hours... window treatments, blankets, crib bedding, rocking chair, all the gear like stroller, car seat, high chair, swing-- everything. The real sad thing is that you can't really get any decent money at a garage sale, I estimate we sold about $3000 worth of stuff and got about $300. Ugh!

Thank goodness stamps have a higher resale value. Oh well, the good thing is that now it's time to redecorate.

Ride' Em Cowgirl

I've been wanting to use this cowgirl stamp ever since my downline Tina gave it to me. I love western stuff, (afterall I am born and raised in Texas). Well, I finally had the opportunity today!. I was putting away left overs from a previous stamp class and had the card base and layers already done (left over from this Father's Day card). I quickly added the cowgirl image and a few star brads and was done. This cute cowgirl is from My Favorite Things "Ride'Em Cowgirl" stamp set. Thanks Tina!

Recipe: Black, Kraft & Chocolate Chip card stock , Black Craft Ink, Outlaw Designer Paper

Dolly visiting my hometown....

Dolly is visiting my hometown!

Thanks for those of you who have asked.

As of this evening, all of my friends & family in the Rio Grande Valley (deep South Texas) are doing fine. Like everyone else, they are hunkered down-- just riding out the storm. Some have lost electricity but so far no damage to anyone's home or property.

I chatted with my single and available brother, to see how he was weathering the storm. Wouldn't I know it, he & his friends are having a "Hurricane Party". Ah, to be single and carefree!

My 2nd KW Color Challenge

Ok Ms. Tina, (my downline) I think I am hooked on this challenge thing....
Kristina Werner, a former demonstrator and design guru does a color challenge every week on her blog. Here is the inspiration for this week's challenge.
I love that dress! I am definitely going to use that color combination again, maybe even this week. Here's what I came up with.

This is the old faithful "Roses In Winter" stamp set along with one of my all time favorite sentiments from the "All Holidays stamp set. The sentiment was stamped in Rose Red Craft Ink and embossed with clear powder, layered and put on dimensionals.

Thanks for looking!

Card for a Special Baby Girl

A family we know from church has an infant daughter having very necessary surgery on her skull in a couple of weeks. She has a condition called trigonocephaly. I wanted to send a card expressing how we will keep all of them in our prayers throughout the process.

Here is the card I came up with. This is a 5.5" square card. I chose pastels because afterall, it's for a baby girl. The card base is Pretty in Pink and the layers are Almost Amethyst. The bible verse "Shine on You" from Stampendous was stamped in Pearlescent Lavender Brilliance Pigment Ink by Tsukineko and embossed with clear powder. The designer paper is from American Crafts. I wanted to hang a silver cross charm from the ribbon but didn't have one the right size. In the end I punched out this cross using my Cross True Faith punch by EK Success. I covered the cross in the same Lavender Pearlescent ink and embossed it with clear thick embossing powder, it looks glittery in the picture but actually more of a pearlized finish IRL. I am happy with the way the card turned out. Thanks for stopping by and if you have room on your prayer list, please add baby Kenna.

My First Color Challenge

For a while now my downline Tina has been bugging me about participating in a color challenge. She has no idea what trying to stamp with a 3 yr old around is like. Nonetheless, tonight after everyone went to bed, I thought I would give a challenge a try. I decided I would try Kristina Werner's color challenge #16.

This was alot harder than I thought, I struggled with the color combination but in the end this is what I came up with, (it's certainly not a favorite). I missed the deadline by a couple of hours but at least I tried. Maybe next week I will do better.

Recipe:
Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla and Soft Sky

Blueberry Pomegranate Fruit Smoothie

I wasn't a fan of tea until recently. Now it's all we drink at home. Here's a recipe I found on the Lipton website, it's delicious!

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Brew Time: 5 minutes
Chill Time: 1 hour
Servings: 4

Ingredients:
1 cup boiling water
4 LIPTON® White Tea with Blueberry & Pomegranate Flavor Pyramid Tea Bags
2 tbsp. sugar
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 pint (2 cups) frozen nonfat vanilla yogurt


Directions:
Pour boiling water over LIPTON® White Tea with Blueberry & Pomegranate Flavor Pyramid Tea Bags; cover and brew 5 minutes. Remove Tea Bags and squeeze. Stir in sugar until dissolved; chill. In blender, process tea mixture with remaining ingredients until smooth. Serve immediately.

Card Front Recycling....

You know I am all about recycling. I've been cleaning out my craft room and I have an over abundance of swaps from the last two conventions and regionals. As much as I would like to keep everything, I just don't have the space. After going through all the cards, I came up with about 500 pcs that I did not want to keep. A few days ago after my card buffet, we spread them all out on the kitchen table and l let my ladies go through them and take any they wanted. They were thrilled and I am just happy they went to a good home.

Cherry Limeade Sherbert

Here's a plug for Braum's. I went through the drive-thru at Braum's yesterday and ordered my usual #11 which includes a small shake. Well I always substitute the shake for a sherbert freeze. When the attendant listed the flavors, she mentioned Cherry Limeade. I thought she was mistaken but I ordered that flavor anyway. Well, OMG, that is the most delicious sherbert I have ever had! It tastes just like a Cherry Limeade. If you have a Braums in your area, try it!

A friend is a gift

This is one of the other cards on the card buffet for tomorrow night. We're using all the images the "Year After Year" stamp set, so the cards need to be pretty simple or my ladies will be here all night... (not that would be a bad thing).

I love this sentiment, not sure what retired stamp set it came from because when I keep retired sets with images and quotes I usually sort them by theme. Nonetheless, I need to mass produce this card and send one to each of mt friends.

Pink or Blue?

We are using the Year After Year stamp set to make a variety of cards at my next 'card buffet'. Here's the cards we'll make with the cute elephant stamp.It's difficult to see but the elephant was stamped on Pretty in Pink card stock, cut out, covered in versamark, embossed with Irridecent Ice, and popped up with dimensionals. I did the same with the blue card but skipped the glitter (just didn't think glitter would be for boys).Recipe: Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, Whisper White- card stocks, American Crafts DP, Basic Grey classic ink

We are going to Las Vegas in less than a month. My brother in law is getting married in Ceasar's Palace on 08-08-08. We are so excited, I am thrilled to have another sister in law! While I have been to LV before, I have never really had a chance to play. I went there once for work, had a crisis back in D and spent all my time on computer in the hotel room, the time before that I was a toddler in 1971.... so I am excited.

About 30 friends and family are attending, it will be a fun time. If you're in the area let me know, maybe we can meet up and if you know of some places we must go please drop me a line.

Stamping has affected me...

One of my responsiblities with the city is to create an insert for the welcome bags the Chamber of Commerce gives new residents. You know the bag of goodies you receive when you move to a new place (pocket calendar from local insuance firm, pen from the bank, etc.). Under normal circumstances this would be a pretty easy task. You have no idea how hard this task is becoming! I can't bear to use normal paper (I 'want' cardstock) and I keep wanting to stamp on the project.

Last week I was designing this month's insert and I had a very difficult time-- I kept wanting to "at least" stamp a scroll in the corner. Am I crazy or what?

Our department's inclusion is a rubber jar opener (in the shape of a rain drop) with our water restrictions printed on it, hopefully residents will keep it handy and refer to it often. In the end, I settled on a flier with just straight text but every time I look at it, I think it needs something. See what I mean....

Lucky Ducks

We went to the park with an entire loaf of bread this evening. At first when we approached the edge of the pond the ducks were far away but as soon as we pulled out the bread they came to 'have dinner'. Micaela had a great time feeding the ducks, although I was a nervous wreck close to the water. {I am NOT a fan of water}. Here's one of my snapshots.

The time to be happy is now...

I love the curved sentiment in the Garden Whimsey stamp set. I made this card for a friend who recently moved away and is not necessarily very happy in her new city. (not Kristi in Nancy country). IRL, the lady bug is popped up and has Dazzling Diamonds on it to make it sparkle. I used the French Dot Cuttlebug embossing folder for the background.

Recipe: Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White

Jammin' In July

If your local, this may be of interest.

I'd rather be....

Shopping... Thought this was an almost perfect stamp.... it just needed two more little words "For Stamps". The stamp is from the Dollar Bin at Michael's, I got it last year. The background is done with the French Dot Cuttlebug embossing folder.
Recipe: Pink Passion, Basic Black and Whisper White card stocks. So Saffron and Pink Passion markers.

Fun Birthday Card for Kids

Here's my designated card for Micaela's friends the next few birthdays. I'll change the color scheme but I made up some neutral ones to have on hand. The sentiment is from "Inkadinkado" and the blue background is embossed with the Numbers Cuttlebug Folder. The ribbon is from the Dashes, Dots & Checks line at Michael's.
.
Recipe:
Real Red, Ballet Blue, Yo Yo Yellow and Whisper White card stocks

Manly Anniversary Card

We had our fourth wedding anniversary this past week. I have a hard time making DH cards, one because he sees all the cards I make so it's hard to surprise him and two because overall I have a difficult time making 'manly' cards. He's far from a cowboy so that really limits what I can use since the only manly type stuff I have is either from the Boho West line or has a Texas flair. I struggled and struggled, after a bin full of wasted supplies, this was it! He told me it was the nicest card I had ever made for him, so I guess I passed the test.



The background was done with the Mosiac Cuttlebug embossing folder. The brads and slide are from the Aged Copper Hodge Podge Hardware and the letters are card stock alphabet stickers I had in my stash.




I forgot to take a picture before I wrote in it so I blurred out what I wrote inside. The scroll is from Baroque Motifts and the four is from Whimsical Numbers.


Recipe:
Really Rust, Chocolate Chip and Creamy Caramel card stocks
Close to Cocoa classic ink for distressing mosiac.

Wild West Icecream Sandwich Molds

I've been visiting the Williams Sonoma flagship stores in the area to demonstrate and train on the new KitchenAid Food Processor.


One of the painful advantages of visiting these stores often is browsing the store and finding stuff to bring home. When I was there the other day, I came across these darling Wild West Icecream Sandwich Molds. If you know me well, you know that I {heart} seasonal impractical stuff, and if it's kitchen stuff, then I am twice as weak because as a food stylist, you just never know when a need for a particular gadget will arise therefore you must buy it when you see it because if you don't the perfect occassion/assignment will doomed if you don't have it onhand.


So here is my latest find.... Wild West Icecream Sandwich Molds. Won't these be cute for a little cow girl or cow boy's party? They are just too adorable. (Just think you could make coordinating invitations using any of the Boho West stamp sets) I initially saw them back in May and I cringed when I saw the pricetag was $16-- well, now they are on sale for $9.99. Run and get yours today...

New Home Card

Here I go using another retired stamp set. I keep retired sets for one reason, I know they will be perfect for a special card 'some day'. Well, one of my best friends Kristi, (whom I mention quite often) just moved from the Dallas area to Nancy Riley country... Arizona. This is the card I made for her and her family. They have a two year old daughter so I thought the crayon drawing of a house would be cute for them. This is the Heart & Home set, it retired long before I became a demonstrator but I hung on to it for Micaela to play with in the future.

Unfortunately I did not have a cactus stamp in the right size proportion to put in place of the flowers next to the house. This house will remind Kristi of the house she 'used' to live in. (Kristi left behind a gorgeous green yard with lots of flowers, now she's going to have a rock garden with cactus -big adjustment).

The sentiment is layered on punched circles and placed in the window that is on the inside of the card. I love layers on the inside of cards.

Recipe:
Apricot Appeal, Pixie Pink and Whisper White card stocks
Pixie Pink classic ink
American Crafts striped designer paper.
French Dot Cuttlebug embossing folder for front

Sympathy Cards

We've had several loved ones pass away in the last couple of weeks. While I am thrilled to have a "reason" to stamp, I'd really rather not make sympathy cards. Honestly, I've never made so many sympathy cards at once. All of the people receiving these cards are out of the area so I am hoping these hand made cards will be like a hug in an envelope for them.

Roses In Winter & Maternal Instincts Sympathy Card

One of my very dear friends lost her mother last week and this is the card I made.

The stem and little flower is from the retired Rose In Winter stamp set and the Mother quote is from the Maternal Insticts stamp set, also retired.

I used layers on the inside (one of my favorite things to do) and also stamped the outside of the envelope.

Recipe: Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery and Whisper White

Sympathy cards for my Cousin and Friend

My Aunt Eva (Dad's sister) passed away last week, I made this card for my cousin Cindy. Aunt Eva's favorite flower was a zinnia. The closest flower I had was the retired Daisy stamp set. I had to dust it off because it had been a while since I used it. I used the Stitched background too give the white a vintage look.

Recipe:
Regal Rose, Old Olive and Whisper White card stock
Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery and Old Olive ink
Earth Elements brads

One of my friends recently lost her brother. This is the card I made for her. She loves green so I used Old Olive, River Rock and Chocolate Chip. The embossing was done with the Textile Cuttlebug embossing Folder.

Fourth of July Fun

We had a great time today. Here are a few snapshots we took.

It's was HOT HOT HOT here in North Texas! ETA: We were in McKinney. Even in the morning, it was already in the high 90's and we were sweating buckets watching the hometown parade go by. The siren of the vintage firetruck scared Micaela right as I took this picture.

Here's a picture of Micaela showing off the flag in our front porch.

Here's the whole familia in the front yard. Yes, I coordinated the shirts. DH is not a fan of coordinating family outfits, I 'almost' slid this by him. He was happy when I said, "Honey, got you a new shirt to wear". Then when we were all in the car headed to the parade, he realized I was wearing red and Micaela was wearing white. Ugh, I was busted....lol. Oh well.

By the afternoon we had some sprinkles and it made the evening nice and perfect for fireworks, so perfect we took a stab at 'tailgating' at the local ball park (I knew I wanted a 'station wagon' for a reason). We hope you had a wonderful day!