Challenges Galore

I have never really done challenges, but have been feeling inspired lately. I don't know if I am even getting these three in on time, but they were fun to do and maybe they will inspire you to try a challenge or two :)

Here is my entry for the MOJO50 challenge. Did I mention I am recently in love with Verve Visual? Well, in case you didn't get that memo, here is another card using the "cupcake affairs" set and the sentiment is from "artful elegance" and reads, "life is good" (that's kinda hard to see in this not so great picture ... sorry!).

Here is my entry for Shelli's "Celebrate" challenge. Shelli's blog is so fun and I have enjoyed seeing her creations, hearing about all the fun things she gets to do to help grow and promote SU!, as well as, just enjoying her family. She seems so down-to-Earth. I am very inspired by her success and creativity! If you haven't checked it out go now :) Even if you just love babies ... she has a beautiful new grandbaby.

And here is my entry for Beate's Inspiration Challenge. I love this designer series paper (SU! Rebecca) it has always been one of my faves! And when I saw the inspiration piece of this challenge, I knew this would work. I went to an SU! garage sale, a week or so ago, and this is one of the retired sets (Friendly Flowers) that I picked up. Not sure why I never got this out of the catalog. I really like it. I pierced the black mat around the edges but it didn't show up so well. I was trying to multitask and take pictures of my cards while I let my puppy out in the backyard. It was really too late in the day to get good sunlight, unfortunately!

Back to the craft room as soon as the kids are tucked in their beds for the night ... half hour and counting!

Verve Stamps and Soccer Practice

Another busy week is over and I am so glad it's a holiday weekend. Tim's busy time is almost to an end although he left at 8am this morning and won't be back until midnight or 1am tonight! Tomorrow and Monday he will be home all day and night :) Then next Friday he took off and we will head to Gulf Shores, AL for our family vacation with all my sibs -- provided Gustav and Hanna cooperate some! So, the end is near and we will be a family of four again soon :)

It's been a bit challenging to find stamping time lately but I did get some stuff done this week. I ordered my first Verve Stamps and I am SO EXCITED! I got the Anni-VERVE-sary set so that gave me lots to play with! These could keep me busy and happy for a while. These are going up on my Etsy store (see sidebar for link) soon.

I am also working on some notecard sets for Etsy and a few craft shows I am considering this Fall. So, here is a peek at those:

They are embossed. Simple, but super cute, I think! I have a friend on bedrest and one set of these are for her. I figured it will be hard for her to get out to buy any cards she might need and she will have time to write some notes to friends. :)

Well, that's it for now. I hope to get some good crafting time in this evening since Tim is working late. Oh, and I was going to share one cute picture of Teagan playing soccer :) That started this week. It was so hot that day and half way through I had to bribe him with a Dilly Bar from DQ. ;) We will see how next week goes!

Happy Stampin'!

Star Student

I have not been very crafty lately ... so busy around here. I hope to get some stuff done soon. I am itching to do the challenge on Shelli's blog and this week's MOJO50 challenge and Beate's inspiration challenge.

I volunteered in Kamryn's class today and she was the "star student" so here is her presentation that we worked on together. She was SO cute I could hardly stand it :) Her presentation went well and then she got to also do show & tell today and brought her very favorite doll "Pinkie". The class asked questions (which were hilarious, like "what color is she wearing" and "do her shoes come off") and Kam very proudly answered them all.

Well, goodnight! I hope to post some creations tomorrow :)

Unplug and Put Your Feet Up

I have not been getting much crafting done this past week. My DH has been putting in super long hours and my energy level has been low. He was able to come home relatively early yesterday so we could hang out and have dinner together. I made him this card:


to let him know how much we appreciate all his hard work. The inside says 'Glad you can "unplug" and hang out with us' -- he seemed grateful. This one came together kind of slow. It needed something and Teagan was playing with a box right beside me. So, I tore off a piece and stuck it on there. Gave it a little texture. This isn't my favorite card but its okay. I also used my rubber craft scissors to snip off the back of the screw brads in the upper right hand corner and attached them with glue dots. That way I didn't have to worry about getting the back lined up and not peeking around that small corner punch.

And, my friend Jen is pregnant and due in October. I hadn't sent a card to congratulate her! Am I the only one obssessed with make cards and suck at sending them??? What is the deal with that??? Anyway, my prego sister just got craveabella and this was a great excuse to use this. This sketch was inspired by the 12 Days of Verve for their anni-VERVE-sary. I didn't get to participate but I printed them out and hope to play with more of them very soon.

So, I hope to be able to find time to be creative this week! Thanks for looking :)

Jaime's Back To School Blog Candy

Check out Jaime's blog candy -- a cool clear alphabet stamp set from CTMH :)

Good Luck,

And the WINNER of my 2nd Blog Candy is ....

WOW, that was hard! I don't know if I am going to make you all work for blog candy again ... it was probably harder on me than it was on you :) I had five great entries:

Lisa (not a blogger, so she hand delivered me her entry ... thank you!!)

Donna

Jenny

Christina

Pat S

It was a very hard decision but the blog candy this time around is going to DONNA! YEA! I will contact you to confirm your mailing address and get your candy out to you asap :) You can click on each name to see their entry. They are all very inspiring!

Thanks for playing :) I had some new friends join in and I really appreciate that. I wish I had something to send all of you. Please play again soon.

A Crafting We Will Go, A Crafting We Will Go ...

Another song to get you started! I sing so much better on my blog than in real life :)

I had another good crafting weekend. My swap group met this weekend at my house to crop, craft, chat and eat peaches! We had a good time and I got some beautiful cards. Here is mine:

Some of the members of my swap group are also in a stamp club with me so I did a make-n-take for them. This was a last minute card but it turned out so cute :) I used a sketch from I{heart}2Stamp .

I did not do any scrapbooking at our crop. I was just not feeling inspired after all the work to bake, set up the house, clean, do the makeNtake, etc. But I had spent the previous night cutting out 13 stamp sets I just ordered from Bridgett, TAC Angel :) OUCH! I am used to cutting out Stampin' Up! stamps but it has been a long time since I had 13 at once to do. It took me hours and hours to do it. But here is my end result. I could get into this unmounted thing. Look what little space 13 stamps sets take up!!!




And I was able to make two projects with my new TAC stamps :) Teagan's first year of Tball season is about to end. We got his pictures at his last game. I got the "Your A Winner" set from TAC so I could do some cute scrapbook pages. His teammates all look like the guys from Spaceballs on the field with their gigantic batting helmets on. The first few games it resembled a gentle version of tackle football while about 10 little 4-5 year olds ran to get each ball hit. Its just too darn cute! There is ribbon along the side of the frame that has soccer, footballs and baseballs.

And I am sending this card to my Mom who lives in FL. I think these pink flamingos are so adorable! This is another TAC set. So, Mom, watch your mail. I am sending Teagan's tball pic and something else :)

And lastly, I figured out what to do with some of my $1 spot items from Target. Anyone who buys a catalog from us gets a cute little post-it note holder like these below :)

Now we are off to Target so I can check out their $1 spot and, most importantly, so Teagan can get Grave Digger, the monster truck, he has been obsessed with lately.

OH, I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT BLOG CANDY! I will pick a winner after dinner tonight so you have all day to post your creations. I will post the winner tonight, too.

Happy Craftin' & Stampin'

In Color Comparison

If you are interested in seeing how the new In Colors look next to some of our other SU! colors check out Dawn's Awesome Blog (the entire thing is wonderful). This is such a great idea. Wish I had thought of it myself. I did find it for us though ... might I get some points for that one? Hee hee!

By the way, for local folks, I have all the new In Colors if you want to see them live :)

crafting queen, she a crafting queen

Okay, now that I have firmly planted that silly song into your head ... here's what I did all day yesterday. I promise that I did not neglect my children. I was on a roll and things were coming to me fast. None of these projects were particularly time consume and most of them were completed after the kids went to bed. I have the Olympics to thank for that. I have been staying up WAY later than normal 'cause I just have to watch. I love the Olympics! And last night's Women's Gymnastics All Around was so fun! Yea, USA! I don't get into the track and field stuff quite as much so I am guessing that my late nights won't last throughout the entire event. But in the meantime, let the crafting continue ....

1.) Top Left Corner: Another wine tote using the paper that I got from Archivers (American Crafts) -- LOVE IT!! These are so easy and so pretty afterwards, I wish I had gotten more from Michaels! I used a shipping tag covered it with the matching printed paper and use rub ons to jazz it up some.

2.) Top Middle: Got these cute popcorn containers from Target's dollar spot. I am pretty sure I bought a few, but my kids most have found them so I will be hunting high and low for some others. I think it turned out cute. I am contemplating doing some craft shows this fall and think if I fill this up with some microwave popcorn and maybe a gift card holder it could work.

3.) Top Right Corner: I found these jumbo binder clips on clearance at Office Max and had been wanting to try these cute little frame/note holders. It was a little tricky getting the chipboard flower attached. I have never seen a tutorial for these and wasn't sure what the back should look like. This will require a little more playing but I learned a lot doing this one. Plus, I adore this picture of my daughter from a couple years back :)

4.) Bottom Left (Two Cards): While searching through my craft area cabinet for my other popcorn containers, I found my stash of acetate. I have an entry for my blog candy (SEE BELOW -- THERE IS STILL TIME TO PARTICIPATE) that is an acetate card and was inspired to finally try one on my own. I did one at Archiver's make-n-take weekend last week but this was solo. I sold some bella images to someone from Etsy and so I had a few left overs. Winobella is my sisters -- but since I was stamping, already, I made a few for myself. I wanted to paper pierce her dress but realized she's NOT MINE! So, had to settle for coloring. I used some bling to make her dress shine. Not sure you can see that so well on my picture. I also thought beads might be fun on acetate, and I hardly ever use them, so dug them out to add a little sparkle to the Christmas card.

5.) Bottom Right: My wonderful hubby bought me some bulletin board squares for Christmas which I hung right away and then realized that I did not have an push pins!! Dah! So, I grabbed some of those on clearance at Office Max, too. Then I wanted something pretty to put them in. I have been saving my Laughing Cow containers for something ... and decided this was one of those "somethings"! Then it looked alittle plain. So, I had been perusing the resources page of SCS the other day and saw this paper bow that I had always wanted to try and decided that was exactly what this cute little box needed. And it was super easy! I used scraps for this entire project. I love that.

I am going to post all these projects on SCS in my gallery (there is a link on my right sidebar) if you want to see them individually. That might not happen until late tonight during the Olympics again, though.

As I mentioned above, I am seriously considering a craft show or two this fall/winter. Any suggestions would be great. Pricing, items to sell, tips, warnings ... share your knowledge, I'd appreciate it greatly!

BLOG CANDY -- Drawing EXTENDED until Monday, August 18th, 2008

Here is my second blog candy give away! In addition to what you see here, I will include some stamped bella images and some ribbon.

Blog candy challenge: Make a card or some sort of paper craft using this clinque lipstick case as your inspiration. I am including mine.

I am including my card inspired from this case. I have gotten three fabulous entries so far. Let's see if we can double that!! Thanks, in advance, for playing. Don't forget to link my blog to yours and let me know where I can find your entry.

I will recruit the help of some little friends to help decide which is the "best" -- I can tell already this is going to be tough! I love all them so far.

Thanks, Bridgett! Look what I got :) How nice!


The rules of the award are:

1. THE WINNER CAN PUT THE LOGO ON HER BLOG.
2. LINK THE PERSON YOU RECEIVED YOUR AWARD FROM.
(I did, just click the word "blog" above.)
3. NOMINATE AT LEAST 7 OTHER BLOGS.
4. PUT LINKS OF THOSE ON YOUR BLOGS.
5. LEAVE A MESSAGE ON THE BLOGS OF THE GIRLS YOU HAVE NOMINATED.

DRUM ROLLLLLLLLLLL, PLEASE!
I nominate:

Susie

Heather

Jane


Deena

Jaime

Sarah

Michelle

TADA! What a nice way to start one's day! A special note from a blogging friend and the ability to tell others that you appreciate them. Hopefully my day continues to be so sunny :)

Challenges

Here are my "entries" into the challenges that I mentioned yesterday! The first is for my own clinque lipstick case challenge. The ribbon gave me fits and I am not sure I like that part of it but I wanted to give it some texture and liked the thought of some stripes on this one. I don't think I have ever used rub-ons on a card ... don't ask me why!?? And I like them, except, that the thanks a bunch on the bottom is crooked! Darn it! Anyway, I also played with the SU! new In Colors and think they are so fun!

This next card is my Black -N-White attempt for Susie's wedding challenge. I got this super cool paper at Archivers at their free make-n-take weekend which ended up costing me $90!! But this card helps make that worth it. I think it turned out quite pretty. I also am in love with the pretties kit. My next adventure with that is to dye the flowers :) Check out Susie's blog here: http://www.whiteribboncards.blogspot.com/

And lastly, Bridgett challenged us to make a birthday card for a little boy. Her son is turning 1 soon! I just got this stamp at Hobby Lobby when they had their stamps 50% off. I hardly ever buy single stamps from retail stores like that but with their sale and a gift card from my hubby for my birthday I thought I'd splurge! I absolutely adore this printed paper and this is the last of it :( I got it at my LSS that closed its doors forever last month. I am not sure I like the scallops behind the monkey layer but I wanted to do something special to mimick the scallop circles on the paper. Hmm ... gotta think about that decision?! Check out Bridgett's blog here: http://www.hoosierstamper.blogspot.com/

Thanks to the Men's Olympic Team who stunned everyone by battling for the silver metal and going on to win the bronze against many, many odds, I got all these cards done -- I was up way too late and am dragging this morning!! Go USA! :) I gotta say, though, that I was so excited for the Chinese Men's Team -- what an amazing win!

Later,

Want to know what some of the SBS18 girls are up to??

Check out these:

BLOG CANDY to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of Jane's fabulous blog: http://www.carrollscreations.blogspot.com/

BABY BOY B-DAY CARD CHALLENGE: Bridgett's little one is turning 1 soon check out her challenge at http://www.hoosierstamper.blogspot.com/

BLACK N WHITE CHALLENGE: Susie is getting married and wants to see what we can come up with in this elegant color combo! Check it out here: http://www.whiteribboncards.blogspot.com/
visit all my SBS sisters -- links on my sidebar :)

blog candy you gotta work for ....

Its been a whole week since I posted and since I've been gone, I decided to offer some blog candy to my loyal readers who stuck around and checked back in with me :) But I am going to make you work for it this time. First, the blog candy is an array of tags, brads, clear stamps, rub-ons and I am also going to include some bella images (not shown) and maybe some ribbon, too! The final package will be a surprise to the winner, but this will give you a taste! I will choose the winner on Friday, August 15th, 2008.

Now, here is the catch -- you have a make a card, scrapbook page or any other paper related project and use this fabulous clinque case as your inspiration. I was putting on lipstick yesterday (which I rarely do) and the fun colors on this case jumped out at me. I will post my own creation later today. So, leave me a comment here with a link to your card/project and I will pick a winner. Sorry my pics are a little blurry but I think you will still get the jist of the color combo. You could use the colors or the stripes as your inspiration!

Then, I also thought it would be fun to post some pictures of birthday cards that I received from friends and family! I loved them all -- thank you!! Hope they give your creativity a boost, too!

Oh, and of course, the SU! Fall/Winter Idea Book & Catalog is LIVE TODAY @ NOON! YEA! We have still not gotten our shipment -- cross your fingers for today!! But I will post the link to the catalog here. Christy doesn't love it (yet) but I really, really do :) Can't wait to hear what you all think.

Happy creating!