Clean and Simple Coffee

Say what? Two posts from me in one day? The insanity! ;) But I really wanted to make another card for the design team challenge at GinaK this time. And I know it's simple, but I love this card.

So the challenge is a favorite fall memory. This one is from October 2005, post-Hurricane Rita. We lived in Beaumont at the time and were very blessed. We evacuated with family, had places to stay, and, while we suffered some damage, our house was pretty much intact. Two houses down the whole place was crushed. Our yard and patio were wrecked, but that was just fine considering! Jeff did get to leave with us, but had to come back to the tv station the day after the storm hit. It was two weeks before I made it home and that's still the longest we've been apart. (A big thank you to all the military families and other families that deal with long absences for their jobs. I know two weeks is nothing to some of you and I hate that.) It was a very hot October and of course no one had power but I was so ready to be back! A cold front came through that night and we sat on the porch the next morning eating chocolate croissants and some self-heating mochas I had brought back with me so thankful to see each other, have a home, and feel an autumn breeze. Who cares if there are so many tree branches in your driveway you can't see the car parked there when you're eating pastries with the love of your life. ;) Guess who's getting this card? :)

There's not much 'splaining to do for this. I stamped the mug from Warm Winter Wishes, die cut it, left it in the die and sponged it with the blue. Then I stamped the mug again on a cardstock scrap, colored it with copics, cut it out, and glued it on. I am obsessed with cutting out the white in the handle for some reason so I just make a quick x-acto cut on the straight side and then use fine tip scissors to finish it. I grabbed a large green scrap and impressed it with my PTI woodgrain impression plate. I stamped the sentiment after impressing it and glued it all down.

Please look at all the wonderful entries on Gina's blog! Thanks for looking! (Oh, and you can still comment on my blog candy through Tuesday!)

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Designs Warm Winter Wishes, Thanks a Million

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Tempting Turquoise

Paper - Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White, Stampin' Up! Kiwi Kiss, Georgia-Pacific White (die cut and mug)

Other - Nestabilities Labels One, Papertrey Ink Woodgrain Impression Plate, Copics (YR02, YR04, YR07, R22, R24, R29, E35)

Pumpkins, Apples, and Cheese

Do you ever have a crazy idea that no matter all the better ideas you come up with you absolutely must choose the crazy one? It's Design Team challenge time at GinaK and this month's challenge is to make a card of a favorite fall memory. I LOVE fall! I love sweaters, I love cider, I love back to school (which comes in summer now, but still feels like fall). My birthday is in fall, Renaissance Festival is in fall, Thanksgiving, the High Holy Days, all in fall! I've been to Israel twice in the fall and Disneyworld twice. Then there's the kids. My son just turned 1. He's technically a very end of summer baby. But much like back to school, it feels like a fall event. And the feeling is what's important with memory anyway, right? Choosing the birth of my second child as my favorite fall memory is not crazy. Using my handwriting and a cheesetastic pun is. :)

I love a good pun. I really do. And I think it's genetic because my mother does, too. I'm not at all sure this qualifies as a good pun, but I could not shake it! And when inspiration strikes after midnight I try not to argue too much. ;) The sweet onesie is, of course, from Wee Tees. I cannot tell you how much I love that set. I'm ready for a companion set, Melanie. Just when you have time. :) I colored it with green and red Copics. The apple is from Whimsical Autumn. Thank you, Cammie for making a single apple! I colored the apple on scratch paper and cut it out. That way I don't have to be careful when coloring the onesie. It's the lazy way. I'm all about that, hehe. The pumpkins are from the Signs of Autumn set. Love them. They made me buy this set. Everything else is in it is fabulous too, but the pumpkins sang the siren song. The handwriting is, sigh, mine. I bought a craft book once called Love Your Handwriting, but it apparently only works if you practice, which if I'm going to keep doing I need more than one decent pen. But I do love my goofy, cheesy little card. Not nearly as much as my little fall fellow, though. ;)

Do yourself a favor and check out all the entries in this challenge. There is some gorgeous stuff! You can see everything on Gina's blog. I might even have a chance to make a card for one of those other memories. :) Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Whimsical Autumn, Signs of Autumn, Wee Tees

Paper - Papertrey Ink Kraft, Stampin' Up! Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Georgia-Pacific White (for coloring)

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Pumpkin Pie

Other - Copics (YG03, YG06, YG09, R22, R24, R29), Copic Multiliner 0.5 mm

Happy with Candy

Oh my! I am so happy, excited, and grateful right now. First off, Holiday Cards and More Vol 5 from Paper Crafts officially goes on sale today and I have my first (and so far only) published card inside! Page 77 if you happen to have one! ;) I have yet to see it in an actual store. That is going to be really cool. :) I hope to show you my card soon, I just need to double check the rules and see if that's ok.

Second, and far more important, those sweet little feet in my profile picture are going to be 1 year old tomorrow! I can hardly believe it! He is a crazy little monkey, too! He sings and dances and screams like a happy little nazgul. ;) It seems like just yesterday we brought him home but I can hardly remember what life was like before him. Memory is so weird.

It's kind of full-circle that Holiday Cards and More goes on sale today. I took Vol 4 with me to the hospital to pass the time before my C-section. It still has the hospital tag on it so it could find its way back to my room. (Did you know they don't let you bring stuff into surgery?) So when everyone but me was sleeping I was flipping through the magazine instead of focusing on why the hospital would not bring me real food. (Next time I'm bringing my own cooler. For real.)

There are a million other things I'm grateful for and happy about ranging from the other two fabulous men in my life to scor-tape to all my online friends to Glee to toffee mocha lattes at Starbucks to a LOT of other things large and small. So to celebrate all this happiness, I'd like to have a little blog candy. :) I will give away a copy of Holiday Cards and More Vol 5 plus a $10 gift certificate to the winner's choice of Papertrey or GinaK. (Btw, this is not in anyway affiliated with any of the giveaways on Paper Craft Connections or Moxie Fab World, although you should totally check them out. I'll be going to Hobby Lobby or Barnes and Noble and buying a copy. The one in the pictures is mine and already much loved. Yours will be new and unfondled.) ;) To enter, just leave me a comment telling me something you're happy about! That's it! This will stay open until the 21st and I'll randomly pick a winner on the 22nd! Be sure to leave me a way to get in touch with you - email, scs or stamptv user name - or remember to check back.

Thanks so much!

Huzzah!

I won GinaK again! Yay! There's something about finding out you won free stamps that just brightens your day. :) Last week there was a challenge on StampTV to make a winter - Christmas - Holiday card using just your scraps. Perfect. I'm trying to use up the huge vortex of scraps that I have anyway. (I just told my neighbor if she ever needs ribbon to come to my house before she goes to Hobby Lobby.) Anyway, this is the card I made and it was randomly chosen to win! Happy day!

Love this lady. She reminds me of my grandmother when I was little for some reason. Spunky. With a funny apron. I have no idea what possessed me to color her hair auburn when my card is red or what possessed me to color her sweater red. Red is only behind black in the hardest for me to color race. But oh well. I used Copics, of course.

The leaves were already on my table from a project I did a month or so ago. Yeah, I clean my table on a bi-monthly schedule or when everything starts jumping off. I think pompoms are grandma fabulous. So are pipe cleaners. They needed some stickles. My stickles have been getting a lot more love since I started my stamp spending freeze. (I'm on 25/50 cards plus 3 altered items! yay!) The felt leaves are held in place with scor-tape. LOVE scor-tape. I'm buying 2 or 3 rolls of it next time! Pompoms are on a glue dot. I colored the rhinestones olive green with copics. Very clean and simple, totally from scraps, making it got me a new stamp set. SCORE.

Supplies - Stamps: GinaK Sew Pretty, Warm Winter Wishes

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Old Olive

Paper: Stampin' Up! Riding Hood Red, kraft (now Crumb Cake), Georgia Pacific White Cardstock

Accessories: Oval and Scalloped Oval Nestabilities, Stampin' Up! Modern Label Punch, rhinestones, Copics (I don't remember which ones, sorry!), hand cut felt leaves, red pompoms, Stardust Stickles, Scor-tape, Glue Dots, Pop dots

Papertrey August Blog Hop Challenge

Fun stuff! This is my first time to participate in the PTI Blog Hops and I am so excited! (Thanks for the nudge, Alyssa!) The challenge is to alter a paper lunch sack to something wonderful and crafty. I happen to have a bunch of lunch sacks and my kids happened to be napping at the same time. Serendipity.

Knowing that this mystical sleeping simultaneously thing could not last long, I opted for a card. (Got an idea for a planner, but that will have to wait for another day.) My lunch bags are kinda tall so I trimmed the open edge with the small rickrack die. I have a cuttlebug so I had to fold the end I didn't want to cut over the top of the B plate. (Sandwich: A plate, C plate, die, lunch sack side I want to cut, B plate, folded side of lunch sack.) Folding it left a large crease that I could not iron out so I covered it with ribbon and it helped me choose layout. :) I love PTI ribbon. Love it. This Lemon Tart satin ribbon is one of the prettiest things I have in my craft room and there's a lot of stuff in there! The Mat Stack 3 die and All Booked up stamp provides a nice focal point and I got to use the anniversary set Round and Round for the circle! I love that All Booked Up and Round and Round coordinate so well together, the sentiments even fit! It's hard to tell in this picture but the rhinestones on the flowers are colored yellow with a Bic Mark It to match the ribbon. I added regular rhinestones along the rickrack edge and finished up just as the baby woke up! Talk about perfect timing! I think I will save this for when I want to give someone a little thank you gift card and slip it in the bag opening.

You can see all the entries on Nichole's blog. I doubt I will ever look at lunch sacks the same again!

Supplies - Stamps: Papertrey Ink All Booked Up, Round and Round

Ink: Stampin' Up! Old Olive, Palette Burnt Umber

Paper: Papertrey Ink Rustic White

Accessories: Papertrey Ink Rick Rack die, Mat Stack 3 die, Lemon Tart satin ribbon, rhinestones, Bic Mark It (yellow), pop dots, lunch sack

Summer Sunshine

We are having a great time here. We went on a little vacation with the kids last week. (Although, I so owe my parents a big thank you. I had NO idea how much work it was to take children on a trip and have more than meltdowns to remember. Mission accomplished, but wow.) And my sweet husband took off this week so we've just been kicking back with occasional small bursts of productivity. :)

I'm still on my stamping spending freeze. I didn't even look at the Hobby Lobby ad this week! But I'm still finding ways to spend money. I bought some fabric on our trip. Someone recommended The Stitch Lab in Austin to me and I'm so glad I went! They had fabulous cotton prints and a great selection of felt! I also picked up some pillowcases at the Crate and Barrell outlet for the fabric. I cut out a tank top already so maybe I'll make something before the Mayan Doomsday. (No, I do not believe the world is going to end Dec 21, 2012, but I love specifics, so a scheduled apocalypse cracks me up.)

Here's a simple card I've been wanting to make. It didn't come out exactly like I thought, but what does? The sun was made by cutting small strips of Summer Sunrise ribbon and notching the ends and then sewing an Orange Zest button over the the middle. Thanks for the idea, Alyssa! I love this Papertrey impression plate. So many fun possibilities. The sparkles are stickles. I have soooo many bottles of stickles and they've just been sitting there so I'm having fun using them again. This card is 15/50 on my freeze. :)

In other news, the baby just popped his 3rd tooth and he has two more on the way. He hasn't taken any steps yet, but he's climbing into the bathtub, into chairs, and onto book displays at Barnes and Noble so it's only a matter of time. He also figured out how to use a straw so, if you visit, hang onto your drink!

Supplies: Stamps - Papertrey Ink Scattered Showers
Ink - Memento Canteloupe
Paper - GinaK Pure Luxury White, Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue
Accessories - Papertrey Ink Summer Sunrise stitched ribbon, Stardust Stickles, Papertrey Ink Orange Zest button, Papertrey Ink Cloud Dies, Papertrey Ink Sunshine Impression Plate

Holy Awesome Blog Candy!

Wow! Amy at A Thousands Sheets of Paper is having FABULOUS blog candy! She's been tracking how long it would take her to cut into a thousand sheets of paper and she just did! I think I have a thousand bits of paper on my craft room floor, but that seems somehow less spectacular. To celebrate her milestone she is giving 200 sheets of 6x6 paper to 5 happy bloggers who spread the word about her candy plus she has some super awesome stamps to go with it. She even has some single stamps you can win even if you don't have a blog!

You should definitely check out Amy's art! She is an amazing colorist! (Colorer?) She has great tutorials as well. So, quick, get thee to A Thousand Sheets of Paper and enjoy!