Friday, December 31, 2010

Last FWF of 2010

Happy New Year's Eve, party peeps! Welcome to the very last Friends With Flair of the year! Where on earth has this year gone? Has it been as crazy for you as it has been for me? Soooo much has happened this year, it just seems like I've barely blinked and the whole year has flown by. I wonder what's in store for all of us for 2011.

Unity has a special year-end sale going on. Some of the kits will be retiring, so if you're looking for any of the first year Kits-of-the-Month, get them now before they go away for good. I'll be picking up the only one I'm missing. Shh...don't tell The Spousal Unit, okay??
We just got back from a fantastic visit with my mom and step-dad in North Carolina. Jerry's (step-dad) birthday is this coming week, so I thought I'd make him a Unity birthday card. I pulled out the Samantha Walker/Unity co-branded kit Retro Road Trip and came up with this card, using CPS sketch #188, which I rotated.
That's all from me today. Time for you to hit the Unity blog to see who is participating today and to see if you can find the ever elusive blinkie. Someone who leaves a comment on the blog with the blinkie will win 25 Unity stamps.

All Things Unity will be back with a brand new challenge on January 9...and I'll be back tomorrow with my first official EtsyInspired post!!!

My deepest wish for all of you out there in blog land that 2011 will be the best year yet. May it bring you peace and joy.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Friends with Newsy Flair

Hey everyone!! It's Friday Friends with Flair and I have news! I am super-duper thrilled to be able to share that I am one of 4 new members of the design team for my favourite challenge!!! The official news is posted here on the EtsyInspired blog. Can you say "bouncing off the walls"??

So of course, my FWF project is EtsyInspired, right? I have new Unity/Bella Blvd stamps and this gorgeous necklace from Tzaddi Shop reminded me of one of the Bella Doilies. I pulled the sketch from this week's CAS97 challenge on SCS. It just seemed perfect for the Bella Doilies, so I went with it. I topped off my challenge trio with the Play Date Cafe's Challenge #60, black & white with a splash of yellow.Before I go, there are two things I'd like you to remember. First of all, of course check out the Unity blog for a full list of this week's participating peeps. Find the hidden blinkie, leave a comment, and you could win 25 random Unity stamps! Not bad for a little blurfing, eh?

Second, the All Things Unity challenge blog is in full swing and we'd love to have YOU participate! Full deets on the most recent challenge are here. What are you waiting for?

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

On The Rocks

My son, Cody, sent me this video months ago and I found out a few days ago that this group is on the show The Sing Off - which airs again tonight. I wish I'd caught the first few episodes, but you can bet I'll be watching tonight - and if they've made it through, I'll be voting for them.

On The Rocks is an a capella ensemble from the University of Oregon. I think they're pretty fantastic and this video went viral, so you may have already seen it. For those who have not, sit back and enjoy the ride.



BTW, I have some news, but I can't share it just yet...I'll post as soon as I can!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Taking Joy in All Things Unity

Hey there peeps. I'm back online after a few days taking care of my eldest daughter, Meagan. She had some pretty massive oral surgery on Thursday. It's not often that a 16yo needs her mother. Heck, with my own medical garbage, she often takes care of me, so you can bet that I was going to do anything and everything in my power for her.

Anyway, it's time for a brand new challenge at All Things Unity! For Challenge #21, we're looking towards Christmas and we'd like you to design anything but a card.

I made a little flap-lid gift box, decorated with some Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses dp and stamps from the Unity/Jillibean Soup kit 'Tis the Season for Joy. I used Copic atyou Spica markers to colour in the Joy stamp and make it sparkle. Somebody in my family will be receiving a little giftie in this for Christmas and I'm not saying who!!
Now go check out what the rest of the team has made - and when you're done, hit All Things Unity to enter your own new Unity or {ippity} creation! You have two weeks, until December 25, to enter!

My project is also for Allsorts week 82, last minute Christmas.

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Paper Makeup December Fan Blog Hop

Zoinks, is it December 7 already? Where is this year going???

If you're coming here from Christi T's blog, then you're in the right spot. I'll have a full list of all participants at the bottom, just in case you get lost, but if you'd like to start at the beginning, head on over to the Paper Makeup Stamps blog. You can get all the deets about prizes there, too.

The project I have today is something I made quite some time ago, but I really love it, and haven't shared it here yet. I used a template from My Time Made Easy, for the Cutesy Cover (it's a freeby, too!) and the PMS set Caffeine Trip, which I just adore! The box holds a set of the little notecards.Remember to leave comments...I don't know where Katie's going to be choosing the prize-winners from. Now it's time to head on over to Shaela's blog.

Monday, December 06, 2010

CAS-tastic H{ippity} Hop

Good morning, peeps! How are you this fine Monday? Ready to h{ippity} hop your way to seeing some fantabuliciousness? Yup, I'm makin' up words today. I'm just feeling that good. I did not make the team for the CAS challenge at SCS, but I did get one of the guest spots. In fact, I got the first spot, which is TODAY! The challenge is Ways to Use It: Bows.

Of course I had to see if there were any other challenges I could incorporate and EtsyInspired #117 was the first place I went looking. Check out this wordy birdy from this week's shop, Paper Seeds. Doesn't he make a great inspiration piece? The word bird stamp comes from the {ippity} kit Sing a New Song. I used Tim Holtz's technique of making my own stamp pad (shown here, among other places). I didn't do it as well as he does, but I don't think I did too badly for my first time! I wish I'd had a better green to use, but it turns out my bottle of bundled sage is really tumbled glass!The colours I used came from Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge #32, red & green, which is also the challenge this week over at Elephantastic. The layout started out as the sketch from FTL119, over at Clean & Simple Stamping, but it sort of morphed a little bit.

I have one of each of the two {ippity} kits I used in stock at the moment. They are currently $15 each, plus shipping.

Head on over to the {ippity} blog and see what this week's challenge is. There's a prize attached, and we all like the chance to win, right? Then check out the rest of the participating blogs, because there's another prize to be won and we won't know which blog it's from until Thursday!

Hope you all have a great day!!

Friday, December 03, 2010

I Love FWF

Good morning everyone! Sheesh, but I can't type today. I hope I catch all the typos I'm bound to make. It only took me 4 tries to properly spell "everyone" - dyslexia of the fingers. Would that be dysgraphia? Anyway...it's Friday, so that means it's time for Friends with Flair at Unity! Yesterday we hopped until we dropped. For some of us, that was pretty darned literal!

So today I have a CAS card for OWH. They're taking Valentine's Day cards through December 7th. I went with the Play Date Cafe's colour challenge #58 and used *only* red and white, which is fine with me. I think it's a super fresh combination. Love it! Then I checked out this week's EtsyInspired Challenge #116, Heartsong. Check out this pretty wire hanging. Wouldn't that be lovely in any room of the house? The word Love has a heart in it. Hmm...so does the word Love in a certain stamp I know...Got it. I know what to do for my card!
Oh! Almost forgot. The flower is for this week's CAS challenge (CAS95) on SCS. It's a "ways to use it challenge" calling for flower accents.

I'm just a bundle of acronyms again, aren't I?

Be sure to check out the Unity blog for a full list of participating peeps. Remember, somebody is hiding the blinkie. Find it, leave a comment, and you could win some Unity rubber - and that's always a Good Thing™.

Thursday, December 02, 2010

Joy

I thought I'd post another challenge card. It was made mostly for the CAS Winter DT challenge, which was an inspiration challenge. I chose a very pretty ornament to be inspired by. But you guys know me...if I can find a way to work in multiple challenges - without ruining the design, I'll do it.So without further ado, here are the challenges I managed to include:
Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge #31: use a bow - I tried a couple different ribbons...liked this one best
GingerloftChallenges #7: bows (see above)
Tuesday Throwdown #27: embellish it - I pulled out the crystals
Stampavie and more #119: snow - I used my Snowflakes embossing folder
The Crafty Pad #99: snowflakes (see above)
Alphabet Challenge - E: E for Embossing - I went both ways this time
and lastly
Creative Cottage said no traditional Christmas Colours, Alvin!! Okay, Dave!

Wish me luck. This was Round 3 of the DT Search and the results will be posted Friday night. Oh - and finals are next week. YIKES!!!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Hopping with Anya

Hey there, peeps! It's time Hop into the Holidays with The Greeting Farm and I've got sweet little Elf Anya here to say hi. I think she's darling and so fun to colour!

Now, if you're just coming to my blog because you like me, thanks bunches! But if you want to see the hop, you'll want to go back to the beginning here. Full deets and a list of all participants, in case you get lost along the way, are also listed at the TGF blog.

I won't keep you, because there are a lot of people to visit, so here's my card for the "Santa, Baby" challenge. I hope you like it!
I used the sketch from StampTV (STVSKSP4) and this painting for the EtsyInspired Challenge #116 (the deer.)

Monday, November 29, 2010

Homework...

Today is a homework kind of day. I've been on the sofa with a heating pad and ibuprofen, just doing homework today. Little bit of dozing off, but it didn't seem quite as bad - maybe because I slept most of the weekend.

Tomorrow is the big "Hoppin' into the Holidays" Blog Hop with The Greeting Farm. I'll be participating. It all gets started on the TGF blog at 7pm CST. See you then!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

ATU20 - Make a Tag

It's time for tags over at All Things Unity and I thought I'd play around with one of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas - Unity Style! I took Tim's Day 7 tag from 2009 and, with almost all of the same basic supplies, turned it into a Unity tag. Instead of Tim's stamps, I used the snowman and sentiment from Jolly Good Fun, the snowflakes from Snowflakes Fall From Heaven, the swirl from Imagine It and Worn Music.

Check out the other DT member's blogs to see what fun tags they made. We hope you play along, too! You have until Saturday, December 11 at 11:59pm - just be sure to use your Unity or {ippity} stamps! Smiley from millan.net

Cathy
Lynn
Sara (on break due to injury)
Savannah

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Happy Dance

I've been waiting all day to find out if I made it to round 3 for the Design Team search for the Clean & Simple Cards Challenge DT over on Splitcoaststampers. The good news is that I did!! I've tried out before and made it to round 2, but never made it to round 3. Now, there is still one more round of competition with another card to make, and I'm up against a lot of talent, but considering everything, I'm extremely thrilled to have made it this far.

For round 2, we were to make a CAS card for a family member. The caveat? It had to have that member's title on the front of the card, so it needed to say Mom/Mother, Grandmother, Dad, or whichever member of the family you chose. Oy. It turns out I don't have much to choose from in that area.
Fortunately, GinaK came to the rescue with Friends are Forever and Not Forgotten. I actually think this card works for either Valentine's Day or Mother's Day. The technique is a variation on one I've done before, and GinaK has a lovely tutorial on StampTV.

I used two different inks on the stems, because I didn't have the green I wanted. I first inked them up with Unity's Viridian Green and then went back over the top with Distress Ink Shabby Shutters. The combination gave me exactly the look I was going for. Oh, and I started out with a yellow card base and a completely different patterned paper, but this is what happens sometimes when a card starts talking to me in the middle of things!

Friday, November 26, 2010

FWF Writes Home

Hey guys. As I mentioned a few days ago, my thyroid function is off and I keep falling asleep any time I sit still for more than a few minutes. This is Not A Good Thing™.

Anyway, quick post here for Friends With Flair. Full deets of all participants over on the Unity blog. Massive (and I do mean massive!) sale at Unity this weekend. Check it out. You'll be super glad you did. It includes some of the brand new Bella Blvd co-branded stamps. They are super cute!!My card for today is another Valentine's Day card for Operation Write Home. They're trying to collect 4000 Valentines by December 1. Archway Cookies will match cookies for cards to send to the troops. As of Thanksgiving Day, they were up to 3305 cards!
I used Be Owl Mine and some fun Basic Grey paper. I even decorated the inside.

Don't forget, you can vote here every day between now and Dec. 4 for OWH to win $50,000.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Missing Magnolia

Hey everyone. If you're coming here from Barb's blog, thank you. To start at the beginning, go to Magnolia-licious Christmas All Year Long.

Ever have one of those days? I made my card for this hop ages ago - like before the October Magnolia-licious Christmas hop. I put it in safe place. Can we see where this is going? I thought I'd take a picture the night before and write my post...easy peasy. Except I spent most of yesterday working on a *huge* homework assignment, all the while dozing off every 20 minutes or so. Today was much of the same, just with more sleeping. I will be very glad when my thyroid is working properly again, that's for sure. This whole falling asleep constantly thing is really getting old. It's been going on for weeks.

So here's the image I'd coloured and scanned in to ask if it was usable, because I was worried about smearing around her cheeks. So there she is, poor Tilda is missing her card. If anyone knows where it is, please tell me! I sure as heck don't know what I did with it.

From here, hop on over to Cheryl's fantastic blog. I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

On Feeling Old

I had a audiology exam last week. I hadn't had one in a while, and with the spousal unit retiring in a few months, we've been trying to make sure we have everything poked, prodded, tested and taken care of before the big change from active duty Tricare to the unknown of retiree medicine. One of the things that needed taking care of was new hearing aids for me.

Yes, I am a 41yo who wears hearing aids. I've worn them since I was 25. I can get by without them, but I sometimes misunderstand what people say, or I ask "what?" more than is socially acceptable. Most people don't know I have a hearing problem unless I tell them because I cover pretty well, but my hearing loss, which is officially in the "mild to moderate" range, is at its worst smack dab at normal speaking tone frequencies. If there is any sort of background noise going on, or if the person to whom I am speaking doesn't enunciate, I'm completely sunk.

I have an appointment at 10:30 to be fitted for the new aids. I'm looking forward to seeing what advances have been made since my last pair, which were made in 1998. I'm seriously overdue!

I had to have more blood work done on Monday. My doctor called back within hours. That's never a good sign. It turns out my thyroid function is off again, even though I take medication for it - and have for 10 years. I take a prescription Vitamin D supplement, too. I got another call this afternoon letting me know that my supplement isn't enough and I need to go back on the super-mega-doses. Well, okay. I can do that.

There are definitely days when I feel old. I have fibromyalgia and 2 degenerating discs. On bad days, I walk with a cane. Heck, there are some days when I can barely walk at all. But you know what? It could be worse. It could be a lot worse.

I just watched Jennifer Grey win Dancing With the Stars. She danced with a torn ligament in her knee and, during her last 2 dances, a ruptured disc. What? Mind-boggling. She inspired me to make this card, using stamps from the Unity/Melody Ross kit Brave Girl Boots.Oh, and for those of you who have seen this post over on the Spellbinders blog? Can we say "bouncing off the walls"? I'll be posting some blog candy here soon. I don't know exactly what will be in it, there will be some Unity and probably {ippity}. I'm pretty sure there will be a couple other stamp companies represented too. I can definitely guarantee that it's going be the biggest blog candy I've ever offered. Oh, and yeah, I'm gonna make you work for it.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

It's an EtsyInspired DT Call!

Oooh!! My favourite challenge is having a DT Call!! The EtsyInspired Challenge is having a DT call. The call is open until December 10th and the term runs from January 1 through June 30. You can bet I'll be trying out! Will you?

Monday, November 22, 2010

H{ippity} Hop Scraplings

Good morning! I am up way too late playing with stamps. Ever have one of those days where you started making one thing and ended up taking a left turn somewhere around Jupiter? I'm not really sure what happened to my original card, but it is nowhere to be found. Instead, I ended up with 3 scraplings. There would have been more, but I had to make myself stop so I could go to bed!

One thing I really like about {ippity}/Unity stamps is how well the different kits coordinate with each other. I used the star from Authentic Man from the last release, 3 different sentiments and the flower from how YOU doin' ( how many people hear Joey Lawrence when you hear the name of that one, because I know I do!), and the cute little hat from Party Hat Wishes. I have all three kits in stock. If you're interested, just drop me a line. I'm EtsyInspired today. I went with a flower motif for the third scrapling because of the yummy looking Daisy cookies.

Be sure to stop by the {ippity} blog to see who's got eye candy to share. Don't forget to leave comments. A random winner will be chosen from one of the participating blogs' comments, including those of the design team. The lucky winner, and the prize, will be announced on Thursday during Hip Hop.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Sunday Post

I was asked whether or not I was continuing to use the hanging system for my Unity wood slides. I had shown a photo of those on Hip Hop this past Thursday, so hadn't posted them here, but for those who missed it, here they are - except for the overflow, since I ran out of room on my Rubber Racks. The top 3 racks were made by Unity, but do not appear to have been added to the new website. The bottom-most hanger came from Ikea, and I took half the slides off, because it was sagging too much.
I mentioned briefly that I had gotten something special in the mail. I have a very dear friend who lives in San Antonio. Her name is Bobbi and on Friday I got a very sweet card in the mail along with a hand-knit fall leaf. I immediately hung the leaf up where I can look at every time I sit at my desk and think of her.
I met Bobbi when my kids were very tiny. Bobbi used to be the owner of The Yarn Barn of San Antonio, which is where a lot of my money and time was spent. I was exceedingly fortunate in that Bobbi became a friend, and I consider her a mentor as well. I don't get to see her nearly as often as I would like, but she does come up here for MD Sheep & Wool festival - in part because one of her daughters lives in the DC area, which is quite lucky for me! She is a truly a dear and gracious lady.

I've got one card to share today before I sign off. There's a DT Search going on over at the Splitcoaststampers CAS Challenge and I made a card for the first round tryouts. The parametres were to use ribbon and some sort of bling to make a card with a decorative theme. I went with Christmas, since I need more cards to send out.
I made it to round two! I'll post that card at the end of the week, when the round is over. See you in the morning for the H{ippity} Hop!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Dis-organizational Saturday

I'm taking a page out of Patter's life and making an attempt at organizing my stamping area. Right now, it's kind of a mess. I know that once it's fully organized, I'll be a lot more productive.

Believe it or not, this is much better than it started out today. I tend to pull everything down and basically destroy a room before I put it back together, so if you look at it right now, it's in the "destroy it all" phase. I've also been making quite a few cards lately, so you can see the results on my desk, from where I've pulled things out and not put them all back yet. It'll get better. It has to, right? I'd say it can't get much worse, but it was quite a bit worse earlier this morning.

So for those who have been wondering about what my creative space looks like, here you go. Be prepared. It's not pretty.

First we have a wide view of my desk. This is where I sit to chat, watch tv, create...whatever. This was my desk at Deloache Chocolate. When we closed, I hadn't had a paycheck in 6 months. My desk, and several of the other things you'll see in my room, like the chair and the storage bins underneath the desk, were part of what I got in lieu of back pay. The desk is huge, but I like it. The bottom two bins on the left currently house wood mounted stamps from all companies other than Stampin' Up and all of my non-Unity cling stamps that don't have a home in binders. Those on the right are varied - but the middle one has things like embossing powder and what were my newest Unity stamps before we moved.
My cuttlebug actually sits on a small bookshelf that matches the desk. It butts up against one side, and I can reach it when my back doesn't hurt. Otherwise I get up and walk around. The shelves house stamps from Taylored Expressions, GinaK, Paper Makeup Stamps, Our Craft Lounge and Paper Pretties. It will also be housing a few others as soon as I get some more storage panels. The binders to the left (still in the plastic) are empty.On the bookshelves, which are some of the Skandia shelves we bought at the Container Store years and years ago, are my original Unity storage. These boxes also have my first stamps from PMS and the Greeting Farm. Next are the Scraponizers, where the Unity Kits of the Month are stored, along with GinaK StampTV kits and Taylored Expressions Key Ingredients kits. I've got some of the larger Unity kits, such as the scrapbook kits and the Stampin' Store kits stored in Scraponizers as well. I will probably move the cardstock from both GinaK and Taylored Expressions out of these containers and into the next photo, which I am just beginning to get organized... ...courtesy of Kimme, where I got the idea to do this with all of my cardstock, and it is making things so much easier! Thanks, Kimme!!So, that's the beginnings of my organization. I'm getting there. Someday, I will be truly organized - and then I'll really get all kinds of things accomplished. Of course, my mom may have heart failure, because she's been waiting for me to get it done for years.

Edit: I was asked about the hanging system. You can't see it in any of these photos, but it's above the desk holding the Unity wood slides, as well as some other things. And I need a new pic of it, since I got something special in the mail...new photo to come.

Friday, November 19, 2010

FWF - Short Post

Short post from me today. Migraine hit with a vengeance. I'm not sure if it's new medication, stress or if it's weather related, but my head has been all kinds of cranky lately.

Anyway, usual stuff for a Friday - all the deets are here on the Unity blog.
Sketch is Unity Sketch Challenge #34, stamps are one of the new co-branded Jillibean Soup sets, Jolly Good Fun.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Thankful Blast From the Past

Morning everyone! It's another Taylored Expressions Blast From the Past Blog Hop and I've got a very CAS card today. I'm using some nice fall colours and stamps from two sets, Discover Your Wings and CreativiTEA. I've also used the scalloped eyelet border die on some paper from the Blackbird collection from Memory Box. The sketch is an older one from Clean & Simple Stamping, FTL105.
That's all from me today. Have a great one!!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

OWH Blog Candy Winner

Rhonda Miller said...

What a cute card. That doggie just looks so happy. I love Stampin Up.





Rhonda Miller
come on down!!
You are the winner of my Operation Write Home
blog candy!!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Penguins are the Cat's Pajamas

I think penguins are just the cutest things ever - and penguin stamps are among my favs, so when I saw these cute little guys at The Cat's Pajamas, I went nuts. I had a really hard time choosing just one set. Okay, so I did buy two sets, but the other one I bought was a sheep, and that's entirely different!

I'd been waiting for the perfect opportunity to ink them up and VSN was it. I was hosting my own challenge, which was to make a Christmas card without using any red or green at all - a concept that some people had a hard time with. It's sort of like asking Lee to make a card without using pink. It can be done, but it takes some doing.

In addition to my own challenge, I took on the sketch from TCP Tuesday 134, because you guys know how much I love sketch challenges!
TCP stamps are clear acrylic - and something pretty cool about that is that you can often bend or smoosh them if you need to. My sentiment was already curved, but not quite curved enough to fit into my die cut. With a rubber stamp, it never would have fit, but with the acrylic, I was able to maneouver the arc so that it was shaped perfectly.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Enjoy the H{ippity} Ride

Hey everyone! How was the OWH hop this weekend? That was pretty inspirational, don't you think? Lots of blog candy to be won, too. You still have time to enter mine, as well.

Today, though, it's time for another h{ippity} hop, and we're closing in on release day! Only three more days and the sneaks have started on the {ippity} blog. There are some really cute new stamps coming and I've got some on order. I'll have some specials if you want to order through me, including a bundle package if you want the entire release!

My card for today uses Authentic Man. I'm finally getting it inky. Head over to the {ippity} blog for a full list of today's hop participants and to find out the deets on the release challenges.

Challenges for this card:
EtsyInspired 114: Happy Day Designs - this bracelet
CAS93: sketch
Nancy's VSN: blue & white

Sunday, November 14, 2010

ATU Leaves Me in Stitches

For the OWH Valentine's blog hop, please scroll down.

This is my second challenge as guest DT for All Things Unity and this time around, it's a colour challenge. Red, brown and orange are required, with yellow being optional. Basically, it's a nice fall colour palette, perfect for this time of the year.

I've been one of the hostesses for this round of VSN, so I've been trying to participate in some of the other challenges. One that jumped out at me was Jimmi's. She challenged us to make a card about another activity that puts us on Cloud 9. I've been sewing ever since I finally talked my grandmother into teaching me how. I even wore out my first sewing machine!!
The Unity/Cosmo Cricket co-branded stamp set Material Girl was perfect for this. I overstamped the orange die-cut layer in Burnt Umber with the {ippity} stamp A Bit of Burlap to tone it down just a hair. The layout is Mojo Monday 164.

I hope you can all play along with us at All Things Unity! You have until Midnight EST on November 27, 2010.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Hopping For Operation Write Home

Hey there!! If you are coming from PaperAddict Catherine, then you are in the right place today!! We are hopping in support of Operation Write Home, which is a fantastic organization that not only sends cards of gratitude to encourage our nation's armed forces, but also sends blank greeting cards so that they may send cards home to their loved ones.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, and would like to start the blog at the top, head here to OWH Stars & Stamps to get started.

Now, if you'd like to become involved, that would be fantastic! But - the Christmas deadline has already passed, so they're asking for Valentine's Day cards. Yes, already. It takes a while for the wheels to turn and for cards to get to OWH and then out to our troops. It's not like heading to Hallmark or even just down to Michaels to pick up supplies and then sending your card to Aunt Bertha in Toledo. It takes a lot of time and effort on the part of everyone behind OWH - and in fact, if you can find it in your hearts to do so, please go vote daily at JoAnn Fabrics Craft For A Cause. It would really help.

The deadline for OWH to receive Valentine's Day cards is January 7, 2011 - so it'll be here sooner than you think.
I used the sketch for Our Craft Lounge DT Sketch Challenge #39 and the colours from Color Throwdown #118, and Toni's VSN challenge to use a line art image and silver for Optimism. I don't know much that is more optimistic than Valentine's Day - except maybe a new baby!

I've got a little blog candy to offer. Please leave a comment and tell me your favourite stamp company. If you'd like to become a follower, I won't complain.
Next on your trip is Giselle at Cross My Heart Papercrafts. Have a great day!!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Throwing Down for FWF

Hey everyone!! That was a pretty awesome Hip Hop, wasn't it? And did you see the new Echo Park stamps?? If you've got little boys, they are a must! I'm still considering them, even though my boys are grown, because I've still got a lot of scrapping to do from their earlier years and I think those stamps would be perfect.

Anyway, it's Friday and that means Friends With Flair! To see who's participating this week, check out the Unity Blog. Somebody has a blinkie that could win you 25 random Unity stamps just for leaving a comment.

My card this morning uses Hip Hop Sketch Challenge #33, posted by Jimmi yesterday and the colours from Color Throwdown #118. I substituted some Prismatics cardstock in the closest red I could find, since I don't own any cherry cobbler. I think it works. Then I pulled out a set I won off Hip Hop several weeks ago...Brave Girl Boots, which I just adore! I think the sentiment just says pretty much everything that Melody Ross tries to get across in all that she does.
Other challenges this card is for:
Anything Goes: Emboss it - I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder
Paper Pretties: embossing - the stamp is also heat embossed
Cute Card Thursday: anything goes
EtsyInspired: Putu Princess Escapes - the colours in this shirt

Have an awesome day - and I hope to see you all this evening on the VSN forum at Splitcoaststampers starting at 6pm. We start off with my challenge...wonder what it could be...

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Christmas Inchies

I have a few things that I have on my list of things to do. Getting a few inchies sent out is one of them that has been on that list for a long time. As you can see, only one of these is white. The box of white inchies is still missing, but I came across the box of black inchies today, so thought I'd see what would happen if I stamped with metallic ink.

With the snowflakes, I embossed them with holographic embossing powder. I like the added sparkle. As for the trees, they were pretty blah until I painted them with Creative Inspirations paints. The ornament inchie was done quite some time ago. It was well before we moved in June.
Other Deets:
Stamps: Snowflakes - a Muse
trees and ornaments - Karen Lockhart
Ink: ColorBox Silver & Pheasant Gold,
Memento Tuxedo Black & Distress Ink Shabby Shutters
etc: Copic markers, Spica glitter pens, stickles

I'll be back tomorrow for Friends With Flair!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Day 10 of NaBloPoMo

So far, so good, although this one is cutting it super close to the edge. I'll add the photo of my card in a few minutes, as if I wait too long, I won't make it by midnight and I'll mess up the whole month.

I had to finish a pretty hefty homework assignment first, since, well, priorities and all that. I'd hoped that the Play Date Cafe challenge would be up, but it isn't, so I'm sticking with Clean & Simple Stamping's FTL115.
The stamps came from Taylored Expressions Summer Afternoon and Discover Your Wings. Ink is various ColorBox, mostly pigment and one chalk, stamped onto GinaK Pure Luxury white layering weight. The base is Prismatics.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Growing in Unity Winner

Random.org first selected day 4 for me to choose from. So I went to day 4, where there were 18 comments. Random.org selected lucky number 12!

Elisabeth, from Everyday Matters, that's YOU!!

E-mail Eryn (at Unity dot com) and she'll get you all set up for your prize.

Thank you to everyone for the fabulous comments all week long.

Monday, November 08, 2010

H{ippity} Hop Goes CAS

Good morning everyone! Thank you so much for the good wishes on my stupid back problem. I really don't like it when it flips out on me. It's a little better so far this morning. Still cranky, but I can move, so I'll take it.

It's Monday, so that means it's time for a h{ippity} hop. I'm taking it Clean and Simple this morning, with a sketch from CAS89 on SCS. I thought the colours from the Play Date Cafe would work beautifully, so here they are again.
This is the first time I've ever done any piercing on a card, so it's definitely not perfect. I'm going to have to work on this a bit. A template would be good. This was free-hand. I used {ippity}'s YOU Deserve.

Hop on over to the {ippity} blog to see a full list of participating peeps.

Sunday, November 07, 2010

Kid Pics

Hey guys. I have a ton to do this week. More doctors and dentist appointments, plus both boys have appointments with Disability Support Services at the college. Oh, and a test in Principles of Accounting 2. So...since my back is still misbehaving a bit, instead of a card for today, I thought I'd put up some pics from Hannah's homecoming and a pic of Holly from Halloween. These are kind of for my mom and for friends who say I never send them pictures. Well, here they are. Plus, I'm proud of my kids, and most of the time they don't like their pictures taken anymore.

Here's Holly, all dressed up as a kitty cat. She was very generous with her candy loot this year. She shared some of it with each of us, since she was the only one to go Trick-or-treating.
This is Hannah and her friend getting ready to leave the house before the Homecoming dance.
The next photo is of Hannah and her friend Madison. Madison used to live around the block from us when we first moved to MD. Hannah lost track of her but they've become Facebook friends, and Hannah is thrilled. Madison attends a different high school, but came to the Homecoming dance as a guest (ahem) so they got to hang out a little. She's grown into a very lovely young lady.
Here you can see the necklace that Hannah got from "Crystal" - one of Aunt Liz's horses. Hannah wears it whenever she has a special occasion.
And here is the whole gang, post dance.. I think it's a great shot.
I hope you've enjoyed this quick little peek. I do love my kids. See you all tomorrow morning for the H{ippity} Hop!