Happy H{ippity} Hop!

Good morning Peeps! How is everybody doing today? I don't usually play along with the h{ippity} hop challenge, but this last one was to take any sketch you could find on SCS and make an {ippity} card with that.

WHAT???

Did Eryn create this challenge just for me??

Well, I had about a basquillion things to do this week, including that midterm and a unit test - both of which I did better than I expected in - Hurray!! - and getting asked at the last minute to come help with some card making for some of the local troops. I couldn't very well turn that down, now, could I? I mean, come on. The spousal unit has been serving for almost 24 years. 'Nuff said.

So tonight, after getting the things I could do done, I thought I'd knock out a quick card before bed, since tomorrow is a big, nasty dentist appointment and I won't be in any shape to do much of anything afterward. The only way I get through a dentist appt is valium. I wish I were kidding.

I picked SC148, in part because I'd never made a card with a single layer base. It also seemed like a good candidate for a stamped background layer. I pulled out two more {ippity} sets that hadn't been inked up yet, as I'm still on my quest to use every one of my stamps. I chose Quotes A 'La Happy for the sentiment and Bitty Pixie Paisley for the background, using both the small and large paisley stamps and Versamark ink for a subtle look. The paper is from the Prismatics line, the ribbon from Taylored Expressions and the ink is Ranger Distress Ink in Fired Brick.

That's it from me today. For a full list of participating peeps, check out the {ippity} blog. Have a fantastic day!

Birthday Chloe

Quick post to go with a little challenge card. She's for Operation Write Home's Birthday Bash. InStyle Stamps hosted a challenge specifically for them. I CASE'd Taylor Usry's card, because I thought it was so cute. No bling, because it makes it difficult to mail from overseas. I also changed the colours a bit and used some paper from Basic Grey's Cupcake collection, since it was so fitting.

Of course I can never resist playing along with Etsy Inspired. Challenge 107's shop is called indigotwin, where I found this cute little mouse carrying a present. Adorable little guy, isn't he?
Bday Chloe is a digistamp from InStyle Stamps. You'll be seeing more of those from me. I have printer ink again! Woohoo!! The birthday sentiment is from Paper Makeup Stamps' Birthday Cheer set, which was designed by the super awesome Shaela Odd. It's a really versatile set to have and stamps from PMS are very high quality. Service from both companies mentioned is tops!

That's all from me for now. I've got several cards I want to get done (and you might get to see them in a couple weeks...cross your fingers for me, 'kay?) plus more homework. So far, so good in that area. Best semester I've had in ages.

Catch you later peeps!

I Adore Friends With Flair

It's Friends with Flair Friday. Unity crashed Facebook yesterday. Well, I don't know for sure that it was the Unity peeps, but I do know that all of us fans of both Unity and {ippity} were not only chatting on Splitcoaststampers, but also on Facebook, as the official peeps were doing some big giveaways, and at one point, the whole thing went down for nearly an hour. Oops?

We had a good time chatting, as usual. We ended up talking a lot about the 80s. There's a scary thought for you! How many of us were teenagers during that particular decade? Yes, I had two-toned hair. I owned, and wore, a pair of parachute pants in junior high. Mostly, though, I was a band geek. Maybe someday I'll post some old pics and let you guys get a great big chuckle.

Back to business. For a full list of participants, check out the Unity blog. Someone will be hiding the blinkie. Find it and leave a comment. You might win some Unity rubber!

I'm working on trying to refine my style. We aren't discussing Tuesday's card, which I still think is way too busy, although I'm happy with the colouring. Let's just forget that one ever happened, shall we? I'm also working on trying to use stamps that haven't been getting any love. The two in this card are both from the first Stampin' Store kit, from Aug '09, 100% Happy. The Queen's Ink, which is my local shop, still has a few in stock.

There are a few challenges represented. First is the Clean & Simple Cards challenge from SCS. CAS85 is to use kraft, brown, vanilla & red. It was optional to use orange.

Next is Etsy Inspired. EIC106 is Pegasus Maiden. The swirl of the outer stamp reminds me of the shape of many of the headpieces in the shop, as do the feathery bits at the top.

The Friday Fun Challenge (Hi Kimme!) is to use flowers in your card. I've got little teeny flowers in there, which I highlighted with Spica markers to make them sparkle.

I don't think I forgot any, but I won't guarantee it. I'll double check my notes after my dr's appt. They're kinda buried under the mess on my desk. I always make a huge mess when I create - and then clean it up after.

Oh!! My midterm!! 131/150, or 87.33%. I was so afraid I was going to get a C and I came out with a high B. Thanks for the support!!

I knew there were a couple others. Flourishes Bring Back Beautiful Challenge #2 is Rustic Beauty. I don't have any Flourishes stamps (yet!) but I think this Unity flourish is pretty rustic, as well as gorgeous. I was totally going for an autumn feel - which is Creative Card Crew's challenge!

Hope you all have a great one! (btw, dr's appt was fine. It was just a check-up, plus I got a flu shot. Ow!)

Blasting in on Wings of Joy

I am so happy today! It's the 21st, which means it's Blast from the Past time at Taylored Expressions! This is such a fun blog hop!
I used Sankari's fantastic sketch this month. I've been trying to get a few Christmas cards done every month, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to pull out Wings of Joy and some Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses. I was going to do a solid colour for the word "Joy" but I remembered that Katie Cotton had issued a challenge over on the Color Me Creative Classroom to include feathering in your image. I'm so glad I did! I think it worked out quite nicely.

I'm not going to be my usual chatterbox today, since there are 39 people on the hop today and I'm sure you're going to want to take the time to see every one of them!

Thank you for all of your sweet comments. They really do make my day.

Oh! And if you've got a spare thought, I'm taking a midterm around the time this goes live, so any awesome grades energy would be greatly appreciated! I'm a tad nervous. Thanks everyone!!

Throwing Down for H{ippity} Hop

Hey there Peeps! How's it going this lovely Monday morning? It's time for another h{ippity} hop. All participants, including the {ippity} design team, are listed on the {ippity} blog.

I'm hitting a couple challenges this morning. The first is this week's Color Throwdown, #110. How could I resist Pink Pirouette, Basic Gray (I keep wanting to type "grey") and Rich Razzleberry? Those are 2 of my favourite colours in the SU lineup - and I'm so glad they were brought back!

Of course I'm Etsy Inspired. The shop for challenge 106 is super-duper awesome. I could go hog wild in Pegasus Maiden's store, buying hair accessories, particularly for Hannah, who is the one of my three girls who would love them. I was inspired by her whole section of butterflies. Aren't they just so pretty?

And lastly, I'm playing along with Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper Challenge #189. This week's stamper is Kristen, aka eberlinek, and I chose this card to CASE. As you can see, I changed the colours, the, butterfly stamps and the sentiment. I also embossed my stamps and used Copic C7 on the body of the butterflies.The butterflies are from the {ippity} kit Now and Always and the sentiment is from YOU Deserve.

Have an awesome day because, as Melody Ross would say, you are a Brave Girl and you do deserve the best!

A Muse Calendars for Charley

Hey guys...I read about this on Wednesday and, well, let me explain. A Muse releases a calendar for personalization every year. Each year, they use the proceeds for charity. This year, the Calendar Project is all about something new called Charley's Fund. When I read the back story on this, I almost couldn't breathe. You see, 15 years ago my son, Taylor, who was 3 at the time, had a strep infection attack his kidneys. We didn't even know he was sick. He just suddenly started urinating blood.

He was under the care of a nephrologist (kidney doctor) for 18 months. Today, he is perfectly healthy. But it could so easily have gone the other way. I'd never heard of strep doing anything other than giving someone a throat infection. But it does, and Taylor had post-strep glomerulonephritis.

We were lucky.

My heart breaks for Charley's family. The least I can do is to help build a swingset for her school by purchasing the A Muse calendars. I hope you will too.

Calendar inspiration here.

Dreaming of Inspired FWF

Buenos dias, peeps. Time for Friends with Flair. I promise I'm awake this week. I'm even ahead on homework! How cool am I today? As per usual, to get the full deets, check out the Unity blog. Somebody is hiding a blinkie that could be worth 25 stamps to you.

I've got a CAS card today that is Etsy Inspired. I took my inspiration from this pillow. Go with me on this one. First we have the pinks, but that's not really it. It's the paisley shape. I saw this paper from Basic Grey's Olivia collection and it just reminded me of the paisley.

Yes, I have a strange mind. This should not be a surprise to anyone.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

An {ippity} Send Off

Good morning! It's h{ippity} hop Monday, and today is kind of bittersweet for all of us {ippity} chicks. Michelle is leaving Unity and {ippity} and today is her last day! While we are all SOOO sad to see her go, we wish her the absolute very best in this new stage of her life.

The sketch is CPS184. I pulled out Right Where You Should Be, as I thought this sentiment was perfect for Michelle. I paper pieced the leaves with the October Afternoon paper, which I do have in stock, although it's not up on my {ippity} site. A list of all hoppers is on the {ippity} blog. Happy Birthday to both {ippity} Guest Designer Stephanie Muzzlin and my daughter Hannah!

Retro Flair

Wow. It has been a week! I'm getting back into the swing of school again. I'm really enjoying it so far, but I'm definitely having to work at it. I got a 96 on my first unit test, so I'm pleased.

Today, of course, is Friends With Flair day for Unity. A full list of participating peeps is over at the Unity blog. Somebody will be hiding the Flair blinkie - and that means 25 random Unity stamps are at stake! Find the blinkie, leave a comment on that blog, and you could win!

I am still on my mission to play with all of my unused rubber, so I pulled out Going Retro. I got this one when it was released - and then it got packed away. Yeah...no good there! So I pulled it out and went CAS with a sketch challenge from StampTV.
I may come back later and do the "gussied up" version, too, as I've got some Basic Grey paper that I think would be perfect. I have a couple other things I need to get to first - like homework and some special cards.

Have a great weekend! Around here, we'll be having a slumber party for DD#2's 14th birthday! That's Hannah, for those who are keeping track.

H{ippity} Hoppity

Good morning Peeps!! The desktop is much happier today. Firefox is successfully reinstalled and working properly. Hurray!!!

It's Monday, which means it's time for your weekly h{ippity} hop. The DT is first, followed by all of us {ippity} geeks, er, fans. For a full list of participants, check out the {ippity} blog.

Today I have a card that uses stamps from two sets. The butterfly and the leaf are from Now & Always. The birthday sentiment is from Just Wanted to Say. The card uses Unscripted Sketches #71, a new-to-me sketch challenge.
Here's a close-up of the butterfly, which is stamped with Unity's Moulin Rouge hybrid ink and then painted with Creative Inspirations Paints in Tutu Pink and Tickled Pink. I really love these paints!! I hope you can see the shimmer in them.
Have a great day! I'll be back later this week with more to look at.

A Whole Latte Coffee

Hey everyone! My desktop is still down for the count. I'm still not exactly sure what happened, but I may have run into a malicious website, since it seems to be fine - unless I try to open up Firefox. As soon as Firefox tries to restore the previous session, everything locks up. I've tried reinstalling over the old version, uninstalling and reinstalling...and now I've completely removed all evidence of Firefox from my system. Yes, the spousal unit made me do it myself, while standing over my shoulder and telling me what to type in, since when it comes to registry information, I'm fairly clueless.

Anyway, I took a little time to play around with a few challenges. First off is this week's Color Throwdown #108- Kraft, So Saffron, and Chocolate Chip. Next, I thought I'd check out a couple of the Splitcoaststampers challenges. The first one was one I've not done before. It's called the Featured Stamper Challenge. A stamper is chosen each week and the challenge is to CASE one of his or her cards. This week it is BobbiesGirl, whose name happens to be Carol. I chose this card of hers to CASE. I went close enough to her card to also do CAS82 - to be inspired by the word "delicious."
And of course, I had to go with my absolute favourite challenge. Anyone wanna guess? You get three chances and the first 2 don't count, because of course it's Etsy Inspired! This week, the shop is Glamasaurus - and let me tell you, this is one shop I do not dare
share with my daughters, particularly the younger two. They would want half the shop! I took my final inspiration from this plate of cookies. How did I get my card from a plate of cookies? Well, in part, the colours. I can see Kraft and...er, chocolate chip... there. But also, when I see cookies, I don't want a big glass of milk. I want a triple venti skim caramel macchiato!!

Other challenges this card is for:
The Shabby Tea Room #25 - Old Meets New: The sentiment is from my one of my very first GinaK sets, bought app 18 months ago. The Starbucks stamp is a brand new gift from my friend Jen!
A Crafty Little Place #54 - Anything Goes
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #99 - Clean & Simple
All Things Unity - What's Your Flavour: um, am I getting closer? still simple and I think it's kinda cute...and well, heck. Coffee is ALWAYS my flavour!!!

Finally FWF!

Well, welcome, finally, to my FWF post! It has been one heck of a day. Two, really, since the desktop was misbehaving all day yesterday, too. I thought I had it all fixed and taken care of after a system restore. WRONG!!!!

I woke up to a blue screen of death. Um...what?? I can't get my shiny new photo uploaded to my blog if I can't get it onto the computer from the camera!! Holy moly, what am I gonna do?? Well, been working behind the scenes here. Deleted some new software I'd installed for one of my classes this semester. Ran scandisk, did some other safe mode stuff, "let" the spousal unit have at it for a while....ran a virus scan....watched some Clean House....tried to get back on the desktop - and it locked up. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Reboot. Make sure NOTHING opens. Cross fingers tightly and open Photoshop. Amazingly, I get the picture uploaded. And saved. Open googletalk. So far so good. Open Firefox so I can go post to the blog....system failure. Ctrl/alt/del does nothing. Wait a few to see if anything responds....still nothing. Another hard reboot. This time all I opened was an explorer window, just long enough to copy the photo file to a thumb drive.

For my card, I used Clean & Simple Stamping - Fall to Layout 104. Paper is Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety and the stamp is from Unity's matching Garden Variety kit, which is currently available in stores only. All Things Unity is still asking for us to show our style. I think this one is closer to what I usually come up with. I call it "cute and simple."For a full list of participants, check out the Unity blog. I've already seen some of the fantastic projects the peeps are showing today. And don't forget about the blinkie! It's out there somewhere!

Getting Buggy for VSN

VSN is over and the winners have been (mostly) chosen. As usual, that was the hardest part for me. Some of my top choices had already been picked for honours by other hostesses, so they were knocked out of the running automatically. In a way, that makes things a little easier, because I have fewer great cards to choose from, but on the other hand, sometimes my absolute favourite cards become unavailable for me to choose.

There were a good half dozen cards I wanted for first place and another several I wanted as runner ups, though. Alas, I was limited to one each. They'll be posted on the main VSN page as soon as all the hostesses have chosen their winners.

The following is my challenge, as it was written on SCS:

Written originally as a poem by Katharine Lee Bates in 1895, and set to music composed in 1892 by Samual Ward for a 1600's hymn, America the Beautiful was was first published in the combined form we know today in 1910. The first stanza is the most widely known, not counting the chorus, and it is what my challenge is based upon.

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!

My challenge for you is to make a card using the colours AMBER and PURPLE. You may use small amounts of white and one other neutral (such as black ink for line image stamping), but please make amber and purple your main colours.

If you'd really like to go for it, the last verse contains the line "Thine alabaster cities gleam" - which calls to mind the translucency of vellum, but this is not completely necessary. That's just for those who feel like an additional challenge.

I'm pretty happy with how mine came out, although I've been thinking about going back and adding vellum to the bees' wings. I've had this Buggy Sayings set from Paper Makeup Stamps for a while now. I got it from Ashley (thank you!!) maybe a year ago? I've used the butterfly from it, but not the bees or this sentiment.The patterned paper is SU's Razzleberry Lemonade, which I really like a lot. Solids are Rich Razzleberry and Crushed Curry. The bees are painted with twinkling H2Os, which do shimmer, but I don't think they're quite as shimmery as Creative Inspirations paints. I think the CI paints are thicker and smoother, too.

This was also my card for Jen del Muro's July 31 SFYTT, which I'm relinking to here instead of my SCS gallery.