A Little Bit of Flair

Good morning! Happy Friday!! I've got a busy, busy weekend ahead of me - not only do I have my normal homework/test cycle, but Monday starts my week for Growing in Unity and it's the first day of NaBloPoMo. I'm not up for NaNoWriMo - there's no way I could write 50,000 words in a month - but I think I can manage a blog post a day for 30 days. Anybody else up for the challenge?

So of course, being Friday, it's time for Friends With Flair! For a full list of participating peeps, check out the Unity blog - and don't forget...someone is hiding that blinkie. I'm still hoping I win those 25 stamps one of these weeks!

And speaking of stamps, did you guys SEE the new stamps?? Unity and Jillibean Soup! Now there's a cool combo!! I'm trying to figure out if I can maybe, just maybe, find a way to justify buying some of them.

So, my flair card today fulfills several challenges. I said it was a little bit, though, because it's only 4" square! First of all, it's for All Things Unity's paper piecing challenge. It's also my 2nd Hope You Can Cling To challenge card. Lori Craig's challenge was to "bring in the brown" - use brown with the pink for breast cancer. Done and done.

The Etsy Inspired Challenge shop this week is just downright gorgeous. Drool-worthy even. I already knew I was going to make a pink and brown card because of the challenge from HYCCT. But the style from the prints in Stelettoheights, and The Dream Thief in particular, lead me directly to some old Sugardrop paper from Memory Box. Yum!!

And lastly (I think...it's late and my brain is getting pretty fuzzy) it's Mojo Monday 162.So that's it for me. Enjoy the hop and have an awesome weekend! I should have pics to share next week of my youngest two all dressed up for Halloween. Then {ippity} on Monday and who knows how the rest of the week will go. You'll just have to come back and be surprised.

Green With Flair

Morning, Party Peeps!

If you're looking for my Taylored Expressions BFTP hop post, either scroll down to the next post or click here.

It's Friday and that means it's time for Friends with Flair. A full list of participants is at the Unity Blog. As always, somebody will be hiding a blinkie that will be worth 25 pieces of deeply-etched red Unity rubber to some lucky commenter.

If your name is Donnamarie and you're having a birthday on the 24th, don't look further unless you don't want to be surprised when you check your mail. Yes, this one is for you, my dear friend.

Today I'm following Unity Addicts Challenge #23 - monochromatic, with a teeny splash of some other bright colour. I think I managed. Not only that, but I'm pretty darned pleased with myself today! Because I'm not worried about winning the challenge (I have the set, so I don't want to put myself in the running to win), I'm doing Etsy Inspired, too. This week, the shop belongs to EICDT member, Kerry! It's called Capturing Creativity, and I'm sure it won't surprise anyone to know that I was inspired by this batch of green buttons.

Have a good one, everybody!!

Blasting from the Past - Christmas Style

I am *SOOOO* sorry! I somehow got it into my head that the 22nd was tomorrow. Saturday. I don't know how or why, but sometimes I am just that braindead. So as soon as I realized my error, which was less than an hour ago, I ran off to make a quick card. And stepped in the coffee I spilt this morning, which still hadn't fully dried (Resolve on the carpet to resist staining. I cleaned the desk, Cody cleaned the carpet. Wet socks are so nasty!)

Anyway! When I say quick, I mean quick. I made these two as part of a set to use as gift enclosures or for when you need a last minute Christmas card. Super simple!

Stamps Used: Christmas Blessings

I hope you like them. I will get it right next month. Sheesh!

H{ippity} H{op} Monday

I've got the Monday morning blahs today. No idea why. I think my mojo took a vacation.

I've got a quick little card that I made for All Things Unity's paper piecing challenge and for Tanis' Colors of Hope Challenge - it's one of the Hope You Can Cling To challenges to benefit UT MD Anderson Cancer Center.For a full list of hopping peeps, check out the {ippity} blog.

Sweet Friends With Flair

There is a story behind my card for today. Fairly late during Hip Hop yesterday, Julie came in to do her giveaway (go Rachel!!) and those of us who were left got to talking about Halloween cards. Well...Lisa and I had never made any before. The conclusion was that, obviously, Lisa and I needed to rectify that little situation. I hadn't decided what to do for FWF yet...so a Halloween card was in order! I'm trying to get done some of the WCMD challenges now that my crazy school week is over (I got an A for my class! WOOOHOOO!!!!!!!!!) so I pulled out the biggest of my Nestabilities Labels 8 to make it a shaped card. I went with the little candy corn tree as a nod to this week's Etsy Inspired shop, Lemon Kissed, which has really cute leaf earrings and this tree necklace.

That's all from me for now. Check out the Unity blog for a full list of Friends with Flair. I'm going to be working on challenge cards today - and then heading over to Splitcoaststampers Virtual Stamp Night forum at 6pm Eastern for the On Cloud 9 VSN mini! I hope to see you there!!

Exams Make Me Crazy!

When you take an accelerated course, you end up taking a final exam at the same time as a midterm. It's making me feel a little crazier than usual, that's for sure! Throw in a little stomach virus and things have gotten even more fun. Yes, I'm stretching the definition of "fun" today.

I made these two cards a little bit ago. They were both for challenges. The first one, I linked up via SCS. It was last week's Etsy Inspired, plus CAS75, which was to use dry embossing. All images on both cards are from Lizzie Anne Designs.
The second one, for LAD's weekly sketch challenge #144, I just totally spaced on. Oops. That's okay. I still like the card. I had a lot of fun with the distress ink technique I used for the background and I got to play with some of the crinkle ribbon that I hand-dyed.

Mom, if you're reading today, pretend to be surprised when this arrives in the mail!

Imagine All The People...

It just seems fitting to post this photo today, on what would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday. Yes, that's me in the middle, along with my friends Eve Ng and Cheryl Kellman. It was taken in May 2000.

Happy birthday John.

Peace.

One Layer FWF

Morning Peeps. Hope you've all had a good week. Things are crazy here, but with 5 kids, that's pretty much status quo. I have a final exam coming up early next week. I'm sure I'll be fine, but I always get nervous about such things.

Today I've got a one layer card for you. It's super simple. The only thing I'm not happy about is that I really thought I had some silver cording. I found some gold, but that...um...no. Not gonna work. Instead, I used a very thin ribbon. I may pick up some silver cording this weekend and change it out.

I noticed that All Things Unity has teamed up with Jennifer McQuire to do Cards for Kids, so I was on the lookout for card idea. I'd wanted to do a one-layer card for today's post, and for Kelly Mahany's WCMD challenge, so I was thinking up ideas on that when I came across the One-Layer Wednesday challenge. Uh oh...a new-to-me challenge. This week's is to add a metallic element to your card. As soon as I read that, everything came together.

I used the bicycle stamp and Smile sentiment from Everyday Adorable and embossed them with silver detail embossing powder. I still wish I'd had silver cording! I think it would have set the card off perfectly.

That's it for me today. Check out the full list of Friends With Flair on the Unity blog. I wonder who's hiding the blinkie this week.

H{ippity} Hop

Wowie, what a weekend! Surprise...it didn't go as planned. Whatever bug the girls so graciously shared with me knocked me for a loop and I ended up sleeping most of the time. I did get all of my homework done, including a quiz and a unit test - whew!

When I mentioned on Saturday that there were going to be a ton of challenges, I wasn't kidding! Unity and {ippity} have a whopping 23!! How's that for a bunch of potential prizes?? I thought I'd start off nice and easy with Maria's No Patterned Paper challenge.

Earlier, I was checking out the SCS Featured Stamper Challenge. Alimarbles is also a Gingersnapper, which is a really talented group of peeps, so I was particularly interested in playing along this week. As I was checking out her SCS gallery, I found the perfect card to CASE for Maria's challenge!

My card is also Etsy Inspired. The store for challenge #108 is Two Eggplants and these little soaps reminded me of the flower from the kit Now & Always.The changes I made for the CASE are colours, stamps and a slight layout change.

For a full list of H{ippity} Hop participants, check out the {ippity} blog. Have a great week!!

World Card Making Day

Hey there everyone out in Blogland! It's World Card Making Day and boy, is it a big celebration!! There are tons of card challenges and prizes to be won all over. I'm going to be doing my darnedest to participate in as many as possible. I'm also hoping that I can send as many of the cards I make as possible to either Operation Write Home or to the UT MD Cancer Center.

So get out there and have fun. Make lots of cards. Challenge yourself to try something new. Use those stamps you bought because you loved them, but have never touched. Use that patterned paper you've been hoarding. You'll be glad you did.

Friends with Ah-Ah-Achoo, I Mean Flair

TGIF. And TGI isn't raining any more! It was pretty intense around here yesterday! I've got a house full of sickies, myself included - probably just colds, but we're all kinda miserable. The girls will be off to the doctor this afternoon to make sure, and to get notes for missing school.

It's time for Friends With Flair....all participating peeps are listed on the Unity blog. Somebody will be hiding a blinkie that could be worth 25 random Unity stamps to you if you find it.

I have a little project I made a while back and totally forgot to blog! It's meant to hang on the wall at Christmas.

The star of this show is Christmas List, which is one of my oldest Unity stamps. I want to find some sort of chain to hang it with, after putting holes into the top corners. I've been assured that I will not crack the old cuttlebug plate I used as a backing if I use a crop-a-dile to punch through it. I'm just being a chicken about it.

Have a great weekend. Tomorrow is National Cardmaking Day, so there are all kinds of big happenings on SCS and all over the place. I'll be participating. Will you?

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.

H{ippity} Hop-a-doodle Do!

Yes, I'm in a silly mood. Sometimes I just can't help it, especially when I'm happy. VSN was so much fun this weekend! I am exhausted, but it was worth it! As of the time this post goes live, there will be 14 hours remaining for people to get their cards up and still be eligible for prizes. A master challenge thread is posted here, so if you didn't get a chance to catch it live, you still have time to play along with one or two challenges!

I overdid it again - which happens pretty much every time there's a VSN, and my back is very cranky today. I'll probably be moving a little slow all week. Thank goodness for ibuprofen is all I have to say.

So for today's {ippity} hop, I pulled out another stamp set I hadn't yet inked up. Yes, I know. I have too many of those, which is a situation I'm working hard to rectify. This one is Fishy Philosophy. I went with sleepyinseattle's salted background technique challenge from Saturday evening. This is a really fun technique! I used my Distress Ink pads and reinkers to get the ocean-y colours I was looking for.So, in addition to the VSN challenge and CPS sketch 182, this is also for EIC103. I used the fish on this cute little bracelet, which I'm tempted to order for one of my girls to set aside for Christmas. No, I'm not saying which daughter, since they sometimes read my blog.

And InStyle Stamps has their colour challenge for this month, based on this photo. Those drinks sure look cool and refreshing - just what we need, since the weather turned super hot again.
The {ippity} blog has a list of everyone participation today. Head on over for a full list. Check it out. There are some fantabulous peeps sharing their talent.

It's a Pink Friday

Hey everyone! It's Friends with Flair Friday and I'm feeling very pink today. As usual, check out the Unity blog for a full list of participants. Someone is hiding a blinkie that could net you 25 random Unity stamps.

Now, before we get to my card, I have a quick announcement. This weekend, starting tonight at 6pm, is VSN over at Splitcoaststampers! That is Virtual Stamp Night - a big gathering of people with challenges, chat and fun. There are prizes to be won for each challenge. You don't have to be present to win, but you do have to post your project no later than 10pm EST on Monday, Aug. 30 in order to be eligible. I will be there during most of the event, but my challenge time slot is 2pm on Saturday, so I will be at the keyboard, chatting away and answering any questions you may have during that hour. I hope to see you there!!

My card today uses another stamp set I hadn't gotten inky yet. It was one that had gotten packed away before our move. The box was unearthed last week (and the knights rejoiced!), much to my pleasure. I've rotated Jen del Muro's Sketch For You To Try and cracked open my Basic Grey Olivia paper. I just love this Donna Downey quote.I'm also entering this in the current All Things Unity challenge, to show your style. The only problem, really, is that my style changes as often as my mood. Isn't that a woman's prerogative??

TE Blast From the Past

Hey everybody!! It's time for another Taylored Expressions Blast From the Past Blog Hop!! If you've come here from my totally awesome friend Katie Cotton, than you are on the right track!! If not, head back over to the Taylored Expressions blog so you can start at the beginning and not miss a single thing!

This morning, I am finally getting my The Places You'll Go set inky. This is one of the first sets I bought - and the quote I'm using today is one of the reasons why. The other reason is this set is one of TE's The Giving Tree sets. I bought it during its three month period where $7 was donated to the Books for Kids Foundation. Anyone at all who knows me knows just how much I read - and how much I have passed my love of books on to my children. The sheer number of books in my house drives my mother up a tree.
For those who want to know, the current Giving Tree set is Pet's Place and it benefits the Humane Society. A new Giving Tree set will be out next month. I can hardly wait!!

Thanks for stopping by today. I am truly grateful and I love it when you leave a comment!!

H{ippity} Hop Beginnings

Good morning! It is bright and early here today and school has begun. DD#2, Hannah, is off to high school today. Wow.

This is the only picture in which I could get her to smile this morning. She was on her way out the door to head to the bus stop. DS#2 (Taylor) will have his first college class this evening, as he graduated high school in June. He and Cody (DS#1) will be attending the same community college that I do. They have 2 classes together, which I hope will help Cody.

Now for the real reason you've come to my blog today, since I know you don't really want to hear me brag about just how proud I am of my kids. Today is the weekly h{ippity} hop. A full list of participants is listed on the {ippity} blog.

My card this morning uses Get Sketchy #52 and JUGS 47, which is a colour challenge based on Cosmo Cricket's DeLovely paper (ooooh, I love this collection!) In honour of Hannah's first day of high school, I pulled out The Simple Things, using the sentiment "New Beginning." It's appropriate for so many different occasions. This is a gorgeous set. In this card, it's really girly, but the last time I used it, August 2, it was very CAS.I have one kit left in stock, but I'll be placing a new {ippity} order shortly, so if there are any {ippity} kits you've got your eye on, drop me a line and I'll hook you up!

Etsy Inspired #102 - Global Child Collection

Morning everybody! Ashley is deep in the middle of her move, so I told her I'd get a card together as soon as I got up this morning and post it for EIC102. This week's shop is a really fabulous Eco-friendly shop, the Global Child Collection. They're currently having a fundraiser with funds going to the National Wildlife Federation's Gulf Restoration Fund. How awesome is that?
I used the sun imagery from this nursery rhyme poster:
and the colours from these adorable little owls:and came up with this card. The sketch - because you know how much I love sketches! - is Jen del Muro's August 14 SFYTT.
Stop by the EtsyInspired blog to get the DT's links and see all the eye candy they have to share. Don't forget to hit Ashley's blog and leave her some extra love. Moving is tough - and she has two little ones, which really makes it a lot harder. BTDT...lost the t-shirt in a box somewhere.

Simply FWF

Ever have one of those days when nothing is working? My card today looks almost nothing like it started out. Well, except for the sketch (Get Sketchy #51) and the mushrooms (EIC#101: this apron) - but the colours and the papers? All different. So is the sentiment.
It's Friends With Flair Friday, so check out the Unity Blog for a full list of participants. Find the blinkie and you could win 25 random stamps.

My family is heading back to school on Monday. Things are about to get really crazy around here. It should be fun.

Thinking of Alice

Hey everyone. It's Friday, which means Friends With Flair time. I'm sorry I'm late getting this up this morning. For a full list of blog participants, check the Unity Blog. I had the blinkie last week. I wonder who is hiding it today...

Tomorrow is the Celebration of my friend Alice's life. It's been nearly 4 weeks since she passed away and it hasn't really gotten any easier. I'm looking forward to the memorial in some ways, but in others...it just makes everything that much more final. Some of us are working on knitting 12" squares to make into a blanket. It would have been for her, but will now be for her husband, Barry, in remembrance.

So I was thinking of Alice when I made my card today. I took the image from this bird pendant in this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge shop. The colours, dark brown, green & beige, are from the Play Date Cafe, Challenge 42. I also used Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #86.

Deets:
Stamps: {ippity} Because of You and Just Wanted to Say...
Ink: Unity burnt umber
Paper: beige SU, dk brown PTI, Basic Grey Origins

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Thank you for all the support you've given me the past month.

EtsyInspired Meets CPS

Hey everyone! Don't be too shocked, but here's my third post this week! With the Etsy Inspired Challenge's big 100 this week, I thought I'd try to make at least one card per day anyway, and today I have one that's kind of special. A week or so ago, Ashley asked if I might consider being the Featured Stamper over at the Creative Inspirations Paint blog at some point. Um, me? Featured?

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I babbled my acceptance. Well some point became this week! That meant I needed a project to show off those yummy paints. And since I'm all about the EIC this week, I looked there for inspiration. I saw this Soar pendant and it brought to mind the balloons cute little Jolinne is holding. I used the sketch from CPS #179, some Memory Box Jubilee dp and some pretty pink ribbon that I got from Kimme. I painted Jolinne's shoes and her sash with the same pink as the darker balloons, but it is over Copics, which gives it a slightly different shade.

I tell you, I need some more of this paint!

Another Early Birthday Card

Lately I've been trying really hard to use stamps (and other items) that have been sitting around unloved and unused. With that in mind, I thought I'd play along with one of the StampTV challenges from this weekend. It was a sketch challenge for a birthday card. No problem, Hannah's birthday is next month.

Since this week is Etsy Inspired Challenge's big 100th challenge party, I'm trying to make at least one card for that challenge every day. So I hit this week's shop, Cathy Walters, to see what I could find to use as inspiration. My first thought for Hannah was one of the Eiffel Tower pendants, but that didn't say birthday card to me. So I started looking at the colours in Cathy's creations and she has this pretty green and yellow sunflower pendant. Aha! Hannah loves green...and I have an almost full pack of Basic Grey Origins paper. I can work with that!

I took the Basic Grey, some SU Summer Sun and some Bazzil yellow for the texture, and GinaK's Best Friends stamp set, and added them to the sketch.
I'm also entering this card in Cute Card Thursday Challenge 124 - whateva. Cute Card Thursday requests that people enter their cards in no more than 5 challenges, including that one. I've entered this card in a total of 3, so I'm good to go!

Back again tomorrow!

{ippity} Do Dah

Good morning everybody! Guess what! Several weeks ago, I added my blog to the Stamping Top 50. It was sort of a lark, but I did kind of want to see how I rated. My first ranking was #773! As of the time I write, I am now at #496! I have broken the barrier into the ranks of those who are actually listed by blog name! Thank you to all who read and who comment, as it is because of you. I do treasure every comment I receive.

Okay, now that I'm done gushing for the day, it's H{ippity} Hop time! A full list of participants is listed on the {ippity} blog. The Design Team will have some previews of the new releases, which will go live on Thursday, August 12. I've seen them and you guys are gonna love 'em! Yes, I will have them all available to purchase, and I will have some specials going up on my {ippity} blog as soon as the new goodies arrive.

For now, I have a card with a stamp from the last release. It's called Books a'Flutter. When I saw this one, I just knew it would be a favourite! The ribbon and white butterfly are from the Caffinated Cropper kit With a Cherry on Top. Other supplies used are Neenah Classic Crest, Script & Swiss Dot Cuttlebug folders, Copic Markers, Weathered Wood Distress Ink, Nesties Labels 8 and Frosted Lace Stickles.Enjoy the rest of the hop and have a marvelous week.

Challenges this card is for:
Etsy Inspired #100: Inspired by this butterfly journal
All Things Unity #12: Back to School (we just bought college textbooks. OUCH!!)
This week's Sketch For You to Try (and Ashley is this month's guest DT!!)
Oh Alice, Chapter 25: make an all white card (with the exception of the main image)

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Random.Org has spoken...and the winner is #4.

DE!!! You are the winner!!

Please email send an email to jimmi.mayo at gmail dot com with your full name and address and let her know that you've won 25 random Unity stamps from the Flair blinkie on my blog!

TGIF and FWF

TGIF and that means it's time for Friends With Flair! You all know what that means, right? Yup, it means it's time to check out the Unity blog for a full list of participants and, as usual, someone is hiding that ever-elusive blinkie. Leave a comment on the blog where you find it and you'll be in the running to win some Unity rubber!

I think I've overdone it a little, between chatting on Hip Hop, stalking the Dare to Get Dirty Challenge Queen threads over at SCS, and all of the paperwork for getting myself and my two sons registered for the fall semester. It's weeks like this when I really wish they'd been diagnosed much sooner than they were so they'd had the benefits of early intervention. It just means we have to work that much harder now to deal with the Asperger's Syndrome they both have. The worst part, at least for Cody, is that I started asking doctors to help me figure out how to help him before he was 6 years old. He was not given a full diagnosis until he was 12.5, and even then, we were not given much help by way of treatment.

Anyway, I digress. I'm playing with challenges again this week. Surprise! The first challenge I worked with was All Things Unity, which was a sketch challenge this time. They have a great team over there and I need to remember to play along more often. Secondly, it's Etsy Inspired's 99th challenge. I chose this bingo hat at Becky Kazana's shop. I'm not entirely sure if this counts for the Play Date Cafe's Challenge this week. Does navy blue count as a neutral in cardmaking like it does in fashion? I just don't know.

The stamps I used (the bingo card and FUN) came from the very first Stampin' Store kit, 100% Happy. A few places may still have them in stock, including my LSS, but you might have to hunt for them. It's one of my most used kits.

I hope you like my card for today. I had fun putting it together. Oh, and remember what I said about that elusive blinkie? Guess what!

It's been hiding here all along. Leave a comment and I'll let random.org pick a winner. You have until I get up tomorrow (Saturday) to do it and be in the running, at which time I'll post the winner. Don't forget to check back to see if it's you!

{ippity} Day

Morning everyone! It's another {ippity} day. This is the last card I made for the Dare to Get Dirty challenges. I didn't get a chance to enter it and I needed 3 sketch cards, so I fell short by 4 of the 33 challenges, but I got a call last from a friend who was in need of company and, well, friends are more important than challenges.


The stitching stamp is from the Unity Stampin Store kotm and the sentiment is from the {ippity} set The Simple Things.

Check out the {ippity} blog for a full list of today's hop participants - and don't forget to wish Maria a very Happy Birthday!!