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!!

Blogging Two of My Challenge Cards

Happy Saturday! As a special request, I'm blogging the next two cards I've made for the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges. I do have them posted to my Splitcoaststampers Gallery, so I apologize to anyone who has seen them there.

This little orange card is going to be Holly's 12th birthday card. My main challenge will be in not misplacing it! Orange has been her favourite colour for years. It is starting to be supplanted by purple, but it hasn't been entirely replaced just yet. She did see it as I was making it and said she likes it much better in orange than she would have in purple. As far as a surprise, I think we'll be okay. She's lot like me. She'll have forgotten all about it by December!

Stamps: Our Craft Lounge - Anna Mae; GinaK - Wishes & Dreams
Ink: Versamark; Ranger Distress Ink - Rusty Hinge, Spiced Marmalade
Etc: Circle Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Embossing Folders - Swiss Dots, D'vine Swirl

For the fairy card, I challenged myself to see how many challenges I could accomplish in one card and not have it look like a train wreck. I think I accomplished that! Usually mixing this many patterned papers together makes me super nervous, but I think it came together. I did use papers from one line, so they were meant to coordinate.

The other thing I wanted to do was to use some of my new Creative Inspirations paint that Ashley sent to me to try out. Wowie, does this stuff go on so super smooth! The shimmer I got didn't photograph all that well, but believe me, it is seriously there in person. And don't you just love these Beautiful Day Fairies from Paper Makeup Stamps? I sure do!

Stamps: Paper Makeup Stamps - Kirsten
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Basic Grey Lemonade; PTI
ETC: Copic Markers, felt flowers, button, claret embossing powder

That's all from me for now. I've still got 13 challenges to go. I'm in the middle of another project and looking for the right ribbon. I've been through more boxes and I'm still missing my ribbon stash, a box full of paper, a box of stamps, and that illusive embroidery project.

Friends with Flair, Dirty Dozen Style

Good morning everyone!! Welcome to the last Friends with Flair for the month of July! Is it just me, or is this year just speeding by? To see a full list of participants, check out the Unity blog. I wonder who's hiding the blinkie this week...find it and you could win some Unity rubber!

I'm working on the Dare to Get Dirty challenges over at Splitcoast Stampers. There are 33 in all. Fortunately, you can combine challenges or I'd be in deep trouble! This is the first time I'm playing along with them, even though I've been an SCS fan club member for 2 years now. I don't know why I haven't done it before. Fortunately, I kind of got knocked over the head with it this time (read "somebody dared me to get them all done") so I'm giving it a shot. I may not make it, but I can try! I've got 16 done so far, with 3 cards.

This card adds 5 more DTGD challenges plus EIC98 (this headband), Create4fun #30 (use flowers), Creative Cottage Challenge 19 (Touchy Feely), Practical Scrappers (7 or more items - I used 8, not counting the copics, the ink and the adhesive), Gingersnap Creations #62 (use markers), and Pile it On #29 (Stretch that Plastic) to the table.

Supplies:

Stamp: May '09 KOTM ...another sweet day
Patterned paper: Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety
Cardstock: red -SU, green - PTI, white - Neenah
etc: Copics, button & ribbon from MFT, DMC floss, oval Nesties

Back on the H{ippity} Hop Trail

Good morning everyone! Good news and bad. The good news is that this card almost made itself. The bad news is that I still can't find my embroidery! I'm giving myself two more days. If I can't find it then, I'm off to the fabric store for some fresh muslin and more needles. I know where most of the floss and all the books are. It's just the project itself that is missing.

If you've just stumbled on my blog, I'm glad to see you! If you're looking for the H{ippity} Hop, a full list of participants is on the {ippity} blog.

Ashley talked me into checking out the Dare to Get Dirty 2010 Challenges, which are for Splitcoaststampers Fan Club members only. There are 33 of them! I'm not sure I'll get to all of them before August 1, but I managed to combine 2 of them in my H{ippity} Hop card, as well as the H{ippity} Hop challenge from last week, Hip Hop Sketch Challenge #17 and EIC98. This time I used this headband as my inspiration - and used the pretty yellow flower paper from Cosmo Cricket's DeLovely line.

Have I mentioned lately just how much I love the Etsy Inspired Challenge? No? Consider yourself reminded. It's awesome! Anyway...here's what I came up with.
BTW, I do have some {ippity} stamps in stock...I just don't know where they are yet. When I packed, I had one box of my personal {ippity} stamps and one box with all of the others. That box is still missing. So is my box of SU and another box of Unity. I know they're around here somewhere! If anyone says they're with my missing embroidery, I think I will have to scream - even if you're probably right.

Have a great week. I'll be back to sorting and unpacking, as well as taking son #2 up to the college to take his placement exams. Lucky me...

Avoiding Unpacking

I'm avoiding unpacking today. Yesterday, Alice's urn was delivered and her ashes were returned home. I spent the evening with Barry and a couple other friends just having dinner and talking about some of the things she used to do. It was a really good evening and we had a lot of laughs.

For those who might be wondering, before she was cremated, Barry had some of her brain tissue donated to CJD research in hopes that her death will serve a greater purpose. Alice would definitely have approved.

So, since I don't want to be completely useless, and since I finished the book I was reading, I decided to get a head start on this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge, as well as squeaking in under the wire for the All Things Unity challenge, which I've missed for several weeks running. EIC98's shop is called EmenGee Designs. In addition to these earrings, I was also inspired by several other yellow items in the shop. All Things Unity just asked for anything but a card.

A while back, I had started a series of ATCs. When we were packing, I found a spare blank that I'd apparently intended to have been a part of the series. Most of that series had had birds on it. I have some new Unity birds, so I pulled out the Samantha Walker kit, What a Hoot (available at your local or online stamp shop), and some of my trusty Distress Ink.
I did emboss both the owl and the sentiment, just to make cutting them out a little easier, as it's still kind of hard for me to do it myself, though my finger is probably only a week or two from being fully healed. I used Copic markers to add a little colour to the owl, who is stamped on Neenah Classic Crest. The background is Unity's Worn Music and the patterned paper is just some scrap origami paper I had lying around.

I've got a bazillion and one things to do tomorrow. If anybody has any clue where I've lost my embroidery, can you let me know? I'd really rather not start all over again...

Mojoless FWF

Hey there Friday peeps. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things and it's a little harder than I thought it would be. I'm getting there, though. Still doing a lot of sleeping. Yesterday's Hip Hop was a big help, as were all of the hugs and good wishes I got from everyone. Thank you guys!

So today is Friends With Flair and that means that someone is hiding the blinkie that will get some lucky commenter 25 random Unity stamps. Last week it was the All Things Unity blog. I wonder who has it this week? To see who all is participating in the hop, check out the Unity blog.

I'm having some serious mojo trouble, so I looked to a few challenges for this week's card. EtsyInspired #97 is a neat shop called Mermaid's Tears. I used the flowers from these earrings. I used the sketch from this week's 2 Sketches 4 You. Then I remembered that this week's Unity Addicts' Challenge was to use Unity flowers and to make them pop in some way....Crazy 4 Challenges wanted buttons this week. I can put the two together. Buttons will make my flowers pop! Got it.

Stamps are from Butterfly Garden(available at local stamp stores) and the June '09 KOTM, Perfect in Every Way.

Alice

1949-2010

One morning, in April of this year, my friend Alice Lohr woke up colour blind. She saw lots of doctors and endured many tests. They could find nothing wrong with her eyesight, even though she continued to have other sight-related issues, including difficulties with her peripheral vision and depth perception. Nothing showed up on any tests.

By mid-June she was having tremours, which the doctors thought were related to the prednisone she was taking for an unrelated condition. Things got worse and her mental acuity began to decline rapidly. By the end of the month, she could no longer walk, dress herself, feed herself, speak in sentences or see at all.

On July 7, she was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. On July 9, she had a feeding tube placed. She was transferred to hospice on July 12. She was attended daily by her husband and many friends the first couple days, until it was decided best to limit visitors due to her deteriorating status. The rate at which she declined was shocking.

Alice passed away peacefully on Sunday afternoon, July 18, with her husband, Barry, at her side.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is a horrible, nasty thing. There is so very little known about it as of yet. We need to learn more. So far, all we know is that it is untreatable, incurable, and always fatal.

Alice was good people. She has left a huge void in my world and my heart hurts.

Blog Hopping with Taylored Expressions

Hey there, everyone. It's been a little bit of time with no blogging. I've spent the past week visiting my friend Alice at the hospice and everything else was off my radar. I completely forgot I was supposed to participate in the Taylored Expressions Blast From the Past Blog Hop.

I pulled out Discover Your Wings again this month. CAS is all I can wrap my brain around and this set just seems to echo my mood. Besides, it's really pretty.
Ink and cardstock are SU. Patterned paper are Sugar Rush by Basic Grey. I used plain and scalloped oval Nestabilities. The colour comes from these earrings from this week's Etsy Inspired shop, Mermaid's Tears Jewelry.

Thanks for visiting. Remember to hug those you love.

Blog Candy Alert

Hey guys...quckie blog candy alert. The nice folks over at the Stamping Boutique Challenge Blog have got some serious candy up for grabs. It includes a set of 36, yes that is THIRTY-SIX, Copic Markers!! You have until July 18, which is a week from tomorrow, to enter. Click on the photo to get the the post with all the info.

Best of luck to all!

Multi-Challenge Friends With Flair

Hey there Friday Peeps! Thanks for all the lovely wishes last week. My finger is doing lots better and I;m adapting to funky tyoing. It;s not perfect, but I;m getting there! If I take it slow, it's much better, but if I let my brain get ahead of my fingers, it starts to look like a two year old did it and it;s pretty funny.

So, you guys know the routine. It;s time to celebrate Unity. To check out everyone participating, hit the Unity blog. Somebody will have a blinkie at the end of their post. Find it and leave a comment and you'll get a chance to win 25 random Unity stamps! With the quality of their deeply-etched red rubber, you want to win those stamps, so go find that blinkie!

Anywho...We;re still unpacking. It's gonna take us a while. But I'm kocating more and more of my supplies daily, many thanks to my daughters. My sons are helping, but they;re complaining greatly. And speaking of sons, today is my eldest's 20th birthday.

This is Cody at 6 months old.

This is Cody today.

Happy Birthday Cody!!!

And now for card stuff. Of course it's Esty Inspired. The shop is Kimmieprout and she sells the neatest handmade buttons. I sort of used this set, with its colours and the heart. And of course the inclusion of the button, which I tied off with embroidery floss. The big colour inspiration came from Color Throwdown's 100th challenge, regal rose, certainly celery, real red and baja breeze. The sketch is Mojo Monday #146.

And for the last of this week's challenges, Pile it On #26 is to use your favourite things. I think I well covered that one! First is my favourite challence, EIC. Then there is Unity stamps, my favourite colour (pickj), Distress inks, and embossing!
Meg, my 16yo, helped me by cutting out the flying heart. The card is for a dear fruend, who, night before last, I found ouyt has Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. I'm hoping she'll be able to feel the textires, since she's ksot msot of her vision already.

So, that's it fro, me today. Too much to do. Here's a pic of our front room as it stands...and all the boxes I have to figure out what to do with. You may now commence laughing.

I Hate Moving

Hi guys. I'd fullu intended to have a FWF post today. Discpvered that I can't quite manage to make anything unassisted y et. For those who haven't heard, I tri[[ed on the stairs helping to move the sofa to the base,ent last satirday and broke my right ring finger. Perfect ti,ing, right?

Anyway, even my styping is wonky/

This card hasn't been blogged yet, but I'll apologize if ypu've seen it on SCS. I made it last week before everythiung got packed up.