HHH - Way late!

I'm so sorry this is way late. I had an appointment at the clinic this morning and they ended up doing a bunch of x-rays on my knees in addition to the ones on my ankle. I haven't got the results yet. My guess is that it's just a fibromyalgia flare, but my doctor wanted to make sure there wasn't anything else going on.

First, let me point you to the Unity blog, where Angela is showing sneak previews of the June Kit of the Month. It's going to be another stunner. If you really want crazy, check out the Unity forum on Splitcoast Stampers. Each Monday, Wednesday and Friday through June 25, there will be a choice of 3 images from which to vote. Once all 20 images are chosen (today is the 7th round of 3), a kit will be released containing those images. We, the customers, are in charge of this one! How awesome is that??

For this week's sales, go here. All unmounted kits are reduced through Sunday.

Today's card came from a combination of places. I really like the Clean & Simple challenges on Splitcoast Stampers. This one is CAS #15, which was to use white, black and only one from Stampin' Up!'s Bright Bold's colour line. I chose Glorious Green, which isn't one I tend to use often, but it just so happens that Kristen put up the latest YSHLUA challenge, which was to use white, black and green - and no embellishments. How fitting!
Both the sentiment and the image are from the April Kit of the Month, Fresh Beginnings.

I'll be back later with an Etsy Inspired card. Ta for now!

Heroes - Hip Hop Hangover

Yesterday the Unity DT talked a lot about heroes. Heroes come in many forms. My original intent was to make this post about my mother. She really is a hero to me for many reason, not the least of which being that she raised me on her own, often without hearing a word from my dad for years at a time - and she never said a bad word about him. I know now that she could have, but she didn't want to tarnish him in my eyes. I truly admire her for that, as I know just how difficult that was for her.

However, I've been going through a seriously rough patch lately and this is for my friends. You guys right now are my heroes. Some of you have known me for many years, but those of you whom I've met through Unity, have known me for only a few months - and yet you have held me up and are continuing to do so as I work through the struggles with two Asperger's teenagers, several deaths among friends and family, the potential deployment of my husband and the added stress of failing a class in the middle of it all. Ky (who has plenty to worry about but won't let any of us worry about her), Shannon (our stressed-out idol), Ashley (who is heavily pregnant and dealing with way too much stress), Kristen (who needs a job and a house of her own), Val (who is dealing with the deployment of her own husband), Jacquie (who's just been diagnosed with Grave's Disease), Tonya (I don't even know where to start), Sherry (who recently lost her mom), Jimmi, Jen B, Christi (another who's DH has deployed), Linsey (who always writes the sweetest, most supportive comments), Lee (whose smileys bring joy and laughter to everyone) and the rest from Unity - because I know I'm leaving out more than I can keep up with; my dear friend Jenny (who is always by my side even if she's physically in England), Donna (who is my sister in every way but blood and who has been through more deployments than I can count - not to mention cancer and a bunch of other stuff she'd shoot me for mentioning - but she'd darned well better know I love her to pieces!), Shel, Opal, all of the Sept96 Moms - I do not know what I would do without you guys.

And also to Angela, Eryn, Brooke, Christian, Gus, Bro-man, Tommy T and the Unity gang for bringing us all together and for everything you do.

This card is for all of you.

Deets:
Stamps: Unity Tree (Growing in Unity)
Friends for Life (August KOTM - Remember Happiness)
Cardstock: SU! Kraft & Baja Breeze
Ink: Ranger Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Etc: Cropodile, eyelets

Thank you all for being the best friends a girl could have. Even with all that each of you struggle with, you are still there for me.
That's why you are my heroes.

Unity Kit of the Month Blog Hop!

If you got here from The Bunny Nest then you're in the right spot! Isn't Ky fantastic? She's not only creative and wise (see her post from May 4), but a wonderful friend to boot. If you didn't come from Ky's blog, click on the banner at the top of this post to go to the Unity blog and start at the beginning. You won't want to miss any of the fabulous projects from the 100 peeps who are participating this weekend.

To be honest, I haven't had a lot of mojo lately. I did, however, have enough to create this ATC and I used 2 different Kits of the Month. The butterflies and the Celebrate sentiment came from April's Fresh Beginnings and "splendor" is half of Autumn splendor from September's kit Friendship. Love. Miracles.
The butterfy flowers are individually inked with Brilliance dew drops. The stems are a Colorbox catseye pigment ink. Using the pointed ends of the pads enabled me to get different colours into the little spaces. I then embossed them with clear detail powder. The sentiments are embossed with Judikins Galaxy and the background is Plum Blossom Twinkling H2O's.

Word to the wise - don't try to emboss something when your Twinkling H2O's aren't quite dry.

Now head on over to see Vickilyn and see what goodies she has to share this weekend!

Etsy Inspired #35 - Bealoo

Hi all. I decided to push the mojo a little and make an attempt at Etsy Inspired #35. This week the shop is the totally adorable Bealoo. This is a collective of moms making the cutest artwork. The colours are bright and fun.

For my colours, I was inspired by Bella Butterfly. Isn't she just darling? I also chose to play off the garden theme that runs throughout several other pieces on the Bealoo site.Bella Butterfly

This is the card I came up with. Both the snail and the sentiment are from Queen Kat Designs.

Deets: All stamps QKD
Cardstock - Lovely Lilac, Yoyo Yellow, Neenah Solar White
DP - Basic Grey Ferver (Euphoria collection)
Ink - Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue, Memento Rich Cocoa
Etc - Copic Markers, Sky Blue atyou Spica, Nestabilities

Blog Candy at Victoria Case

Victoria Case is offering some adorable blog candy. Don't go, cuz I want it! Or go, but if you win, at least send me some images of the stamps, because they are ca-ute!! How have I missed these before?
I'll be back later, I hope, with an Etsy Inspired card. The mojo is in short supply this week. At least the orthodontist thing went fairly well. Meg looks adorable with her turquoise bands. Lucky girl is having either 4 or 6 teeth pulled on the 28th, depending on whether or not the oral surgeon can do her bottom wisdom teeth at the same time. She'll get her bottom braces put on after that. Taylor will get his braces started next month and Hannah will follow shortly thereafter. Can we say "broke"? I knew that you could. Holly still has a dental appointment to reschedule, as she had some kind of middle school orientation/tour today. Good times.

Stressy HHH

Hi guys. Can I just say that I hate dentists? I'm sorry if you're a dentist. I don't hate them personally, but shudder! And that's where we're going this morning. This time we're just going to discuss finances and options for the children and orthodontia. Times 4.

Unity is scrapbooking this week. I wish I had a scrapbook page to share, but I have not been on the ball this week. Colour me stressed out. There are a bunch of scrapping stamps and kits on sale here and with the code SCRAP, you can get an extra 10% off all orders over $15.

I made these cute little pins for my friends at Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival last weekend. They're from the Love Ewe stamp, but I masked out the baby sheep. Two of them are on translucent polyshrink. I bought some white after I made them and really like the way the white sheep looks. I made them into pins using pin backs I picked up at Michael's.

Hope you like them as much as I do. Catch you guys later.

Congrats Ashley!!!

I just have to post because I am so proud of my friend!

Unity had their One Year birthday this past week and they hosted a week full of challenges. One of them was the Unity Celebration Inspiration Challenge, hosted by Maren. It was to create something inspired by one of the cakes from this flickr set.

My sweet friend, Ashley, of HeartHugs Designs, won!!!

This is her project. She actually made a card-cake. It's amazing, truly, and I am SOOO happy that she won!

If you go her blog, she tells how she created it. The cutie on top is her son, aka Sponge-Brady No-pants.

Ashley, you rock!

New Sorority in Town

I know I don't post much about other stamp companies. I love Unity so much that sometimes I start to feel like I'm cheating on Angela when I use other companies' stamps! However, this is something I do intend to remedy and tonight is a great time to add to the variety.

This is from the Whimsical Ink Sorority blog:
So, you wanna become a sorority sister? Would you also like to win prizes? Then you're in the right place. We've got some special things happening this week. The Whimsical Ink Sorority was founded by Queen Kat Designs. We have elected a very awesome Chapter President Maigan Lynn to head up the art for the Sorority and we have a house filled with special sisters to take the art and turn it into cards, scrapbook pages and things!

So, since I'm already a member of Queen Kat's Royal Kit Club, you can bet I'll be joining the Sorority. Who wants to join me?

Blast From the Past

This is going to be short, but I just had to share. An old friend had been trying to catch me all weekend, but I was out at the Howard County fairgrounds (post to come), so I missed him. Well, this morning, I found out why he'd been looking for me.

His mom was cleaning out photo albums to scan and came across a very old newspaper clipping. In reading it, somehow I think that Randy's comments were paraphrased just a little. I do wonder what happened to several of these people, including Brady Mitchell, who had been my partner for the several years prior. He'd graduated from high school by 1984 and was no longer eligible for Jr League bowling.

I remember how exhilarated we were. And how tired and sore I was. Oddly, that's pretty much how I feel today, except that instead of having a sore shoulder and right thumb, my legs and back hurt from walking so much this weekend.

To Randy, wherever you are. I hope life has treated you well. And to Jimmy, thanks for the memories.

Etsy Inspired #33 - Opalescence

Hi everyone. If you're looking for the Hip Hop Hangover post, check the one below this.

This week, for Etsy Inspired #33, Ashley chose the Etsy shop of a very dear friend of mine from Hawaii, Opal. Her shop is called Opalescence. On it she sells hand-beaded stitch markers for knitting, necklaces and bracelets and some gorgeous hand-spun yarn. Now, she'll tell you that I taught her to spin. I'm not completely sure on that one, but she is definitely responsible for teaching me to bead. She isn't responsible for how long it's been since I've touched my beading tools, so don't laugh too much at my project for this week!

I chose these stitch markers to be inspired by. They reminded me immediately of one of the very first stamps I bought from Unity, from the set Love is Toxic.

I turned the stitch markers into earrings, using shrink plastic, and then made a box for them.

I showed them to Meagan and they've received the teenager stamp of approval. I think I've achieved my goal.
Don't forget to check out Ashley's blog to see what everyone else was inspired to create - and definitely go see Opal's shop. She is one talented wahine.

Hip Hop Birthday Hangover!

Before I say anything else, I want to wish Unity Stamps a VERY

Happy Birthday!!!!

Yesterday's Hip Hop was pretty amazing. The design team has been giving sneak peeks of the new May Kit of the Month, which is being released today. It is adorable!

The past week has been on the rough side for me, so I haven't gotten much done. I do want to thank everyone for being so supportive. It really means a lot to me.

I completed this first card for Viva Las VSN last Saturday. It was for the challenge I hostessed, Cirque du Soleil - Love. The idea was to be inspired by any of the songs on the soundtrack to the Love show. Let me tell you, there are some hugely talented people on Splitcoast Stampers. Just check out the gallery for the challenge. I chose to use Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds as my inspiration.

The other card I have to share today is from Unity's "1" Happy Unity challenge, which was to make a one layer birthday card. Considering how mojoless I feel, it came out far better than I expected. It's very sparkly in person. I used Copic atyou Spica markers to colour in the cupcakes.

Stamp Deets for both cards: All Unity
1, 2, 3, 4 Thousand Cupcake Calories!
Celebrate - April KOTM
Lollipop Trees - April KOTM

That's all from me for now. I'll have an Etsy-inspired project to post later today.

Aunt Jo

Mom called me yesterday. Aunt Jo died of pneumonia. I'm supposed to be glad that she isn't suffering and that she's with her brothers and sister, her son and her infant daughter. I'm sorry, but I'm just mad and sad.

I took this picture at the hotel in Batesville at breakfast, the day before Nanny's funeral. My cousin, Aaron, had some smiley face stickers. Aunt Jo stuck one on her nose. I'm really going to miss her.

Etsy Inspired #32

Hey there, peeps! I'm back.

I'm playing along with Ashley's Etsy Inspired challenge #32. This week, the shop is Angel Face Designs.

This is the item from which I took my inspiration.
Since I've been on a theme kick for the Etsy challenges, I decided to stick with my theme and do another ATC. I wanted to make the background look like sand. I used the same technique as the last two times, but a different type of card-stock, and it gave me exactly the texture I wanted. The image is from Unity's Beach Days & Sun Rays set.

Hip Hop EarthDay Hangover

Good morning - I think!! Does it still count for morning? Or is this like "it's 5:00 somewhere?"

In any case what a week this has been! Crazy work and I don't even want to think about school. Somehow Unity makes it all better. If you haven't seen the specials for this week, check here. As usual, Angela has gone all out and there are some amazing deals - including free shipping for orders over $20. Several stamps are 40% off and there's even a groovy new release.

Unity is gearing up for their first birthday this coming week!! Starting on Monday and running through May 1 - something's going to be up, but I don't know what yet. I just know there's going to be a celebration and you can bet I don't want to miss out!

I only finished one new project this week and it'll be a birthday card for someone who likes pink and bling. No, not me and not Ashley. It's the lovely http://www.luvleestamper.blogspot.com/! Her birthday was on Tuesday! Happy birthday Lee!!

I used a Copic technique for inking directly on stamps and then using the colourless blending solution to create a watercolour effect. This is not a technique that I'd really used, other than during certification. I learned a little more this time around. For instance, text-weight paper is not a good choice, but will work if you are as stubborn as a mule. So children, there is your lesson for the day.


The butterfly flowers are from April's KOTM {fresh beginnings}. I know I say it every month, but the kits of the month are really, truly awesome. They have something for everyone.

I have an Etsy-inspired project and something to take care of for the VSN-mini, which is tomorrow folks! Be there!

Just a quickie...

A couple quick things tonight.

First of all, my friend Shannon is still in the running for MFT Idol. Please go vote on the My Favorite Things forum at Splitcoast Stampers here. Her one layer card is awesome. She's blogged all the deets, too, including close-ups.

Second, I actually managed another layout! As I mentioned a week ago, another good friend, Kristen is Guest designer for Scrappy Sunday at Papercraft Planet through the end of this month, so I'm making a valiant effort at completing each challenge. This is the one from last week, which I completed on Saturday.

The photo was taken at the hospital June 12, 1992, the morning after Taylor was born. Cody was 23 months old. That's my mom holding Taylor next to his big brother.

Stamps: Unity - Just My Type
Sentiment from March KOTM "Simple Life"
Worn Grid

Just for comparison, here is what the boys look like now. These photos were taken Saturday, April 18, 2009.Taylor, age 16 yrs 10 mos

Cody, age 18 yrs 9 mos
Meagan, age 15 yrs

Hop Hip Hangover - exhaustion style

I can't even type straight this morning. I was going to fix that, and then I decided to let you guys giggle at my expense. The kitten kept waking me up last night. One of these days we will have kitten fricassee.

I managed to get absolutely nothing done yesterday - except for writing two letters and getting some swaps to the post office. I'd thought the spousal unit was going to make the post office run, but he got caught up at work, so I did it myself.

The Unity DT is celebrating mothers this week. I can't tell you how much more it made me miss my mom. I miss her every day already and really wish we lived closer together. To help celebrate, there are three different bundle packs available, several neat stamps for 20% off - and a code for 15% off your entire order. To get the details, visit the Unity blog. The specials run through Sunday, April 19.

The only challenge I did this week was CAS10, which was to make a monochromatic card. I needed a thank you card to send with one of the packages I was sending out, so I made this card using the Tea Time Pattern background and one of the sentiments from Simply Said.

I liked it so much, I made another one, this time in black & white, for another one swap partner. I changed the placement of the sentiment slightly. I really like how they both came out. This may become my standard thank you card.
With that, I am off to work for a bit. I need to check phone messages and email - and turn on Big Red so the chocolate will be ready to work with next week. It takes a while for 60 kilos of chocolate to heat up to 126 degrees. Yes, I said 60 kilos. That's a lot of chocolate - and you would not believe how good it smells!

Have a great weekend!

Etsy Inspired #31

Good morning, everyone! I'm participating in Ashley's Etsy Inspired challenge again, and this week the featured shop is Make Mine Mud. That is one inspiring shop! These photos are only two of the items that made my brain tick. I had to reel it in just a bit, actually! There is a pink mug on the site that I think is just beautiful, but I didn't want to link pics of everything! You'll just have to go visit and take a look for yourself!














I thought that since I did an ATC last week, I would do another in the same style and have a somewhat matching pair. The stamp is from Unity's Be Owl Mine. The flowers reminded me of the mosaic tiles Melissa sells in her Etsy shop. The background is Adirondack alcohol inks. The colours came from various items around the shop, including the leaf in the above photo and the pink mug I mentioned before.I've got to run. I still have a Hip Hop Hangover post to get to - and I'm supposed to run into work this morning. Zoinks! It's a busy day. Catch you on the flip side.

Art Share/Blog Candy

Happy Saturday Peeps!!

I was doing some blog surfing and I found this little gem on a new-to-me blog, Libby's Little Addiction. She said to change the "I suck" part, but those who know me know that I can be uber slow. I will always get things sent out, but "in a timely manner" is not exactly part of my vocabulary, try as I might. I really do try, I just don't usually succeed. So, with that in mind, here it is.

Art Share/Blog Candy

The first 5 people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice! For you! Could be a card I am really pleased with, an altered object or something else altogether! My choice! But this offer has some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2. What I create will be made with you in mind, so you won't get something I already made unless I think it suits you to a T.

3. It'll be done sometime this year. I am the first to admit - I SUCK at sending out RAKs. I am slow slow slow - but I do get to it EVENTUALLY! So only sign up if you are patient, and please do not camp out by the mailbox waiting! :-)

4. There is a catch - you must offer this same blog candy on your blog! Let me know you're in, then re-post this on your blog (you can change the wording - the "I SUCK" part is all me!!) and offer something you make - your choice - to the first 5 people who respond to your post. Add my name to the #1 slot on your list - I am your first participant. When you create your giveaway, you will become the first participant on the lists for the people who participate with you. Got it? :-)

Okay, so who wants to play??

1. Libby - Libby's Little Addiction
2. Carla - Scrappypug
3. Ashley - Heart Hugs Designs
4. Yael - my creative spot
5. Kristen - Rain-E Day Designs

Thanks ladies!!

Etsy Inspired

Ashley runs an Etsy Inspired challenge every week. Each week she chooses an Etsy shop. You find something in the shop that inspires you and make something. Anything. This week, it's Lauren Alexander's shop and it's the first time I've played along. This was the item I used for my inspiration and I chose to make an ATC.

Hip Hop Hangover/Growing in Unity

Today is my last day of Growing in Unity. It's also Hip Hop Hangover! Oh. My. Goodness!! Have you seen what Angela did this week?? Unity is celebrating Earth Day, so all of the tree stamps and several others are 20% off. On top of that, for orders over $15, everything is 15% off - with the code EARTHDAY - and that includes everything that is already on sale! You certainly can't beat that with a stick!!

Several of the Design Team debuted the new stamp Plant a Tree, designed by Tanis Giesbrecht. If you did not do yesterday's blog hop, go now and do. Start with Angela here.

My project today is a scrapbook page. I'm playing along with Kristen. She's guest designer this week at Papercraft Planet's Scrappy Sunday. This is my first scrapbook sketch ever. Of course I used Unity stamps! The journaling block came from March's Kit of the Month, Simple Life. I tried to show the background, but I'm not sure if you can see it well. I stamped Linden Branch all over in both Pink Pirouette and Versafine Key Lime. I also stamped Hearts of Old on the lower left in Riding Hood Red.In this closeup, you can sort of see the stamped background a little better. The photos are from the day DD#2, Hannah, was born. It's plain to see just how proud the spousal unit was. The older children were completely entranced on their first meeting with their new sister later that morning.It's been a wonderful week. Thanks for sticking with me!