Funny Kid Story and some Little Cards

Good afternoon All,

I thought I would start my post off today with a funny story that some of you may be able to identify with. As I have stated, I have 4 wonderful children. They keep me grounded and I am grateful for each one of them. But, as we all know, kids can also drive you a little bonkers sometimes. Now, my children have caught me off guard more than one time over the past 25 years that I have spent, so far, raising them. So, this is the phone call I get from my youngest son, Alex. He's 19, which is very important to the 'huh?' factor of this story. So, I get this phone call from Alex, who happens to be in NYC visiting his oldest sister, Amber. I am so happy that they get along and like to visit each other-it's a 7 hour train ride each way. So, Alex decides that he needs to purchase a pair of dress pants to go to a show. Sounds easy enough, even for a 19 year old, right? So, I get this phone call, and it goes something like this:

Alex: Hi, Mom.

Me: Hi, Alex. Are you having fun?

Alex: yeah. What size pants do I wear?

(There is no beating around the bush for this kid)

Me: Aren't you wearing any right now?

Alex: Yeah...

Me: Well, it will be much easier for you to look at the tag than it would be for me, don'tcha think?

Alex: I figured you would just know...

Me: I do. You wear 31 in waist and 32-34 in length. I think you should try some on first?

Alex: Naw, that's all I needed. Talk to you later.

End of conversation!

All I can say to that is that he knew what he was doing by calling me!

So, that is my funny story-at least I think it is funny...

OK-This morning I participated in the SCS Limited Supply Challenge. We were to create Little note cards that could be placed in a lunch box or briefcase. These cards are called ATC or Artist Trading Cards and are 2 1/2 inches X 3 1/2 inches. There was a bonus to use Those $1 clear stamps that we all like to collect, but never use. So, here is what I came up with. You can view all the deets at my SCS gallery. I only used the $1 stamps for the card on the left! This was a super way to use up scraps left over from my workshops and I will definitely be making more.

Thanks so much for checking me out today. I hope to talk to you again soon!

Two Birthdays in Two Days

Good Thursday mornin' to you! I will hafta make this quick cuz I need to get some yard work done before we start getting the 7 days of rain that has been forecasted for my area. I wanted to post the card I made for my niece's 2nd birthday yesterday. I celebrated with my sister and her family last night. What fun! My sister is very creative and while I have recently gotten her started with card making she has been a cake decorator for about 8 years!! Doesn't she do super work? Her and my youngest daughter, Annalee, have recently started their own business and online site. It's called ArtistiCakes-check them out! And today is my oldest son's 25th birthday!! I can't believe that I have a child who is a 1/4 of a century old, yikes!

So, getting to the card I made-this was a Sketch Challenge at SCS. Check it out HERE. Yup!! I used my Sock Monkey set again!! I jsut can't help myself! The decorative cs is from DCWV Nursery mat stack. The party hat was stamped on both dp's and then paper pieced. I also paper pieced the cupcake. The ballons were stamped on the dp's also and then cut out. The ballon strings were drawn on with my SU journaler. The image was stamped on Very Vanilla cs and colored in using my SU inkpad lids and blender pens. The 2 triangles are Marvy square punches that were cut in half. Cupcake frosting is colored in using Cotton Candy Stickles-YUMMY!

here are the nitty gritties:

STAMPS: SU Sock Monkey, Wow Flowers for the sentiment

PAPER: SU Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla, DCWV Nursery mat stack

INK: SU Pink Piroette, Creamy Caramel, Real Red, Basic black

ACCESSORIES: Marvy scallop square punches, Stickles, blender pens, SU dimensionals, detail scissors for paper piecing

I really was planning on adding ribbon to this when I started, but then I didn't know where to put it, so I left it off!! My neice loved it!!

OOPS!! I Missed Tuesday!

Ok, so I missed Tuesday, but I am here today! There is just so much to do in a day and not enough time to do it, ya kno? Yesterday I did get to create, I made a birthday card for my son who will be 25 tomorrow. I have a much harder time with masculine cards, but I think I pulled it off!! What do you think? I went with clean lines and a simple design-that's my style I guess you would say! My son and his wife adopted a dog a few months ago and this little doggy image reminded me of her. Both of the designer papers are from Basic Grey-the Recess line. I purchased the 6 x 6 pad from eclectic Paperie a while ago and I just love it for the guys and boys in my life!! No flowers in this collection! I colored this SU image using my classic ink pad lids and blender pens. It did take me a little time to get the colors just the way I wanted them. I used the new IN colors from Stampin' Up! and I just love them. Check out the deets: all products are SU unless otherwise noted:

STAMPS: For Father, Occasions Collection, Sanded

PAPER: Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Basic Grey Recess

INK: Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point, More Mustard, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Sahara Sand, Basic Gray

ACCESSORIES: non SU hemp twine, non SU big brad, SU and Marvy circle punches. pop dots

I also made a birthday card for my niece for her 2nd birthday today--I will hafta stop back later to upload, I really love how it turned out, so you gotta stop back and see!

Thanks so much for stoppin' by today!

Try a New Technique Challenge Card

OK, here I am again! 3 days in a row and counting...and it's only noon!! So I got up this morning and decided to check out the challenge at SCS for today. Monday's are ' Try a new technique' day and so that is what I did. The challenge was to create a spring fold card-You can find the tutorial in both Word and .pdf formats in this thread by shulsart/Sandy.

Square Spring Card Tutorial

Here is my card for the challenge.

What a fun card to make! Since I still had Mr. Sock Monkey on my stampin' desk I used him again. He's just so darn adorable!!

Here is my recipe:

STAMPS: SU Sock Monkey

PAPER: SU Bordering Blue, So Saffron, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Basic Grey Recess

INK: SU Bordering Blue, So Saffron, Tangerine Tango, Regal Rose, Basic Black

ACCESSORIES: Blender pens, Buttons from my stash, SU journaler pen, embroidery floss, pop dots

The tutorial was very easy to follow, but now I need some bigger square envies to put this in. I think I will give this a try in a smaller size later on.

OMG!! I gotta go... Mr. Brown just pulled into my driveway, more new stuff to play with!!

Thanks for stoppin' by!!

Two Days In A Row!!

WooHoo!! I am posting to my Blog for the second day in a row. This is very exciting for me. I got to play again on the SCS daily challenge. Today is the featured stamper's challenge seen here. The featured stamper for this week is Shellapoo and she has a wonderful gallery and sounds like a wonderful person! Here is my version of one of her cards. She makes cards to give to children who are hospitalized, so I would like to send this to her to put in her stash. I finally got a chance to use some of my new stuff from my Stampin' Up! preorder. I just love this little monkey. I am sure this stamp set will get lots of use! I really like the way Shellapoo (Michelle) uses different embellishments on her cards like buttons, fibers, and flowers. I have a stash of buttons that I started collecting when I was a small girl. I started my own collection when I discovered my mom's with all her sewing stuff. She got me started and I have been adding to it ever since. I can't throw out an old, worn piece of clothing without snipping any buttons off first!! Does that sound strange to anyone? Well I thought this assortment of green and pink buttons were perfect for my card.

Here are the deets:

Stamps: SU Sock Monkey

Paper: SU whisper white, Bazzill Basics textured cs, DCWV dp

Ink: Black Stazon

Accessories: prismacolor pencils, oderless mineral spirits, blending stump, spiral punch, misc. buttons, pop dots

Thanks for stoppin' by and stop back again soon!!

I Got To Play Today!!

I am so excited that I got to play with my stamps and paper today. I have been so busy with other things in my life, but I took a break today and took part in the SCS Inspiration challenge found here. The inspiration pieces are just the most gorgeous handmade bags I have ever seen bt Pink Lemonade Bags!! You have gotta check them out! I have been hoarding the collection of K & Company Designer Paper for about 6 months and thought it would be perfect for this challenge. The bag that I was inspired by was a Shabby/Chic quilted bag that I fell in love with and may just have to purchase! Here are the deets:

Stamps: Wow Flowers, Warmest Regards
Paper: SU Chocolate Chip, K & Company DP
Ink: Chocolate chip
Accessories: White Signo gel pen, Edge distresser, Buttons, embroidery floss, small oval punch
Techniques: distressing, faux stitching

Thanks for stoppin' by!

Come back soon as I have some fabulous news which should give me lots more time to spend on my crafts and post to my blog!!

My First Stampin' Up! Demo

Well, it has been a couple of months since my blog has seen any action...I have been extremely busy lately! I finally took the big leap and joined as a demonstrator with Stampin' Up! and I am loving it!! Of course it does take up quite a bit of my time. I joined in March and i gave my first demo/open house on March 31st! I had the time of my life, and I think everyone else enjoyed themselves too. I invited some family members and friends. I showed off the catalog and demonstrated some cards and then we did 2 make and takes. Here are the cards that we did. They were fairly simple, but everyone except for 1 person had never stamped before. So, these were actually challenging for them, but they all turned out great!! Here is a pic of the whole group and their wonderful creations!
I have since done 2 more workshops, one that my friend hosted and another in my home and I have 2 more scheduled ! I will upload some more pics soon of the projects I have done so far. Thanks for stopping by.