Paws Down You're the Best

Hello. Here is a card that I made to send someone special because they are really the best. I don't know why I haven't used this stamp set, but I have decided that I need to a bunch. Its really very cute with a lot of great little doggy sentiment.

I stamped the doggy with versacolor black and then embossed it with clear powder. This is really the way to go if you never ever want to worry about lines bleeding. I colored him in with copics and colored the bottom half with copics as well. The sky was sponged with PTI Aqua Mist ink. Scallop was cut with Nestabilities

Cardstock: GP White, Aqua Mist (PTI), PP: Mixed Blessings (PTI), Ink: Versacolor Black, Aqua Mist (PTI), Black (CTMH), Stamps: Puppy Love (CTMH), Other: Ribbon (PTI), Circle Punches, Clear embossing powder, MM slot punch, Copics, Nestabilities

Thanks for stopping by :)

Sketches Galore

Good morning! I am feeling like I've accomplished quite a bit of stuff, although, my hubby did just ask me if I ever dusted. I said WHAT!!! He was staring at the clumps of spiderwebs (that aren't really webs at all) in the corners of our bedroom. Well, I guess I know what I'll be doing first thing tomorrow.

Anyway, I do feel like I've accomplished a lot recently though. I finally dusted off my serger - that was the easy part - the threading of it took all afternoon though this past weekend. I had to get Kevin to help me with it. It is such a pain!!! Anyway, I got my last crib sheet done last night which I am quite pleased with. I've had 8 yards of flannel waiting for me for the past 2 years. Now, I won't have to immediately put the crib sheets that I do have in the wash in between naps and bedtime. I'll have some breathing room.

If you happen to have a serger, crib sheets are so easy to make. You just need 2 yards of flannel or knit fabric and approximately 3 yards of 1/4" elastic. I always end up with a bit extra elastic, but no worries - just snip off the excess. All you have to do is cut an 8x8 square out of each corner of your fabric, sew ends of the squares together - look at your own sheets to understand- then place your elastic at the edge of your fabric and serge away. Remember to stretch your elastic to the max though while serging. Quick and easy - but remember NOT to wash your fabric first. Wash AFTER you serge.

Now, for the title. Yes, I did all the sketches that I normally do and I got another one done as well. I did Beate's (a little late), Lauren's (both versions) and CPS (which I had wanted to follow, just hadn't yet). The cool thing though is that I used all the same paper for all my sketches. I thought this was kind of fun. And, then when I was blog hopping, I visited Erica's blog and she had posted a color challenge that fit my choice of papers. This paper is just yummy and double
sided which I love. The paper was a belated birthday gift from one of my closest friends. I love her because she is always there for me when I need something.
Here is Beate's sketch:
Cardstock: Summer Sunrise, Lemon Tart (Papertrey ink) GP white, PP:Collage Press Citrus Collection , Ink: Noir Palette, Summer Sunrise (PTI), Stamps: Stamping Bella, Sentiment PTI Other: Copics, Spica Glitter Pen, Ribbon (PTI), SU PhotoCorner Punch, Oval Nestabilities

Here are the 2 sketches from Lauren's blog. I don't know if you can tell, but the card with the circles has one that was painted with Close to my Heart's pearl paint. Its so shimmery - love it!























Cardstock: Summer Sunrise (PTI), Hollyhock (Close to my Heart), PP: Collage Press Citrus Collection , Ink: White Daisy, Hollyhock (CTMH), Stamps: Garden of Life, Beautiful Blooms (PTI) Other: Stickles (my new love), flower punch, circle punch, scallop punch, square punch, Flowers from Michaels bridal section, Rhinestones (craft section of Joanns), RicRak (CTMH), Swiss Dots Embossing Folder

And here is my final one for CPS. It was a nice simple sketch so I added some sewing to it, and of course I enhanced the dots on the printed paper with stickles and used the charm for my sentiment. Guess what? NO stamping on this one, not even a sentiment!
And finally, the CPS sketch.
Cardstock: Summer Sunrise (PTI), PP: Collage Press Citrus Collection, Other: Charm from Michaels bridal section, Ribbon (PTI), Stickles, Sewing

Whew! Let me tell you, that took forever! The maneuvering of the pictures is such a pain. And it won't look right in the end anyway.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a FANTABULOUS day.

Sweet Dreams

This is what I've been and this is how it started. I've been bouncing this idea around and a while back I found Tracy's blog -->WhoisTracy<-- while I was on the PTI messageboard. Well, that particular day she featured these beautiful stamped (I think pillowcases) images on fabric and it was like "duh", what a great idea. Well, at the same time, I had been bouncing the idea of making tooth fairy pillows and had seen some really cute altered tooth fairy tins, but I grew up with a toothfairy pillow. My pillow had a cat on the front and a little pocket in the back for the tooth plus a fabulous poem attached to the pillow. I had of course completely forgotten about it, but at Christmas time, my Mom had put my old pillow in with some other goodies and it brought back a lot of fun memories. Hey, if you are the one that made my cat tooth fairy pillow, uh, like 30 years ago - let me know :) So... this is how I got to today. I love the fact that I can now marry two things that I enjoy doing. I love stamping of course, but I have always enjoyed sewing as well - low pressure of course (no big people clothes). I really get to combine a lot of my tools that I have now amassed. So, this first pillow I used the fairy stamp from Lizzie Ann Designs and the second pillow I used the Imogen the Fairy stamp from Stamping Bella. Both are so cute and work perfect for these pillows. I am doing "boy" things for boys of course, but I do love the fairy stamps (sigh) no girls for me though.

I stamped my images with Palette Noir and guess what, colored them in with my Copics. You have to be careful because they do bleed, but otherwise they are colorfast. I also used Spica Glitter Pen too. The fabric I used for both pillows (base for the stamp) has sparkles in it so it made the fairies even prettier. For the tag, I used Heat n' Bond and attached my poem and the fabric and then used my Nestablities to cut out my scallop. Isn't it great!!! These pillows are really like mini cards, just a blank canvas to anything!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed taking a peek! I have these and will have others up on my Etsy shop.
Thanks for stopping by!!!

And the poem:

The Tooth Fairy: A tooth has just come out. So there can be no doubt. That the Tooth Fairy shall visit you and bring a special treat too. Just place this pillow on your bed, but don't peek through that sleepy head. The pocket can hold your tooth all night and next morning bring a big delight.

Papertrey ink Blog Hop Card

Here's my 2nd post today. I hope you're not too tired of yellow :) Anyway, this card uses the same squares of patterned paper that is found at PTI -->HERE<--. I used a square punch to cut out the squares and then backed it with white cardstock and then stamped my sentiments in the center of each square. I then backed the whole think on a piece of summer sunrise that I ran through my cuttlebug with the woody looking embossing folder. Then that was put on a lemon tart card base. Add a bow at the top and voila! Thanks again for stopping by!

Everything is PTI unless otherwise noted: Cardstock: Lemon Tart, Summer Sunrise, Father Knows Best Paper Collection, Ink: Cocoa (CTMH) , Stamps: Mixed Messages, Other: Square punch, ribbon, hole punch, Cuttlebug

Birthday Fishes

Here is a card that I made while having the Blog Hop (Papertrey ink) on my mind. I'll post a different card later that I also made with the Blog Hop in mind. Nichole came up with this great idea for sharing some great ideas using PTI products with those of us who have blogs to share. This month though, the Blog Hop members were randomly chosen and the list of 25 will be listed in the newsletter. The rest of us "extras" will share on the PTI message board.

Anyway, I used the new release "Pond Life" for this card. The challege was to use small squares of pattern paper (also from the new release) on the project. So what I did was cut an oval out of my squares with my nestablities, mat it on white cardstock with pop dots, stamp my fishies, and then I covered my fish with liquid glass (2 layers). I think the card turned out so cute and reminds me of a view into a fish tank.

Stay tuned for my card later tonight!

Everything PTI unless otherwise noted: Cardstock: Lemon Tart, Summer Sunrise, Stamper's Select, Cocoa (CTMH), Ink: Summer Sunrise, Cocoa (CTMH), Stamps: Pond Life, Polka Dot Basics, Other: Hemp, Liquid Glass (CTMH)

Friendship Forever Card

Hello :) Here is a card that I did for a sketch at the Papertrey forum. I used all the latest releases for this card, plus a couple of "older" (ha not that old) things. I also used my new Long Rectangular Nesties that I just got from Cut at Home. Go check it out - Marcie is great! Those are going to be cool, but for this card, I just cut a basic scalloped mat. I did emboss my my straight rectangle shape, but I used what would normally be the back as the front - the debossed side I think. I also random stamped the background using the grass stamp from Pond Life and the outline flower from Garden of Life.

Anyway, thanks for taking a peek and have a great day!

Everything is PTI unless otherwise noted: Cardstock: Lemon Tart, Summer Sunrise, Stampers Select, Ink: Lemon Tart Summer Sunrise, Sweet Leaf (CTMH), Stamps: Pond Life, Boxes, Bags, Tags, Garden of Life, Other: Large Rectangles Nestablities, Ribbon, Circle Punch, Black Pen, Spica Clear Glitter Pen

Let sleeping babies...

Oh, I know this isn't a card or anything crafty, but I just couldn't help sharing what I got to see the other day. I know I'm obviously, completely biased, but aren't they the cutest. I love the fact that they still snuggle up together. They are equally loving and spiteful all at the same time. My favorite thing right now is that when one of them gets anything he always has to get one for his brother.

Thanks for letting me gush!!!

Quicky Card

Here's my card for today. I did this the other day for a new friend of mine that I was going to meet and I didn't have a lot of time to make it, but it is still a very cute card. Its only a one layer card, but the extra bit of scoring and the buttons add a lot to it.

Cardstock: GP White, Ink: Blush, Heavenly Blue, Amethyst, Sweet Leaf (CTMH), Stamps: Women of Life, Mixed Messages (Papertrey ink), Other: Buttons (CTMH), Scor-Pal.

Thanks again!

Universalities of Life - Ketchup

Good morning to you! I just wanted to share a thought with you all as well as a view that I could look at all day long. Our dining room table is pushed up against our window seat which works perfectly for the twins. This is where they sit to eat and often times I sit across from them and just love the picture they make. They are at that age where they can be quite well mannered while eating or they can be the biggest piggies. It all depends on if they are focused on eating or playing. But, I'll guarantee though, that if you put a bowl of ketchup in front of them, they will be quite content. For them, ketchup is a complete meal unto itself.

Why is that? Have you ever noticed that many children believe that condiments are a complete meal? I know my boys truly believe this, but what amazes me is that I have seen other children do the exact same thing. You know, the dipping of french fries in ketchup, or rather the dipping of one french fry, using it like a utensil rather that the food itself. Sour cream is the other main course the boys are really into at this time.

Anyway, I'll try and post something crafty later,but wanted to share soemthing that inspires me daily :)

Have a great day!!!

Nisqually Wildlife Refuge Layout

Good morning!!! Yay, my hubby surprised me by coming home early! He not only surprised me, but scared the you know what out of me when he popped open the door last night at 9:30pm.

Well today I thought I would share something different. I finally got going on scrapbooking last year's family vacation. I decided that I wanted to do just one album for our vacation. We took a relatively short trip to California last summer, but had a lot of stops and took a lot of pictures.

So here is the very first day of our trip. We decided to stop and take a little break at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. I have passed this exit too many times to count and we had never visited. Anyway, I'm glad that we did. Its so peaceful and well maintained and it turned out to be a great break. We'll definitely have to stop again some day.

So here are a couple of layouts of our stop there. I also noticed that my title isn't really correct. For some reason, I had the word Valley stuck in my head, but I really should have River or Delta instead. I can always fix it later.

I used my cricut to cut the title - I like large, bold titles for my layouts. I didn't have that "perfect" paper, so I just random stamped my own backgrounds with a variety of leaf stamps that I had. I'm a pretty simple, cut and dried scrapbooker, but I keep thinking the layouts are on the plain side. Its definitely much different going from making cards to making 12x12 layouts. I need to find my scrapbooking groove.

Ingredients: CTMH Cardstock, Cricut die cuts, CTMH Ribbon and buttons, CTMH inks, Misc. Leaf Stamps

Thanks for stopping by!

Another Sketch - birdie

Good morning! Here's another sketch for you. This one is Lauren's weekend sketch. She suggested using background stamps, but guess what? I only have one and I didn't want to use it, so I substituted an embossed background using my cuttlebug. I used the Birds and Swirls folder as a substitute for my background. I then used my Copic Spica clear pen to cover all the embossing. Hard to really see in the photo, but very shimmery in person. I used my new stamps that I picked up at Joann's, it was some sort of bundle deal that they were selling from Inkadinkado. One of the sets has a couple of birds and I used the bird and the flower sprig as my accents with again more Spica pens as accents.

Here's a close up, maybe the glitter pen will show up better.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Cardstock: Aqua Mist, Moss Green, Stampers Select White (PTI), Ink: Aqua Mist, Moss Green (PTI), Stamps: Inkadinkado, Other: Spica Glitter Pens, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Ribbon (PTI), SU! Scallop Punch

Feline Thank you

Good morning to you! Not much going on in my little corner of the world, so I'll just stick to the facts Ma'am. This is a card that I did for Beate's weekend sketch. I'm enjoying my new kitty stamps. We used to have a cat many years ago, but we will never have one as long as Hunter is living with us. He is highly allergic to them so I'll get any kitty enjoyment from stamps. Interesting substitute, but it works.

This was a very easy sketch to work with and falls together quite nicely. If you don't ever go to the wedding section at Michaels, you should. There are all sorts of great accents there. The little thank you charm was found right next to some great paper flowers that I first ran across while reading Lauren Meader's blog. The charms are just perfect for cards. And I have to mention those little tiny brads. They are so cute and are SO tiny. Close to my Heart is coming out with a variety pack of Itty Bitty Brads that will be perfect for all sorts of stuff, they will be available for purchase on May 1st.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great weekend.

For this card everything is CTMH unless otherwise noted: Cardstock: Dutch Blue, Bamboo, PP: Serendipity, Ink: Chocolate, Dutch Blue, Stamps: Cats (Inkadinkado), Other: Chocolate Grosgrain, Tiny Brads, SU! Ticket Punch, Thank You charm (Michaels), Paper Piercer, Versamat

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Its Friday and even if Fridays don't have any significance in your daily life it still seems to sound good. I think its in our pschy

I want to share some exciting news about my oldest. I got a letter from our school district saying that a piece of artwork that Hunter had done recently was picked as one to showcase at the school's district office. Each school had to decide on one piece of artwork from each grade level and then submit it to the district. Then it was juried selection as to which ones would be showcased at the office. Out of those, they will select the ones to be printed in the annual school calendar that we receive at the beginning of every school year. The district is hosting a celebration early next month and we'll get to go see it. I'm very proud of my kiddo. I can't wait until I can take pictures of it and show off to my cyber friends. He told me that his teacher told him that it was a self portrait that was picked.

Then I wanted to thank Michele aka iamderby for the goodies that I got yesterday in the mail. She had been really sick for a bit, but managed to send prizes out anyway. The cool thing about my goodies was that I was in fact the "runner up" in her blog contest. Not bad for being runner up huh. And more coolness was the fact that everything she sent me was new to me. Thanks so much Michele! And more importantly, thank your son!

And now here is my card for today. I have fallen in love with sketches and challenges. It really focuses and streamlines how one creates. Its not for all the time, but it is fun to do and usually ends up as a nice finished product.

This particular card was done for a challenge that Em creates for all us PTI fans over on PTI's message board. This is her second one and she's doing a fab job of it. She has her own blog so go check it out -->HERE<-- I used my nestabilities to cut my circles and scallop and of course had to add my new found love - stickles :) Cardstock: Black, Grey Wool (CTMH), Aqua Mist (PTI), Ink: Black (Palette), Sweet Blush (PTI), Stamps: Hey Cupcake (Stampendous), Birthday Basics (PTI), Other: Ribbon, (PTI), SU Ticket Punch, Stickles,




















Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day!!!

My first Sophie G Moose Card

Happy Thursday!! The "work" week and in my world the "school" week is winding down. This week has actually gone by relatively quickly. I'll get a nice relaxing evening because I'm taking the boys and heading on over to a friend's house for dinner. Yay, no cooking for me. Its always a struggle when my hubby leaves town because that means I have to cook and grocery shop. Which reminds me that I had wonderful plans to go to Joann's and blow my several 50% off coupons yesterday morning after I dropped my oldest off at school. At Joann's right at 9am when they opened and home right at 9:30am!

The twins never want to be in their stroller anymore and Nate had this "thing" yesterday where he just screamed the whole time we were in there. He was screaming and crying so hard that he started to get splotchy looking around his brows. One lovely Mom came up and said she completely understood because she happened to be a mother of a set of 10 year old twins and I did get to chat with a friend of mine that happened to be shopping, but towards the end, I was starting to get the "stares" from other customers and employees.

Don't get me wrong, I totally understand that they too are trying to enjoy themselves, but are the stoney faced unsympathetic looks necessary??? I don't know, for some reason it seems like I've been getting the "looks" lately. It just makes me say "grrr".

Anyway, sorry, I'm done ranting and I'll probably attempt a trip there before the weekend. So, I get a free dinner and my lovely friend is going to watch the boys for me for a bit so I can go hang out with some other twin moms from my multiples group. Plus I signed up to be a mentor twin mom to a mom who is expecting twins in a couple of months and I will get the opportunity to meet her tonight.

Now, for myMoose card. I think he's very cute and my brother's birthday is in a few days so I whipped this up last night. I also got to use my copics and overall, I'm pleased with the way the card turned out. I wanted something pretty simple but cute. Sophie's cake looks a little weddingish, but that's ok. I guess he deserves a big cake :)

Cardstock: GP White, Topiary, Goldrush (CTMH), Printed Paper: Flair Design , Ink: Black Noir Palette, Topiary, Chocolate (CTMH), Stamps: Sophie G (hanna stamps), Think Happy Thoughts (SU!), Other: Ribbon (Michaels), Circle Punches

Have a great day everyone!!!

Whatcha Reading???

Hi everyone! Here are some great bookmark clippies that I made the other day. I first saw some on Cambria's blog. The paper clips are from Walmart and are considered Jumbo :) I love these clippies and they are so easy to make and especially pretty with the Papertrey ink products. Can you see the little bit of sparkle at the center of them? I have fallen in love with stickles. My friend Emily sent me a bottle for my birthday and they are truly a lot of fun. Its funny how some things just take a long time to get into your inventory. I made both the scallop layers front and back with two layers of cardstock and I used a hot glue gun to attach front and back layers onto my paper clip.

Cardstock: Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush, Pink Patterns (PTI), Ink: Moss Green, Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush (PTI), Stamps: Boxes, Bags, Tags (PTI), Celebration (CTMH), Other: Ribbon (PTI), Michaels, Paper Clips (Walmart), Scallop Punch SU, 1 1/2" Punch (EK Success), stickles

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Some of my Papertrey Projects

So here are a few of my Papertrey Projects that I submitted for their Guest Star Stamper contest. As always, it is fun to create with a purpose whether its for someone particular or something specific and last month's release of papers and colors were just yummy. Check out all the new goodies that are available --> HERE <-- I definitely had a theme for the most part with my cards this month. I have been in love with making front cut out cards with the main image or sentiment on the inside of the card. It is so easy to do this with any of the Spellbinder's nestability die cuts.

So here is my first card. I used these stamp sets: Beautiful Blooms, Boxes, Bags, Tags, Birthday Basics. I used my EK Success flower punch which works great with this particular flower stamp, then pop dotted in three layers.




Here is my 2nd Card. I used Birthday Basics for this one.



















And #3: Stamps used were Birthday Basics and Boxes, Bags, Tags



















And the last one is a card that is shaped like a box that opens up into a card. I sewed pockets inside to house little tags with sentiments on them. Stamps used were: Beautiful Blooms, Boxes, Bags, Tags, Birthday Basics, Mixed Messages





































Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a great day!

I've been tagged and a sketch

Wow, its Monday and I'm rather excited - are you shocked? First of all, school is back in session - Woo Hoo! and second of all its PTI Release Party tonight. But now back to business.

Okie Dokie, I've been tagged by my friend Enfys and need to share 7 random/weird things about myself. I'll try to make them different that the last 7 I shared. Here goes:

1. I enjoy eating rice, bbq sauce and canned french style green beans all mixed up
2. I love Dolly Parton, but am not a huge fan of Country music
3. I call me grandmother "Halmoni" which is the Korean word for grandmother even though I don't speak Korean
4. My twins were born nearly 3 hours apart
5. My husband is a foot taller than I am
6. While sewing one day, I sewed through my pointer finger nail and the needle broke off in my finger. My hubby had to get the pliers and pull the needle out and then the thread. Ouch!
7. I love musicals

My gosh, that was hard to come up with. I tell you, I am really a very boring person. So this time, I tag anybody who wants to play.

And now here is my card for today. It is off of Lauren's Saturday sketch and to be honest with you it was rather difficult for me. The first attempt didn't work and I ended up with a different layout. The eventual sketch card that I did still is a little bit deviant because I couldn't get my 3 images to fit like the sketch. I suppose I could have made my card bigger, but I didn't. In the end, the card turned out really cute.

Its all about the cupcake isn't it. I now have 2 entire stamp sets of just cupcakes and have been eyeballing the Hero Arts set. They are all so cute. This set is one that I just got from Inkadinkado. I like how the cupcakes vary in size and I do like the sentiments that came with the set. I also got to use my copics and my new Stickles that my bestest bud sent as part of my birthday package. I had never used stickles before and I have to say that sure do add a lot to a card. I also pop dotted the small cherry in middle of the row of cupcakes - love the pop dots! And finally, I stamped my sentiment and then used my clear copic spica glitter pen to write over it. Hard to tell in the picture but in person it looks all glittery.

Cardstock: GP White, Chocolate, Hollyhock (CTMH), PP: DCWV Paper Stack, Ink: Noir Palette, Chocolate (CTMH), Stamps: Birthday Cupcake (Inkadinkado), Other: Ribbon (PTI), Copics, Stickles, Spica Clear Glitter Pen, SU! Large Tag Punch, SU! Slot Punch

And finally here is how my first attempt at the sketch actually ended up:


Just a quickie, every black image is embossed, looks cool in real life. I also quickly random stamped the paw print on the printed paper even though it already had a pattern on it.

Cardstock: Black, Sunflower (CTMH), GP White, PP: Enchanted (CTMH) Ink: Black (CTMH), Stamps: Cats (Inkadinkado), Other: MM Slot Punch, Ribbon (CTMH), Circle Punches, Clear EP, Rhinestones (CTMH)


Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day!