Mojo Monday 214

It has been ages since I've posted.  Life has been so hectic and I've been working on so many projects here at home.  I saw this adorable sketch on the Mojo Monday Sketch Blog and I needed some inspiration for some of my Christmas card designs.  I've been trying to find a way to use the Merry Christmas stamp from the Easy Events set, and this was the perfect card for it.  The cute Pines & Poinsettias stamp was added in on a whim.  I just received my shipment of Holly Berry Bouquet DSP to use too.  I hope you like it!

Notepad Holder

I bought a bunch of magnetic notepads at AC Moore last night with the idea that I would make a covered set and sell them at the craft fair.  I couldn't find any tutorials anywhere for this size notepad, so I improvised and came up with my own (which I'm rather proud of).  I love the Flirtatious Specialty DSP and it sort-of matched the notepad, so I went with it.  I hope you like it!

Follow My New Team Member!!!

Hi everyone! Things have been so crazy around here.  I have developed a virus on my laptop and all my cards are on there so I'll have to try and transfer what I can onto my desktop.  Hence, the lack of posting.  But, I do have a new team member, Kim, and she is just starting out in the blog world.  So, I was hoping you could take a stop by her blog and show her some SU! love! The above picture is of her demo kit, which we all can vouch to how excited we were when we got ours! Hopefully I'll have a new card up by this evening.  Have a great day!!!

Simply Simple

These cards were made for a co-worker of my Aunt's who was looking for blank cards to send off.  I've been dying to use my new Delicate Doilies stamp set.  The idea of cutting out the top layer of the doily is all over Stampin Connection so I don't have just one person to give the credit to.  I had done a wedding card for this same person in the black and white theme and I really liked it, so I kept going with it on these blank cards.  I added the color on the top layer to make it stand out.  I hope you (and she) like them!

Stamp Set: Delicate Doilies

Ink/Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Rich Razzleberry, Island Indigo

Accessories: Lattice Folder, Border Punch, Dimmensionals

Wedding Card

This is a card that a co-worker of my family ordered for a wedding she'll be attending.  The wedding color theme is black and white.  I thought the Baja Breeze coloring for the sentiment gave the card a splash of color to brighten it up a bit.  The WW CS is embossed with the Manhattan Flower.  I used the Beautiful Wings Embosslits and my framed punch to bring out the sentiment.  I hope you like it!

Make a Wish!!! Firday Mashup #16

Happy Birthday to Kim at the Friday Mashup!!! Our challenge for this week was to make a Birthday themed card and use the colors Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobler, Not Quite Navy, and Sahara Sand.

 Other than the 4 main colors, I used the Happiest Birthday Wishes stamp set, Jolly Holiday DSP (for my pinwheel), Beautiful Wings Embosslits, Antique Brads, and Perfect Polkadots Embossing Folder. My card design is the Center Step Card, which was super easy to make! I hope you like it!!

So, here's the "Mash Up!"challenge:


1. Create a Birthday Card or Project.

2. Create a project using NQN, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, and Sahara Sand.*

3. or "Mashup it Up!" and create a Birthday project using NQN, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, and Sahara Sand*.



*With all of our challenges that have a color combo, you may substitute any colors with similar ones you have on hand.

Then go here to the Mashup Blog to add your link!

Have a great weekend!!!

Birthday ColorLab Color Challenge 49

This card is for my amazing mother.  Since I had my first child 11 years ago, my mother has been such an instrumental part of teaching and guiding me to being the best mother possible.  She takes one of my four children almost every weekend, buys them tons and tons of beautiful outfits, takes them places, and continuously has my back when I need her.  I truly cannot put into words how amazing my mom is.  She is my bestest friend (we talk at least once every day on the phone), and she is such an awesome Memere to my kids (even my dogs).  Her birthday is tomorrow and we're having a huge pool party for her and my uncle (whose birthday is the 19th).  I saw the challenge on the ColorLab Challenge blog and I loved the color combo.  I decided to give it a try with some of my new stamp sets, Pennant Parade and Happiest Birthday Wishes.  This was my first attempt at an easel card and I love how it came out.  I hope you like it!

Hello!

This is the first card I've made in weeks (well, maybe not weeks, but that's what it seems like!) I received this stamp set from a lovely woman, Beth Stokes.  We have a Wish List Swap on Stampin Up's forum where you grant someone a wish from their list of stamped images they would like to have (Big Shot dies too) and once you grant a wish you can put your wish list up next for someone to grant something you want.  Beth actually sent me the stamp because she had an extra one.  I thought that was so incredibly thoughtful of her. 

So, I had been dying to CASE this card by Vicki Burdick. Above is my take on it.  I used the new In Color for 2011-2012, Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush, and Whisper White.  From the 2010-2011 Hostess Gifts, I had chosen the In Color DSP and I've never really used it, so I grabbed the Concord Crush DSP from there.  I also snuck in Perfect Plum ink on one of the flowers.  I hope you like it! 

Monkey62: Red, White, and Blue

Last week I was crowned the Monkey Princess at A La Card Monkey for a sketch and I'm now their guest designer for this week.  It's my first time ever having my card chosen and my first time as a guest designer, so I was so excited for this sketch!  Now I don't really have any 4th of July type stamps yet, but I do have some stars and of course red, white, and blue paper, so I did my best.  I used the celebrate stamp from All Holidays II, the large star from Fun & Fast Notes, and the small stars from So Happy For You.  My colors were Real Red, Whisper White, and Not Quite Navy. It was so much fun being able to participate in this!  I hope you like it!

~Kristy~

In Color Mojo 195

The man in brown just dropped off my box of sneak-peak items from the 2011-2012 Catalog and I was itching to try out the new 'In Colors'.  Mojo Monday had a great sketch this week (I think they always do), so I gave it a go.  I know it's nothing special (my card, that is), but I wanted to try and get each of the 5 new colors on there.  I used Posy Punch, which is the new Hostess stamp set.  My colors were Calypso Coral, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, and Whisteria Wonder.  I used Crumb Cake for my neutral along with the Lattice folder on Whisper White.  I hope you like it!

A La Card Monkey:Challenge 60

I loved the new sketch from A La Card Monkey, so I decided to give it a go. Melon Mambo and Pretty in Pink were my main colors for this sketch (Whisper White for my neutral).  I embossed my whisper white paper using the Big Shot's lattice folder, and then I brayered over the lattice with Melon Mambo ink to create a deeper 3-D effect.  During Sale-A-Bration there was a DSP kit that included stickers, so I used that for the "ribbon" and a circle sticker to go under my Greenhouse Garden flower stamp.  I also used the Punch Bunch stamp set for the other image.  To add a little more detail, I adhered some "bling" to both flowered middle images.  I hope you like it!

So Happy for your new baby!

Morning! My neighbor just had her third baby last week (a month after me), and I bought her an adorable outfit from The Children's Place.  I decided to make her a cute baby card to go along with the gift.  I CASE'd this card from Lynn Johnston on Stampin Connection. Her baby card was an easel card (which I will eventually learn how to make).  Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: So Happy For You, A Slice of Life
Colors: Regal Rose, Whisper White
Extras: Whisper White 3/8 Taffeta, Scallop Punch, Big Shot Perfect Polka Dots

Friday Mashup 7.....Ribbon, Pearls and all things Girls

I love the new Friday Mashup Blog! The challenges are very different from others I've been on lately.  So, the challenge this week was ribbon, pearls and everything girls.  For Mother's Day my mom asked me not to make her a card because she knew how busy I was with the new baby (we had been in and out of the hospital for the past two weeks).  So, once seeing this challenge on Friday, I decided to make my mom a card anyways, just to let her know how much I love her and appreciate her and all she does for my family. 

This is my first attempt at a Tri Shutter card.  I used the tutorial from SCS to give it a go.  I have so much Sweet & Sour DSP left over so I used that.  To make it part of the Challenge, I added pearls on each of my stamped images.  My stamp sets were Punch Bunch and Blessed Mother.  The colors used are Rose Red and Very Vanilla.  I hope you like it!

Time to Party!

These were the two different color combo invites I made for my almost-11-year old's upcoming birthday sleepover party.  She picked out the main colors (Melon Mambo and Tempting Turquoise), and I figured out the rest.  I used quite a few different stamp sets, some current, some long retired.  I think they came out cute.  She loves them, so I guess I did ok!

Stamps: Please Come (retired), A Slice of Life (current), So Happy for You (current), All Year Cheer II (retired)

Paper/Ink: Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, Tempting Turquoise, Pacfic Point, Whisper White

Accessories: Bling, Frame Punch, Corner Rounder, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Folder

Same Sort of Card, Different Colors

I really enjoyed making the card from my last post, and I've been meaning to play around with some color combo's.  This new card was the same design as the last, I just used Pacific Point and Daffodil Delight for this one.  I think it's a very clean color combo that reminds me of a spring type theme.  I used the Bliss stamp set, Four Frames, and Just Believe.  I hope you like it!

Blessed Mother

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the moms out there!  My Mother's Day was spent with my four girls.  My husband cooked me a lovely breakfast of eggs, home fries, bacon, sausage, and toast.  It was yummy!  Then the girls and I went out to meet my mom and aunt for some shopping and the two middle girls swim lessons.  After that we went back to my mom's and exchanged gifts between the three of us moms.  My girls had made many homemade gifts this year and they seemed to be greatly appreciated. 

This card was made for my Mother-in-Law.  She is heading in for a serious surgery this Thursday, and I wanted to make her something nice to let her know how much we love her and appreciate all she does for us.  When Taryn was a baby (she's now 5), my MIL and FIL would drive 1.5 hours at 5am every Monday morning and watch Taryn for me until Tuesday evening so she didn't have to go into daycare for 5 days a week.  It was so sweet.  She takes all of my girls for weekends of fun and lots of spoiling, which gives Brian and I the much needed time alone that we wouldn't normally get.

So, please say a prayer for her surgery on Thursday, that it goes well and gives us many years to come with this wonderful woman.

And about the card.......I CASE'd this card here from Amanda Quintilio.  I changed all the colors and the Big Shot folder, but other than that, kept it very close to this card.  It's amazing how beautiful a card can look and you only stamp once.  I LOVE MY BIG SHOT!!

I hope you like it!

Baby Shower Thank You

Since Sofia was my 4th baby girl, my mother thought it would be tacky to have a baby shower for me.  Through my entire pregnancy I never even gave a baby shower a thought because of my mom's feelings on it.  My aunt, who is like a mother to me, overruled my mother and set up a small party of the ladies in my family in the private family room at our local Olive Garden.  It was so nice!  Two of my three girls were there (the middle one went to the driving range with Daddy).
 Here is the Thank You card I came up with.  It's 4 X 4, which is very untraditional.  I wanted something bigger than a 3 X 3 and smaller than the traditional 4.25 X 5.5.  I loved the colors that Chat used on this card.  I changed out the Concord Crush DSP for Rich Razzleberry.  I hope you like it!

A Short Hiatus

On April 16th at 3:28am, Brian and I welcomed Sofia Victoria into the world.  This is a picture of me in the hospital with my 4 girls.  So, as I'm sure you can all imagine, I have become a very busy lady trying to look after all of these lovely little girls.  I will be taking a short break from stampin but will try and post some of the things I made within the last week of my pregnancy that I didn't get a chance to share.  Happy Easter!!!

A La Card Monkey

I know this is my second post of the day, but I needed to share the fabulousness of this blog I just found (it's VERY new!).  One of my favorite designers, Shirley Pumpkin, started a new blog challenge here.  I think it's going to be a fun, challenging blog, which is what I've been looking for.  I hope you check it out!
Here is a pic of the fun stuff they are giving away!

MOJO Monday 185 and SPCC #94

As usual, I chose two challenges for one card.  I loved the color combo from the Scrapmaster's Paradise and thought the Mojo Monday sketch would go perfectly with it.  I originally wanted to make a Mother's Day card, but my sentiment stamp was much too big for the card, so I tried something else.  It's not exactly what I envisioned, but I think it works for now.  I hope you like it!

Stamps Used: Just Believe

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Happy Monday! My two youngest daughters share birthday's very close together.  So, each year, we give them a double birthday party with our families.  I decided that this year I was going to make their thank you cards since I had so much DSP from Sale-A-Bration left over.  I experimented with a few different color combos and paper and will just send out a bunch of different styles for their Thank You's.  I love the owl stamp from Punch Bunch so that is my main stamp on these cards.  In the Sale-A-Bration mini catalog there was a cute card that showcased the sentiment, and I loved the idea.  I added that to my card with the buttons from the Ice Cream Parlor DSP set.  I hope you like it!

Happy Easter

This is one of my newest creations for Easter.  I CASE'd this card from Chat Wszelaki here.  She is one of my all-time, favorite stampers, and I am constantly getting inspiration from her.  I changed the card a bit.  Instead if using the So Saffron like she did, I used Daffodil Delight.  I also changed the DSP and some of the punches that were used.  My colors were Whisper White, Concord Crush, Pear Pizzaz, and Daffodil Delight.  I hope you like it!

Mojo Monday 179

Here is my take on the Mojo Monday sketch.  What an excellent sketch challenge this was.  I had alot of fun playing with my DSP and Greenhouse Garden set.  My DSP was Sweet & Sour, with Very Vanilla and Rose Red as the background colors.  My sentiment came from the new Easter Blossoms stamp set.  I hope you like it!

Another Challenge-PPA81 and SCIC #40

Since my Mojo has been a little off lately, I decided to participate in another challenge.  After going through some of my favorite challenges blogs, I found Pals Paper Arts sketch challenge and the Stampin Celebration Inspiration Challenge.  I loved the fresh, vibrant colors of the SCIC challenge and decided to put it to work on the PPA sketch.  Since Easter is around the corner, I decided to use my Occasions Mini set, Easter Blossoms.  As part of the SCIC challenge, you can interpret your own set of colors out of their pictures.  I used Cherry Cobler, Daffodil Delight, Garden Green, and Whisper White.  The card has such a bold set of colors that pop right off of the card.  I hope you like it!

My Stampin Up Story:Act 1:Recruit Crew

I have been given the opportunity to participate in Recruit Crew through Stampin Connection.  Act1 requires me to put 'My Stampin Up Story' down on paper.  I decided to post it on my blog so that more of you can get to know me and why I decided to be a Stampin Up demo.

I was introduced to Stampin Up! through my best friend, Naomi.  She is an avid card maker and uses Stampin Up in many of her projects.  I went with her to a card show that she was participating in and I was amazed at the overwhelming love people have for her cards.  I experimented with some of Michael's and AC Moore's papers, inks, and stamps and had a very hard time coming up with ideas on my own.  Naomi showed me the Splitcoast Stampers website and led me to the Stampin Up portion of it. I saw the most amazing projects and colors, stamp sets and embellishments. 
During this time of learning about SU! my daughter was undergoing chemotherapy for Osteosarcoma.  She was also undergoing a prosthetic surgery to remove the cancer from her leg.  I felt so helpless during this time frame.  I also needed something to occupy my time for the days upon days that we were constantly in the hospital for her treatments.  SU! was having a promo for people to join as demo's, so I decided to give it a shot.  I figured it'll give me something to do and help earn extra money for my various trips back and forth to the hospital.  I talked to a few neighborhood friends who also stamped, and they were excited that I would be a demo close to them to be able to hold workshops and classes. 
So, I joined.  It was so hard at first getting myself organized enough and finding the time to hold the workshops since my daughter was constantly in and out of the hospital.  The one thing I realized was that SU! was my outlet to keep my mind off of all that was going on around me, and it actually gave me something to look forward to.  With the help of my family, I was able to host a few workshops and demonstrations in my local area.  I felt like I had accomplished so much. 
Now chemo is over.  Our day-to-day routines are falling into place (aside from a new arrival due 4/13/11), we're back to normal.  I am able to focus so much more time and energy on my business and helping others understand why SU! is such an amazing company to work for.  I started in March 2010 and by October of the same year I was promoted to Senior Associate.  It made me realize that if I could be promoted that fast, during a time that my family was struggling the most, I can do so much now that we're back to normal. 
Participating in the Recruit Crew is giving me that momentum that I need to make my business everything I want it to be.

Thanks for taking the time to read My Story!

Birthday Wishes

This weekend we went to my nephew's 15th birthday party.  I needed a quick card for him, so I decided to try out my new Ice Cream Parlor DSP and ribbon.  I also used my Punch Bunch stamp set and Pacific Point Brights DSP.  I love the new Ice Cream Parlor DSP! It is so cute.  I see me making some baby cards with it in the near furture.

Punch Bunch Spring Card

I've been dying to use my Punch Bunch stamp set that I got through Sale-A-Bration.  I saw this card and I loved the colors.  Sandy does an amazing job on her cards, so I had to CASE this particular one.  I used my Pacific Point DSP, CS, and Whisper White.  The sentiment is from the Easter Blossoms stamp set (in the mini).  I also used two Pacific Point buttons to dress the card up a little.  I hope you like it!

Sweet Sunday and Curtain Call Combined

As I said in my previous post, color combos and sketch challenges make it so much easier for me to create my own card.  I chose the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge and the  Curtain Call Color Challenge  to make this adorable Easter/Spring card.  The stamp set I used was the new Easter Blossoms that came out in the Mini.  It's the cutest stamp set, so versatile! I loved this color combo and may make another card (probably a birthday theme) with these colors.  Thanks for looking!