the REAL CA or BUST

You know I'm back from vacation by now (just physically) today we went to the Parade of Homes in Lakeway ($1,000,000.00 homes and up) wow! It was neat. Since we're building a home some day, we take elements we see & make notes, pictures, etc. so we will make exactly what we want (and will be allowed in the budget). Anyway - it's going to take me a while to get back in the swing of things but realized I needed to post the card I intended the day I was leaving for vacation. This is using Starving Artist Stamps Urban set with Arno in the plane. I love these images, there's a taxi cab, a helicopter, rocket & skateboard as transportation. I was so excited to make this card & post it because we were headed out that day, but oh well. Better late than never. I used Michelle's (Zindorf) MFT meets City Nights tutorial for my skyline with a few modifications, but I like how it turned out.

We had a wonderful vacation - but are happy to be home as always. Good times, sweet memories and awesome pictures to share with loved ones. I will post a few soon. Just need some time to adjust from the busyness (and I have lots of blog reading to catch up on too) like 989 posts from my favorite blogs!! gasp

Handmade Earrings Tin

I was so excited when Melanie shared her idea for using her What's in Your Tin sets to hold a pair of earrings. How come I hadn't thought of that? After all, I've been making jewelry for well over a year now and love to gift it! I used my PTI Borders & Corners Monogram set for the S on front and What's in Your Tin set 2 for the sentiment & tin labels.

Rupert Likes You

I think Rupert is one of my top 3 creatures by Doodlefactory. I was looking forward to stamping him and found some inspiration on Jennifer Buck's blog with a sketch by Page Plans#5

Rupert's arms & legs remind me of Halloween for some reason, so that's why I decided to use Purple & Orange & my DCWV glitter stack dp. Rupert is colored with Prismas & OMS (I have missed using them lately) and my circle nestabilities.

Tiny Treasures of Gabby

If it weren't for my favorite cousin Andrea, I would not have pictures of my adorable niece Gabby. I am so grateful to her, she visits almost weekly and is one of Gabby's Godmothers just like me. She is funny, generous, pretty, mature & really my favorite cousin (I have never been hesitant to say that either). Recently she reminded me of a fun memory of when we were younger (I am 5 years older) and used to 'practice' french braiding her hair when I was learning and she was so patient to humor me. She braided Gabby's hair last month and told her about Auntie Donna braiding her hair and Gabby said, "yea braid hair". She actually did a real good job with it too!

I made this tin of my favorite pics she sent in March/April of some Firsts for Gabby. In the above photo this was taken March 1st - her first haircut (by her Aunt Cathi) check out the look on her face!
The next photos are her 1st trip to the beach and her 1st big girl bed (which happens t be a Princess bed) believe it or not - these 3 events occurred the same weekend! Andrea always gets the BEST photos and I can't thank her enough for blessing me with them! The least I can do to show my appreciation is make her gifts using them.

I used Melanie's What's in Your Tin set 1 by Gina K Designs for this gift album and there are photos on both sides of the cardstock. I kept the outside of the tin simple just in case she decides she wants to keep this in her purse so nothing is damaged.

Gabby Chipboard Album

I found this great chipboard album at the $ Tree a few weeks ago and altered it! It has 6 chipboard pieces on the inside. I used my Cutie Pie DP by SU! for the whole album. It came out so cute I decided I have to keep this fo myself because I have not made myself any albums of my niece since she's been born. I love making gifts but tend to do it for others and not myself. My cousin, who takes/sends the pics of our Goddaughter for me said I should keep it so I am! This album (with 12 pages) took me 5 hours to complete.

I used my Dress Up Lily (which I personalized Dress Up Gabby since she resembles my sweet niece so much!) to make these 2 pages. I love these photos and knew immediately when I saw them, these stamps would be PERFECT for them! I used my Doodle & Rough Edges Alphabets for my journaling and image was colored with copics.

On this other page, to complement Gabby enjoying her 'sweets' ice cream & lollipop, I had to make Lily (Gabby) two-fisted with her sweets.

WT166 Embracing Your Inner Creature

A few weeks ago I picked up a 1" square punch at Hobby Lobby for 1/2 price! What a deal! I see the Inchies (introduced by Ellen Huston) have been all the rage, but since I don't have the extra $ to invest in the supplies so like many others, I am improvising to still partcipate!

Well - look how cute the Doodlefactory Creatures are (small) just like the large ones at Starving Artist Stamps - unmounted stamps, the full set of both (10 of each) small (approx 1") & large (approx 2 1/4") are just $24.95! I have a few ideas brewing for these 'sets' of creatures and this week's Ways to Use it inspired this card to feature more than just one creature!

WT166 ways to use inchies on your project. I colored my creatures, leaving some portions uncolored and paired it with a printed quote by Albert Camus, "Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is". DH said he didn't get it, but my interpretation is that there are so many people who try to be someone or something else they are not; they care about what others think of them, are not comfortable in their own skin or have a low self-esteem. Well to me - these creatures seem to be embracing their uniqueness, they are one-of-a-kind and they love themselves.

They crack me up - I was smiling & chuckling as I was coloring them & putting my card together. I hope you have a smiliar reaction looking at it.

LSC168 Hola, Chica

Limited Supplies Challenge on SCS (LSC168) was to:

Use alphabet stamps to create a sentiment.
The sentiment should be the focal point of the card.
You may use other stamps on your card.
You may use designer paper and embellishments

I thought it was a perfect time to use my new Kim Hughes set 'Say What?' so I could make the Doodle Factory animal Squirt, who happens to be bilingual say "Hi, Girl" on my card. I used leftover scraps from my Skoober card the other day. I cut my Squirt out with my circle coluzzle & added sponging for depth. He was colored with copics and my alpha used is the SU! Rough Edges, which I love as it's upper & lower and is in a cute container (you know it's all about the packaging, right?)

Friendship is a Sheltering Tree

I used Jen's Sketch for you to try from 5/17 (SFYTT) and paired it with my new set by Kim Hughes called The Landing Pad which is a set of 27 images including this tree, several styles of branches, a few birds, this birdhouse, some fruit, flowers, and MORE! Go take a look at it at Cornish Heritage Farms. It such a value at $24.99 and you can get free shipping on an order of $35 or more. You will get your order within 2-3 days. I used my Prints Pack by SU! for my patterned paper, colored with my copics and the birdhouse is suspended from the tree branch by linen thread and swings with the bird on it for movement. I used my 'Friend Centers' set for the sentiment, which is a lovely set by Lisa Strahl for CHF as well. I also added my faux dew drops to finish off the sketch.

We all know friendship helps us weather through life's storms. I was reflecting on friendship and truly believe friends come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. No matter which they are, it's important to acknowledge it and cherish it for the length of time it lasts. I can say I never regretted being friends with anyone I have formed a connection with and although with lots of them our paths may have taken us apart; their memory lives on in my heart because it was not by chance we became friends. It was just not meant to be lasting. For those that have lasted, I am truly grateful that the effort has been a two-way street and no matter how much time passes between talking or seeing one another, it always picks up right where it left off. That is the sign of a true friendship.

LSC167 - No Stamping?

A few weeks ago the Limited Supplies Challenge (LSC167) was not to stamp at all!

The challenge wasn't that hard at all - due to RUB-ONS! If it weren't for those, I may not have a sentiment for my card (the travesty j/k) I love my Bali Breeze dp by SU! so I chose to go with Pumpkin Pie (adore that color) and Old Olive. I love how the DP has the Tempting Turqouise on it. Seemed perfect to use my Felt Fusion flowers and Ice Round Rhinestone brads. My card is complete with 'thanks a bunch' sentiment!

I made this card from the Gate-Fold tutorial on Scor-Pal's on-line Magazine by Carolyn. I used my Prints pack dp (real red) and Palette prints (groovy guava) as well as my new grungeboard and Prima flowers. I love those guava flowers because it they are frosted (sorta like frosted flakes).

Baby Joseph is HERE!

Just a quick post - I have less than an hour at work but I had to let you know my nephew was born at 11:04 a.m. (PST) and weighed 7 lbs 15 oz (just an ounce under the Dr.'s prediction) and was 20 inches long. My favorite cousin sent me 4 pictures on my phone (but no way to upload here) and he looks SO cute! Looks like he has long fingers like his big sister and my cousin said he has lots of hair but I only saw his little cap on his head.

Proud Auntie Donna

CA or BUST

The card I meant to show today (that I pre-scheduled) was not showing so luckily I had something I hadn't posted yet and intended to but forgot about it.

Today we are headed off to visit family in CA and we are SO excited!! We get there about 9:00 p.m. and may see our new nephew this evening! I just can't wait!! I scheduled our flight back in March, knowing my sister would have him near mid-May. Well the Dr. had her scheduled for today (and we thought yesterday for a while now) so as I type this she is in surgery! EEEKK! How awesome is that timing? I remember 2 years ago when Gabby was born and we were planning to be out there when she was a month old - I broke down & cried because I wasn't there for her birth (that's one of the downfalls of living out of state for me) and my heart ached to witness the miracle!

A few weeks ago I shared a trying week - our other sister had breast reduction surgery which went well (but of course that whole morning I was on edge waiting to hear all was o.k.) she was blessed with more than enough in this department and made efforts to lose weight the past year & a half (Dr's orders) and got approved & in surgery within a matter of a few weeks! I look forward to seeing the new her!

So to celebrate the new her (because she is excited to be able to buy matching bras & undies) I got her a gift card for Victoria's Secret which I am tucking away on the inside of the card - it fits perfectly in the undies because I left a pocket at the top.

I used the template on SCS (don't have time to find it) and used my prints pack by SU! and Making Memories ribbon (cute for the trim) - tried to re-create her tattoo on right boob but not so sure about it.

How do you like that pun - CA or BUST? lol

You Voted for your favorite Hip Hop Creation(s) and I won!!

edited to add:

Bee with her Baby Giraffe Card and I BOTH won Melanie's contest last night because we tied with 32 votes each! How funny (and ironic is that?) We both get her free set (take a look, it is SO cute) and the only bummer is that we're leaving for CA today so I won't get to play with it until the end of next week (boo hoo) but that's o.k. I will be so excited to be spending time with my family that I may forget about stamping all together (nah, just kidding)

Thanks to everyone who voted (I know it was REAL hard, in fact I had a hard time voting for myself but Melanie said it was o.k. now that vote counted after all)! It's like an early birthday present for me!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have entered a contest again on Melanie's blog - the Princess Hairbow Tin I made for Gabby
uses her new Hip Hop Accessories set. If you would like to VOTE for me (click on the vote to be taken directly to Melanie's blog) - I'd be so appreciative; her new set is at stake to get for FREE (and from what I've seen so far, it is SO cute!). I'm afraid I don't have any extra $ (shameless sympathy) to buy it with vacation this week! Although my birthday is just 2 weeks away, so if I don't win and you want to buy it for me - that would be so sweet! just kidding, really!

There are some awesome projects on there so if you decide not to vote for me it's o.k.! Just thought I'd try & get the WORD out!

More Gabby Presents!

I used My Mind's Eye Magnolia paper to cover these 1 1/2" blocks. Then I got a foam alphabet so we can play & make all kinds of words. But this says Gabby Do because that is what my niece calls herself. Her mommy made up a song about her & said Gabby Do and it stuck. It's so funny to hear her say, "Gabby Do do it"!

Tomorrow we head off to visit her - and we're SO excited!!!

Kreativ Blogger Award

Deb (Sharing My Obsession) awarded me this thoughtful award on her blog I would like to extend it to all the ladies (or gents because my DH reads my blog) who read and/or comment on my blog - I know that's the easy way out but I don't have much time to do official nominations)

Commenting on my blog (FYI)

Since I will be going on vacation tomorrow (and not on the computer as much as usual) I will be changing the settings for comments to word verification *and not moderating* so the comments will appear immediately.

Not so Pink Cat Color Challenge

Lauren posted a color challenge as Designer for Pink Cat Studio today and I was inspired to make a beach scene using my Dress Up Lily (Gabby) stamps! The website is not responding for me to link it for you but if you click on I Love the Kitty you can go to the website to look at the stamps). I really should be packing (or resting) but this was priority tonight! My last time to stamp in a week & a half (insert sad face) but it's o.k. I'll be replacing this time with family, friends, good times away from the busyness that is my life at times.

Colors are Night of Navy, Cool Caribbean, Barely Banana, Old Olive or similar. I stamped (partial) Lily and drew in her bathing suit-a little wonky on the right when I went to fill it in with my marker but that's o.k. don't we all have one side of our bodies a little bigger than the other anyway? Makes her look more 'real' see her little belly button?

I used watercolor paper so it would be easy for me to draw my beach - the other stamps are from a SU! retired set Sparkling Summer, lots of fun! I ended up putting some stardust glitter pen on the chair & umbrella and stardust stickles on the beach ball (popped up with dimensionals) but forgot I used a water based marker on those so it bled just a tad. Oh well. Wasn't starting over. Finished it off with Summer Fun from SU! Everyday Flexible Phrases.

We hit a record high today for this date - 95 degrees. Not surprised at all. It is my Godson Avery's birthday today (the big 13) I called him before he left for school and asked if he was excited. He said, "I guess" boys are funny. I look forward to seeing him when we're on vacation, it may turn out to be just a few hours but I will enjoy every minute of it. He is such a great kid.

TECC16 - Stacked Cupcakes!

Hmmm...I wish I had a stack of these in my kitchen. I'd probably ear them all though and that wouldn't be good!

I have had a busy but somewhat relaxing weekend - didn't do any marathon stamping because we had lots of errands & household things in preparation for our trip Weds. I have daily posts through our vacation but will not be doing keeping up with my Google Reader (haven't decided to take my laptop yet) so don't be shocked when you don't see me commenting on your projects if I normally do). But I did manage to do a few challenges and Taylor's Cupcake Challenge (TECC16) was one of them real late last night. Although now I realize I did not put a sentiment, oh well.

I used Lockhart Stamps stacked cupcakes & my Basic Grey Cupcake paper and matching brads. Liquid pearls for the frosting & corners on the focal image and topped them all with a cherry (red bling).

Have a great Monday (and week) y'all!

sweet RAKS & an extraordinary day...

The above card is from Monika at M.A.D. Stamper - we recently did a little image swap so we can try out some stamps we don't have. Monika is so sweet and she won the Guest Star Stamper for Papertrey this week! Check out her Father's Day card - congratulations, my friend!!! I love the set Monika used on her card, Petals & Paisley by SU! It's a set demos got as a Christmas present I believe Christmas 2006. I love the saying, 'find joy in the little things' I found joy in my mailbox the day this card arrived for sure!!

This cute card I got from Carolina at Carolina's Creative Pad Carolina is so sweet and a fabulous stamper! Check out the hunk of wide satin ribbon she sent me? It's pink & brown (my favorite combo) She used SU! chipboard for this card and don't you just adore the trio of brads in the center of the spiral clip? DH said it was so cool. She really has innovative ways of creating!

I want to say a special Thank You to the following ladies who recently blessed me with their Requested Random Acts of Kindness: I hope I didn't forget anyone! I wrote all the names down somewhere but not sure what I did with the note.

Jessie Rone
Charmaine Ikach
Carolina Buchting
Rose Ann Reynolds
Kathy Rocco
Nicole Cooke
Marilyn Moseley
Lori Hendricks

I found out last week a dear friend/customer was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer (in March), in April had surgery and is now currently undergoing 6 chemotherapy treatments. It was one of the things that tugged at my heartstrings I referred about going through last week. When I heard the news, I was numb and immediately internalized it and broke down the following day; so much that I couldn't function at work & went home because all I did was cry all day. This friend is so dear to me, really more like a mom (and that means a lot to me, having lost my own mom at the age of 25 to Lung Cancer) so the news was devastating. She has a great support system and I wanted to be that as well.

I was so happy yesterday to have my friend tell me she was ready for a visit from me so I took her the RAKS. Surprisingly I was real strong while I visited her and did not cry (I prayed for strength before going). I gave her 3 hugs before I left and will be in touch with her to visit again in about 3 weeks after we settle back from vacation.

My friend loves to stamp & send cards to her friends & family and told me she was going to take a year off from stamping because she doesn't have the energy. I could tell, because just opening the cards was zapping her energy.

When Jessie offered to send her some cards she made early in her stamping (mostly cased, she said) for my friend to have to send, I thought that was a sweet idea! You should have seen the box! I was FLOORED! They were all fantastic and if you are familiar with Jessie's awesome stamping you would not be surprised! My friend was so grateful for all the cards, but I sure saw excitement in her eyes when she realized she can still send her family & friends cards from her 'stash' So a special Thank You to Jessie for your generosity & awesome idea!

In addition to a card, Carolina made my friend one of her precious Travel Tissue Holders - she liked that a lot too.

Thank you from the botton of my heart, ladies! I am so grateful to each of you for helping make an ordinary day extraordinary extending kind your kindness & friendship to reach out to a friend of a friend. It resulted in me finding joy in the little things (that really are not little at all); realizing what a few minutes, some stamping supplies, postage & extending your heart to another really means.

SC176 - Hippy Holidays

Another challenge done this week! What's wrong with me?!

Ever since Melanie made her Hip Hop Accessories, it doubles the fun for everyone! Did you know she is giving away her next release FREE if you enter her contest? Just do it! You have nothing to lose!!

I have missed playing with my Just so Hippy set so I grabbed my hippo and the hippy sentiment to muster up some holiday wishes along with the santa hat from Dress Up Lily by Pink Cat Studio to complete her ensemble. You know how fast the year is going? Well, guess what? Christmas is right around the corner!

I used my Basic Grey Figgy Pudding dp and matched Cool Caribbean, Real Red & Always Artichoke. Colored hippo with my copics. You may barely be able to see the Gold Metallic Rub-ons around the real red background for the hippo & the sentiment. It looks pretty cool IRL.

SC175 - Must...Have...Caffeine!

Last week's Sketch Challenge (SC175) was fun! I just got my Nestabilities Circles about a month ago and have only used a handful of times. It was perfect for this sketch though! How funny is Zot by Doodle Factory? It totally says he may not be a morning person, can't function too well without his morning coffee, or he may have woken up from a hangover! I printed my sentiment on the computer & punched it out with a 1" punch. See the arrow? That's using my new striped Grungeboard with pewter metallic rub-ons. Then I used them on the flowers too. The dp is DCWV left over from last week's Twinkx card (see how much I use up my scraps first?)

Ruff Day?

I actually did the CC166 (Soft Sky, Pumpkin Pie & Ruby Red) the day OF the challenge! I usually run about a week late on these. But, of course I'm posting it the day after because when I was done with my card, we ate dinner, watched a movie-Death at a Funeral it was a tad bit slow at first but turned out to be quite HILARIOUS then last week's Grey's.

I used my Skoober creature image from Starving Artistamps Doodlefactory Collection and colored him with copic markers. My dp is DCWV glitter stack, in which I mimicked the circles with cardstock and added the Ruff Day sentiment (from A Little Love - SAB years ago) it just totally looks like Skoober had a bad day.

Since my DH loves these creatures I told him the card was for him but not really because he doesn't get to keep it. He sounded kinda sad at first but he said I should give it to someone who needs it. Of course he could have today; he's working so hard at his job trying to line things up for his absence when we're on vacation next week and woke up with a crink in his neck (a trip to the chiropractor was what he needed & got in at 5:00) At least Skoober made him laugh.

WSC47 - new stuff

Here is my card (labor of love and more detailed than my cards lately) for Beate's WSC47 I really like how it turned out, though. I've always been fond of the Polished Stone technique and since discovering Ranger Alcohol inks are so versatile (and because I had a Michael's 40% off coupon, I decided to try them out) and you don't need alcohol as an added step it seemed like a good idea. I got the Cabin Cupboard Kit with Caramel, Latte & Ginger (sounds yummy) and the Alcohol Ink Applicator and had a little fun. Since I didn't get the metallic mixatives, I tried my SU! metallic gold refill and it worked just fine - why spend more if you may have something to substitute? I used all these on my glossy paper then decided to try using them on my Bride's shimmer flowers I got there for 25% off. They took to them well - I'm beginning to wonder why the heck I passed them up when I had a 40% off coupon - DUH. Anyway, the True Thyme piece on the bottom is stamped with Canvas and Spanish Script backgrounders by Cornish Heritage Farms which I got a few weeks ago and hadn't used yet. The leaves in my focal image are Stampin' Up! Petal Prints (retired but I still love it) didn't have anywhere to put a sentiment so it's probably going to stay that way).

Congrats on Your New Nest

I really like Gina K's new Owl Always Love You set (which, incidentally I got for FREE in her blog giveaway - yea!). A co-worker recently moved to a different apartment so I had to use this cute image & sentiment to congratulate her - she loved it! See my faux dew drops again and the color challenge from 2 weeks ago? It totally says 'SPRING' to me and that's why this card was PERFECT for her. Colored with my Copic markers and eggs are highlighted with sakura glitter pen.

TECC15 - Hey Sweetie

These are my cards for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge 15 (TECC15) - sketch. Of course I used my Stampendous Hey There Cupcake set (designed exclusively for Eclectic Paperie) the cupake combinations are MANY! I decided to go with the same cupcake image but with a few differences: colored the frosting on the first one with Stickles star dust glitter and separated the strips of cardstock to let the black show through on the scallop center and positioned the sentiment on the bottom of the cupcake. The colors were inspired by Dawn Easton - Treasure Oiler Designz : Cameo Coral, Cool Caribbean, Barely Banana & Basic Black - these days I ADORE putting black on my cardstock - it just POPS! I chose not to use dp for my bg pieces like in Taylor's sketch but chose to use my Large Polka Dot Backgrounder by Cornish Heritage Farms with Versamark ink.

On this other card, I put some Cameo Coral sprinkles on the cupcake & outlined the frosting with my Copic silver glitter pen. The cherries are both covered with Crystal Effects for shine.

Blogging with a Purpose & a RAK

Deborah at Sharing my Obsession awarded me with the above sweet award saying, "Thanks to all of you for either the comments that you leave and lift my spirits and/or the inspiration that you provide each and every day!"

Wow - this is my first time seeing this award and I am quite honored. Deborah is such a sweet lady who makes the time to leave sweet, encouraging comments. Be sure to check out her great blog!

I'd like to extend this award to the following because of their unique style of crafting (by that I mean, whatever their sharing entails because when you go to Nan's blog, you will see she is not really a stamper, but so creative when it comes sharing her passion of cooking, sewing & just realized she is an author, how cool is that?!), they are strong in their faith, sweet, encouraging and downright talented! Go visit their blogs (if you haven't already) and give them some love because they are BLOGGERS with a PURPOSE.

Charmaine - Oodabug Alley

Melanie - Hands, Head & Heart

Marilyn - Stamp with Marilyn

Nan - Pots & Pins

Rose Ann - Paper Delightz

and speaking of Rose Ann - check out the awesome RAK she sent me this week - I so loved it when she posted it (using Unity Stamps - review on SCS) can you believe she cut out the little birdie legs? it is a fabulous card with the banner on the bottom & I love the paper pieced tree!

Stamp Simply - Think Spring

Do you read Sharon's blog No Time to Stamp? Well, each week she has a fun challenge (with no time limit) to Stamp Simply and I FINALLY played! #33 is to Think Spring - use pink and green in your card and a flower. That was easy! I needed to make a Thank You card and this would totally fit the bill for my special friend! I used SU! Always set and Absolutely Fabulous (because she is) and randomly put rhinestone bling for the centers of the flowers. No layers. Pretty in Pink, Pink Passion, Gable Green & Green Galore.

More Gifts for Gabby - Surprise!!!

I know this post is long - but it's going to be a delight for all you who have little girls or make things for little girls.

Only 11 more days until I visit family in CA!! My sisters (both older), their DHs and my sweet 2 yr-old niece & her soon to be born baby brother Joseph! I am SO excited! A few months back I had the idea to give Gabby a gift (surprise) for each day (8) we are there. I thought it would be real fun to space them out instead of showering her with a whole bunch of gifts the day we arrive. After all, she loves 'surprises' and I have had a FUN time getting them all together. They range from a TX Longhorn teddy bear to summer outfits to lots of homemade stuff (even a pair of cute white socks that have colorful plastic beads sewn on the top that I got at an art fair). I've had them all together for over a few weeks now, but realized the other day I wanted to make her one more thing so now I have more than 8 gifts - oh well! This one is special because she adores hairbows (that's what she calls anything you put in her hair) and the little princess tin I made her for her birthday, which she didn't want anyone to touch!

So I had the idea to make her more hairbows and use Melanie's new set Hip Hop Accessories (because the animals - giraffe, hippo & frog are scaled down) and attach them to some hair bands with ribbon. I ADORE how they turned out! Look how cute her Giraffe fits on the top of an altoid tin! I used Melanie's What's in Your Tin set 1 as well so now my niece will have 2 tins!!

This is the project I had to buy polyshrink for - it really is easy to use and so fun to watch shrink! I colored them with Prismacolor pencils - I love how bright the colors turn once they're shrunk.

All 8 hairbows barely fit in this tin - but I had to make a set of each animal for her. I decided to use part of the sentiment in Melanie's What's in Your Tin set 3 'for the modern (princess from Hip Hop Accessories) --- on-the-go'

Here is a closer look at each of them. Since there are only 3 animals in this set, I borrowed Bunny from Just so Hoppy - I love how all her sentiments can be mixed & matched! That was fun to do for these animals.

Now here is a close-up of my (and DH's) favorite one - the giraffe. Hippy Girl ~ how fun is that?! Oh and I bet she will be able to wear at least a few of these with some of the new clothes I got her! It's going to be SO fun to dress her when I'm there!!! squeal!

Here are some flip flops I made for her too - just stamped the little flower from Papertrey's Beautiful Blooms with Palette ink (can't remember color), put some sticky tape on the plastic and then put multi-colored beads on them. Then I topped off the front with Papertrey's Velvet Blossoms in Fire and center is bling! I should have made me a matching pair since they're so cute!

Whoot Whoot - Mytime Sketch

Happy Friday, Y'all! I am SO happy about the weekend - it has been a very trying (tiring) emotionally draining week with trials of family & close friends that are near & dear to our hearts. God will see them through & of course we will be there for them (in good times & bad) but I am expecting to see GOOD come out of it all because that's the way our mighty God is.

"The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all..."

{Psalm 34:17-19}

So here I am - a day I go to work at 1:00 p.m. I like it a LOT! I slept in 'just a tad bit' and wanted so badly to try a few of my new products (and Lauren's Sketch for Saturday a day early) and post before I head out to get my Driver's License renewed (ugh) before it expires on my birthday -since we'll be out of town at the end of the month I don't want to wait until the last minute or have to do it the day we get back!)

I went shopping at my LSS and got some needed white polyshrink (I'll show you my neat project this weekend, you will want to see it, esp if you have (or buy, make things for) little girls *wink* I also found Tim Holtz' Grungeboard there! Whoot Whoot - that's what I put as my embellishment in the upper right corner. That stuff feels like SUEDE, it's awesome! Can you believe you get 96 shapes (10 sheets) for only $7.99!!? I had no idea it was such a deal! I am putting a little something special in a card to a stamping friend today that I bet she will adore from my find! Then I found some Metallic Rub-ons that Gina K introduced on her blog a few months ago (and forgot to buy the last time I made an order in her store) but hey - we do need to support our LSS (local stamping stores) so I was happy I found it! SCORE! It came with 7 colors and for ONLY $3.99!! I KNOW, I couldn't believe my eyes (and for you local gals, I took their last one). It is the Earth Tones Kit #2 with Colonial, Nubian, Pewter (which is what I used on my card), Olive, Deep Gold, Gunmetal and Brass. I just rubbed it on my grungeboard tag and put rhinestone brads in it.

How cute is Twinkx by Doodle Factory by Starving Artist Stamps cutting a rug on this card? Can't you just hear him saying, 'Whoot Whoot'? Which, by the way is from Kim Hughes' U R A Hoot by Cornish Heritage Farms - it just went perfectly with him!

Of course I had to use my DCWV Glitter Stack (since I'm addicted to it) for this guy - I am going to send this card to my sister who just had surgery this week and is recovering just fine (not the one that's ready to have my nephew). I decided I didn't need to color Twinkx in because of all the busyness of the paper but his crown sure shines! I colored it in with a yellow glaze pen. The silver metallic paper strip behind the image is by SU! I even cut & embosses my main image with my circle nestability and rubbed more metallic paste around it for depth.

Have a great weekend!

WSC46 & CC164 - Happy Mother's Day

I really LOVE the color challenge from last week on SCS CC164 - Purely Pomegranate, Soft Sky & Basic Black so I made several cards using it. The first is Beate's Weekend Sketch WSC46 The Happy Mother's Day is a clear stamp set (but I can't remember who makes it, I got it last year on clearance at Hobby Lobby) it's all holidays

This is an oldie but goodie layout for me so it was real easy to do this as well. Works great as a one sheet wonder when you have to do multiples.

This is actually the first card I did for this color combo, I have a somewhat difficult time with long card but I think this turned out nice. I stamped the bird in versamark on soft sky & used clear embossing powder. Decided I didn't want to mat the bird so I just sponged the edges to make it stand out a little (this is like a modified faux embossing).

Shout Out to Sheetload!

Have you checked out the blog Sheetload of Cards?! Well, their May issue is up - go there to download your FREE copy. In it, they have this cool template with measurements & supplies needed to make 6 of the above cards. Since this issue features Bellas & Baubles, I thought I would make my cards with bellas too!

My cards were made with Magnolia by My Mind's Eye DP which is so bright & cheerful so I chose Real Red, Pixie Pink & Tempting Turquoise for my c/s colors. Some of these Bellas I already had stamped so it was pretty quick to stamp a few & color them with my Prismas & OMS. I didn't have enough red primas, so I substituted a darker blue, but I still think it matches (the one on the lower left is going to the gal who cuts my hair; DH and I both got all our hairs cut on Sat.) so I wanted to send a Thank You card because she is good, her price is great, she doesn't live far away & she served us Wine Spritzers - sweet!! Sorry the scan is so far away, I just wanted you to get the full effect of all 6 cards done

Here is the prize you could win if you also post a Shout Out on your blog.

Scrap Your Crap Challenge

Simone Collins aka Spazz Girl , along with her BFF Greta, created a blog devoted to scrapping their crap (Scrap Your Crap)- check it out when you get a chance - lots of scrapping eye candy! Plus it is chock full of these girl's sense of humor.

Well about a month & a half ago I saw Simone on yahoo messenger - we chatted for a bit & she asked if I would like to participate in a Scrap Our Crap Challenge #14 (she would send me something to use on a project, send her the pic & not upload it to my blog until the projects from the participants went live in May on their blog. Sure, I said! I always like a good challenge. The crap I got is the green lacy border. I thought about what to do with it for a while (since I don't scrap all that regularly she said it would be fine to use it on a card, phew) and I just had received my Baked With Love set by Kim Hughes for Cornish Heritage Farms, so I made a love card. I know it looks real Christmasy but the paper lace was Glorious Green, after all and hearts are traditionally red. So I guess I can make this an early Christmas card!