1000th Post!!!

Today's the day!!  1000 posts!!!!  I still can't believe it, that's a ton of posts!!!!!  In honor of the 1000th post lets give some big stuff away!!!  I'm giving away some of my favorite things. So I'm giving away one of the Sale a Bration hostess tote bags, the Sweet Cake Stamp set (clear), the Sale a Bration ribbon and brad bundle and some of the large pearls.  The bag and pearls are my favorite!  The bag is so pretty.  I have a few of them :) and have been using them all over.  And well we all know how I fell about pearls and rhinestones :)  So to win, just leave me a comment on anything you'd like-no topic today, by Sunday night at 7PM.  The winner will be announced on Monday! Thank you all for helping me make 1000 posts a huge reality! 

Thanks for looking, ,see you soon!

A Forest of Thanks

Tonight is our demonstrator meeting.  I look forward to these meetings every month.  They are so fun, so inspiring and I leave full of wonderful ideas.  Our swap theme this month was embossing-either heat embossing or dry embossing.   This is the card I did.  I decided to focus on the embossing folders, I LOVE them!!!!  For the tree I stamped it in Garden Green then used my Chocolate Chip marker to color in the tree trunks.  I saw a card like this on Pintrest (insert shocked face here).  I loved it though, it was so simple, pretty and could be used for either men or women.  It's a great masculine card don't you think.  I think I'm always challenged with masculine cards for some reason.  The Lovely as a Tree set has always been my go to set for masculine cards-looks like it still is! 

You can have this card too! All week long I'll be sending the cards I make to one lucky viewer, each day you have a different chance to enter. Friday I'll have a HUGE giveaway-tell you friends :) Enter one or enter them ALL!!!!! To enter just leave a comment on that post and next week on Monday I'll announce the winners. To be entered all comments must be made by Sunday at 7PM.  Since our theme for our meeting tonight is embossing, I'd like to know what you like heat embossing or dry embossing?

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Blue Pig

Thanks for all your comments so far!  I am really enjoying reading them!  Today's card is a fun, cute one.  Logan helped me out with it.  I think I need to add some Island Indigo ribbon to it, but Logan didn't think it needed it-boys!  You can have this card too! All week long I'll be sending the cards I make to one lucky viewer, each day you have a different chance to enter. Friday I'll have a HUGE giveaway-tell you friends :) Enter one or enter them ALL!!!!! To enter just leave a comment on that post and next week on Monday I'll announce the winners. To be entered all comments must be made by Sunday at 7PM.  I love the DSP on this card, so today leave me a comment with your favorite DSP pack.

I love the sweet little button and the DSP is new, it's in the Summer Smooches DSP pack.  If you're a demo you can get it now, if you're a customer you can get it April 1.  There are no big earth shattering techniques on this card, it would be adorable for a baby boy card.  Change the colors and do it in pinks for a baby girl card.  Again thanks so much for the comments you have all been so sweet!!!  Make sure to check back Friday for the big giveaway!!!   

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Melon Flowers

This card looks so girly to me I love it!!  I love the big bow and all the Melon Mambo flowers with the rhinestones.  This was a huge step for me, I'm learning to be a rhinestone sharer not a rhinestone hoarder :)  I saw a card similar to this on Pintrest (I did warn you I was addicted).  You can have this card too! All week long I'll be sending the cards I make to one lucky viewer, each day you have a different chance to enter. Friday I'll have a HUGE giveaway-tell you friends :) Enter one or enter them ALL!!!!! To enter just leave a comment on that post and next week on Monday I'll announce the winners. To be entered all comments must be made by Sunday at 7PM.  So it occurred to me that perhaps when I said leave a comment I probably shouldn't have been so vague so today leave me a comment on your favorite Stampin' Up! accessory.

One of my favorite accessories is rhinestones (surprised?).  I won't even tell you how many packages I have, let's just say I won't run out soon :)  I love them, I love the sparkle and the glam they add to your card and for under $5 they're an accessory that everyone can enjoy!!!!  For my flowers I used the Itty Bitty Punch pack. The leaves are made with the 4 petal flower from the pack.  Easy and so pretty!   Make sure to leave me a comment and let me know your favorite accessory and perhaps you might win this lovely card!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Let The Countdown Begin!

Not only are we counting down to my 1000th post but on Friday afternoon my blog passed the 100,000 hit mark!!!!!! WOW!!! You guys are amazing! I love doing my blog, and I would do it even if no one ever read it, but to know that people actually take time to come to my blog is really amazing and humbling!!! Plus now you can help me celebrate my 1000th post!!!!! All week long I'll be sending the cards I make to one lucky viewer, each day you have a different chance to enter. Friday I'll have a HUGE giveaway-tell you friends :) Enter one or enter them ALL!!!!! To enter just leave a comment on that post and next week on Monday I'll announce the winners. To be entered all comments must be made by Sunday at 7PM. Today's card is super cute! I saw a card like this a while ago and I loved it and knew I wanted to duplicate it but didn't have that wood grain stamp set. So slowly as my wishlist got checked off, finally I got the wood grain stamp set! I knew this would be the first card I would make with it! 

I love the little owl peeking out and I love all the leaves! The tree is just hand cut, no special way. I attached his little sign with some dimensionals and a brad. So CUTE!!!! His vest is made with the new Summer Smooches DSP. I love that DSP!!! I'm so excited for it!!! If you're a customer you can get it in less than a week, on April 1!!! So if you'd like me to mail you this card just comment on my post and I'll draw a winner on Sunday!!!

Possibly The Cutest Thing EVER!

This is a super long post, but it's so totally, completely so worthwhile so please grab some coffee, tea or whatever you choose and sit down and enjoy!!  Before we get to the project I want to showcase I have to give you some background and explain how this project came to be.  You might have remembered me mentioning Heather Summers My Digital Studio Class, well it is awesome and I've learned so many fun MDS trick and tools.  One of the pages that Heather showed was similar to mine page (really similar-I copied it pretty closely).  Heather's page included a monkey, I didn't purposely leave the monkey out, I just forgot about it when making this page, but I included it in the next project.  But anyway I'm getting a little off track.  After I made this page, the animals are made in MDS with punches by the way-SUPER CUTE!  After they were made I thought, that could be done with cardstock.  Then I thought, I want them bigger though, I wonder if I could make them with some dies.  Which is where my project comes in!!!  I'm so excited about this!!!

My final project is a card that opens up with 5 panels, each panel has an animal and yes this time I included a monkey :) This card is a normal 4.25x5.5 card I'm so excited about how it expands and I just love it.  I'm working on a second one that I'm going to make into a fun banner to hang in Megan or Logan's room (truth is I'll probably have to make one for each kid in each room).  Maybe I'll add some pink bows on the one that will go in Megan's room.  Of course when that happens I'll take pictures and show you. 


If you were to mail this card, you'd have to use a padded envelope, it's probably a good inch thick when folded up.  Here's what it looks like when folded up.  The elephant is so cute, his trunk was probably my biggest challenge.  In the end I ended up using the paper that the elephant's head was cut out from.  I used the outline of the circle and then put it on half of an oval.  Just to point out, all the heads were cut from the 3.5 inch circle die.  The oval I used for his trunk is the largest oval in the ovals die.  

The elephants ears were done with the butterfly die.  The DSP that I used for all the animals is a new DSP that if you're a demonstrator you can get now, if you're a customer you can get in April.  It's the Summer Smooches DSP, the patterns are so fun!!!  All the animals are done with the dies and some punches.  The giraffe was fun used the largest oval for his nose.  The little talk bubbles were done in MDS, I printed them out and cut them out. 

The monkey and the hippo were fun, the hippo was the first animal I did, he was so simple and after I did him I was so so excited to keep going!!!!  I had to do the monkey's eyes about 4 times, every time I did them he looked angry, of course I couldn't have an angry monkey :)  I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to get the monkey done, I didn't think I had a heart die for his face, then I remembered I had just got the Heart Framelits Yay!!!  The monkey was saved!!!! 

Lastly is the lion.  After the elephant he was my next challenging one.  I thought about using the scallop circle dies, but they were either too big or too little. So I ended up using the clear circle die and I went around and cut our triangles all around.  After I got one done, he still looked a little incomplete so I made another one, it made his mane look a little more full. 

I used my SU paper snips to show you how big these animals are.  I love them.  If you know me at all you already know what a fan I am of using punches to build animals and other fun little guys.  So using the dies was so much fun!  It was like the punches on steroids!!!  So cute!!!!!!  I just love these little guys I hope you do too.  Remember to join me next week for my countdown to 1000 blog posts!!!!  I'll have fun things going on all week so make sure you check every day!!!! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Bunnies In A Box!

Today's project started out as an idea from a couple days ago while laying in bed thinking about new projects.  Yep, now you know I seem to brainstorm almost anywhere :)  My vision was a little different.  I think in retrospect I'll make the eggs a little smaller next time.  The box is a little wonky too, I need to work on my box making skills.  I've relied on the Big Shot for so long that I really struggled with making the box and in the end it didn't turn out as I had hoped.  It's still cute and Logan saw it on my desk and asked if he could have it, so I gave it to him, cards and all.  Who knows who will get the cards on Easter! 

Inside the box is three 3x3 Easter cards.  I thought three was a good number for a hostess gift or neighbor gift, etc.  The cards are all made with the same basic layout, some color changes but they're basically all very similar.  I water colored them with my watercolor crayons (forgot how much I love those crayons!!!).  These little bunnies just make me happy!!!!!

The bunnies were all water colored in grey, not sure why but in my head they're all siblings so they would look similar.  I'm goofy that way :)  I love the little chick on this one.  I used my makers to add some highlights on the egg and in the bunnies ear.  I just love these little cards!!!  I've said that already-watch out I just might say it again before this post is up :)

This one I think is the shy sibling.  The other two bunnies are smiling and happy and he just looks to me a little nervous.  Ok seriously perhaps I should see someone about my problem with making up stories to go with my cards.  Does anyone else do this or am I the odd stamper out??

This one is my favorite.  I love the little girl bunny, she reminds me of Megan, carefree and happy!  For her scallop bottom on her dress and shoes I used a marker. I wanted them to stand out a little from the water coloring.  If you haven't tried out the watercolor crayons I highly suggest them, they're so much fun and so easy to use!!!!!  I should use them more often but I think I just don't break out my lined image stamp sets often enough.  Tomorrow's post is so stinkin' cute and it's been a week long process-even though the bulk of it was done yesterday.  But I'm so excited about it so make sure to check back tomorrow!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Do You Have It Yet!!!??

Do you????  Do you have My Digital Studio yet??  If you don't, what are you waiting for!!!??  You can try it free for 30 days, seriously what are you waiting for!!!??!  Plus I've been taking Heather Summers My Digital Studio class and it's been fantastic!!!  If you want to know more about MDS I highly suggest her class!!!  This is actually a page I did months ago, I'm surprised I didn't share it with you already :)  But I looked through my posts and didn't see it so I'm sharing it!!!  I love it.  I love the softness of the photos and the vintagy look of the background!  I love the green grass and the rest is black and white.  So fun!!!!!  This is one of those pages that I love so much I would love to print it out and frame it, perhaps on my next MDS order :) On another note, THANKS so much to those of you that left comments on Monday's card.  I loved reading them and they were all fantastic ideas!!!  I just might try some of them.  There were a couple of suggestions of using a softer or lighter yellow.  I used So Saffron the lightest yellow we sell-perhaps Barely Banana would have been perfect but it's gone.  I also liked the suggestion of using yellow cardstock and brayering white over it.  I love the ideas, I read EVERY single comment!  Check out Monday's post if you want to read the suggestions too!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Pintrest Inspired

I think one of these weeks I'm going to do a week of Pinterest inspired projects!  Wouldn't that be so fun?!  Goodness knows I have pinned enough cards, projects and more to keep me busy!  Today's card is a Pinterest inspired project.  Here's the original post where it came from.  Lorri Heiling made it but it was posted by Nancy Riley both super talented!!!  I saw this card and it was just tooo cute!!!  I have the Aviary stamp set and love it, but don't break it out all that often so I was thrilled when I saw this card!!!!  It's so cute and really couldn't be easier. 

The branches are from the bird punch.  For the life of me I can't remember the name of it and I don't have my catalog nearby or I'd look it up :(  I punched out 4 branches and used tombow to glue them down in different directions.  My greeting is from the Curly Cute set (love that set!).  Other than dimensionals there's no accessories!  Shocking I know.  I did debate about adding ribbon or buttons but I think it's so cute, simple and fun!!!! 

Thanks for looking see you soon!!!!

Undecided...

I feel a little undecided on today's card.  On one hand I LOVE the idea of it, on the other it looked better in my head.  So what do you think????  My original plan was to cut the doily out and use that for the sun, but it was to bright, big and I wasn't sure where my greeting would go.  Then I thought I'd go for a lighter look and brayer over it.  In the end I looked better in my head than it did on paper.  I went back and forth about whether or not to even post it, but in the end I decided that while I don't love it, maybe it will inspire someone else to make something spectacular!  I think the doily die just isn't the right one.  I LOVE the rays on the card but I think there needs to be more to the sun.  Anyway, I'd love to know what you think, leave me a comment let me know. 

Here's what it look like before I brayered it.  Here's a helpful tip too, if you masking off large parts of your card like this, make sure to adhere your pieces down with a removable adhesive like dotto or something like it.  Now I have some super fun news!!!!!  In only 10 posts (including today) so that means Friday the 30th (remember I don't post on weekends) I'll celebrate 1000 blog posts!!!!!  WhooooHooo!!!!!  It's a huge milestone (I think) and I've been watching my post count up to 1000 for a couple weeks now.  I'm going to do something big perhaps give some stuff away.....so check all week and all next week too!  I'm getting super excited!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!!

Rainbow Happiness!

I can't tell you how much I love this card!!!  SO fun and who would have ever thought you could use EVERY label framelit on 1 card!  Doesn't it look fantastic though!!!??  I was inspired by a project on saw on Pintrest, you can see the inspiration from the original creator is here.  What a fantastic idea!  So I loved it, but I wanted a different greeting.  I don't have many 'rainbow' greetings so I did a google search and came across this one.  There was no author mentioned but I loved it the best out of the dozens that I read.  I kept going back to this one so I figured it was meant to be.  I just typed it out and printed it on some cardstock. Easy Peasy!

So how did I make it a card?  The entire rainbow scene is mounted on a Whisper White card that was cut out from the same label dies.  Fold your card and place your framelit over it just make sure that the fold of your card is below the cutting part of your die.  You'll get all but the top cut out so that you'll have a card.  Now I will say this before you go make a card with it, I was very nervous about breaking my framelit by having it cut through 2 sheets.  If I remember correctly the instructions say only 1 sheet.  It worked fine with the white, I don't think I would try it with our colored cardstock, if you do you'll probably have to adjust your 'sandwich'.  The white and vanilla cardstock is thinner than our colored so it worked well.  It's not something I'll do regularly with it but it's cute for every now and then when you need that card shaped like this!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Aquarium Day

I've been spending most of my spare time playing with My Digital Studio, you all know how much I love that program!  I've been extra inspired to use it lately from the online class that I've been taking through Heather Summers, she's a MDS rock star!!!!  Anyway, I thought I'd try something that I've never done with a page, round pictures!  Can you believe it, I don't think I've ever done round pictures.  I think mostly because when I do them they never look quite right, to me anyway.  But I decided to go for it and just stick with it.  These pictures were from our trip to the aquarium with my friend Jennifer and her son Easton in January.  The pictures were so sweet and they came out great that I wanted to scrapbook them, but do it in a way that the pictures were still the focal point and were still where your attention was drawn to initally and then back again.  I think I accomplished it.  I love the brown for the background, it really makes the water in the pictures 'pop' out.  Overall I love this page and how it all came together!  Give circles a try!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Happy Birthday!

Well not quite.  This month I celebrate 9 years with Stampin' Up!  I've loved all 9 years with them.  They're such a fantastic company to work for.  I really feel that they truly care about their demonstrators.  I could go on and on about the wonderful 9 years I've had, but I'll just get straight to the cards :)  Since March is my anniversary or 'birthday' month with SU I always (well at least the past couple of years) do a birthday card stamp a stack in March.  Last Saturday I had this years, I think it was the best one yet!!!!!  It's always fun, we had cake and stamped lots of fun cards!!!!  The first one I think it my favorite.  Nothing too fancy or complicated, we used the Very Vintage (I think that's the name of it) wheel for the vanilla on the background.  Then we used the Apothecary Art and labels framelits for the rest of the card.  The flowers are just lightly colored in with the markers.  One of my favorites!!!!

Of course during SAB I always like to throw in a card that showcases one of our sets.  This one is the Elementary Elegance set.  I copied this card right from our swaps from our monthly meeting.  The card I copied was done by Nichole from our January swap you can see it here, it's the 2nd card down.  I didn't copy exactly but I sure copied alot of the same elements.   



If the first one was my favorite than this one sure is a VERY close second!  I love this one.  I had a completely different card in mind when I planned the class, but wouldn't you know it as things tend to go, my original plan just wasn't going to work.  So I searched split coast and found a card similar to this, I love it and my card was planned!!!  So pretty, delicate and fun!!!!!

Finally the last one.  After designing the first 3 I though, hmmm maybe a more masculine card would be necessary so that's where this one came in.  It's the perfect card for using your scraps.  It's simple but so fun and striking! 

Mini Purses!

Remember last week when I said I have some fun new products to show you!!!!!?!  Here is one of my new favorite products!!!!  A mini purse die and some new DSP!!!  You know I how much I love being a demonstrator, we were/are allowed to get this a month before it's released!  What a fun perk!!!!!  You can sign up to join SU now during SAB for a discounted price and you'll get FREE DSP or a digital download every month for the rest of the year.  It's a great deal!!!!  Anyway back to my mini purses.  This die along with the DSP, stamps, fabric, brads and more will be available in April and then in the new Catalog when it's released in June.  I'm so in love with this little purse though it's so cute!!  I can't wait to make more. 

I got this die on Thursday and make 16 of these little boxes in one night!  YEP one night!  They're that easy!!!  I gave them away at my class over the weekend to my guests who attended.  The only modification I made to the little purse was I cut off the cardstock flap to close it and added a DSP flap, with the new DSP! The new Summer Smooches DSP is so fun and bright and happy!  The purses are 'mini' I fit 8 Hershey kisses in my purses, but they're the perfect size for a small gift or some small jewelry.  How cute would they be as favors for a bridal or baby shower!  FUN!!!  You'll see more of this purse soon!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

My Favorite Peeps!

I saw this idea on Pintrest (I'm addicted to that site!).  It was so adorable that I had to make it instantly.  So as soon as I could I got some marshmallow peeps.  The idea behind this little Easter gift is a bag or box with some grass some eggs and a peep.  Attach a tag that says: "You're one of my favorite peeps" and viola a super cute easy craft!!!!!  I made up my tag in MDS, more on that later.  When I went to assemble my bag I realized I only had HUGE cello bags (don't worry, I have some smaller ones on the way!).  So it's a little larger than I would have normally made it.  But because of the big bags, I had to make big tags.  I think that when my smaller bags come I'll modify the tag and make it a little smaller. 

Even with the large tag this is still super cute and probably the cutest Easter treat I've made in a while.  So here's my little peep in the bag.  Make sure you decorate it up with the grass and candy eggs, otherwise the poor peep is in there all alone :( 

For the tags, I opened up My Digital Studio and just opened an 8.5x11 landscape scrapbook page.  This is typically how I make my tags.  You can fit a whole bunch on the sheet and then print them out.  I used my punches to make the base of the tag, added text and stamps over that.  Because I was going for a bigger tag for this one, I could fit 6 to a page, the tags are about 2.5x4.  When I get the smaller bags I'll modify the tag to make it smaller and hopefully get 8 to a page if not maybe 10.  This is such a fun and simple gift.  I hope you go make them too!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Flower Boxes

At our last meeting Amber showed us how to make these adorable little flower boxes from your old brad/button/embellishment containers.  They're so cute, fun and EASY!  I used 5 petals on each of my flowers, I probably could have fit 6 but I thought 5 was good.  For the pink one I used the new blossom punch in the mini catalog, then to change it up a little I used the scallop circle for the Poppy Parade ones. They're so fun and easy.  To make your petals punch your flower or circle or ANY punch that you're using.  Spray it with water (I sprayed mine with Shimmer Mist Spray a combo of rubbing alcohol and shimmer mist paint).  While it's still wet place your bone folder in the center and crumple or mold your cardstock around it.  I used the shimmer mist only because I was too lazy to get up and get a water bottle-there you have it I'm a lazy stamper :)  BUT it left the flowers with a fun shimmer! 

If you want to add a layer or two of CS to the top of your container before you put your flower on make sure you do that before the next step.  Once you have your petals use a glue gun, you really need a glue gun for this sticky strip, tombow, glue dots or any other glue just aren't going to hold as well.  Stick your petals on leaving a space in the center.  Take a strip of cardstock, and make grass-we've all done this, trim your cardstock into slivers but don't cut all the way down, roll it up and stick it in the center.  SO CUTE!!!!  I made 4 of them, they'll be my door prizes for my class tomorrow. 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Cough....I'm Back?

Well kind of.  I'll let you in on a little secret.  Last week I had all my post scheduled on Monday for the entire week!  Yay me!!!  I also was able to do Monday of this week-last week.  Yep I thought I was on top of things, organized and ready!  Well then Logan got sick, stay at home with Mom sick, fever sick, coughing sick.  ICK!  Poor kid.  Well normally Logan bounces back quickly and so on day 3 of missing school I began to wonder is this more than just a cold.  Well when he didn't eat lunch that day I knew it was time to see a doctor.  His doctor wasn't in that day so we went to urgent care.  Good thing too, turns out Logan was on the verge of a horrible ear infection and if we had waited another day it would have been 100 times worse.  So after a few does of antibiotics Logan was back a school.  I thought that was it, we were done with it!  Then Sunday I was feverish and sick, coughing the whole thing! Monday was bad too, then Megan starts coughing, and the worst sound in the world is a little baby coughing.  Poor Megan and I had been hit!  Megan saw a doctor yesterday and the doctor said she's doing ok, just your run of the mill cold and cough.  Geez!  So now we're hoping it's run it's course and we can all be on the path to recovery now.  I was able to do a little stamping yesterday, I'm not completely thrilled with the card but I haven't been thinking very clear the last day or two so I'm going to blame it on that. 

But before we get to the card, have you seen these in the stores??????  Now if anyone out there ever wants to buy me a present :) this is what I want :)  These are so yummy!  If you follow my blog you already know of my slight obsession with Ghirardelli dark chocolate (it has to be dark, I'm not a fan of milk chocolate).  When I saw these I thought I'd pass out, I found them at the store while picking up Logan's prescription (so something good did come out of all that)!  They're so yummy!!!!  I love them!!!  They're new so they might not be everywhere and like other new stuff sometimes they don't stick around so I'll be stocking up on them while they're on the shelves :)  And if anyone from Ghirardelli is reading this please don't make them a one time or seasonal item : / 

Ok, as much as I'm sure you'd love to hear me go on and on about my chocolate obsession (it is an obsession) you probably want to see a card. Now on the one hand, it's not my best card, but it's still cute and blog worthy (believe me there's plenty I don't show you).  But the most exciting part is that it uses a brand new stamp set!!!  Yay!!!!  This is the Bright Blossoms Set.  If you're a demonstrator you can preorder it now, if you're a customer you can get it in April.  If you were at Managers Reception at Leadership you already have it!!!  I'm super excited about all these new products.  I have some new DSP and a new DIE coming today that I can't wait to show you!!!!

It's really cute, it comes with little flowers and vases so fun!!!  I added a simple flower with my circle punches.  So fun.  I used my markers to color the image: So Saffron, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party.  I added some texture with the polka dot folder and some ribbon.  I'm really glad I added the ribbon, it looks so much better with it.  So that's all from me for today.  Since I've lost about a week of work I'm really far behind and I have a class this weekend.  I'm super excited and I'm almost ready but now that Logan's on spring break my time has been compromised again.  Maybe I can get Logan to help.......Thanks for sticking by me this week, hopefully I'm back to posting daily (m-f anyway). 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

I've Got Nothin'....

I really wish I had something to show you today but the past week our house has been the tunnel of sickness.  Logan was home sick for 3 days last week, after a trip to the doctor we found out it's an ear infection.  He still has another few days on the antibiotics.  Me on the other hand...I either caught what Logan has or I picked up something from the Dr. office (I hate those germy places!).  So Sunday and yesterday were spent with me laying in bed or on the couch with a fever and trying not to spread germs anywhere else.  Fortunately Megan hasn't caught anything, we're praying it stays that way, the last thing I need is a sick 16 month old too.  Dan has a cough but we're not positive if it's what Logan and I have or if it's allergies related to our early windy season.  I hope I'm well enough today to at least clear my desk to stamp, I hope to have new stuff to show you very soon, in the meantime please know that I'm missing you and I'll be back just as soon as I'm physically able to :(
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Introducing....

Me!  No not really, well kind of.  Over the weekend I did something I've wanted to do for a while and finally got a chance.  I got to teach a class at my local library.  It was alot of fun and I got to meet some fun people.  The class was an intro to cardmaking and why it better and cheaper to make your cards instead of buy them. While I love crafting 3-D projects and using SU's fabric, I'm addicted to MDS BUT cardmaking has been and always will be my true passion.  So I love the classes that I do that focus only on cardmaking.  Because this was a beginners class for people who hadn't stamped in a while or maybe never at all the cards were simple and straight forward.  But of course I did pull out some of my favorite tools, like punches and the big shot.  No class is complete without those :)  The first card was super simple, one color and the only accessory is a bow made with our Crumb Cake Seam Binding.  There is an added pop of texture with the embossing done with the big shot and the frames embossing folder but still a simple easy card. 

The next card was stepped up a little, there were a couple of punches but that was probably the hardest part of this card.  The flower is stamped with Riding Hood Red to match the beautiful pleated ribbon.  We used the new blossom punch and matching set.  I'm really starting to love that set, I knew I would though :)  So that's it.  I had a great time, I hope the library invites me back to do more classes like this! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Luck Of The Irish!

I don't normally do a lot of crafting or cardmaking for St. Patrick's Day, but I had this idea for this card and I just couldn't get it out of my head so what's a girl to do but stamp!  I've seen a couple of these shamrocks made with the heart punches all over, they've been around for years.  This year though I've seen more and more the popped up shamrocks, which is really cute!  So I wanted to do that, and since banners are really in right now I thought that I would add a couple.....or a ton to this card.  I like the random way they look and are arranged.  Be warned though, if you're planning on doing banners like this and mailing your card you'll need a bigger envelope or smaller banners. 

For the shamrock, I punched 9 hearts, 3 per leaf.  Fold them in half and glue them together.  In person this card really looks awesome, the dimension is just crazy on it.  It's really fast and simple to make, you could easily make a ton of these in no time.  Another great thing, SU carries so many different sizes of heart punches.  You could make them any size you want.  You probably won't see many more St. Paddy's Day projects from me.  I say it's time to get started on Easter stuff!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

My Digital Studio Love

The Twitterpated Kit that is available as an MDS download might just be my favorite download of all time.  I love the MDS elements I think even more than I do with the Twitterpated products on my desk, and boy do I love that ribbon and paper!!!  When I use it in MDS though, I tend to drop the opacity of it below 50% in this case I think it's actually around 35%.  I love the patterns and with the pictures that I've been working on sometimes the patterns are 'too much' or 'too busy' but when you drop the opacity, you still get a beautiful page but it's softer and sweeter.  This picture is one of my favorites, my upline Amber took it right after Megan was born, she must have been only about a week or two old.  So sweet!!!  The page is super simple, there's nothing hard or complicated about it.  Just a fun page you can do in minutes. 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!