There's No Place Like Home

How fitting that I am sharing this card with you today. It's 10:30 at night and I am sitting down for what feels like the first time today. I set off at 8:30 this morning with Colin and Evan to make a trip to visit my Mom. We had a day of shopping planned since we have a baby shower coming up on Sunday. If you live in Illinois you know we have 2 seasons - Winter and Construction. It's been in the 80's the last few days so that rules out winter. On the way there we got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on I-294 where they are attempting to add lanes to ease congestion. Forget about the fact that the construction doesn't do anything to ease congestion, nor does it bring forth a happy and cheery atmosphere.

All in all we had a good day shopping. I got to go to Archiver's and Hobby Lobby - two stores we don't have in the far southern suburbs. I wish one of the stores would move here but the lady at Archiver's said that they want to spread nationwide before opening more stores in the Chicago area. Bad news for me . . . good news for my husband.

After spending the day shopping we waited out traffic before coming home and I ended up getting lost! I missed my exit onto I-80 and was headed for Indiana. Evan is sleeping, Colin is watching Wallace and Grommit for the 2nd time of the day, but it keeps him from pounding on his brother in the backseat. Roger got us turned around after I called him and explained we were lost and I didn't know how to get home from where we were. What a nice 20 minute detour we had. Now that I am home and unpacked it is evident that I was not going to get any stamping in today. Instead here is another card from my VSN weekend. The theme was based on the Emerald City and my first thought was Dorothy and her ruby slippers. I sure needed those slippers this evening. I added glitter to her shoes, but it just looks gloopy in the picture, although in real life they sparkle nicely.

I hope you have a great evening! I for one am off to bed.

Card Supplies:

Stamps: Stamping Bella, Warm Words
Paper: Basic Black, Brocade Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Ballet Blue, Ruby Red, Blush Blossom, Bashful Blue, Regal Rose
Accessories: White Gel Pen, Large and Small Oval Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Dimensionals, AquaPainter

Finding a Balance

Life is going full force as usual and this is the first week Colin is home full time on summer vacation. I got used to having him out of the house 3 days a week even if it was only for 3 hours each time. Now I have to figure out how to work my stamping in along with the kids and all of their activities. Today we got up, ate breakfast, went outside and the rest of the day flew by faster than I could blink. The kids are fed, bathed and in bed and you know what? I'm exhausted! The thought of going downstairs to stamp just isn't appealing to me right now. All I want to do is veg on the couch, and that is alright by me.

Last year I took a pilot parenting class offered by our school sponsered playgroup. It was a Super Nanny style parenting class and we even got a free copy of her book. It was great! We got great ideas and left with a dry erase schedule board. We used that schedule all summer long last year and it was fun for Colin to see what we had accomplished each day. As the school year progressed the schedule quickly became a thing of the past because we fell into our own schedule. I didn't have hours out of the day to plan. Colin would go to school, I'd pick him up, we'd eat lunch and then it would be off to Tae Kwon Do. Home for a rest, make dinner and then Dad time. Now I have to pull out the schedule chart and we are going to fill it out together. I set mealtimes and bedtimes and the unimportant things we plan together. In that schedule I will have stamping time, Colin will probably be having quiet time and Evan naptime. We will find that balance, but until then I may be a little scatterbrained and not have as many stamped projects for you.

Luckily, I have a bunch of cards I made for RAK's, VSN and for other SCS challenges that have not been posted here on my blog. So I will be able to share a bunch. I hope that as summer climbs into full swing you all are able to find a balance in your life for what you enjoy!

Stamps: That's Nice, French Script

Cardstock: Cranberry Crisp, Au Chocolate, Chocolate Chip

Inks: Cranberry Crisp, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: sponge, vintage brads, Prima flower with matching brad

Have a Great Weekend!

Last weekend I participated in VSN on SCS. One of the challenges was to make a flower by using the Paper Quilling Technique. I had no idea where to begin, so I did a google search and pulled up a few sites that showed how to make the different shapes. For a 45 minute project I think my first attempt at quilling was pretty good. I am willing to give it another try at some point. Maybe this weekend, but most likely not.

I got my flower finished and I didn't know what to do with it so I "recycled" a card sketch I used in the past and added the flower to it. The stem, leaves and sentiment from You Make Me Happy worked perfectly with this card. The colors are Rose Red, Always Artichoke and Whisper white. I meant to do an Always Artichoke base but I didn't have enough time to go and correct my mistake to keep within the time frame of the challenge. I did use 2 way glue, dimensionals, black gingham ribbon and a staple on my project as well. The scallop edge was made with the corner rounder punch with the guard removed.

This is going to be a busy weekend, so I am afraid I will not have any updates for you. We will see and I may have the time, but I am going to relax and enjoy my Memorial Day weekend. It is going to be so relaxing that I am going to help my brother and sister-in-law pack and move from thier townhome to condo tomorrow. LOL! I hope you enjoy your long weekend and I'll be back on Tuesday with some more projects to share.

Jenn

More Crayon Resist!

Today was Colin's last day of school until September. It is so hard explaining to a 4 year old that you aren't going to be going back to school for a few months. It has been a few teary eyed days in this household. The weather has been gorgeous, hot but gorgeous and we have been spending a lot of time outside. Last night after dinner I decided I still had enough energy to jog a few miles on the treadmill and then I would post. I did a few miles and couldn't move off of the couch. So I am sorry there was no update or new project.

I am behind on challenges at SCS, but I am catching up. This first card is for the color challenge, but I also decided to do a little more with the crayon resist technique from my last post. I used a stamp set from a Simply Sent kit called Remembering You. I stamped the flower image 3 times onto Glossy White cardstock with Versamark. I then traced the outline in white crayon. After I finished I sponged Really Rust just into the center of the flower and then sponged the rest with More Mustard. When the ink was dry I wiped off the white crayon and it left me with a white flower outline. I think this would have worked better as a Embossing Resist card so I will try that when my big SU! box arrives on Wednesday. I finally broke down and bought the heat gun and some embossing supplies! I have been wanting them for a long time so I am excited. I decided that my flowers needed some leaves so I stamped them off with Old Olive ink before adding them to my Glossy White layer. I then stamped the leaf repeatedly along the bottom edge of the cardstock. The cardstock includes, Certainly Celery, Vintage Violet, Palette O'Prints and Glossy White. I added a little Mustard Grosgrain ribbon and stuck it all together.

My next project was the Ways to Use it Challenge and this week we were asked to use Yoyo yellow. I had a hard time coming up with what to do, but since this color is so summery I went with a flip flop card. I associate flip flops and summer so what could be better? I found the outline in a magazine a while ago and I think it was Papercrafts and Stamp It's compliation book. I cut out the card, stamped the Polka Dots from Polka Dots and Petals in Versamark and then outlined the flip flop and strap with my black Stampin' Write marker going around each twice. The flower was stamped onto Whisper White with Jetblack Stazon and I highlighted the center with Only Orange, which is the same color as the cardstock used for the strap of the shoe. I also added some Green Galore leaves stamped on Whisper White. The strap and flower are adhered with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Crayon Resist Technique

I have to say I have never tried the Crayon Resist Technique before today, but this is something I can see myself doing a lot. It was quick and easy, plus it gives a dramatic impact to the card. I did a really simple card, so I apologize if you were expecting to see some elaborate project, but time did not allow for such things today.

There is a great tutorial on Splitcoaststampers on this technique, but it is quick and easy. I stamped my doodle flower from Doodle This twice on Glossy White cardstock with Jetblack Stazon. Then I colored on the flower with a white crayon where I wanted the paper to remain white. I then took my AquaPainter and colored the image in, one with Regal Rose and Apricot Appeal, the other with Mellow Moss. After it was dry, and you have to be patient when working with Glossy White paper I took a tissue and wiped the ink off of the flower where I had colored with crayon. The result is white highlights on your paper. I just colored over the dots on the flower and where I made it into a leaf. After that I cut it out and layered the leaves under the flower, added a dimensional and stuck it onto my project.

Stamps: Doodle This, Warm Words

Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Almost Amethyst Palette O'Prints, Glossy White, Apricot Appeal

Ink: Certainly Celery, Jetblack Stazon, Almost Amethyst, Regal Rose, Apricot Appeal, Mellow Moss

Accessories: AquaPainter, white crayon, tissue, Large and Small Oval Punches, 1/16" hole punch, vintage brads, white grosgrain ribbon

Baby Wipe Technique

I promise this post is not about changing Evan's diaper. I couldn't resist that one. Anyone who knows me realizes that. This weekend I took part in Virtual Stamping Night which is really more of a weekend. One of the challenges was to use the Baby wipe technique and this is something I have never tried. This was also a technique that I didn't have to run to the store to complete. My house has baby wipes a plenty.

I took the baby wipe, placed it on a paper plate and dropped some re-inkers onto it. I used Almost Amethyst, Apricot Appeal and Regal Rose. I then inked up my That's Nice sentiment stamp on my makeshift baby wipe ink pad and I had a easy multi colored image. It does not show up as well in the picture as it does in real life. I then used it to make the trifold card. The Big Bloom is also inked up on the same baby wipe before being stamped on whisper white cardstock. I used Regal Rose, Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery and Apricot Appeal cardstock along with some of My Mind's Eye designer series paper.

Tomorrow I am going to try the Crayon resist technique that was featured on SCS today and I will try to share those results with you.

Limited Supplies Challenge

I made this card for the Limited Supplies Challenge on SCS. It turned out perfectly and I think I'll hang onto this one for a while. I got the Sassy Stems image through Wish-RAK and I think I am going to have to buy this set. It is gorgeous and there are so many possiblities for coloring it in. I used my AquaPainter along with Brocade Blue, Always Artichoke, Apricot Appeal and Bashful Blue for this card. I then doodled around the edge of the paper with my black Stampin' Write marker. After I was done coloring I matted it on Brocade Blue and Basic Black. The same colors are layered on the base of my card along with some My Mind's Eye designer series paper. The sentiment is from the Sell-A-Bration set Happy Harmony. I added 3 Vintage brads and some polka dotted ribbon from Michael's.

Stampendous Bees!

Beate has a sketch challenge posted on her blog, and since I have always wanted to make a card with a similar sketch I figured I'd go for it. I started off on the computer in Paint Shop Pro. I set it up so that my image was 5.5" in width and 4.5" in height. I drew a vector elipse with my preset shapes and stretched it out to my liking. When I was happy with the curve I converted it to a raster layer and duplicated the layer. I had the first oval in the bottom left of my screen and moved the duplicate to the top right. I then erased the lines that didn't connect in the middle and ended up with a gentle curve. I printed it out and set it to the side.

I used basic black for the card base and decided on My Mind's Eye ds paper for the top of the card. I cut it to 5 1/4" X 3 1/2". I then cut out my card sketch I had made and put it on top of my designer series paper, cut along the wavy line I made and it was that simple. I then adhered a piece of basic black cardstock that was 5 1/4" X 3 3/4" to the back of my designer series paper. I then used decorative scissors to cut along the edge. The rest was simple. I layered Brocade Blue onto my card base and then added the wavy layer. The oval is in Always Artichoke and was punched out for me by Beate. I cut out one of my Stampendous Bee images that I got through Wish-RAK to fit in the center and colored him in. The colors I chose were Marigold Morning, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Ruby Red and Always Artichoke. I had admired the coloring on one of Beate's cards and chose to CASE her color scheme. I wanted to add a bit of ribbon and I think the one I chose is too sublte, but I ran out of my black polka-dots yesterday. I must make a trip to Michael's for more. The sentiment is from Blooming with Happiness and was stamped with Brocade Blue.

I hope you all have a great Saturday! I spent last night Stampin' My Heart Out with VSN and there are more challenges today. I will share those cards with you over the next few days.

Jenn

Tonight is VSN!

Virtual Stamp Night here I come! I have my paper cut, my table cleaned and my kids excited. Well at least Colin is excited. He wants to know where we are going and doesn't quite grasp the "virtual" part of the idea.

Last night I was working on the Ways to Use It Challenge and the goal was to pull out your small stamps, and by small they meant 1 1/2 inch square or smaller and to make a card with them. I have seen a lot of really gorgeous black and white cards so I figured I'd give it a try myself. No layering, no major cutting and 2 colors. This is my final result. I used a 4 1/4 square of Naturals White cardstock and stamped the flourish from Autumn Leaves - Rhonda Farrer Swirls V:I in black on the corner of the card. I got these stamps at Target when they had them for 10% off over the National Scrapbook Day weekend. The Thinking of You stamp is from Michael's $1 bin. I can't remember if I picked this set up myself or if it was from Beate's blog candy contest. It is from Studio G. To finish it off I simply tied on some polka dotted organdy ribbon that I also picked up at Michaels.

I hope you all have a great Virtual Stamping Night/Weekend. If you haven't tried it you really should. It is a lot of fun!

Jenn

A No Stamping Day

I have not had a chance to stamp anything today but a few Wish RAK's that I sent out in the mail. Last week one of the SCS challenges was to use Wide Open Spaces. To accomplish this you couldn't use background stamps, designer paper or anything to fill the space but plain ole' regular cardstock.

To rise to the challenge I even tried out a new card size and card base is a 5 1/4 square of Regal Rose. I think this is one of my favorite colors. I go through packs of it quite quickly. I did layer some Au Chocolate Designer series paper on it and even used some to stamp the top layer of my You Make Me Happy flowers onto with Regal Red classic ink. The bottom layer of the flower is stamped on Whisper White with Rose Red ink as is the sentiment. The center of the flower is So Saffron and the top of the flowers are adhered with dimensionals. I tied it all together with Ivory Organdy ribbon.

Hopefully now I can sneak off and stamp! Colin had his preschool picnic today even though it was freezing cold out. Then he had 2 appointments so it was a crazy busy afternoon. In the middle of all of that I even found time to cut the lawn. It was in need of a mowing. Tomorrow Roger is taking the day off so that will probably mean no stamping again.

Lots O' Doodles

Today's sketch challenge was just that, a challenge! I started off knowing I wanted to use the green polka dotted side of the Petals and Paisley designer series paper and went from there. I don't pull my Doodle That stamp set out enough. For some reason the smaller stamps are hard for me to work with. I don't know if it is because I see this huge unfinished canvas and a tiny stamped image or what it is. But I knew it would work perfectly with this layout.

Once I had my designer paper cut out and ready to go I had to decide what other colors were going to be in my combination and having a Color Coach really makes it easy. I used More Mustard, Not Quite Navy, Close to Cocoa and Whisper White. The background is stamped with the smaller flourish from the Doodle This stamp. I love those flourishes and I hope to see more of them with the new catalog that will be here on July 1st. I stamped the flower with Jetblack stazon and used my AquaPainter to color it in with Old Olive and Brocade blue and then used Bashful Blue to outline it and give it some dimension. The sentiment was supposed to be placed above the square image, but I liked it better off to the side. To finish the card off I used 3 vintage brads.

Even though the initial card was a challenge for me I am willing to try it out again. I find that things get easier with practice. First I have to make dinner. We are having copycat Waffle House waffles and we all love them.

Jenn

Just another Ordinary Day????

I am ready to pack Colin up and send him off to boarding school! Roger has been taking a class in downtown Chicago these last two days so he has had a really early start to his morning. That has left me in charge of both Colin and Evan from the time they wake up until after dinner. My alarm went off as usual on a school day. I got up and got dressed and we normally open Colin's door around 7 am to get him ready for a school day.

Today I walked out of my room and catch a glimpse of movement out of the corner or my eye, followed by Colin exiting the bathroom. He put something down on the counter while he was walking out so that was my first clue that something was up. Not fully awake I asked him what he did. The sentence started out with "The cat was in my bathroom . . . ". All of my senses were on alert and that is when the scent of baby wash hit my nose and I noticed the nice sheen on the bathroom floor. Last night we had given them both a bath and while we always put the baby wash back in the linen closet it somehow had gotten missed and left out. The entire economy sized bottle was poured over the bathroom floor. It took 3 bath towels to get the slippery mess up and another two to get the floor at least walkable.

I finish that and get breakfast ready and while I am getting the waffles out of the toaster I see a milk cup go flying across the room. An entire 12 oz glass of milk went spilling across my kitchen floor. Instead of stamping I spent this morning cleaning. I had to wash both the bathroom and kitchen floor so I just up and cleaned the entire house.

The minute Roger walked in the door I claimed "Break Time" and went downstairs to stamp. I knew what layout I was going to use. It has been in my mind all day and I knew I wanted to do the color challenge, so that was an easy start. I got the sketch from Julie's blog. The colors for today's challenge were Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red, Apricot Appeal and Green Galore was optional. I had paper from My Mind's Eye that had both Rose Red and Tempting Turqoise in it so I was good to go. I used the same ink colors and Big Blooms and Warm Words stamp set. The scalloped circle and May arts ribbon were from Beate's blog candy contest. I added 3 silver eyelets and a few dimensionals. I am quite happy with the results.

I got this wonderfully gorgeous card in the mail today! Alison sent it to me as a thank you for the blog candy she had won a while back. Isn't it gorgeous! Thank you Alison!

Try a New Technique Challenge

I stamped! I didn't think I'd have the time. We had a little adventure here in our household today. I put Evan down for a nap and Colin was laying quietly in front of the television after playing outside in the heat this morning. The door bell rings and UPS brought my my order of SNAIL. I had been running low, so I figured I'd stock up. I took a few seconds to take the package down to the basement to my stamping space to find Colin handing me a bottle of mustard. "Look Mommy, the cats took this!". How or why he thinks I would believe the cats opened the fridge, took out the yellow mustard and opened it is beyond me. I walked toward his bedroom and I was hit with the overwhelming smell of mustard wafting out at me. I investigated a little farther only to find his walls streaked, his bedding stained and the floor covered in YELLOW MUSTARD!!! I got it all cleaned up, but the walls are still stained, as is the carpet and bedding. He told me he wanted to paint his room yellow instead of blue. I think there are better ways to get that accomplished. Right now I have him trapped down in my stamping room which is also partially his play room, but he is grounded from the TV for the rest of the day. "But I didn't even to get to watch my one show" is his protest. Such is life.

The goal of the challenge was to create a 3 X 3 warm up card to get the creative juices flowing and each card could not take more than 15 minutes to create. I was surprised at how easily they came together. The first one uses Polka Dots and Petals along with the sentiment from Greetings Galore. I used Cool Caribbean for my base and layered it with Taken with Teal, Petals and Paisley Designer series paper and Whisper white. The ink colors are Cool Caribbean and Taken with teal and I used Versamark to stamp the circles at the bottom of the card. I added a Vintage Brad along with a circle of Marigold Morning on the circular layer.

This second card is made with Cranberry Crisp and Au Chocolate papers. I folded over the top portion of the paper so you can see both sides. The flower was stamped with Cranberry Crisp and Chocolate Chip onto Very Vanilla and was matted with Chocolate Chip and held together with a Vintage Brad. The circle is popped up on dimensionals.

The Elegant Eggplant Challenge Winner!

I got a few entries in the Elegant Eggplant Challenge and it was too hard to decide, so I asked a group of my Mommy friends to pick which card they liked best. The winner is Kris from Stampin' for Sanity! Congrats Kris! I will get your your goodies out in the mail tomorrow.


I had a SUPER busy weekend. Friday night I had a table at a Boy Scout event. They pre-registered to make cards and they each made 3. I had 15 boys and thier moms come through and we all had a fantastic time. It was the largest group of young children I had at one time and at some points we had 8 boys at the table with thier moms. We stuck with a frog theme and made 2 cards with Unfrogettable and another gift tag with a punched out frog. I didn't have time to take pictures of the projects, but I will later today. The boys and thier moms thought they were just adorable.


Saturday I was exhausted! The cub scout event really wore me out. We played outside almost all day. The weather was perfect and we planted flowers and went for a bike ride. I haven't ridden my bike in years and my husband finally fixed it! The gear shift has been off for at least 6 years and he keeps saying he'll get around to it. Well he finally did.


Yesterday we had a nice laid back Mother's Day celebration. Again we had another perfect weather day. Now I am ready to get everything sorted out from Friday night and back into the correct place so I can start stamping again. I got a bunch of Stampendous Bee images from Wish -RAK and I can't wait to color them in.


I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and I am so sorry for the lack of updates and projects. See there was a reason I spoiled you with double projects. I must have known I'd hit a dead end come last weekend.


Jenn

I got some very exciting news yesterday!

I will share it with you hopefully on Sunday. I don't want to jinx my chances, but I am on top of the world with what is going to happen! Only a very few close friends and of course my family know at this point and it involves my cards and classes that I am going to start teaching at the Park District next month.

I have to say that all of you made me so very happy yesterday! I made this card for the sketch challenge at SCS and it did not come out quite as I hoped it would. I liked it when I made it, but I was not in love with it. I went ahead an photographed it anyway and posted it to my SCS gallery and I cannot believe how many kind comments I got on this card and how many of you added it to your favorites! I have been beaming from ear to ear from all of the comments and with the great news I have to share I will have a permanent smile on my face for a while.

I have some hard decisions to make about which cards I am going to share with someone this afternoon, so I am going to make this post short. The base is Cranberry Crisp and I love the richness of this color. It is stamped with the French Script background stamp in Cranberry Crisp classic ink. The smallest Very Vanilla squares are 1 1/2 inch squared. I matted them on Chocolate Chip and Au Chocolate paper after I had stamped them with the Petal Prints stamp set in Cranberry Crisp, Chocolate Chip and True Thyme. I tied it all together with a simple Ivory Organdy bow.

Jenn

Explosion Box

I have heard about explosion boxes, but I have never attempted one on my own. Fancy paper folding and me usually ends up with a pile of scraps in the garbage and nothing to show for it. I even surprised myself today! No scraps in the garbage and 2 finished projects in under an hour. If I can do it, then so can you. A great tutorial is found here on SCS.

I used Chocolate Chip as the base and stamped it with White Craft Ink and the Doodle This flourishes. If these don't make the new Fall/Winter collection I am doomed. I love this stamp set and all of the doodles for that matter. The top is made from My Minds Eye paper that I bought at Costco a few weeks ago. I went back on Sunday and didn't see any in sight. It is all so gorgeous that I should have bought 2 to start with. The box is tied together with Ivory Organdy Ribbon.

Here is the second box I made. The supplies for this one are all Stampin' Up!. I used Pretty in Pink paper and ink for the base and stamped it with Polka Dots and Paisley. The top is from the Petals and Paisley designer series paper. Again the box is tied together with Ivory Grosgrain Ribbon.

I even have time to get started on the Sketch Challenge while Evan is napping! Colin seems to be a bit under the weather. He had another round of allergy testing yesterday and he keeps sneezing and coughing so he is content to lay on the couch next to my stamping table and watch Cars. Did you know that I've heard the movie more times than I have actually watched it?

Jenn

A Snappy Birthday for Shane

If you haven't heard about Shane's Wish, or even if you have, check out his website. Help him reach his goal of setting the world record for the most birthday cards received.

Yesterday the Color Combination Challenge was to use Taken with Teal, Marigold Morning and Cool Caribbean along with the challenge to make a kid's birthday card. I have also wanted to try out Beate's Tutorial for the Joy Fold Card, which I posted in my blog yesterday.

First let me say, that Beate writes fabulous tutorials and always seems to have the neatest projects on her blog. I am sure most of you read it already, but if you have been living under a rock, her blog is located here. Now onto my frustrating experience making my first Joy Fold card, and it has nothing to do with Beate, just my inability to follow directions to a "T". I started with my piece of Taken with Teal cardstock that is supposed to be cut to 4 1/4 X 8 1/2. Silly me saw the 4 1/4 X 8 1/2 and I simply took my Taken with Teal and cut it down the center. I then scored it at 5 1/2" and I ended up with a normal everyday card. I have all of the pieces lined up and I'm trying to figure out how this is all supposed to come together. I am flipping back and forth to the measurements, tutorial, Beate's examples and nothing looks right. I have all of my pieces cut and I have a normal card base. It literally took me 10 minutes of flipping back and forth to realize that I didn't cut my paper to 8 1/2". I had left it at 4 1/4 X 11". That is why my card didn't work, and as soon as I figured out my user error I was well on my way to completing the card. It was a breeze from there. I won't make that error again twice, or at least I hope not.

I layered some Petals and Paisley designer series paper onto the Taken with Teal base. I used the same sheet for both patterns, as I only had to flip it over to the back to have flowers on one side and polka dots on the other. Then I layered on my Marigold Morning, Cool Carribean and Whisper White. I don't have many kid friendly sets so it was going to have to be Crab and Co or nothing at all. A few months back Kyla Maestas had colored her crab in with Tempting Turqoise and Cool Caribbean and I loved how the little guy turned out. Now everytime I color in the crab I am reaching for that color combination and it worked extremely well for the color challenge yesterday. The sand is colored in with Creamy Caramel and his hat with Real Red and Marigold Morning. I used the Ticket Corner punch to add a little interest to the corners and then made faux brads with my white gel pen.

To help close the card I added the present that is colored with Real Red for the bow and Cool Carribean for the box. I punched it out with my circle punch and then matted it on Taken with Teal. It is popped up on a dimensional and it holds the card closed. It slides in and out of the closure fairly easily. Inside I stamped Snappy Birthday in Marigold Morning.

Now it's your turn. Get your stamping supplies out and send Shane a card. Just a little FYI - postage to Canada is $0.63 for a card, so if you have a bunch of stamps that you need to get rid of before the increase on May 14th, you can use up 2 of those stamps and you won't have to go to the Post Office to figure it out.

Jenn

The Great Eggplant Challenge

Remember this post? If not, check it out or keep reading and you'll get the idea. My friend Becky and I were talking about the Color Coach Combo for Elegant Eggplant. She challenged me to make a card with the combo and then I challenged you. Unfortunately, I have been slacking and I didn't get my card done until today. I am happy to say that I don't think it turned out that badly.

I started with Elegant Eggplant as my base, and I decided to make another Joy Fold card. I made one earlier this evening and I really enjoyed it. I will share that card later this week. I can't spoil you every day with 2 projects. If you are interested in how to make this card check out this tutorial by Beate.

After I had my card layed out I found some scraps of Basic Grey paper that I had left over from Beate's Blog Candy contest. I needed something to break up all of the purple and I wasn't in the mood to do it myself, so the paper matched perfectly with the color scheme. I layered the Basic Grey paper with some Lavendar Lace onto the base of the card. The smaller fold over layer is made from Old Olive that is matted with Pixie Pink and Pretty in Pink. I stamped the smaller flourish from Doodle this onto the Pretty in Pink layer with Old Olive ink. Then I stamped the large flower on Whisper white and colored it in with my AquaPainter and Pixie Pink and Pretty in Pink ink. The center of the flower is Old Olive. After I had it all cut out it blended into the layer below it too much so I stamped the flower again on Old Olive and cut that out to look like leaves. The flowers are held together with a Vintage brad and then adhered to the card with a Stampin' Dimensional.

I wanted a way to keep the card closed so I found a piece of HodgePodge Hardware and it works perfectly! It is held on my a matching brad. After I was all done I stamped Cherish from Warm Words in Close to Cocoa on the left hand side of the card.

If you are interested in entering a card with this color scheme you have until Sunday. You just need to link your card to the challenge post.

Jenn

Altered Notebook

About a month ago I joined the RAK forum at SCS. What is a RAK you ask? It is a Random Act of Kindness. There are several parts of it that I take place in. One part is to just send out cards to random people and I usually send out at least two a week. A second part is the Wish RAK, where people can request stamped images, cardstock, punched out cardstock - especially those wonderful scalloped circles and ovals we see everywhere, and anything papercrafting related you can think of. I send out a few envelopes a week and I try to spread the wealth around. The last part of the forum that I am involved in is the Bloggers RAK, where you send out cards to Random Bloggers that have joined.

When I send something in the mail I make a note of it usually on a scrap of paper or on a Post-It Note. The notes often get lost and I can't remember what I sent and to whom I sent it. So when my mom asked me last Sunday if I wanted a notebook she bought in the Target $1 Spot I jumped on it. I knew just what I would use it for and I knew what paper I was going to use.

I picked this sheet from Notations double sided designer series paper. It is available in Stampin' Up!'s Spring Mini catalog and it is gorgeous. I have a hard time making projects that don't include designer series paper. I then used the Memo stamp from Office Accoutrement and stamped it in Chocolate Chip on Naturals White cardstock and matted it on Tempting Turquoise. I then stamped off the little flower with Apricot Appeal before stamping it on my Memo lines. Then I added the large flower that is stamped in Apricot Appeal, followed by the small Chocolate Chip flower. The flower is held together with a Vintage Brad.

The inside of the notebook holds 3 tabs that I punched out from Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery and Tempting Turquoise and they are labeled for the 3 parts of the RAK forum I mentioned above. The ribbon was attached to the book when it was made and I didn't think I could remove it safely to add another color so I left it on. Finally I lightly sanded the edges of the paper with a sanding block and I am very happy with the results. I will also no longer lose the Post It Notes and random pieces of scratch paper that I wrote my RAK's on. I'll now know what I sent, when I sent it and who I sent it too and it is all in one gorgeous notebook.

Thanks for the notebook mom!

Jenn

Try a New Technique

Just yesterday my husband and I were talking about the end of the school year and he commented that it seems like we just dropped Colin off for his first day of school yesterday. I can't believe he'll be finished with his first day of Preschool on May 25th. When they say Time Flies, it really does.

When today's challenge focused on the end of the school year and gifts for teachers I knew just what to make. I love the Au Chocolate paper as I said in my last post, so I pulled out some more to use. I adhered it to the tin with Sticky Strip simply because I do not get along well with Mod Podge. I usually end up with more on my hands then on my project and I am not patient enough to work out all the excess which usually results in wrinkled paper and therefore my finished product is ruined. After I put on the paper I used some Ivory grosgrain ribbon on the seam.

I was thinking of stamping an image and matting it for the front when I spied my Prima flowers and I knew I couldn't go wrong with Pink and Brown. Aren't these flowers gorgeous? And I got them for FREE from Paperosity, so if you want some just like these head on over and click on the embellishments link. Thank you SCS and Paperosity! After I added the flowers with the green brads that were also in my Prima package I added some ribbon scraps I had left over to the handle. I have a mixture of organdy and grosgrain ribbon, some of it is from Stampin' Up! and some is from Michaels.

Now that we are getting near the end of the school year I realized that tomorrow is my last day that I'll be reading to the preschoolers in the library. I will save this gift for the end of the year picnic that is coming up soon. I promised all of the kids Tattoo's from my Stampin Up! Tattoo kit.

Jenn

A Love of a Lifetime

First let me start off by saying that I LOVED Cambria Turnbow's CASE of Valerie Stangle's Chocolate Tin and Cards, which can be seen here. I liked it so much that I had to make my own version of it. This is also the last of the cards that we made at my class yesterday. I love the Au Chocolate paper and I really hope it makes it into the new catalog. Otherwise I am going to have to majorly stock up come the end of June.

I used Cranberry Crisp for my card base and stamped French Script on it with Chocolate Chip ink. Then I added my Au Chocolate paper so that both sides are visible and then simply added on the layers. The top layer is sponged with Chocolate chip ink and the stems are drawn on with a Chocolate Chip Marker. The Polka Dots and Petals are stamed on with Cranberry Crisp and Chocolate Chip. The saying comes from Just So Sayings.

I am finishing up a Swap for SUDSOL, so I am off to process images and get them uploaded. The Palette O'Prints Swap has some wonderful examples and I can't wait to get them onto the website.

Jenn

I have a great card to share . . .

I really do have a great card to share, but I am so very tired and I can't make myself walk upstairs and get the camera, take a picture, download it, resize it, add my watermark, and then post it here. So you will have to wait for tomorrow. I did have a wonderful day stamping with family and friends. It was loads of fun!


I promise that tomorrow I will share the last card we completed in my class today.


Jenn

Celebrate Spring and National Scrapbook Day!

I am working on getting ready for a class tomorow and I want to incorporate the Palette O'Prints into it. I didn't have enough of Apricot Appeal left over to make the card that I made for a Swap, so I switched up the colors and I think it turned out just as nice. I used Chocolate Chip, Almost Amethyst, So Saffron, Whisper White and Rose Red Palette O'Prints designer paper. Again I used That's nice and added the white grosgrain ribbon and the paper piercing. I also sponged around the edge of the Whisper White with So Saffron ink. I am working hard to get everything cut out and I'll get it done, but as you can see by the pictures below we spent a good deal of time outside today. The weather is beautiful so we went to the park and spent some more time playing and working outside. It was too nice to come in, but I knew I couldn't disappoint anyone so here I am in my basement cutting paper like a mad woman. I have so much fun at my classes and I can't wait to see everyone there. Tomorrow will be a fun relaxing stamping day and we are also celebrating my cousin's birthday so there will be cake!

Evan gets quite a lot of attention for his red hair and blue eyes. This past week he has really begun to enjoy the park and is fnally figuring out all of the tunnels, slides and ladders. He gives me quite a few heart palpitations with his running and climbing, but he has lots of fun playing with his big brother Colin.

Colin is my dare devil. He will climb to the highest point and leap into the air. I can't believe I caught him sitting still today and he looks so deep in thought. He's probably thinking about jumping off the side of the slide or making a mad dash across the park.

I hope you are all having as nice a day as we are. I hope that none of you have been affected by the severe weather and tornados, especially in Kansas.

Have a great weekend and if I get a chance I will post tomorrow. I am extending the deadline for the Color Combo contest to next Sunday, so you have a week to get the card entries in. I will get mine done too. I promise!

Jenn

Celebrate A Latte

I have never participated in the Limited Supply Challenge at SCS, that is until today. This week we were given a list and if the item was on the list we could use it, if it wasn't we couldn't. I might have cheated a bit because I used dimensionals, but SNAIL wasn't on there either, so I figured it was okay. The first item on the list was Food Stamps. I don't own any with food, so I used a stamp set that I have been borrowing from my mom that was in the Winter mini. I really hope Like It A Latte makes it into the Fall and Winter Collection. I love this set!

The color was limited to Earth Elements or Bold Brights, plus a neutral, so I went with Earth Elements of course. I chose Chocolate Chip as the base of my card and used French Script as a background stamp in the same color. I just bought French Script a few weeks ago and I am so shocked that it is going to be retired as of June 30th. It is one of my favorite background stamps, and since I don't own many it hurts to see it going. Going with the Earth Elements theme I used Ruby Red. I wanted to use Pretty in Pink, but it's in the wrong color family. I used the little swirl in Like It A Latte and stamped it randomly on this layer before I distressed the edges and used my paper piercing tool and mat pack to add faux stitching to both the Ruby Red layer and the smaller Chocolate Chip layer. I used my white gel pen for the faux stitching. It is one of my favorite techniques.

I sponged the Whisper white layer with Creamy Caramel before stamping on my Latte steam. I stamped the cup and marshmallows in Chocolate Chip on a scrap piece of paper, cut them out and then popped them up on dimensionals. I did the same with the heart, but I had stamped that in Ruby Red. I added 2 vintage brads and then made a small tag that says Celebrate You from the Greetings Galore set. I tied it to the vintage brad with natural hemp twine.

I really loved how this turned out and at first I had a hard time creating a card without any designer series paper or ribbon. Now I have to get started on my color challenge listed below. I hope you take time to participate and I can't wait to see your cards.

Jenn

Are you up for a Challenge?

ETA: Challenge Date extended to Sunday, May 11th midnight CDT.

I was talking to my friend the other night on the phone and we ran across a few color combinations on the Stampin' Up! Color Coach that made us gasp and say "What were they thinking?". So she challenged me to make it a priority to make a card with one of these color combos. This is on my To Do List for tomorrow, so I figured I'd open it up to everyone. To make this a bit more fun I have a prize for the winner!


So what is this color combination? If you have a Color Coach of your own you can point it at Elegant Eggplant. If you don't that is okay too because I am going to tell you the colors to use. *Drum Roll Please* The colors are Elegant Eggplant, Pixie Pink, Lavender Lace, Pretty in Pink and Old Olive.


The Rules -
1. Your card must use at least ALL of those colors in it be it with cardstock or ink.
2. You must post your card online, be it your blog or your SCS gallery and post a link to it in the comment section of this post.
3. All cards must be posted by Midnight CDT on Sunday, May 11th.
4. You may only enter 1 card.


I will call up my friend and I will ask a few others to pick their favorites. The one that gets the most votes will win a prize from me! I just went shopping at Michael's today and a few days ago I got the Costco special on My Minds Eye paper that I may have to share.

Have fun and I can't wait to see your cards!

Clearly Doodle Fun

I tried something new today! Todays Ways to Use It Challenge at SCS had to include a Window Sheet so I had to run out and get some transparencies at Staples. I was completely surprised at how expensive transparencies can be. I took for granted all of the years they were supplied to me for free in school and then they were not my favorite classroom supply. Or maybe it was the heat of the light bulb reflecting off of my forehead that didn't amuse me. Anyway I'm going off on a tangent. I am extremely glad that I made the purchase anyway and those of you who will be attending my class on Sunday should be happy too because we will be making this exact card! It was so much fun and not only did I learn something new I used a product I almost never pull out of my stash - my Stampin' Pastels.

Can you believe that the entire Doodle flower was colored in with my pastels? They are so vibrant and cheerful and it surprised me how a little blender pen and pastels could create such an impact. I first cut my transparency to size and then cut a piece of Whisper White cardstock to fit behind it. I then stamped the flower on with Jetblack Stazon. Flipping the transparency over I used a blender pen and my pastels to color the flower in. I used Taken with Teal, Apricot Appeal and Certainly Celery. Then I flipped the transparency back over, punched both layers with my double rectangle punch and threaded black gingham ribbon through the holes and tied a bow. It was very simple and yet very stunning. The only classic ink I used on the card was Mellow Moss and I used that with my Everyday Flexible Phrases set to stamp "celebrate" on the round tab punch. The other cardstock colors are Basic Black and Taken with Teal. I then used some of my Petals and Paisley Designer series paper and scored 1/4" to flip over to show off both sides. I had done that with a card last month too. I really love to show off both sides of the gorgeous paper.

Tomorrow I have to get some cardstock cut out for my class this weekend and I have to finalize 4 more projects. I will share those with you over the next few days and next week as well. I can't spoil the surprise on all of my cards. For more information on my classes visit my Demonstrator Website.

Jenn

Sparkle Bella

I actually got two challenges done today. I had gotten some Bella images in the mail as part of the Wish RAK forum at SCS. Isn't she adorable? I wish my hair looked like hers on a good day.

This was the Sketch Challenge for today. I think it works perfectly with this image. The Bella was stamped on Whisper White cardstock for me by one of the wonderful SCS gals. I then trimmed her down to fit the sketch. I also used Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip cardstock and some of My Minds Eye Designer series paper from the Costco promotion.

I used Sage Shadow to color in her dress, So Saffron for the flower pot and Perfect Plum for the flowers. I got the color scheme from my Color Coach. It is a wonderful tool! The sparkle is from Warm Words and I stamped it on Whisper white before punching it out with the small oval punch and matted it on the Pretty in Pink large oval. The edges were faux stitched and I also used my Ticket corner punch. I think it is one of my favorites.

I hope this makes up for me not getting a project posted yesterday.

Jenn

Pink Happiness

It has been a long time since I was able to complete one of the color challenges at Splitcoaststampers. This week it was to use any combination of pinks, so I chose to use Pretty in Pink and Close to Cocoa with some Whisper White thrown in for good measure.

When I signed up to be a Stampin' Up Demonstrator I would have never thought I would use so much Pretty in Pink cardstock. I am not a girly girl by any means and to me this was a girly girl color. However, when I saw pink used in combination with black and brown I fell in love with it. Now I am hooked and I probably order more Pretty in Pink than I ever thought I would. It's right up there with Certainly Celery that is for sure.

My cousin has a birthday on Saturday and on Sunday she is coming to one of my classes, so I made this card for her. So sorry if you are reading this, but I spoiled the surprise. I used Polka Dots and Petals with Regal Rose classic ink and then I rocked and rolled it in Close to Cocoa before stamping the flowers. I then used the Close to Cocoa marker and freehanded in some stems. I added a few vintage brads and then sponged my paper with Close to Cocoa ink. Happiness comes from my Warm Words stamp set that I bought last month with the 20% off promotion. The flowers were punched out with my Daisy punch. Finally I added some Ivory narrow organdy ribbon to tie it all together. I also used the Ticket corner punch to decorate the corners of the Whisper White layer.

I got the idea for the layout from a card I saw in PaperCrafts magazine last month. It uses similar colors and the layout is tweaked to fit my design, but I think it works well.

Now I'm off to try out the Sketch Challenge for this week.

I've been Tagged!

So Alison at Stampin' When I Can tagged me on Saturday, but I was out all day long at a Vendor Fair and then I had a Bridal Shower to go to on Sunday. I didn't want you all to think I have been ignoring her, but I wanted to give it the quality time it deserved.

7 Things about Me:

1) I am the oldest of 3 children. My sister is just 9 months younger than I am and for 2 1/2 months out of the year we are the same age. We used to fight all of the time because she would always state that we were the same age and I'd always argue, "No, I'm 9 1/2 months older". I also have a younger brother, that is 3 years younger than me.

2) I grew up playing musical instruments. It started with the Recorder in school and then I started to play the clarinet when I was about 8. From there I played several instruments - French Horn, Piano, Saxophone, Guitar and a whole list of others. I even liked to play the Accordian, until my dad got rid of it. I played in Marching Band and in Symphonic Band until I was 18. I wanted to be a Conductor and thought about teaching music at one point in my life. I just wasn't disciplined enough to practice all of the time and by the age of 18 I had TMJ and my jaw would painfully pop all of the time.

3) I have 2 degrees from DePaul University in Chicago. I was the 3rd generation in my family to attend there. My grandmother, father, and all of my siblings have a degree from DePaul. I graduated in 1997 with my B.A. in Secondary Education English. Then I got my M. Ed in 2000 in Language Literacy and Specialized Instruction. I also got my certification in Behavior Disorders and Learning Disabilties.

4) While in college I decided to study abroad. I spent a semester at the University of Sheffield in Sheffield, England. While there I took the opportunity to travel all over Europe. I saw almost all of England, Scotland, Ireland, Poland, Germany, the Cech Republic, Hungary, Spain and a slew of other countries. I don't regret this decision one bit.

5) I taught for 6 years in Alternative High Schools before becoming a Stay-At-Home-Mom. I had my own self-contained Behavior Disordered and Learning Disabled classroom. While I loved teaching I don't currently plan on returning to this career field. I am hoping to have built up my Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrator career enough to afford me the opportunity to do this on a full time basis. They make the continuing education requirements too strict, in my opinion, to keep your teaching certificate and I was in a high burnout environment.

6) I met my husband on the internet about 8 or 9 years ago. I am terrible with dates and always have to ask him the year. It was a complete fluke that we met and we will be married for 6 years this fall. I got married 11 days after September 11th and almost my entire wedding party was stranded out of town with no airlines flying in any direction. It all came together and it was a lovely celebration.

7) I always think of myself as a very shy person, but people I meet tell me I am really outgoing. That always surprises me. I used to hate talking in front of people, but I guess teaching turned me into a talker.

Most everyone I know has been tagged, so I am going to look for people who have responded to my blog candy in hopes of tagging someone for the first time!

Here we go, in no particular order . . .
Kimberly
Paula
Lisa
Tiffany
April
Yosha
Kimmie

Check out these awesome blogs!

Jenn

And the Winner is!

I went to Random.org and it picked #39 for me. By my counting, the winner is . . . .


Alison Molumby said...
Hmmm.. my favorite SU! set of the moment is "Office Accoutrements," I seem to be using it all over the place lately! I'm into square cards at the moment, but I love those buckle cards too. I love to see how-tos and loads of samples on crafting sites.


Congratulations Alison! If you contact me at startstampin@comcast.net I will get your Blog Candy prize in the mail ASAP. I just need your snail mail address.


The next blog candy will be at 10,000 hits so keep reading.


I have read and enjoyed all of the comments. I am so glad to know what you all like and what you'd like to see in a blog. I am going to try to please each and every one of you.


I spent the day with my son doing allergy testing so we will see if I get a new project posted today. I've been up since the wee hours of the morning and had both of the kids by myself all day long. I am ready to fall asleep.

Jenn

Blog Candy Reminder

Tonight I will choose a Blog Candy Winner. Comments have been winding down, so why make anyone wait any longer than they have to? I will choose a winner at 8 pm CDT!

Remember to leave a comment HERE to be eligible to win.

Jenn

Have You Seen It?

The 2007 Retirement list that is? I am so excited!!! Click on the link below to take yourself to the Stampin' Up! website.

HERE

Which sets are you sad to see leave?

For me it is French Script. I love that background stamp and I just bought it a few weeks ago.