Dotty Blossoms

Oh, I've caught the flu that I work so hard to avoid. I am so miserable and I have no new project to share, and I definitely don't feel like working on one. But I wanted to share a new little etsy shop with you. My niece is making aprons and they are adorable. Her etsy shop named Dotty Blossoms is here. Be sure to visit and see her cute work. I always envy people who can sew. I can cut and paste and glue, but I've never had any sewing skills. That's all for now, I'm off to rest.

You used what?

Today began like most Wednesdays do. Wake up, eat breakfast, go to the bus stop, look at the sketch on Split Coast, throw in some laundry, unload the dishwasher, play dolls with my daughter. While playing Cinderella my eyes kept drifting to the tissue box in her room. I loved the flowers on it and the beautiful shades of lavendar. Yes, I have an illness...I'll use whatever I can to make a card! The tissue box was a little bent, so I added more bends and creases to it. In the picture it only looks bent at the top, but in real life it all flows. I'll be sending this card to someone who can appreciate that there's a used tissue box on their card. I don't want to scare anyone too much!

Mojo Monday

This is my card I made using the Mojo Monday sketch for this week. To see all of the other cards people made for week 71, click the link here. I love using these sketches and look forward to them each Monday. I thought that this week I would actually pull out my Verve stamps and use them for this week's sketch, but then I went in a totally different direction. I decided to do a Valentine's Day card, and so I used one of my favorite stamps from the Time Well Spent set by Stampin' Up.

Dollar Store Find

I went with my son in the dollar store last week, and after he picked out a toy I went to browse their little "craft" section just in case they had anything. I found this cute little photo album that had chipboard inside. At first I wasn't sure if I liked it or not, but I picked one up. It had brown gingham ribbon at the top that kind of distracted from the pretty design, so I decided to put it back. At the last minute I grabbed 2 of them. Then on the way home I was thinking about that distracting gingham ribbon, and thought, "Oh, I should have left them at the store!" I over-analyze things way too much, especially when it comes to purchases from the dollar store. So finally I just told myself that at least I got some chipboard for $1. Well, when I got home it hit me: take the gingham ribbon off! So I added my own brown ribbon and I like it much better. I took the chipboard out, measured the size, cut paper to fit, stamped some fun designs on and mod podged the paper on. Now go easy on me, this is not a finished project! I need to mod podge the back side of all of the chipboard and then sand things down so it looks nice and tidy on the edges. But I was really excited about how it's starting to look, so I went ahead and snapped a few pictures. When everything is all finished, I'm going to print some of my favorite family photos in the sepia tone so that they will all match, and I'll have a fun photo album!

Project in Progress

I am working on a little project that I'm really excited about. I thought I'd be closer to a finished product by today to take some pictures. But I'm not, and there is mod podge involved, so I'm not touching anything! But I'll keep working on it and have a picture tomorrow even if it's not finished.

Nestabilities!!!

I am now a proud nestabilites owner! I have been tempted by these, but finally gave in the other day and ordered Labels One. I love the shape of them! They came yesterday in the mail and I had to get them out this morning to play. I do see why so many people buy them, use them and love them! I wanted to make a baby card, and decided to do something other than pink and brown today. The sentiment stamp I found at River City Rubber Works and the bear is an old Rubber Stampede bear I bought off of ebay.

Cards for Heroes

I have read about the Cards for Heroes program on Split Coast Stampers and on Susan's blog. I think that this is such an awesome idea. I was at the Cards for Heroes website today researching it a little bit more. While there I looked at their blog, and they had a link to Imagine Stamps. Imagine Stamps sells clear stamps, and what I think is really neat is that they have custom "Cards for Heroes" stamps (scroll down the page on that link) you can use for the back of your card. While that's not required to put on the back of cards you are sending in, it gave me an excuse to order a stamp! I just thought that I'd pass this info along, especially for any crafters who may be looking for something to do with some cards they may have accumulated. Or if you are looking for a project to start. I am really excited to get involved!

Scraps, and a brand new card!

I was cleaning off my desk this morning to get started on homework. That meant putting away all of the scraps (finally) from Monday's card. Well, I started looking at the scraps and wanted to make one more card. I looked at the sketch on Split Coast Stampers, and I just couldn't think of what I would do with it. So I looked at the Sketches! {by tamara} blog and found this fun layout. It seemed great for using a lot of little scraps. Now I am waiting for Sale-A-Bration so that I can order some more cardstock. I am down to just a few scraps of Rose Red and one full sheet of Regal Rose. Have a great Wednesday everyone!!!

Mojo Monday Week 70

I loved, loved, loved the Mojo Monday sketch this week! I knew the second I saw it what I wanted to do. I have a friend who is pregnant with her 3rd baby right now (#1 and #2 are boys) and she is kind of hoping this one is a girl. She's almost far enough along for "the ultrasound" and I am hoping to give her this card if she gets happy girl news. I got a new stamp set from The Angel Company called Wild For You. I knew that the giraffe would be so fun to use for this card. I did have to make the card a 5x5 to try and fit my sentiment on the way I wanted. I found this designer paper a long time ago at a local scrapbook store when they were "going out of business." I bought every sheet they had. If ever a girl has fallen in love with designer paper, it was me when I saw this paper. I loved the different shades of pink and brown and the swirly circles. I loved everything about it. Another company ended up buying this scrapbook store and they stayed open as a scrapbook store. So when I go in I always check to see if they have this paper and if they do I buy some more. I just love it! And the big circle really is a deep brown that matches the card. It's not black...I promise!

Edited to add: the paper is Peachy Keen Dazzling Dish. If you find some, buy it. You won't regret it!!!

Thanks, my blogging friends!

Okay, so I have another award I received and a tag to get to. I got this cool award from Chris. Along with the award, I'm supposed to name my five favorite blogs and five addictions. Well, I only have 5 favorite blogs, and I already named them here in this post. So I won't name the exact five again. But my five addictions are:

1. My husband
   
2. Stamping/Scrapbooking
   
3. Reading
4. Fantasty Football
5. Cheesecake

And Susan tagged me on her blog. I am supposed to name six things about myself:

1. I am petrified that I will die in a car crash. And the worst kind of car crash would involve one where the car ends up in the water, and I drown.
2. I am left-handed, but have to play sports right-handed, and I like to say that's the reason I am horrible at all sports ;)
3. I am not a morning person.
4. I hate touching things in public that other people touch...carts in the grocery store, pens at the doctor's office, etc.
5. My parents and brothers live too many hours away to see on a regular basis, and I really hate that! My parents plan a lot of trips to see us, but I think it would be fun to just run over to share a recipe or have an afternoon to go shopping without them having to plan a big trip.
   
6. My husband is my best friend, and meeting him and sharing my life with him is the greatest gift I have ever received.

Whew! That was a lot harder than I thought that it would be. I'm supposed to pass this off to 6 other people. But I've only got my favorite blogs I already mentioned, and I don't think random people want me tagging them. So I'll just say: if you'd like to share 6 things about yourself on your blog, I love to read more about people and their likes and dislikes, etc.

Mushroom Soup

This is my card for a recipe swap on Split Coast Stampers. It is a mushroom soup recipe from Stephanie, the crock-pot lady's blog. You can find the original recipe here. Her blog has so many terrific crock-pot recipes that if you are a crock-pot cook or want to be a crock-pot cook, I highly recommend visiting her blog. I love this recipe. Any recipe that I am making that calls for cream of mushroom soup, I omit the canned stuff and use this recipe. It makes a large batch and I love that you can freeze it to have on hand when you need it.
For the recipe card I used my So Swirly jumbo roller from Stampin' Up. I love to use the jumbo rollers. I stamped it in Rose Red and embossed with clear embossing powder. The large flower is from Big Pieces. I didn't start out to make this monochromatic, but it's what ended up happening.

The Journey

Right after Christmas, I read on Split Coast Stampers about a sale over at River City Rubber Works. All of their unmounted stamps were 50% off. Well, when you read about something like that you have to go check it out. I loved this saying, "The Journey is the Reward." I thought it was just perfect, and it's partially in a font I love...scriptina. So, this sentiment stamp was among some of the loot I bought that day. Then I found this ship stamp from The Angel Company and I thought that it would go perfect with the saying (TAC stuff is almost all 50% off right now, too!). I used an old Mojo Monday sketch (#42) for the layout.

Being a Responsible Adult

Many years ago, I was going to college and didn't really know what I wanted to study or major in. So I was just taking classes along the way. A few years into this process I got married, and a few years into that I was pregnant with our son. Well, that ended up being my last semester of college. Until last year, when I decided it's about time to finish what I started back in 1995!!! Crazy, huh. So I have finished a few more classes. Last semester I took off for various reasons and this semester I am back to school, again! But today, all I wanted to do was play. Sit at my scrapbook desk, and make cards with my little girl, and play. But I was a responsible student and did ALL of my homework before I started on this sketch. This is for today's sketch challenge at Split Coast Stampers. I am wishing I'd done some different things with the background paper, but I got to play a little, and that's what I needed today!

Computer Issues....and an Award!?!?

Yesterday our internet connection magically and horribly vanished. Talk about sending me into panic mode. There we were: home from church, ready to watch football and stamp. Okay, the whole family wasn't ready to stamp, but I was. I turn on the computer to quickly check my favorite blogs, and nothing happened!!! My husband and I start disconnecting and reconnecting wires, and nothing was helping. I was so frustrated. Originally, my husband was too. But as the day went on, and he saw me getting more and more frustrated with no internet access, I think it started to turn into a humorous situation for him. I'll admit it: I think he thought it was funny how upset I was getting. So I just decided to chill out and live for a day without the internet. But this morning as soon as my boy was on the bus, I was calling our ISP to see what was wrong. Well, it turns out our router was bad, and blah, blah, blah. Long story short: I finally have internet access!!! Then I was reading comments left for me, and saw that Erin (aka Fishlips) left me an award on her blog! It's called the Marie Antoinette, A Real Person, A Real Award. Thanks Erin!!! Reading that someone enjoys my blog enough to leave me an award made me feel pretty happy, especially considering the enormous amount of creative and talented bloggers there are out there! Here are the conditions that go with the award:
1. Link to the person who gave you the award
2. Nominate 7 more people
3. Link the nominees and tell them about the award
4. Post the award on your blog

The seven people I nominate are:
Chris. I have been in recipe swaps with her and love it because I know I will always get an awesome recipe card if she's in the swap. The first post of hers I ever read she was talking about her white trash neighbors and I laughed so hard!!! Because we once lived in a neighborhood with some of "those" neighbors, and I felt like I could totally relate.
Laurie. I can't even remember how I originally stumbled on Laurie's blog. I think I loved a card she had posted on Split Coast, and went to investigate more. Now I'm hooked. I love her recipe cards, and how she almost always includes a photo of her yummy food!
Susan. Talk about talent! Susan is so creative, and I love all of her ideas. She uses color in a way that my brain wouldn't think of on its own.
Kara. I love to read Kara's recipes. Sometimes it's an idea for dinner....just in time!
Krystal. Of all the bloggers, she is the only one I actually know outside of blog-land! She's hostessed recipe swaps that I've been in and always had a blast. Her blog has fun recipes on it, and I always like to read her simple step by step instructions.

Okay, I realize that is only five. But those are the 5 blogs I click on every single day. I have others listed on my side-bar that definitely inspire me. But these are the 5 that if my blog got wiped away and I couldn't re-link to them, I'd probably freak out!

Using Bloomin' Beautiful

Back before this stamp set made it into the big Stampin' Up catalog, it was listed in one of their mini-catalogs. I was so worried it wouldn't make the regular catalog, so I bumped something else off of my wish list at the time, and bought this. Of course it made the regular catalog! I think it is one of my favorite stamp sets ever.

Onesies

I love all of the creative things that people share. Today on Susan's blog she posted cards that look like onesies. I had seen some of these in different online galleries. But I never took the time to read the details, I guess, and I always thought that the onesies were really big. Well, thanks to Susan, I actually paid attention, and they are a standard card size cut down to the onesies shape. Aha! That peaked my interest. Then I looked to see what the challenge of the day on Split Coast Stampers is. The challenge is to incorporate stars into whatever you make. Well, I thought that onesies would look really cute with some stars added. So I went back to Susans' blog, followed the link to the onesie tutorial she posted by Lauren Meader. I don't have a scallop circle punch but I figured I'd just wing it. Then my regular 1.5 inch circle punch BROKE. I was not a happy stamper. So I just traced around some tin cans and cut shapes out. These were so fun to make!

Sketch Challenge 210

This card is made for today's sketch challenge on Split Coast Stampers. I was peeking quickly at the gallery this morning before starting the dishwasher, and saw such pretty cards with the sketch, that I had to participate. I think it's a really fun sketch. I used my Artfully Asian set, which is one of my favorites and combined that with some of my favorite colors, too.

Cuttlebug Spot Challenge #12

The challenge at the Cuttlebug Spot this week is to make a card for a male. This card took about 20 twists and turns, and I'm still not sure about it. I wanted it to look like the monkey is holding a sign that says thanks. And at first it did, but then I started trimming the image smaller and smaller, and now I don't quite know what to think. So this card is not on my list of favorites, but I'll keep it in my pile.

Brownie Box

I made this mini pizza box and filled it with brownies to give to a neighbor for a thank you. When the recipient is a boy, it's always hard for me to make a card, since I tend to use a lot of floral stamps and the color pink. I figured most teenage boys like treats. So this mini pizza box is just as easy as a card for me, in a case like this. The first pizza boxes I made are posted here, along with the original tutorial I found that gives easy directions to make these fun little boxes. Thanks for everyone on well wishes to get over this stupid cold. I've still got it, but at least I quit coughing enough to sleep last night. So that means I'm improving, I think! And I'm hoping for a productive stamping week.

The Cold

Well, it seems like everyone I've been around has had a cold. And I've dodged it pretty well...until New Year's Eve. It caught up with me; now I can't breathe, can't talk, and can't get enough Puffs Plus! The worst part is that my cousin was going to come and scrapbook with me last night, and I just knew she wouldn't want to come since I had a cold. But, when I talked to her to tell her what was going on, she sounded as horrible as I did. We figured since we both had colds, we might as well still scrapbook and be miserable together! We had a lot of fun, and before she left I wanted to make her a card. She was wearing a gorgeous teal shirt, which made me want to use some teal paper. I added the rose red because we tease each other back and forth about the color pink. I love it, and she does not!