Pack A Picnic

My husband was up late last night working on some projects, so I was up late looking through blogs and online galleries. The new Pack A Picnic template just kept calling my name. I am hooked on these templates! There is a smaller version and a larger version and this is the small version. It is really quite small. As I was assembling it, I couldn't quite decide what I would put in it. Then it hit me: my daughter could use it for her nail polish and lip gloss {yep, she's all girl}. She's been carrying it around all day, so I think it was a success with her. I can't wait to try the bigger picnic basket now.

Stamps: SU Botanical Blooms
Ink: PTI Raspberry Fizz, Ripe Avocado
CS: PTI Spring Moss, Vintage Cream
Accessories: Martha Stewart Doily Lace Punch, American Crafts Brads

Take me out to the ballgame

Tomorrow night is the last baseball game of the season. It's hard to believe how fast it goes. Here is the cover I made to put in the DVD case for this year. The cool font is called Marcelle, and I downloaded it from dafont.com. I found that site quite a long time ago, and I love to go there and look for fonts. We have finally had two days without rain, and the summer-time heat is definitely here.

Stamps: Inkadinkado
Ink: PTI Pure Poppy
CS: PTI Pure Poppy

Oh, what a beautiful day!

Well, it's Friday, tomorrow's my anniversary (12 years, woo-hoo!), and I finished this project and I am loving it. So on to the project, I know that's why you are here.
I found this template (for free!) called Recipe Wrap-up at Papertrey Ink. Well, to me this is not a size I'd use for a recipe book, but that's the fun thing about these templates. They are really versatile! I have an amazing sister-in-law. Being the only girl in my family with 2 older brothers, when my brother was going to ask his wife to marry him I was ecstatic. She is truly the older sister I never had. Well, long story short, they move around a ton. They lived by us for a few months while my brother was finishing college. She and I would go to little craft boutiques and craft stores. It was so fun! When he graduated they moved and have moved a lot since then. My sil is wonderful and likes to remember people's birthdays, anniversaries, etc. She keeps a little calender and has talked about how sometimes in a move, it gets packed up and she can't find it again when they resettle. Which gets me to my project.
I decided to make the recipe wrap up as a calendar! It comes with the basic calendar but I re-formatted it a little to fit my project better. I am so happy with how this turned out. Each panel has 2 months, and I made the little panel so that the calender pages are removable. That way if she wants them in a different order, or the current month on top, she can move them around. I am almost giddy with excitement at how this turned out!
My only problem with this project at all.....our camera! Something happened to it when we went hiking the other day. We were taking pictures of the kiddos, everything was fine, and the next time I went to take a picture, the view finder spot was all cracked. The camera still functions as far as it still takes pictures, but I only have a narrow 1/4 of an inch on the side where it's not cracked to try and line things up. So I tried my best to get some pictures of this, because I was really excited to share. Have a great Friday wherever you are, and I'll be back after the weekend!
Stamps: PTI Background Basics: Text Style, SU Artfully Asian
Ink: VersaMark, PTI Dark Chocolate
Copics: RV13, R35, YG95, V12
CS: Kraft, PTI Ripe Avocado, PTI Spring Moss
Accessories: Ribbon

Kara's Bajio Chicken

I have a little craft project in the works, but I decided to share another recipe with you since the other project probably won't be done today. Over at Kara's Kitchen Creations, she had a recipe for this chicken that sounded delicious, and looked really easy to make. It's been on my list of recipes to try ever since she posted it. I finally made it over Father's Day weekend. Let me just tell you I was so glad I made it. It was indeed very easy, and the taste was great! I told my husband that it was kind of funny it was Father's Day and I was making some dish I didn't even know if he'd like. Well, he ended up loving it, too, so it was perfect. We did end up leaving out the chilies because I didn't have any, so I used a hotter salsa than I usually do. My favorite topping on these is onions, and that didn't get added to the recipe card, oops! So if you like onions, chop some up and sprinkle on top.

Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip?

One of my goals this summer, is to get my recipes onto 6x6 sheets. This is the first of hopefully many I'll be getting done. At family bbq's and potlucks, there is always a fabulous pasta salad. Now, I typically don't like most potato salads, pasta salads, and that kind of thing just because of the "sauce." So, when I discovered that this pasta salad tasted good to me I knew I wanted the recipe. I found it was my mil's recipe, I asked her for it, and she said, "Oh, you add a dash of this and a little of that." Well, my sil said she had the recipe, so I wrote it down exactly as she had it. At a family party a few months down the road, some of the girls were talking about how good the salad was, and my mil said, "It is good. The key is that you NEVER make it with mayonnaise, you always use Miracle Whip!" I about fell off my chair laughing. I've always made it with mayonnaise and it tastes great to me. The last time I went to make this we didn't have any mayo, so I used Miracle Whip. I was not too fond of the taste, but my husband loved it! So, I guess the story is, use whatever white goo you like, and I hope you enjoy.

For A New Mom?

Welcome to Monday! I hope everyone had a good Father's Day weekend. We got to spend the day with one of my brothers, my sis-in-law, and my niece and nephew. They are Costco shoppers and brought over the biggest cupcakes I have ever seen....my kids were in heaven! I feel like we have a busy "summer" schedule ahead of us, finally. This Saturday is me and my husband's anniversary, then the 4th of July which I love, then my other brother is coming back from Korea to visit for a few weeks. So we have some fun in store for us!
Anyway, on to my card, which I am really happy with. I planned this as a card for my friend who just had her 3rd baby. She has 2 boys, and got a girl this time. She is a great mom, and their kids are so fun. I have already made her some "baby" cards during the course of her pregnancy, and was kind of thinking of doing something more focused on her and her husband. So this was what I came up with. Unfortunately, when we took her dinner the other night, it was getting ready to rain buckets, and I was in a hurry and walked off without the card. So now I get to decide before I go back {with chocolate} if I should do a more baby-themed card or stick with this one. Tell me if you got this card after you'd had a new baby, if you would be like, "What kind of baby card is this?"

Stamps: PTI Background Basics: Text Style, River City Rubber Works Sentiment, SU Artfully Asian
Ink: VersaMark, PTI Hibiscus Burst, Copics
CS: PTI Ripe Avocado, Vintage Cream, SU Kraft

Card Holder

In the summer our little community has a weekend where they do a children's parade, children's games, a little craft boutique, and then a dinner and a program. So this is my contribution to the craft boutique. I can't sew, I don't crochet, but I like to use paper and glue so I make cards. And I love how this turned out!!! It's one of the rare times when I've {almost} felt a smidgen of giver's remorse. Unlike buyer's remorse where you wish you wouldn't have bought something, with giver's remorse you {almost} wish you didn't have to give something away. It's just that the stamping actually turned out exactly how I had planned it. And I'm worried that when I try to duplicate it, something won't go quite right. I'll let you know how it goes when I get around to making one for me to keep! Happy Friday!

Stamps: PTI Life
Ink: PTI Raspberry Fizz, Ripe Avocado, Summer Sunrise
CS: SU Rose Red, PTI Vintage Cream
Accessories: My Timeless Templates: Filed With Flair

Emerson

When my friend was placing an order she qualified for a hostess set, but said she wasn't crazy about any of them so asked me if I wanted to get one of them. I am of the mindset that I can't have too many floral stamps {she's in denial about this}, so I asked for this one. Since then, I have had the hardest time making a card with it. So my goal last night was to finally use it. Now that it's all together the one thing that I really wish was different, is for the sentiment to be darker. And I'm not totally crazy about the color of the butterfly. Other than those 2 things, I'm pretty happy with it. But since I did as much coloring and cutting as I did, I had to post the card. And I got to use my new best friend kraft :)

Stamps: SU God's Beauty
Ink: PTI Berry Sorbet, Hibiscus Burst, Plum Pudding, Ripe Avocado, Smokey Shadow, Copics, Chalk
CS: PTI Ripe Avocado, SU Kraft
Accessories: Glitter Glue

More Friends 'Til The End

I am absolutely loving this set. It's so fun to play with! And last night I even used the one thing from the set that I wasn't sure I ever would....the leaves! I had a layout I was picturing, but when I had just the flower and the ribbon tag on there, it seemed to knock things out of balance. Then I added the leaves, and I'm really happy with it!

Stamps: PTI Friends 'Til The End
Ink: PTI Hibiscus Burst
CS: PTI Sweet Blush, PTI Vintage Cream, SU Old Olive
DP: Debbie Mumm
Accessories: Spellbinders Ribbon Tags Trio, Glitter Glue, Offray Ribbon

CAS Sketch Challenge

The CAS challenge at SCS this week is a sketch challenge based on this card. This is the second one I made this morning. My first card was square so it followed the sketch more, but the colors ended up kind of blah. So I added more color, and then the square shape wasn't working. So I decided to add some ribbon, too. I love this polka dot ribbon. That's it for Monday!

Stamps: SU Time Well Spent, PTI Friends 'Til The End,
Ink: PTI Berry Sorbet, PTI Raspberry Fizz, PTI Smokey Shadow
CS: PTI Berry Sorbet, PTI Smokey Shadow, PTI White
Accessories: PTI Berry Sorbet Swiss Dot Ribbon

Digiments Release Day

Good morning!!! It's time for another new release over at Digiments. Here is the card I made featuring a Digiment from the Inspirations of Love line. I love this gorgeous font, and I paired it with one of my favorite background stamps. I like how the flow of the vines in the background carries on the flow of the beautiful font. I think this would make a fantastic card for a wedding or anniversary. As you may have seen in my sidebar, today and tomorrow Michelle is selling the whole line of newly released Digiments for only $10.00. That includes 30 gorgeous digital sentiments. If you've been playing along in the contest to win free Digiments, the winners are also posted!

Digiment: Inspirations of Love
Stamps: SU Pretty Petals
Ink: PTI Berry Sorbet, PTI Hibiscus Burst, PTI Plum Pudding, PTI Ripe Avocado, PTI Summer Sunrise
CS: PTI Summer Sunrise, PTI White, SU Old Olive
Accessories: PTI Plum Pudding Satin Ribbon

It's Friday!!!

I made a card like this the other day but didn't wait for the glitter glue to dry all the way and made a gooey mess. So I waited to take the picture of this one to make sure there would be no smearing. It's just a super simple card that is only one layer and I love the way it looks. This is a big weekend ahead. For the the PTI junkies out there, release day is quickly approaching, and to top that, tomorrow is the Digiments June release. Now for Michelle's big door buster deal. There are 30 digiments this month for $20 (you can also buy individuals for $1 each, but the package deal is great!). Now, can I have a drum roll please: if you order Saturday or Sunday you can get them all for $10. Yep, TEN DOLLARS!!!!! Here is the link, so bright and early tomorrow morning you can click, add to cart, and enjoy!

I have one more thing I just have to share today. I was leaving yesterday to go to an appointment. My daughter was acting really sad and mopey and I told her that I'd be "right back". She said, "I know, it's just that I want to make you a card." I told her as soon as I got back we'd make cards together. She promised me that if she did it by herself she would be careful and not use my good markers. That got me laughing, so I told her to make a card and have fun. Well, here is the finished product:
I saw it and decided to have a good mommy moment instead of a bad one. I asked her what she made with all of the glue. Her response, "I wanted you to have a beautiful cloud." Then I asked her about all the little drops of glue. "They are like beautiful Christmas lights that we go and look at." She went on to tell me that the clips are frames of beautiful pictures for me to look at, and that she has long eyelashes like Luke, but they kind of look funny in the picture! I love that she expresses herself creatively. Now I do have to go get more glue though. She used more Mono Multi in one day than I usually do in a few months!

God Bless America

It's almost release day at Digiments, and today I get to show a card I made using one of the Digiments that will be a part of the June release. One of my favorite things is combining the digital aspect with regular stamping. I don't look at digital as an "all or nothing" approach. I think that it's fun to incorporate digital into a card (it's easy!), and if you're wanting to after that, you can always add some stamping too. It's just another way to add a little variety to life! And you still have today and tomorrow to download any of the freebies that you've seen and make a card with them. It's a win/win. You get something free, and a chance to win more stuff for free! Plus, Michelle is offering a "Doorbuster Deal" with this release, so be sure to check out the site bright and early Saturday morning. I love the song "God Bless America" and was so excited to use it on a card. My daughter requests I play this video on YouTube all the time, and she belts it out along with Martina McBride (one of my favorite singers ever). Just listening to that song always gives me the chills.

Digiment: Patriotism
Stamps: SU Love It
Ink: Colorbox Frost White
CS: PTI Pure Poppy, PTI Soft Stone, Random Blue
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Perfectly Paisley Embossing Folder, Buttons

Happy birthday, dear Mom!

So today is my Mom's birthday. This isn't her birthday card, I think that I actually got that mailed in time to her this year. My mom loves to garden and she loves flowers, and so I just thought I'd share a card that made me think of her and her beautiful flowers beds. I think she'd be content most days to be out digging in the dirt, watching her flowers grow, even weeding. I hope you have a great day, Mom!

Stamps: SU Botanical Blooms, SU Heard From The Heart
Ink: PTI Berry Sorbet, PTI Hibiscus Burst, PTI Plum Pudding, PTI Pure Poppy, PTI Raspberry Fizz, PTI Ripe Avocado, PTI Smokey Shadow, PTI Summer Sunrise
CS: PTI Ripe Avocado, SU Kraft

Summer Color Challenge

I had so much fun making this card!!! It was one of those cards that fell into place just how I wanted it to! On my friend Laurie's blog, she showed these cute flower pots that she made. She had a link to a tutorial for making the flowers. I knew I'd want to make the flowers someday. Well, when I saw the CAS challenge for this week (that was posted last night) and then saw the new contest digiment, I knew that it would be perfect to combine the two, and finally make those flowers!!! I don't have heart nesties or a heart punch, so I cut the hearts out on my cricut. Before distressing the petals, I stamped on them using the Background Basics: Text Style stamp. I added some score lines above and below the digiment. I am so happy with how this card turned out. I can't believe how much I love the look of Kraft.

Go grab your free Digiment to play along, and link back to the Digiments Blog. This week is your last chance to win all of the new Digiments. The release will be this Saturday, bright and early. And remember how affordable these are.....all 30 digiments for $20. Well, Michelle has something up her sleeve to sweeten the deal even more. More info on that later! Enjoy your Monday. I'm off to clean up my stamping space. It's so chaotic right now. If someone walked in my house and said they'd pay me $1000 to make them a card but I only had a half an hour to do it, I don't know if I could. It might take me that long just to find everything. The place is a mess!!!!

Stamps: PTI Background Basics: Text Style, Verve Petals and Stems
Digiment: Contest 4
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, PTI Raspberry Fizz
Cardstock: SU Kraft, SU Rose Red
Accessories: PTI Hibiscus Burst Button

Baby Shower!

So today my niece had her baby shower. I found this darling little bear image the other day, and decided to do a little "bath time" theme so I could use the bubble bath bear. My kids were at the store helping me pick the stuff out and they both wanted to get little baby clothes, "because baby clothes are just so tiny and cute." I needed to go with the bath theme, though, so I let them pick out the wash cloths!

Stamps: Hero Arts Alphabet, Dustin Pike Tubby Bear
Ink: PTI Berry Sorbet, Copics
Cardstock: PTI Berry Sorbet, PTI White
Accessories: My Timeless Templates: From The Desk Of

CASE-ing my Friend

My friend made a card this week for the sketch challenge on SCS, and when I saw her card, I knew I'd have to case it. You can see her card here. I really didn't change very much on the card at all. I used different colors, a different stamp for the circle part(only because I didn't have her "smile" stamp, and added an extra background layer. I would have left it with one layer, but I liked the look she had from her textured cardstock. I didn't have any textured cardstock, and mine was feeling a little plain so I just added another layer.
I hope everyone who has officially started summer is having a good one. And for those of you not in official summer status, I hope you're finding some time to play anyway. The kiddos and I have been having a lot of fun with no one's schedule to stick to but ours (with the exception of baseball). I have some fun projects I've been working on that I can't wait to share. Now I'm off to enjoy my Friday!

Stamps: PTI Life, SU Delight in Life
Ink: PTI Hibiscus Burst, PTI Plum Pudding
Cardstock: PTI Lemon Tart, PTI Plum Pudding, PTI Regal Rose
Accessories: Martha Stewart Ribbon, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Chalk

Happy Mail

So I got a card from my friend last week, which was enough all by itself to put a smile on my face. Then to add to the fun, she'd included some top note die cut-outs! I was so excited to get to play with something new. Thanks, Jenni! And in case you are counting, this is 3 cards in a row that included my new Background Basics: Text Style set. I think I will definitely be getting a lot of use out of that!

Stamps: PTI Background Basics: Text Style, SU Botanical Blooms, SU God's Beauty
Ink: PTI Plum Pudding, PTI Ripe Avocado
Cardstock: PTI Ripe Avocado
Accessories: Top Note Die, PTI Plum Pudding Satin Ribbon

Beach Inspiration

It's Monday again, which means another free Digiment is available. You may know the routine by now, but for those who don't, it's easy. Download the Digiment, use it on a card or project, link back to Digiments and you have a chance to win all of the June releases. After not stamping much over the weekend, it was fun to work on this card last night. It is for the CAS challenge posted on SCS, which is to be inspired by Lands' End beach towels and tote bags. When I saw this tote, a card started forming in my head. I used the colors of the bag for inspiration and also stayed with a beach theme. I have had the Summer By The Sea set for a long time, but never used this particular stamp. I always thought the lady on the boat looked like she was deep in thought, even a little troubled. I loved using this Digiment to go with my lady that needs cheering up. Enjoy your Monday everyone! We're off to bounce on the trampoline, tire the kiddos out, and then come in for a little quiet time!

Stamps: PTI Background Basics: Text Style, SU Summer By The Sea
Digiment: Challenge 3
Ink: PTI Ocean Tides, PTI Smokey Shadow
Cardstock: PTI Ocean Tides, PTI Smokey Shadow, PTI Soft Stone, SU Kraft
Accessories: PTI Aqua Mist Buttons, Karen Foster Scrapper's Floss, Copics, Chalk