Saturday, July 26, 2008

A Three Week "Vacation"

We're leaving on Monday for a three week "vacation" to Minnesota. OK - so not really a vacation - just up and moving my life in Texas to Minnesota with my parents. The kids are unbelievably excited...and it will be nice to have some extra hands around to help me out. I think I'm needing the break - mentally and physically. I have a bunch of "goals" for when I'm home, and I hope I stick to them. Anyways, I'll be taking a break from the blog thing for those three weeks - I may post here and there but nothing consistent!

I've been wanting to make some cards and I feel like my creativity has needed a vacation as well! I went over to splistcoast for inspiration, and their sketch challenge this week made me think of good ways to highlight some of that designer paper out there. So, the first one uses the Amy Butler paper (love it! and her material)...and the second two are Basic Grey's cupcake. Despite any creativity, I liked they way they turned out!



Hopefully I'll have lots of goodies to show soon!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

WASHABLE? crayons

Every time on of my kids draws on the wall with crayon, and inevitably picks the non-washable red crayon EVERY time, I swear that I will allow ONLY washable crayons in my home. Well - somehow those little non-washable things sneak their way in and it was time for my third child, Jacob, to do his coloring. I've stopped trying to even clean it - I'll grab the paint and paint over it someday...

I guess maybe I should be glad that I potentially have a bunch of "artists" in my midst -


Today I'll share two cards I'm made using a sketch challenge from over at Splitcoast (SC185). I love this Riley stamp with the cupcakes - and I added some rhinestones for the cupcake tops just to give some bling. This stamp is very versatile - I gave one for a birthday card, and another as a 'just thinking about you' card.
Thanks for looking!

Monday, July 21, 2008

Monday Madness

Have you ever had one of those days that you feel like you're on everyone's bad side? I feel like friends and strangers alike are against me. Oh woe is me, right?!

I'm sharing today a mini coaster accordian scrapbook that is a tutorial on splitcoast. Super cute! Anyways, I wanted to make it for a friend who I have been sewing with, but when I went to find pictures to put on it, I realized our "crafting" pictures are on her camera. Oh well! I'll have to get copies from her to finish this off!
Thanks for looking!

Friday, July 18, 2008

"Am I over my funk" Friday?!

It seems like I've been in a "funk" all week - just not wanting to do much once I get the kids down for the night. Which is SOOOOO unlike me. But I'm hoping I've gotten over that and will get a move on! I do have a few things to share that I've made this past week! For tonight, I'll share with you an awesome kit from The Angel Company. I love this company - their stamps are inexpensive, and to be honest, incredible quality. I have an awesome "angel" so if you are interested, let me know and I can give you her contact information! This kit is one of four I bought recently - the Natalee Accordian Album Kit. The pictures do not do it justice, but it's fun as it is decorated on front and back. This is a birthday present for someone, and I know she'll love it. It's awesome!


I have made up the other three "kits" I bought, but soon realized I should wait to embellish more until I know what pictures are going in.

Thanks for looking!

Monday, July 14, 2008

A card I didn't enjoy making

Normally, if I'm creating, I'm happy. I enjoy making my cards, playing with my "stuff" and all that goes with it. The card I'm sharing tonight I did not like to make at all. I'd almost go so far as to say I hate the card. I made this sympathy card for my friends who lost their only two children (ages 3 and 18 months) in a horrific drowning accident in their backyard pool. My husband and I spent Saturday at the funeral, burial, and finally at their home. I guess I'm still upset by it all and am going to use this as my sounding board. There are just a few things that keep coming to my mind - first off, how do you survive after losing your children? I don't want to even imagine my life without my kids. And there has to be constant reminders for them. We were just on the edge of this pain, and let me tell you - it is a horrible pain. To experience even this small part of it, is unbelievable. I won't start the whole blaming God side of it - but I've got to think that if God is going to give you a grief like this, He sure in heck is going to give you an unbelievable amount of strength and grace to make it through this. I guess all I can say is please keep this family in your prayers. Now that the funeral has passed, they will be left alone with this grief. Let us not forget them - and try to keep the prayers going for them to make it through this.
Anyways - I embossed the cross with irridescent ice (I thought that embossing would give it a more sparkly, glittery look, but I still liked it). I kept it simple and used colors from a color challenge on splitcoast (CC172 using taken with teal, wild wasabi, and white). Inside I put the poem "Lent Child" - it really is one of my favorite poems.
I played with some new kits I got from The Angel Company so I'll have more to share soon. I've been bad this past week just with everything else going on. Thanks for looking!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

I need some yellow

One of my favorite colors is yellow - maybe because it is a "happy" color to me. My heart has been aching the past couple days. Two college friends lost both of their children (ages 1 and 3) in one of those horrible swimming pool drowning accidents. I just simply can't imagine losing my children - it's not the natural order of things. And the guilt and blame they are facing is heart breaking. It makes you realize how precious each moment is - be sure to give that person you love an extra hug. And if you can, throw some prayers up for this family. I worry about their own faith, their own marriage, their ability to move on, after a tragedy like this, and all I can think is that if God is going to give them something like this, He's also going to give them the faith and strength to turn to Him. And this may be in the form of our prayers for them.
I have been sewing a lot lately, so I have an older card to share with you. I'm sure I probably cased a bunch of different ideas, so thank you to whoever! I love the yellow/purple color combo.


Make sure to give your kiddos an extra tight hug tonight!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Another Monday at last...

Why is it that there isn't really any difference for me when the weekend comes. Or rather, the only difference is that I have an extra kid (my husband). I may be weird, but Mondays are my favorite day of the week!
I've been sewing like mad lately - I'm really enjoying it! But I also am finding time to make some cards. Here's the other card I made using the Here's The Scoop set from MFT. I used the Basic Grey Cupcake paper, Blush Blossom, Very Vanilla, And Creamy Caramel. I was going to use Crystal Effects on my scoops, but have apparently lost it so I ordered more from my friend and used stickles instead. I used my "gotta have" nestablities and copic markers. Last week, when my friend Paula came over, she suggested putting another layer of cardstock underneath the designer paper to make it pop - I'm showing you both so you can be the judge! But that is the only difference in the two cards.


I'm hoping to do a little of everything today so I'll have lots to share this week!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Oh My Stars and Riley Super Moose

I saw that Verve is now a member company over on Splitcoast. They are having a "stars" challenge so I decided to play. I know that money doesn't grow on trees, so maybe I'll get lucky and be a random drawing winner to get some free stuff from Verve. I know - a girl can dream!


But I wanted to play with my Riley moose images I stamped out from my friend Paula the other day, and I love stars so what better way to play! Here's my end result! I used brads, paper, and the verve stars cut out and dimensionalized (is that a word?)??? So here's my end result - and I like it!!!

Oh - and I'm trying to do some different angles with my photography - so you can see the dimensions, etc. a little better. How does this one look?