Thank you Sale-a-bration

Well Sale-a-bration is over, no more free SAB stuff until next year. Hopefully you got some of that action. If not, never fear, SU is coming out with yet another special for April! YEAH for SU!

April is the release of the Occassions mini and if you spend $40 from the mini, you get $10 FREE from the last page (pg 208) of the regular catty. This page features some really great individual stamps and some mini note kits. Did you even know that existed??? It does and is a great way to suppliment existing stamp sets with a sentiment or floral image you want, or to have a mini notes to go with gift bags, etc. So check out the new mini and get $10 free (you can see it on the right side bar).

Before I leave you for the evening, I wanted to show you a fun card I made tonight. I borrowed this set, Fifth Avenue Floral, from my friend Anne-Claire (check out her blog on the right bar as well). I stamped the image in Rose Red on Pretty in pink paper and embossed with glassy glaze, this allowed the outline to set a little better for the next part. Then I used my aqua painter and rose red to watercolor my flower. Watercolor paper is good for this too, but I didn't have any and wanted the pink to show through. I used Kiwi Kiss and the same pink for the background layers of cardstock and used my ticket corner punch on the corners. Next I used my bigshot Top Note with the bella rose paper and again the big shot swirly sizzlet in kiwi for the flower "stems" and once they were set mounted my dried and cut out flower above with dimensionals. I took another peice of the pink and stamped the sentiment in rose red and embossed and adhered. I finished it off with a button from my button boquet and some leftover little swirly's from my swirls die. Wha-lah!














I have to admit, I do like this card (yes, tooting my own horn) because I feel like this was outside my normal realm of creation. I always feel excited when I do something new or break my own mold. This card is soo not my style as far as creating goes, but I did it and think it worked out well. Hope you like it too. :)

PS- I know I have been promising some easter stuff and plan to post some tomorrow. I am taking a vacation day tomorrow from my "real job" so I can get a little needed R&R. Reality is that I will probably stamp all day, but we'll see. I MIGHT go see a movie- yep by myself. I haven't been to one in so long with the little one, and although normally that would seem lonely to me, right now it sounds lavish. Funny, the things that become treats when you have young kids and never get out! Oh and last month we went to Applebees (I used to loath that place) and it was a huge outting- LOL!

Yarrow

One more time for this color Challenge by Kristina Werner. This idea came last night while I was lying in bed, to use the yarrow stamp from Organic Grace that is. The rest came while playing with it. I have to admit, I don't much like this color combo, it is a hard one to work with. This card, however, is a little more successful in putting those colors together than the last.

The fun part about this card though, is that I have a co-worker who's daughter's (born two days after mine) name is Yarrow. So I will take it into work and give it to her. :)

CASEd

As promised, here is my second card for the night. It is a CASEd card (copied and shared) for a challenge on Laura Fredrickson's Scrapin' Extra's blog- http://www.scrapnextras.com/scrapnextras/2009/03/celebrating-300000-hits.html. The challenge was to CASE one of her cards, and here is the link to the card I cased- http://www.scrapnextras.com/scrapnextras/2008/11/verve-preview-two-sets-today.html. I also did the splitcoast stampers color challenge this week- colors were Baja Breeze, Pretty in Pink and Kiwi Kiss. I am sorry I don't have the energy for more tonight- I have to go to bed. Thanks for stopping by!

Are you ready for Chester?

I am sure you are thinking who is Chester?!? Well he is this darling little bunny here. I guiltily bought this guy from Whipper Snapper Designs with a little girl stamp named Sofia. I initially saw Sofia and couldn't resist, I mean she was cute like my daughter (not as cute of course, but you know) and her name was Sofia, my daughter is Sophie, so you can see the temptation. And of course, if you are buying one, why not two!?! Lessons to live by from Katie right! LOL! Anyway, so my Sophie stamp (renamed her to something more appropriate) has yet to debut, but Chester was ready for his adoring fans. So here he is....

And to your suprise I am sure, I made this card for a couple of challenges. First the colors are from Kristina Werner's color inspiration challenge- http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/?p=1122. My goal is to one day be on the round-up. The color round up is always so fabulous and the entries are to die for, so I am working toward "to die for." In case youa re wondering, I colored sloppily on purpose, I thought it just added a little something.


The second part of the Challenge is the Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge- seen below. I followed this layout.


I hope you enjoy my little Chester card.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy your weekend.

All supplies are SU with the exception of the stamp. Did you notice I FINALLY used some of my hodgepodge hardware. :)

Oh and you can expect one more challenge post from me tonight.

A little glimpse of Soapy Stargazer

I don't have a card for you today. I did make one last night but didn't get it uploaded, so thought I would give you a little glimpse of my Soapy Stargazer. :) Isn't she just the cutest kid in the world!?!? (Proud Parent Here).

Anyway, we call her Soapy Stargazer because, well her name is Sophie and sometimes we just call her Soapy for fun :), but the Stargazer part comes from when I was in labor and she wouldn't come because she hadn't/wouldn't turn the right way (stubborn like her dad- NOT her mom...hope daddy isn't reading- wink!) , she was belly up, like she was gazing at the stars. so that is the day Soapy Stargazer was born, litteraly and figuratively!

I wanted to show you the recent pics of her post first haircut, but don't have them on my (eh-hem) work computer. So I decided this picture was super cute too and you might like that. This was Presidents Day and Sophie and I (daddy still had to work- boo) were at the Seattle Center Fountain. You can see the fountain there in the background, it is huge and fun and spouts water to music- so cool. We were running around and chasing birds and playing and it was sunny. No, really, it was sunny, no snow, no hail and no rain- which is why we were out. We had a terrific time.

I love this little girl sooooo much. You know, it is funny about quotes, I have never much been into them, but some of the parenting ones are right on, so I will leave you with this one from Elizabeth Stone, “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

Pop-up card and some swaps

Pop-up cards seem to be all the rave right now, I have seen a ton of them around. Recently I saw this super cute one on my friend Jackie's blog- http://jackiestamps4fun.wordpress.com/2009/03/22/another-pop-up-card/. I commented on how cute it was (isn't it!?!?) and said I wanted to try one soon, and so Jackie challenged me to make one. She also provided a link to her tutorial- http://jackiestamps4fun.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/happy-birthday-pop-up-card/- so basically, I had no excuse to not make one. Thanks Jackie, I needed that friendly little push! Besides, it is basically a *challenge* and I love those. ;) So, thar she blows......here is the card front.

And the inside view:

I am pretty happy with the way this turned out so big thanks to Jackie. Make sure to visit her blog for the tutorial and to see her cute pop-up cards.

Now before I go for the night, I wanted to show you some swap cards I received in the mail yesterday. This was a birthday swap, and there were 4 different categories: Youth Female, Adult Female, Adult Male, Youth Male. Here they are (sorry for some of the blurry photos):

Youth Male:

Adult Male:

Adult Female:

Youth Female

There were so many I couldn't fit them all, so from the left, Adult Female, Youth Female, Youth Male:

Now I want to point out that two of these lovely cards were made by my downline. Picture 3 with Manhattan Flowers is by Anne-Claire, so pretty! Picture 5 with Wild About You and the adorable button dies is by Denise. You can visit both of their blogs on the right under the section, "blogs I visit". They both signed up during Sale-a-bration and got a great deal and are loving it. :) You go girls!

Lastly, I just want to say thanks to all those who swapped, great cards- Cindy, Charity, Michelle L., Michelle W., Ringer, Alisha, Sharlene, Debbie, Carrie, Sherri, Judy, Sue and Colleen- THANK YOU!

Today's Second Challenge

OK, this card is much more successful than the last. Oh well, the fun is in trying to make stuff. It is actually so funny, because I make cards (some I love and some I hate) but then I just move on, they sit in a pile until I put them in my for sale bin. I don't do well with multiples of the same card, because I want to make something new. Anyway, I digress....

So this card is for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge- http://flourishesnewsletter.blogspot.com/2009/03/timeless-tuesday_23.html. This week it is hosted by Betty Wright- I love Betty! And she has challenged me to emboss something. So today, I was blurfing and found a great "faux tile" card made by Mary Fish- http://www.stampinpretty.com/2009/03/happiness-is-caseing-beate.html -so I CASEd this card idea and went with it.

After I made my tiles and did my peircing, I decided to leave out a tile. I then used a transparency sheet and put it through with my birds and blooms die. I topped that with a some glitter, put a (insert magic word...) BUTTON on and and tied to my twill tape. The little tag is stamped and embossed with silver embossing powder. The tag is regal rose (main colors are cameo coral and kiwi) because I didn't have any of the Lots of Tags dies in the coral color, so after stamping and embossing, I brushed the tag in my coral ink. I am happy with this card- yeah!

Yes, more challenges

OK, I did this card as a challenge card- are you suprised. I love Julie's blog- http://outtoimpress.blogspot.com/2009/03/celebrating-300k-day-2.html- and found that she was doing a challenge. The object was to CASE (copy and share) one of her cards- so I cased this card-

I love this card, it is so bright and fun. It makes me smile, just like it is supposed to. :) My version of this card is below:

Now I have to say that I looked at Julie's card in the early am and made mine in the late afternoon. I am not sure I actually CASEd it at all, but oh well. The main image in my head was the background flower with the ribbon on top and a word bubble (can't think of the right word here) in the middle with some bling. I new I didn't want to use a flower, too same-same, so went with a star. I was WAY off the mark and am not even sure I like this card- but anyway, here it is.

Oh, and did you notice the button? I think I mentioned this, but I love buttons. :)

Ultimate Stampin' Kit

Have you ever wanted to sign up to be a demonstrator? For those of you that do, keep reading for more information. For those of you that find this prospect too scary or too much of a committment...keep reading!

OK, maybe that is confusing, but what I am saying is that if you want to be a demonstrator you can sign up, but if you don't want to be a demonstrator, just like your hobby, you can still sign up and simply get the ultimate stamping kit. Either way, NOW is the time to do it because this is deal of the Century!!!

Through March 31st Stampin' Up! is offering:

• 15 % discount on the starter kit (not obligated to make sales!)


• free stamp set up to $47.95


• AND a three easy payments program ($56.34/month for three months- + tax on month one)

This is a value of $360+!!!!

Although this offer expires soon, the three payment option (not 15% discount and free stamp set) is an option through April 31st. Contact me for more information.