Inspired By Fashion

Today's ways to use it challenge over on SCS, was to make a card or altered item inspired by fashion. It made me think immediately of Faith, aka Markie's Mom. She told a funny story on her blog in the last couple of days about being a trend setter. That story made me think, am I?? The answer is a resounding NO!! I have what Stacy and Clinton on TLC's What Not To Wear would call, a tired soccer mom look, most of the time. I am usually a jeans and t-shirt/sweatshirt kind of a girl. When I do try to wear more trendy clothes, I feel overdressed and out of place. I do, however, like to dress up for dinner or events, but it is never in a dress! In fact, I only own three, and one is my wedding dress. I used to have a ton, but we had a house fire when I was 20, and all my prom-type dresses were lost!!! I do however, and I am not sure where they are now, have quite the collection of Bridesmaid dresses, but I can't remember if I sold them, or if my Dad is still storing them. I have been a bridesmaid 4or5 times, I can't remember now..............but anyway, back to the challenge!!!

I tried to find something on-line that inspired me, but all I could keep thinking about is wedding dresses, so that is what I went with!!! Back when I first got married I bought all of this yummy paper and embellishments to make my wedding album. I have yet to make the first page of it!!! I decided to use some of the neglected goodies I had bought for my scrapbook since it might be years before I get it done!!! I started with a Basic Black base of 5 1/4square, then a Very Vanilla mat. The paper I used is by K&Co. and isn't it yummy. The bottom paper is called Windsor Words Pearl Foil Paper and the top is Juliana Swirl Pearl Embossed Vellum. I attached the vellum using Bazil black tie pearl brads. Don't they look like the fancy buttons they give with tuxes??? I first tied the black organdy on and knotted it, then the vanilla organdy. I tied a bow with the black then the vanilla. I wrapped a piece of black organdy around the middle so they would look like they were tied together and then finished it off with a bow made out of silver cord. I didn't like how it looked, so I cut the loops of the cream bow, to give it more volume. If I had ordered the Always set, that heart would totally be on this, but it hasn't come yet, so I didn't stamp anything at all. Do you ever do that, get something in your head, and nothing else will do??? I hope it's not just me!!! The sentiment is a sticker by K&Co. too. I did put the vanilla layer on deminsionals, just to give it some more depth. Thanks for looking, and reading!!! Hope you have a fabulous day!!

stamps-none
paper-K&Co. DP, Basic Black, Very Vanilla
ink-none
tools-black wide organdy, vanilla narrow organdy, silver cord, sentiment sticker

Shelly's Sketch and I've Been Tagged, again!!

I just wanted to let you all know that I have now been tagged with the E for Excellent Blog award three times!! I am so excited!!!! I was tagged first by Linsey Rickett, then by Silke Ledlow and finally by Sue Berker!!! You girls really know how to make a person feel wonderful!!! I have already nominated people when Linsey first nominated me, but I just wanted to let Sue and Silke know, that I appreciate it so much, it means the world to me!!! If you haven't checked out any of their blogs, you should, they are fantastic!!!!

On to my first card in days!!!! I haven't stamped since Saturday night or early Sunday morning, and I have been dying to do it!!! I got all my Valentine's ready and sent out this morning, so now I am free to stamp stamp stamp!! I really need to clean clean clean, but oh well, it's not going anywhere!!

Today's sketch challenge over on SCS was hosted by Shelly, aka Papermoon04, and what a fabulous sketch it is!! I just recieved my new My Favorite Things stamp sets, and I finally broke down and bought the Punny Farm set. I wasn't sure I loved it, and then of course, I kept seeing all the samples on SCS and slowly but surely fell in love with it!! At their last release party, I just had to get it. The base is 5 1/4x5 1/4 Certainly Celery. I stamped the sentiment from the Punny Farm set directly on the card. Then I took a piece of white, then black, then Certainly Celery dsp, for both the larger and the smaller of the two squares. The main image is done using Charmaine aka CharmWarm's tilt card tutorial. It is so cute cause the cow dances!!! I colored it in with SU markers and sponged some Bashful Blue for the sky. I love those funky black fibers and you know how I love my brads, so I had to toss some of those in.

Well, that is all for now!! Thanks for all of your support and comments!! Have a great day, and if your roads look anything like mine, be safe, it is SLIPPERY!!
stamps-Punny Farm
paper-Whisper White, Basic Black, Certainly Celery, and Certainly Celery DSP
ink-Stazon black
tools-black fibers and brads, pennies, dimensionals, SU markers

Last One Today!!

Since I now have 4 girls under the age of 8, and one very tired puppy, I am going to make this one fast. This card was made using Beate's weekend sketch. The frog was colored using Renee Jul's no copics, no problem technique. The heart is colored in with a red glitter pen. This was the first card I made out of the 5, and my favorite!!Gotta Run!!!

stamps-Unfrogettable and Just So Hippy

paper- Whisper White, Real Red, Regal Rose, and Sassy DSP

ink- Stazon Black

tools-SU markers, Aquapainter, rose grosgrain, glitter pen, Red brads

Snowed In!!!

Well, in the matter of a few hours, we got snowed in. Probably not literally, because I have a four wheel drive, but I still don't want to take the chance. The Girls and I had went into town to eat lunch and play at the play place at McD's when it started snowing. By the time we got home, the roads were completely covered and slick!! All this in the matter of 20mins!!! So we are stuck inside, so I took some pictures of them when I could get them to sit still. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!!! Mom, does that picture of Taylor remind you of anyone!!!LOL(it's my sexy pose from when I was a kid, hehe)

Hope you are having as much fun as they are!!!!LOL

ps dh just called and is bringing home his 7yr old cousin to spend the night. Anyone wanna sleep over??????HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Love This Hippo!!!

By now you should know, if you pay any atention to my blog or gallery(thanks to all of you that do!!!), that I LOVE THIS HIPPO!!!! Melanie, you really rocked this one girl!! This set has to be one of my favorite all time animal sets, and I can't wait to get my hands on her new one, Just So Hoppy. It has 4 new animals(kangaroo!!, frog, chick, and bunny) and a ton of sayings and other stuff to go with the Just So Hippy too. I think it is so cool of her to make her two sets coordinate, really makes them versatile, and well worth the money!! In fact, her new Just so Hoppy set has 24 stamps in it!!!WOW!!!

Anyway, this card was made for Kimmie's 5th challenge, which was paper piecing. It was the second to the last card that I made, and I had to force it too. I now wish I had used a brighter coordinating piece, but that Love embellishment is stuck like glue and I am not tearing up the whole card!!! So, the hippo was paper pieced using the DCWV Baby Girl mat stack. I colored in the toe nails on the hippo and then cut out just the body and head and stuck it on. I wrapped celery grosgrain around both edges of the card, but then I covered it up with my paper flowers. the small one is by Petaloo, the ghost flower is by Heidi Swapp, and the pretty sparkly flower is by Heidi Grace. The Love embellishment, I got at Wal-mart on CLEARANCE(dont you just love that!!) and I just tied a piece of silver cord through it. The colors on this card are Regal Rose and Certainly Celery. I love this paper, and I love the paper pieced look, but I do wish I had used a brighter color on the background. What I love about this card, is that you could use it for both V-day or for a baby card. What do you think??

Thanks for looking and as always, have a great day!!!

stamps-Just So Hippy

paper-Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, and DCWV Baby Girl

ink-Stazon Black

tools- Regal Rose marker, celery grosgrain and brad, paper flowers, and embellishment

Thank God For Barney!!

My nieces are very engrossed in a Barney video right now, so I think I can post another one of my cards that I made. I don't know what people did before TV. I don't let them watch a lot of it while they are here, but it is a great way to keep them occupied for a while!!

This card was made for Sketch #4 over on Nicola's blog, My Paper World. A link to her blog is in my blogs I stalk . I am also entering this in Kimmie's celebration challenges. The 6th challenge was to make a card for someone who inspires you, this is for my friend, who shall remain nameless!!! This card is Taylor's favorite, and one of mine too. It is the second one that I made, so I was doing good at that point!!LOL It is a tent card, and on the main image, I did the cracked glass technique. For those who don't know how to do it, this is how I did it. I took my cardstock and stamped my heart from Boho Blossoms in red first. I cut out the piece to the size that I want it to be. I then took my versamark pad and put it directly on the paper, covering the whole piece. You can either use UTEE(ultra thick embossing powder) or clear EP. With the UTEE, which is what I used, two times of doing this(versamarking and sprinkling the powder) should be enough to get the desired effect. With the clear, I always had to do four. After you are done embossing, pop it in the freezer for a few minutes and the edges will curl up. As you flatten it out, bend it until it cracks from all different directions to get the desired effect. For a better tutorial with pictures, you can find it on the SCS website.

I then matted that piece with Real Red and Basic Black. The base is Basic Black and I used my corner punch to create the scalloped edge. I sponged the edges of the white piece to soften it up. The sentiment was stamped twice, once in red and once in black. I used my circle punches in various sizes to layer it. I put a page pebble on it to give it a little extra pop. Thanks for looking and have a great day. Barney is off, and the natives are getting restless.LOL!!! By the way, DH said to them today, as he RAN out the door to go to work, maybe they should stay again tonight, now what am I supposed to do with that!!! Guess they will be here tomorrow too!!LOL
stamps-Boho Blossoms, Riveting
paper- Real Red,Basic Black, Whisper White
ink-Real Red and Basic Black, Versamark
tools- Scallop 1 3/8, 1 1/4, 1" circle punches, corner rounder, page pebbles, UTEE

Who Did That and Katelyn's Favorite????!

Let me start this off by saying, Whose idea was it to put marshmallows in Fruit Loops, like it wasn't perfect to begin with!!



Well, here is the second post for today!!! I am on a roll, of course, it does make it easier when the cards are already made, LOL!!!! I have to say, that my niece Katelyn picked this card as her favorite, when in fact, it is my least favorite. In fact, I am almost scared to post it. To start, this card was made completly from scraps, and at 2 in the morning. I really wanted to get as much done as possible before my nieces came over so that I wouldn't have to try to stamp while they were here. They like to help, and usually I will let them, but I am still trying to get my Valentines ready, and I needed to work fast, if you know what I mean!!! So anyway, this card was made using Jen del Muro's sketch for you to try. I don't know where it went wrong, but it did!!! I am not going to even give details on it, cause I don't think you will want them, LOL!!! Let me know if you agree, that I should have quit while I was ahead!!

stamps-SU Happy Heart Day

paper-Perfect and Pale Plum, Whisper White

ink-black stazon

tools-su markers, icicle stickles, white brads, Heidi Swapp ghost flowers and white flowers, flower gem

I Just Love This Sketch!!

First of all, I have to say that I am so excited!! Melanie Muenchinger has picked one of my cards to be in her honorable mention gallery for her Just So Hippy contest. She picked the card that I made for last weeks weekend sketch challenge held on Beate's blog. I am so honored. The winner of the contest was my pal Linsey Rickett!! She made the sweetest lamp, using the set, for her new niece. Congrats to you Linsey!!!! All of the honorable mentions, and Linsey awesome project are featured over on Melanie's blog, you can find a link to it under my Blogs I Stalk heading.

On to my first card!! In my last post I said that I had 5 new cards to share. Here is the first one. My niece Madison, picked this as her favorite out of the 5. I love them all, but my favorite wasn't picked by any of my three nieces(goes to show you how everyone is different), go figure!!! This card is based on the sketch challenge that Beate hosted last week. It is very similar to it. It is also for Sharon's Stamp Simply Challenge, which was to do a bake off card. I don't really have any cake stamps, so I used this cupcake from one of the Studio G $1 stamp sets from Michael's. I stamped the cupcake in black stazon and colored the holder in Regal Rose and the stem in Gable Green. The cupcake has white liquid applique for the frosting and red for the cherry. My niece's really got a kick out of this, and I have had to demonstrate a few times how it gets puffy. I didn't want to show them too much for fear they might think they can use the heat gun. I think I need to put that up till they go home.....

Anyway, I did the same thing on the cupcake three times, and instead of circles, mounted them on squares of Regal Rose and Gable Green. I used some of my new dp picked up on my last trip to JoAnns. That is the wonderful thing about my Mom moving, I have to go through Evansville, IN to get there, and you just can't help but make a detour!!! The paper is part of the Baby Girl DCWV mat pack. I love this stuff!! It has glitter and cherries all over it, which I thought was very appropriate. It is matted with the Rose and Green and then I put a piece of Celery wide grosgrain around it and tied a pitiful bow. It is on a 9x4 card by the way(I guess that would help!!). The circle embellishments on the side are the 1/2 and 1/4 inch circle punches from SU. I put a big white brad through them and attached them with deminsionals. The sentiment is from Gina K's stamps for a cause set. It is so cute, and if you don't have it, you should, it's for a great cause(diabetes). I used Beate's sketch to put the whole thing together. It is not exactly like it, but close!!! Thanks for looking and have a great day!!

PS Four more to go!!!

stamps-Studio G and Gina K.

paper-Whisper White, Regal Rose, Gable Green and DCWV

ink-Stazon black

tools-SU markers, 1/2" 1/4" circle punches, Red and White liquid applique, white brads, and celery grosgrain

Holy Pajamas!!!!

I've been tagged again!!! I am so excited!! I got tagged by Linsey, you can view here fabulous blog Outside the Lines here. I am pretty new to blogging, so I am going to tag a couple of people that really inspire me, and are just all around sweeties!!
Laura Fredrickson-she is absolutely fabulous, check her out!!!
Melanie Muenchinger-what can I say, she just inspires me!!
Lesa Smaligo-she is such a sweetie, and so easily enabled!!LOL
Silke Ledlow-I don't really know her, but she leaves the most encouraging comments on my blog, and hers is fabulous
And Linsey and Carolina, if you weren't already tagged, this would come straight back at ya!!!
Thanks again Linsey, I am flattered!! Happy Sunday everyone, and keep checking back, I have 5 new cards to post, it's just a matter of getting time to post them!! My nieces are here, and they demand a lot of attention(their picture is in my side column, aren't they angels!!). We just spent 2hours in the play place at McD's!!! I stayed up til 2am working on them, because I knew I wouldn't get time to stamp with the girls here, but let me tell you, you can definitely tell the difference between the first one I did and the last one. I probably should have quit and went to bed. Off to take pictures, if I can!!LOL

Happy Saturday!!

Hello everyone!! Hope you are having a great weekend so far!! The sun is finally shining here, but it is very deceptive, because it is still rather cold. I have to go to a dinner this evening so I needed a thank you card. I decided that whatever the challenge was on SCS today, I was going to use it to make this card, even though I still need Valentine's cards!! Anyway, the inspiration challenge was a lovely bedding set. I tried to let the beautiful rich colors inspire me, but it didn't work. After an hour of looking at the bedding and trying to think of something, I finally noticed the pillow on the bed, so that is what I focused on. I started with a Handsome Hunter base, then Mellow Moss, and finally Whisper White. The Whisper White was run through my cuttlebug with the script folder. I then took my Mellow Moss pad and rubbed it over the top of the embossing. I then tied a piece of hunter organdy ribbon around and poorly attempted to tie a bow. Why is it that everyone elses always look so good, I always wonder if they have to struggle as much as I do?? I then took a piece of Mellow Moss and stamped the Queen's Anne Lace on it in Hunter and then a couple times in versamark. I embossed them in clear embossing powder. I then matted them with Whisper White and then the Hunter. I used the antique copper hodgepodge hardware from SU and the thank you sentiment from All Holidays. I punched it out with the small oval punch, and then punched the white and the hunter with the large oval punch. I then cut the white down to make it a mat for the Mellow Moss layer. Well that is all for now!! Thanks for looking and have a great day!!


stamps-Garden Silhouettes, All Holidays
paper- Handsome Hunter, Mellow Moss, Whisper White
ink- Handsome Hunter, Mellow Moss and Versamark
tools- Hodgepodge Hardware, clear ep, hunter organdy, lrg and small oval punches, and cuttlebug and script embossing folder