Easter Inspriation

If you haven't already figured it out, I am kind of a night owl. I stay up until 2 or 3 pretty much every night. Usually if I am lucky, I get to see the next days challenge before I go to bed. I don't usually try to do it until the next morning, that way I have all night to think about what I want to do. So, I was stalking the challenge forum when Steph posted Saturday's Inspiration challenge. We had this picture from Country Living magazine to use as inspiration. I have my neice Madison's birthday tomorrow, so I figured I would go ahead and make my card tonight. I was so happy that the inspiration piece was springy enough that I could make another Easter card, surprise(not).

But first, a little story. Today I was supposed to have a package delivered from SU. I don't know about all of you, but on SU delivery day, I am a total UPS man stalker. I watch for him, every vehicle I hear, I have to look out the window, you know you all do it too!! Well, I waited and watched, and then he was here. He had braved my icy road, pulled in my icy driveway, and when he came out of his truck he had one small white box with him. I said thanks, he got in the truck and drove away. I was sure when he went back to the truck, he was going to come back with my order, but no, he drove away!!! So, I went to the computer, tracked the package and it said out for delivery. I figured, maybe he forgot to give it to me, he'll be back. So I waited, and waited, and waited, and finally I tracked the package again. It had a note on it that said"unable to deliver due to emergency situation beyond UPS's control" DO WHAT!! All I could think of was, you turd, you were just here!!!! Anyway, all wasn't lost, because in the white box, was my 3 new sets from Whipper Snapper!!! YAY!!!! I have never owned any Whipper Snapper stamps, but I kept seeing all these wonderful creations using Anna Wight's(sweetmissdaisy) set Posies For You. When it first came out, I wanted it, but I am ashamed to say, that I didn't want to pay the high shipping cost on it. I liked a lot of the other stamps they offered, but still haven't got to where I can spend 10 or 12dollars on one stamp. When I saw that she had two new sets out, I had to have all three of them!! So my card for the inspiration challenge was made using her set Spring Has Sprung. I stamped the basket and grass on whisper white, and colored them in with SU markers. I went over all of it with my aquapainter to soften it. Then I used my aquapainter and Soft Sky pad to do the sky. I punched the eggs on a seperate piece of paper, colored and cut them out, and then covered them with Crystal effects to make them shiny. The rest is pretty self explanatory. Sorry for such a long post!! Thanks for looking and have a awesome day!!!

stamps-Spring Has Sprung

paper-Soft Sky, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, and DCWV Baby Girl stack

ink-Black stazon and Soft Sky

tools-aquapainter, button brads, crystal effects, SU markers, soft sky ribbon, pretty in pink gingham, and celery grosgrain

RAK from Melanie Muenchinger!!! WHAT!!!!!!

Today I got my card from Melanie Muenchinger, and I swear to you, my hands were shaking when I saw her name as the return address!!! She is an amazing artist, and an incredibly sweet person. She had a contest last month for her new set, Just So Hippy, and although I didn't win(darn you and your super sweet lamp Linsey, LOL!!), I was chosen for her Hippy Mentions(honorable mention). As a prize, she sent us all a card made with her newest stamp set Just So Hoppy. Isn't mine cute!!! Thanks so much Melanie!!!

Peep Peep!!!

Shock and surprise that I would be posting yet another Easter card today!! Look people, these things are not going to get themselves done!!LOL I rarely ever do this, but this card actually fits the requirements for 4 challenges: the Limited Supplies challenge on SCS(although, all the layers might be stretching it a bit, but for me, it is definitely limited!!), Beates Weekend sketch challenge, Sharon's stamp simply flourish challenge, and Melanie's Just So Hoppy challenge. I usually like to make a seperate card for each challenge, but I loved the sketch, I had already planned on using this yummy paper today, and how can you not love that chick???? The only thing I had not planned to do was to use my own handwriting on it, in fact, I had always planned to never use my handwriting on anything!! It is something I have struggled(well, sort of) with my whole life. I hate my handwriting so much, that I refuse to do journaling on SB pages or anything. I have always been jealous of other people's handwriting. My mom and my dad both have beautiful handwriting, so do my sisters, but I have always hated mine. I tend to try to write to fast so it looks hurried, but then if I slow down, it looks worse. I can't tell you how many different times I have written out my name, trying to find a J I like, and don't get me started on L or K(maiden name). Anyone who has recieved a card from me could probably tell you I am right, but they are all too sweet!! Well anyway, the LSC was to use your own handwriting on your card, and since you know I can't skip a challenge, I made it as small as possible!!! So hence the title, Peep Peep. You would laugh if you saw how many times I wrote those two little words over and over and over, and finallly settled on this!! I once heard a line in a movie, "the handwriting of a serial killer", and I think that is so approriate for me!!
Anyway, I started with a Barely Banana base in standard A2 size. I layered Whisper White on that. The DP panel is some of the yummy paper from the Basic Gray Two Scoops line that I got from Embellish It Scrapbooking layered on Mellow Moss. I tied a cream wide organdy bow around it and then added some pale yellow grosgrain. The main image is that super cute chick from Melanie Muenchinger's super cute Just So Hoppy set. I colored it in with SU markers, and aquapainted the grass and sky. I handwrote(blech!!!) the sentiment. I thought my little chickie needed some pizazz so I covered it with my sakura stardust glitter pen. You know how I feel about blank white space, so I put 3 banana brads in the top corner. Pretty simple today, so thanks for looking!!! Hope you have a happy, safe and warm day!!!

stamps-Just So Hoppy
paper-Mellow Moss, Barely Banana, Whisper White, Two Scoops Basic Gray
ink-Black Stazon and Bashful Blue
tools-soft subtle brads, cream organdy, yellow grosgrain, sakura stardust glitter pen, aquapainter, SU markers

Easter Window

Hello Everyone, hope you are having a lovely day!!! It is freezing rain here, and I haven't went outside, but the roads look mighty slick!! Travis is in Florida right now, and says it is lovely there. He doesn't realize how close he is to a not so warm welcome home, if you know what I mean!!!! Last night he called from Outback steakhouse to tell me what he was having for supper. Since I just finished eating leftovers, I wasn't all that impressed. Gotta love him though!!! It does remind me of when we first started dating. He would call me a few times a day just to say hi. After the normal pleasantries, weather, how are you, what have you been doing, you know the normal stuff, he would always ask, what have you had good to eat today??? Back then, in my quest to be thin, I didn't eat a whole lot. So, I never really had any good answers for him. After awhile, I got really discouraged because we never really had anything to talk about on the phone. In person, we were fine, but on the phone was horrible. Well, luckily for us, we saw past our phone issues and stayed together. We had been dating a year when I went to his first family function, I think it was Christmas. His family is a fun bunch of people, who really like to pick on each other. Well, since I was the first girlfriend Travis had ever really brought around, they gave him all sorts of crap. One of the things that they teased him about is how he would call them all during the day to ask what they had had to eat!!!! He replied, well, I gotta know if you've had something good, so I know if I wanna come over and eat!!!! LOL I was so relieved to hear that it wasn't just me, I mean seriously, I really didn't think he liked me, but really he was just looking for lunch!!LOL

Anyway, onto my card. This is my entry for the Ways to Use It challenge over on SCS. In my quest to get my Easter cards done, I had to figure out a way to make it work. I got this super cute image from Rubbernecker a few weeks ago as my treasure hunt prize. I had planned on buying it, so I was happy to get it for free!! I stamped it on Whisper White with Black Stazon and colored it in with my SU markers. I used my scalloped nestibilities to cut my circles out of Creamy Carmel, Lavender Lace and Appricot Appeal. I also used a piece of Apricot Appeal dsp on the top layer. I layered this all together, and mounted it on a 5 1/4square card of Mellow Moss. I really wanted to use ribbon on this, so I put a white wide organdy bow at the top. As you can see, I used one of my layered tags again, I just love them!! I made a little error in the top corner, so I fixed it by placing brads over it and in the opposite bottom corner.

Well, that is all for me for now. Have a great day, and Happy Stamping!!
stamps-Basket of Chicks, All Holidays

paper-Mellow Moss, Lavender Lace, Apricot Appeal, Whisper White, Prints Pack DSP

ink-Black Stazon and Lavender Lace

tools-nestibilities, silver brads, wide white organdy, circle punches, key tag punches, SU markers

Wednesday's Sketch

Since the first one didn't work out(see last post), I had to do something for today's sketch over on SCS. Our hostess is Roxie, and she is fabulous!! She comes up with(or finds) the most amazing sketches, and always has brilliant samples!!! She is also so sweet about commenting. Speaking of commenting, I wish I could get paid for it. Somedays I leave well over 200 comments, for a girl on dial up, that is a ton!!!
I just got my new Gina K. stamps in the mail today, so I was eager to get them inky!!! This set is Just So Hoppy designed by the fabulous Melanie Muenchinger. She is also the designer of my favorite set for Valentine's day, Just So Hippy. Both of these sets work so well together, and I am thrilled to have them. Back to the card. I started with a 51/4square Whisper White card. I stamped my sentiment from Just So Hoppy on it in Black stazon. The next layer is Mellow Moss, Bashful Blue and Bashful Blue DSP from the Prints Pack. The next section is Whisper White, Mellow Moss, Pretty in Pink and PinP DSP from the Prints Pack. I just had to put some white brads through the ends of it, they just go so well . I stamped my bunny on Whisper White and matted it with PinP, BB, MM. The scene was created with my SU markers/pads and aquapainters. The grass was with the Mellow Moss marker and highlighted with Always Artichoke. The sky was done by squeezing some ink onto my BB pad and using my aquapainter. I left the Bunny mostly white, but used a Creamy Carmel marker to highlight it. The flower, which is a seperate stamp, ears, and cheeks are in Pretty in Pink. For those of you out there that have this set, the flower is just the top part, the stem, I drew in my self with the Basic Black marker and color it in with Mellow Moss. Trust me, if I can do it, anyone can!!! I did go around the bunny and flower with my cool grey Prismacolor marker, just to give it some depth. Once this was all done, I thought it was a little bare, so I attached a silver spiral clip and tied some of the moss, blue and pink gingham on it. I forgot to say that I sponged the top of the card down to a "grass line" with Bashful Blue, and then the bottom with Mellow Moss.Thanks for looking and have a great day. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

stamps-Just So Hoppy
paper- Mellow Moss, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, and prints pack dsp
ink-Bashful Blue, Black Stazon, mellow Moss
tools-pink, moss and blue gingham, white brads, spiral clip, aquapainter, su markers

This Is Why I Don't Stamp This Late!!

I started this card with today's sketch challenge in mind. I saw the sketch, and knew exactly what I wanted to do. Well, to make a long story short, it was way to big for the sketch. You will learn, in time, that I have absolutely no perception of size, time or distance. I was one of the smart kids in school, everything came easy and I never had to study. I am what you would call book smart. I don't think that anyone, ecspecially anyone who has asked me for directions would call me street smart!!! I can't judge distance, I am famous for saying I am so many minutes away and being way off(and it's places I go all the time, I should know this stuff!!), or for thinking something will fit, when it is either to big or to small. Oh well, I guess you can't have everything!! So anyway, I stamped this wonderful Brushed Lily from Rubbernecker(one of my treasure hunt goodies) on watercolor paper with Black Stazon. I used my Pretty in Pink marker to color the flowers in and used my aquapainter to lift some of the color off. On the stems, I used Mellow Moss and went over it with my aquapainter. After coloring it I matted it with Pretty in Pink, Mellow Moss, and Chocolate Chip. It was way to bright for me, so I sponged the edges with Chocolate Chip ink. After getting it all matted, I knew it was going to be too big for the sketch, but I loved the image. I had used this Mellow Mossy grid paper on a card on Sunday, and I loved it, so I decided to use it again. It is matted on Very Vanilla, Mellow Moss, and Chocolate Chip. The card is 5 1/4square, by the way. I used my very neglected(it's not neglected, I am totally hoarding it!!!) Chocolate Satin ribbon and tried really hard to tie a pretty bow. If you only knew how long it took to get it to where it is, you would think it was the best bow ever!!LOL The sentiment is from the All Holidays set. It is stamped in Black Stazon on Very Vanilla then matted with PinP, MM and CC. I sponged the edges on it to soften it up too. That is all for now!!! Thanks for looking and have a great day!!
stamps-Rubbernecker brushed lily, All Holidays
paper-Mellow Moss, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Very Vanilla, Spring Flowers, Watercolor Paper
ink-Black Stazon, Chocolate Chip
tools-su markers, chocolate satin ribbon, aquapainter

Tuesday's Color Challenge

Today is color challenge day over on SCS, and boy is it a good one. I actually love it, and it's made up of three of my FAVORITE colors. I will admit, I love Orchid Opulence, although, I never use it. I don't know why though, it is so pretty!! The color combo is Certainly Celery, Orchid Opulence and Pumpkin Pie. I knew what I wanted to do as soon as I saw the combo, but you know how it goes, you start one place and finish another. Case in point, I started this card using Julee Tilman's mojo monday sketch for this week. And this card is where I ended up. I let my main image, which is from the My Favorite Things set Eggstra Special, get a little too big, so I had to modify it, but I love this card. It is so sparkly and happy!! I started this card with a Certainly Celery base and matted it with Whisper White. The strip across the middle is 2in at the widest layer and goes down from there. I started with Pumpkin Pie, then Orchid Opulence, and then I used some Certainly Celery DSP. I added two white brads to each end and then tied some orchid grosgrain around each end and tied them in a square knot. The main image is matted with all the challenge colors and colored in with SU markers. I used my aquapainter and Bashful Blue pad to create the sky and Artichoke marker to accent the Certainly Celery grass. I stamped the main image in Black Stazon as well as the sentiment. I am really into these layered tags right now, if you can't tell. It was created using SU punches-1 3/8,1 1/4,scallop and key tag. The edges were sponged with Orchid ink. Once I was done, I thought it needed something, so I tried to use my different color stickles, but I tried the orange peel first, and it wouldn't come out of the bottle(so frustrating), so I covered the whole thing with Icicle stickles!!Thanks for looking, and I hope you have a great day!!

stamps-Eggstra Special

paper-Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Orchid Opulence, Whisper White and Certainly Celery

ink-Black stazon, Bashful Blue and Orchid Opulence

tools-SU markers, aquapainter, white brads, orchid grosgrain, icicle stickles

My Favorite Sketch!!

Wow, I can't believe I totally forgot about this challenge. Every week, Cindy Haffner(isn't she amazing) hosts a sketch challenge in the My Favorite Things member forum on SCS. I started participating in the sketch challenge, because I felt like I wasn't using my MFT sets enough. I got so busy with life, and my mom, and being sick, that I totally forgot about it!! So this card is for that challenge. I will be working on lots of Easter cards for awhile, so bear with me. I will try to throw something else in there every once in a while, but for now, it'll be Easter!!

Anyway, I used the new set Eggstra Special on my card today. Isn't that bunny cute!!! I love his big old ears!! I started with a standard A2 card in Certainly Celery then layered it with Lavender Lace, and then Whisper White. I did a half strip of CC DSP and wrapped a piece of white grosgrain around it. The main image was stamped with Black stazon on Whisper White. The sky was done using my aquapainter and Bashful Blue ink pad and the grass was with my Certainly Celery marker. The accent on the grass were made with the writing end of my Always Artichoke marker. I used my Pretty in Pink marker to color in the ears and the cheeks. I think the rest is pretty self explanatory. Thanks for looking and have a great day!!

stamps-Eggstra Special

paper-Whisper Whtie, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Lavender Lace, and Certainly Celery DSP

ink-Black Stazon and Bashful Blue

tools-white grosgrain, SU markers, circle punches, aquapainter

Easter Is Coming!!

I can't believe how early Easter is this year. Maybe it's not early, I just think it is!! I need to get out my easter decorations while I am thinking about it. I know, crazy right, but I decorate my house for spring, fall and winter. The rest of the time it is just really boring around here. I don't have alot of spring stuff, but the amount of Fall/Winter stuff is ridiculous. I will have to post photos when I do it this year.
So anyway, I need to get a jump start on my Easter cards, so pretty much every challenge will be devoted to Easter cards. I sent out 35 Valentines, so I figure I will need atleast that many Easter cards. I made this card using Jen del Muro's Sketch For You To Try. I started with a standard sized card base in Whisper White. I then stamped the Chicken Wire background stamp from Rubbernecker on Certainly Celery. Lavender Lace and Apricot Appeal are the other two colors on here. The strip down from the main image is from the Prints Pack Level 1 hostess gift(my favorite by the way!!). I stamped my chick from Rubbernecker on Whisper White in black Stazon. I watercolored the sky in Bashful Blue, and the grass was drawn in with my Certainly Celery marker. I highlighted it with the writing end of my Always Artichoke marker. The chick was colored in with Barely Banana an highlighted with Apricot Appeal. Aren't her rosy little cheeks so cute!! I used my circle nestabilities to cut out the chick and the layers. The sentiment panel was done using various SU punches, and the sentiment is from the MFT set Eggstra Special. I sponged the edges of the key tag punch with Bashful Blue.


stamps-chick&chickenwire from Rubbernecker
paper-Certainly Celery, Lavender Lace, Apricot Appeal, Whisper White and Prints Pack DSP
ink-black Stazon, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue
tool-key tag punch, circle punches, aquapainter, SU markers, ribbon

WOOHOO!!! Go Betty, Go Betty!!(I got tagged again too!!)

Today's featured stamper over on SCS is Betty, aka gbedwright. If you haven't been to her gallery, go now, you WILL NOT be disapointed. If you aren't familiar with the featured stamper challenge, it is where our host(Beth Siliaka) picks a stamper every Sunday, and you go through their gallery and CASE(copy and steal everything) one or more of their cards. The rules do require you to make atleast two changes, and to give proper credit to the original artist. If this sounds like something you would be into, check out the challenge here. It is a great way to see galleries you may have never found on your own. I think it is a huge honor, and Betty totally deserved it. I picked Betty's Thank You card here. Since it is required by the challenge, I changed, the colors, the images, the ribbon, used dp instead of making my own background, and I left off the flowers in the top corner. I just couldn't get them to look right. I started with a 5 1/4 square base of Mellow Moss, then Lavender Lace, Whisper White, and then a piece of the retired Spring Flowers DSP. The layers were 5in to 4 3/4 to 4 1/2 for the DSP. I then stamped my truck, driver, and eggs(don't you just love this set, it is so versatile) on whisper white with Black Stazon. I colored it in with my SU markers and used my Zig painty for the hubcaps and bumpers. The shading is done with a cool grey prismacolor marker. I cut it out using my circle nestabilities. The sentiment is from the Loads of Love accessories set, a genius set also, and was also stamped using Stazon black on whisper white. I used the 1 1/4, 1 3/8 and scallop punch for it. The ribbon is more of the yummy ribbon I got from Embellish It. My circle ended up way to big, but I love the end result. I tied the ribbon aroung in a square knot and then used the ends to tie more scraps of the ribbon, so their would be lots of tails sticking out.
Can you believe Easter will be here so soon. I figure I am going to have to make atleast one card a day, somedays two, to have enough by then. I am still trying to figure out how I am going to get my St. Patrick's day ones done too. I sent out 35 valentines, and I am certain, I will need more than that for Easter, as I make new friends. Speaking of new friends, I got tagged again with the E for Excellence tag!!! You guys really know how to make a girl feel good!! This time I was tagged by Jenn D, you can check out her blog here. Thanks so much!! Have a great day everyone!!!

stamps-Loads of Love and accessories

paper-Whisper White, Mellow Moss, Lavender Lace, Spring Flowers DSP

ink-Black stazon

tools-Circle nesties, cuttlebug, sheer ribbon, circle punches, SU markers, prismacolor marker, and Zig painty