Some More Birthday RAK's

Here are some more of the fabulous RAK's that I received for my birthday!! This first one came from one of the Paper Pretties guest designers, Stephanie Hargis. Stephanie is one of the SWEETEST people I have ever met and super talented to boot!! Thanks Stephanie for the fabulous birthday wishes!!

My next card came to me from my friend, and fellow DD member, Carole Burrage(trucarma). This card is flippin FANTASTIC!! I have always admired her way with color, she puts together some of the brightest colors ever, and makes them look good...she even taught me to love Sage Shadow!! Anyway, LOVE that image, love the sentiment, LOVE the bling!! She sent it to me not only to congratulate me on getting chosen for the Dirty Dozen, but also for my birthday!! Thanks Carole, I love it!

My third card came to me from my fellow Prettie Girl, Jackie Pedro(strappystamper). Jackie is one of my FAVORITE stampers!! She has such great style(would you look at all those layers, how could I NOT love her) and is just all around a great person! She also sent me a bunch of my favorite goodies; bling, pearls, and yep, you guessed it, SPIRAL CLIPS, WAHOOOOOO!!! Thank you so much Jackie, I love it, and all the goodies you sent!!

My last card came to me from my friend Silke Ledlow(sparklegirl). Silke is INSANELY talented and does amazing things with white space. I seriously envy her ability to make such clean and GORGEOUS cards. When looking at the gallery at SCS, I can have a page of 96 cards in front of me and be able to pick hers out straight away. Her style is so distinctive and BRILLIANT!! Thank you so much for the wonderful card and birthday wishes!!!

Prettie Tuesday

So, today, on top of the normal color challenge, I decided to challenge myself to use a Paper Pretties set that has rarely seen ink...out came my Sweets for the Sweet set. For this card, I used the SCS color challenge, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip and Kiwi Kiss. I stamped my image on Whisper White with Black Stazon and used my reinkers, blender pens, SU markers, and a silver pen to color it in. The image was then cut out and layered using my nesties. I stamped the sentiment directly on the white layer and then ran it through the Cuttlebug. The DP is from the Bella Rose DSP and was layered with a piece of CC cardstock, on which I made scallops with my SU scallop punch. I added some pink gingham, chocolate grosgrain, and kiwi satin ribbon around the DP panel.

So, my computer was acting SILLY this morning, so I am just now getting this posted. So far, Jared is content in his jumperoo, but probably not for long...it's almost feeding time at the zoo!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!! I have a bunch of birthday RAK's to share soon!!!

My First DD/DDA Challenge!!

I am SO excited, today is my first time posting in the DD/DDA(Dirty Dozen/Dirty Dozen Alumni) challenge!! This months challenge is called Spook or Treat. The challenge was to make a card or treat holder with a Halloween theme. Also, you were to use googlie eyes on your project and the only restriction is that you were not allowed to use pumpkins. "This means no images with animals on pumpkins, holding pumpkins, thinking about pumpkins, growing pumpkins, going to their Mom's for pumpkins .... don't even think about it! No pumpkins!!"(that is a direct quote!!!) I decided, since it was also Celebrating My Favorite Things day(just thought I would let you know that if you do make a card for this, it is supposed to be Pink, Black and White to be entered for the prize...I always forget that part, LOL), that I was going to use my Monster Squad set. I paper pieced both the roof and the house with some Ghostly Greetings DSP from SU. I stamped the house again and cut out just the windows and the door and glued them on top. For the spaces between the railing and the scallop on the roof, I used my white gel pen. This sketch is also the MFT sketch from this past week( that I just now finally got time to do!!). I used my googlie eyes where I would have normally used brads and as the "O" in Trick OR Treat. Isn't it CUTE!!Well, that is it for me for now!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!! Check out the other girls creations right here!!

stamps-Monster Squad

ink- Black Stazon

paper- Old Olive, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White and GhostlyGreetings DSP

tools-white gel pen, googlie eyes, Cuttlebug, Circle Nesties, circle punches from SU, ribbon from SU and Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts

Wanna See My Cake?

Here is the diaper cake that I made for my stepmom to take to a shower as her gift!! I used a ton of Offray Baby Boy ribbon, SU buttons, silver brads, the blue DP's are from American Traditions Designs and the yellow DP is from the DCVW Baby Boy stack. The yellow ribbon is from Papertrey. The stars were made with my SU star punches. I used ribbon to tie the pacifiers around the bears legs. The ruffle at the bottom is quilt binding. The bear and pacifiers were purchased at Walmart. Isn't it CUTE!! My friend Susan gave me all the wonderful instructions to make these, so if you wanna make one of your own, here is the link to her tutorial!!

Featured Stamper Sunday

I have been playing in my craft room today, but not in the good way...yep, I have been cleaning. I still for the life of me can't figure out why I don't clean as I go...it would be so much easier, but I digress. I finally found the bottom, and after making a diaper cake for my step mom, Paula, to take to a shower, I got to work on my card for today's Featured Stamper challenge. Today's FS is Emily(Ink-E). I don't know that I had ever been to her fabulous gallery, but I am so happy I have now...she is super talented! I chose this card and got to work!! I wanted to use my SUPER CUTE new Snowmen For Peace set from Whipper Snapper. It was one of the new cling sets by Anna Wight released this month. I love it because you can stamp all of the pieces separate(scarf, hat, bird), which makes it so much easier to paper piece, plus it gives you a bunch more options for this cute little guy! The DSP on this card is from the SU mini catalog and is called Ski Slope; the ribbon is also featured in the mini catalog and is called Alpine. I colored what little bit of my snowman that I had to with my SU markers and added some white liquid applique to the bottom to make my snow. The ribbon on my spiral clip is from the SU big catalog(red taffeta and chocolate chip taffeta). Don't you just LOVE that sentiment?? It is so CUTE!!

Well, that is it for me now, I will post a picture of the cake I made soon!! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!!

Some Birthday Rak's

Here are some fabulous cards I recieved in the mail for my birthday!! The first one is from Vera Schoeters. Vera and I are on the Great Swaps Girls together. Thanks so much Vera! My next card came from Jessica Diedrich, our newest Prettie Girl. Isn't it AWESOME!! Look at all the bling!! Finally, this last card came from Denise Marzec(peanutbee). Her coloring on here is GORGEOUS!! She also sent this to me to congratulate me on my DH and I's 4th anniversary and my joining the Dirty Dozen. Thanks Denise, you rock!!

And the WINNERS are....

SO are you ready for the winners!!!

I used Random.org to pick my winners..the first number listed will get the GRAND prize then the next two will get my other two prizes!! SO here we go!!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

62
26
119
Timestamp: 2008-10-18 05:29:19 UTC

So, the first prize goes to

Debbie/Phx AZ

Jessie my dear, dear girl. I have never and I mean never dreaded a birthday. I believe every year should be a wonderful celebration of our birth. I turned 50 two years ago and literally celebrated the whole month. I have learned with age the wisdom to know that it is better to be grateful for what we have as opposed to looking at what we do not. May you have many more birthdays (dreaded or not) and may God bless you always.Debbie/Phx AZ

Second Prize goes to:

Nina said...
I turned 58 on Oct 9 and my dear sister (7 years younger) commented that I'm almost 60!! So I pouted for a few minutes then decided there's nothing I can do about it -- plus it's still 2 years away!! Actually I've never worried about any birthdays. I've enjoyed every different phase of my life so far and expect (and hope) to continue enjoying. Don't dread birthdays --just have fun and look forward to what each new year brings. I'm pretty new to stamping -- took me a long time to find this joy!! So you never know what's around the corner. Happy Birthday and have a piece of cake for me!!
October 12, 2008 10:28 PM

And last, but not least, third prize goes to:

Karen B said...
Well, I remember when I was 39 and I was dreading my 40th birthday. I just wasn't ready to call myself forty and I kept telling everyone I wouldn't be 40. Well, my friends had a party for me and when it came time to celebrate, the person who put on the party thought I was turning 41!! (not 40). All my cards said "Happy 41st Birthday!!". I didn't even have to get used to being 40-- I was already 41!! It was funny though.Enjoy your days. Karen
October 17, 2008 10:22 PM

Congrats Debbie, Nina and Karen!! Email me as soon as you can so that I can get your goodies out to you!! Thank you so much girls for your comments, and to all of you out there that commented too!! I really appreciate hearing that I was not alone!! I promise, no more worrying about the whole birthday thing...atleast until next year!!

I am going to post pictures of what they won here at the bottom of the post. Not pictured with the Grand Prize is a BUNCH of ribbon from American Crafts!!

Inspiration Challenge

I really should be in bed, but when I saw today's Inspiration Challenge, I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and who I needed to send it to. This card is going out to a friend of mine who recently lost someone very close to her. I really dislike having to make sympathy cards, but they are a part of life, so I am slowly adjusting. This set by There She Goes really helps to make it easy. It is full of beautiful images and peaceful sentiments. I used this pillow as my inspiration, but used Kiwi Kiss instead of olive. I would lie to you and tell you I like Kiwi better, but it was already out, so I used it. Since this card is pretty self explanatory, I will leave the major details out. Thanks for stopping by again, and I am getting ready to pick the winners of my candy and head to bed!! Have a great day!!

Finally, I STAMPED!!

So, I haven't had the energy to stamp this week....I think is was the thought of the impending birthday and the stress from the release that had me so tired. I am hoping to be back to normal soon!! I kind of had to force this card, so I don't know that it is my BEST work, but I still like it. I made it for Beate's Weekend Sketch challenge as well as the SCS limited supplies challenge. The LSC was to use eyelets and one ribbon, blue, only one DP, and no tools. I used my Urban Garden DSP and paired it with Not Quite Navy and Kiwi Kiss. The image, from the SU Upsy Daisy set, was stamped once with Not Quite Navy and then again to create a shadow(I didn't reink it between times so that it was lighter). I added some silver eyelets to the corners of the card base and main image. The sentiment is from the There She Goes set, Here For You. This card is going to be going to my friend Vicky who lost her husband suddenly earlier this week. If you would like to send her a card, email me and I will get you her address. The ribbon is the new satin Kiwi Kiss ribbon and it is so YUMMY!! Okay, that is it for me now, I am off to try to stamp more and to get photos of my CANDY!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great night!!

Look....

at what the Prettie Girls have done!! They are throwing a virtual birthday party in my honor...what a bunch of sweeties!! Be sure to go around and check out their creations, and if you haven't signed up for my blog candy, better get to it!!

Charmaine
Christie
Danielle
Jackie P
Jackie R
Jessica D
Jillian
Joni
Jules