No crafty thing to post (though i did get to craft a card today (and some more candles for the craft fair tomorrow at church) but i just thought it's be fun to post a couple of photos of the boys in the halloween get ups! :)
(this was at our playgroup's halloween party this morning)
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
No, i'm not THAT kind of hung over! It's HangOver Friday in the Unity forum. For those who havent discovered how fun the unity stamps are might be thinking... geez... can't this girl get enough? Well, no, i can't. haha. Actually, Hangover Friday started a couple of hip hops back. We all had so much fun chit chatting and game playing and if we could squeeze it in, making a card or 2, that it was darned near next to impossible to see everyone's cards! So thats what Hip Hop Friday is all about. A day to post what you did make during the hip hop. So in the morning, everyone can get their coffee and go hip hopping thru blogs (which are all posted on the Unity blog... so check that out today too.
Sadly, i only got 1 of the unity challenge's done yesterday. Well, technically i got 2 done, but i already posted one of them. :) But we had a halloween party in the am, and i was pooped most of the day. haha. (and i had to get my verve card done, which i posted yesterday). But i do have some unity goodness for you. :)
First, here is my Let them eat cake card. It was a pretty easy peasy card that doesnt take much explaining. So i'll let it explain itself!
The stamp is from Unity's Sentiments O Simple kit. Lots of fun stuff in that one! I made this card for the challenge to use something sweet. This sentiment about cake was all i had! But i hadnt even inked it up yet so it was due! The paper is by SEI and that big ol' flower is a vinyl decal by SU. :) It looks black as does the mat behind my sentiment but it's just the lighting. It's actually a dark chocolate brown color.
Ok, thats all for now. I'm hoping to post a pumpkin project i did a bit back a little later today in honor of halloween but we've got a halloween party this AM and i have to get out snack ready for that and then we'll just see how the rest of the day goes! Thanks for stopping by!
I finally completed this card! I made my sentiment piece days ago but i figured i better get into action to get the rest of the card done so i could finish this challenge on time!!! The rest of the card came together easily... it's just been 1 crazy week!
Ok - so hop on over to OCC (our creative corner). You can see all of the entries for this challenge there. but Julee from Verve Visuals is hosting this week at OCC and her challenge was to use something called "Vintage Values". Thats when you use ink to shade in the edges. She does a superb job of explaining the process on her blog... so i'm just gonna suggest you hop there next. Here's a link to that entry. But let me just say that her card is AUH-Mazing! Really. I was blown away.
Ok, here's my card...
First, i do love how my sentiment piece turned out! I stamped out my sentiment from Verve's Beautiful You set using Juniper ink from CTMH. Then using versamark, i stamped the flower from the same Verve set. Using shimmering chalks (by pebbles ink), I added color to the flower focusing on the petals away from the sentiment. I did still chalk the petals under the sentiment, just not with as much color. Then i used the vintage value technique all the way around using Juniper Ink and Twilight Ink (both close to my heart). The rest of the card i think is pretty self explanatory!!!! My other cardstock choices were sweet leaf and colonial white both by CTMH. :)
Hello! It's thursday again, and you know what that means!!! HIP HOP! If you're new to my blog and dont know what hip hop is... you can check out all the deets here on Unity's forum.
For my first post today (with any luck, yes there will be more!), i'm posting my card from Unity's Wednesday Challenge. Cyndi chose our challenge this month. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month she picked a "HOPE" challenge.
So we had to think PINK and use these HOPE elements on our creation:
H…Use a sentiment having to do with Hope
O…Put some ribbon on your card - Think Pink
P…Use something Pink!!
E…Embellish with something that starts with an "m" for Mammogram
Here's my card... I took the breast cancer awareness theme a bit literally!
I was please with how it turned out. I really wanted to do some stitching, but when i started using my machine, it completely blitzed out! No joke. The thread is so tangled inside around the bobbin cartridge that i fear it's just unusable! I really hope my mom does come in november now so she can take a peekie and maybe help me fix it (no mom, that's not the only reason i want you to come!!!). But even without the stiching around each layer, i think it's a pretty card. I couldnt get a good picture to save my life though! I tried 3 different rooms in my house and outside! No matter what i did i could capture the pretty but small details of the card. So sad am I. Anyhoo - I used Unity's WISH STICKS and stamped them with versamark ink. Then i colored over them with chalk. By the way, this is one of my fav techniques! The outcome is always so soft and pretty. It created a great background image or focal image! Maybe i just like it because my big tray of chalks looks like a huge eyeshadow palette! Today (and usually) i used shimmery chalks by Pebbles Inc. I actually used 2 colors of pink, though thats hard to see. I just used a dab of a darker pink in the center of each wish stick to give a little more dimension. You also cant see the shimmer in the picture. Then i covered the ends of each fluff with glue using Creative Memories Precision Point Adhesive (any glue pen would work) and applied PINK fun flock! Oh it just turned out so fun. I'm not sure if you can see the "fluff" in the picture, but in person you just have to touch it! :)
For something with the letter M the only thing i could come up with was metal or making memories. And then i though, AHA, i have metal embellishments BY Making Memories! So i looked thru the stash and low and behold... i had a metal ribbon slider with the word HOPE on it. Perfect! This challenge was just made for my unused stash! Originally i had stamped a sentiment that was pretty but not as "hope" related as i wanted it to be. I was just using the wishsticks for my "hope" inspiration. The sentiment i had punched out in a oval shape was was going to lay across the pink awareness ribbon. it was pretty too, but not as perfect as this. :)
I think the rest of the card explains itself. But here are color and paper deets:
Cardstock: Base is Regal Rose by SU, mat is Blush by CTMH, White is White Daisy by CTMH
Ribbon is Regal Rose by SU
Thanks for stopping by! Jack has his Halloween party today at school that Gabe and I are going to go to. But after thats over, i'm really hoppinh to hip hop and with any other luck, do the other challenges for Hip Hop. But seeing that Jack will be hopped up on sugar from the party, i'll be lucky to get to chat online. That is until his sugar crash that is bound to happen later in the day. :) HIP HOP!
Man - i cant seem to catch a break from this weekend til now! The baby developed thrush which has made him fussy, and when the baby is fussy and i'm holding him more jack gets clingy. All the while my hubby has been very busy working, and quite frankly, a little cranky the past 2 days which means he goes to retreat mode in his office when his day is done (not that i can blame him, i like to retreat to my craft room too!) but i just havent been able to stamp a thing! I really want to redo my craft room, but i have so many projects i want to work on too. ACK! Jack is in school right now, but i really need to do some grocery shopping before i pick him up. With any luck the boys will let me craft the afternoon. I'll give jack paint if i have to! :)
Ok, now on to my posting for today...
first i'll let ya know about a little blog candy because everyone likes blog candy and bonus - it's a 10.00 gift certificate to my friends store, a page at a time. But she's doing this candy in a super fun way. You go to THIS POST and leave a comment saying that I (katie cotton or paper makeup) sent you. You can then turn around and post it on your blog and tell your friends to tell her that you sent them. :) How fun, huh? For every person that you send, you get another entry into the pot. The winner is still pulled randomly so it isnt whoever has the most wins, but the more you have, the more likely you are to get pulled. I think it's a super fun idea! So go check it out! HERE
Ok, here's my creation that i actually made on thursday or friday?? Heck, i dont even know any more! haha. It's a gift box/bag. I have filled it up with hersey kisses. :)
This stamp is from the Whiff of Joy stamp collection. She's one of the guardian angel stamps called Melinda Blowing Kisses. I just love these designs by Elisabeth Bell. They are so beautiful! And the box template i got from the owner of Whiff of Joy, the fabulous Katharina Frei! You can see the tutorial yourself here. And all i can say is i want a scorpal! I'm either really dumb when it comes to scoring, or i just cant convert centimeters to anything my brain understands. But i managed to adjust a few things and get this box to work for me. Haha. I think it might be a little bit skinnier than her box.
The image is colored with Copic markers (my fav way to color) and then i've added my highlights with a signio white gel pen. I've also done a little extra love with a spica pen for some pizazz. But that doesnt usually show up in my photos. But it's a really pretty effect in person! :)
Here are some other deets of the card...
Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate by SU, purple pizzazzill (textured patterned cardstock) by bazzill, bubble blue by bazzill, Sweet Blush by PaperTrey Ink
Stamps: Melinda Blowing Kisses by Whiff of Joy, Sentiment is from Mixed Messages by PaperTrey Ink
Ribbon: Chocolate twill and Sweet Blush swiss dot satin ribbon both by PaperTrey Ink
Other tools: Dotted Scallop border punch by martha stewart, word window punch by SU
Thanks for stopping by today!
Wow, what a day i've had today!!! I woke up and actually thought "you know, i'm NOT going to stamp today!". And i thought i'd dedicate my extra time today to cleaning my craft room. It needs another overhaul. Especially after having so much company after the baby was born (not that i didnt LOVE having them here!) But it's just time to go thru, reorganize, purge, yada yada. Well... that didnt happen today because my day went to you know where in a hand basket! (where the heck did that phrase come from anyway?). I wont even bore you with all the details but it was just ONE OF THOSE DAYS!! I had a bridal trial this afternoon that took me by surprise. I didnt know she was still coming because she only asked if i was free and i said i should be. Usually i hear back from the bride again before she actually comes over. I was please with the outcome of her hairstyle but it was one of the most intricate designs a bride has ever come to me with and her hair was super long and thick! So it took an hour and 30 minutes just to figure out how to get it all up! (and after 6 bridesmaids yesterday with super long thick hair... i'm a little hair-styled out right now!) Today it didnt help any that Jack was being wild and go figure, Gabe is having a ROUGH day and has been fussy and really hungry wanting to eat every hour and a half. *sigh* Other things were crazy too. I wont get into it.
But i'm still going to post something i worked on earlier this week at the Unity Hip Hop. 
I'm still thinking something is missing. I just cant figure it out. I used my NEW So & So Loves stamp from Unity. I won this stamp along with Two People Fell in Love from the Stamp Challenges blog! If you havent checked out this blog before, you really should! There are some fantastic ideas to be had!
For the card i embossed my cardstock front with the argyle embossing folder by cuddlebug. I distressed all my edges with my tim holtz edge distresser. I stamped my image onto colonial white cardstock with rich cocoa memento ink and then colored it with twinkling h20's. I still need to practice with them. But i'm was mildly pleased with the coloring. My sentiment is from the Simply Said kit from Unity. You gotta love UNITY! (everytime i type unity, especially in caps i cant help but sing the old school Queen Latifah song!).
Ok, thats all for today, simple and sweet. :) With any luck jack will go to bed early (no nap again today) and i will forgo my "i need to clean my room before i craft again" and i will be easing my pain with some craft time. That or i'll go to sleep. hahahaha.
Today I made a tag using Baking Tilda from Magnolia Stamps. And just so you know... Magnolialicious is having a 30% off the newer fall/halloween images. I'm sitting here looking at the screen, hopping back and forth from this post to the store page trying to talk myself out of buying. I'm not supposed to be spending! I think i'm gonna lose.
Anyhoo - now that i've become a stamping fanatic and am slightly addicted to my blog hopping, i see entirely too many cute ideas for gift giving. And because of such, it's impossible to simply give someone a kind gesture anymore. Like, baking someone cookies. SOMETHING would need to accompany those cookies! But this time instead of making a card, i decided to make a tag! I would be terrific to to just tie to the basket or in this case since i didnt have a basket handy, i wrapped the cookies in a simple piece of flannel fabric i had left over from a baby blanket i made a friend nearly 2 years ago! (i'm almost as bad saving scraps of fabric as i am paper and cardstock!). Put your cookies in a plastic baggie first, but then wrap the fabric up and around and it's super cute, without anyone feeling like they need to return your tupperware (or basket).
The Deets
Stamps: Baking Tilda (Magnolia Stamps), Wild Daisy (Heidi Grace), Monogram Stamp (Justright Stamps)
Paper: Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi (SU!)
Ink: Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi (SU!), White Daisy (CTMH)
Thanks for stopping in today!
Phew - i'm am racing a deadline today! I forgot about a challenge i wanted to enter and as i read Verve Visual's blog today i realized i had a half hour! YIPES! So this card took me 25 minutes in entirety but rather than blog about it and be late... i'm posting... and i'll edit it in a moment to add the drama that ensued to make this card! haha. I might even replace the pictures with better ones!
But without further ado... here is my card for THIS challenge!
Using Verve Visuals Starlight Starbright set!
OK! Here is were i'm editing... or rather just adding on to my previous post!
So i'm catching up on some blog hopping, reading my dailies and what not. And i come to the time to read Verve Visuals blog. The card for today is super cute. You should check it out. http://vervevisual.blogspot.com/
Anyhoo - on that post it takes about October's Project Parade and her love of embossing. I think to myself "oh yeah, i want to do that challenge!" It sounded fun plus 1 lucky random winner gets 15 verve bucks! And i'm really wanting the Fairy Tales set. which thru the end of Octber is on sale for 10% off as are ALL their sets in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. They are also donating to the Susan G Komen organization for each stamp set sold! Ok, that was a shameless plug for them. Onto my cardmaking....
Then as i was reading the blog i read that enteries had to be in by noon today! (which ironically this the time RIGHT NOW as i type this). Holy CRUD! I look at the clock... it was 11:25. I could still DO THIS! i thought to myself. Well, it's amazing i did! THis is how it started.
I race upstairs and think, i have no idea what i'm going to do! Let's start with my verve stamp sets and pick a THEME! So i decided to go with my recently unloved Starlight Starbright set. It's so cute with all of it's sentiments! They are slightly smaller than i thought they'd be given some other sets i have, but it turns out they are Perfect when you just want to add that perfect little ditty to a card! I LUB them.
So i'm going with STARS! What can i do embossing that would go? Could always just pull of the tried and true fav swiss dots cuddlebug folder. It always makes cards look good. but not good enough (why was i worried about how good it would look? I was under a time crunch! but i needed to do Verve JUSTICE!! So i pull out ALL my cuddlebug embossing folders. The stack is about 6 or 7 inches high. HOW TO CHOOSE!! As i browsed i found a star image on one of the halloween folders. Whoda thunk? So i pull that one out. Then i keep browsing and decided to go with one of the winter folders with snowflakes because some of them look like stars. haha. It'll work.
Now i'm usually really good at pouring thru scraps to use every bit. There was NO time for this! I go straight to the new paper section of my craft room and pull some full sheet of blues. And start hacking away at them. At this point my 2 year old has come in and is saying "momma i have some candy now... PUHWEEEEEASE! I ate cereal!" (earlier i told him he could not have cnady he hadnt even had breakfast". So i decide maybe a piece of candy would not be so bad if it gave me time to finish this card. But he just HAD to come wiht me to chose and as i try to race down the stairs he shouts that i need to hold his hand so we dont fall down! Of all the times of my child to listen to RULES!
Ok, so candy is picked and i've come back upstairs. I emboss my images and punch out my stars using my creative memories circle punch. I start to distress all my edges with my TIm Holtz edge distresser left out on my table form crafting yesterday. I love that thing but i also love inspiration that comes from whatever is closest! I scour my chalk ink bin for the azurite blue. WHy can you never find the right color when you need it but it's always on top when you dont?! FOUND IT. Then i'm off to ink up all my edges when in comes the two year old who has stolen my chair! ugh. So i'm standing hunched over my table with my 2 year old blocking my light and asking what i am doing every step of the way and requesting to help. ARGH! i give him some paper and ask him to help at HIS table.
Got my chair back. So i inky up my embossed stars by placing them on my Close To My Heart white pigment ink pad and GENTLY running my finger on the back to just get a little ink. Then i start adhering all my layers. Please keep in mind i have NO layout plan. But i stick them on my card.
Next i take a sentiment that i dont think i had ever used yet from the set (for shame) and stamp it in Bordering Blue Ink from Stampin Up (my cardstock is all those shades of blue from Rich Regals too by the way). And i cut out some more circles using my creative memories custom cutting system with the circle dies.
Something else is still needed... ribbon maybe? I grab my uber cute tin that my good friend Adele made me with samples of ribbons inside. And i chose a pretty organdy ribbon and attached it askew to my card i have no idea why. It's funny the way your brain works when you're no longer even thinking! I only had about 15 minutes left! No the 2 year old is begging for some milk. Pink milk to be exact which i hadnt allowed him to have yet today either (pink milk is strawberry milk as opposed to chocolate milk). I know he isnt going to stop asking until i get it, so we have another race down the stars and a set up on the couch) then i run back upstairs as my time fleets away! I know something else is still missing when i suddenly remember these fabulous snowflake rhinestones i picked up at Michael's a bit back. On the card they go with no rhyme or reason to where.
I snap some pictures of my card, and then baby starts WAILING. I had ignored his mumblings as he started to wake up. Now he was up, hungry and PISSED that i hadnt come to get him yet. So back downstairs i go and bring him upstairs but not before i plug my camera into my computer which automatically uploads any new photos to my computer.
So then i sit back down at my craft table with a pillow and nursing baby on my lap. I'm pretty good at one handed typing i discover. I upload the pictures then to photobucket because i dont dare wait and see how long blogspot takes to upload them. I type up my super quick entry before adding all this mumbo jumbo that you probably dont care about and all of about 3 or 4 people have continued to read (my mom, beth, maybe Rachel and Christi? Ok, maybe adele and jenn too?). And POST! I made it time. But you should see my craft area. It's a DISASTER! my child has gotten out everything under the sun in my room. The baby is still nursing. And then i decide to go ahead and type all the extra bits of crazy that was the past hour. The even funnier thing to me? Is it took LONGER to type all this out than it did to make my card! CRAZY!
Today is my mom's birthday! I gave her a gift when she was here helping me with the baby, but i still wanted to do something special for her today. I know she checks my blog so i thought i'd make a special post for her!
I used this sketch by amber. I completely forgot to add my flourish or flower to the corner of my card. DOH! I suppose it would have taken away from my cupcake (from Unity's Cupcake A La Yummy set) And also my sentiment is from Simply Said
My color scheme is COMPLETELY off my norm. I'm not usually such a bright and lively kinda gal when it comes to my card making. At least not if it means "girly" colors. But it's a birthday card! I wanted it to be FUN!
Well, i'm off to finish my UNITY Blog Hop. You really should check out the design teams creations. They are stunning!
Start here and follow each person's next hop to gal. AND somewhere hidden in all those grogeous creations is some blog candy! Can you find it????
Off to the Hip HOP!
I was going to wait and post my Unity wednesday challenge card tomorrow morning for the HIP HOP. But my inspiration for the card stems from today... not tomorrow. So i'm changing my mind no matter how tired i am!
1 year ago today, my grandpa passed away. He was the coolest old cowboy there ever was. Never without his cowboy hat, boots, belt buckle and cowboy shirt complete with your pearl like covered buttons. I'm so very very thankful that i randomly decided to make that fateful trip a year ago last september. At the time i had no idea it would be the last time i'd get to see my Grandpa. He passed away 3 weeks later. And he got to meet Jack. Jack got to meet him. Jack called him Be-pa. No idea why. I know today was very hard on my mom. She tried to put on a brave voice today on the phone. Tomorrow is her birthday. Its times like these that the only way to have strength is to know the person you love is in the best place possible. The Lord is my strength, and that is exactly what this card is all about.
Now to wipe the tear from my eye and move on along to something far more fun. I dont need to go on about how i like Unity, but in case you are just visiting my blog for the first time... check out Unity's BLOG for alllll the details. Tomorrow (or today probably if you are reading this on thursday) is HIP HOP Thursday. Every week, Unity hosts a hip hop in their member forum on splitcoast. Super fun. Lots of chatter. And i mean LOTS of chatter. Prizes given away GALORE. You really really shouldnt miss it!
And every wednesday there is a challenge on the unity blog to gear everyone for Hip Hop. This weeks challenge was a recipe challenge. You just had to include the "ingredients" they give.
1. Use Something clear
2. Use ribbon
3. Use something from your last Unity order.
weeeeellll.... my last unity order isnt here yet. I went in with a friend (who is getting just as hooked on Unity as i!) and had her order giggle grove for me. I've been DYING for it. So i'm getting it. Spending budget be damned! :D But since it's not here just yet, i went with some of the FANTASTIC stamps i won from Unity's World Card Making Day challenge. I'm pretty sure that was the last thing that came to me anyway. When i browsed the stamps that i got... and was thinking about the day today... i thought this stamp from "Something Within" was perfect. My butterfly is a revolution die. I was going to adhere it to some acetate for my clear. But didnt want to fuss with that. But i didnt think my holes counted for clear, so i added clear buttons. They turned out cuter than i thought. Of course one is wonky in the photo and i didnt realize it until after i had uploaded it to my computer. In fact the picture as a whole isnt all that great but i am entirely too tired to care. I desperately need to go to bed! If you notice... i also used the Polka Dot Jam background stamp. I used versamark and then madagascar green embossing powder from Sparkle n Sprinkle. Its my first time using this color and i cant say i'm thrilled. It left quite a bit of blue dust on my cardstock that i tried to brush off with a tissue but it drastically "dirtied" my pretty pink paper. bugger. i was using colors out of a western shirt of my grandpas too. I wanted the colors true to the shirt. *sigh* oh well. The rest of the card i think is pretty self explanatory but feel free to email me if you have questions! Or better yet... come over to the unity forum and find me tomorrow at the Hip Hop!
As promised - i have a little Whiff of Joy for you today!
Yesterday my "bff" stopped by. She had not seen Baby Gabe yet!!!! (she's excused, her fam had been sick and she didnt want to spread her germies. And we appreciate that!). But she also brought her binder o stamps! Nice! So i whisked it away and stamped away to my hearts content. Nothing like a little stamp image sharing to make a gal feel better! And when your on a spending crunch, it makes you feel like you just went shopping! I have SO many images to play with now! I just cant wait!
The first one i was DYING to color was this Whiff of Joy stamp. Her name is Willow with Hot Chocolate. Isnt she just beautiful! I love her. The image was just so serene and quiet, i thought the sentiment from the Stampin Up Garden Whimsy set was perfect! For now i'm leaving the inside blank to keep it versatile. It could easily be turned into a thanks for being there card. but could just ask easily be a thinking of you or sympathy card. I like versatile cards. :)
And now i'm off again. Cleaning to be done. boo. And if i get brave, i'm going out to run errands with BOTH boys because tomorrow i'll want to be hip hopping. haha.
My friend Beth asked me recently just how many blogs i visited in a day. I told her i wasnt even sure. Of course some days i just hit a few favorites because i dont have a lot of online time. Other days (ok, most days) i slowly get to them all thru the day. But i usually get a good chunk of time to browse in the AM. So far i've visited 20. Most of them regular every day ones. A couple ones that i usually hop to off of the other blogs. And then 1 or 2 that i hadnt visited before. One of which i subscribed to so i'll be hitting that one daily from now on. I may have actually gotten to more of them if i hadnt gotten stuck on Dawn's blog playing her little game at the bottom. SO addicting. Finally when i had Baby Gabe screaming at me and jack begging and begging for me to get him a cookie since he ate breakfast did i turn myself away from it. It was too hard to concentrate with all the screaming. haha.
Since you have probably read that i have no creation for you just yet... but i wanted to mention the blog candy that I found. Its to win a Whiff of Joy stamp plus some other goodies. How ironic since my creation for today uses a Whiff of Joy stamp! I just only have her colored in and nothing else so i cant post it yet. However, my day could get away from me, so i wanted to post about this blog candy before it did... or before i forgot about it. haha.
And just so i dont have a pictureless entry (thats no fun, is it?) i'm going to add a snapshot my sis took of me and my boys at the pumpkin patch/apple farm on sunday!!!
i cant wait to print out all of the pics so i can scrapbook them! :)
PHEW! My sister left town yesterday. :*( It was a LOT of fun having her here. She was a tremendous help around the house, and with Jack. But we also wanted to do a lot of fun things. Thursday we picked Jack up from school and then i took a nap! It was glorious. But i really did it on the wrong day because boy was i beat by the time time her visit was over. haha. Friday we ran errands but also got cookie dough and frosting (and a movie) and she and Jack made cookies while i did something, i cant remember what now! Saturday we went to Chuck E Cheese. Sunday we went to Niven's Apple Tree Farm and monday we just kinda hung out until it was time to go to the airport.
I didnt craft at all. I did play online and look at blogs, got my blog redone, etc. But let me tell you - i've really been in the mood to get crafty! I've got so many projects i want to work on. Stamps i want to use. Cards i want to make. They have been running thru my head like CRAZY this weekend.
So finally today i got to scratch the itch a bit. I cleaned a bit and did a LITTLE bit of reorganizing and then i got to work on a card and small gift for a couple at my church that just had a baby. Here is the picture before i dive into the details...
I was very pleased with how it turned out. Of course it's hard to not love these images from CC Designs available from All That Scraps. I just recently got this set called Rubber Ducky. I'm so in love with it! I knew right away when my friend from church had her baby that i just HAD to do something with this set.
My sister had brought these little tins that had posable animal stick figured in them for Jack. So i snagged the tins and repurposed them. Then I played with my other fun hobby, soap & beauty making! I actually had wanted to create my own line of beauty and bath products while living in LA but then i decided to have kids instead. haha. But i'm still "into" making my own bath products. Its terrific to do for babies because you use pure ingredients without all of the additives that are harsh for their so soft and delicate skin! 1 tin i made some "bum balm", 1 tin i made baby body butter, and then the 3rd tin i made some Baby Bath Soak. I used a circle punch to make some labels for the bottom of the tins. :)
The tops of the tins i used some left over papers from my card with Stampin Up's scallop circle and 1 3/8th punch. I also tried something a little new (for me). i stamped my rubber ducky onto the colored cardstock and color him with copics. I figured since it was yellow coloring on yellow it shouldnt be too bad. I like the affect. The duck doesnt stand out so brightly like it would on white which was nice to me.
Here's a closer look at the tins.
You can see that i put the tins in a little "tub" that i found a bit back at the dollar section at target. I LOVE that section! I buy stuff there all the time and it goes in my "to alter" chest which is actually quite large and perhaps a little sad that it's FULL! and I have another box of things in the closet! I know, get to altering already! :) Underneath the tins are some coiled up baby washcloths. I couldnt find a little plastic bottle around my house (i have MILLIONS from decanting makeup supplies, but they have disappeared! So once i find them, i'll fill it up with some grapeseed oil. Grapeseed oil is extremely close to the property of your skin (as is jojoba oil, but thats a wee bit thicker and also pricier). Grapeseed oil is much better for baby skin than just baby oil which is really a mineral oil. (More info than you may want to know, but i cant help it, it's the makeup gal in me... the molecules in mineral oil are actually larger than your skin cells. So it just sits on top of your skin. Grapeseed oil will actually absorb into your baby's skin protecting it, keeping it soft, etc). And it's fantastic to do little baby massage rub downs. Most babies love massages and it's a great way to have a quiet moment with your wee one. :)
Ok, thats all for today! everyone is sleeping in my house right now crashed out on the couch. I'm in debate of sneaking away to craft (what i want to do) or hitting the hay myself (what i neeeeeed to do). We shall see. :)
Ugh. websites. html. it's all so frustrating even when you DO slightly understand it.
My previous blog design was so me. The red, the black. Fun times. However, there seemed to be a lot going on and even I thought it was slightly hard to focus. More so - i really want to have links and such down both sides of my blog. And i cant figure it out.
irg, i'm peeved.
Do YOU know how to do it? Is there a template i just havent found?
Ok - back to your regularly scheduled blog hopping.
I dont want this post to be a waste of your time... so let me point you to the direction of a new blog i found that is super fun. ESPECIALLY if you like to blog hop! She posts new blogs she finds. She posts blog candy. Fun fun. Check her out!
http://www.stampinwhenican.blogspot.com/
Okie Dokie Mary! you win!
Send your addie to makeupbykatie@yahoo.com and i'll mail ya some goodies. :)
Ok. So my sister gets into town today. I am SUPER excited. My sister and i get along great. I usually see her when other family is in town, or when i got back to my hometown. Which is fantastic, and i love seeing her then too, but i'm also spreading myself out to see other fam as well. I love it when i get one on one time with my sis. She's fantab. But, her plan gets in at 11:45. You know you have an addiction problem when even how very very excited i was to see her, i suddenly thought to myself, oh no, i'll miss HIP HOP THURSDAY! Yes... i need help.
Hello, my name is katie, and i am addicted to Unity.
But then i thought, ok, so it's a fair trade off because i dont get to see my sis much. But i did fully plan to get onto splitcoast and into the forum to chat, play and even make a card before it would be time to go pick her up from the airport. Then i'd have my perfect day. But when i went to get on splitcoast.... it... wasnt... working! NO! Splitcoast cant be down on HIP HOP?! I'm sure they'll get it up and running within the next few hours... but i dont have a few hours for them to work on it. NOOOOOO!
Seriously. So sad. But i really have some things i should probably do anyway. *sigh*
BUT, in the off chance that someone stops by my blog that is another UNITY fan...
I can a unity challenge for you! Just until the forums get up and running again. I'll even scrounge up a prize for a random gal to win. :)
The other day in my blog hopping, i was visiting a fellow Unity fan's blog. And her card simply STUNNED ME! First, go check out her post here. Chelsea (HapeMome) is an AMAZING card crafter. She has an etsy store too where you can snag one on her amazing cards or layouts.
Ok, so i always love her cards. But this one really stood out to me. I love how she combo'ed some pastel colors with black. Not something i'd typically do... LOVE LOVE LOVE her outcome. So this is my challenge to you. Put some pastel colors (it's ok if they are spring pastels and have some vibrancy, but they shouldnt be brights or bolds... you get the idea) and add some black as well. Just the sentiment in black doesnt count. Mix up your norm. Every card made gets an entry into the drawing. Use unity stamps in honor of Hip Hop thursday and you'll get 2 entries!!!!! The winner will be random (i'll put all the names into a big ol bucket and let jack pick the winner instead of using random.org this time since some gals hopefully will get 2 entries). Sorry i cant post my own creation just yet. I want to get this post up there for those that are like me and dying that splitcoast isnt working yet!
If you're a unity gal - post this challenge on your blog so others know to find it! Feel free to mention it in the forums later as well since i might not be around. :)
OH - and duh - dont forget to check out UNITY TODAY! And the store Today there is 25% off all orders! And i'm sure there will be other hip hop specials as well!
HIP HOOOOOOP!
added note:
add a link to your card just in the comments section. I want to give everyone a chance to play today, so i'll draw a winner tonight at 9:30ish and will get on the forum to announce the winner. You dont need to be present to win though. Be sure to post your scs name as well so everyone in the forum will know who won. :)
So i have had a pretty darn good day today. Last night my hubby surprised me with this...
for no particular reason. Oh, and a diet coke. My husband knows me so well. :)
I got lots of sleep (well, lot's of sleep for anyone with a 4 week old!). I went to bed early and Gabe went back to his normal eating every 3 hours. And then i got to sleep until 8. Woohoo!
So then we had a pretty easy time of getting Jack ready for school. I even got to check my emails and a few blogs. And what did i discover during my morning coffee computer check? I sold my first card on etsy! Woohoo! And then... I WAS FEATURED ON UNITY'S BLOG! I was floored!
My day has gone downhill a bit from there. But all good things must come to an end. haha. After taking Jack to school and taking Gabe to the doctor, we discovered the dr's office made his 4 week appt for next month. No, next month he'll be 8 weeks old... not 4. Grrr. So it was a waste of that trip. I have to go back tomorrow now with BOTH kids. Someone help me! Then i went over to The Scrapbook Company to see what goodies i might be able to snag from the work space. But my good friend Jan who works there was out today. Her mom passed away last night. Puts a lot of things into a new perspective! And i thought my morning was rough??
After school I told Jack that i wanted to make Ms Jan a card because she was very sad today. He replied "Ms Jan is my friend" and i told him "yes, Ms Jan is your friend, do you want to make her a card too?" he said "Yes! It will make her feel all better!" So after a bit of a wild afternoon (man i miss naptime!) We decided it was card making time. Now, please remember he is 2.5! I pulled out my scrap drawer and told Jack he could use whatever he wanted. He pulled out 4 scraps. I had decided to use the cuddlebug on my card, so of course he wanted to too. He LOVES to crank stuff thru the cuddlebug. So i pulled out all my folders and told him to pick one. He picked out the "circles". Then he put his largest scrap into the folder and ran it thru the cuddlebug all by himself (ok, so i set up the sandwich of the plates for him). Then we went back to his teeny tiny craft table. We tried a gluestick... but for the same reason i hate gluesticks... apparently so does Jack. He said "MOMMA! it not STICKING". I laughed and said "yes, glue sticks dont stick well" and he said "i need sumpin to stick" So i got out a tape runner and put tape on the back of each scrap and said "there ya go, now you just need to layer everything" And he did. While he did that i pulled out some flowers and things and told him to pick out what he wanted. He picked out 4 primas. And i put glue dots on the back for him. Now i want to reiterate... that my 2.5 year old did not have help from me!! And considering his age, i think he did pretty darn well! The layout is actually kind of cute if it wasnt so wonky. On the inside he stamped some crosses (that he picked out) and drew her "a mountain" and then signed his name. You cant tell it's a mountain or that it's his name, but that's ok. Here's his card!
And then after i finally convinced him to go bug daddy (evil i know), i got to finish my card! I roughly cased this card that i found on splitcoast the other day.
I used a set called Out On a Limb (along with Out On a Limb Sentiments) from Papertrey Ink. I adore this set because there is just so so so so much you can do with it! It comes with different leaves and flowers and whatnot to add to your limb. And the matching sentiments are so lovely! Lots of great quotes, even though i didnt use a quote this time.
And now i'm headed to a Moms Night Out at the Beaded Frog. Basically, we are going to go make jewelry. We'll see how much i get done since i'm taking the baby with me. But i need the night out with the gals. It'll be fun. BUT i'm supposed to be there in 20 minutes and i havent done my hair or makeup. Thank goodness i'm a pro at my 3 minute makeup routine. :)
Thanks for dropping by!
I have a lot i want to blog about today, but this was brought to my attention and it need to be posted NOW! Not after i create a card to post today, not after i post about some other fun news... NOW!
Geno Church's (of fiskateers) 14 year old daughter is missing. She is most thought to be in South Carolina or possibly Georgia.
Please check this link for further info!
http://www.scrapbookupdate.com/scrapnancy/2008/10/missing-girl-wi.html
Ok, so it was a ROUGH night last night in my house.
The baby was wanting to eat every hour or 2. He's SLIGHTLY feverish. So i think it was just a comfort thing for him and helped him to go back to sleep which bonus, keeps his fluids up so i let him. But it meant i had to be very tired. Then at 4 all "you know what" hit the fan... literally. I mean just as i finished nursing him he pooped and it went up the the back of his neck! And all over me and my pillow since thats what i lay him on when i'm nursing in the middle of the night. So i get him, then me, then my bed all cleaned up. by now it was 5. I went upstairs to get a new pillow case and i hear a thud. My 2 year old JUMPED out of bed. He told me he almost fell ot of bed because it was wet, so he had to jump. Sure enough, he was soaked and his sheets were a little wet. So i strip him, get him cleaned up, then his bed. By this time, the baby wanted to eat again because it was about 6. And the 2 year old was up and ready to play by 7:30 because he had gone to bed early the night before. So yes... needless to say i'm tired today! Pray for me that they both take a nap (and at the same time) so i can too!
Ok, onto my card that i actually worked on mostly yesterday and just added my final touches today.
The challenge on Stamp Challenges this week was to make something for a friend. How convenient... i already wanted to make something for a friend of mine. But working on little sleep and little mojo, i decided to use a sketch challenge from I{heart}2stamp.com. I'm a big fan of sketches. Especially when the mojo is low. I still had a hard time with this one and i had a sketch to go off of! Irgh. For some reason i just couldnt get it to look right. But i've given in. I think it's still a decently cute card. I'm including some stamped images for my friend as well. I will leave her nameless, just in case she happens to read my blog. But she deserves some time to relax and color some. :)
Ok, onto the card already!
I used my new CC Designs stamp set that i ordered to teach a class with at The Scrapbook Company. Too bad they gave us a week to tell us they are closing down. I know i know, i already posted about that. But i'm still bitter.
The set was released last month and is called Rubber Ducky. You can get the stamps at All That Scraps
The paper is some that i picked up at Hobby Lobby so i think the maker is probably The Paper Studio but i cant be positive on that as i just used some scraps for this card. I love the colors though. I used my copic markers to color my little monkey friend. And liquid pearls to add in my little accents on the sides of my card.
Thats pretty much it. Now of course i wanted to get the card out in the mail today along with some other things, but it's a holiday. I totally forgot about that. So they'll all go in the mail tomorrow.
I have a couple of craft projects i'd like to get done before my sister gets into town on Thursday (i'm SO excited). So we'll see if any of them get accomplished. Of course if a nap from the kiddos happens today, craft projects will not be worked on then. I'll be sleeping!
Thanks for stopping by!
The fabulous Sarah of Scrampin' Mama has made a bella sketch. You Can see her sketch and her card here. She will be hosting a new challenge every month.
Without further ado, here is my card...
I used So Saffron cardstock by SU as my base and then layered it with some handmade and mulberry paper. The stamped image is Bubblebella by StampingBella and the sentiment is actually *GASP* a sticker! I tried a few sentiments and i just couldnt figure out how to put it on there in a way i'd like it. So i looked thru my sticker file and found some clear stickers. Now, if you're like me and just not a huge fan of the way flat stickers appear on paper you can use my little trick. I covered the sticker with Liquid Glass (by close to my heart, but there are other brands with similar effects). Suddenly it takes on a whole new appearance!
I'm not sure if you can really see it in the photo... but it looks pretty nifty in person. :)
As my norm... my image is colored with copic markers.
Thanks so much for stopping by today!
Well, i did it! I jumped on the selling cards bandwagon. :) I started an Etsy shop. I dont know if anything will sell really and i guess if nothing ever does, i'm only out minimal dollars. However, my cards that i've made and never mailed are starting to accumulate and i figure if i can sell a few of them, thats more money for stamps and scrapbooking supplies! Right?!
So you can see a little etsy mini on the side of my blog. Most of the cards there you've probably seen on my blog. However, i'll probably list some supplies as well as i start to clean up a bit. If you're a regular etsy shopper, i'd love for you to check out my shop and send any pointers my way!
Thanks so much!
Sorry i completely forgot to do my drawing yesterday with all of the fuss of Gabe's appt.
I used Random.Org to choose my winner...
And the winner of my 100 pieces of Blog Candy goes to....
Number 5...
scrappin java junkie said...
I love your blog title too cute. I posted a link to your blog on my blogs. Thanks Sabrina http://scrappinjava.blogspot.com/
Thanks to everyone who participated! I'll have another blog candy when i read 10,000 hits! (i'm a little over 8000 now) so keep your peepers peeled! :)
So forgoing any rest myself, and letting the laundry PILE up so that i'd have my work cut out for me the rest of this week, and literally destroying my craft room by just barging forth and not cleaning in between projects to get my 7 cards done with all UNITY just to get put toward the chance of winning some awesome Unity stamps PAID OFF! I WON I WON I WON I WON! Can ya tell i'm a little excited. I'm POOPED from doing some major crafting, but it was SO worth it! I cant wait to make some NEW creations with my new stamps!!!!!!!! I'll keep ya posted!
Read more...Phew! I did it! I completed all of the challenges! And now am entered in the drawing for the 3 Unity sets. Which would be so cool to win because 2 of them are HUGE on my wishlist right now! Just not buying things for economic crisis reasons. In other words... my hubby told me no. haha.
Ok, so here are my last cards. 
This one was fun to do. I used Hullaballoo. I love this stamp when i saw it. and then i got it, and wasnt exactly sure what i was going to do with it. but i knew i loved it still. This was a perfect way to use the stamp. (and i saw some other great ways thru all these challenges so you'll be seeing this stamp again in the future!)
The patterned paper is by basic grey (the blush collection) and it's layered with Close to Cocoa cardstock by Stampin Up! The ink i used is the new Sorbet by Close To My Heart. Hullaballoo is layered over sweet clush cardstock by Papertry Ink. The happiness sentiment was stamped with versamark and then embossed with clear tops brown embossing powder.
This last card was a bit of a stretch for me. I'm not sure why. I like to make simple cards and this was the limited supply challenge so it should have been easy. but i think my craft mojo had run it's course. haha. The challenge called for no patterned papers and no pastel colors. 
I chose to keep it simple without a lot of layers and use a single stamp (i do love the quote) and then layered some different floral embellishments above the sentiment. The flowers are supposed to create an "arch" like thing over the "trail". I'm not sure if that came across at ALL but hey, i tried. haha.
And now i am just totally and utterly POOPED! It was a very very long day! Of course you'll be reading this tomorrow and not today as i write this. man i love this preposting thing. :) Tomorrow (or today since you're reading this on tuesday) is Gabe's circumcision. Man i feel so bad for the poor guy. He'll be getting lots of extra love so no crafting for me. Maybe wednesday. :)
Ok, so i was totally going to wait until tomorrow to post this card. I'm greatly using up my crafting time this weekend and today and with Gabe's dr's appt tomorrow and then just needing to get caught up around the house, i figured i wont have too much time tomorrow and wednesday. However, i cant get the silly thing to appear right on splitcoast so i'm going to post it here as well.
Here it is...
The WCMD challenge for this one was to make nestling circle flowers. And of course i wanted to incorporate the unity stamps so it was a little tricky. I used my very first unity set - Wish. It was a little sad to cover up the "fluffie" tops of the flowers, but i used the wish stamps again in my layering so you still see them. :) I also used the wish grass and used my craft knife to cut around the grass and slip my matted flower image down under the patterened paper.
The patterned paper i used for the card i've been hoarding for a bit. I just love it and i dont ever want to use it, but i am really pleased with how the card turned out!
Here's a closer look at my nestled flowers.
The flowers were created using tissue paper for my back most layer. The other layers are elements of the circle stamp from the wish kit. I embossed brown cardstock with turquoise tinsel embossing powder for part of the flowers. Other parts of the flowers are just circles handcut from various patterned papers from the Pebbles Inc Wish paper collection. Some of the circles were distressed with my TIm Holtz edge distresser and others were inked with Cat's Eye Chalk inks.
Thanks for looking!
Well, clearly you can see i got a blog facelift. I love calling it a facelift. A tinxmagic called it that and i just thought it was so funny!
I got the idea of the facelift from my super good friend IRL, Beth. She found this site called Cutest Blog on the Block They have lots of free blog backgrounds. So if you're in the market for a new blog design, here's a super cheap way to do it. As in cheap = costs you nothing. haha. Gotta love that. My title banner i just did myself in photoshop. I suppose i could have made myself a whole background in photoshop but quite frankly... who has the time! I'd rather spend my time making cards.
Here's my other card that i made yesterday for the 7 WCMD challenges on splitcoast. 
The challenge was to use a tree. Any tree. And since i'm using all unity to be entered in their fantabulous challenge, i conveniently have the tree from Growing in Unity! Phew.
I have disvocered that lately i'm very in to distress inks. I had a bunch, but after that stamp expo i went to a month ago (man it seems so much longer ago than that!) i've sort of rediscovered them! All the edges of each layer have been distressed with the inks and a sponge dauber to get a more weathered look. I stamped the tree in Brilliance Coffee Bean and used my stardust gel pen in red to add my little berries and such to the tree. I then took the clear stardust pen to add just a little bit more sparkle to the tree itself. Of course the stardust pens dont show up in pictures hardly at all, but in person they add a great touch.
I had another piece of cardstock layered over the crackled patterned paper but then i couldnt see hardly any of the crackle so i ditched that idea and added the grosgrain ribbon. I then stamped "romantic" (also from the growing in unity set) in brilliance pearlescent poppy ink and added the primas above the ribbon for a little bit of balance.
Thanks for looking! Now i just have to make 3 more cards today! Which is a very tall order because i have a TON to do today. I really need to hit up Target (pull ups are needed in my house... i'm tired of washing very dirty underwear!), i need to get some stuff ready for the post office, i need to GO to the post office, i have a bridal trial at 5 which i really dont want to do today because that means i have to clean my kitchen and breakfast nook (it's where i do the bridal trials), and there is face painting at the pumpkin patch at my church which i agreed to help with if i get the bridal trial done in time. I'd really just like to do the face painting. With a WHOLE lot of luck, the bride will call me to cancel. but knowing my luck, she'll do that at 4:30 after i've cleaned my kitchen. Still, then i could go to the pumpkin patch at least. This also doesnt include the other cleaning i need to get done. Oh any tomorrow Gabe has to have his circumcision done so all of my errands that i could normall run while jack is at school cant happen until thursday! MAN! What a week i'm going to have! And how unresponsible of me to get the other 3 cards done today. haha. But i'm still going to try! :)
I double whammied this one and made a card i'm quite pleased with this afternoon!
I used the color challenge from WCMD on splitcoast (to use lime, orangey yellow, grey, black and creamy neutral) on a card. These are NOT colors that i would typically pic. This is why i love color challenges. They make me step outside of my box. :)
But then i also used Tanis' super cute card sketch that she posted for WCMD. You can check out her sketch and her blog here!
I used Unity's Create Yourself stamp. Using markers, i colored in the stamp as i liked it and then stamped it out. If you havent tried this technique, you definitely should. Its so fun and it's fantastic to do with sentiments. Unity's singles are especially great for this technique because of their size. You can really get in there and make them super fun.
My cardstock is green Bling by bazzill, papertrey inks summer sunrise, bazzill grey and close to my heart's colonial white. I also used some black organdy (the black marker wasn't enough to me for the color challenge) and then i added some primas with a colonial white brad to top it off. And viola! My card is done. I love challenges. :)
So i actually only got 2 of these challenges done ON world card making day. But i've noticed many places you have until Monday evening to submit your entries. PHEW. I just might get them done. I would have gotten more if i hadnt taken a snooze with my boys earlier. Hubby came in and got some photo evidence. Now i dont like sleeping pictures of me. Well, i dont like many pictures of me at this point but thats another issue. :) I WILL lose that pregnancy weight! Anyhoo - i'll post the picture later when i get it off his camera. It's kinda cute.
But here are my other 2 cards i got done yesterday. And then i'm off to work on more of the challenges today while the boys still sleep! :)
First i made this card. I think this is the sweetest challenge i've heard seen! Jimmi Mayo was the host of this challenge. She wanted to showcase her best friend's card making ability so the challenge was to find a card of Sherry's that we loved (not a challenge at all!) and then to CASE the card. When making our version, we had to change at least 2 elements. I was happy with my outcome. Using Unity's Butterfly Beauty, i sponge daub'ed (yes thats a word in my head) red and black ink onto the stamp. I then stamped the butterfly out onto cream colored cardstock. Then i cut out the butterfly with a craft knife. The scalloped circle was cut using my cricut accent essentials cartridge. The sentiment is also by Unity from Trifle Sentiments.
Additional Deets
Cardstock: Bazzill Bling Black Tie and Red Carpet, Close to My Heart Colonial White
Ink Close to My Heart Cranberry, Black
Embellishments: Rhinestones by Darice, Stickles
And here is card 2
Also created for a splitcoast challenge - this was an inspiration challenge. The inspiration was the cover of the Coldwater Creek Catalog. Sticking with my all Unity challenge, i used some leaves from the gratitude=joy set. Using a mask to layer the leaves, i inked the stamp with Distress Inks using a sponge dauber. I then added detail using a stardust clear gel pen. Then i sponged over the cardstock just to "dirty" it up. Using the same stamp and versamark ink, i stamped randomly onto my cardstock base. I used Stampin Up's mat pack to create extra texture in the corners and along the top of the card. Papertrey twill ribbon and brads finish off the card. The sentiment is by Inkadinkado.
And that was all i got done on the actual World Card Making Day itself... but i'm working on some more today that i'll also get up in a post. :)
Ok, so my 100th post was yesterday on World Cardmaking Day so i really should have posted this then, but i only discovered that i had my 100th post today!
So in honor of my 100th post - i'm giving away 100 pieces of candy. But just to 1 person. There will be 100 different items in this candy package.
What do you need to do to enter??? one of the following...
1. Post a link of my blog to your blog...
2. Become a "follower" of my blog....
3. Post a link to someone else's blog candy to this post (shouldnt be too hard to find, there is LOTS of blog candy going around this weekend)
And then post a comment to this blog of which of the above 3 you did. You have until Monday the 6th at 11:59 EST to enter. Then i will do a random drawing and announce the winner on tuesday!
You may remember my mentioning the whats in your purse game that LimeLight Papercrafts is doing today. Well... these are my scavenger items.... Check out their blog, you still have time to play along!
Whats in your bag #1 
Not very exciting... but i do love my cereal so thats what i was eating as i read the first whats in your bag challenge. But i have to include this picture of my son who was eating along side me. 
Now who taught him to drink the milk from his cereal bowl! ;)
What's in your bag #2 
I'm pretty boring on this one... it's to take a picture of your mouse pad. Well i just have my laptop with the built in mouse pad. No picture on it. Just the little white square. But it's the mouse pad, nonetheless!
Whats in your bag challenge #3
You dont get much more half way finished than this. This is my drawers for Swaps. Too bad you'd never know that because i've never finished the bottom half. I dont know why i've never finished even, but it's been like this for about a year. Woops! hahahahahaha.
Whats in your bag challenge #4 -
yeah, i dont own the devil wears prada and quite frankly, the idea of taking a 2.5 year old and a newborn out just to take a picture of a movie seemed silly to me. :)
Whats in your bag challenge #5
Oh chocolate how i love you.
Whats in your bag challenge #6
Oh my husband will kill me for this one. But hey, it's the only way i was able to get anything done!
Today is world card making day! Woohoo! All crafters and cardmakers can unite one day while all the stamp and craft stores have sales to make us all go broke. That is basically what today is all about. With any luck, i can get some stuff done today. And by stuff i mean crafty stuff, not just regular household mumbo jumbo.
So as i find my favorite stores that are having sales today, i'll post them here.
As i find sites that are having games, challenges and prizes, i'll post them here.
And if i get to make some cards today, i'll post them here too. :)
So it's 9:16 am. Jack and I have just finished eating our cereal. (which hop on over to http://limelightpapercrafts.blogspot.com/ as they have a fun ongoing game today. Sort of like the what's in your purse game. Every 2 hours they'll make you hut something down with your camera. you take a pic and pot it and then you're entered into a drawing to win some fabo gifts. the first thing to take a pic of was your breakfast!) Baby Gabe is still sleeping. So as Jack finishes up... these are some specials i'm finding...
limelightpapercrafts - fun, games, challenges and prizes!
My Favorite Things For all orders placed today it's a BOGO! Buy one get One! Thats right! You buy a set and MFT will surprise you with an additional set of their choice. 1 per customer.
Queen Kat Designs Is having a nice big sale today! Almost everything is on sale! They are also holding a design team call as well as a design a stamp challenge.
The Classroom at Ellen Hutson's blog is having some challenges. The first one you even have until the 10th to complete!
UNITY! will surely be giving stuff away. They are the absolute most generous stamp company i know. You know i love unity and the hip hop. And i just hopped on over to their forums on splitcoast and sure enough, Angela is there Doot-di-doo-ing away. :) Here's a link to the thread
Also check out their blog because thats where a lot of stuff will be happening!
(UPDATE - there is also a card drive for the troops in which 1 lucky winner will get a 50% off shopping spree at UNITY!
And now it's 9:30. See all the damage i can help you do in just 14 minutes? Peek back in often, i'll keep this up all day! :)
UPDATE
Yep, it's 9:40 and i already have some new stuff for you to check out. Don't worry, i wont be updating every 10 minutes all day long. If i did that then i'd really never fit in any crafting time! Nope. The jackster is watching "Jack's Big Music Show on Noggin and Gabe is still sleeping so i still have a bit of browsing time to find the fun stuff for YOU to do today, even if i dont have the time. haha.
SPLITCOAST is having some fun give aways and challenges today. So by the way, i'm a big splitcoast gal and if you dont have an account there, you're missing out on some fun. It's free. GO make an account!
Super Talented Jimmi is doing some blog candy as well as has some deets on Unity giveaways!
Stamping Scrapbooker has a FABULOUS compliation of blogs giving away blog candy. I could just copy her list and post them all one by one... or i could cheat and just send you over to her blog. I'm opting for cheating. :) It's faster.
11:00 Update!
Here's another one... it's in joint with LimeLight Papercrafts, but i didnt want you to miss it!
http://www.barelybananadays.blogspot.com/
AND if YOU are having some blog candy on your blog today, or know someone who is and you want to get the word out... leave a comment with the link to the blog candy.
Gina K is having a huge giveaway (1 prize of $250 to her store, 1 set of copic ciao markers, 3 $50 gift certificates to her store, 5 stamp sets) Check out her blog for more info!
Sweet n Sassy is also doing a great giveaway. Check out Korin's heartfelt post here and you could possibly win $100 to her store just for participating!
Update My hubby took Jack out fishing for a bit! Woohoo! And it just happened to be time to feed the baby when he was getting ready to leave so i did that and now he's sleeping next to me in his swing. You know what this means... time to be crafty!!!!
I decided to keep up with my promise the other day to create a bella card. Besides... Little witchy and battiful darling were just calling my name! So i completed Leanne's embellishment challenge! We were supposed to use 5 buttons and ribbon on our card. Here's what i did!
I added my buttons among the pumpkins and my moon is coiled up ribbon. (ugh - and just as i type this, my husband and child are back. They have not been gone for long at all! which means something happened. Sigh. There goes my craft time.
Maybe i'll be able to sneak back on later!
Today has been a bit of a sad day for me. My step-grandma passed away last night. They still arent exactly sure why. Since my grandpa passed away a year ago this october, she had been put into a nursing home (she had diabetes and was one dialysis). So she wasnt in prime health condition, however she hadnt doing poorly either. Thankfully i had gotten to talk to her recently since gabe was born, we were sure to make that call. Thank God we did. Its so hard to remember how quickly you may lose a loved one. And it's all together too easy to forget to call someone you havent talked to in awhile like a grandparent. And i know talking to them can be rough. Sometimes its hard to keep focus. Or you get to hear about a story you've heard a thousand times. Or a loved one who has already passed gets brought up in every conversation that just makes you sad. Sad that they are gone. Sadder that you know they cant go a day without being upset they are gone. Obviously the last statement was the case with my grandmother. Everytime i talked to her she brought up my grandpa. It's hard. Death is always hard. So just remember as trying as those conversations may be... they are precious! Don't forget to call. Dont forget to write. Dont get too caught up in your own life that you forget to take time for those that truly matter.
Ok - that was SO not where this post was supposed to go today. But i needed to get that out.
Well, after a morning of dropping off Jack at school... and then out running errands (not fun) and then back to pick up Jack from school only to learn that he had 2 accidents (of both kinds) today at school and my growing frustration with his new regression on potty training and then to come home and call my mom back at which time she told me about my grandmother... needless to say i wasnt having a very good day. And as i was sitting and eating lunch i suddenly remembered that today was THURSDAY! And i LOOOOOOOOVE thursdays because thursday is HIP HOP day at Unity! Really.. i think thursday is my favorite day of the week. School for jack, good TV at night... and HIP HOP! Hip Hops are always so fun and now that i've particiapted in quite a few of them... i feel like i really know the other gals that has discovered the wonderful Unity Stamp line and hip hopping. So it's like, a day of the week i get to chat with my friends!
So that being said - i participated in one of the challenges for today which was to use our favorite sentiment on a card. The quote did not have to be unity. It just needed to be shown on the front of the card. Well... ironically, one of my favorite quotes of all time is also a Unity Single stamp! My luck! So i created this card...
The photo isnt the best. I was trying extremely hard to get it done by the challenge deadline time of 5:00. And of course Jack did NOT want to nap today so therefore, i was having a bit of difficulty getting it done. I suppose i could have taken another photo after my rush of getting it posted... but that takes up more valuable time and quite frankly... i have another challenge i want to do!
Here is how the card was created...
My card base is 5x7. I have some 5x7 envelopes that were given to me and i dont really make 5x7 cards. However, the unity stamps are large and i LOVE their size, but i figured, i could get away with using them on a larger card. So i did. :)
To make my sentiment... it's actually very very simple. Here are the steps...
1. Stamp (or print) onto a transparency. If you are stamping use STAZ ON ink. It dries so much faster. In fact, even printer ink takes forever to dry, so my advice is to find a stamp you want to use, and use staz on ink! It will dry within a few minutes but just give it time. A transparency isnt porous at all, so you have to let the ink itself dry, not just wait for it to absorb into the paper. I was also told by someone on splitcoast that you could stamp with paint. Hmm... i hadnt thought of using paint on both sides... another time i just may try that!
2. Once your sentiment or image is dry, flip the transparency over and brush paint onto the backside. Nice thing is since the transparency is clear (duh) you can see exactly where you want to paint. You can even experiment with different tools to paint with to leave some texture lines if you'd like. Just be sure your paint contrasts with your ink color.
3. Now just flip it back over to make sure you have paint everywhere you want to have paint. Then put your transparency over cardstock that contrasts with your paint color. To group all of mine together, i adhered my brown cardstock to the blue mat but to get the transparency on there, i punched holes using Stampin Up's Slot punch. A regular hole would have worked too. And then i tied it on there with ribbon.
Ok, the other details on my card...
Cardstock: Groovy Guava by Stampin Up!, Brown from Hobby Lobby
Patterned Paper: American Crafts
Stamps: becoming Butterfly sentiment; butterfly from Growing in Unity (www.unitystampco.com)
Ribbon by American Crafts
Stickles in Fruit Pink and Cinnamon
Thanks for coming by today!
2 days in a row of cards! Watch out crafting world... i'm coming back! Actually, this card was created YESTERDAY (which is really today, i'm preposting in case i just dont get a chance tomorrow). Which means i did 2 cards in one day! Of course i actually started the card i posted today yesterday. Are you confused yet? I am. So i'll stop trying to explain.
Before i go on to ramble about having 2 kids, i'll post my card and details so those that dont care dont have to read thru to the end. haha.
This card was created for this weeks Unity Challenge (which comes out every wednesday before the hip hop which if you've been reading my blog at ALL the last month, you'll know i've become addicted to the hip hop!) You can view the thread with the sketch and with other entries here
I used my Gratitude=Joy set that i WON at the hip hop 2 weeks ago. I felt it was appropriate since it's the last unity set i got plus i was lucky enough to get it for free. There are some great stamps in this set! So much you can create! But i was loving the bamboo and given that i wanted (and needed to for sake of time) make a simple and beautiful card, the "simplicity" sentiment in this set was perfect! I loved the bamboo image for just a simple but still beautiful look. I colored the stamp with markers so i could get the leaves green while the bamboo was brown (even though bamboo isnt brown... hehe).
I then layered a piece of vellum which i inked the edges of using my fav Chestnut Roan Cat's Eye Chalk ink. I stamped "simplicity" on top of the vellum.
Now - in case you dont already know this - working with vellum is different than working with paper. Vellum is not very porous which means inks dont readily absorb into it. And since it has a bit of a transparent look things underneath show thru (like my stamped image) however, glue will show thru as well. There are lots of ways to adhere vellum and most often i just use brads. But i wanted to keep this card über simple at least by sight. So i used Close to My Heart bonding glue. I used the glue along the entire outer edge of the vellum but was very careful to not let it come too far in. When doing this just try hard to keep the width of your glue the same all the way around. So at least if it shows thru, it looks uniform.
Other additions to my card included a piece of brown cardstock that i had used Stampin Up's scallop border punch. (bonus - this scrap came out of my use later drawer - you know, the one i've talked about before that i put extra stamped images or special cuts that i wasnt able to use, etc). I then ran the scrap thru my cuddlebug with the forest branches embossing folder to give it a little extra oompf. You may not notice it, but i let the piece be slightly larger than my card (but not so much it needs a bigger envie). I've been doing that a lot lately. It just adds another point of interest to me.
Other embellies on this card are just from "my collection" so i'm not even sure who they are by. I *think* the buttons are creative cafe while the organza ribbon came from Wilson's five and dime (seriously - they have a great ribbon section!
And that concludes my card!
And now for those wondering about the development of life with 2... it's going pretty well. My oldest has been driving me BONKERS! He's just trying to push buttons, see what he can get away with, etc. I think it has alot more to do with my mom (and dad part of the time) being here for 2.5 weeks than it does with the baby. He's still really good around him. But yesterday i had to pick him up early from preschool because of a potty incident. Which means i got a lot less done yesterday than i had planned. So we're hoping for a better day tomorrow! Wish me luck!
And if you're a bella gal - keep your eyes peeled! I got some new ones that i'm DYING to play with. I got 1 colored in, so making a card is only a step away. Hopefully i'll get her done tomorrow! :)
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