Welcome Baby!

One of my best friends just had her baby girl early this morning!!!! If you want to go leave a little love on her blog for when she gets back home, i'm sure she'd love it!

I'm so excited to see the new precious baby! And to spoil her with all things girly! Rachel's water broke in the wee hours of the morning and she had a scheduled c section for monday! ACK! SO they rushed her in and she had a c-section in the middle of the night. I havent seen her yet (insert my boohoo here). I did give her a ring this morning and left her a message. The hospital is only a mile frm my house so i'm in heavy restraint to not just drive on over! But i also want to be a good friend and now crowd. I'll see the baby soon enough i suppose. That is if i dont completely cave and go in a little later today. :) Maybe i'll just take something yummy to eat and leave it there. What can c-section mommies eat???

Anyhoo - to pass the time i made her a little welcome baby card.

I purposely bought this sweet pea stamp from great impressions just to make this card! I just thought the image was so cute! The Welcome Little One sentiment i also bought just for this card and i've been waiting since i bought it at the stamp expo in september (you know, the one i walked around for hours trying to get my own bambino to come out!) so i was super excited to ink them up today!

I colored the image with copic markers (of course) and totally forgot to highlight with my white gel pen. I still probably will. haha. I restamped the image and colored the flower and then trimmed it out to pop up on the card. I always love it when others do this, but i rarely do it myself. I always seem to forget it's an option. I colored on top of the flower and over the baby's blanket with a spica pen. This little girl is gonna be glam, so she needed some sparkles on the card!

My sentiment piece i wanted to do the same scalloped oval theme (i used the large nesties ovals - and decided i need to get the small ovals as well so i can get some better matting going on), but since the sentiment was so long, i ended up with a lot of white space. So i stamped out the image again and cut out another flower (after coloring... dont try to color the little cut out, it'll drive you batty) and then i popped it up as well.

Additional deets...
Cardstock is Sweet Blush from Papertrey Ink, Wild Wasabi from SU and White by Georgia Pacific
Patterened Paper is designer prints in wild wasabi from SU
eyelets are spare parts
ribbon is sweet blush polka dot by papertrey ink


Thanks for stopping by and CONGRATULATIONS RACHEL!

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A little Etsy Challenge

Ashley of Heart Hugs Designs hosts an etsy challenge every week. I have some fun info to share with you in december about Heart Hugs, so stay tuned.

This week's Etsy Store was Mercy's Mark. Mercy's Mark has adorable totes, purses, wallets and more sporting fresh and fun designs. They are über trendy - just the way i like it! :) BONUS - if you complete Ashely's challenge, you'll be entered to win a wallet, donated by Mercy's Mark! Pretty cool huh?

When browsing the store, i fell in love with this wallet. Ok, so i fell in love with a lot of things, but this wallet was sending me some fun inspiration vibes, so thats what i chose!

Here's my card...
I used Whooo Loves You from Close to My Heart. I've been wanting to ink up this set for sometime and sadly, this is the first time! I decided to paperpiece my owl to get some different shades of feathers on his body. After piecing him all together, i did a little shading just using some warm grey copic markers. I used my word window punch from Stampin Up to punch out a bit of red (of what brand i have no idea, it was in the scrap bin! Then i inked up my sentiment using white daisy pigment ink and stamped onto my punchie. The twine was a last minute thought as i had a scrap piece of it left out from the project before. I think it adds a nice extra dimension.

See how easy that was? Now go check out Mercy's Mark, make a little creation, link it here by noon pacific time on Friday November 28th and then check back to see if you've won! :)

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Happy Thanksgiving

Brace yourself folks... this is going to be a long post. I have a lot to be thankful for! :)


I am so thankful for my hubby who thinks i'm the best at everything and i have to remind that there are better crafter's in the world since he wants me to sell everything i make! :) He thinks i'm beautiful when i don't, he thinks i'm crafty when i've lost my mojo, he thinks i'm a good mom when i'm frustrated, he thinks i'm not being paid enough and that i'm over qualified when i think i'm lucky to find a job, he thinks the world of me and i think the world of him. :)


I'm so thankful for my kiddos! Having kids rocks. I love having a family.

I'm thankful for all of our family and friends that make living worth while!

I'm thankful for my "online friends" Being a stay at home mom can get a little lonely. It's nice to have friends there at all times of the day (and night).

I'm thankful for my blog and all of it's followers! I'm still amazed that anyone is really all that interested in what i have to say and make. I have people for all over the place tune into my blog and everytime i get a comment i get a big giddy smile.


I'm thankful for my craft room finally starting to come together! I love having a place of my own. There is still some i want to do to it, but it's clean and organized so thats a great start! FYI - click on the above picture and you can see a slideshow of my craft room!

I'm thankful for all these stamp and crafting companies being so generous and giving during this current economic recession!

I'm so thankful that i'm where i'm at in my life. There are things i miss from my past, but i really couldnt trade in all that i have now for anything!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

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Hip Hop Wednesday!

This week's Unity Hip Hop is on a wednesday since tomorrow is THANKSGIVING! I have so much i want to do today since my craft room is finally back in workable order! I'm so excited about it too. I know where things are! I've found things i forgot i had! More things are easy for me to get to instead of being obnoxious and me digging everytime only to end up leaving them out on my table and cluttering mmy workspace. And the biggest bonus of all, it's much easier and faster for me to clean up! There are still a few things i want to do (one being my hubby making me my ghetto rubbah rack) and some minor decorating. I still want to ditch the bed and get a futon. And of course when all that happens my room will probably be overhauled again, but for now, i'm stoked! But my crafting today will probably be cut short as today is my hubby and my anniversary! Now we dont have any special plans or anything and in fact i'm pretty sure we arent doing gifts. If he gets me something, i'm in trouble! haha. But i have some things i've wanted to make for him for a bit and i just havent had time with the room disarray and then being sick and just plain kiddos not lettig me do it! So hopefully i'll at least get to make 1 of them done while he's gone this morning!

But for now...
I have a card i created this am for my hubby using unity's Love is Toxic set. And as i read the color challenge for the week over at the splitcoast challenge thread i got really excited. It's a take on of my of very fav color combos - orange and grey. Most people thing i'm looney when i say 2 of my favorite colors are orange and grey. I love them just about as much as i love red and black! The coor challenge was really rust, basic grey and very vanilla. But i did decide i desparately need a warm grey ink pad. I've thought this so many time. I love the color gray, but i always hate the way grey ink stamps. But i think i just havent found the shade i want. I prefer warm tones to cool tones in general but i love a warm grey and it seems like every grey ink i've found stamps with either a green tone or a blue tone. Anyone have the perfect grey ink that want to convince me to buy??? Anyone? Anyone?!

Since i started this card last night when the baby did not want to go to sleep and i was beyond the mojo point, i had to find a sketch to play with too. And i've been wanting to do one of jen's sketches but havent been able to work it out so i finally got one done! Here's my card...



I was really pleased with the turnout and i think my hubby will like it. There are a few little details i'm not sure you can pick up in the photo. I stamped my gray piece (which is a grey from hobby lobby that i fell in love with, how could i not? it's a warm gray!) with hearts from the Love is Toxic kit. I have the craft spots in earth elements so the really rust shows up on the grey as it's true color which is nice. The edges are inked with Burnt Sienna chalk ink which is a very close match to the really rust. I dont like to ink my edges with anything but the chalk inks because the chalk ink dries so fast. I hate having to pay attention to where i lay down my cardstock if the ink is wet. My sentiment piece i used the really rust spot again but of course didnt have the grey ink i wanted but i DID have a Leplume marker in brown gray and it matched perfect. My skull i stamped in CTMH Colonial White (which is now a pigment ink like the craft!). I added the very vanilla grosgrain ribbon and some gray brads by spare parts.


Thanks for stopping by... i'm off to hip hop for a bit!

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Smoky Eye Tutorial

Ok gals, here it is. It's a little ghetto. But i couldnt figure out how to get my camera set up to get a good shot of the eye all the while myself being able to see what i was doing, so i tried it out using my webcam which of course doesnt give as sharp as a picture as i'd like. I'll probably try to figure out a better method for the next tutorial but after the day i've had, i couldnt even manage to think of a better idea! (ps. while getting the makeup i wanted to use out of my kit, jack came into my craft room and dumped 6 vials of microfine glitter all over the carpet. I will be quite sparkly for awhile as you know that stuff is a pain in the you know what to get out!)

Ok, so i hope this isnt too crazy ghetto for you and you dont just laugh at my very very mild attempts to do a video tutorial of makeup! I promise, they will get better!

Eye 1


Eye 2 (just skip over if you think you got it well enough the first time)



finishing the look


Don't you think the overall look is fabulous with my white tshirt and pony tail. Ah, the life of a mom. :)

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Makeup Monday... on tuesday... oops

SO i missed Makeup Monday. OOPS! That would have been the easiest thing for me to post yesterday, and i forgot. Sheesh.

Thank you so much for all the well wishes i got thru email and thru comments. I'm feeling MUCH better. My fever has gone away and the massive body aches have stopped. Even the tatas are going back to normal. Whew. Now lets just hope i dont get it again (i had it 6 times with my first child!)

I had every intention in the world to do a smokey eye tutorial using pictures or video for this weeks Makeup Monday but my whole world sort of stopped when i got the mastitis so i didnt get it filmed this weekend. Can you imagine me trying to create a smokey eye on myself with a fever of 102.3? haha. That could have been humorous!

But i still think i'll try to do one today. One you say? Yes, because there are numerous ways to do smokey eyes. Considering i have my child's thanksgiving feast to attend today at school and i dont want to look like the hooker mom, i'm going to do a basic daywear smokey eye. One that you wont feel like you're going to go stand on the street corner with. :) Bonus, if you are wanting to wear the look into the night, you'll just have to add a little extra to it and it'll be good to go. :)

So first i'm going to start with some basic knowledge of smokey eyes...

1. You can go light or dark with a smoky eye. Many people go too dark for their comfort zone, which is why they either dont think they can wear the smoky eye look, or they dont think they are able to do it. I assure you, you can!

2. Smoky eye's dont have to be black! Black is a drastic color. So if you dont wear black eyeliner on a daily basis, dont try your first smoky eye with black either. A grey smokey eye is just has hot. OR try a brown smokey eye! using a bronze as your smoke color really makes blues eyes in particular stand out. A deep plum is also beautiful. Or if you are really ballsy - go with a brighter hue. If you want your eyes to stand out, go with their complimentary color. COme gals, you're crafters, you know what complimentary colors are. Blue - Orange, yada yada. Dont want to wear orange? Go copper or as i said before, BRONZE!

3. If you are wearing a smoky eye look, especially a more dark one, you do not need much other makeup. let the focus be on your eyes. Simple base, pretty blush and a lighter lip tone or just lip gloss will do the trick.

Ok... i'm off to work on the tutorial. I'll post that a little later. :)

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not feeling well...

Just when i am finally making headway in my craft room and can almost dive back into the crafting world... it hits. Yesterday it started with a headache and then before i knew it, it felt like a MACH TRUCK had run over me. And i know the pain all too well from my first child... i have mastitis. And of course today of all days my hubby has a fishing trip. He said he's not going, but he does have some stuff he simply has to take care of this morning (he does) so i'm flying solo with the 2 kiddos when i'm not even supposed to get out of bed. Fun, huh? I do have a card i realized yesterday that i never posted from the big Verve Sketch Goddess week so at least i have something crafty to share.



Its a fairly simple card. I wanted to make it suitable to send to a boy or any male really. I used Verve's Starlight Starbright which was my very first verve set. I love it because there is just so much versatility with the sentiments. I paired it with paper from the Close To My Heart Goodtimes collection.

Thats just about it. Nothing else spectacular going on here. haha. Maybe later i'll get the energy to finish putting everything away in my room and take some pictures. For now i'm going to go lay back down!

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babies babies everywhere!

I'm still hard at work redoing my craft room. I know the process has taken a hit to my blog! I actually even have cards ready to post but i havent posted them. Whats up with that?! But soon my room will be nice and organized and i'll have lots of pics to post of that! WOOT!

Ok, so it seems like there are babies everywhere. Is it just me, or are there really babies everywhere? One of my best friends is gearing up to have her baby here in about 2 weeks. 2 of the mom's of kids in jack's preschool class had babies THIS WEEK! Thats actually who these 2 cards are for. I feel like a dolt since i already sent them and then found out they both had girls! I could have sworn 1 was having a boy. I mean i remember our conversation about baby names. *sigh* oh well. My mistake! I sent her a little email about my booboo. haha.

Here's the first card for Kara. Her baby girl was born on tuesday!

I just love this little giraffe by The Angel Company. Isnt she so sweet! It was my first stamp i ever bought from TAC and saddly, it had never even been used (along with my other stamps from that order!) But it just may become my go to stamp for baby cards. It was very easy to color (with my copic markers) and she just melts my heart!
Here's a few close up views of the card...


And then the non boy baby boy card. WOOPS! I did everything the same just with different colors and a different embellishment choice so making 2 at the same time was easy but it would have been easier if i had done them both exactly the same! Oye!

and a couple of close ups...


I used SU cardstock (though i dont know what colors, i got them off the wish rak thread on splitcoast!) and some SU designer print paper i got from my dear friend Kim as a gift. I used my swiss dots cuttlebug folder (my fav) just on the card base itself and used bazzill for my scalloped circle mat. And those scallop circles? I finally jumped on the bandwagon and got the nesties. :) The scallop border is from my SU punch. Simple satin ribbon tied on the side and then some flowers and buttons for extra dimension.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'm off to go work upstairs in my craft room!

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Beccabatgirl rocks my world! and IC154

Wow - i meant to post all of this yesterday and somehow i thought i did, but obviously i didnt! Woops!

First of all, i want to say that Becky Carafa or beccabatgirl on splitcoast ROCKS MY WORLD! We had been discussing a possible trade since she had a verve visual stamp set i really liked. I was having just a plain ROUGH day on monday. And i even commented that i needed some happy mail or something to brighten it up. Well, happy mail indeed! Becky mailed me the stamp set plus a super cute card, just for the heck of it! She wants nothing in return for it! So some fantastic karma needs to head her direction because she totally made my day, thats for sure. And it couldnt have come at a better time. So if you could do me a favor, visit her superb blog and leave her some love??

Ok - onto my card for the splitcoast inspiration challenge card for this week. This weeks challenge was to get some inspiration from the Felted Garden. I chose one of the throws as inspiration.

I used the embossing resist technique. I chose the lucid leaflet stamp from Unity's Gratitude=Joy set. I stamped in versamark on white daisy (ctmh) cardstock and then embossed with clear detail powder. I used the sponging technique i read the other day on Mel Stampz's blog. I'm getting into the idea of reinkers, so i'll need to be buying more! I used SU's soft sky and baja breeze. It's mostly soft sky, and then baja breeze mixed with soft sky for the outer edges and right around the leaves. I still think i have a lot ot learn when it comes to sponging techniques, but it's not stopping me from doing it. Eventually it wont take me forever to get 1 card done that way! My sentiment is from Unity's July Kit of the Month I chalked inked the edges of the cardstock with creamy brown cat's eye chalk ink and tied a satin brown ribbon for just something extra. It's all mounted on chocolate cardstock.

I actually did something to the inside of my card. I've decided i really like that and need to do it more often!

I used the same leaf that i did on the front onto i stamped it with soft sky ink. My sentiment is from the Simply Said
kit also by Unity.

This card will be put in my with Cause of the Month cards. Dont know about my cause of the month yet? Click on the button in my sidebar to learn about the organization.
If you want to donate some cards (they can be made previously) send any thank you cards plus envelopes to me and for each card you said, i will put you in my drawing. 1 lucky winner will get free shipping to Unity compliments of the wonderful angela!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

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Inque Boutique Christmas

I made this card for a card challenge my girl Rachel hosted in a local craft group we're both in.

Here was out sketch to use...


and here is my card...


I used an Inque Boutique lil' set. I dont even remember the name, sorry! And i just found out that Inque Boutique is no more. I'm so sad about that! I really loved their stamps. The company was sold and the new owners are going to continue to sell the product that they have made, but will not be making any new. :(

Anyhoo - i stamped my tree with memento ink on georgia pacific paper and colored it with copic markers. I added a bit of a signio white gel pen to highlight. I covered the "ornaments" with liquid glass by CTMH. NOTE: add your white gel pen to the liquid glass or whatever glaze you use AFTER it's dry. The wetness of the epoxy will make the white run. Learned that the hard way.

I took a stardust glitter pen and dotted it on top of the stamp design to give a pretty look to the garland. Its hard to see in the front photo but if you turn it a bit so the light reflects off of it it's really pretty. You can kinda see that in the photo to the left.

I distressed my edges with my tim holtz edge distresser and mounted my sentiment (also colored with the same copic as the ornaments on the tree and covered with liquid glass) onto some cardstock. The patterned paper is old school basic grey. I stitched around everything just for some extra dimension and viola! there is my card. :)

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Makeup Monday

Ok - so you all (or at least most of you that read my blog) know that i'm a makeup artist by profession and paper crafting is just my hobby. (Hence the title of my blog!)
Often i've worked on the weekends so come monday i dont have much to post. Therefore, i'm making monday - Makeup Monday. I'll share something "makeup-ie". Dont worry, if i have something crafty to post... i will. :)

This weekend i did a highschool beauty pageant. fun, huh? haha. It went fine. She didnt win to my knowledge. I didnt stay till the bitter end. haha. But in light of the pageant... i'm going to give a hair tip today...
If you like rollers (i actually do NOT like rollers, but to each their own). The gal had put her hair in rollers and taken them out before she got their (they had to interview right away and like i said before, i was there to help during changes because i know her family, not because i was being hired to get her ready). But some people dont know how to roll hair. Many people dont know how to roll hair! SO - here's my hair rolling tip... do not follow your part. Your hair will be flat as a pancake on top. You need a row of rollers that starts by your forhead and goes straight back. If you want a part in there, you can create the part after you take the rollers out.

Ok, so thats my hair tip. haha. Often i'll have pictures, but not today because i dont own rollers anymore. :)

Ok, i actually do have a card to post from saturday... so i'll get that up here in a bit. :)

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blog candy alert

a super fun blog candy going on over at Sweet N Sassy stamps! 1 lucky lucky winner will get 6 free sweet n sassy stamp sets! That is one heck of a prize!

Check it out here

there is also some blog candy available from the design team of sweet n sassy so check them out too!

here's some i found...
http://www.chrissyd723.blogspot.com/
http://stampinwithmarkiesmom.blogspot.com/

As for me... no creations to post today. The overhaul of my craft room is finally getting somewhere but i really need to work on it, so i havent crafted much. Hopefully DH can help me build some shelves tomorrow. Today he is working and tonight i'm doing makeup and hair for a teenage beauty pageant. can you feel my enthusiasm? But it's for a friend's daughter so it wont be oh so bad.

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Hip Hop Hangover Friday

Well, another week has flown by! Splitcoast was not very nice to us hip hoppers yesterday. Slow and wonky! I still hung out even thought it was worse for wear. And though there is always a hip hop hangover on fridays, today's hangover proves to be a little more fun. Angela has said she's going to give out even more prizes this am! So grab your coffee, go to angela's blog and hop along the hangover threads. And when you are done, come to unity's hip hop forum and play with us this morning. And while you're at it, go to the Unity Website and shop a little. Angela is continuing on the Hip Hop specials until noon today!

Ok, now that i've done my sales pitch (for a company i dont work for even... hehehe) here is my hip hop hangover card (yes singular, i havent crafted in days and this morning i just had to, so i just made my card this am!)



Yesterday, Jeanne put out a "cut it out" challenge. So i stamped one of my giggle grove trees onto patterned paper and cut it out. It was layered on some other patterned paper (all the patterned paper on this card is from Around the Block, i've hoarded it forever and it was time for it to come out and play!). I stitched around the outer edge and around my tree for just a little emphasis. I stamped my sentiment from Unity's Sentiments O' Simple kit.
ALl of my edges have been chalk inked of course. :)

Now... Let me put a little plug out there for my CAUSE OF THE MONTH. Do you know about my cause of the month? You can read about it in full detail here but for those of you being lazy this morning.. i'll do a brief recap. Every month i am choosing a different cause or organization to do a little mission project for. This is my first month doing this, and i've chosen a local organization called "Let There Be Mom". This organization is AMAZING! It supports mom's who have been diagnosed with terminal illnesses. They then work with these women and their families to preserve their legacy. What they do varies from family to family depending on the wishes of the mom. Very often they help put together a scrapbook for the families to cherish after the mom passes. Quilts are sometimes made. Beautiful family portraits taken. And then on top of that, they help the family out with the normal household things (cooking, cleaning, etc) so that the mom's are just able to be mom's to their families! Spending that very precious time they have left with their loved ones and not keeping house. This entire organization is run by volunteers and donations from companies to provide the materials that might be required. Really, it's phenomenal. But you've got to think that such an organization would need to send out a lot of thank yous! That is where my mission project comes in this month. I have been busy making thank you cards (some simple, some elaborate) to give to Let There Be Mom at the end of the month. I would love it if you helped me out with my mission.

And now for a little incentive... Since this is a hip hop post, and many of the readers will be unity fans... for every card i receive to give to this company, i will put the makers name into a drawing. Then i will award 1 person (at random) with FREE SHIPPING on their next unity order. Now i dont know how i'm going to work this out yet. I'll have to talk to angela. haha. But even if i'm mailing you a $5 bill for you to use on your shipping... you will get free shipping. Depending on the number of entires i may select numerous winners.

Wont you help me on my project this month? Email me at makeupbykatie@yahoo.com for my address to mail the cards!

Thanks so much!

HIP HOP!

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i lost my mojo

Somewhere is the crazy design team call of so many companies - i lost my mojo! I havent crafted anything in a few days. The sad thing is i lost my mojo so much that i havent posted anything and i even have projects ready to post! I wont go into why i lost my mojo because the intention is not to get people to blow smoke up my booty so to speak.

I am hoping for my mojo to return since there are some fun things happening in the next few days in the world of paper crafting!

Today is WUW or What's Up Wednesday with My Favorite Things which you can read about here. This is a relatively new things with MFT. There are a couple of fun challenges that just maybe, if my mojo returns, i'll do today. But in honor of WUW, i wanted to post my card i did for the December Guest Designer challenge. You should check out the winners - their cards are really fab.

And here's mine...


The Challenge was to watercolor on a card. There are SO MANY ways to watercolor. I decided i wanted to try a new technique to me, but one of the oldest to watercoloring! I used watercolor pencils and a technique i read off of Christi Snow's blog Altered Ambitions about a week ago. I do own watercolor pencils... so i figured this would be fun! But i'm a marker girl so it was a little bit of a challenge. I opted to NOT color in one of my Who's That Girls. Mainly because i couldnt find one of my stamp sets! More on that later! But then i got to thinking... and i wanted to try to shade something that would be really different for me. So i pulled out my Boho Blossoms set (it needed some love anyway) and got to coloring. I first stamps out a few images on different papers because to be quite honest, i had no idea what i was doing! And then i got to coloring. When i finally decided i found something i liked (which wasnt on watercolor paper because i couldnt even find that to try it out... more on that later) i then stamped out a few more so i could practice with some different color options. I didnt even know what these pencils would look like once water touched them! So then i decided to go with just 1 lonely shade. haha. I'm so used to blended multiple colors to get the shading effect i wanted. I was pleasantly surprised that i could get the shading effect i wanted with just 1 pencil. Here's a closer look at the flower itself...

It's not a super close up photo, but you can see it a little better. I basically just outlined the spots i wanted to appear darkest. Then i used my h20 pen to drag the color thru the rest of the flower. And i did it on just plain ol georgia pacific paper. Now if i had wanted to do a lot of watercoloring it wouldnt have worked. the paper would have gotten very warped. But for this, it worked fine. I did try to use GP for my background and shade around the edges using a different watercoloring technique (using the ink from my ink pads and my h20 brush) but the water started falling apart and warping. SO i decided, well that was a fun idea, but it's not happening! So i altered my overall card design. It was an easy card to put together, and i think it's pretty. I might just start watercoloring a little more! Now if i could just figure out how to use my prismacolor pencils and gamsol! haha.

Ok, so if you are just interested in the creations... this is the time where you hop on along to someone elses blog. Because now i'm going to get at all the "more on that later" stuff. As i was trying to create this card - i was about to give up before i even got started! I couldnt find the stamp set i wanted. anywhere! I've only used it 1 time and i got it in september. So how did i lose it? I still havent found it y the way. But as i searched, i decided my stamp collection was out of hand. At least my storing method. I only began stamping about 2 years ago. About 2 years ago exactly actually. I started buying some close to my heart stamps with a stamp club in november of 2006. My oh My how crazy my stamping collection has become! But because of it's growth, i just find new places to store them and none of them are in the same place. I've got CTMH in one spot, SU in another, Unity on the bookcase, and all my autumn leaves and other clear stamps in cd cases and then in metal baskets. My "nicer" clear sets have been split - some in cd cases and then in a tower on top of soem cubicles (thats the papertrey, Verve and MFT station) but then some of them havent been put in cd cases yet because there is no more room in the tower. My studio g's are in a box and misc wood mounted's are split between soem drawers and a large roll out tote by junkitz. Some of my plain rubbers has been put on cling and are in cd cases but other are stored in a basket (all of my staving artist and pink cat are there) and then my bellas i store on a very large book ring thats hung next to my desk. Do you see now why i was flustered!? So then i decided, well let's just go with something different! And had a plan in mind for the boho blossoms set. So i went ot get my watercolored paper. You guessed it... couldnt find that either. I was about ready to just throw everything out the window and give up all together! This is when i decided my craft room needs a MAJOR overhaul! Its not that i cant clean it up and make it look pretty or that everything is in boxes in the middle of the floor as it was once before - its now i have places to put things but not organized method!
Unfortunately, i dont ever get solo time in there to go thru stuff. So it will be a slow process getting it redone - but it will be redone! DH is going to go with me to Home Depot some night this week so i can get more shelves and more places to get things up and out of reach (i'm REALLY tired of jack pulling stuff out). Hopefully once i have a few new places i can go thru everything and put things together in a cohesive manner! Once i finally accomplish the task, i'll be sure to post it!

Oh and one last thing... i found another blog candy for you to check out...
http://www.karinhoeve.blogspot.com/ to win a super cute purse she made and some other goodies
and
http://scrampinmama.blogspot.com/2008/11/its-time-for-blog-candy.html for a little love from i{heart}papers!

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Blog Candy Alerts

Holy Guacamole Blog Candy! There is blog candy everywhere! I love blog candy. I love it so much i created a group called the Blog Candy Eaters over at Paper Craft Planet. WHAT?! You dont know about Paper Craft Planet?! Check out the little button on mu sidebar and it will take you right there. OR you can simple go to www.papercraftplanet.com and join us! It's so much fun and has grown tons since it first began.

Ok, here's some of the blog candy i know about today...

Sheetsload of cards... is giving away all of THIS!

Check it all out on this blog post

Here's another one...
http://bootifulstampz.blogspot.com
you just have to enter your name to the list and post about it yourself...

and here's yet another one...
http://youwantthecookie.blogspot.com to enter and win some cat's pajamas stamps AND a starter set from Little Monkeys storage system!

The design team of I(heart)papers will also be giving away blog candy everyweek.

and Ann over at Creative Antics is giving away this beautiful lot of christmas candy!


If you know of any blog candy you can post all about it in the PCP Blog Candy Eaters group.

Have fun afternoon everyone and go enter to win some candy!

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Mojo 59

Ok, so i created this last night during the Verve Visuals release party. By the way - i'm in deep trouble because i want ALL of their new releases!

Anyhoo - this card was created for Julee's Monday Mojo sketch from last week. And bonus - she's giving away 1 set to 2 lucky winners! You have until noon today to upload your card and link it to THIS POST

And without further ado - here's my card


I was super pleased with how this turned out. Usually i'm thinking there is just something that needs to be added, but this one i'm very happy with. Maybe it's because Julee makes the sketches so easy or maybe it's just because the verve stamps are so beautiful but i'm lovin how this turned out!

I used one of verve's Plain Janes. I adore this scripture! It has gotten me thru many a tough time! I stitched all the way around each piece twice. Thats right... used my sewing machine. Which means it's fixed! Thank goodness for my mom. She called me the day i posted that it broke down on me and walked me thru how to fix it! Phew. Ok, back to the card. The white thread from my machine wasnt the exact look i wanted for my card. I really wanted a beaten look to it to symbolize the depths of the scripture. To acheive this look, after stitching i took some gray/brown chalk and a poof ball and ran it over the stitching. i chalk inked all of my edges (SHOCKER!) and i even sponged my flowers and brads! I love sponging!

The patterned paper is from basic Grey's Periphery line and the cardstock is all Bazzill. The paper flowers are from prima and i *think* the brads are from a set from making memories but they were just in my brad organizer so i could be wrong. :)

Thanks for stopping bY!

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and the winner is....

And the winner of my blog candy chosen by random.jack is...

CHRISTI!

Here's her BEAUTIFUL card!



I adore her card and just love her take on the sketch. Embossing over patterened paper... love it! the lush ribbon... love it. The little added detail of ribbon and clip at the top corner LOVE IT! and of course her coloring is beautiful! I'm so happy to be showcasing her card!

Thank you so much Christi and everyone else to entered my blog candy give away. Christi, please email me your mailing address so i can get you your goodies!

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some more vervie verve & a bella!

Before i get to my cards... my hubby and i made a discovery tonight. Blueberry and Granola frozen yogurt by mayfield. HOLY COW! It so good! We ate the entire thing. And, 1 serving... less calories from fat than a class of 1% milk. Man it was good. Probably not good that we ate the whole thing. but man was it good.

Ok. Back to my posts. You know i've been doing the verve visual challenges this week in the splitcoast forum. Well, i have Thursday's and Friday's cards for you! With any luck i will get done the last one today after the wedding i'm working on today. I'm sure the hubbster wont love me racing up to my craft room as soon as i get home but i just dont see myself getting to it before i have to leave. Hmmmmmmm. We shall see.

Ok... here are my cards for the sketches...

The first i am so excited about. I love my Beautiful You set. But one of the quotes that drew me to it was this one. I love winnie the pooh. Everything about winnie the pooh! And i always have. This quote has been a long time fav as well and it always makes me think of my bff since the womb. We have rarely even lived in the same state, but we have this uncanny friendship. We can go a month (and it's been more in our busier times!) without talking. But one of us will have a bad day and the other just knows to call. Very cool. She too, loves winnie the pooh. So this card is for her!



Now, no paper says pooh bear to me like crate paper! :) I just love the whimsy yet somewhat rustic quality of crate paper. The pooh bear stamp is by All Night Media.

My next card i'm still having some issues with. I love Julee's sketches and i think this one is stunning. But my card needs something. Just not sure what. haha. I dont have a lot of verve images, so i decided to combo this challenge with another challenge from my BellaholicsAnonymous group. LeAnne (one of our lovely bella queens!) challenged us to make a bella card with no patterned paper but to emboss the background. So thats what i did. I love this bella. It was another precolored bella, so i was just working off of the colors that i already used. I embossed my background paper with the pretty paisley embossing folder and my cuddlebug. My sentiment is from Verve's Fairy Tales. There are so many good uses for this set! Very fun. This card could be saved and used for a great many things. I am stamping a thank you on the inside and including it with my cards for my Cause of the Month ! If you havent read about my Cause of the Month please do so! Every cause is a good one, but i'd love it if you'd help me out with mine!
Ok, here's the card...


Hope everyone has a fantastic day!!!

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ATS Design Team Challenge

I cant believe it's already friday!!!! This week just flew by me! I actually was pretty successful at getting some stamping done this week. Gotta love that! Tomorrow i have a wedding to do. But i have some other things to post so there will be something, for sure! :)

I've been wanting to get into the All That Scraps challenges for sometime. I have looked at them every week since i discovered their blog... but only recently started to do them. But they are fun! So you should definitely check them out. A new challenge is posted every wednesday.
This week was a sketch challenge. I'm somewhat limited on my CC designs sets (well i have 4 sets and some images from other sets). Its a "problem" i'm slowly working on to fix. haha. But i havent gotten to use my birthday set much just yet, and BONUS we have jack's giiiiiiiiiirlfriend's bithday party to go to on the 22nd. So my card is now done! Woohoo! It always feels so good to be ready for something a little early. Now if i can just remember to get her birthday present before the 21st! :)

So here is the sketch from All That Scraps. The design team has some über cute cards many of which use the sets that will very soon be released on Monday November 10th! I will never get enough of the monkeys and doggies and bears. Man of Man! They are my absolute favs of the CC designs (though Amy's are eagerly fighting for all my attention!). So dont forget to check i out and go to their forum for the release party!


So here is my take on the sketch. I just love the sentiment that comes with this set. Maybe it shouldnt be all about the presents... but come on... it's a 3 year old's birthday party. IT'S ALL ABOUT THE PRESENTS! I colored my image with copic markers and just wasnt satisfied. I jazzed it up with lots of spica pens and the whole thing just shimmers! It's SO fun. Of course none of that shows up in the photo. Bugger. But Lauren will love it and thats what really matters. :)

Thanks for peeking in again! Keep posted for a few more challenge cards i was able to knock out today!!!!

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HHH Baby, yea!

It's Hip Hop Hangover! Which i'm actually NOT that hung over from hip hop because i was about to FALL OVER last night. So i went to bed a little early and feel much more rested. :) And Jack is still asleep (gabe of course has been awake for an hour and a half, he's my early bird). Still - i have some time to post my single lonely card from yesterday's hip hop. I did not have a cooperating family yesterday, so i just chatted mostly and didnt create all that much.

Jeanne challenged us to make a one layer card. That means, no mattes, no patterened paper, no layers... just your card base and some lovely stamping. Some one layered cards (OLC) are stunning! I think i may have some work to do before i get to stunning, but i do like my stamping. I just looks like it's missing something to me. :) I've seen some one layered cards with ribbon tied around the top. I think that would help. But i wasnt sure what was allowed for the challenge so i stuck to nothin but ink!




I used my giggle grove set from UNITY. LOVE this set. And i hadnt had a chance to get it inky yet. This was my splurge from a few hip hops ago. It was on sale (everything was 25% off, and you gotta love that). Rach was ordering... rach owed me some money... i had rach buy it for me so i wouldnt feel like i was spending anything. nice. :) But seeing as i rarely see that girl in person anymore (YEAH THATS RIGHT, I'M CALLING YOU OUT!) it took me a minute to get it. Hehe. Ok, dont think i'm totally dogging on one of my best friends. She's über preggo and not feeling that well so she stays home a lot. Can you blame her?

Ok, i have nothing else to say about my card seeing as it's 1 layer. Um... i colored it with copics? I'm sure you already knew that. haha.

Ok, go figure, Gabe just fell asleep and within the same minute Jack woke up. Do they do this on purpose? Ok, quickly 1 more thing... but i have a blog candy announcement for you!

Starving artist is giving away an über cute christmas set. it's $32 bucks worth of stamps. nice huh? Check out this post for some more details and to see the stamps. Oh are they cute or what?!?

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Bellas and Hip Hop... Oh MY!

Ok, so i finally did my own challenge! Now i can enter myself into my own blog candy. haha. Ok, no i wont, that would be silly!
I put together this card in literally about 5 minutes. What the heck took me so long to get it done? Easy sketch already planned out.... and yet i hadnt done it until yesterday. Silly me. Now my bella lovin' sistah's right now are saying how the heck did i put together a bella card in 5 minutes?! I cheated. I like to color... a lot. So much that sometimes it's all i want to do. So i stamp out some bellas and color them in and then they go in a little file. It's nice because when i dont necessarily have the time to color but i want to use a fun image like that, i just pull on out of the colored file and a card takes minutes, literally! So thats what i did here. Yep, thats right, i'm making you go BACK to another post to see the card. Sneaky like that, i am! (wow i just sounded like yoda). But i want you to check out the post because i have some BLOG CANDY going on there!

Ok - and now onto important thursday matters... IT'S HIP HOP! Now you know i love to hip hop. If you dont know about hip hop... check out Unity's BLOG and meet us in the forum

Every wednesday Unity has a challenge. This week is was Lisa's turn to choose the challenge and she chose an inspiration challenge - (and a tough on at that!) We had to go off of this picture...
We could use this photo in any way we wanted for inspiration. I had 1 idea, but wanted to do something a little different. Thats when my bud Rachel said i should try to do all 4 plates somehow because no one had done that. So thats exactly what i did. Rach is my mojo. haha. I was hating how each piece was turning out (except for my red butterfly, i was fairly pleased with that one). So i chose the "he makes everything beautiful in its time" sentiment from something within because i was thinking... well this card can just be beautiful in it's own little way. However when i put all the pieces together, i decided i kinda liked it. hahaha.
So here's my card. I used a 2.5 inch square to represent each plate. The bird and swirls (that i used on each square to make it a little more cohesive) are from Growing in Unity. The butterfly is from Butterfly beauty and my dragonfly is from Trifle Sentiments. The leaves behind the dragonfly is from gratitude=joy. Now thats a lot of stamps! Each 2.5 square is matted on a square of blong paper by bazzill. Thats supposed to be the gold lining around the plate. :)

And thats my card! Now come join us in the HIP HOP!

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A post before bed - Verve Visuals day 2 of holiday release challenges

Ok... so i'm making a post before bed and then i must sleep! I've been ready to fall over all day. Where was my hubby today? Working hard? Nope. fishing. all day. FISHING! I called to check in at 4 ish and he said about an hour. So i said ok. Then he called later to just let me know it was taking them longer (issues with the boat, then stopping for food, etc). He got home around 7 and thought i hated him. I said no hate... just a looooooong day. He felt bad. So maybe at some point this weekend i'll get some me time.

Anyhoo -

today is day 2 of the verve challeges over at splitcoast. Can i just say that i LOVE Julee's sketches? They look beautiful themself and they arent even a card! I'm jealous, i'll say it. You can see the sketch and challenge for today here as well as check out everyone else's cards.

Here's mine...


I actually had my grandmother in mind as i made this card. Dont think this looks very grandmother-ish? You've never met my grandmother! She's about a Sassy McFrassy as they come. Pins her hair just right every morning and puts on her face (makeup). She's turns 94 this november. I cant believe it! She's actually ailing from a broken rib right now, so maybe i should have made it a get well card! Anyhoo - this is my new set from verve and i wanted to use it anyway. :)

The set is Birthday Surprise. I colored in my bird and birthday package with copic markers. Then just for the kick of it, i tried shading around the entire edge of white cardstock and faded it out with the blender. You cant see too much of it (especially in the photo) but you can see it a smidge in person. I was just curious to see what the effect would be. :) I then doodled around the edge ust for fun. I layered my image piece of a piece of cardstock (scrap, so i dont know what color, sorry) that i ran thru the cuddlebig using the divine swirl embossing folder. And placed some brads from spare parts. The purple patterned paper is by american crafts. Everything else is pretty self explainatory! :)

Check back in tomorrow morning (which no one will probably read this before then!) because it's thursday which means it's time to HIP HOP!) I'll post my unity wednesday challenge card while caffienating in the morning. Then it'll be off to take jack to school, grocery shop, go to the TuTu doctor and THEN i'll get to be back to hip hop! YIPPIEE!

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Verve Visuals Holiday Release Sketch 1

Julee of Verve Visuals has the best sketches! They are always so easy, but turn out so great! Love em!

Verve Visuals is getting ready to release some new sets! So in gearing up for this, There are sketches everyday this week over in their splitcoast forum! And each day she uses her sketch to provide a sneak peek of one of the new sets. What a fun way to do sneakie peeks, right? Bonus, they will give a set away to 1 person for each sketch! AND if you do all 5 (which is my goal) you get put in another entry to win ALL the new releases!

Ok, so here's day one... you can read about it here and here's my card...



I decided i wanted to use this card to add to the collection for my CAUSE OF THE MONTH. If you dont know about my cause of the month, please read this post! I could really use your help in getting thank you cards ready for this fabulous organization! When thinking of what verve set to use for this sketch, this sentiment really stood out to me! What better way to say thank you but to tell someone what a huge difference they've made! I can really see this as becoming one of my new fav sentiments! It came from Verve Visuals Fairy Tales set. First let me say i adore the font that Verve uses on the majority of their sets. It's so beautiful! Top that with the superb quality of their stamps and get you such a fantastic detailed image. Love it! The sentiment and underlying flourish are separate and since their stamps are clear, you can get a perfect placement. And ya gotta love that!

Other deets for the card...
The patterened paper is from Basic Grey's Ambrosia line. Man i love this paper. I've been so afraid to use it! But this sketch of Julee's was perfect because it really showcases the paper. She designed this sketch to make quick holiday cards. It's an easy one to mass produce. but i think it's a great way to show some pretty paper! For my sentiment i wanted it to match the slightly distressed color in the patterened paper so i pulled out some inks that i thought were similar to those found in the paper (CTMH's baby pink, créme brulee and a wee bit of juniper) and sponged them in. I think it made it match pretty nicely! All of my edges from the card base to the mats to the patterened paper is inked with cat's eye chalk ink in charcoal. I can rarely get away from not using cat's eye chalks on anything! Love them! And it always gives the perfect edge in my book.
Since i deviated from the sketch a bit and did not put a sentiment in the lower left hand corner, i decided to add a punched butterfly (from my fav martha stewart punch). I also used stampin up's photo corner punch to adorn the top of my card and some black grosgrain ribbon. And thats my card!

Thanks for looking! Keep checking back - i've got lots going on today! I still want to do the Unity Pre Hip Hop challenge and i need to do my own sketch still!!!! Dont forget to enter my blog candy!!!! :)

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2nd post for the day - All That Scraps Challenge #24

Ok, so i know i said i'd be back with my card for my sketch... but i lied. Well, not entirely. I will be back with that, but i had started this project yesterday and i wanted to finish it (and clean off my craft table!) before i started on a new project. Even though i'm not currently on any design teams, i still feel like i have so much crafting to do this week! WHy? Because everyone has new stamp releases coming out and with these sneak peeks i want them all! And it seems like each company has challenges, and sketches, and prizes to be won! Oh i love it! So, with the recent no spending and use up what i have motto (imposed much more so by my husband than myself), the opportunity to win the stamps means a happier husband. haha. If not, i'm just going to seriously try to work some magic because all these new releases are steller!

Ok, back to my project...

Who says halloween has to be over after october? I had an idea to do something cute with a box and halloween pictures so when i read the All That Scraps challenge for this week (read the blog entry here) i thought, oh this will be perfect!

So i made my pizza box using this tutorial and then used some images from the september CC Designs releases. I colored my little "bat bear" with copic markers and used patterned paper from reminisce.


For the inside i put together a sort of "jacob's ladder" only much simpler. To do this, i simply cut square pieces of chipboard to fit inside the box. I connected them using pieces of grosgrain ribbon. My ribbon does not run down each chipboard square though it looks like it does. I cheated and just used strips about an inch and a half long and glued them to the chipboard using fabritac (which is a super strong adhesive, acid free, but bonds ribbon to paper like cement!). Then i topped each piece of chipboard (front and back) with a piece of black cardstock. Then i decorated each square piece (front and back)

So when you open the box you see this...


And as you lift the ladder (using ribbon i looped on the top piece) you see the ladder of different chipboard squares. Keep in mind there are no photos. Each year i will add the halloween photo from that year. By the time the boys are about 10, it will be full! But i can always add more pieces. The backside will have photos as well. But i wanted you to see the project without photos since i only have a couple of years to put on there for now!
Here's a picture of the ladder...


and here's 2 photos so you can see what the ladder (which is removable) looked like.



Thanks for stopping by for a 2nd time today!

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BLOG CANDY - 10,000 hits!

So i peeked into my blog this morning literally because i was curious at what my hit counter was at. I knew it was close to 10k, so i was going to see if it was there. And to my surprise... it's at 9,999.

Now i wish there was a way i could know who peeks at it when it's at exactly 10k. I would give that person a prize! hehe. How fun would that be. And my counter may even be beyond the exact 10k by the time i finish this post, depending on who is doing their morning coffee blogging. I know i'm not the only one who does that!

But unfortunately, i dont think i have any way of knowing who the exact person is... so i'm going to do some blog candy instead.

I will be giving away a stamp set from Sassafrass Lass along with some other embellies and such (still need to take the picture... i'll add it in here later) but instead of just doing a post a comment candy, i think i'll do something a little different. here's a sketch i created this morning...



Complete the sketch by midnight on Sunday November 9th and link it back to here in the comment section. I will do a random winner of all entries received!

Feel free to use whatever stamps and such that you wish.

I will link up my card (that i havent created yet... woops) here in a bit! :)

ETA:  WOOPS, took me a little longer to get this linked up than i thought it would!  Here's my card...

It took me 5 minutes, IF that!  I used a colored image i had on file.  You see, i love to color so much that sometimes it's all i want to do.  So i do.  I stamp some stuff out and just color away, but those poor images never get made into cards.  I save them all, and on occasion when i need a quick card, i just pull one out.  And sometimes i send them off to friends inside cards, etc.  Well, this time fashionista finally got used!  When she first arrived in my inky hands i couldnt wait to color her so i did right away.  Now i've made cards with her since, but didnt use this image.  And now she was used.  She's so happy, cant you tell?  haha.  She's NOT colored with copics!  I dont think i owned any yet when i got her.  So this is my OLD coloring method.  haha.  I still like it, even if it isnt blended as well as the copics.  I used Marvy Uchida LePlume markers on her (with probably blush blossom from Stampin Up for her skin).  In some ways the LePlume markers are really nice for the bellas because 1 side has a super fine tip that can get into those beautiful (but extremely tiny!) details on the bellas.  

Other Deets - soft sky cardstock (SU), patterned paper (american crafts), flower stamp to make background (CTMH), sentiment stamp is by Autumn Leaves.

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Someone forgot to tell the baby!

Ok... someone forgot to tell the baby that we got to set our clocks back an hour. This should have been the happiest morning i've had in awhile because i got an extra hour of sleep, but oh no... Baby woke up right at his normal time and as much as i tried to jsut lay in bed and put a pacifier in his mouth, he wasnt having it. He wanted up! *sigh* No rest for the weary. So we're up while the rest of my house slumbers on. The thing that really stinks is here in the next 20 minutes or so, Gabe will go back to sleep for an hour. But now i've been up for over an hour so i'm not going to be able to fall back asleep myself. Such is life.

But i figure since i'm up, i'll post a scrapbook layout i did a little over a week ago and just never posted on here yet. I was trying to decide whether to add something so i just didnt post it. I'd still like to add a picture of my hubby and i with the kiddos. But my printer hasnt been working. So anyway, here's the layout...



I used my Unity stamps that i WON from the stamp something challenge blog. Erin was so sweet and even made me a little card to congratulate me on my winnings. Teehee. Anyhoo - i won the two people in love kit. It's such a fabulous kit! I just love it. And i thought the sentiment would go so sweet with the pictures of my 2 babies! Besides the sentiment, i also used the argyle heart which i cut out and then popped up (twice) on the layout. I also used the "love" sentiment with my white daisy close to my heart pigment ink and stamped it right over my photo. :)

The blue box was reserved to put another photo but i may add it someplace else and journal in the box. I just havent decided yet! :) So many possibilities! In fact, i may even use this kit again with the same idea for something i have in mind for my entryway. Do you see the wheels in my head turning?

Other deets:
Patterned Paper by Daisy Bucket (LOVE this paper company)
Cardstock: Cajun (Bazzill), Parakeet (Bazzill), Soft Sky (SU)
Ink: Cranberry (CTMH), White Daisy (CTMH), Barn Red (CTMH)
Stamps: Unity Stamp Co two people in love

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Chocolate is a food group!

I love this sentiment stamp from Sweet N Sassy stamps! And after the week filled with candy and sweets, i sure hope it's a food group!

This month marks the 1 year anniversary for Sweet N Sassy stamps! WOOHOO! I think it's so amazing when someone can take their dream and turn it into a lucrative business! Maybe that's just because i would like to someday have my own stamps myself!
Anyhoo - back to Sweet N Sassy! This month many of their stamps are 15-25% off all month long and even bigger bonus, if you spend $50 you not only get free shipping but you also get a free stamp set! Now thats a good deal! Design team members will also be giving away blog candy every saturday this month until the last saturday where Korin (the designer and owner) will be giving away the motherload of 6 free stamp sets! You can read all about thei deals and steals and special happenings of the month here



I stamped my little trio of sweets from the chocoholic set witch rich cocoa memento ink on Colonial White cardstock (from close to my heart). Then i colored the chocolate in with copic markers (which Sweet N Sassy is also now carrying for a great price of 4.95 each.) Then i stamped my sentiment (from the same set) in Chocolate (how appropriate) ink from close to my heart. I sponged around the edges using vintage photo distress ink from rangers.
I used my photocorner punch from stampin up and some chocolate cardstock to frame my image. I also used patterened paper from Basic Grey (also sponged with vintage photo) and aqua mist cardstock from Papertrey Ink which was inked with Chestnut Roan cat's eye chalk ink. Other additions are cocoa textured cardstock from paper bouquet, chocolate twill ribbon from papertrey ink and bellas baubles from stamping bella

Thanks for looking and dont forget to check out my new blog addition - Cause of the Month!

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