It's a beautiful day!

A beautiful day in so many ways!

First, it is literally just gorgeous outside! Bright, sunny, warm with a light breeze.

Perfect!

Then I had a date this afternoon... with my 4 year old. He chose to go to sonic.

We ordered our hot dogs, tots and slushies and proceeded to just chat and eat in the car.

He says to me, "Mama, i never knew eating in the car could be so much fun!"

Perfect!

Some members of the PMS design team are getting the recognition

that they definitely deserve!

Randee's sprout silouette card made the front page of Splitcoast's Facebook Page and the Makeup for the Weekend post with Christi, Lisa, Gabby, Tina and Dawn's cards made the Best of the Blogosphere post on www.cardoftheweek.com!

Perfect!

And after some more playing outside with the family, i come inside and check out some of my daily blog visits and i see that my sweet, awesome and talented friend, Gabby, has given me a blog award!

Perfect!

And now i get to honor 10 more peeps who deserve this award!

PERFECT!

and then i realize... only 10?! I can pick only 10?!?!?!

ok, that part is not so perfect! Seriously!

Ok, so with a bit of a heavy heart of not picking EVERYONE and i'm not picking any of the PMS design team since i cant pick them all, but please feel free to check them out too!

here's 10 people i totally *heart*

1. Ginny

2. Elaine

3. Tracey

4. Pam

5. Kristie

6. Anita

7. Tracey (different one!)

8. Dawn

9. Jessica

10. Jessica (yep, a different one!)

And now... i think the fam is going out for ice cream!

PERFECT!!!!!

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My Copic Color Theory with My Time Made Easy

What a long strange week it's been! Ok, so not so strange, just the typical beginning of the month! For those that joined me at the PMS party last night! I had a blast!

All of the april Paper makeup Stamps are up on the site! You can check them out, HERE.

But this post, is not about PMS. This post is all about My Time! Ahh! You know, i hate to admit it, but i really look forward to the time to use other stamps. *gasp* i know!

And the My Time Made Easy stamps are fabulouso, so who wouldnt love them! haha!

Today is the 8th day of reveals from MTME - so each team member has something fun to share with you today! You should start at Lauren's blog and check them all out!

Here is my project to share with you using the Slip Cover © template.

Oh My HEAVENS! I had no idea how much i was going to love this template until I put this project together lickity split! The slight curvey wave just really sets it apart from other "standard" boxes and SO MUCH can go in there! The rest of the design team has cooked up some winners that you'll have to browse thru this week. It's the perfect size box for cards. I mean like a glove perfect! but so much more can go in there! Recipes! (man do i just have cooking on the brain... i am hungry... hmmmmm) Photos! And more goodies!

After cutting the base and lid of the template using my SCAL from Couture Cardstock (this pretty grey color is called Gumshoe) and the decorative mat layer from One Sheet Wonder cardstock by Couture Cardstock, i created my own patterned paper yet again using the Petal Perfections set. Only this time instead of just coloring in the outer line, i colored in the whole flower (using R22, R24 and R29). Then i took a gelly roll stardust pen in a dark silver and filled in the outline. And Boy does it sparkle!!! I added a grey pearl from basic grey to the center of each flower.

I created another panel for the front of the base and created the same patterned paper. I printed my title block from the computer and ll my white paper edges were sponged with Fired brick distress ink. A simple black satin ribbon tied around the base (but partially covered by that oh so cool curve) completes the look.

Since tonight I'm teaching a color theory class to the copic club at Funkie Munkie Scraps, i decided it would be way fun to have a little holder for my color theory cards. What's better, i could use MTME stamps to CREATE my color theory cards!

Here's what the case looks like opened up. Let me tell you, a LOT of these index cards (they arent "index" cards, but reference cards. Size is 4.25 x 5.5) can fit in here! I'm just showing you 2 in this photo below!

So what is color theory and how can you create your own color theory cards?

Color Theory is a set of principles used to create harmonious color combinations.

In my class i'll be using a color wheel to explain a few basic principles of color theory, and how it can help you when stamping. This is just to show the beginning of color theory. :)

Making yourself reference cards is a great way to help you find a little more dazzle in your stamping. You may find that you are stuck in a rut, or always use the same colors. Having reference cards of other harmonious colors to a tried and true favorite, might help you break out of that rut.

In the above photo you'll see that i stamped a flower from the Petal Perfections set.

NOTE: If you plan on doing a lot of these, now would be a FABULOUS time to purchase and use the Petal Perfections digital set!

I stamped the medium flower at the top and colored it in with the main color for this reference card. Then i stamped 3 flowers below in one of the smaller flowers. You can use this row in 1 of 2 ways... both of which will seem very similar if not the same.

Way 1: Create a Color Scheme of Analogous Colors (colors that would be side by side on color wheel)

Way 2: Fill these in with your favorite shading colors

The bottom row i stamped 3 flowers again.

Way 1: Use this row to color in the complementary color (a complementary color is one that is opposite of the color on a color wheel) and then also it's tertiary colors (colors that create a triangle on the color wheel.

Way 2: If the above sounds all together too confusing, thats ok! Fill this row in with colors that you like to use with the above color. For example, if you main color is Y21, Well guess what, B21 and G21 both look very good with it. You could chose which ever colors are appealing to you.

So thats my project!

I encourage you to try it out too!

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It's a PMS blog hop!

It's the 7th! That means it's time for a PMS blog hop!

Every month of the 7th, Paper Makeup Stamps has a release. And every morning on the 7th, the Paper Makeup Artists join together in a blog hop!

Every blog has a letter. Hop along in the order provided during the hop and you'll get a phrase that is your code to get 15% off the entire release. If you don't feel like following our order, no worries, just use the links provided in the sidebar. You just might have some word unscrambling to do! My letter for you is....

Now if you forget that... nevermind, you won't. :D

Today each design team member is showing off one of the new "foodie" stamps!

I'm showcasing one of the apron combos (it's a build an apron set!) called Tina's Kitchen.

The sentiment is also from this set. :D

This is my recipe holder! I love making those big wooden clothespins into recipe holders for the kitchen. It's a great way to not get food splattered all over your index cards. You can use any size... this one happens to be a little monstorous, but i thought it was so fun and it was only 2.99 at AC moore. :D Those who have been following my blog for awhile might remember THIS VERSION i made for my sister. :) That post also give a little bit more of a step by step picture tutorial.

For the above recipe holder, i did not do any crackle. I simply painting it 1 coat of red acrylic paint. The wood grain came thru a little bit, which i decided i really liked, so i left it be. However, one of my favoritist things when working with bare wood is antiquing medium. it can be found in the same aisle of the craft store as the acrylic paint. It's a little bit more "gelly" like than paint and takes longer to dry. Just use a sponge... get it wet but wring ALL the water out. Then brush the antiquing medium along all your edges to give a more worn look. It's like sponging the edges of a card. :D

Now i wanted to give this a little something extra, so i ran some dotted ribbon (SU) up and down both sides. here's a more "aerial view".

Now to the part that is actually from this release! :D Tina's Kitchen is a super fun new set with various apron bits that you can custom put together to create your apron. Whether you want a more male apron, girlie apron, etc. There is also a few fun sentiments to go with the set.

This set works pretty seamlessly with the other foodie stamps being released. If you're doing the blog hop, you're getting to check them out. if you have jus come to my blog... you need to go back to the beginning at the PMS blog!

Now it's time to hop to Shaela, the designer of this awesome set!

Dont forget our release party is tonight at 8pm CST in our FORUM! Hope to see you there!

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let's rock! PMS sneak peeks day 3!

Are you ready to rock?! Well, i think i'm ready to sleep after this week of fun spring breakness.

So much that i was unable to muster the mojo to make this card until THIS MORNING!

I actually got up early before the kiddos were up... once i got the java in me, it wasnt so bad waking up an hour before everyone else. Perhaps i should do this more often. It's so quiet!

In any case, thank HEAVENS for good sketches! Sketches are by far my favorite challenges, especially when the mojo is lacking! Today i used the Just Us Girls sketch challenge 27!

Here's my card

I love this little guy! He reminds me of my boys who LOVE their drum set. We had to move the drum set to our porch just so we wouldnt have to hear it all hours of the day! Specific times only! But i love that they love all things music, and that they are just a little punky. :D

For my card i used DCWV Rockstar paper. It's a foil paper, so i got some nice glare goin' on in my photo. I didnt end up doing the scallops that were in the sketch. I thought my star punch was a little larger than it is. I thought, how clever i'll be with huge stars propping up the end of my card instead of scallops. When i busted out my star punch, i was very disappointed. Looks like i'll be buying those star nesties afterall! hahahaha!

Here's a quick close up view of milo, jammin' out!

This image color with copics is a really good example of how different the grey copics are! Milo himself has been colored with warm grey markers (W0, W1, W3) while the drums were color with neutral grey markers - my go to for black (N8, N6, N4) while the rims of the drums were colored with a cool grey marker to give the look of cold metal (C1). The skin of the drum was colored with E40 and then i blended it in with E000. But when that looked WAY too peachy in combo with all the grey's i went over the skin again with W0. It didnt take the peach out entirely, but it toned it down. Using any grey copic in a 0 or 1 is a great way to tone down a to bright of a color. :)

So thats what i have for you today! Soon it's going to be time to wake up the munchkin's as i actually have to get Jack ready for school today after a week and a half of not having school!

I dont know whether to rejoice or be sad. Spring break was fun, but yesterday was about overload on the crazy too much candy from easter, so I think this 3 hour break while he's in preschool will be lovely. :D

Dont forget to go to the PMS blog to see the creations from the design team and to see what else is being released ON THE 7th! Thats tomooooooorrrrrooooooow!

We'll have a blog hop in the morning, and then everything goes live on the site at 8pm CST. We'll have a chat with some giveaways, some games, and as always, lots of fun chatter!

Please join us! Party starts at 8pm CST in our Forum!

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Wishing you a birthday thats just your style! PMS sneak peek day 2!

Hello and welcome to another wonderful and fabulous day of sneak peeks from Paper Makeup Stamps!

Today team members are peeking a new set called Oo La La designed by Shaela Odd.

This set is SO MUCH FUN! I can see myself using it over and over again! It has 3 fun corsets and a slew of super fun sentiments to match it. Some of the sentiments are "thanks for your support", "Just thought you could use a lift", "Of Corsets your birthday!", just to give you an idea! LOTS of fun possibilities with this one! You really should go over to the PMS blog to see them all!

But here is my card!

Isnt that image so much fun! I chose to use the frilliest corset, but there are 2 others. truly i love them all!

I stamped my image and then cut it out using the Labels 4 Nestablities Die by Spellbinders.

I then airbrushed inside the nestie using my copic airbrush and a marker i custom blended using R81 refill and Colorless blender ink (its just a lighter version of the R81 color). It actually shows up much nicer in person than in the photo.

My background piece of grey cardstock (from Hobby Lobby by The Paper Studio) was embossed with one of the Stampin Up texture plates. and yep, i used it in my cuddlebug so they are compatible.

I used the labels 4 die again (larger size) to cut another piece to add soem dimension. The outer edge was decorated with some liquid pearls .

Some super pretty ribbon by American Crafts and bling by Studio G finish off my card.

My sentiment is actually a single sentiment that is also being released on the 7th.

I added it to the inside of my card...

I used the same Stampin Up texture plate before cutting out my grey piece. and again the white cardstock with sentiment was airbrushed to match the design on the front of the card.

So thats what i have for you today!

Dont forget to check out what the other team has done on the PMS Blog and if you havent voted in the TGF Battle of the Stamper, dont forget you only have until tuesday! See all the cards HERE (mine is in there too! :D )

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Paper Makeup Stamps April Sneak Peeks Begin!

This is my 2nd post for the day!

Today is the first day for the sneak peeks from Paper Makeup Stamps!

Today the team is showing off some fairies and wordart! Check out the PMS blog to get more details on how you can win them! (ok, so you just need to leave a comment on the blog!)

But you can also see some sneaks from some very talented ladies!

Here is my card using Greg!

Now many of you know, Greg is the name of my hubby. Last month during the release party we were playing a little game to guess how many of the stamps were named after family members. And i released i didn't even have one after my own hubby! So this stamp had to be born.

Now my hubby doesnt have that much hair. In fact he has very little these days! But he cuts it very short. :) His thought was that maybe i should focus on his younger days. haha. Well this fits perfectly with the shaggy long hair, hoodie jacket and tall socks. Too fun! I even decided to color his hair red (my hubby is naturally a blonde, but he too has had lots of fun dying his hair and for quite some time, he dyed it red!)

Here is a closer view...

I did a little bit of doodling highlights using a white souffle pen (by Sakura, same as the gelly roll) but since it's a "souffle" pen, it's a little softer than the strong white gel pen. I like this effect for high lights. :) but i do always seem to forget it!

All the edges of my card were distressed using a CTMH edge distresser. The carsdtock for the image was also sponged with Antique Linen Distress ink.

Now here's something else i dont do very often... decorate the inside of my cards.

I'm really not sure why, other than leaving the space open inside leaves room for whatever i might want to use the card for. However, since I knew i wanted to give this card to my hubby, i wanted a special sentiment for the inside.

I chose one of the wordarts, The Most Important Thing, we released in January in honor of valentine's day. However, i think this wordart can be used any time of the year.

I kept with the distressed feeling and distressed all my edges. Once i got to my sentiment, i couldnt find the edge distresser so i just used my finger nail. Not quite as distressed, but so much more worth while than searching for 30 minutes. :)

So thats my sneak peek for ya! Dont forget to check out the rest of the design team HERE!

Leave a comment, and you could win the whole release.

Also, join the PMS team in a release party on the 7th at 8pm CST. We'll have give aways, chatter, games and a whole lot more!

Whew. Ok, one last thing, this is my 2nd post for the day, and I'm kinda proud of my card (mainly because it's a technique i've been a little too chicken to try) so keep scrolling down to check it out!

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My very first Easel Card!!!

I did it! I made an easel card!

I have been wanting to make one of these bad boys, but would either forget, or be too intimidated, or not have enough time, mojo, etc.

Well, there's nothing like a challenge to make ya do something!

The Greeting Farm is having a little battle of the stampers challenge!

Ok, "little" is not the right word. it's kinda HUGE! There were over 60 teams to start, all with 3-5 stampers per team! Thats a lot of stampers!

My team is named Coast to Coast Stampers since we all live pretty much across the country from each other! Gotta love the online crafting community!

Each week a different team member must complete the challenge and this week it was my turn!

The challenge was to make an easel card! So make one i did! (and it was a lot of fun!)

Here is my card...

I used one of the Wild Sprouts named Stella. I love this girl! The stamp makes me want to cut my hair it's so stinkin' cute! Then i remember i dont LIKE my hair short. hahahah!

Here's a view of the "easel" aspect of the card. By the way, i followed THIS TUTORIAL for my easel card. :)

I used My Mind's Eye paper from the Quite Contrary line. LOVE this paper! It's double sided so you can see both sides on my card (the polka dot is one side and the argyle is the other.

I also decided to paper piece her dress, but then her arms seemed to get lost so i stamped her arms again and layered them on soem foam adhesive so they would actually sit higher than the paper pieced dress.

For my sentiment, i wanted something a little "lovey" since Stella is holding an envie sealed with a heart. Then i remembered this sentiment from the Keep Cozy set (which is actually a set with snowmen, but this sentiment was perfect!)

Ok, so here's my little catch for this post. The battle of the stampers is a voting contest! Now i'm not saying you have to vote for my card. but i know that i will really feel terrible if my Tangii (3rd team player for the Coast to Coast Stampers) never gets to play, so if you do like my card, and would like to vote... you can do so HERE. :)

THanks so so much for stopping by today! A little later i'll have my sneak peek post up for Paper Makeup Stamps! :)

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just playing...

Well it has been BEYOND gorgeous here! So after a busy work day on thursday, i promised the kiddos that we would have a day of fun on friday! We we went out for ice cream and took the (very busy!) park downtown. I decided, beautiful days are not the days for me to take the boys downtown by myself. At least not if we plan to stop and play as both boys would see something they wanted to check out and it was always at the same time and in opposite directions!

Mama about had a heart attack a few times. But all was well and we had LOADS of fun!

I also am slowly trying to take over my husbands camera. :) My little point-n-shoot is fine and takes pictures just fine, but i want to take some WOW pictures. So very slowly i'm learning this thing. One day i'll just bling it out with rhinestones so that my hubby will never want to touch it again! :) BWAHAHAHAHAA!

here are some photos I took...

Now i realize these aren't professional quality by any means, but I'm having a lot of fun learning the camera and hopefully some day, i'll get there! :D

Be sure to check in tomorrow... i will have not one but 2 posts for you! :)

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A little something for you with the Pick of the Petals template from My Time Made Easy!

It's my special day to share a template with you for My Time Made Easy. I decided I really wanted to use the Pick of the Petals template but i was PETRIFIED! The top, while stunning, look complicated! And here I am, a design team member (still a little dumbfounded on that one) for My Time Made Easy and I'm supposed to be one of the ones showing people what it's supposed to look like! What if it didnt look right? Or at least didn't look good! How could i think of a fun way to use it other than a stunning box. Well, I cam up with an idea to use it as a cupcake holder, but still needed to put it together. It came together SO easy! And it was adorable! And now, i'm going to show my little project, and how YOU can turn it into a cupcake holder too! :)

Let's start with the template... First i use out my base pieces using Couture Cardstock in Brandenburg... a deliciously beautiful pink that isnt too bright, but isnt too muted either. A truly fabulous color. The base came together in literally like a minute and a half. SO easy. I printed some of the Pretty Printables digi paper from the Fresh Fabric, collection 2 pack.

Quick FYI, there are 3 packs of the Fresh Fabric paper that coordinates PERFECTLY with couture cardstock colors. You can buy 1 or buy them all and then head over to couturecardstock.com to get your matchy matchy cardstock! They have great shipping prices too!

After printing off the fresh fabric paper, i decided i wanted just a smidgen more punch. So i took one of the flowers from the Take Time stamp set and stamped out some flowers in Melon mambo ink from Stampin Up. I stamped the flower multiple times before reinking so it appears that i've used 3 different ink colors, when i've really just used one. I then added a little pearl to the center of each flower. The edges were sponged with Distress ink in Victorian Velvet.

Now came the top.... the part that was scaring the life out of me. And i was desperately wanting to get it finished before the baby woke up! Well guess what, i was unsuccessful since i FORGOT to cut the top piece 2 times. Remember to read the directions! :) As i had gone back into the SCAL program (yep, i had closed it all down) to cut another one, the gabe-n-ator woke up and was not very happy i was just leaving him in is crib. So the fact that the top came together so easy with a baby on my lap means that anyone can do this! The top is a little more pushed in on one side, thanks to gabe "helping" with the glue. if thats all the damage that is done, then you know you've got an easy template!!!

Speaking of the top....

Look at that top! I just think that it's so fun and different! and it really is easy to do! My helpful advice is i was having trouble getting it to stay popped in. And my button on top wasnt giving it enough pressure to push off of. So before pushing it all the way in, i added a bit of fabritac glue and then pushed it in and added my button. This was enough to hold it fine! Too bad this was the point that gabe had already seen me push and poke the top to get it to stay and thought it needed another bap. Well this glue decided to hold the bap in too. hahahahaha.

I sponged the edges of the top (after it was assembled) with distress ink in Spun Sugar.

Now let's move on to the INSIDE of the holder...

First let me say that i visited a little local cupcake cafe (thats what the sign called it!) called Iced. They have lots of cutie patootie cupcakes in there. You can have decorating parties. Oh, how it made me want to have a little girl! hahah! But the boys did have fun picking out cupcakes and Jack actually picked out the one with the cherry for my "pwojet". He said it was pink, and girls like pink. Smart boy.

Now i wanted to get this cupcake home in 1 piece! And i know myself, and could see the catastrophe waiting to happen. So i asked if they had a little box. Well, they did, but it would cost me .75¢. FOR A BOX?! That wasnt even decorated cute?! I was going to make a WAY cuter box at home, and i probably would have less than 75¢ worth of paper in it. But, i did want to get the cupcake HOME, so yes, i'd take the box.

So i looked at this box to see what made it so stinkin' special. Inside the box, there was a little holder. Just made out of the same cardboard, but it held the cupcake in place so that it would fall over and get the frosting all smushed. Smart thinkin' i thought! It was just a circle cut out of the center with extra little cut outs where your fingers could gently lift the cupcake out without harming it. Well, i thought, i can TOTALLY make that! So i did!

There is actually another little cutout like the one you can clearly see in the picture directly across from it on the other side, but that yummy frosting is in the way of the picture. :)

So what did i do? I cut out the base part of the template that had the bottom on it. And then I cut that separate from the template leaving about a 1 inch extra flap that would have folded up to be the side of the holder. Then i took a circle nestie (a large circle punch would work too if you had one large enough, this ended up being about 2 inches in diameter) which i then just cut the circle right smack dab out of the center of the hexagon.

Now it was time for those little "finger holes". Well that was an easy fix too. I took a circle punch (i think the size was 1 1/8th that i grabbed, but somewhere around that size works fine, it doesnt need to be exact) and then punched not quite a half circle coming out of the already cut hole in the center and then did that same thing to the other side. Try to get them as directly across from each other as you can. Think if you were reaching in with your index finger and thumb to lift the cupcake out. :)

You can then either adhere the center piece to the inside of the holder or just let that extra flap (folded down) just help to leave some space from the bottom of the holder. In a more perfect world, you might have the same size flap on the other side, but this worked out fine.

So how easy was that! And WAY cuter than the plain box i had to pay 75¢ for!

Now as you already saw in the very first picture, I used a stamp from the Just for You stamp set. I kept the sentiment "generic" on the holder because the recipient might want to reuse the box and this way it would suit many purposes. But the card i decided to make more specific for the cause (people dont reuse cards.. or at least they shouldnt! haha!)

My card is very simple and matches the overall feel of the cupcake box. I used the same Brandenburg Fresh Fabric paper and stamped on top of it with one of the Take Time flowers.

And then i added basic grey opaline pearls to the center of the flowers for a little pop.

The edges of the paper were sponged again with Distress ink in Victorian Velvet. And i tied the same Melon Mambo ribbon around my card that I had tied around my cupcake box lid.

My sentiment for the card is also from the Just For You set. I used the long rectangle nestabilities (on both the card and cupcake box front) to cut out my sentiment. Ink used for the sentiment is Melon Mambo by Stampin Up and the edges were sponged with Distress ink in Spun Sugar. My final addition to the card was to add Plum Pearls by kaisercraft to the upper left hand corner and lower right hand corner.

WHEW! That took a whole heck of a lot longer to type than it did to actually create! Isnt that the way it always goes! I swear i spend more time saying what i do than i actually do! hahaha! Perhaps i should learn to tell less stories. kinda like my mom always telling me as a kid, "stay focused, get to the point of your story". Ahhhh, some things never change.

Be sure to check out Lauren's blog today as well as you has new treats for you every day this week! Thanks so much for stopping by everyone! It means the world to me!

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April 1st and the My Time Made Easy release is postponed...

APRIL FOOLS! Ok, i hope i didnt really throw anyone there. I bet a lot of people are making these little goofy april fools jokes today in blog land. haha.

Well, of course the My Time Made Easy release is NOT postponed but in full swing! Today each design team member has made 4 cards to share! Isnt that fun?! See, MTME isnt just for templates! There are all kinds of things you can do! I decided to focus my cards on the Just For You stamp set which has just been released TODAY! And it's also being released in a Digi format! Seriously, it's a GREAT set that is fun, cute, whimsical and very very useful! To be honest, my favorite cards and treats to give are the ones that are for no reason at all. The "just case" cards. This set has some great sentiments for that, but it also has a happy birthday, with deepest sympathy, thank you, mr & mrs.... the list goes on. You can view them all HERE! Basically, this is your go to set for EVERYTHING! (and there are some cute images that match a lot of the MTME templates!)

Here are my set of 4 cards... i decided to make them matchy, but not alike. :)

I used patterned paper from Basic Grey's Lemonade collection and used matching ribbon on each card to make them all cohesive.

Here are some close up views of each card....

(yeah, so i totally put my patterned paper on upside down on the above card... WOOPS!)
Love that sentiment!

Be sure to check out the following design team members for some amazing inspiration!

Lauren Meader

Geny Cassady

Katie Cotton (thats me)

Tracy Cuccia

Pam Imholz

Stephanie Kraft

Mona Pendleton

Dont forget to go check out the My Time Made Easy website for all the wonderful things being released today! Stamp Sets, Digi Sets, Templates, Loads of new Digi Paper...

Lauren has it all neatly laid on on THIS POST on her blog as well. :)

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