Happy Birthday Seth and Colin - Giving Thanks

Have you ever wondered how two little smiles can lighten your day? Or how the sound of a babies cry just seems to make the would seem a bit more precious somehow, even with all of the nastiness around us. For some people, those same smiles and cries bring tears instead of joy because they cannot carry a child, have lost a child before, or cannot even get pregnant to be blessed with a child.

So why write this post, with birthday card? Well, because of two little boys in Ethiopia, the wonderful orphanage taking care of them, and the mother that made the painful decision to give them up for a better life because she could not feed them or support them with the other children she had after their father died.

My niece & her husband are adopting these two beautiful boys as soon as the Ethiopian court signs off on their application; so I cannot publish their pictures or their Ethiopian names at this time. Even though, the boys first names with be American, they will also be keeping their Ethiopian names as their middle names. One of the Ethiopian names means "to replace" and is so appropriate because my niece has had two ectopic pregnancies and cannot have any babies of her own. Both of these children will be replacing the ones she has lost physically, even though in her heart she will always still remember those babies as well.

Both Seth and Colin celebrated a birthday recently, so my husband and I wanted to send them a birthday card and welcome them to the family even though they are not physically here yet. Colin, is the youngest and just turned 2years old, so I thought it appropriate to have a card that was younger looking and this was accomplished using stamps from CC Designs.

Seth, just turned 3 years old, so I thought having a card that had some "African" animals, or lions, would be appropriate for him. This was accomplished using GinaK stamps.

Now since both of these cards would be belated birthday cards, I didn't want anything "mushy" inside and decided to keep everything semi-cute for Seth as well.

A koala bear on the inside with a saying on a tri-fold card, with a snake on the other part of the tri-fold did the trick.

Both of these little guys have made me realize just how much God meant with the scripture "He gives to the broken hearted" and "He is the Father to the fatherless". He has been protecting both Seth & Colin for my niece and her husband all of this time, just waiting for them to be ready for their children, the children He has given to them, to come home to their arms.

Thanks be to God, for He is good!

Stamps: CC Designs, GinaK Designs

Cardstock: Stampin Up! Garden Green, More Mustard, White, Green Galore, Gable Green, Glorious Green

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! More Mustard, Garden Green, Soft Sky, Old Olive

Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Watercolor Pencils, Brads, Dimensionals, Stipple Brush, Brads

Butterflies and Flowers

Third Post today! Wow!

I made this card for one of the Just Us Girls challenges during the Monday Night Football game a couple of weeks ago, but got sidelined by another migraine, so it never got uploaded. A really simple card. It took no time at all to make.

I stamped my Martha Stewart butterfly set that needed to see some ink on some Autumn Leaves poppy paper twice, cut them out, and layered one on on a bunch of Autumn Leaves red silk poppies. I then added some flocked silk Prima leaves underneath to balance out some of the red.

For the inside of the card, I stamped a sentiment from one of Our Daily Bread's Grace sets and added the other butterfly with smaller red Prima flowers with a Stampendous class-a-peel sticker in the center.

Very simple and took a total of about 20 minutes to make, in between watching the football game. :)

Stamps: Martha Stewart Butterfly, Our Daily Bread Grace

Cardstock: Stampin Up! Black, Autumn Leaves Poppy Prints, White

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Real Red

Accessories: Stipple Brush, Prima Flowers & Flocked Silk Leaves, Autumn Leaves Silk Flowers, Glue Dots, Stampendous Class-A-Peel Stickers, Ribbon

Guess Hoo?

I'm on a roll today...second post. I made this for this week's Crazy for Challenges geometric challenge. I have not had a chance to ink up my MFT October kit yet (the shame!) so this was the perfect time for it.

I started out by stamping my little owlie on the creme panels included in the kit and coloring him with prismacolor markers then inking the sides with PTI tea stain inks. Something just seemed to be missing though because there was too much open space. So I dug through my MFT sets to find my Branch Out set and inked it up with memento dark cocoa and bamboo leaves inks to add the branches and extra leaves. Now everything looked much better. After adding some ribbon, cutting off at an angle for more of a country feel, my card is finished.

Stamps: MFT October Just Add Color Kit - Thinking of Hoo

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, PTI Tea Stain (Chai)

Cardstock: MFT Creme Panels, Memory Box Butterfield Papers, Fossil Notecard, Stampin Up! Always Artichoke

Accessories: Baby Braddies, Prismacolor Markers, Ribbon

Polar Bear Ball

This week's So You Think You Can Stamp Challenge is the Waltz. Not sure how many of you are old enough to remember a cartoon from years ago called The Ugly Bug Ball, but it's this silly little too bit cartoon with all of these ugly bugs that we love to squash, flatten, kill and torture like crazy all dressed up in their finest at a totally elegant, yet cute, ball just for ugly bugs. You name the bugs, yes I believe there was even a black widow who couldn't understand why all of her partners kept dying, at the ball in tuxedos and full length dresses with hats, pearls or diamonds to match. So when Kim posted the Waltz as the challenge, this was the first thing that came to mind, an elegant ball. The only problem was no MFT stamps resembling a ball. My penguin set shows penguins sledding, jumping and having a grand ol' time. Definitely not elegant. I guess that's why we call it a challenge, right? So on went the thinking cap. Now what about Polar Love that I got with the last release for free?? I could alter that to make a Polar Bear Ball instead of an Ugly Bug one. Cool!!

I decided for the elegant piece of it to pull out my Die Cuts With A View LeCreme Mat Stack and found the background papers that looked the closest to snowflakes falling. Pulling out both a vanilla colored one and a black one, I now had my color combination for the card. Pulling out one of the cream panels from this months Just Add Color Kit, I stamped my polar bears in memento tuxedo black and colored with prismacolor markers. Now, since polar bears are white, I stamped them again on MFT Perfect Panels (since they were going to be popped up) and colored only the ears, nose, and scarves. I decided the noses had to be pink since the bears were at their "ball" where it's cold and frosty with the wind blowing making their noses so cold. The scarves would serve as the bears tuxedos and ball gowns, so I made sure the "men bears" had their scarves blended to a lighter shade than their female counterparts so the "gowns" would have a richer feel to them. To get enough couples for the ball, I stamped and colored three additional couples to fill in the card and then folded them at the hearts so they would fit on the card for mailing but could be opened up otherwise (as seen here).

To add some elegance to the ball, I added some pearl stickers from my stash at the corners of the paper layers like brads and MFT's Royalty Ribbon Nest at the top. Ice stickles were also added to the scarves of each of the female polar bears like "faux necklaces". I also added white fun flock to each of the polar bears tails since I've had this stuff for a long time (it's all Jody's fault) and have never used it.

This is what the entire card looks like with the three couples "folded" up for mailing.

Stamps: MFT Polar Love

Cardstock: Stampin Up! Black, Die Cuts With A View LeCreme Mat Stack, MFT Perfect Panels

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Pop Dots, Ice Stickles, Pearl Stickers, Fun Flock, Martha Stewart 2-Way Glue Pen, Ribbon

Reflections

No specific card to share today, just words and today seems like a good day to share them. You see today my mother would have been 60 years old today. However, when she was 38 years old it was discovered she had breast cancer and that it had been growing for approximately two years already so the odds were already against mom. Mom had had multiple health issues during those previous two years, and had a mammogram at the beginning since the doctors were going to be starting a series of treatments for her which one of the side effects was the possibility of breast cancer but they would be doing mammograms every six months to prevent this. However, her insurance at the time, and the doctor taking over the treatments said young women don't have a high risk even though mom kept asking for the mammograms. You know the doctor knows best routine. Well, they finally did one when she found a huge lump in her right breast and it gave her no satisfaction to say "I told you so". As scared as mom was, she had the mastectomy, the chemotherapy and radiation and sure enough, beat it back for over 8 months of remission.

Then in early 1990, we found out that mom's recurrent pneumonia and back pain were due to the cancer coming back in her lungs and spine. The fight was back on. This time, though, mom didn't seem to have the same fight in her. Oh, she was fighting, don't get me wrong, but it was different. I had just gotten engaged when she received the diagnosis, and she told me she "had a feeling that when I die, it will be a thank goodness this is over kind of thing." I didn't want to hear about my mom dying, especially since she was my best friend, confidante, and rock to lean on in tough times too. Two months before my wedding my mother was told she only had six weeks to live, and she told the doctor that was unacceptable because her daughter was getting married in eight weeks. She not only lived to see my wedding, but helped walk me down the aisle, made the wedding cake, my bouquet, and all of the silk flower arrangements we used for the wedding. She wanted me to always have my bouquet to remember her by, and I still do, carefully packed away from damage. In fact, mom lived for five more months after our wedding, and passed away on Pentecost Sunday, May 19th, 1991. Her last months were hard as the cancer spread like wildfire with tumors growing so big they were pushing against the skin were we could see them.

Now why do I write this post. First, yes it's mom's birthday and I'm having a hard time today wishing her happy birthday silently through wet eyes. Yes, it's been a long time, but it still hurts. Second, my pastor on her blog recently suggested thinking about what we're thankful for. Well, I'm definitely thankful for God giving me my mom, but not just for giving me life. She was a wonderful example of what a mother should be even though she had to be a single mom a good portion of my life. She was a wonderful crafter too. She could paint, color, create anything she put her mind to, knit, sew, you name it. Mom also sang, and played the organ/piano too. Mom is the one who insisted I go to church when I though it was more important to watch football games on the T.V. or just plain goof off instead. She was also the one that insisted I learn more about Jesus and learn more about having a relationship with Him instead of wanting to sit in my room reading dirty books I would hide from her and she would find. If it wasn't for my mom, I wouldn't be a Christian today.

Most of all, I am thankful for the memory of the teddy bear mom kept next to her as she lay dying on that hospital bed we had at home. The bear she called her Jesus Bear. You see mom taped a quarter to one of the bear's paws for when it was time to "go home" she was going to call Home to her Savior to let Him know she was on her way. As mom slipped away, my step-dad reminded mom to not forget to make her call. A few days later, I was helping clean up in the living room, and I was moving the bear to the side of the fireplace, and I noticed the tape and the quarter were both missing. There was not even the hint of tape having been on the bear's paw either and both of those had been there for over a month. So when I get down, really down, I try to remember mom's Jesus Bear and the phone call she made on her way Home.

Owls & Bluebells

Another card from the archives. I made the card for one of the last MFT sketch challenges - MFTSC99.

I chose to use a set I had not inked up yet, but had in my stash for a while. My little owls were stamped in memento tuxedo black on MFT perfect panels and then coloring with Prismacolor markers. Stampin Up! soft sky was stippled around the owls softly to fill in the white space.

The background stamping was done using PTI's Mod Squad set with Stampin Up! tempting turquoise and apricot appeal ink. The small flowers are the trio flower punch also from Stampin Up!

Here is a close up of the owls.









Stamps: PTI Mod Squad, MFT Owls & Bluebells Cardstock: Stampin Up! Tempting Turquoise, Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery, MFT Perfect Panels
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Tempting Turquoise, Apricot Appeal, MFT Perfect Panels
Accessories: Ribbon Bow, Glue Dots, Flower Punch, Bling, Prismacolor Markers, Baby Brads, Stipple Brushes

Dancing Queen

Last week's challenge with the "So You Think You Can Stamp" series was retro, or to go disco. The memories this challenge brought back this week. Yes, I know I'm dating myself but who cares. After considering several songs, "Jive Talking", "Burn Baby Burn..Disco Inferno", "Stayin Alive", I settled for Abba's "Dancing Queen" which was one of my non Bee Gee or Andy Gibb favorites.

I started out by stamping The Poppies twice on white cardstock and cutting out the guitar players to pop up later and then stamped Party Girl on MFT perfect panels and cut out to pop up later as well. I used elements from Funky Flowers to make my "tambourine" :) and highlighted it with Stampendous class-a-peel stickers I've had for eons in my stash after coloring everything with prismacolor markers. The "skirt" of my dancer is a silk red heart bridal confetti from Michaels that I cut & modified to make a "modest" skirt for a 17 year old from the disco era and highlighted that with platinum ice stickles. My "lights" are also Stampendous class-a-peel stickers so I would not have to cut or punch out anything to make disco lights.

Stamps: MFT Party Girl, The Poppies, Funky Flowers

Cardstock: Stampin Up! Brocade Blue, Black, White, MFT Perfect Panels, Designer Paper

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Brilliant Blue, Soft Sky, Versafine Chalk Ink

Accessories: Stipple Brushes, Stampendous Class-A-Peel Stickers, Primas, Glue Dots, Gem Stickers, Prismacolor Markers, Dimensionals, Pop Dots, Micro Pop Dots, Mini Pop Dots, Artist Pen, Silk Heart Bridal Confetti

Cherish Vintage Blossoms

Here's one from the archives. This was from one of MFT's sketch challenges before the sketches were discontinued for a bit. I had a blast stamping this card because I was able to just go outside my normal "comfort" zone and be crazy with it.

I started out by stamping my Boho Blossom flowers in memento pink and PTI enchanted evening inks on white cardstock and then cutting them out. I then stamped the heart from Boho Blossoms in PTI blush on Stampin Up! blush blossom cardstock. Pulling out some Making Memories vintage embellishments and designer paper I had just purchased at Michaels, I decided to use the stamp, paper daisies, thread and button to help "liven up" my card.



I sponged Stampin Up! night of navy dye ink around my card and layers before adhering them to the card, added my flower layers with the button, and found a metal word sticker from my stash I've had for who knows how long. I added the vintage paper daisies and stamp last to finish the card off.

A perfect vintage card, but not appearing to be too overdone.

Stamps: MFT Boho Blossoms
Cardstock: Stampin Up! Night of Navy, Blush Blossom, White, Making Memories Vintage Paper
Ink: Memento Pink, Stampin Up! Night of Navy, Papertrey Ink Enchanted Evening
Accessories: Sponges, Glue Dots, Making Memories Vintage Embellishments, Thread, Colorbook Metal Word Sticker

The Places You Go

Howdy peeps! Today I have another fun card for you by Taylored Expressions. The set is called The Places You Go and it has phrases from several books I remember reading to my kids when they were little.

This card uses a phrase from Dr. Seuss paired with a hot air balloon coming out of a book...the stuff imaginations are made of.

I started by stamping my main image in memento ink on white cardstock twice and then coloring with prismacolor markers before cutting one balloon image out to pop up on dimensionals. Stampin Up! brilliant blue dye ink is stippled on the outside of the sky before layering, then adding the brads and ribbon bow with the same for the Dr. Seuss saying.

The card is a clean and simple style showing you don't always need to have something in the background to take up the space.

What have you read lately and where has your imagination taken you?

Stamps: Taylored Expressions
Cardstock: Stampin Up! Brilliant Blue, Real Red, Yoyo Yellow, White
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Brilliant Blue, Real Red
Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Stipple Brushes, Brads, Dimensionals, Ribbon Bow, Mini Glue Dot

Angel Bear

I recently discovered a new challenge blog that also professes their faith called Stampin Sisters In Christ. I've kind of "lurked" on the site for a few weeks now and finally decided to participate in one of the challenges. This week's challenge is based on Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you" (NIV). In other words, we had to make a baby card, baby shower card, etc. I had this super cool set from Taylored Expressions, called Beary Special, that needed to see some ink so I pulled it out and got to work.

I started by pulling out an old Rollergraph teddy bear wheel and inking it up with Stampin Up! pretty in pink dye ink on Stampin Up! pretty in pink cardstock. Then I took my teddy bear and angel wings and stamped then in memento tuxedo black in on white cardstock and colored them with prismacolor markers before cutting them out. With each of my layers, I sponged Stampin Up! regal rose or pixie pink dye ink before starting the next layer and then finishing off with brads. I used the phrase "My Little Angel" because new babies are born totally innocent and express an innocent love as well. They learn bad habits from their parents, siblings, and outside influences.

Stamps: Taylored Expressions Beary Special, Rollergraph Teddy Bear Wheel
Cardstock: Stampin Up! Pretty In Pink, White, Pixie Pink, Blush Blossom
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Pretty In Pink, Pixie Pink
Accessories: Ribbon, Dimensionals, Stipple Brushes, Sponges, Prismacolor Markers, Glue Dots, Brads

Autumn Thanks

It's finally showing signs of fall here in Central California; no more 100 degree temperatures! That however, also means, elevator temperatures for the next few weeks. By that I mean 80degrees during the day and 40degree temperatures at night. You have to dress in layers and then peel them off during the day. However, that also makes the trees turn colors so the leaves can fall to the ground. It also means harvest time here in the Valley for the farmers.

With harvest comes Thanksgiving, one of my favorite times of the year next to Christmas. It's a time for us to thank God for the gifts He's given us during the year, for what He's going to do for the next year, and to thank friends/family for what they've done for us as well. It's also a time for us to let loved ones know how special they are to us. However, we shouldn't just limit ourselves to just the fall for thanking God or loved ones. Everyday should be a day to be thankful for something.

For this challenge, we were to make a card with a Thankful theme. I chose this GinaK set, one because I love the little squirrel, but also the barrel of apples reminds me of the harvest season. Without the farmers growing our food, how would eat? Have you ever thought of that? California is having a water shortage here in the Central Valley and lots of farms are no longer planting because farmers cannot get the water they need in the spring to keep the seedlings fresh, and then again in the summer when the temperatures are over 100degrees to keep their crops alive. Unfortunately, many farms have gone fallow over the last couple of years while the politicians fight over who gets what water or what fish gets the right to keep what water. So everyday you cook your food, everyday you go grocery shopping, be thankful for the food you have, for if all of the farms had this issue, we would have no food to eat and would have to import everything.

So, I am thankful to not only my God for who He is, but to the farmer as well for providing the food on my table.

Stamps: GinaK Whimsical Autumn

Cardstock: Stampin Up! Really Rust, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, White

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Really Rust, Pumpkin Pie

Accessories: Brads, Prismacolor Markers, Prima Flowers, Glue Dots, Platniumn Ice Stickles

MFT Harvest Hoedown

Swing your partner 'round and 'round,
We're gettin ready for MFT's Harvest Hoedown.

There's a new MFT challenge out called So You Think You Can Stamp? There's $750 worth of prizes to be won!! Yahoo!!!

I totally stepped outside my comfort zone for this week's challenge, complete with migraine meds, and tried a swinging/suspension card since I've never made one of those before. So, I pulled out my trusty Marvy punches and dusted off my coluzzle (yes, I still have one). Since my migraine sent me to the doctor on Friday again, I figured the easiest way to stamp was digital, I printed off the "I'm pullin for you Flopsy" twice, then colored him with prismacolor markers before punching him out with a Marvy mega scallop punch. Small challenge: I cut off his ears. So much for working on migraine meds. *rolls painful eyes* So now I had to pull out my stamp set of I'm pullin for you and stamp Flopsy twice again in memento ink and color once again, and then I had a lightbulb moment - there's a grass stamp in the set so it could be the tops of carrots, radishes, or any other type of veggie growing from the ground. Cool beans! Just not the actual beans.

So, then I punched out pumpkin pie, and lavender lace cardstock with my Marvy giga & super giga punches, and punched a hole in my card with the super giga punch; then stamped the front of my card with PTI artichoke ink. After cutting my stamped flopsy out and adhering with dimensionals, I made him "hang" for all of my troubles :) so he could spin to his hearts delight. lol A Jody ribbon on the top left corner finished the outside of the card.

For the inside of my card, I printed off Stephanie Fizer's digital Autumn paper and added some seed packets from the Gardner Flopsey set to finish it off.


Stamps: MFT Gardner Flopsy, Digital I'm Pullin For You, Stamp I'm Pullin For You, We're Not Scared
Cardstock: Stampin Up! Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie, Lavender Lace, White
Ink: Memento Black, Pumpkin Pie, Lavender Lace, Garden Green, PTI Artichoke
Accessories: Computer, Printer, Marvy Mega/Giga/Super Giga Punches, Prismacolor Markers, Sponges, Thread, Glue Dots, Ribbon, Dimensionals

Christmas Present Wrap-Ups

Happy Saturday! Have you ever had a hard time hiding something from your daughter/son under the Christmas tree? Well I have. However, last year my daughter had NO idea what was under the tree for her since I used two My Timeless Templates to "wrap" two of her presents.

For the present on the left, I used the My Timeless Template Music Makeover to hide a Jonas Brothers CD my daughter really, really, really wanted. I set the template to print full page on the printer since I wanted the CD inside the template instead of the other way around. Once I had my template printed and assembled, I used my Flower Garden set to decorate the outside, a Velcro fastener to seal it, and a velvet red ribbon knotted so I would know if my daughter even tried to open the CD package. I even left off the TO/FROM info off of the outside so she would think it was for a Splitcoast Secret Sister or someone else.

It totally worked too! She had no idea what was inside until I handed her the CD package and cut the ribbon for her, showed her how to open the package, so it could be used again. There was NO way I was going to let her tear open that template package. :) You could have heard her screaming all the way to San Francisco 200miles away when she saw the Jonas Brothers CD inside; especially since I made her buy "the last one in Target" for her cousin in Arizona. I'm a mean mommy sometimes. lol

Now she also got some things to keep in her backpack for school and her purse as well. For example: nail file, lip gloss, etc and those I put in the My Timeless Template Pursonality Clutch. Once again, mom pulled one over on my daughter. The rose is hiding another Velcro closure and once the clutch is opened, the inside was full of all the little things normally inside her Christmas stocking.

Sketch Challenge 100

Happy Friday! The week is almost over. Here is another one from the archives featuring My Favorite Things sketch challenge 100. Can you believe 100 sketches since MFT became a Member Company of Splitcoast? Wow!

My card features the stamp set from the July My Favorite Kit, Just Add Color called On The Pier which was released as a mini set yesterday for $9.00.

My image is stamped in memento black on MFT perfect panels and colored with prismacolor markers with Stampin Up! brocade blue dye ink sponged below the pier to add a bit more depth to the "water". The paper ribbon is from K & Company and is more of a paper "sticker" than ribbon. After I dry embossed the creamy caramel layer, I sponged the same color ink over it to also give more depth to the layer as well as sponging the brocade blue around the edges of the card.


On the inside of the card is some more of the silk bridal confetti I found at Michaels last year. What I don't understand is why would someone want to use such lovely silk shells to decorate a table & then throw them away when they could adorn a card, framed piece, wreath, or other household item forever. It just doesn't make sense to me to use them as "confetti". What a waste.

Stamps: MFT On The Pier
Cardstock: Stampin Up! Brocade Blue, Cameo Coral, Creamy Caramel, Apricot Appeal, MFT Perfect Panels
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Creamy Caramel & Brocade Blue
Accessories: Silk Bridal Confetti, Glue Dots, Dimensionals, Distressing Tool, Brads, Prismacolor Markers, Pearl Stickers, K&Company Paper Ribbon, Sponges

Autumn

It's that time of year when the leaves turn colors, the air gets a bit cooler, and thoughts start to turn to the holidays and who's coming to dinner...or in some cases what's coming to dinner.

I finally decided to pull out my Stampin Up! stamps that have not seen ink since I purchased them and at least use them once to justify the purchase. Besides, I needed to make a card for my secret sister and my head was still killing me from a migraine so detail coloring was not really an option.

So I pulled out some designer paper from my stash from who knows how long it's been there, and some Stampin Up! top note die cuts from my secret sister a couple of rounds ago. Once I had the wheat stamped on the die cut, I stamped the pheasant twice, and colored only once, cut out and popped up on a dimensional before adding some flowers from my stash I've also had for who knows how long. I mentioned to my husband he needed to get me some more flowers, and he laughed at me stating I had enough flowers, and I needed "more"? What is it that husbands do not understand about flowers? Of course I need more, because I don't have anymore of this color!

Once I got the flower issue taken care of, and the laughing stopped, I could pay more attention to finish assembling the card. About the only thing missing at that point was a mini bow in the top left hand corner and a little bit of sponging around the edges of the card itself to add some more color.

What's your favorite part of autumn?

Stamps: Stampin Up! Autumn Days
Cardstock: Dusty Durango, More Mustard, White, Designer Paper
Ink: More Mustard, Dusty Durango, Brown
Accessories: Dimensionals, Prismacolor Pencils & Blender Marker, Sponges, Paper Flower Stickers, Top Note Die Cuts

Too Cute Trick & Treat Crew

Hello everyone. Did you know that My Favorite Things has gone digital??? So cool if you ask me. One of the first new digital stamp images released is The Boo Crew. This cute Halloween digital image can be resized for any project you happen to be working on. I just happened to be working on a 6x6 square card.

Once my image was printed out, I colored the image with prismacolor markers before layering with Stampin Up! cardstock and Karen Foster designer paper. To add a little bit more dimension to the bottom of the card, I punched out a grey cat from some scrap cardstock, sponged around the edges and drew a face on the cat before adding with glue dots. The saying was stamped with memento tuxedo black ink on white cardstock, layered, and popped up on dimensionals.

To the layer corners I added silver bat brads and one moon brad from Making Memories. Once I finished with the outside of the card it was time to start on the inside.

Using a Martha Stewart embossing punch, I punched three pumpkins and one black cat before stamping the fence. Once I was done sponging around the edges of the pumpkins and cat, I added them to the inside of the card with glue dots to finish everything off.


Stamps: MFT Digital Stamp The Boo Crew, Too Cute To Spook
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Basic Gray, Glorious Green
Cardstock: Stampin Up! Black, Glorious Green, White, Karen Foster Designer Paper
Accessories: Martha Stewart Punches, Fiskars Cat Punch, Sponges, Prismacolor Markers, Making Memories Brads, Dimensionals

Get 'Em Squished

Let's have a serious heart to heart discussion.

Saturday, October 3rd, was World Card Making Day and one of the challenges on Splitcoaststampers involved the new digital Think Pink image from My Favorite Things. We were to use the image to make a pink, black and bling card. Not a problem for me.

So I printed my image out on white cardstock, colored with prismacolor markers, then sponged with Stampin Up! pretty in pink ink and began layering. I added my bling to the skirt flowers and around the saying from MFT's Twisted Sentiments Two.

Now October is also Breast Cancer Awareness month which is a subject near and dear to my heart. This coming October 24th, my mother would have been 62 years old had she survived her battle with breast cancer. Her doctors discovered her cancer when she was 38 years old and mom passed away at age 42 on May 19th, 1991. Two weeks ago, I turned 42 myself and have had two breast biopsies with one lump being removed already between the ages of 23 to now. On May 20th, 2010, I will have outlived my mother and it's not a date I'm looking forward to.

Having a mammogram is so important as a woman. We go to the doctor every year for our "year pap smear", so why is it so hard to get the mammogram done? Just make it part of your yearly routine. So much is riding on it.

What are you waiting for?

Stamps: MFT Digital Think Pink, MFT Twisted Two
Cardstock: Stampin Up Pretty In Pink, Pixie Pink, White, Black, Designer Paper
Ink: Pretty Ink Pink, Pixie Pink
Accessories: Oval Punches, Bling, Sponges, Prismacolor Markers, Brads, Computer, Printer, Martha Stewart Border Punch