Enabler Alert

Lookie at what is on its way to me! It's on sale today at Hancock Fabrics for $39.99! If you've been wanting one, today is the day to purchase it. There is also free shipping for orders of $50.00 or more (I added bobbins to mine). Maybe my friend Karrie will take pity on me and make me a cute cover for it! LOL!

I'll be putting this little baby to use on my December "Three Peeps" card! Karrie's part of the challenge was to incorporate stitching on the card (either real or faux).

I'm off to clean house and do some laundry! I've also got to help the kiddos with some of their homework. I've been working on a December Daily album project ala Ali Edwards. I'll try posting some pics of some of my more completed pages today. I'm really looking forward to completing this album in December.

Thanks for stopping by!

November Three Peeps Challenge

I'm late for this month's Three Peeps challenge. Hopefully Toni and Karrie will forgive me! I'm not totally happy with this card...the 'three circles' aspect of the challenge was really challenging me! LOL! I also hate how the sponging on the main image and sentiment turned out. I may just have to remake this one! LOL!

This months challenge was to use a turkey image from TCP, use glitter, and to have three circles present on the card. Two of my circles you can easily see, you may not be able to easily see the circles stamped on the background.




I'm off to go clean my house! Today is going to be a memorable day for both of my boys. They are each going to receive a "Fizz" award at their school spirit assembly today. It will be a huge surprise for both of them. Mommy couldn't be prouder and will be there with camera in hand!

I have a couple of cool projects that I will be tackling this month. When I was able to meet Sue and Toni up in Denver a few weeks ago, Toni and I went shopping. LOL! We each picked up a cute Advent Calendar with slide out drawers to alter. I only purchased the one when I was out with Toni, and then picked up another when I was at Archiver's the other day (when I started thinking about it, each boy would have been wanting their own plus it is something that each will have as a keepsake someday when they are off on their own). I also will be making a December daily album, ala Ali Edwards. I've had fun picking up supplies for this project along with shopping in my own stash.

Thanks for stopping by!

October Three Peeps Challenge

It's time once again for Karrie, Toni, and I to challenge each other's card making skills. We each choose an individual element for the challenge and let our creativity take it from there.

Karrie's contribution to the challenge was to make a 4"x4" card. Toni's challenge (that little scamp who knows that I have problems using ribbon) was to use not one but TWO ribbons on the card. My part of the challenge was to use any Halloween image (after all, October contains one of my very favorite holidays EVER).

I couldn't resist some of my new Halloween acquisitions from The Cat's Pajamas (I do have the new Halloween clear set that Alma created so stay tuned for some more TCP goodness in the near future). I have a thing for Sprinkle so I absolutely HAD to use her (after all, what is Halloween without a classic black cat image of some sort). I had a lot of fun making this card and was able to shop from my stash of Halloween goodies (including some of my much coveted Martha Stewart ribbon from last year). LOL! I don't know about you, but Martha Stewart comes up with some of the best Halloween and Christmas goodies every year.

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out both Toni's and Karrie's blogs. I'm sure that their creations will be fabulous!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Ghostly Sprinkle, Crooked House (both from The Cat's Pajamas)

Cardstock: Glossy White (SU), Beetle Black sparkle cardstock (Doodlebug), unknown Bazzill textured, Jeepers Creepers Striped (The Paper Company Studio)

Ink: Staz-On Black, Creamy Caramel, Lovely Lilac, Elegant Eggplant, Green Galore, Pumpkin Pie, Only Orange

Other: Nesties, Martha Stewart ribbon, Making Memories bat brads, Stickles, dimensionals

Happy Birthday Karrie!

My good cyber friend Karrie is having a birthday today! Please be sure to swing by her blog and wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

This is the card that I made for Karrie for her birthday. I figured using my new TCP Birthday sets was most appropriate (after all, she is one of my favorite TCP design team members). Wow...when I think about it, this card has it all: heat embossing, cuttlebug embossing, doodling, bling, glittery touches, watercoloring, etc.....)! I was up until about 1:00 AM making it. I just couldn't stop adding things to the card. LOL!

Hope you enjoy it Karrie and that your birthday is as fabulous as you are!

Card Deets:

Stamps: Smells Like Cake, You Say It's Your Birthday Balls (all from The Cat's Pajamas)

Cardstock: Shimmery White, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette

Ink: Black Staz-On, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette

Other: Nesties, Swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder, Copic Spica glitter pens, Stickles, WWC, various SU punches, ribbon and bling from my stash, large eyelets

Last of my OBP cards!

Here are the last of the cards that I made for the Johanna's "Talk Like a Pirate" challenges over on SCS! I LOVE challenges...they get me off my duff and actually in my stamp area creating things for a change. I have so many stamping things on my 'to do' list (i.e. birthday card for Karrie, ATCs for a couple swaps I signed up for, baby shower card, Three Peeps challenge card, etc.) so I should at least have a few things to share soon.

Here is challenge #6: Use the cover of your favorite pirate movie as inspiration. My pirate movie was "Pirate's of the Caribbean: At World's End". Who doesn't LOVE this whole series? This is incoporates a pirate ship from The Cat's Pajamas (who is having an awesome stamp release tomorrow)! The Planet Earth is from Odd Bird Planet.



Here is challenge #15: Make a card that incorporates a circle in some way. These stamps are also from one of the monthly specials that Odd Bird Planet was running. I love these deals and snag them up whenever the stamp sets really appeal to me.



Here is challenge #18: Make a card for your mum!



These are some of my cute Memory Box penguin images. I was inspired by the tutu to use the pink ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by!

A couple of my favorites.....

Here are a few more of my challenge submissions for Johanna's "Talk Like a Pirate" challenge weekend on SCS!

Here is Pirate Challenge #7: Make a card with a tree in it. This one by far is my favorite! I had this idea in my head and it executed perfectly on paper!



The trees are from the Stampin Up Lovely as a Tree set (which I will never get rid of). I don't know about you, but I love using glossy cardstock for cool effects like this one. One of my last orders from Just Johanna, included a grab bag of sorts of rubber by the ounce that she was offering (the rubber was for discontinued sets). In my 'comments' when I submitted the order, I asked Johanna if she could specifically include any Halloween images (as I love Halloween). Johanna was sweet enough to include Halloween images per my request (which included a TON of current images too)! You just have to LOVE customer service like that! Am I a dedicated customer now? YOU BET!

Here is Pirate Challenge # 10: Make a card for a little boy.



Both of my boys approved of this card, so I think that I hit the mark. These stamps were one of Johanna's special deals a little while back. This was my very first purchase from Odd Bird Planet. I used some Basic Grey paper (their baby line from a little while back) to paper piece the hot air balloon. The black background is some of that super glittery sugared Doodlebug cardstock.

Tah for now! I'll see you tomorrow with a few more posts!

Ahoy There!

Johanna (of Just Johanna's Odd Bird Planet) was having a "Pirate" challenges all weekend over on SCS. I was DETERMINED to get some stamping done and was able to complete 7 of the card challenges.

Here are my submissions for Challenge # 1: Stamp a Critter, Turn it into a Pirate




This is Flo Owl all decked out as a Pirate. Flow has a hand drawn peg leg and eye patch. She is sporting a pirate hat that was borrowed from Pirate Kitty (from TCP). Her sword came in the rubber grab bag special that Johanna was running a little while back. Nothing too elaborate for this challenge.

Challenge #2: Incorporate Treasure (bling, sparkles, glitter, gems, costume jewelry, etc.) into a card. If you know me, I was ALL over this challenge.




I had FUN with this one! This is Allison Little Owl who is sporting a little pirate hat that came in my rubber grab bag (I don't even think the little pirate hats are available anymore, but gosh are they ever cute and fun to work with). I stamped her on top of the Pirate Booty treasure chest from TCP and watercolored using my WWC and Copic Spica glitter pens. Used lots of bling from my stash on the inside of my pirate chest. The sentiment is also from TCP. I used my new Pacific Point and Riding Hood Red In Color cardstock colors from SU on this one (the new Riding Hood Red satin ribbon is to die for BTW). I thought that the Swirls cuttlebug embossing folder looked like waves and attempted to capture that feel by cutting selective portions out.

Be back tomorrow with a couple more challenge submissions!

Three Peeps Challenge

Two of my favorite peeps and I decided that we would start doing a monthly challenge of sorts here on our blogs. Who are those peeps you ask? None other that the uber talented Karrie Baker and Toni Armstrong. These two ladies have talent literally seeping from their pores! They're just that good! If you've never checked out their blogs, I highly encourage you to do so.

The three of us will all be contributing one factor to each of our challenges (i.e. specific stamp set, color, sketch, element, etc.). For our very first challenge, Toni challenged us to all use the new Birthday stamps from The Cats Pajamas. Karrie challenged us to use the color Turquoise in our creations. My required element you ask? Must use BLING BABY!!! LOL!

I was lucky enough to get the new Smells Like Cake and You Say It's Your Birthday stamp sets shipped before the official release date from the super cool and swanky designer for The Cats Pajamas, Alma de la Rosa. Alma not only designs the swankiest stamps on the planet, but she was also kind enough to listen and respond to the manic begging that came from me the second I saw the first sneek peek from her design team for the new sets. Thank You Alma!!!

So are you ready? Here goes....



Is this not the cutest little gift card holder that you have ever seen? I've been wanting to try the pattern for the Gift Card Holder that Jenn Balcer created for SCS for the longest time, and finally had the perfect opportunity with this challenge! I love how I was able to showcase so many of the different TCP images on one project.

Here is a picture of the inside. The gift card holder features two coin envelopes. One envelope is for the actual gift card, the other is for a stamped insert that you can write your greeting, etc.



Please be sure to check out both Karrie's and Toni's blogs as I'm sure that they each made something absolutely adorable! Thanks for stopping by!



Recipe:
Stamps: Smells Like Cake, You Say It's Your Birthday (all from The Cat's Pajamas)
Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Cool Caribbean, Lovely Lilac, Shimmery White
Ink: Black Staz-On, Tempting Turquose, Pixie Pink
Other: Assorted Copics, Copic Spica glitter pens, Sakura stardust glitter pen, various stickles, Kaiser bling, rectangle nesties, dimensionals, Fresh Favorites II eyelets, ribbon, dimensionals, Ticket Corner punch, 1 1/4 Circle punch

What I did over Labor Day Weekend

I know that this post is a few days late, but the photos are too pretty NOT to share. LOL!

Every year over the Labor Day weekend holiday, Colorado Springs, CO has a hot air balloon classic. It is not for the faint of heart (nor slow to rise) as you have to get up at what I fondly refer to as "O-dark-thirty" to go and see the balloons. As the kids have gotten older, it has been a little easier to get them out of bed ("when it is still night" according to the kiddos...LOL!)!

This is the very first balloon that took off! The balloon pilot wanted to be the very first one to touch the lake and get a cup of water.....

Here the balloon pilots are starting to inflate for the very first 'wave' of balloons to take off!

Here is Harland and Christopher! Harland now has his very own digital camera and was busy snapping photos left and right. Unfortunately, Harland came down with a nasty ear infection on Monday night. I had to take him to the Emergency Room at our local hospital on Tuesday morning. We did not make it out of there until 4:00 AM. Tired kid and tired mommy! LOL!

The ever popular Noah's Ark balloon!

This is the very first time that I have ever seen this ladybug....

Loved the patriotic Red, White, and Blue balloon! That is Cheyenne Mountain in the background.

I have many more pictures (literally in the hundreds) but thought I would share just a few! Our balloon classic isn't as big as the one held in Albuquerque, NM that goes on in October, but it is still fun to go to!

Gnome Down - Take 3

So today at work, on one of my breaks I check my e-mail to see a note from my good cyber-friend Karrie telling me that she already posted her card for the third installment of our Gnome Down challenge with our new Odd Bird Planet stamps. I couldn't resist taking a peek at Karrie's card and just couldn't believe what I saw with my eyes! Once again we were very much on the same wavelength, this time each using the little Mushroom Scene from OBP. Karrie's card is a stunner with such beautiful watercoloring...my card really pales in comparison! My favorite thing about my card is the shimmery red mushroom tops with the white polka dots (and of course the cute OBP images)!

My hat is off to Karrie as I just love her card! Please check out her card here! Stay tuned for the next challenge...I'm thinking that we'll be having fun with Sprinkle and the rest of the gang next! Maybe we can have a Triple Play challenge of sorts and involve Toni in our fun.

Thanks for stopping by!



Card Recipe:

Stamps: Kelly's Sleeping Gnome left, Mixed Mushroom group, Cathrine's Gnome Hammock, Catherine's Mushroom Scene

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, Shimmery White

Ink: Timberbrown Staz-On, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip

Other: WWC, Aquapainter, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Copic Spica glitter pens, Chocolate taffeta ribbon, dimensionals, mat pack and needle tool, white gel pen

Gnome Down - Installment #2

OK....since I had another one of these masked and stamped images laying about from my first gnome challenge with Karrie, I couldn't let it go to waste (that is after all a 5x5 inch panel of my coveted shimmery white paper)! LOL!

I decided to go for a cute wintery scene! The base card is a 6x6 inch piece of Naturals White paper. I used so many glittery products on this particular card to make it sparkle like winter scene with fresh fallen snow, I almost lost count! And can I say that I am loving the new SU In Color Baja Breeze!

I first watercolored my scene, and then masked both images and sponged in my sky (Soft Sky and Baja Breeze). I added a few glittery touches here and there with my Copic Spica glitter pens. Next I used a Versamarker to strategically highlight a few areas in which snow would collect on a little mushroom house. I then sprinkled on some Winter Wonderland embossing powder (Stampendous) and set with my heat gun. I then used some Liquid Applique in a few spots (including the smoke coming from the chimney) and again covered with the same embossing powder for some added texture and sparkle. I used Diamond Stickles in a few spots for extra glitter. The snowflakes on the card base are from the SU set, The Snowflake Spot (which was stamped in Baja Breeze). I also used the 'dots' stamp from the same set for the falling snow on the focal image.

All I can say is that I had fun 'shopping' from my stash of stuff to find things for this card!

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out Karrie's card here. Our next installment of the Gnome Down will be Saturday! Hmmmm.....which Gnome to use?



Card Recipe:
Stamps: Kelly's Gnome Right, Cathrine's Gnome Home (all from Odd Bird Planet), The Snowflake Spot (retired SU)
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Naturals White, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Figgy Pudding (Basic Grey)
Ink: Black Staz-On, Soft Sky, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point, Versamark, Versamarker
Other: WWC, Copic Spica Glitter Pens, Diamond Stickles, Winter Wonderland ep (Stampendous), Liquid Applique, velvet ribbon from stash, photo corner punch, scallop edge punch, glitter brads (KI Memories)

Gnome-down with Karrie!

So...the other night I open up my e-mail to find a notification that one of my stamping idols posted a comment to my meager little blog. The comment went something like this:

"A MONTH SINCE YOU LAST UPDATED????? What the HECK?? LOL I miss you...come out and play. I will if you will... :) "

That stinker Karrie (whom at my discretion I may refer to as 'The NAG' from time to time) dangled a tempting little carrot in front of my nose in the way of a challenge. For your viewing pleasure, we are using some of our recently acquired stamps from the Odd Bird Planet. We both fell in love with the new Gnomes from the OBP line. If you've never been to Odd Bird Planet, I highly recommend it (although be warned, you may leave with your wallet feeling a little lighter)! LOL! While you're there, you should check out the cute owls that Karrie designed. They can be found in the new releases section (along with the gnomes). I picked up every single one of them so you can expect to see something cute made with these stamps soon!

I wish that you could see how sparkly this card is! I hand drew the polka dots on the mushroom cap and then covered the spots with Martha Stewart chunky white glitter. I then used my Copic Spica glitter pens all over for some extra shimmery goodness! The scene was masked and the sky and grassy area were sponged. The rest of the scene was watercolored. If you click on the picture, you may be able to pick up on a little bit of the sparkle.

Karrie and I will probably have another challenge of sorts after the new The Cats Pajamas release. You all know how much I *heart* Sprinkle! Please stop by Karrie's blog and check out her card. I'm sure that she'll be posting it soon!

Thanks for stopping by!



Card Recipe:
Stamps: Gnome Sweet Gnome, Kelly's Gnome Right, Cathrine's Gnome Home (all from Odd Bird Planet), Sanded (SU Background)

Cardstock: Old Olive, Real Red, Shimmery White, Chocolate Chip, Real Red dp (all SU)

Ink: Black Staz-On, Chocolate Chip, various re-inkers

Other: WWC, Sakura glitter pen, Copic Spica glitter pens, Martha Stewart Chunky and Fine Crystal glitter, Real Red brads, Corner Punch, Scallop Edge punch, dimensionals, velvet ribbon

Pure Sparkly Goodness

A little while back, I hosted an ATC swap over on Splitcoaststampers. The only requirement was to use The Cats Pajamas stamps. I was lucky enough to have some of The Cats Pajamas royalty (i.e. Karrie Baker, Julee Tillman, and Toni Armstrong) participating in my swap, so I knew that I wanted my swaps to be as special as I could make them. The two ATCs below are my contributions to the swap. I have to say that these are probably my favorite ATCs that I have ever created!

Here is my Yankee Doodle Sprinkle ATC. Lots of glittery touches on this one with the sugared cardstock and stickles. The laser cut Star cardstock is by KI Memories.

Here is my Rocket Ship ATC. I love how my planet turned out! I used my two SU oval punches to make the 'ring' around Saturn. The rocket itself was stamped on Cogsmo (Crate Paper) designer paper and paper pieced.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Yankee Doodle Sprinkle:
Stamps: Patriotic Sprinkle, Frisky 4th
Cardstock: Shimmery White (SU), Blue Jean, Lily White (Doodlebug sugared cardstock), Red Laser Cut Stars (KI Memories)
Ink: Staz-On Black, Brilliant Blue, Real Red
Other: Word Window punch, 1/4 Circle Punch, Star Brads, Copic Spica glitter pens, Christmas Red stickles, dimensionals

Supplies TCP Rocket Ship:
Stamps: It's a Mod, Mod World
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi (SU), Beetle Black, Lily White, Bumblebee (Doodlebug sugared cardstock), White (Papertrey), Cogsmo dp (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: Staz-On Black
Other: Star Brads (Making Memories), small and large oval punches, 1" Circle punch, ticket corner punch, bling, Lime Green Stickles, dimensionals

Sherbert Colors ATC

Here is another ATC that I made for a swap over on Splitcoaststampers. This swap was hosted by one of my new cyber friends Sue who also hails from the beautiful state of Colorado. Sue has some beautiful stamped work and she also always has a picture or two of the beauty that the state of Colorado has to offer. Would you believe that she actually hikes up fourteeners as a form of recreation?

For this swap, we were to use "Sherbet" colors of green, yellow and orange. As you can probably tell, I had a really hard time fitting orange into this ATC! I managed to incorporate a little orange with the ribbon and 'sherbet' in the ice cream cone. I just love this Penny Black frog image...he always puts a smile on my face! He was stamped in Craft Black and embossed with detail clear embossing powder. I then colored him in with some Copics and glittered his little belly with some Diamond stickles. The ice cream cone also was gone over with my Copic glitter pens for some extra sparkle. The green and yellow cardstock is some awesome shimmery cardstock that I find at Archivers. The designer paper is from DCWV and is already pre-glittered. A little bling in the upper right corner finishes this ATC off!

Thanks for stopping by!

ATC Recipe:
Stamp: Ice on the Pond (Penny Black)
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Shimmery Green, Shimmery Yellow, DCWV
Ink: Black Craft
Other: Detail Clear ep, misc ribbon, bling, Diamond Stickles, Copic Spica glitter pens, Nestabilities

Birds of a Feather ATC

Quick post today! This is an ATC that I made for a swap over on Splitcoaststampers. The swap theme was "Birds of a Feather". I wanted to go for a soft and vintage look with my ATC and I think I achieved what I was going for.

I first stamped my En Francais backgrounder in Sahara Sand on Very Vanilla cardstock (the image was stamped off once). The bird image is from my Inkadinkado Birds Galore clear stamp set and was overstamped on top of the background in Close to Cocoa ink. I then sponged some Blush Blossom ink around the edges and matted the image in Brushed Gold Cardstock. The ATC base is Blush Blossom. I then topped off the focal image with some self adhesive pearls and called it good.

Thanks for stopping by!

"HI"

I always admire those stampers that can make a no layer or single layer card that simply WOWS! I do not feel that I fall into that category by any means, but I have to say that I really am pleased with how this card turned out.

Using elegant materials = an elegant card. The card base is a wonderful die cut card from Creative Cuts and More. It is a lovely metallic cardstock called "Quartz" (which is a beautiful shimmery cream color). I love anything with shimmer to it and all I can say is that I will be getting more of this color in the future! I stamped one of the flourishes from my Pollen Dust (Fancy Pants) set in the lower right corner in Basic Black ink. The letters on the inside of the card are some leftover glittered chipboard letters that I used for a Valentines project earlier this year (they are from the Smitten line from K & Co). I then used some beautiful Pink and Black velvet ribbon (May Arts) that I purchased from Archivers and some pink bling to further accent this simple card.

Ciao!

Christophers Birthday Card

Here is the card that I made for Christopher for his 5th birthday. It's so hard to believe that my baby is 5 years old. He'll be going to Kindergarten this fall (sniff) and I know that I'll just cry like a baby when he walks through those school doors.

I used one of Julee's sketches as a starting off point. I believe that this was the Mojo Monday 44 sketch.

The card base is Blue Bayou followed with a Soft Sky layer that was ran through my Cuttlebug. I stamped Big Sprinkle and Lil Party Hat on Shimmery White and colored with a mixture of SU markers and Copic Spica glitter pens (if you click on the image, you may just be able to see some of the shimmer from these pens in action). The image was matted on Wild Wasabi (I'm really going to miss this years In Colors from SU). The '5' is from SU's Big Deal Numbers and is stamped in Blue Bayou.

Thanks for stopping by!



Card Recipe:
Stamps: Big Sprinkle, Lil Party Hat (both from The Cats Pajamas), Big Deal Numbers (SU)
Ink: Blue Bayou, Staz-On Black
Cardstock: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi, Shimmery White, Cogsmo dp (Crate Paper)
Other: Dimensionals, Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, Scalloped Circle and 1" Circle Punch (SU), Perfect Layers tool

Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer

This card showcases multi-tasking at its best! It was originally made for last weeks The Cats Pajamas Tuesday (TCPTUES14) and the Wednesday sketch challenge (SC183) over on Splitcoaststampers. It also includes a wonderful die cut card from Creative Cuts and More! It was originally going to be posted on Saturday (along with a cute picture of my youngest son blowing out the candles on his birthday cake). It was Saturday afternoon that I discovered that the memory card on my digital camera was corrupt. Every single picture that was taken on my sons birthday was lost. :-( I can always retake pictures of my cards, but unfortunately I can't retake the birthday photos. I only today just picked up a new memory card for my camera (so I'm finally able to post some of the things that I've been creating).

The central image is "Relaxing" Sprinkle. She was stamped in Black Craft ink and embossed with detail clear (so her coat is super glossy)! I then colored in the image with a few of the Copic markers that I now possess. The patterned paper and sparkle brads are from the Archivers exclusive "Endless Summer" line by WeRMemory Keepers. I stamped the "Bubbles" stamp in Versamark around the perimeter of the card. I also stamped the "Bubbles" stamp on the inside of the card in "Summer Sun".

The card base is from Creative Cuts and More. The color is Bazzil "Lemon Bliss" and the mat color is "Caribbean Breeze". What makes this card super special is the inside.



Is that not the coolest? This is the Heart Fold-Up Explosion Card Set. This is such a WOW effect for so very little effort! I encourage you to go and check out Terry's site. It is full of many wonderful things in every color imaginable under the sun.

And speaking of relaxing....here is a picture of Bella! She loves to come up and lay by my keyboard whenever I am posting or surfing the web.



Lastly, I have to toot my own horn here a little bit! Have you seen who won is the Swanky Stamper over on The Cats Pajamas? Yep....it's me! I didn't even find out that I had won until about 9:00 PM that night (as I was too busy to log on to the computer). I am trying so hard to wait until the next release. I can't wait to see what Alma has been cooking up!

Thanks for stopping by!

You gotta kiss a LOT of frogs....

Here is my entry for this weeks TCP Tuesday challenge. Leigh O'Brien was this weeks "Hostess with the Mostess" and she gave us an awesome color challenge to use. The challenge colors are below and they are simply divine together.

I made this card with a co-worker in mind. She is all of 21 years old and she is getting harassed by her family who keeps asking her why she isn't married yet (at one point, they even asked her if she was gay). All I know is that at 21, I was a L-O-N-G way away from wanting to settle down and get married. When I think of the caliber of the guys out there that were in my age group? NO WAY! I just don't understand why her own family is making her feel bad (she was actually in tears talking to me). My advise to her was that she needs to kiss a lot of frogs before she will eventually find her Prince Charming and that she will find him some day. I'm hoping that this will bring a smile to her face.

I inked up "Frog Prince" and stamped him multiple times on Shimmery White cardstock. I masked off his crown using good old post it notes and used my handy dandy Stamp-a-ma-jig to get the placement exactly right (with the right tools, I can do ANYTHING....LOL)! I colored in the frogs using a few of the Copic markers that I do own and then added a little Diamond Stickles to their little frog bellies for a little shimmer. I then watercolored the background of the frog panel with Soft Sky reinker and then matted with Old Olive cardstock. The "Frog Prince" main focal image was also colored with Copics, but he also received a little extra treatment with my Copic Spica glitter pens (to make him really stand out from the others). I doodled a little dot border around him to make the image pop a little further. He was matted with a Ruby Red scalloped heart.

The card base is Soft Sky that has been stamped with the Linen background with Soft Sky ink. I then overstamped the background with the "Balls" stamp from TCP. I just love the soft, textural feel that stamping these two backgrounds adds to the card. I cut off about 3/4 of an inch from the right side of the card to add a little visual interest. I then made a scalloped edge with my corner rounder and added some Ruby Red eyelets using my Crop-O-Dile. Inside the card reads "Frogs. Princes. I've kissed them all". How very true this is!

And speaking of a handsome prince.....here is a picture of my oldest son at his Kindergarten graduation! He may be a little young for my co-worker, but I know that he'll make someone very happy someday (after all, his mama is raising his right!)!




Thanks for stopping by! I'll be posting some ATCs that I've made in the past few weeks within the next few days. I hosted a TCP swap and I was really pleased with the ATCs that I came up with (but I want my fellow swappers to see them first).



Card Recipe:
Stamps: Frog Prince, Balls (both from The Cats Pajamas), Linen (SU)
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Soft Sky, Ruby Red, Old Olive
Ink: Black Staz-On, Soft Sky
Other: Aquapainter, Fresh Favorites I eyelets (SU), Pewter Hodgepodge (SU), Soft Sky stitched ribbon (SU), Nestabilities (sm and lg rectangles, plain and scalloped hearts), small corner rounder, Crop-o-dile