Simple Thanks

Today is another CBC Challenge day, and this week's challenge is the following sketch. I drew this one up eons ago, long before circles were all the rage in sketches. I feel like such a trendsetter. ;o) lol.

And here is my take on the sketch:

I had so many ideas for this sketch, but in the end I wound up doing a simple thanksgiving card. We are back to fighting with our little one every night to get him to sleep and stay asleep, so my crafting time was limited last night. Thankfully, the pediatrician changed our meds again (for reflux, if you haven't been following the drama), so hopefully we'll have smooth sailing from here on out. Think happy thoughts for us!

The embossed area on the card is a Cuttlebug embossing folder, and the leaves are from Sweet n' Sassy Stamps Autumn Blessing set. I stamped them in Bravo Burgundy (same color as base of card) and then used my aquapainter and watercolor crayons to color them in.

Thanks so much to everyone who gave their congrats on my exciting news yesterday! I can't wait to get started. :)

Exciting News!

I'm so excited to finally be able to share some big news with you! I have been chosen to be part of the design team for i {heart} papers, a new store that has some FABULOUS papers, stamps, embellishments, etc. Seriously, the Christmas papers I saw tonight were to.die.for. Poor Kate (owner) is probably fed up with me because I kept emailing her and adding to my order! lol! I can't wait to get my box and start creating so you can see what I'm talking about.

If you've read my blog for awhile, you've read about how I lurvvvve me some non-traditional colors on Christmas cards, and even more than that, I lurvvvve me some retro prints. Put the two together and I'm in HEAVEN. Check these out:

Winter Wonder

Swell Noel

Small Pink Ornaments

Christmas Trees

I could continue, but I'll let you do a little browsing on your own. ;o)

And check out this Postage Stamp paper for Valentine's Day. How adorable is that? And is it just me, or do you see 24 different cards when you look at that? All you have to do is cut each "stamp" out and turn it into its very own card. LOVE IT!

Anyhow, I'm totally psyched about this! I'll be adding a blog list of my fellow team members in the next few days, and will let you know when it's up so you can take a gander if you're interested.

Happy Monday!

Teachers Rule!

Isn't this a fun card? I love all these bright colors! I have to thank my blogger friend Jacquie for sending me all of these fun Changito images, and she surprised me by throwing some school-related DP into the envie as well (what you see here, as well as some others). Thanks, Jacquie!

Believe it or not, this is actually a birthday card. Henry's godmother is a kindergarten teacher, and her birthday is tomorrow so I made this card for her, from him. I'll print something up for the inside... maybe, "...and you're my favorite one!" or something similar (suggestions welcome and appreciated!). In addition to being a teacher, she is also a HUGE advocate for books and reading with kids. I don't think I've ever known her to give ANY child a gift that didn't include a book, so these stamps really are just perfect for her! She does read my blog from time to time, but I'm hoping she won't stop in until after she gets this. If she does, well, SUPRISE! ;) lol!

I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday. Remember to take a little time for yourself - I'm sure you deserve it. :)

Congratulations, Mommy!

Through the wonder that is Facebook, I have reconnected with a number of friends that I haven't seen since High School, or in some cases, Middle School. It really is mind-blowing to see how these people have changed. One of the girls I went to high school with just had her first baby. It's a girl! Technically the card is for her and her husband, but I didn't have a "Daddy" stamp. I'm sure he'll get over it. ;o)

I bought this background paper at Hobby Lobby a few months ago. I just love it. The camera doesn't capture the sparkles in the paper, but it really is pretty. Speaking of things the camera doesn't capture, check out my brown moon. It's soooo not brown in real life! What's up with that? I even tried to fix it with Photoshop, but no luck. I added some stickles over the stars, so you can see a little of that shimmer in the picture. The main image and "Congratulations" sentiment are from an old (1994) Stampin' Up! set called Brides and Babies. The "Mommy" is a small part of a bigger sentiment (single stamp, sold at Hobby Lobby).

I've been trying to learn more about Photoshop when I have free time, and have been having fun playing around making different graphics. I made that Bellaholics Challenge Queen badge over there on my sidebar, and I also just finished a blog signature for my blogger friend Chrissy D. You can see it at the bottom of this post on her blog (ignore the black box around it - I believe you only see that because she uploaded it as a photo rather than as html). Chrissy also has some blog candy available, and you can check out this post for more details! Now I have to work on a new signature for myself. I've never been totally pleased with this one...

I also need to direct you to MORE blog candy. My blogger friend Rach has some available on her blog until the 28th of this month. If you've never visited her blog before, you are in for a treat. Her cards are gorgeous, and her coloring is phenominal. Go check it out, and enjoy your Saturday. We're doing some early trick-or-treating today at a grocery store and the zoo in town, so that should be fun (hopefully!). Henry will be thrilled to get back into the zoo one last time!

For Mimi

I made this card for the Bellaholics Anonymous weekly challenge. This week is a color challenge, given to us by Queen Christi. Christi based her color choices - purple, black, and cream - on some favorite colors of her grandma (called Mimi) who passed away recently. You can read more about Christi's inspiration for the challenge and see the adorable card she made on her blog here.

I used white instead of cream on my card, but only because it was a gifted image. Her apron looks more purple in person. For some reason it seems more blue in my picture. About that apron... note how she is not wearing any kind of shirt underneath it. lol. Let's just pretend she bakes in halter tops, mmmk? Because otherwise that would just be wrong. ;)

All of the dots on the card are punched and glued down. I got a little spot-happy. hee hee. I love dots. When I was in middle school, I remember filling out these little quiz things to show how much you knew about your best friend. My best friend was Pam, and Pam listed my favorite color as "polka dots". LOL. :) So true. My favorite color actually is purple, so this was a fun card for me.

In other news, I've been chatting it up a bit with my blogger friend Sue about how she has this cool little comment form on her blog, and how I can get it too. She was kind enough to send me some info she found tonight, and I thought I'd share it with you. If you like the way my comment form is set up (effective today) you can do the same on your (Blogger) blog by following these simple instructions:

To enable the embedded comment form for your blog, go to the Settings > Comments page and look for the Comment Form Placement setting. Change it to Embedded below post, save your settings, and go check out a post to see the new form in action.

Enjoy the day!

One Outfit....

....Two babies!

I thought I had a better picture of Henry in this outfit (one of my favorites - I just love the bottoms of the feet... too bad it's in Colts colors though!), but regardless, it's still a fun comparison.

Henry:


Jack:

Jack is almost 7 mos, and I think Henry was about the same age when the photo was taken. I do remember it being much looser on him though!

Birds Of A Feather

Well, the good news is that Henry is feeling better. The bad news is, I still haven't had time to stamp anything. BUT, I do have a new card to show you that I made last week and never got posted! I just love these Inkadinkado birds, and my blogger friend Denise was kind enough to send some to me. And by "some", I mean "about a hundred". LOL! I was so surprised when I got her envie! Holy man! It really was happy mail in its truest form. :)

The paper is more of Stampin' Up!'s Washington Apple line. I don't have a sentiment on this one, because I couldn't find one that fit right. I had one sentiment that said, "Friends come in all shapes and sizes."... at first I thought I'd use that, but then I decided against it because if I got that card, I'd be wondering what the sender was trying to tell me about my shape and size. LOL. So, for now it's a blank card. hee hee.

If you have a moment, click over to my family blog and check out the cute halloween goodies I made tonight!

And in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness month, I'll leave you with this fun piece of flair I found on Facebook today...


Enjoy the day!

Halloween Fun

I just thought I'd share a quick picture of some Halloween cookies I made tonight. I just took some Nutter Butter cookies, and dropped them in white chocolate, then added mini chocolate chips for eyes. I saw this idea somewhere and they suggested using licorice whips for eyes, but I don't care for licorice, so I went with these instead. When the chocolate dries, I'll break off the little pools around the edges and have some fun halloween treats for someone.

That's the funny part... I didn't even make them for anyone, I just saw the idea and thought I'd try it. I think they'd look super cute standing up in a halloween cake frosted with black frosting, don't you? Maybe I'll try that when my boys are old enough to appreciate it. Ooooo... or even in little black-frosted cupcakes! Man, could I rock a bake sale or what? lol.

Next time I'll put the points of the chocolate chips down instead of up. Some of the eyes look a little crazy on these, but you get the idea!

Whole Latte Love!

Well friends, today is Tuesday and you know what that means! Another CBC Challenge day! This week's challenge is to make a pocket card. Although I had the best intentions in the world to complete this challenge, life got in the way. Henry woke up from his nap on Sunday with a fever of 102, so the rest of the day was basically shot as we cleaned up after and cared for a one sick little boy. He felt better on Monday, but still wasn't 100%, so by Monday night I was just beat.

I didn't want to miss posting for the challenge today though, so I thought I'd share one of the many cards I've received over the years. This is a super adorable pocket card from the first secret sister I ever had on SCS (we're talking years ago - I think it was in the second round they ever did). Her name is Pat Limberg, she is SUPER talented, and I *just* found her blog while searching SCS for her gallery! How exciting... into the reader it goes! :) You totally have to click over and take a look. Not only are her cards adorable, but she also makes a coordinating envie to go with each and every one of them. I love it. I actually still have the envie that came with this card, but didn't think to photograph it until I was typing this, so you'll just have to take my word on that one!




Look at the sponging on the edges. She is solely responsible for every bit of sponging I've ever done. I was so new to the stamping scene when I "met" Pat, and kept asking her what she was doing to her card edges. Even after she told me, I still didn't get it (DOH!). It finally dawned on me, and I've never been the same. I lovvvve me some sponging! :) Thanks, Pat... for the cards, the gifts (seriously, the gifts were AMAZING you guys! She totally spoiled me), and the mini-tutorial on sponging. :)

Don't forget to click the links in my sidebar to see what the other Challenge Chicks came up with, and if you play along be sure to link you creation back to Courtney's blog for a chance to win a little something!

This Too Shall Pass

This is another one of the images I received from my blogger friend Michelle (the same gal who sent the image of the bucket full of leaves). The sentiment is from the Sweet n' Sassy Stamps set called Autumn Blessings.

I made this card for one of my toddler mom friends on SCS, and after I made it, it fell over onto a stamp that hadn't been cleaned yet. I was so ticked. Thanks to photoshop, I'm still able to use it for my blog but I can't figure out how to fix the damage well enough to send it. I was telling my husband about it and he was so sweet. He said, "It's not garbage, you just have to send it to someone who loves you." Awwww. If only it were that easy. ;) lol. So anyhow, Val, if you're reading this, know that the thought was there. :(