Just a quick note...

I've been busy, busy, busy this week getting ready for the OWH Memorial Day bloghop this Saturday May 29th,2010!! Please come back and visit this weekend--I have a CUTE CUTE CUTE blog candy giveaway planned and you won't want to miss this AMAZING bloghop! There are over 135 talented paper-crafters participating in this hop--SO much inspiration and SO many many generous people giving their time and creative energies to such a great cause! Hope to see you back here on Saturday!!

(the hop will start HERE at the OWH Stars and Stamps blog, but you're welcome to start with mine and work your way back and forwards from here!)

Happy Mother's Day all you moms out there!

I'm typing up this post as I wait for my wonderful hubby to get back from Panera with my all-time favorite muffin EVER--the orange cranberry. I really hope they have it this morning. I needed one more Mother's Day card for my mom(the other one was for my mother-in-law who enjoys all things crafty/sewing, etc.) and these PTI stamps were just the thing. I just so happened to buy her a Wallflowers starter kit and a bunch of sweet pea refills(my favorite scent) from Bath and Body Works as a little Mother's Day gift this year. She's way too cheap to indulge in what she calls 'such an expensive air freshener' so I popped in the store the other day and guess what?? They were on surprise sale for $6!! I bought her enough refills to last until they go on sale again as it will probably be me that buys her more.

Anyways, on to the card... I pretty much CASE'd the uber-talented Dawn McVey's card here. I loved the way she used the Dotti Biscotti paper, Copics, and pop-dots to enhance the blossoms but I wanted to take that idea and put my own spin on it. I found out it's MUCH harder to do that than I thought. When you have a picture of an already perfect card in your head, it's difficult to alter it in any way. I gave it my best shot and I'm super excited with how it turned out. Hope my mom likes it. She's REALLY hard to please. Probably why I grew up such a perfectionist:)

If you're celebrating Mother's Day as a mom yourself, or with your own mom, or someone you consider just like a mom, I hope you have a wonderful day and cherish the relationships in your life!

Supplies used:PTI stamps and patterned paper,Copics,SU! Kraft cs,EK Success double crochet lace border punch and bracket journaling punch,Quickutz label,Tim Holtz Vintage Market alpha.

An attempt at vintage...

Well, I don't know if this could really be called 'vintage-style', but I had fun using all these fun new vintage-y products! Got some of that awesome new October Afternoon paper and I found this cute dressform stamp at Hobby Lobby last week. I ordered a REALLY cute stamp set from a new company called Lawn Fawn , but it hasn't arrived in my mailbox yet and I REALLY REALLY wanted to play with this new paper! (and I really really needed to get a mother's day card made and sent out in a hurry)

Never been much of a vintage kinda girl, but I'm totally and completely embracing this new trend this season! I'm working on a little mini-album of vintage goodness that I'll hopefully finish up next week and share here.

Hope everyone's enjoying gorgeous spring days and squeezing in some scrappy time too!

Supplies used:October Afternoon Thrift Shop,K&Co,SU! patterned paper,Quickutz Eliza,Tim Holtz Vintage Market,Stampabilities and Inkadinkado stamps,Spellbinders,EK Success real estate punch,Martha Stewart modern garland and eyelet lace punch,Tsukineko and SU! ink,La Mode button,Michaels ribbon,SU! kraft cs,Prima,KI sheer, Copics.

Stella ROCKS!

I'm constantly getting requests to make funny birthday cards and I've always struggled with it--BUT NOT ANYMORE!! My search is over! I just couldn't find stamped images that were witty,age-appropriate,and relatively inexpensive.THEN....I discovered digi stamps and a whole new world opened up....One of my favorite digi stamp sites so far is Bugaboo Stamps. This character 'Stella' is just perfect! Jodie over at Bugaboo has such mad skills as a designer and there's even a FREEBIE digi stamp every Friday(this Stella one that I used was a freebie!!)

I had SO much fun coloring her in with my new Copics! One of the things I love the most about these Stella images are the little phrases that come with the stamp. Too, too funny and it totally eliminates having to come up with something witty yourself--the hard part is done for you!

I was also asked to make a matching bucket tote to go along with this card so this is what I came up with. I love making these little bags! They're so fast and easy to create and perfect to give just a little something special.

These are the Copics I used on the image. I'm self-taught so cut me a little slack.please? The nearest store offering Copic classes is an hour away and doesn't seem to teach more than one class a month so maybe someday in the future I'll get there.


I'm absolutely loving sketches right now. I think they're just a great jumping off point to get the mojo flowing and I know on this card, it really made me think outside the box. I LOVE the long skinny card! This sketch is on p.33 of the new 'Go To Sketches' PaperCrafts mag. If you don't have this one and you're into making cards, you've gotta check it out! One of the best publications I've seen in a long time.

TONS of ideas running through my head now so I'm off to the stores to pick up a few 'necessary' (not so much) crafty items. Here's hoping you have a happy productive week!

Supplies used~QK damask dies,Santa's Workshop,Lemonade,Spellbinders tags,labels,AC ribbon,Bugaboo digi stamp,K&Co paper,DCWV cs,Copics,SU tag punch,MS border punch, SU stamp,StudioG stamp.

A few projects to share...

So we're back from our little mini-vacation to Charleston and I remembered I forgot to post these before I left! I put a couple little packages together for my MIL and SIL and took a crazy chance that the chocolates I stuck inside weren't gonna turn into soup during shipment. Since procrastinating has been my thing lately, I waited until a lovely 90 degree day to mail them off.These were supposed to be a Valentine's surprise in the mail for them--it turned into an Easter surprise(they made it ok amazingly).

The little notepad holders were so fun to make! I'm always thinking up new ways to use those QK Santa's Workshop mini-album dies, so if you have any cool ideas and you'd like to share them with me--please leave me a comment here:) The gift bag instructions can be found on the SCS website here

I've got some fresh new pics to hopefully inspire some layouts and a whole lotta time at the end of the week to lock myself in the scraproom. We'll see what happens...

Supplies used: Quickutz Santa's Workshop dies,SU ribbon,Quickutz Chick-a-dee alpha,Prima flowers,KI sheer daisy,Spellbinders Nesties,Quickutz love birds die,Martha Stewart punch,Michaels ribbon,SU tab punch,My Mind's Eye paper.

Sent off my first batch of OWH cards!

Here's just a few of them I sent off yesterday. It was a small first shipment, but I really wanted to send a few Mother's Day cards and the deadline was yesterday(nothing like waiting until the last minute,right?). I didn't make them "mother's day" specific in case they don't arrive on time.

I've been busy this week with lots of card-making and a few projects for Easter gifts that I mailed just in time(do you see a pattern here?) But--it's been a VERY productive week and I even squeezed in some scrappy shopping:)

I have a few more things to share this weekend and then it's off to Charleston for a romantic getaway next week with my hubby--and a gorgeous picture-taking opportunity that will hopefully inspire me to actually scrap a layout. You know you're a total addict when you have the punches,QK alphas, and paper picked out for a particular vacation.It's ok--you can laugh. I know most of you reading this have done it too:)

Supplies used:BG Lemonade and Kioshi, EK Success punches, SU ribbon and stamps,DCWV cs,Cornish Heritage Farms stamps,QK flourish

MOJO131-take two.

I liked this week's sketch so much I used it again on this Asian inspired card. I thought the 3 panel frame was perfect for those blossoms. If you've never checked out the MojoMonday sketch blog, go give it a try! It might be just the thing to jumpstart your mojo!

I said I wouldn't do it(I know, Yvonne, you can scold me for this)but I caved late last week and bought some Copics. It was the airbrush possibilities that pushed me over the edge. I've been playing with them ever since in detailed images(since I'm still too scared to color a giant empty space) and trying to get the hang of it. Clearly, there's a learning curve but it's not as bad as some would make you think. I plan on taking an online course in a bit to build my skills.

Hope your week is going great so far! I'm buried in my scrap room this week churning out a few more Easter cards for family and Mother's day cards for OWH!

Supplies used:SU stamps and ribbon,BasicGrey pp,DCWV cs,Copics R22,R24,Spellbinders labels ten,Recollections pearls,Cuttlebug embossing folder,Neenah 80# solar white,Memento ink,MS border punch

MOJO-131 For Peeps Sake

So I had a few Easter cards to make for family(sadly, I missed the OWH Easter card deadline) and this week's MOJO-131 sketch was absolutely perfect! I've been wanting to line these little guys up on a card ever since I picked up this punch:


The first thing I thought of when I saw this punch was Peeps. I just cut the little tail off and it was my own Peeps punch:) I'm on a roll with the cards now, that bloghop was just the push I needed to get moving and get those Mother's day cards done for the troops!

Supplies used:Fiskars punch,EK Success(SU)border punch,BasicGrey paper,Queen & Co pearls, SU sentiment stamp, Spellbinders labels, Sizzix(SU)embossing folder,Darice ribbon,DCWV cardstock.

We have a WINNER!!

And the winner of my BLOG CANDY from the OWH Springbreak Bloghop is.........

Martha!!(Is that not funny?? Martha wins a Martha punch:))

I've left you a little note on your blog:)

Thanks so much everyone for visiting my blog over the weekend and participating in OWH's Springbreak bloghop. I hope you had a fun time looking at all the eye candy and amazing inspiration out there, I know I did! Can't wait to play in more bloghops with OWH in the future!

A Salute to OWH!

*EDITED: With 93 stops on this fabulous hop...it's taking a LONG time to really check out all the goodness out there and give each blog the attention they all so deserve SO--I'm extending the deadline to post a comment to enter for my blog candy until 12:00noon Mon 3/22. I'll post the winner here Monday before 5:00pm and contact the winner as well*

Happy Spring everybody! What better way to kick off a new season than start a new venture, right? ...So... Welcome to my stop on the OWH Springbreak bloghop! If this is your next stop on the hop, welcome! If you have absolutely no idea what 'OWH' is, you've got to check out the start of the hop at http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org. You won't want to miss a single stop!

Here's my first card for the troops:


I used lots of fun stuff on this one. Flocking on the bunny(Doodlebug), MS border punch,QK Santa's Workshop, Nesties labels ten and thirteen, and the new SU border punch. The paper is BG Lemonade and Bo Bunny.


Here's a quick and easy tutorial on making the grass border in the nestabilities:

First, you'll need the Martha Stewart grass border punch
and your chosen paper. Punch along one edge.

Next, line up the grass border where you want it
on the nestabilities die and tape the
die cutting-edge down on the front of your paper.

Turn the die with paper attached cutting-edge up
and run it through your die-cutting machine.

Here's what your grass border looks like.

Now, cut your full nestabilities shape out with
the same die you used for the border.

To finish it up and add a little extra dimension,
I used pop-dots on the back of the grass border and bunny.

I adhered the grass a little higher to keep
the white border all around, but it would also
look great flush with the bottom edge.

Just a simple, quick technique for those who might be new to nesties or die-cutting in general.

I'm super excited to participate in the OWH cause. I was in the Army for 8 years and my husband just recently retired last fall from active-duty after 20 years of service. When we heard about what OWH does, we both thought how awesome that would've been as a soldier to not only have the means of sending cards home to family, but to receive boxes and boxes of these lovingly handmade cards from so many people showing their support.

If you're not familiar with this awesome organization and you'd like to learn more, spend a little time at their homefront blog here. I just loved the topic of their March 12th post about involving kids with sending letters to the troops. One of the questions asked was "will the service members write back to the children?" I can't speak for all of them, but I do know when my husband and I were deployed and would receive 'anyhero' letters from back home, it was a very special feeling of pride in country and staying connected to home and the real meaning behind what we were doing. Long before the days of OWH, when my husband was a brand new soldier and deployed to Somalia in 1993, his hometown school would send letters to the troops and he had a penpal that he wrote to for many months. He still talks about this kid nearly 20 years later and how much those letters of encouragement meant.

Here's a pic of my hero on the day of his retirement ceremony last September.



Now for some real fun!
Anyone who's visited my blog before knows what a total Martha Stewart punch addict I am. So in honor of my first bloghop with OWH, I'm giving away a brand new Martha Stewart grass border punch just like the one I used on my card to one lucky winner! All you have to do to be entered to win is leave me a comment on this post(if you're not with blogger, be sure to put your email addy in your comment) by 11:59pm Sunday 3/21. The winner will be selected by random number generator and posted here on Monday 3/22. (Sorry--only open to US residents)

If you'd like to start making cards for the troops, be sure to check out all the details on the OWH site. The deadline for Mother's Day cards is April 1st. The next stop on the OWH Springbreak bloghop is Stephanie's. I love her clean gorgeous style! Click HERE to visit Stephanie's blog and keep hopping!!