Card sighting...

Since about mid June, I've had my supply of stamps boxed up in anticipation of our big move.  It's been difficult not being able to stamp when I needed a stress-fix, but I did manage to make a few cards before I boxed everything up... ok a few hundred.  :-)

Here is my new address cards this time around.  Sad thing as I was making them... I realized that this might be the last change of address cards I make for us for a LONG time!  With the purchase of the new house, we don't plan on going anywhere for quite a while! 

Made these as my "Thank You" cards for my wedding guests.  The birds compliment the birds on the invitation, as well as the green script wording.  I LOVE the embossed part of this card.  It added a bit of elegence to my country-themed wedding!

 Here is the front of my wedding invitations.  It took MANY failed attempts to figure out how to close the cards without having a large lump that would hinder mailing.  The scallop tag was a repeated theme throughout the wedding, found on the cups, gift boxes, vases on the table...

 Inside where the good stuff is...

I knew I wanted to make my own invitations and wanted something simple.  I saw this layout online and knew right away this was it.  I printed off all the information, die cut the birds and stuck it all together.

 My favorite part was the RSVP card.  I had fun personalizing this to fit our wedding theme!

I also have my Christmas Cards done, but those will have to wait till December to post!

Moving again.. kinda

We rearranged the lower house again... Seems to be common in this wierd-sized house. I actually have a craft room, though! I'm excited about it! A WHOLE room to devote to my creative outlets.. now if I could just find TIME to use it! I have a long table in the middle of the room that doubles as a laundry-folding table, so at least it gets used.. just not in the way I wish I was using it!!!

My awesome friend Angel gave me this idea for my punch holders.. Shoe bags!!! It works great!!!

Our old DVD shelf with a new lease on life! My stamp cases fit perfectly, gives me lots of options to arrange them by my catagories and it's narrower than a normal shelf unit!

Here's to a New Year of Creative Output!!!

Christmas Card Fun!

My awesome Stampin' Up demonstrator did a cool Stamp-A-Stack this year, and these are three of the cards that we made. I LOVE the Top Note Die from SU! We tried to find several ways to put it to use since we all purchased the machine this year! I think we did a good job!!!

I LOVE snowmen, so this one was a MUST make!!

I love this stamp set I got to use for Christmas Cards this year. This card took some tweaking before I was really pleased with it. I LOVE the "Merry Christmas Dear Friend" punch. I thought it went well with the deer image! I had some red gem stickers that fit perfect in Rudolphs nose! I finally found some red ribbon that seemed to tie it all together!
This was another card we made. I love the multicolored strips! The ornaments are old-fashioned and I love how this turned out!

...and last but not least...

I LOVE the snow cuttlebug embossing folder I got at Hobby Lobby and have put it to GOOD use!!! I layered it with white and blue and I LOVE how it turned out! You can't really see it in the picture. but I used some awesome shimmer paint stuff on the word "sparkle" and the snowmen. (Thanks Angel!!!) Really brought it all together. I found some cute sparkling snowball type things to add on. I am QUITE pleased with this one, too!

I really had fun making Christmas Cards this year. I'm not saying which one I sent out, since I know they have not been all delivered. :-) I gave the boys' teachers a set of Christmas Cards this year in lieu of my regular ornaments I usually give. I couldn't find the material I usually use and I didn't like how they were turning out. I decided to give something they could hopefully use, so I tied 2 each of 5 different designs of cards together and that's what they gave to their teachers.

I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I am actually ready for it this year, but I'm still not feeling much in the Christmas Spirit. I'm not sure why. I put the tree up, but just have not had the desire to put the ornaments on it. The kids have made some in school and Sunday School, so I put those on this year, and I've actually put the Christmas Cards I have received so far on it, too. Maybe it's the warm weather, or the lack of Christmas spirit I'm feeling in the house. I don't know.

Randy is reading Luke 2:1-7 at the childrens Christmas Eve Service tomorrow and I am so proud of him! Hopefully something will energize my Christmas Spirit at the service!

Baby Blessings

I'm so excited I can finally show this to you. I have been waiting, 1) for my bestest, oldest friend, Jennifer, to finally have her baby and 2) for her to receive this gift before I posted it! Both have happened, so now I can show!

I wanted to do something special for my friend... I found this sketch and tweaked it a bit. I came up with this card. I found the ribbon many, many months ago in New York (seems like forever ago!!!) and have yet to find a reason to use it.. till this card. You can't really see, but the circles on the ribbon actually match the rose and green on the card. Perfect!

This was my baby gift for Jennifer's little girl, Sophia. I found the chipboard "BABY" some time ago and knew exactly who I would use it for! I had to wait till I found out if it would be for a girl or a boy! Once that was found, I got to work!
I used a pack of coordinated paper and started out!
I had so much fun designing each page and trying to figure out what to add.
I added some "picture" spots that she can choose to replace with pictures of little Sophia or leave as is. (That stamp of a baby always reminded me of my little Riley!)

Then I added some scriptures, spots to write memories and some pretty flowers...

A little bling, here and there, some paper piercing...

And put it all together!

I love how all the colors and patterns fit together and made it all flow. I had SO much fun with this project, I may need to venture on to other projects with more of the chipboard words!!!

Creativity hits again!

I love making these little photo albums to send to Jason. My friend Angel was gracious enough to send me some AWESOME images of a Soldier... she knows I love those! I LOVE this one with a little girl. Perfect for our Brodie!

I love how the uniform came out. I colored it with watercolor pencils and used a technique involving paint thinner to smooth it out and blend. I really like how it looks like ACU as close as I can get to it!!
I've actually been able to stamp in the last 2 days and I'm quite proud of myself! I like the layout on this card. I knew what quote I wanted to use when I saw this hodgepodge "square" but I just couldn't figure out what image to use. This is the one that I ended it going with. I think it still works.
This is the second one I managed to accomplish. I'm not quite sure I captured the "picture" in my mind! I started with the embossed blue piece and continued to add with the polkadot papers. I liked how the pieces I pieced together worked on the flower part, but I wasn't sure how to "finish" the middle. I ended up going with a little bit of "fluff." There is some pink encorporated into the smallest polkadot piece, but I don't really like how the center ended up. Oh well.. now I konw for next time!

...and this is where all the creativy comes from! This is my "little corner of the world." I moved it downstairs from my room and set it up in the playroom. It works great since I can "play" while the kids play! We both seem to get more done and it's been great so far! I love having everything within reach.. and I even stole the computer chair with wheels so it's comfy, too!That's it for this blog... thanks for stopping by! I LOVE that you came to visit!

Inspiration Strikes

I've been slacking in the creative department... partly because I haven't had the time to sit down and be inspired and partly because I've been moving my stamp room from upstairs to downstairs and I'm still re-arranging. I actually had some time tonight to sit and stamp. All 4 kids were occupied and I found 10 minutes to myself! Imagine my overwhelming desire to take a nap, but instead I got two cards done. Oh well, I'll take what I can get!

I got some new supplies in the past 2 months and finally got a chance to use them! My first new addition was some COOL Designer Paper by SU! I split some of the new stuff with my awesome friend Angel. WoooHooo! I LOVE this stuff.

My other favorite new addition is my coordinating stamps and punches. I got the stamp set for free and finally got to use my stamp sets that go with them!!!

I joined a Stamp Club last year and we started doing a swap in February. This month was a Spring Card. Here is my card for the swap. I love these colors together!

Close up of the butterfly. I stamped it on Acetate (overhead projector sheets) and "popped" it out to give the butterfly a 3D look.This was Riley's birthday invitation/thank you for his 7th Birthday Party.
Colt's 1st Birthday Thank You card. I LOVE this little car and the fact that it has a 1 on it was perfect!!

I'm going to try and post a few more pictures while the upload is working! Thanks for browsing!!!

Christmas crafts

Once again we made ornaments for the boy's teachers. I could only find large ones this year, but it actually worked better.

Here's a close up of them. The "snow" is actually called "fake snow" and so far it's the best stuff I've found in all the years I've been making them. I added a little bit of turquoise glitter and I LOVE how they came out.
Randy made this in class and I'm definately going to try and recreate it! It's just made out of circles, folded and glued. What a cool idea!!!I LOVE these "Box in a bags" I found at this site.
I actually found it through Angelosity, as always!

Here's a cool new magnet I made trying to find something to do for the boys' teachers. It's cute, but I ran out of seed beads to use in them! I'll have to remember it for next year!

Here was my "almost Christmas card."

I really like this, but I found something else I decided to use that I'll show later once I get all of my cards mailed out. Don't want to ruin the surprise!

Final Day... how sad!

Today is the final day over at Angelosity for her "18 Rainbow Days of Angelosity." It was a countdown to her birthday, which is tomorrow! But it's not too late for you to join in the fun if you want! Just click over to her post and see how you can try for the BIG Pot at the end of the Rainbow! I've caught up on the last two cards and I'm sad to say I'm done. Now I need to find something else to keep me stamping!

As for Day 17, it was another Sketch challenge.

While digging in my slowly diminshing pile of cuttlebug backgrounds, I found this snowflake one. I miss snow!!! So I was inspired to create this card. I couldn't figure out what I needed on the bottom to "wrap it up" and this ribbon stuff didn't quite seem to do it. I think I have convinced myself I need to go to Hobby Lobby to look for more of the "finishing touches" I have run out of!!
Day 19 was a Birthday Challenge. Again, I turned to the cuttlebug sheets... (I really think I'm going to have to look into this more!) I found some black polka-dot paper to match the cuttlebug design and put it together. I also accepted Angel's other challenge today and that was to use a sketch from last year's Angelosity countdown! This is sketch #19. I like the pink/black combo! (Except it's really Cameo Coral!)
Can you tell I really like these cuttlebug sheets??? My son is turning 9 in 3 days, so when I found this number sheet, I decided I had to play around with it. I couldnt' decide on a sketch from last year, so I just played with some cardstock arrows and this is what came out. This was my last card, and Colt was getting tired of making a mess on the floor, so I had to hurry to finish. He's getting better at being patient while I "play" though!!

And so ends another year of daily inspiration for stamping. I think I am going to have to find another source of challenges!!! I enjoyed this too much and I can tell I'm starting to lack in the creative department! I also realized I need to go to Hobby Lobby finally! So, I'm out for now!

Card Catch-Up

I've been behind in my participation with Angel over at Angelosity. Between Halloween, Cake-baking and sick kids, I wasn't able to play along each day. I managed to catch up today!!!!

Here is Day 13...

we had a sketch challenge. I found these awesome Cuttlebug papers sent from an awesome friend, and they fit perfectly with this sketch.

I actually got two of this sketch done.

I like the first one so much and I found another cuttlebug sheet and stamp image to match it.
This is Day 14.
Our challenge today was a one-layer card. I actually found a masculine set buried in the bottom drawer of my supplies. Not sure how it got there, but I completey forgot about it!!
Not one of my favorites. It's hard to do a one layer card! Not quite sure where I was going with it, and I couldn't find a saying to match.. so I may be back when I find the perfect saying for it!
Now I'm up to Day 15.
We had 2 member of Jason's Troop have babies in the last few days, so when I saw this sketch, I knew exactly what set I wanted to use. The baby still reminds me so much of my Riley, but now I see a little bit of Colt in it, too!
And so this sketch got 2 cards, too! Perfect way to catch up!

Last but not least, today's challenge. Day 16.

Today Angel challenged us to do something with birds. I had to dig deep for this challenge!! I finally found a turkey in my set of "Year Round Fun." My stamps are a bit off-line, but that's because my future-stamper Brodie insisted she helped me! For this one, I acutally used a sketch from last year's Days of Angelosity!! I LOVED it so much and it worked perfectly with these little stamps I brought it back! Thanks Angel!

This is my second card for the bird challenge today. I found this cuttlebug bird paper and had to use it. This was my last card, so I was kinda rushed trying to get it finished so I could post it, too. Not my best work... may have to tweak it to make it work better. I love the cuttlebug part of it and the quote is cool, but I don't like how I put it all together. hmmmm

"Manly" day!

Today over at Angelosity, we were encouraged to make a "masculine" card. As I searched through my stamps, I realized I don't have masculine stamps. Sad, huh? So, I tried to do the next closest thing and make a card appropriate to send a "man." Hope it worked! I was excited about being back in Texas, hence the Texan Flag!

Now, I'm off to finish making a castle cake for tomorrow's party, and get the kids ready for trick-or-treating. I'll be back with pictures of both!!

Moving right along...

Day 11. Almost there. Only 7 more to go. I've had fun. It's made me realize how much I enjoy doing this hands-on type of stuff. I hope to get back into it some day... when the children are grown and I can actually think without a little voice saying, "mommy, mommy, mommy," over and over in my head. Will the day ever come???

Anyway.. here's my sketch card for Angelosity, RDOA 11. Simple, I love the colors and I know the perfect little boy it will go to!

In our world beyond stamping, we're preparing for Halloween... The boys are eager to try out their costumes, Brodie has been dying to wear her wings, and I must say, I'm excited about seeing it all pull together. We found the perfect final touches for Randy's yesterday... one less thing I have to make! Accessories are in hand, costumes are JUST about done. Randy gets to wear his tonight for scouts, so it will be a run-through for his costume. I just need to find something for me to wear to scouts tonight and we'll be good to go! I'll be sure to be back with pictures soon!!

Wednesday

Today was another color challenge over at Angelosity. We were encouraged to use Mellow Moss, Cranberry, Chocolate Chip and Kraft. Here's my creation. I felt "fallish" when I saw these colors together, so I went for an acorn and fall leaves! Makes me want to make me go rake some leaves and jump in them! Oh the days of our younger years!

Brodie got a hold of the camera this morning and took some pictures of everything... One of me actually came out pretty good, so I thought I would share it. A good picture of me doesn't happen very often, usually because I'm the one behind the camera! So thanks Brodie, for showing everyone that I am still here!