A Quick Challenge Card

Finally I was able to play along with one of the Splitcoast challenges this weekend. I chose the Featured Stamper challenge. This weeks featured stamper StampingQueenJAR. I chose to CASE this card...why...because it's stunning! ... ;) ...and because it's a clean and simple design which I have a firm like of! Here's my take on Judy's beautiful card....

I love the white space! I changed the colors and stamp for this one. I pulled out one of my favorite new Papertrey stamps...Damask Designs....LOVE this set! The dsp is Basic Grey.

So now I am off to take care of a little school business and then to get to planning some birthdays. Hayden turns two on Friday! Holy heck where does the time go! I need a cake. I've been instructed to get chocolate. Hey...my boys have excellent taste! ;) I also need to make some calls for the older two boys. Their birthdays are coming up really quickly as well. 'Cake, Mom....chocolate cake!'....yeah...and I thought I was going to start exercising now! ;) Guess this is actually the perfect time since I will have extra calories to burn off!

Hope you are all doing well! I will be back soon! :) Hugs!

Are You Ready For Another Jacksonbelle Challenge?

Jacksonbelle time again! This week Lindsey has a super fun sketch for you....and....if you play....a chance for a fun prize! :) Be sure and link your cards at the Jacksonbelle blog and post them to your blog or to SCS under the keyword JBE043.

I used one of my Inkadinkado stamps for this challenge.....

Be sure and check out the rest of the Jacksonbelle team....
AJ Otto
Beth Thomas
Heather Lee-Reppen
Jennifer Buck
Jill Dunn
Kimberly O'Rosky
Kisa Peters
Lynda Benden
Maren Benedict
Melissa Bove
Michelle Woerner
Rachel Baird
Shannan Teubner
Taylor Usry

I hope you are all doing well! I will post you soon! Hugs!

And The Winner Is.......

...sorry! I am a bit late on this one! Thanks for being patient! The winner of the blog candy from this post is......

mudmaven said...
I love this stamp! To me it screams - put me on a tile and color me with chalk! ~chris
February 25, 2009 10:38 AM

Send me your deets girl so I can get this baby out to you! :) Thanks for all of your kind words! I really appreciate you all!

Have a great night! :)

Monday!

It's that time again! Time for another Monday challenge! This week.....glitter! I LOVE glitter! So this week let's us it in our cards. I pulled out my new Unity's new You + Me = Happy.

I love this new kit. I used some new adhesive shapes to adhere the glitter then I colored the image with copics. I covered the center of the circle with stickles and added some to the center of the flower. The paper is from Cosmo Cricket.

Now check out the rest of the Monday gals ....AJ Otto, Amber Height, Brooke Lien, Jeanne Streiff, Maren Benedict, and Jimmi Mayo.

Hope you all have a great day! I will post you soon! :)

The Good, The Bad, And The...No Way She Worked Like That!

I'm finally organized! Woohoo! Ok...that's a little bit of an exaggeration. My space is cleaned. Everything has a home. But I'm sure over the next few weeks I will figure out new ways to keep things straight.

I will say that I truly enjoy seeing other peoples stamping spaces. I love seeing how you guys work and how you store things. I've seen some really amazing ideas, some of which I have utilized with my new space. So thank you so much for sharing! :)

First up I want to share the before. My before is not for the faint at heart. I had a mish-mash of furniture and not a lot of storage room so things were everywhere! Seriously...EVERYWHERE! I would often wonder how I could get anything done! Well, for sure how I could find anything but all of my 'piles' had order. Wow. That's going to shock you in a second! ;)

Take a peek at the before.....

The big 'L' desk is my main workspace that I kept. I really love this desk. I picked it up a couple of years ago at a used office furniture store. It was such a good deal and is super sturdy and really roomy! Of course before it was always covered with stuff! I would have to move things to have a work space.

The brown desk in the background was a free find. By that I mean that my hubby's office got new furniture and he was given this one to take home. Can't beat free! I used to keep my punches in the top middle drawer...the one that is made to hold a keyboard. That was great except that they would always fall out of the back of the drawer. A couple of them broke because of that. I also kept a big rubbermaid container with my 12X12 designer paper in it...that's sitting in the opening of the desk.

There are also some of those modular cubes that I had been collecting from Michaels with my coupons. On top of those I have this giant marker holder that I picked up from a LSS that was going out of business for $1! How cool is that! This I kept and is now hiding behind a cabinet...but it houses my copics.

One more....I had a paper holder from Office Max that housed my card stock. Well, and you can't miss the floor! It was always covered with stuff! I would pull out all of the boxes of stuff when I was working. Ribbon, embelli's....all of that stuff....

And I had this giant metal cabinet that housed some stuff....and I would pull out a card table to work with as well.......

The trouble is, I stamp every day! EVERY day! So I really never put anything away. The kids would get into stuff. It was always a mess! Seriously, my stamping stuff had taken over the basement!

Now the after........

....and keep in mind....I am working in this space. I did clean the desk after I stamped last so it's not a shot of 'in progress'....but cleaning the desk was just a matter of throwing the paper pieces in the trash and putting my stamps back!

I kept both of the file cabinets that I picked up from the used office furniture store. One is sitting under my printer and houses things like my heat gun and crop-a-dile. The other sits under my Sizzix and Cuttlebug and houses the plates and dies for those.

The cabinets. Holy heck, I am so excited to finally have a place for everything!

Everything now has a home. That is such a great feeling. ...and finally Hayden isn't pulling everything out! ...and I am no longer having to have the furniture cleaned because he's gotten his hands on a marker! Yikes! I have painted over marker and cleaned the furniture a couple of times!

This is the ribbon storage. I have seen so many of you use the jars for your ribbon scraps. I LOVE this! The containers are Making Memories. I have been collecting them for a while now for storing other things. I used the smaller containers for my buttons....

This is truly my favorite part of the whole thing! I LOVE ribbon and buttons and just love the clean look of it now!

I also have slat board in between the cabinets. I bought some little hooks from a local hardware store to hold my punches.....

One last thing...a filing drawer now holds my stickers and other embelli's that come on the long sheets. I have them in hanging files now so it makes it soooo much easier to find everything....

That's it for now. I'm still marveling over the stark contrast. It's like night and day. ;) See why it took so long! First we had to disenfect....then there was the whole clean up..... lol. I will say that is nice not to have to fish buttons out of my sons mouth...or to step on a brad with my bare feet....or to find a gem stuck to my backside....(yeah...that has happened to me!)

Hope you all have a great day! I will be back soon! Hugs! :)

Happy Weekend! :)

I'm so glad it's Saturday! We are actually supposed to have highs in the 70's today! Wowzers! You don't know how excited I am about that! WARM! :) I love that!



I have one quickie to share this morning. I made this little candy holder with Trendy Trees from Stampin Up....

EPLS...baby! ...and a little so saffron which is my favorite color to date! I LOVE this color! It's so sunny and yet so soft! Beautiful!

Ok...that's all I have to now. I am off to play with the boys! :) Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday! I will be back tomorrow with, yes, pics of the new stamping space! Holy heck! I cannot believe that I am actually finished! :) Took me long enough didn't it! ;)

Post you soon! Hugs!

Feel It Simply

Are you ready for another fun challenge? Sharon has another great one for us this week (ssnotime77). For me....I had to dust off the cobwebs so I could play! ;) Heat emboss! I use to emboss everything I did...seriously! Everything! Now my poor heat gun sits in a desk just waiting for a turn! Yay for Sharon for getting me to do one of my old favs!

I decided to pull out Unity's Feel the Joy for this one and I opted to emboss it with black embossing powder. Take a peek....

Be sure and check out the rest of the team to see what they have in store for you....Dee, Tammy, Janine, AJ, Julie, Becky, and our March guest designer Barb.

Hope you all have a good one! I'm actually heading to bed! ;) It's been a LONG day and I need some sleep! ;) I will post you all soon! :)

Hip HOP! ...And Happy Thoughts!

Happy Hip Hop Thursday! Wowzers are you in store form some good stuff today! There's a new KOTM! It's beautiful and a new release....'You+Me=Happy'....CUTE! It's going to be another great hop!

In honor of this super cute set, Angela has asked us to share a little about what makes us happy. Awwww...I love this! I can't wait to see what everyone shares! I cannot share just one thing. There are so many things that make me happy!

....like these little guys!........

I love these little guys so much! They are so wonderful! Such amazing boys! It's such a blessing to be their mother and to watch them grow. I look forward to all that is to come and each day with them makes me happy!

....my sister, who actually came to visit at CHA.....

Isn't she beautiful! ...and so super supportive...just a wonderful person! :) She's the best!


.....my friends.....many of which aren't pictured! I have started to carry my camera in my purse to make sure I have more pics of all the wonderful people and times in my life....


....my Unity friends.......(some of which aren't pictured here either!).....



I am so very fortunate to be part of this team. Everyone is amazing and I have made some of the best friends ever! It's an amazing experience that I am so truly happy to be part of. :)


....one more....Spring!...it's getting closer! Woohoo! I am ready to shake the winter blahs and spring is my happy time! I love watching all of the flowers bloom and getting my hands dirty in the dirt! Here's a pic of one of my azaleas from last spring....


Azaleas make me happy! They are beautiful and they remind me of home. They don't bloom here the way they do in Louisiana but maybe one day mine will be as big and look as gorgeous! They scream spring for me! They were the first thing I planted when we moved here!


Ok...so how about some more of what makes me happy....as if I haven't shared enough! ;)

Stamping! I really love stamping! I LOVE everything about it! ....and the KOTM makes me happy! ;) I used the March KOTM for all of my projects this week.


This card is one of my favs! I LOVE silhouette stamps which is part of the reason this is one of my favs!.....



I love the font for the sentiment and I think it's the perfect size! I could add it to a layout and it would be amazing...and it's awesome on cards! The flowers are just stunning! This card measures 5 1/2 X 5....that sort of gives you an idea of how big they are! They are beautiful!


Next up another solid image stamp.....

LOVE this one as well! It's just a perfect 'all occasion' image.

Next up a super 'clean' layout. Everything just led me here....
...white space....it actually makes me happy! I really love that on cards and pages! Buttons....love them! ;) ...and well....the focal point of the page is AWESOME! ;) lol...two of the faces that make me happy!

Now hop on over to Wendy Chang's blog to see what she has in store for you today.


Hope you all have a wonderful day! I will post you soon! See you in the forum! :)

Simply Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! How about a little more Stampin' Up? ...And a little more clean....EPLS. It's been one of those days...well, yesterday was one of those days! ;) So today is the clean, non-chaotic projects that I wish my day had been! ;) lol

First up, a card....

This one uses a little Baja Breeze which I think is one of the calmest colors out there! I so hate that those In-Colors leave us after a year! I miss them long before they are gone!

Next up a layout....This is one of my favorite pictures. I will confess that sometimes with pictures like these I end up scrapping them more than once. I have grandmothers to think about! Take a peek....

Thanks for stopping by. I am off to get back to it! Tomorrow is hip hop and I have some of the cutest new stamps ever sitting on my desk that are waiting for me to ink up...I can't wait to get to it! Hopefully my day cooperates! ;)

I hope you all have a great one! :) Hugs!

White Sandy Beaches

Happy Monday! :) It's time for another Monday challenge! This weeks challenge is to create a card with a beach theme. I'm so excited about that because it gave me the opportunity to use one of my favorite beach kits from Unity and I used some flower soft to make a white, sandy beach...how nice it would be to be sitting on that with a frozen drink right now! ;) ...sorry...I'm over winter! lol.

Ok...here's my card.....

Now check out the rest of the Monday gals ....AJ Otto, Amber Height, Brooke Lien, Jeanne Streiff, Maren Benedict, and Jimmi Mayo.

I will be back in a bit! :) Hugs!

Deep In Organization

I just have to say that organizing is a whole new thing for me! I am of the 'pile' variety. I stack a little here and a little there and I know exactly where everything is! Seriously! Everything! This is one thing my husband does not understand! He's the organized one in our house. For me, as long as nobody touches my stacks of stuff I am good. Of course, now with three little boys you can never count on anything being left alone! From this a project was born....my stamp room. I promise that I will share the pics of everything in the next week but right now I don't think you would be able to see anything through the mess that I've created! Hey, I don't want to just throw it all in there! I really want it to be right...you know, organized! This is all new for me! Wait, I said that already didn't I?

This week will be insane so starting next Sunday I will share with you all I've been working on....maybe if I give myself a deadline I will actually make myself finish!

Ok...so today I am going to share some old stuff that I haven't posted before. Tomorrow I will have my Monday challenge card and another Hanna sneak peek....I'm so excited to take part in the upcoming release. This is going to be so much fun!

So today...a little Stampin Up. I'm using Trendy Trees for these. Take a peek.....

A couple of quick cards....

And a layout.....

These are all clean and simple...EPLS...but that is my favorite style of all!

Thanks for stopping by! I am off to have a little breakfast with the boys and then get back to organizing so that I can hopefully sit down and stamp tonight! I have MUCH to do! ;)

I hope that you all have a wonderful Sunday! :) Hugs!

Super Star!

Do you remember that SNL skit? I so love that one! Ok...this new Hanna doesn't exactly look like the gal from the skit but I love that she's a 'super star'! :) Take a peek....

How fun is she! I had to add lots of bling for her. Hey, she's a Rock Star! I'm so excited for the release party on Monday. That should be lots of fun! :)

Be sure and check out the rest of the Hannah sneaks from the design team...Adela Rossol, Bethann Silaika, Bev Gerard, Candice Lighty, Cindy Haffner, Diana Gibbs, Frances Byrne, Ilina Crouse, Jeanne Streiff, Joycelyn Turner, Judy Workman, Kendra Wietstock, Kristi Ferro, Patti Stigsell, Sandra MacLean, Vicki Garrett ...and the other guest designer for March... Silke K. http://silli-silli.blogspot.com/. And for more fab news check out the Hanna Stamps website.

Hope you all have a great day! I will post you soon! :)

Hannah! (Post 2)

I am so excited to be one of the guest designers for Hanna Stamps this month. Today is the first sneak peek for this months new release. Woohoo! How excited are you for new Hanna stamps! :) I am so excited to be part of this months release! Fun stuff!

For todays sneak I used my Spa Riley. He's so super cute!


How cute is she! I added some Sparkly fluff from Our Craft Lounge for the towel and spa robe. Hey, what gal wouldn't love a sparkly pink towel and robe!

Be sure and check out the rest of the Hannah sneaks from the design team...
Adela Rossol
Bethann Silaika
Bev Gerard
Candice Lighty
Cindy Haffner
Diana Gibbs
Frances Byrne
Ilina Crouse
Jeanne Streiff
Joycelyn Turner
Judy Workman
Kendra Wietstock
Kristi Ferro
Patti Stigsell
Sandra MacLean
Vicki Garrett

and the other guest designer for March... Silke K. http://silli-silli.blogspot.com/.

Hope you all have a great day! :) I will post you all soon!

***Be sure and scroll down after this post for Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge. :)

Hanna Stamps Spa Riley

Papertrey Ink Ocean Tides paper and ribbon

copic markers

Our Craft Lounge Sparkly Fluff

Time To Stamp Simply! (post 1 of the day)

Yay! It's time to Stamp Simply! :) I am SOOOO excited about this weeks challenge (ssnotime76)! Do you have cabin fever? I absolutely DO! I am so ready for spring! Heck! I am actually ready to just bypass spring and head straight for summer! I would LOVE to be on a boat somewhere watching the sun set or rise...whatever! Just as long as it's warm and sunny on my face! Thus the inspiration for my card this week.

I took Papertrey Ink's new Background Basics: Retro. I decided to use one of the borders to create an ocean and then sponge a warm, sunny, sun! Take a peek....

I also added the sentiment from PTI's Handwritten Notes. This is such a sweet set! I love that the whole team came up with sentiments and that they are all in their very own handwriting! Hmm....I'm thinking someone near and dear has a couple of sentiments in this set.... ;) Yay, Becky! :)

On that sunny note, be sure and check out the rest of Sharon's team...

1. Heather
2. Dee
3. Tammy
4. Janine
5. AJ
6. Julie
7. Becky - is taking the night off.

Hope you all have a great one and that even if it isn't warm...you get to enjoy a 'sunny' day! :)

Back in a bit! :)

Hip Hop!

Happy Hip Hop Thursday! :) How happy are you that it's Thursday! I love this day! ...And! I LOVE the new release from Unity Stamp Co. this week! This set is absolutely amazing! It's so beautiful! Feel the Joy. Take a look....

Doesn't that image just make you go aaaaaaaaaah. It's just so serene. Doesn't it make you happy? How about one more with this stamp. I created a layout with my middle son, Carter.



This is one of my favorite pictures! When I started the layout I knew I wanted CAS...I've definitely achieved that. I must share that I feel so incredibly blessed! I absolutely have such amazing boys. They are the light of my life.

So what brings you joy? I find joy in...

...my sons smiling faces and their laughter.
...Starbucks peppermint mocha...extra hot...with an extra shot of peppermint. ;)
...donut mornings with my sons.
...snow days
...my stamping friends! I love you guys!
...5 years! I am so happy to be here. To enjoy the everyday with my family and friends. To have another day...another moment of laughter, tears...everything. Life is really great...good and bad...it's truly such a blessing to be here and that gives me great joy!

Ok...one more from me and then it's off....

This is from the February KOTM...one of my favorites! Take a peek...


Now it's time to head over to Christi Snow . I will see you guys in the forum! :)

Hugs!




Feel the Joy Card:
Feel the Joy Unity Stamp Co.
Basic Grey dsp
white card stock
watercolor crayons
chocolate chip ink
white satin ribbon SU

Feel the Joy Layout:
Feel the Joy Unity Stamp Co.
SU dsp
So Saffron card stock
black ink
Heidi Swapp butterfly
Basic Grey buttons
Top Note Sizzix die SU

KOTM Card:
KOTM Unity Stamp Co.
Basic Grey dsp
white card stock
dew drops
white satin ribbon SU
copic markers