I'm Back...

...well sort of. We've been home since Midnight on Friday but I have been sicker than a dog since we returned. Our vacation was so fun. I have been away from the beach too long. The moment we stepped out of the van and I smelled the ocean air (we were in Hilton Head) I was lovin' it!
We all faced a little bit of illness at some point of the trip (sore throats, mainly), and mine hit right when we were driving home. So I've been home physically, but mentally I haven't had much going on. Today was the first day I felt like doing anything, and that just involved a little computer time. I'm dying to stamp since it has been almost two weeks since I did anything, but the creative juices just aren't flowin'. I wanted to post something, so here is a card I made for Ryan's birthday back in Feb. I love how it turned out. It was just one of those cards that went together quickly and the result was fabulous! Dontcha love all the stars?

Hugs,

Dots of all Types

Have I told you before that I love polka dots? Well, I do. Look at all the dots on this card. This card is another SU CASE, I believe I saw a similar card in last month's Stampin' Success. I don't know if there is a name for the technique, but I've wanted to try this out for some time now-the punched circles on the top of the card. I think it is such a cool look, punch out shapes in the same color card stock as the background. It gives the tone-on-tone look I love. It is subtle yet striking! Try it! The polka dot paper is from the soft sky prints pack. I used the stamp set, All in A Row and then tied some wide choc. chip grosgrain ribbon to pull in another color for accent. This is another SUO card. Have a great day!

Hugs,

SUO!

SUO? Don't know what that means? You probably do, but just in case, it means Stampin' Up! Only. With more and more amazing new stamping companies popping up all the time, it sometimes is hard to find projects made with only stamping up supplies. There is nothing wrong with that, but as a demo we can only demonstrate SU stuff. Do a search in the gallery on SCS with these letters and you'll see tons of amazing cards that use only Stampin' Up! supplies. While my collection of non-SU stuff keeps growing, I do try to remember to post SUO stuff regularly. If you visit my blog regularly (Thank-you, BTW) I think you'll see a good mix. Anyway, here is a card I did last week. It is a CASE from a brochure demo's can give out to potential hostesses (sorry can't think of the exact name of the piece of literature). I don't have the set, Big Flowers, but I have Big Pieces so I used that. The sentiment is from Stem Sayings. Thanks for stopping by!

Same Paper, Different Use!

Along with my Scrappin' mission, I'm trying hard to use up some stuff I have that I have not been using. Designer paper is the big one. I just forget what I have, and tend to use what is out on my desk at the time. I went digging through my stash and found some more My Minds Eye paper and put it to good use. Look, I actually scrapped one of the other boys! Since t-ball is almost over for this season, I was feeling the pressure to complete Joshua's page from last year's team. I made my own baseballs and stamped two bats and a mitt from a retired SU set, Sporting Goods (I think). The title is cut from my Fruit Smoothie alphabet sizzix set and my cuttlebug. Nice, quick, and easy!

After completing this page, I had scraps of this paper sitting on my desk so I decided to make a card with it too. The stamped images are from the Verve Visual set, Anniversary Birds. I did some fancy cutting around some swirls in the paper and nestled my birds behind it. I love the sentiment- Together, The Perfect way to Spend Forever." I think this will be Tim's anniversary card. We are coming up on 8 yrs on the 1st of July. Thanks for stopping by.

Keeping Up!

I didn't think I would get to scrap at all this week since I have been a busy little beaver getting other things done in preparation for our vacation. Two amazing sketched were posted this week on the Got Sketch 101 Class site and it was killing me that I wasn't going to get either of them done. I am great at procrastination, especially when it comes to packing. I took an hour this afternoon and worked on sketch #4 (I'll have to go back and do #3 after vacay) instead of packing and laundry. I pulled out some Dashing paper and the Red and Bashful print paper from the Summer Picnic pack to pull the colors together for this page. I then used Navy and Choc. Chip for my accent colors. The sample page had some very cool fabric flowers on in and as much as I would love to give them a try, I really struggle with myself to add flowers to the boys pages. Sometimes it fits, but most of the time it doesn't. I stuck to my trusty stars and added a few scallops. I wanted to use more chipboard for my title, but I didn't have all the letters and didn't want to mix my fonts, so I used my cuttlebug and the Olivia alpha dies. Two of the things I am loving about this class is that Valerie and Jana use a lot of pictures on their layouts and then they make it even easier by using the pictures in their 4x6 size. I almost always crop my pictures, thinking I have to to make them work. Cropping isn't that time consuming, but when you don't have to crop AT ALL, that makes for a quick page. So the funny thing about this double page spread that I did was completely leave off a 4x6 picture. I went and cut up two shots (the ones on the left, stacked on top of each other), when I went to put the page all together I realized my mistake. It was an easy fix since I had a lot to say, so I used 4x6 cs to make my journaling block. Thanks for stopping by! Hugs!

NMBS Blog Challenge!

You have heard me speak of the GSG and the amazing swap cards I get from those girls. Well, I am also part of two other swap groups that are equally talented. One of those groups is called NMBS. Just this week we also decided to start a group blog to show off some of the great talent of it's members. One of our members, Teresa Shaw (Inkfully Yours), took the time to get the blog started and even posted the first challenge. Anyone can play, so feel free to post a comment here with a link to your card or blog. The challenge this week was a Limited Supplies challenge. Check out the Blog Here.


Use: black and white and 1 accent color, flower stamp, and a mandatory accessory of Bling!

Here is my card! Thanks for a great challenge, Teresa. Can't wait to see what the next Challenge Hostess comes up with. Hugs,

A Quick One!

I'm busy getting ready for vacation, plus my mom was just visiting and I've been planning for a workshop I have tonight! Here is a quick card I put together yesterday and will be demo'ing tonight. Thanks to Beate and her awesome sketches, this came together quickly. I really wanted to show this stamp set because of how cute it looks when you paper piece the birdie. Plus it is a great way to show off some ds paper. I was able to show 4 different prints from the same paper pack! I used Pomegranate for the card base and then paired it with the Bali Breeze paper. The photo corner is the ribbon slide from the styled silver HPH! Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day. I do have some posts scheduled while I'm gone, so you shouldn't be left without some eye candy! It's like I'll never be gone. Hugs!