Two color challenge; It's all about the Shoes

If today was any indication of what my summer will be like, I'm diggin' it. My kids had their pre-school field day this morning. We came home and did a bunch of things they enjoy, then I carved out some crafty time for my self while the grill heated up for our dinner. Let me revel in how good I have it. I do.

So, I set out to work on some masculine cards because I have a few man birthdays and Father's Day coming up. But, I needed a little inspiration, so I checked out the challenge for 365 cards. The challenge was to use only two colors on your card. Well, I wasn't thinking masculine for this one, but here's what I came up with:



I was able to use my Green Thumb Stamp set from PTI AND....AND...it was the first time I used my scalloped Nestibilities. Big time! You'll also see the Vintage ( Lemon tart and New Leaf) buttons from PTI and the Lemon tart ribbon. The sentiment is comical for me....I own about 4 pairs of shoes, two of which are flip-flops!

The masculine cards I did had nothing to do with the challenge, but they're cute nonetheless. The racoon images were colored several weeks ago at a Copics class I attended and they were patiently waiting for their spot on a card:

Patterned paper and labels are from Close to my Heart.

Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend!

CPS #117 Sweet Pea

Ahhhh, back from a fun-filled Memorial Day Weekend of camping! Now that laundry is caught up, I had time to make this card for this week's CPS Challenge.


I just love having inspiration for a lay-out and applying it to a card I actually need!

Have a nice week, everyone!

Edited to add: Does anyone have photography tips? I have a good camera with good lenses, but my images always look so dark when I upload them to this blog. The flash even fired when I took this photo and it's still so lack-luster when uploaded. It seems everyone else has nice, bright, large images of their cards and mine look horrible. Thanks in advance if you can help!

A new challenge: Banana Split Sunday

Just barely had time to do this. Actually, I started it Sunday and just now finished it.

Steph posted this new challenge on her blog. It's from a site called 2 Red Bananas.

Here's the sketch to follow:


I liked working with my stack of cupcakes from the dollar bin at Michael's, although I think it would also look nice with cupcakes of all the same color. I added Stickles to some of them and red bling as the cherries (click to enlarge the image). The stamp set for the sentiment is from PTI. I think it's called Celebration. I like how the *i* in birthday is a candle (stamped separately).

The cardstock and ribbon is Ocean Tides from PTI and I stamped the sentiment with Fresh snow ink.

Off to the great outdoors tomorrow for our first camping trip of the season. Giddy'up!

CPS #116

First, I have an addendum for my last Wordless Wednesday which was pictures of my kids at their first dentist appointment. It was not an awful appointment! It was not a horrendous experience! It was merely the beautiful workings of DNA and the gene pool which makes my kids hold all their tension in their fingers JUST like their mama. It's an adorable thing. As a matter of fact, if one were to take a picture of my hands during even....oh, let's say......a MASSAGE, you'd find them the same exact way. We're freaks of nature. Freaks of nature with an awesome dentist who does NOT torture us! Thanks for you concern, though.

Now, on to this week's CPS challenge:

When I saw the sketch, I immediately had in mind some ribbon in my stash. So my whole card is based upon what I could do with that red and black polka dot ribbon.



For this card I used the same technique Mish Mash just showed here, stamping the entire background with randomness (although on a much simpler scale because after all, I'm no Mish).
It really made a difference in the appearance of the card. I also used my Spellbinders Ovals and just stamped little dots all around the border. I colored in my little grad with Copics. And finished it off with the inspirational ribbon. Click the image to enlarge, if you'd like.

I'd like to do a couple more challenges today, but time is of the essence since we're in the process of packing for our first camping trip of the season on Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday: Dentist Tension

For more WW Participants visit 5 minutes for Mom

Super Simple CPS card, Thank You Berry Much.

I'm skipping my work-out this morning so I can catch up on computer stuff. Terrible, huh? I had a million pictures to upload and order prints from. I have to journal about the girls' Birthday and Mother's Day. And I HAVE to post a card for this challenge.

There is really nothing to this card, but I love the simplicity and summer colors (click to enlarge):

The stamps and red cardstock are from Paper Trey (Green Thumb). I will use them to death because, frankly, I don't have much of a selection.....yet. The red ink is Staz-On and the green stems are New Leaf from Paper Trey. I love the stamps because you can piece them all together. The stems and leaves are all separate, so you make it how you want it. Adorable and simple! To check out more cards from CPS challenge #115, click here.

And look what my darling friend, Bonnie, honored me with:


I'm to make a list of 7 things that make me awesummmmm and then tag 7 other awesummmmm people. I'll have to get back to it, but Bonnie, THANK YOU!

Chipboard Album and Notebooks

What a beautiful Saturday! I got involved in a little Mother's Day project that I wasn't expecting to be so involved. So, I spent a lot of time inside on this beautiful day, but not before we had some fun kiddy pool time! yes, it's only the beginning of May and we filled up the kiddy pool!

Here is the notebook I made for my Mom. I actually made two, one for my sister, too.


These are simple notebooks from target that I covered with paper from wild Asparagus, stamped with images from Paper Trey (Green Thumb), and embellished with ribbon and buttons.

And my chipboard album is mostly done except for some journaling. Our trip to Disney World was in February. I knew one of these princess books was in order for our little princesses!




These albums I found at AC Moor. Covered each one with pretty paper and cut around the letters with an exacto knife. I sanded the edges to be smooth and slightly distressed. The girls helped me embellish with little gems and stickers.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

CPS #114

Today I got caught up on my card making! I made graduation cards for three of my friends who've recently graduated various college programs. I also made random cards using images I stamped at a copic Class. And I squeezed in this week's CPS challenge! Phewww! Now my kids need attention!

A cute little froggy that says "Hoppy Birthday". The sentiment and buttons are from Paper Trey. I'm not sure where the froggy is from, maybe Hero Arts?

And here are the other cards I worked on:

Tackle it Tuesday: These are a Few of my Favorite Things

We just had our floors refinished over the weekend. Actually, the mess work started last Thursday and lasted through Saturday night with repeated applications of finish being applied to the floors. After the sanding of the floors, everything was coated with dust, but I couldn't clean it up for fear of it landing on the tacky finish and remaining there for life! So, today's tackle was to finally clean up all the mess. Here's a pic of the new floors:



I had all of my little knick knacks and keepsakes on top of our cabinets. Most of these items are passed down from my grandmother and are dear to me. I took them down before the project to keep them clean, but I was pretty mortified by how grimy they were despite my never deep frying anything! So, they needed to be cleaned, too.

Of course the Tequila could stay up there.

Here's the dusty mess before clean-up:

And here's my Tackle after:


And meanwhile, I had the chance to clean all my goodies and really have time spent with thinking of my Grandmother, Mimi. It was nice! It was cleaning and it was nice! Here's some milk glass from her collection.

And my teapots from her along with my Polish pottery collection:

And finally my teacups brought back from Korea and old, old, old plates passed down from Mimi.

I'll spare you pictures of my other favorite things up there, like the cruets from Mimi, the old cookie jar from Bruce's childhood, and the Pepsi bottle from Korea.....

I loved this tackle. I loved the time spent with my memories and rekindling the love I have for these things that reside on top of my cabinets.

Oh, and I LOVE my new floors!!

For more tackles visit 5 Minutes for Mom

CPS #113 A Thank You Card

I'm so late with entering this week's CPS challenge. Between Birthday Parties and having our floors refinished it's been a crazy week. Last Friday was my girls' 4th Birthday. On Sunday we had a big party for them, so I'm taking the opportunity with this challenge to make my Thank-You cards.



I used new stamps that my friend gave me. I stamped the Thank -you in pink and colored in the orange with Copics. The colorful background paper is from a mat pack I've had forever. The cardstock is from Paper trey.

Thanks for looking! My Princess Chipboard Album will be posted soon!