Much needed vacation time!!

Hey friends!! Just wanted to let you all know that I plan on not blogging for a week as I'm taking a much needed vacation time with my hubby for a week. I'll be back around July 28th to pump out more fun stamping and I see that I'm getting so very very close to my 100th post!! WOWZER! So I believe that calls for some really FUN blog candy give away!! So be watching for some up-coming FUN soon! Please enjoy your summer as the kids will be back in school before you know it!! Thanks so much for stopping by my friends!! *HUGS & SMILES!*

Penguin Paradise with In Color summer wishes...

Oh how I love this stamp set!! If you've been familiar with Stampin' Up! for a while, then you probably remember this Penguin Paradise stamp set!! It's an oldie, but a goodie!! I happen to love penguins and of course I don't think I could "live" without these cute Stampin' Up! ones!!

I took the stamp set and used the up-coming NEW In-Colors coming out this Fall from Stampin' Up! I used the beautiful blue Pacific Point and Riding Hood Red colors for this. I just thought they were perfect colors for this theme! I also used my cuttlebug folder and swiped white ink to pop out the embossed design and added a sentiment from a current Stampin' Up! set called Everyday Flexible Phrases...it has so many unique words in it, I love it! I topped the image off with stickles and tied some shimmery clear ribbon around it. I also used a couple of gems in the upper corner of the image. This was so fun!

This is also a special card made for a very special girl as well. I was talking on the phone to a VERY dear friend of mine (almost like my sister!) and learned that her little baby girl is having some medical issues. I just thought sending this card might put a smile on the girl's face and let her family know that I am praying hard and thinking of them all.

If you're reading my blog, friend, please know that I am here for you always!

You'd think it was Christmas!

When I got the mail today, I really thought it was Christmas! Take a look at why:

Hey, this is the FIRST time I've EVER won any blog candy!! (Of course everyone who commented won, so that's probably why!) but I won from one of my good bloggin' buddies Teresa! Thanks so much for your generosity! Can't wait to use it all!! That Basic Grey chip board looks so awesome!! This makes me want to start my scrapbooking even more now!!

And take a look at ALL of these!! WOWZER!! Ok, first I don't even own a single Magnolia image! A very super sweet bloggin' friend, Janneke, was so kind to stamp these CUTE CUTE CUTE Magnolia images and send them to me!! Thank you so much!!

Now, can't wait to get my inks and coloring tools out to dress these babies up and make some cards with them!! So be watching for me to create some cards with these ever popular Magnolia images!! WOOHOO!! Christmas is fun, ain't it?!

I've got another award! woohoo!!

Yeah!! I got another award!! I am so flattered that there are people who really like to read my blog and become inspired by my creations! So I really want to say thank you to Sue for giving me this really nice award!! Thanks for your really kind comments!

Now, I'm supposed to give this to three other bloggers!! Wow! It's so hard, but I have been working with these REALLY talented Prickley Pear Design Team girls and they are so fabulously creative! I would LOVE to put them ALL down for this award, but it says that I'm limited to three. Here are three girls that I've picked out for the award and why:

Pam is not only a fabulous DT member for Prickley Pear, but she does some amazing art paining as well!! If you haven't been over to check out her artwork, you should! She's got talent!

Jennifer is another wonderful Prickley Pear DT member who really inspires me with her warm and inviting creations! She's a super sweet person too!! Check out her talent!

Linda who's another DT member for Prickley Pear, does so many things I can't keep track of the girl!! She's very talented and has some wonderful creations in all she does, so go check her out too!

Like I say, I would love to name ALL of the Prickley Pear girls, but you can certainly check out their blogs on the right side of this page if you'd like to see all their talents because they all have them and I just wanted to spot light them!

Enjoy your award girls! You deserve it!

Save the Earth!! Sneak Peeks!

I've been scanning the DRS Designs website and haven't seen these brand new images put in there yet, but I was told they would be available today! So...just wanted to get you psyched up for the up-coming new images!!

If you've been reading my blog then you are familar with me "stamping" my backgrounds. Don't get me wrong...I *heart* DP and lots of it!! But there are many times where I like to stamp my backgrounds with images because you can create your own DP (sometimes!) These new background images that DRS has come out with are just perfect for that!

The sentiment is also a newly released image! I wasn't sure what to do with the sentiment, but when I saw the heart BG image, I knew what I had to do!! And I love chocolate!!lol!

Here's another creation with the flower BG image!! This and the "Hello" sentiment are both newly released images!! The flower I stamped and cut out in the corner was from the 2 line Flower Design that you've probably seen me use before. It goes perfect with this new background flower image!! I have been wanting to do something for forever with these gingham brads that I have and I thought it worked perfect with this card! I just added some faux stitching around the edges of the pink panel and used stickles on the big flower. I popped up the sentiment panel and then popped up the flower on top of that.

Now...are you ready to buy these new images that I've shown you?!

Check them out under NEW RELEASES as soon as they post them!

Thanks for taking the time to stop by today friends!!

*HUGS & SMILES!*

One of a Kind grid sketch

I was ready to do some challenges today!! I love this DP from Stampin' Up! and I haven't had a chance to really use this One of a Kind stamp set so much, so I pulled them out to use!

The challenges I did for today was the TLC Grid Challenge on SCS today! You can click on the link which will take you to place where you can view the tutorial on how to do it. You have to look closely at the pink card BG to see the lines, but they are there & it looks awesome IRL! Love how it just adds so much texture to the cardstock!

The other challenge is another brand new NMBS Group Challenge! I can't believe we are already up to five challenges now! This week is a wonderful sketch provided by one of our members! It's very cool and I see so many possibilities with it! You can play along too if you want! Just up-load your card to your blog or SCS gallery with the keywords: NMBS05 and link it back to the challenge post so that we can all comment on your creation!!

Thanks for stopping by today!! I will have more creations coming your way soon!!

*HUGS & SMILES!*

Blog Candy alert!

Just wanted to pass along some great blog candy that my friend Andrea is giving away! If you like Magnolia stamps...you better check it out!!

Also, a Bellaholics sistah of mine, Jackie is having a contest to make a "Scottish" themed card. Well, I've been thinking about this for quite some time now and I really don't know! Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't know how long she'll be taking entries, but I better get to thinking harder! Ouch! It hurts!! lol!!

Happiness Always & the New 2008-2009 In Colors!

Are you ready for some more sneak peeks?! I am!! The brown UPS truck showed up at my house yesterday (And I wasn't expecting anything until Monday, so it was a nice surprise!) and dropped off my Stampin' Up! pre-view order!! woohoo! Here's what I've done:

Here's my brand new hostess set called Happiness Always. I really love the designs in this set! And I'm probably not the ONLY one who thought of this, but I thought that the detailed layer of the images would be so cool embossed!! so I stamped the butterfly with the Riding Hood Red on vanilla cardstock and then embossed the second 2-step image with gold EP. I know it's hard to see in the picture. But I also thought how pretty it would be with Iridescent Ice EP!! Hmm...might be trying that one out too!! The second butterfly is stamped with the Pink Piroquette and overstamped with Chocolate Chip.

Let me tell you that I absolutely LOVE that new scallop punch!! It is so awesome!! It takes NO TIME at all to create those scallops and you can make the other side of the paper as long as you want! (Those of you that have used the slit or corner punches to create your scallop design!)

The other thing that I love is this new Bella Rose DP!! Cool!!

And don't worry NMBS group, this will NOT be the card for swaps! I'm going to surprise you for that!! I'm excited to be playing with stuff this weekend!!

OK..if you blog surf, then you probably have already seen the shades of the New In-Colors somewhere. If not, then here they are!! And I know my picture is small, but I made this chart and took the picture with a digital because I have no scanner. If you'd like to see a closer view, you can click on the image to enlarge it so you can get a better look see.

What I did with this chart is put the In-Colors on one side and then on the opposite side of the color, I placed what I thought the shades of the New In-Colors closely resembled to the other Stampin' Up! colors you may already be familiar with. It looks like "to me" that the majority of the New In-Colors are a shade darker than the original with the exception of the Pacific Point color which is a little different than any of the blues that we have now. And what I thought was wierd was that the Baja Breeze color looked more closely to the Sage Shadow than any of the blue tones! And I am really loving that Kiwi Kiss color!! It's a perfect shade!

And of course, you know that these are just my opinions about them. I'm sure once I play with them more I will fall in love with them just like the others!! :)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!! We are trying to stay out of the heat and still doing our remodeling!

*HUGS & SMILES!*

More Sneak Peek images!!

Meow! Meow! This is one fancy kitty cat!! It's one of the up-coming new releases from DRS Designs! (Remember, these will come out on Monday~so be sure to check them out!)

I thought that this pretty kitty needed to be colored with pinks and purples!! Yep, she sure looks like it too!! The background was made with my cuttlebug machine and embossing folder. I just took the white ink pad to rub over the embossing to make it stand out a little better. Of course she has green eyes and purple eye shadow! I put some stickles over her collar gem stones and on her eyes. I also thought it would match the pattern and theme to put the square jewels at a diagnol position in the corner. And then I just finished it off with shimmery ribbon! I hope you like Ms. Kitty image!! :)

"My future's so bright...I gotta wear shades!!" And..."It's hip to be square!!" This card reminds me so much of the 1980s!! And yes, I'm one of those 80s ladies!! Both the sunglasses and square background images are also part of the sneak peek from DRS! I just think that the 80s music I've been listening to this weekend has rubbed off on my or something!!? Sorry for my lame humor! lol!

It's hard to tell in the picture, but what I did was emboss the sunglasses with black embossing powder and used some blue watercolor crayons for some shading around them. I then used two different shades of shimmerz and brushed on the lens part of them. It looks VERY shimmery up close and personal! I thought that the square background stamps would be awesome stamped in different colors like that! They have SEVERAL new background images they will be coming out with besides this square one! I hope to playing with more shortly! They are great for miscellaneous images that you don't know what to do with!! :)

FORE!!!! Check out this Sneak preview of the golf cart image!! My kids love to play golf and they usually get in on that every summer, but they've just been so busy lately with other things. I think this card would be great for a guy OR girl golfer!! DRS has this amazing Open Plaid image! That's how I created the background on this card. It was simple to put together, just added the sentiment, brads in the corner, popped up the cart image and wrapped some ribbon around the bottom of card.

Hope you've enjoyed the little sneak peek party I've give you!! I will be stamping some more with these images so be watching this blog for your favorite ones when you see them on the DRS website!! Thanks for putting up with my "teasing"!!

More sneak peeks coming your way....

Summertime Sneak Peek!

OK...I suppose the "teasing" time is over and you really want to see the new images! So what do you think of when you think of summer? Today we had some rain followed by some sun which made it VERY hot and humid today....so I was thinking along the lines of a lazy day summer theme. DRS Designs is going to be releasing some brand new summer images this Monday! So go check them out as soon as you can!! Here are a few cards that I've made with these up-coming new releases...ENJOY!





The fence, lawn mower and greeting (love it!) are all new images! All I did was start off by stamping my sentiment first and then I took the fence image and stamped just above the greeting. The lawn mower was stamped, colored and cut out. I placed it over top of the card with pop dots. Before I placed the lawn mower on the card, I used some chalks to make the grass and sky colors.





I think my hubby could probably appreciate the idea behind this card!! hehehe!!














And of course, if you're not mowing the lawn, then it's time to sit back and have yourself a fruity umbrella drink!! The sliced fruit is the new image on this card! I LOVED using it as a background! The drink is colored in and I also brushed some shimmerz over the fruity drink inside the glass. The two cut out sliced fruits were stamped with Apricot Appeal craft ink and then embossed with Iridescent Ice EP to make it sparkle. I then took some chalk and rubbed in the middle of the fruit slices. One of them I popped up. AHHH!! Can you just hear me sitting back and relaxing now!! :) Teehee!

And of course if you're like my family, then summer time is a great time for grilling!! And we ALL know a "master of the grill", right?! Mine happens to be a pretty full ego-male family...so as you can imagine, they're ALL masters!! teehee! The sentiment is the new image on this card! The blue panel was softened up a bit with white ink and then I stamped the sentiment in the corner so I'd have room for the grill. I stamped and embossed the grill with black and then colored it in with watercolor crayons and cut it out. I then popped the image up with pop dots. The "smoke" was made with some chalk. I also added a little flourish design under the sentiment. I think this would make an awesome B-Day card for pretty much anyone in my family!

I hope you enjoyed your little summer sneak peek!!! And I will still have more to show you tomorrow!!! So stay tuned in as I'm in the mood for some awesome 80's flashback music and stamping tonight!! WOOHOO!!! Hope you all have an excellent weekend!! Thanks so much for stopping by today!! *HUGS & SMILES!*

Outdoor Life & Vintage New images!!

I have promised ALL kinds of pictures from my NEW rubbah, haven't I? Well, here are some projects that I've been working on with the brand new goodie bag of rubbah from Nicole over at Prickley Pear! Take a look:

OK...These are NOT new images, but I so much LOVE this image and had yet to even use it!! I used my cuttlebug for the close to cocoa BG panel and then I sprayed it with a mixture of Gold Interference Pearl Ex powder and hair spray. (It has some pretty cool effects on your paper!) I stamped the wolf & sentiment images from THIS half sheet of rubber. I just chalked certain parts of the wolf and then added some yellow stickles to the eyes. Hopefully you can see all the shimmer and sparkle on this card! I also used a swirl image from Prickley Pear very lightly on the sentiment panel.

OK...NOW for the BRAND NEW HALF SHEETS OF RUBBER! (Remember: for this month only if you purchase two of the new plates of rubber, you will receive a FREE GRAB BAG-O-RUBBER! )

Owl whoo? I think this little owl is just too cute!! I used a TJ technique for the BG panel with the cuttlebug. I also used a new image & embossed with vanilla ink on each corner of the panel. I have the top owl popped up on pop dots and I also added some stickles to their eyes! This is pretty much my first chance at playing with some birds! There are some more really cool birds that I've working with as well...

Wasn't quite too sure what I wanted to accomplish with this accordian tag, but I thought it would be fun to incorporate several birds on it and pop them up! It looks really fabulous IRL though! Except for the orchid bird, I embossed the other birds in silver EP and colored them in. I stamped several different collage images all over the accordian and sponged some areas. I also added touches of stickles to the birds and flowers. The ribbon is just tied at the top and woven through the holes. I've never completed one of these before, but I thought it was lots of fun. Hope you enjoy it!! Now, go get some of these pretty birds!!!

One last thing to show you! I haven't made ATCs in years!! Yes, that's right...years!! They used to be popular a while back and now it seems that they are making a "come back"! These vintage images seem to be really hot as well! So this is my first in quite a while using BOTH! I love how they turned out!! Isn't that coffee stain image the coolest?!

I took the music image on the left card and crumpled it all up and then sponged some brown ink over it. I cut out the image so that I could ink up some swirls in gold at the top of the brown panel. The image will fit perfectly on an ATC sized card though!

I hope you've enjoyed all these creations that I've done with the Prickley Pear images! I just fell in love with the NEW images!! Nicole will be receiving a batch coming her way shortly for sure!

but don't go away!! I've still promised MORE new images to you and I plan on getting those up here later on today!! So be sure to check back for more new sneak peeks!!! *HUGS & SMILES!*

Bubbly Spinner Winner!

Isn't this so cool?! It's been quite a while since I've made a spinner card, so I basically did this from memory rather than a tutorial. This is for THREE challenges on SCS!! The Monday's TLC was to make a spinner card, Tuesday Color Challenge was to use "Groovy Banana Chips" (hehee!) and the Sketch Challenge was incorporated with this as well! Since I've missed them this week, I just lumped them all together!! :)

All the images I used are from Prickley Pear. And have you gotten your FREE rubbah yet?! If not, you should click on the link to view the details on the front page of the website!! There are some pretty cool brand NEW stamps out! I just love this little "Fishy Fred" dude!! I cut the bubbles out seperately and popped them up next to him away from the spinner action and then used stickles to make them sparkly!! And I did use the color combo from the challenge ONLY. And I did follow the sketch other than making it a spinner.

And this is just to show you what the other side of the spinner looks like. I just stamped the bubble word circle with Banana ink and then stamped the sentiment in chocolate chip. It's fun because you just "wind up" the square a few times and then let it go and watch it spin!! If you want to know how to make one of these spinners, click on the TLC link above and it will take you to a link where you can go that shows you how to do it.

Hope you enjoyed my fishy spinner today!! I look forward to showing you more NEW images very soon from Prickley Pear!! So stay tuned in!! *HUGS & SMILES!!*

A Waxy Sunset!

Hey, did I ever tell you how much I HATE cleaning?! Well, if you didn't know...I really hate it! I feel like that's all I've been doing the last few days! My boys have been gone this week volunteering at a scout camp and so I kind of pick up the messes when everyone comes and goes.

Anyway, now that I got that all out of the way, I did have some time to stamp this morning and get some challenges done that I've been wanting to do!! Yeah!! OK, this one is for my wonderful N.M.B.S. group #4 challenge!! We were to use glossy cardstock and do something with it. Well, I used the good old resist technique using crinkled wax paper resist! The lines in it were made by folding the wax paper a certain way when you heat it up on the glossy. (After you crinkle it of course!) I used to have an old tutorial that I did this technique on, but I think it's gone...so I'll have to do this one again!! :) I stamped the Sanded BG stamp on the Ballet Blue color and distressed the edges with the distressing tool. OH...and we were to use NO FLOWERS! That's not hard for me as I get tired of flowers after a while. Not that I don't love them, I just get tired of them sometimes. Sometimes too much is NOT a good thing! If you'd like to join in with us doing this challenge, go link your card to the challenge post and you can also load it to SCS using the keywords NMBS04 and link it to the post. Thanks so stopping by today and checking out my blog!! *HUGS & SMILES!*

One Lucky Ducky!

Isn't he the CUTEST thang?! This is one of the new sets that I got from Darcies! I also used my new Swiss Dots CuttleBug embossing folder that I FINALLY was able to order! Man is this one popular!

I also used the SCS Color & Sketch Challenges from this last week to create this card. I tried to tilt the card slightly so that you can see all the popped up layers on the card. And I added yet more stickles to this card on the little duckie's heart! Now tell me that you don't want one of these now! The sayings that go with the duckie images are just as cute! :)

Thanks so much everyone for stopping by this evening!! Hope you all had a wonderful relaxing weekend!! I sure had a great time with my family...and did some remodeling work on our house which I'm excited to be getting done enough to where I can paint and lay the carpet soon! See you tomorrow with more fun creations!! *HUGS & SMILES!*

Bella fun...

I had a little bit of time tonight to play around with some SCS Bella Challenges and trying out some new images from other companies! (stay tuned in!)

This one is for a sketch and color challenge using these oh so cute Stamping Bellas! I also had a set from Gina K. (Greeting & star BG).

I also added some sparkly stickles to her party hat and prezzie! :) If you like da Bellas too, come and check out the challenges on SCS on the link above!

Here's another Bella cutie that I did for the challenges! She did some shopping at the "Stamp Store" today!! teehee! I couldn't decide what I should write on her shopping bag, so I just used a generic name! Of course there is more sparkles on her orange top and purse!! :)

These things are just so fun to color in and with the creative gals hosting the sketch and color challenges, it makes it even more fun to create with da Bellas!

Glad I got to share these with you this evening!!

I've been awarded!

How cool is this?! I've been given a very wonderful award from a great stamper and blogger herself, Denise! Thank you so much for thinking of me!! Now, I'm supposed to pass this along to seven other bloggers whom I feel deserve the award. It is so hard to pick people as some already hold this wonderful award and there are just so many awesome blogs out there that I could name several more than just seven of them!!

So here are the people that I think highly of in the blogging world: Sandy, Erika, Melanie, Kim, Flossie, Deb, and Katie....go check out these ladies' fabulous blogs & be sure to leave them a comment! Thanks again for this great award!

Celebrating Independence time!

I have to tell you first: My kids are getting older (& they're boys!) and they really don't like to spend much time with mom and her stamping! But...yesterday, my younger son and I shared a couple of hours scrapbooking!! We had a great time creating together! Maybe we'll do it again tonight! (I'll have to post my page later in the month as there is someone who reads my blog that I don't want her to see it yet!!)

Anyway, I usually don't make too many 4th of July cards, but there are a couple of challenges that I wanted to get completed today. One is for the Monday SCS TLC Chalk Pouncing. I don't even think I did this right, but I already threw away about five pieces of cardstock before I settled on something I liked! I used it for the star background using the chalks. If you'd like more information, just click on the above "TLC" link. I also did this for our Nimbee's Group challenge this week! It sort of reminds me of those quick strips that you stamp up a whole sheet of one design (Like my chalked pounced stars) and cut it up to make several different cards and scrapbook pages. Go check out the challenge if you're interested!!

I'm also going to be taking a long weekend break due to the July4th Holiday!! I hope you all plan to celebrate by cooking out and having fun with your family/friends!! I'm so glad you stop by to check out my blog!! THANKS!!

Hope you ALL have a wonderful time celebrating the 4th!! *HUGS & SMILES!*

It's like Christmas in July!

Look at all these goodies!! It seems like EVERYTHING all came in the mail at once today!! I've got some really cute Darcie stamps, new cuttlebug folders and a couple of my fav magazines!! Well, I also got some brand new rubbah from DRS Designs that are not even released yet!! Sorry, strict orders not to show you yet!! I'm not TRYING to tease you (yes I am, no really! OK...YES I am! lol!), but I will doing some creations with them and they will be released in mid-July! so be watching this blog for some fun things coming your way!! :)

Sliders selling like HOTCAKES!!

I was getting ready to send out my next batch of cards for DRS Designs when Samantha told me that the ribbon slide images are selling like hotcakes & she needed batches of cards with me using them....I got right to work and here's what I came up with:

First, I just LOVE this Big Girl Panties sentiment!! I used some chalk over the "Big Girl" wording to make it stand out. I used my coluzzle to make the half oval shape on the side. I stamped the Open Plaid stripes on it to give it a little something and then distressed the edges with a vanilla ink pad. The BG wording is done with the You Go Girl! sentiment. I used some yummy silk chocolate ribbon to run through the stamped Oval Swirl Ribbon Slide image that was stamped in chocolate ink and cut out. I just wrapped the edges of ribbon around the panel and attached to front of card. I also added some stickles to the front of the ribbon slide.

Here's another card with a neutrel theme. I used Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel and vanilla for the colors on this card. The ribbon is more of a chocolate gingham color. All I did was use the Single Flower Ribbon Slide in three different colors for the BG at the top of the card. I then stamped, colored and cut out the ribbon slide for the gingham to slip through. But what I also did (as in the card above) is put a pop dot under the flower with the ribbon to pop it up a bit. Then I just added my sentiment at the bottom. Quick and easy card! Wait, but there's ONE more set.....

I used several different images on this one. I wanted to create my own BG with different images, so I pulled out a bunch of different ones to see what I could come up with. The card itself is using the Barely Banana color and I distressed the edges with the Barely Banana ink pad. I used the Butterfly Ribbon Slide image and inked it up with black Staz On, colored it in and cut it out. I used some pink taffeta ribbon to slide it through and attached to the front of the card. For the left side panel, I used Perfect Plum cardstock and stamped the Just because... sentiment in the same color. I also used "just" the circles from the 2 line Flower Designs image and stamped it in white on the panel. You can't see too well in the picture, but I also went over it with the butterfly image in Pretty in Pink ink to make a collage look out of it. Then of course, I used the Vertical Just Because image on the right side of the card. I really like these sliders because you can color them ANY color you want and you can use them for stamping an image as well as using it for it's purpose as a ribbon slider! No wonder they're selling like hot cakes! Have you got your ribbon slider yet?! I'll be back later with some more fun stamping guys! And I also need to find out what my other stamping friends are up to as well!! Thanks for stopping by!! Enjoy your day!! *HUGS & SMILES!*

Penguin ATC complete!

THERE we go!! Now we have a picture folks!! I thought adding the edging around the picture makes it look nice too! Whatta think?!

Look at this darling little Memory Box penguin!! Well, because it was penguins, I couldn't resist getting into this ATC swap! What I did was stamp, color and cut out the penguin on white cardstock. I used Bashful Blue cardstock for the main panel. I took strips of ripped sand paper for the bottom to make it look like "real" sand. Then I stamped the sentiment and sun in black and used a sponge with white ink to make the "clouds". I filled in the sun with the yummy yellow Stickles! Then I popped up the little guy with pop dots!! I made 10 of these all together and they have been shipped out and ready to swap with the other little precious penguins!! Yeah!! Can't wait to see what I get back!! I was also thinking of making a fun little picture collage of penguins to place on my wall. Hmmm... another project to show you at a later time I think!! Hope you are all having a "Happy Summer"!! Got more stamping to show you too!!