Snow Day Fun!

Now, I'm already a SAHM right now, and my son is only 14 months, so he doesn't have school, BUT dh is a teacher, so snow days are fun for us too! Today was his second in a row, and his fourth in the last two weeks! What fun to have him home with us! We got crazy amounts of snow and ice in the last 24 hours!! So here's your daily dose of baby:


I have another card using Crate Paper's Mia collection from Limelight. This one is using the red patterns, like I promised the other day. I also followed one of Taylor's Cupcake Challenge sketches. What do you think?


The scalloped edge is the Mia glitter strips, I paper pieced the dress (which is Unity), and I painted the eyelet holes and the flower with Angel Wings Shimmerz. Yum!!

Pretty Peacock

Good morning! Happy Sunday to you. I want to show you a card I am really diggin' right now. This is a very strange color combo that I never would have chosen on my own (I'm thinking sage/plum/mustard, but because it is inspired by the Crate Paper Mia Collection from Limelight, I went with it, and it even got a "Wow!!" from the hubby!!!


Isn't the Unity Peacock divine? I used Sparkle, Stack and Water Lily papers. I paper pieced the peacock using the sage and plum papers, and I painted over them with Angle Wings Shimmerz!! Don't you love the sparkle? This card also uses the glitter borders and texture brad from the Crate Paper Mia collection, also from Limelight. Mandy has some amazingly beautiful new papers over there--take a look! I love this collection... there are some more papers with red in them, that I'll be using in the next few days... so make sure you come back to see!

And, now that I'm posting again, you're in for a daily dose of baby! He's been in to tipping over towers that we build for months. Here, I finally caught it in action!!! He is just starting to help build the towers too, so I'll try to get an action shot of that! Enjoy!


Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Happy New Year, Finally!!!

I hope you all had very happy holidays, and the new year is starting out great for you!

It has been way too long since I've posted. I have been SO out of it in terms of stamping. Even now, I am finding it hard to get started again, even though I WANT to. I'm having trouble getting myself into the creative mode. Thankfully, for our Unity Wednesday Challenge, Kim came up with something perfect:

Since we've all been busy,some are searching far and wide for their long lost mojo, and others have indulged (just a little) this holiday season, I'm offering up a SLIM (he, he) Challenge for next Wednesday.........

Sometimes

Less

Is

More

A card base (you can layer if you like), an image and/or sentiment, and one embellishment.

I'm a pretty simple, basic kind of gal and like those clean and simple type cards that are quick and easy to make. Unity has lots of great stamps that shine all on their own. So............this coming Wednesday, just keep it simple!! Easy enough, right?? Can't wait to see what everyone creates!!

Well, I kept it simple, alright. In fact, I was reminded of the term KISS: Keep it Simple, Stupid!!! and thought it applied to me this week. So I used my Kiss stamp from November's KOTM.


Self explanatory, I think, other than I tried out my new Martha Stewart glue pad to stamp the kiss with, and then used red glitter. Super easy, and yet it seriously taxed me. I'm going to have to get back into the groove somehow!!! Anyone have any ideas for me??

Looking forward to Hip Hop tomorrow... maybe that will get me going.

Growing in Unity Day Five

Welcome to my final day hosting Growing in Unity! I hope you have enjoyed seeing my projects as much as I have enjoyed sharing them!! I know I've kind of talked up this last project of mine, but I REALLY LOVE IT!!! So, without further ado, here is my lovely little Christmas Cocktail recipe book!












My parents love making special cocktails at Christmas time . . . it is so festive to have a yummy drinkwith a candy cane over the edge of the glass, while sitting in front of the fire! If you are not a drinker, you could make yours a recipe book of Christmas Sweets/Desserts, and use all the yummy cupcake and other sweets stamps from Unity to accent your pages!!

I think the SU! Top Note die makes fabulous little pages for a mini album like this. I covered chipboard with Wassail paper. The pages are this AWESOME paper from WorldWin, called double mates. They are different shades of the same color on each side. So if every other page set looks different, it is!! One set of pages is bright red and green, the other is dark red and green. There are LOTS of things I would do differently if I made this little recipe book again. I'm not a scrapper, so placement of embellishments is hard for me, somehow. I would probably print the recipes on an ivory cardstock next time too, and sponge the edges of everything, to add to the distressed look that the cover has. Oh well, live and learn! I'm still pretty pleased with it!

Thanks for joining me this week! Have a great weekend!!

Growing in Unity Day Four

Good morning! Hip HOP!!! Today is our fun Hip Hop day over at the Unity forum on SCS! Come on over and join in the fun, starting at 11 am EST!! In honor of Hip HOP! and because Angela (Unity's owner) is so extremely generous, I am able to give away my favorite single, Create Yourself to one of you lucky readers today! Just leave a comment here on this post, and tonight at 9pm EST I will draw a random number and post the winner on the Hip HOP! forum!! Thanks so much for checking out my projects this week for Growing in Unity! Please come back tomorrow, because I have an AWESOME project waiting for you!

I have to admit, because I've been so busy getting Friday's project ready, I was pressed for time and creativity in making today's. There isn't much stamping involved. Just one image. Sorry!!! I used a template I have had for years (Darcie's Country Folk) for a little window box. I filled it with starlight candies and added a bow and an ornament (this is the one stamp!!!), and voila! A small gift for my 93 year old grandma, who never wants anything for Christmas, nor does she need anything! My brother and I usually get her food of some sort, so this is a start to my gift for her.


Do you see the little bit of shimmer on the ornament? That is Angel Wings Shimmerz. Love that stuff!! Again, I'd like to apologize for the simplicity of this project... if only I had gotten all my projects done ahead of time! That would have been smart, huh?! :-)

Don't forget to leave me a nice comment, and then you'll be entered into a drawing for my favorite Unity single!!!

Growing in Unity Day Three

Happy Wednesday! Welcome to day three of my week for Growing in Unity.

As I was preparing to start today's project, I was drawing a blank. I was thinking . . . what else can I do for Christmas gifts for my friends and family?? So I dug through my stash of things that I've picked up over the years, intending to use for stamping, hoping something would jump out at me. I found some lovely naked big clothespins, just begging me to alter them A light went on!! I am short on cash, and have a darling little boy!!! I will make a cute little photo holder for my little monkey. Here it is:


Now, this project will take you much more time than yesterday's, but yesterday's was almost too easy! Here are the deets: I covered the front and back of the clip with patterned paper (SU!). I stamped the monkey from Unity's Wild and Crazy Bunch twice, once on cocoa and once on caramel, then cut out the belly, ears and face from the caramel, to paper piece on the cocoa. Then I glued the monkey to another piece of cocoa cardstock to give him stability before I cut him out. I attached him to the clip with stampin' dimensionals. I tied a ribbon around the clip, and looped the monkey's tail over the ribbon. Finally, I stamped the word little from the "little one" sentiment and the word monkey from the "let's monkey around" sentiment. I punched it out and layered it on three squares of cocoa cardstock to give it stability, and attached the edge of it to the clip with stampin' dimensionals, tucking it under the monkey's arm. As a final touch, I added my OWN LITTLE MONKEY to the clip. What do you think?


I am not finished with my Friday project yet . . . I'm still working on it. I am SO excited about it, so make sure you come back and check it out!! Thank you so much for visiting my blog this week! It has been so much fun!

Growing in Unity Day Two

Good morning! I love snow. Our street is coated with it right now. I am sure I will be sick of it in a couple of months, but for now, I love how clean and beautiful the world looks under a blanket of snow!

On that note . . . here is my Unity project for day two...


Today's project is seriously the easiest thing EVER! I would guess from start to finish this gift took me less than five minutes!! And it is lovely! You start with pre-made notecards. Mine are Fabriano that I have had in my stash for years. These things are thick, watercolor paper, that make the notes look and feel SO rich!!! I love it! But even plain notecards will work just fine! One color of ink, two stamps, and a bit of glitter! The stamp is the snowflake is from September's kit of the month. The sentiment is from Jolly Winter. I did four cards and tied them up with a pretty bow for a fun presentation! WOW!! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!!!


If you mass produce these, you could have multiple gifts to give away to folks like your kids' teachers, your hairdresser, or even your favorite checkout lady at the grocery store!!! Keep a stash by the front door, and send all of your holiday visitors home with a pack as a little gift!!

I hope you enjoyed today's project. Come back for more tomorrow!

Growing in Unity Day One

Good morning!!! I don't know about you, but I can hardly believe it is December 8th already!

I am hosting Growing in Unity this week! So check my blog daily, December 8th through 12th for a project using fabulous Unity stamps!!

I would have loved to feature Christmas themed projects for you, but I only have ONE Unity Christmas set, so that won't get me very far. Instead, I'm going to offer up my ideas for little Christmas gifts you can make up quickly to give to family, friends or others you need gifts for!

Today's gift is a notebook set. This is a variation on something I've been doing for years. I found these fantastic notebook sets on clearance one year after school started, and I stocked up! Now, any time I need a quick gift, I pull out a set and get busy! You can use any spiral notebook, although the double spiral like this is easiest for removing the covers, which you will need to do.


I take the covers off by opening the metal rings a bit. I use Mod Podge to attach patterned paper that I've trimmed to size. For this project I chose an American Crafts paper in Unity's colors of brown and turquoise. After the glue is dry, I sand the edges with a sanding block, to kind of melt/blend the paper into the cover. Sometimes I ink the edges, for a distressed look, but this paper is so clean looking, that I left the edges bare. Then I add my stamped pieces and embellishments and put the covers back on! If I need a matching pen, I cut a small piece of matching paper and roll it around the ink tube of my RSVP pen, and stick the ink tube back into the pen. DONE!! Sometimes I add ribbon to the spirals, but again, I was going for clean today. Which kind of makes me wonder why I added the flowers and bling!!! :-) I actually made these for some fellow Unity lovers . . . for my Unity Secret Santa and one of the Unity DT . . . I'm wondering, did you get them yet? :-) I'm kind of bummed by my picture . . . these are MUCH prettier IRL!!!!

I hope you enjoyed today's gift!! Come back tomorrow for more!

Finally Friday!

Happy Friday! This is very similar to another shoe card I made. You can't see, unfortunately, but the flower is red glitter stickles. It is so much prettier in person.


Make sure you check out Ryann's blog for Limelight's day FIVE giveway!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you are having a wonderful, relaxing day with your friends and family. We are having our very own little family Thanksgiving here, with just the three of us. I'm making way too much food, and we will be eating leftovers all weekend! Yum!

As you may know, I've had the honor of serving as Limelight's 7th Six Chick (Guest Designer) for the month of November. It has been such fun! Today is my last official "job" as such... the sketch and product challenge.

While some of us are busy pouring gravy all over our turkey and mashed potatoes, I know there are an equal number of people out there who are pouring over the Black Friday sales ads! I can hear them shouting "Bring on the sales!". They must have been listening over at Limelight, because not only do they have some awesome sales scheduled for Black Friday, they also have a challenge focusing on all things black! How easy is that?! Anything black will do, although, I recommend the Black Magic cardstock, black licorice Pixee Stix glitter, or black fun flock! If you don't have anything from Limelight, go ahead and play along anyways! Here is the sketch:

• Sketch and Product Challenge using black for Black Friday!
  
• Uploads to SCS should have the keyword: LLPC009
• Participants should post a comment and a link to their card on Mandy's blog, all entries must be submitted by Sunday, November 30th, at midnight for a chance to win a Limelight Papercrafts Gift Certificate.

Here is my take on the sketch... I turned it into a tall card, 3 x 6. I used SU! in colors, Tangerine and Kiwi, as well as black. I also used these adorable Thanksgiving images from Unity's Fall Festival that my friend Lisa sent to me (yes, there IS a Unity kit I do NOT own... :-) Thanks, Lisa, for sharing!! I hope you are enjoying some PIE today! :-) Finally, as some fun embellishment, I knotted a length of Raven Tulle from Limelight. Fun stuff!! I think I need some Copics (oh, but first I need to win the lottery, since that's pretty much the only way I'll ever be able to afford them!) because I really don't love the coloring job I did. I need to practice.

Make sure you check out the other talented design team gals' cards:

Becky
Brandi
JenMarie
Katie
Lisa
Mandy
Ryann

This next card does not fit the sketch, but I had to include it in honor of Black Friday tomorrow. Ever since I got the black Pixee Stix Glitter and black Tulle I have had some version of this card in my head. I knew I had to do a black and pink "shopping card" for Black Friday. I used the purse and sentiment from Unity's Shopaholic kit, as well as Distressed Dots background, which I stamped with Versamark, added heat and stick powder, and the black glitter!


Happy shopping tomorrow! Don't forget to shop at Limelight! Mandy arranged some AMAZING deals!! Straight from the Limelight blog:

Don't miss these great deals this weekend...supplies are limited to the early birds (but we have plenty to go around)!
*Pebbles, Inc. RIBBON IRON packaged with TWO assorted RIBBON PACKS - $10
*Unity Stamp Company's LUKE 2:14 GLORIOUS ANGEL - $3.50
*Unity Stamp Company's DELECTABLE DELIGHTS stamp set - $4.50
*Odd Bird Planet's Snowman - $10 (This stamp is BIG!)
*Odd Bird Planet's Beau Christmas - $6 (assorted, facing left or right)

Finally Friday!

Happy Friday!

Did you Hip HOP! yesterday over at the Unity SCS forum? If so, you surely saw lots of amazing cards and projects from all of the fantastic Unity design team! One of the hip HOP! challenges was to make a snowflake card. Mine is below.

I am SO glad it it Friday. I have had a grumpy week. I think I have only stamped TWO things. Here they are:


This was supposed to be a shaker card, but I couldn't find my microbeads, so I ended up having to use glitter, which just sticks to the window. Then I couldn't decide what sentiment to use or where to put it, so I didn't use one. Then I got carried away adding bling. LOVE those Kaiser gems, but this is too many, even for a bling lover like me! Oh well. Maybe I will get my mojo back soon...

No wait, I guess I only stamped that card. This next one I did last week, for a workshop I had on Friday night. I think they liked making it!


The baby has become best buds with Ozzy the cat this week. Every day he lies down on the floor and cuddles with the cat, or uses him as a pillow, or grabs his tail (this is the one I'm worried about...)


He has also discovered some of my stamps that I am selling, and has been carting them around the living room.


This was from the day we did his one year/Christmas pictures, which is why he's so handsomely dressed! :-) Usually it is just sweats!

Not Really a Hip HOP Hangover...

I am feeling a bit "hungover," but not from Hip HOP! I was up all night with a sick baby. He wouldn't sleep because he couldn't breathe. So far today isn't much better . . .

I was in a Red/Kiwi/Kraft mood last night... Here are two Unity cards for you to enjoy. No time for details, because of the baby. More tomorrow!!

Another Wacky Wednesday

I cannot believe how fast the last week went! Or that November is almost half over already. Time is going by WAY too fast.

Today's Wednesday Unity Challenge was to make a kid's card with primary colors. I usually steer VERY far from primary colors, for some reason. They don't appeal to me at all (together), but I like them individually. Like RED--one of my favorite colors, paired with brown, or as clothing with blue jeans! Even so, I actually like how this card turned out.


I used a small circle punch to make the waves at the bottom of the card. One layer of waves is behind the whale, and the other is in front. I don't think you can see it, but there is crystal effects on the whale's spout droplets!

Make sure you check out the other Unity girls' cards! The links are on the right.

Have a great day!

Wacky Wednesday

Why is today Wacky? I don't know!!! I just remember this really funny book that I LOVED as a child, called Wacky Wednesday, and I think I MUST get it for my son. (after just now searching for this book on Amazon, I have discovered that it was written by Dr. Seuss! Who knew?)

Lisa picked the challenge for our Unity Wednesday Challenge this week. She gave us this gorgeous picture as inspiration.


I don't really know why I ended up going with this red/black/gold Asian feel, when I don't see that at all when I look at these plates. That is what was stuck in my head as I was creating, though. I ended up doing lots of embossing for this card, and I was reminded why I don't emboss very often!!


The red background paper is Paper Company Starburst Translucent. I embossed the Retro Circle Boogy from Unity's Good Times kit in gold. I also spread super bronze Pearl ex Powder onto that paper, which left all those blotches you see. The butterfly is also embossed on Riding Hood Red, cut out, and only the body is glued down. The wings are folded up, for depth.

I hope you have a fabulous day!

Another Quick Post

I will make a longer post soon, but I wanted to share a quick card for you. I made this for a gal at church who was baptized on Sunday! You can't see some of the finer details in the picture, unfortunately. I highlighted a few of the words with pink marker, and the edge of the main image is lined with dazzling diamonds glitter. I love these colors together!!!


Make sure you come back on Thursday to see my first official project as November's Limelight Papercrafts Guest Designer! I'm so excited about it! It turned out SOOOO amazing! (am I allowed to love my own work this much? :-) I hope so!)

Have a great week, and--

Hip HOP!! and a Limelight Sketch

Good morning! Happy Hip HOP!!! Come on over to the SCS Unity forum and celebrate today! Lots of prizes will be given out, just like EVERY Thursday! Plus, it is just lots of fun. Put on your Party Pants and check in with us any time after 11am EST!!

Today's post brings you two cards courtesy of a fantastic Limelight sketch. The first one is made with Little Yellow Bicycle's Christmas Magic Paper and Unity's Cheer Holly stamp, both sold by Limelight Papercrafts. The Christmas Magic is an 8 x 8 tablet of beautiful, rich looking papers, that includes lots of fun punch outs, including this "joy" circle I used.


For the second card, I used SU! designer paper, as well as Winter Post stamp set. I also used a felt flurry snowflake. From Limelight, I used a beautiful blue Kaisercraft gemstone, and a Unity sentiment from Jolly Little Winter. I also used something really fun from Limelight that you probably can't see in the picture--fun flock! The trim on the girl's sweater and hat are actually fluffy!!! You can touch them!


Finally, I thought I'd leave you with a funny picture of the baby. In the last several days, he has suddenly started stopping in the middle of whatever he is doing and setting his head on the floor. He thinks it is really funny! (which it is!!)


Hip HOP! and--