Farewell my bluebonnets!

Many of you that know me have seen this photo - but I love it and thought I'd post it anyway. This photo was taken about a month ago - I noticed today that these bluebonnets in my neighborhood are pretty much gone now - *sigh*. I always get so excited when I see the first bluebonnet pop up in March, it means spring is here - my favorite time of year in Texas! (in MI my favorite is fall, visiting the apple orchards!) And seeing the first bluebonnet always makes me think of my dear friend Christina, who helped nurture my love of bluebonnets & other Texas wildflowers when I first moved to Austin - I always have to send her a note to acknowledge the arrival! Now that they are fading away, it means summer will be here soon and the sweating will begin. *double sigh* (sorry if you're reading this with snow on the ground and you're rolling your eyes at me right about now...!)

No time for stamping this weekend, it was way too busy. My husband was gone for the weekend, camping with the boys, and my son was more clingy than usual - I think because a) he missed his daddy, b) he's getting his molars in, and c) he somehow knew that I had a lot I needed to get done and was determined not to allow that to happen! I made a birthday cake for his friend's first birthday party today, and Carter wanted nothing to do with me focusing on that rather than him! Luckily my sister came over and helped me out BIG TIME by playing with her nephew so I could finish the cake. We also discovered that an hour long bath not only makes a toddler a big ol' prune, but also makes him incredibly sleepy - he nearly fell asleep in his highchair eating lunch after his marathon bath! Anyway - hope to have something creative to share tomorrow night! Have a great week!!

Orchid Teddy

Today my sweet boy took an extremely long nap, and instead of doing the zillion things I *should* have been doing, I found myself in my stamp room (which, by the way, is still a disaster area...!)!! I decided to try this week's "Ways to Use It" challenge on SCS - to use Orchid Opulence on a card. I guess in the end I sort of cheated a little - although the card base is orchid, there's not a ton of orchid on this card! But there's some! I used my favorite Teddy from the Spring Mini's Bundle of Joy, and colored him in with watercolor crayons. FYI - the purple he's sitting on is Orchid Opulence - I think the crayon is a lot more vibrant than the paper! Other cardstock colors are Ballet Blue and Certainly Celery. For Teddy, I washed a piece of Ivory Naturals with celery before stamping him, and then added the additional watercoloring. None of the various white or vanilla papers looked good against the patterned paper by themselves. The patterned paper is from Bo Bunny, and I used the Canvas background and light orchid grosgrain. The "precious one" sentiment is from Cute Converse. I used the slit punch to make the scalloped edge (let me know if you want to know how to do that!).

I was going to head to the Scrapbook Expo in Austin this morning, but figured why should I pay an $8 entrance fee and probably that much again for downtown parking and spend way too much money, when I could just go up to my LSS, park & enter for free and use a gift certificate! So that's what I did! And that's where I found this Bo Bunny paper and decided it would fit this orchid challenge! Carter got to hang out with Rachel & her mommy this morning, so it was nice to be able to do a little shopping all by myself for once! :-)

Thanks for looking and happy Friday!!

I've been tagged!

One of the blogs I love to visit everyday is Leslie Miller's Running with Scissors. Leslie's cards are absolutely beautiful, and she also does tutorials & gives such great tips, I've learned so much from reading her blog and I only discovered it in the last week! She also happens to be incredibly nice, and a fellow gardener - so of course I like her lots! Well today I went over there and found that she had tagged me! These tags have been going around the stamping blog world a lot recently, and I've just been sitting on the bench, waiting for my nod to play - here it is! I feel I've really made it into the blogging world now! *wink* In this particular game of tag, I am supposed to list 7 things (possibly weird things) about me, so here goes...

1. It's going on a year since I've had a haircut. Embarrassing but true. :-( And let's not even discuss the state of my eyebrows....!!!!

2. I have a yin-yang tattoo on my left ankle.

3. One of my summer jobs while in college was sorting cucumbers at a pickle factory...! (I know it sounds like there should be a punchline here, but I'm completely serious!!)

4. I have a deep fear of putting my hand down into the garbage disposal! I don't know if it's because I think it will magically turn on, or because it's so gross down in there, or both.

5. I dream of one day running a little bed & breakfast in someplace green & scenic, perhaps Vancouver Island (like the wonderful place I stayed in Sooke for Kari's wedding!!). Or, some quaint little town in Europe, and the American tourists will be drawn to stay because they will love how well I bake the local specialties and feel comfortable that English is spoken, and I will get listed in a Rick Steves guidebook. :-)

6. I am completely grossed out by congealed food. You know how homemade Thanksgiving gravy gets after you've put it in the fridge? Or the skin that forms on queso after it's sat out too long? Ugh! And I think flan is very unnatural and just plain wrong! (sorry Maria!)

7. I am a diet coke junkie (yes, I have too many little addictions!) - but I've decided to try & kick the habit. Today is my first day "sober". I have a headache and I'm soooo sleepy! But I'm thinking that if I declare it in writing here on this blog, that I'M GIVING IT UP, it will be more 'pressure' to actually follow through. :-)

Pretty interesting, huh? You're probably thinking "*yawn*, where's a new card??". Hopefully I'll post one tomorrow - Thursday is my tv night so I've just been vegging, but thought I better at least answer this tag.

The other part of this tagging thing is that I'm now supposed to tag 7 more people. I don't think I will - I don't feel like I've earned the right to do that just yet, I'm too new to this blogging thing. But for my friends/customers who aren't obsessed with blogs (*yet*), I'll tell you about some of my favorites, and why I love them. None of you I'm listing need to feel like you have to play along (as if you read my blog!), and I think most of you have already been tagged multiple times anyway!

Of course there's Leslie, 'nuff said already. :-)

Heather uses a lot of Kraft paper, which those of you who know me, know I also *love* - but she makes it look a lot better than I do! I'm getting a lot of great ideas from her work!!

Kirsten's blog is called "Confessions of a Naptime Stamper" - I *love* that name, it's so ME - I wish I would have thought of it! :-) (and she's also a terrific stamper!)

Allison is amazing - she posts lists of "Tutorials of Note" and "Candy & Give Aways" - she is a one-stop resource for everything going on in the blogosphere!

Michelle makes stunningly beautiful creations - she is so artistic, and just seems like a fashion queen to me. Like the Carrie Bradshaw of stamping or something. She's been challenging people to find inspiration in advertising, it's so cool!

Amy has been doing an awesome Q&A thing on her blog, I've learned sooo much from her! And her creations are too too too cute!! Love everything she does out there on the Canadian prairie!

And of course there's my other favorites you've heard me gush over - Jenn, Taylor, Debbie, Beate, and her total badness Sherry. I check all their sites daily and love everything I see!

Hope you find that useful & find as much inspiration from these ladies as I have! :-)

In honor of Virginia Tech

Today's SCS color challenge was to use Pumpkin Pie & Bravo Burgundy, with Always Artichoke an optional color. I pulled out the paper and said "YUCK"!! What ugly colors to try and use together on a card!! I also decided right away that I was definitely adding the artichoke. But since the colors were chosen for a good reason - in honor of the Virginia Tech tragedy - I decided to forge ahead and try to make them work. (Sorry JenA - I'm sure they are lovely on football jerseys and college sweatshirts, but I don't think I'll use them again on a card!) But actually, in the end - I hope I don't sound too full of myself if I say - this card is gorgeous!! I *really* love how it turned out!! And here's why: I tried a super cool but totally easy technique I learned on Leslie Miller's AWESOME blog (you may notice, she's moved to my idols list!)!! :-) I used TP (yes, that's right, toilet paper!) to dab color onto the cardstock! The result is so rich and amazing looking. Why can't I ever come up with these ideas myself?? At any rate - I highly recommend you try this out immediately! You need to see it IRL, the photo isn't even doing it justice. For the image, I used the sand dollar from the retired Stipple Shells set, coloring it with watercolor crayons and then spritzing before stamping (actually, I just used my aquapainter because it was handy). I dabbed on a little burgundy with the TP here too. The orange piece has Pumpkin Pie & Bravo Burgundy "TP'ed" on, and also French Script in Always Artichoke. The sentiment is from the retired hostess set Small Script, stamped in black. And I added a few artichoke brads as well. Lesley, if you happen to be reading - as I'm sure you can tell, this card was totally inspired by the card I sent with you for your little French stamp party! :-) I've been using retired sets a lot lately - I've been trying to decide if I can part with any of my massive collection of retirees - turns out the answer is no, I cannot. :-) But I'll try to use some current stamps next time!

ETA: The other part of this color challenge was to actually send the card to the family of one of the victims of the VT tragedy. When I first made this card & posted it, in my sleep-deprived state, I didn't really think this would make a good sympathy card. But, thinking about it more the next day, I decided it would - so I actually am making a second copy of the card, stamping "with sympathy" rather than "wish", and mailing it off. It was hard enough to hear about this on the news, I can't imagine actually being touched by this horrible event.

A side note - my stamp room is such a disaster right now, I can't even find basic things like dimensionals!! In the past that would make me avoid going in there, but I'm trying not to care - I'm just shoving everything to the side of my desk and working on my half a grid sheet not buried...! But I need to set my goal for the next few days - CLEAN MY STAMP ROOM!! So I may not be stamping for a bit, need to focus on cleaning. :-) Maybe I'll have to share some before and after photos...! (although I suppose the "befores" would be super embarrassing!)

Ok, time to stop rambling and hit the hay. Thanks for looking!

New InColors!!

I'm probably a terrible demonstrator for posting this - but - it's out on Splitcoast, so it's not like it's a secret anymore (SU doesn't tell me these things this far in advance anyway, this is why I read SCS!). Anyway - I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THESE COLORS!!!! Purely Pomegranate?? Wild Wasabe!?! Groovy Guava!!! My mouth is watering. :-) Now I *really* can't wait until I can get actual samples of these new papers in my hot little hands!!! The countdown to the new catalog in July is ON!

SCS thread: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=242975

My happy place

Woohoo, I got to play with flower stamps tonight!! This card is nothing like I thought it would be when I started stamping (hours ago, ack, where has the time gone??!) but that's ok, I like the final result. I ended up using a layout inspired by last week's SCS sketch challenge. I chose to use the "happy place" sentiment because, as you can see from the past couple of posts, among the flowers is indeed my "happy place"!! Both the flower and sentiment come from retired mini catalog sets - More Petal Prints and Cute Converse. I also used French Script on the turquoise strips, and the main card actually has the Canvas background stamped with versamark, but you can't see it in this darn photo (I had some trouble getting a decent photo tonight too!). The cardstock colors are Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White. I used markers on the stamp to color the flowers, stamping off as well for added background dimension - Bashful Blue, Tempting Turquoise and Garden Green. Other embellishments include the ticket corner punch, some brads from Making Memories, grosgrain ribbon, and a little Star Dust Stickles on the main three flowers for a bit of shimmer. That pretty much sums it up - I better get this posted and hit the hay, I'm soooo sleepy!

Pretty Poppy

I made it to the nursery this morning to buy some plants, and snapped a few photos while I was there! (I usually have my camera with me when I'm watching Rachel, I send an email update with photos to her parents every afternoon) This nursery has gorgeous example gardens that I just luuuvvv, and today the poppies were glorious! So, I had to share. Hope to actually stamp some flowers tonight...!

A day in the garden

I don't have a new card to share with you tonight - I spent most of today doing yard work, and I'm actually too pooped to stamp! I really enjoyed it though - I love having a nice garden, and I haven't really done much in the yard over the last couple of years - not since becoming pregnant with my son, and he's 16 months now...! I've missed it! I just spent today pulling weeds, and made a quick trip up to the store before dinner to pick up a few bags of compost. Tomorrow morning I plan to take Carter and Rachel to my favorite nursery, to pick up a couple tomato and pepper plants, and maybe some basil - it will be fun for them, the nursery has a donkey, chickens, cats and a couple little water fountains - plenty of toddler entertainment! During naptime I'll hopefully work the compost into the soil and get the tomatoes in the ground!! Yippee! Today was the perfect day for gardening, too - overcast, and even very lightly sprinkling at times. For those of you who don't live in Texas, you may not fully understand why this is a nice day for gardening. Come down here and pull my weeds in the July heat - then you'll understand! :-) Despite my utter neglect, some of my plants have progressed nicely over the past couple years, most notably my rose! This photo is of one of the MANY blooms I have right now, with many more buds about to open. So pretty, and they smell wonderful too. The only thing I didn't enjoy about gardening today was uncovering four different fire ant mounds! Argh!! I've lived in Texas for almost 12 years now, and I'm still not used to the nasty creepy crawlies we have down here! I've tolerated fire ants & even scorpions (we had several in our house when we first built, but haven't had one in years) - but I've vowed that if I ever find a tarantula in my house, that's it, I'm packing up and moving north!! :-) Luckily, none so far - saw one in the neighborhood once and that was close enough for me!! Ok enough bug talk, I'm getting goosebumps! Back to my happy gardening thoughts... :-) I'm so excited to be back in the yard planting things! And all of this focus on flowers is inspiring me - you'll probably see some flowery cards on here soon. Have a good week!!

For Amy's new Bundle of Joy

Yesterday I received a birth announcement in the mail from my friend Amy in New York. I had not talked to her in quite a while (clearly, it had been more than 9 months!) so I was happily surprised by the news! She already has two precious sons, and this time it was a sweet baby girl. So that was my inspiration for the card tonight! After seeing Debbie Olson's adorable giraffe this morning I had to play with Bundle of Joy, which I colored with my beloved watercolor crayons. I've also been admiring all the sewing I've seen on various cards lately - however, I am not brave enough to pull out the sewing machine just yet (I'm embarrassed to admit I don't even know how to thread the thing!) so I opted for doing a few easy stitches by hand using linen thread (baby steps....!). The sentiment is from Cute Converse, a set that I *love* from a mini catalog a while back. Using the oval punches was also inspired by Debbie's card (especially using scissors to scallop the outer edge), and also all of the cute ideas I've seen for using the Papertrey sentiments. Although I have to admit I don't really like the placement of the sentiment - but it ended up there by necessity (I did a goof beneath it!). :-) The card colors are Kraft, Mellow Moss & Pretty in Pink - it's slightly softer IRL than it appears in the photo, at least on my end! It's a very simple card, but I like it.

Speaking of Papertrey sets - I have now purchased ALL of them (!) but I haven't used a single stamp yet. I'm intimidated - I've never used clear stamps, and I'm not sure about the "erasing" I'm supposed to do before I get started. I'm sure it's all very easy, and I'm dying to use them after seeing so many adorable creations with them!!! So I need to just do it. If anyone has any words of encouragement on this I'd love to hear them. :-) (I've been a very loyal SU "user" until I started reading all these darn blogs and learning about all these other great stamps that I MUST HAVE!) :-)

And finally - I have to say I've had a really fun weekend so far, and it's only half over! I did a garage sale this morning and made a nice little profit. And I've been absolutely giddy about this silly little blog!! I've calmed down a bit now - but I just have to say, when you start up your own little blog, and you don't expect anyone to actually be looking at it other than the couple of friends you've told, and the next thing you know you're getting comments (compliments, no less!) from your favorite stampers that you've "admired from afar" - well, that is just such a complete shock, and also a tremendous honor!!! And it completely made my day (and probably my week and my month...!) So, THANK YOU!!!

Night night.

A Comment from a Hero!

Ok I'm posting another card tonight, mostly because I want a card as the top post for now, not the photo of me & Ali! :-) And I have to share another brush with greatness...! As some of you know, this is one of my favorite cards I've made recently - and it's a total copy! Or I guess the proper term in the stampin' world is CASE - which apparently stands for Copy and Share Everything - but I always think of it as Copy and STEAL Everything! Anywayzzz, I totally case'd this card from a creation by Jenn Balcer, one of my stampin' heroes. I didn't change hardly anything to make it my own - just flat-out copied. I posted it in my SCS gallery, just because I love it so - and would you believe Ms. Balcer In The Flesh left me a comment!! How cool is that?!!??

Me and Ali!

Yes two posts in one night - but it just occurred to me - I have this photo of me and one of my scrappin' heroes, the one and only Ali Edwards (see link to her blog over to the left), here on my computer, with no outlet for showing it off and bragging about the fact that I actually got to meet her - UNTIL NOW!!! I have a blog, and I can post whatever I want on my blog, so I want to brag about the fact that I got to meet Ali Edwards!!! And as it turns out, she is SUPER DUPER NICE! My friend LisaK (yes the same one who's getting the Pregabella below!) told me about classes being taught by Ali at a scrapbook store up in Waco (of all places!) last September, so we went! My friend Theresa (the most fabulous scrapbooker I know in real life!) also met us up there. The class was so much fun, Ali was just one of the girls, hanging out with us. She had some of her scrapbooks with her, and as I looked through them I recognized pages from seeing them in Creating Keepsakes magazine - it was totally wild and surreal. At one point a few of us decided we wanted to buy some different letter stickers to use on the project we were making, and Ali went out to look around the store with us - we were all pretty tripped out by that experience, shopping for letter stickers with Ali! Anyway - it was super fun, and I know my friend Leigh thinks people are crazy who want their photos taken with "famous" people, but I guess I'm one of those crazy people!! (and I guess that's no surprise to anyone...!) So that was my brush with greatness. :-)

Pregabella for LisaK

I wasn't going to post this card on here, but I wanted to see how my blog looked with more than one entry, and since this is the most recent card I've made... here it is! I made this for my friend LisaK, who is preggo and fabulous (even if she doesn't feel that way!). I also participated in my first-ever Splitcoast color challenge - the challenge was to use Cool Caribbean, Basic Black & white. I think I'm really going to love playing along with challenges - both because it will help me explore new options I wouldn't necessarily gravitate toward (I'm an Earth Elements kinda gal!) and also because it takes out a lot of the effort of making a card - figuring out the colors to use!!! And actually, this card was also using one of the sketch challenges (that diagonal background) so that made this card completely easy peasey! The adorable stamp is Pregabella - WARNING, view this website at your own risk!! These Bellas are very hard to resist and your bank account may never be the same! I stamped this cutie with black StazOn and colored her in with watercolor crayons. And the flowers are some lovely Primas with black brads in the centers. Hope Lisa likes this little RAK card!

Chocolates for Lina

I've started this blog to post my stampin' creations - because it seems to be The Thing to do, all my stampin' heroes have blogs! And I want to be cool like them I guess.... I still have a ton of work to do, to figure out all the ins and outs of blogging and how to get the formatting and layout that I like - but thought I'd post this little card as a "test". I created this last night to send to my friend Lina, who has started a business with her EXTREMELY YUMMY handmade chocolates (Lina's Cocoa Couture). She has her first big event this week, and last night I helped her put labels on the boxes the chocolates will go into. She chose boxes that happened to be "old olive" and "more mustard" (I had to explain to her that those were the colors!) :-) so that was the inspiration for this card. And of course I had to pair them with chocolate chip!! It was fun playing with my retired Oh So Sweet set, it's still one of my favorites! Ok I guess that's it. Hooray for me! I'm blogging! :-)