Yell for Cadel!!

So... have you heard I'm a bit of a cycling fan? :-) It's true, I am. I've been glued to my tv ever since we got U-verse hooked up in this new house of ours, cheering for my favorite Australian cyclist, Cadel Evans. Today was the day that decided who would win this year's Tour de France. I made this card inspired by Cadel last night, crossing my fingers like mad that if I posted it today, it would make sense. And woohoo, it does!! For Cadel, this is the best day EVER!!


I used some of my favorite Hero Arts bicycle stamps, and a really cool sentiment stamp I picked up sometime back from Hampton Art. I chose the black and red color scheme for a couple reasons - first and foremost, because they are Cadel's team colors. But also because I'm playing along with this week's color splash at The Play Date Cafe - I made a black & white card with a SPLASH of red!


Have any of you read my blog long enough to remember WHY this Australian is my favorite cyclist these days? Well back in 2009 during the tour, I did this post inspired by him and shared it on Twitter. In reply, he sent me this tweet.


For me, that was one of the best days ever! I COULD NOT BELIEVE he said that, such a thrill for a cycling dork like me. So today, I'm so freakin' happy that he has achieved his dream, and cannot wait to see him on the podium in Paris tomorrow. YELL FOR CADEL!!

I'm so excited I'm dancing. Like this:

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Happy Stamping,

• Stamps: S5502 Bicycle Pattern, LP202 3 Bikes from Hero Arts, PS0358 Best Day from Hampton Art
• Paper: Black & white cardstock
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, red Copic
• Accessories: Red embossing powder, Nestabilities dies, wide red grosgrain ribbon (DeNami Design), machine stitching

July Blast From the Past Blog Hop!

Today I'm playing along with the Taylored Expressions customer blog hop, aka the Blast from the Past Blog Hop! The theme this month is "Sending You Sunshine," so I decided to make a sunny, happy card featuring the thing that makes *ME* happiest in July - a bicycle!


The bike and sentiment are from one of my favorite TE sets, In the Park. The layout was inspired by Taylor's Sketch Challenge #142.


For a bit of extra fun, I added some glitter pen to the seat and handlebars, and glaze pen to the tires!





So are you wondering why bicycles make me especially happy in July? If you know me at all, you know I'm a bit of a Tour de France fanatic. I've had to miss the majority of the first two weeks of racing this year due to our move. This is the final week of le Tour, and I am savoring it. :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

• Stamps: In the Park from Taylored Expressions
• Paper: SU Cool Carribean, My Mind's Eye Stella Rose
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers, Black Glaze Pen, Copic Spica Pen
• Accessories: The Twinery twine

Follow the Recipe #16

Oh my goodness, it's been over a month since I've played along with Linda's Follow the Recipe challenge!! That is just way too long. But... the good news is, I've unpacked the majority of my stamp room, and last night I broke it in with my very first card! I'M BACK, BABY!!! And, I followed the recipe! :-)


I *had to* play along this week, the sponsor is one of my very favorite stamp companies, Deadbeat Designs! But I have to admit, going through my drawer of Texas stamps, figuring out what to use, made me a wee bit sad that I'm no longer actually a Texan! *sniff* I guess it only makes sense that I created this card as I was feeling blue...! Other than the color choice, I did a pretty decent job of following the recipe...

Inspired by Christine's darling card, I chose to incorporate:

• Stamps – flowers
  
• Patterns – circles, checked/gingham
• Color Mediums – markers
  
• Embellishments – banners
• Tools – border bunches
• Techniques – faux stitching, doodling/drawing (I "drew" the greeting myself...)
  
• Theme – birthday

I hope you'll play along this week too, you could win some Deadbeat Designs goodness!


Mark has a lot of great stamps of all different themes, but of course I happen to love the Texas stamps the most. And last night as I was digging through them, I found that I own more than I realized!


Aren't they FUN?

Hey by the way, want to see my in-progress stamp room? I took this yesterday before opening a lot of boxes. It's still not settled, but here's a little preview... I am beyond thrilled about all the table space I have. And a window!! No more stamp cave for me!! :-)


Thanks for stopping by, and happy stamping!!

• Stamps: F-346 Medium Bluebonnet from Deadbeat Designs
• Paper: Hero Arts Kraft, Archiver's blue, GP white, gingham DP from stash
• Ink: Memento markers (Bahama Blue, Bamboo Leaves) from Hero Arts, black Copic multiliner, SU Crumb Cake marker
• Accessories: Cuttlebug Swiss Dots, Spellbinders circle die, SU ribbon, SU border punch

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #89

Hello! I have a card for you today! YAY!! It's Play Date Cafe time...


The colors Jax chose this week are soft and gorgeous. Maybe I took mine a little brighter than the color story indicates, oops! Hopefully Jax will forgive me. ;-)


This week the challenge is sponsored by The Craft's Meow, and they sent me this beautiful Celebrating You set to work with. Gorgeous!!!


Head over the The Play Date Cafe site and find out more about the sponsor (prize!!!) and this week's wonderful guest designer - and also check out the creations of my fabulous teammates!

Take care,


PS... I'm still in the thick of my move - my stamp room is a sea of boxes. Yikes! I hope to be back in stamping mode soon, though!! Bare with me!

We made it!!

We've made it to Georgia! The moving company delivered all of our belongings yesterday, so the unpacking has begun! Ugh, so much to do still...!!

Thought I'd share a little of our journey to our new home. First stop was in Houston, where we visited the Johnson Space Center. YAY NASA!! Here the kids are with the ginormous Saturn V rocket, which was used during Apollo missions.


After an overnight pitstop in Baton Rouge, we continued across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and finally on to Florida, where we spent a couple days at the beach in Destin. So so so beautiful - I had no idea the Gulf of Mexico could look like that. Paradise!


Finally we made it to our new home. Here we are, sitting on our new doorstep. :-)


More soon - and I'll be back tomorrow with a PDCC card, yay!!