Be Still

Here is a little peek of one of the Plain Janes that Verve will be releasing tomorrow at the release party, Psalm 46:10. I don't have a lot of religious sentiments, so I just LOVE the Plain Janes that Verve carries. I used the Bird Call Cuttlebug folder. I thought it would be perfect with the sentiment. I used the Vintage Values technique to give it that vintage look. . .I think it's my new favorite technique. You can see sneak peeks of the other two Plain Janes today on the Verve blog!

We hope to see you at the release party tomorrow night at 8pm EST! Don't forget that you have until midnight tonight to submit all of your entries for the Holiday Release Sketch Blitz! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend! SUPPLIES USED: Stamps- Psalm 46:10 (Verve Stamps); Paper- Kraft (PTI), Basic Black (SU); Ink- Onyx Black (Versafine), Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip (SU); Accessories- Bird Call Cuttlebug folder (Provocraft), black organdy ribbon (Darice); Finished card measures 5.5"x4.25"

Beate Weekend Sketch #65

I really can't believe it's Friday already! It seems like I JUST posted last week's sketch challenge! LOL For this sketch I decided to use the Season's Sweetings and Home Sweet Home sets from Taylored Expressions, along with the delicious Christmas Key Ingredients. The rhinestone snowflake can also be found at Taylored Expressions. Don't you just love these little cuppies? I think they're adorable.



Be sure to stop and see what Beate, Cambria, Jenn,Lori, MaryJo and Sharon have come up with for this fabulous sketch. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend! SUPPLIES USED: Stamps- Season's Sweetings, Home Sweet Home (Taylored Expressions); Paper- Christmas Key Ingredients (Taylored Expressions), cream; Ink- Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko), Bashful Blue (SU); Accessories- Copic markers, Snowflake Crystal (Zva Creative), Threading Water punch (Fiskars), Coluzzle; Finished card measures 4.25"x5.5"

Snow Wonderful and Snowflake Splendor

Have you been checking out the Verve blog for sneak peeks of the upcoming release? Today you can see sneak peeks of the two snow sets, Snow Wonderful and Snowflake Splendor. I used Snowflake Splendor for my candle wrap and card here. I LOVE the mix of dainty snowflakes and elegant sentiments in this set. I'm not sure if you can see in the picture, but I layered the big snowflake on the card. I stamped the next smallest snowflake in Soft Sky over the big snowflake. I LOVE that you can easily layer the snowflakes to get a "fuller" snowflake.

There's a Holiday Release Sketch Blitz going on in the Verve Forum at SCS. If you LOVE sketches, then you'll love this challenge! Check out this post for all of the details and prize description! Finally, don't forget about the actual release on Sunday night, November 9th at 8pm EST. We hope to see you there! SUPPLIES USED: Stamps- Snowflake Splendor (Verve Stamps); Paper- Night Shimmer cardstock (PTI), white (Georgia-Pacific), Soft Sky (SU); Ink- Whisper White Craft, Night of Navy, Soft Sky, Pacific Point (SU); Accessories- gemstones, large oval punch (SU), paper piercer, white organdy ribbon (Darice); Finished card measures 5.5"x4.25"

Gift Tag

One of the challenges the other night at the Prettie Pajama Party was to make a gift tag. I thought this would make an adorable little tag for a baby gift. The little baby Jesus is from the Nativity set from Paper Pretties. If you haven't seen all of the new release sets at Paper Pretties, go check them out! They are adorable! I used my Koh-I-Noor colored pencils from the cruise to color this in. I lined the image with gold glitter glue and added some gold ribbon. . .pretty simple. Thanks for stopping by today and have a great day! SUPPLIES USED: Stamps- Nativity (Paper Pretties); Paper- Pure Poppy (PTI), gold (unknown); Accessories- Koh-i-nor colored pencils, large oval punch (SU), gold glitter glue, gold ribbon (PTI);

Prettie Wednesday

Two weeks ago, Jackie Pedro challenged us to score! I always LOVE the look of scoring, but it's not something I always think about doing on my cards. I decided to create a diamond pattern on the cardstock. After I did that, I sprayed the piece with Gold Shimmer and then added gold glitter glue in the center of the diamonds. This card is on its way to Julie. (Sorry, Julie, I went a little overboard with the gold glitter glue. . .I guess I was just in that kind of mood! LOL Make sure you put on your sunglasses before you open the card!) I couldn't resist all of the gold with Angel Wings Sophia.

Today is my turn to issue a challenge to the Prettie Girls. My challenge is to make an interactive card. . .something on the card has to move. It can be a whole image, a piece of an image. . . just as long as something moves! Have fun!

On another note, the sneak peeks have started on the Verve blog! If you're interested in seeing what new sets are being released this Sunday, hop on over and check out the Verve blog! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! SUPPLIES USED: Stamps- Angel Wings Sophia (Paper Pretties); Paper- white (Georgia-Pacific), gold (DCWV); Ink- Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko); Accessories- Copic markers, gold glitter glue, white organdy ribbon (Darice), Scor-Pal; Finished card measures 5.5"x4.25"

Be Inspired #30

What a fun inspiration piece from Beate this week! (the bag is from Belle Bags as shown on http://www.shysiren.com/) I thought I had patterned paper that would work, but I couldn't find it, so I had to punch circles of different sizes out of different colored cardstocks. I used the Margaritas clear stamp set from Impression Obsession. You can find this set at Stamper's Dream. After I placed all of the punched circles, I stamped the sentiment on the Pacific Point cardstock. Kind of wild and funky, huh? :)



Make sure you visit Beate, Danielle Lounds, Dawn McVey, Jennifer Buck, Silke Ledlow and Susan Roberts to see what fabulous things they've created! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day! SUPPLIES USED: Stamps- Margaritas (Impression Obsession); Paper- Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Basic Black (SU); Ink- Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko); Accessories- Copic markers, Celery wide grosgrain (SU), Stardust Stickles, Mega Circle punch (Marvy Uchida), 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punches (SU); Finished card measures 5.5"x4.25"

Holiday Blitz Tutorial

Want to make beautiful ornaments for your Christmas tree this year? Check out the tutorial I wrote for these Poinsettia Ornaments. I saw flowers made this way somewhere (can't remember where), so when Beate asked me to write a tutorial for the Holiday Blitz this year (thanks, Beate!) I thought using the flower idea and making poinsettias would be perfect. They really look beautiful with lights shining from behind. . .so imagine how they'd look on your lighted Christmas tree! Follow the link to check out the tutorial! Thanks for stopping by!

Stamp and Cruise

I finally was able to sort through my pictures and resize them to post here so you can all see what I did for the week I was gone! I had such a wonderful time on the cruise. I was REALLY homesick for my kids, but still had a fabulous time meeting all of these wonderful people, stamping my heart out and visiting some new exotic places!

This first picture was one of the many ice and fruit sculptures we saw all week. This was set up as we walked into the Windjammer Cafe for our lunch right after boarding the cruise ship.

The next picture is of Alma, Gina, Kim and myself. They were so kind to invite me out for a drink one night. I had a great time and really enjoyed getting to know them.

One of the very first things we had to do once on the cruise ship was have our lifejacket drill! Here's a picture of Julie and Amber. It was pretty funny seeing a room full of people in life jackets!

It was such a pleasure to meet Char and Wendy on the cruise! The group of friends they were with were a lot of fun and had us laughing most of the time!

This is our dinner crew. We had such a blast with Kris and Luann every night. Getting to hear the exciting excursions they took daily and their experiences in their stamping classes. Our waiter, Vivek, was such a joy. He was absolutely adorable in every way and made our dinners so enjoyable.

We had a lot of fun with Tolga too! He was our head waiter. I think he received a lot of cards that we stamped during the week. Kim made him a "special" card that made all of the rest of us laugh!

Meeting Em for the first time was a real treat. She is such a superstar and I just loved getting to know her!

Gina was a lot of fun too! She had SO MUCH energy and just never stopped. You would never know that she barely slept! LOL She is such a warm person and I really enjoyed getting to spend time with her.

Nichole was such a sweetheart. She is every bit the sweet, beautiful person she portrays on her blog. It was a real thrill to finally meet her.

Nicky is an absolute baby doll! She is so sweet and so very talented. I really enjoyed spending time with Nicky and getting to know her. It's just impossible not to give her a hug every time you see her!

I had such a great time meeting Amber. She is a friend of Julie's who says she isn't a stamper (she fooled us) LOL. I knew Julie through blogging and Paper Pretties and had talked to her a few times before going on the cruise. So, when she said she was bringing a friend with her, I was a little nervous. Being in close quarters for 7 days with someone you've never met can be scary. We had THE BEST time. I felt like I had known Amber and Julie all my life. They made the cruise (and my missing my babies) the best time EVER. I wish they didn't live so far away from me! I miss you guys!

The three of us didn't know what to do being able to dress up each night and not have kids pulling on us and getting their sticky fingers all over our outfits! LOL And for me, wearing something that didn't have to be breastfeeding friendly was a real treat!

Here's a picture of Julie and I in front of the boat in Jamaica. The weather was absolutely beautiful!

Here's a picture of the theater from the next deck up. We went to see the shows, which were great, but they really made me miss my days of performing. . .especially on the cruise ship.

Here's a picture of Wendy, Rhonda and Brenda on our last night of the cruise. They were so much fun and such a riot! It was great meeting you girls!

I almost forgot about this picture of my roomies and I on the beach in Labadee, Haiti. What a beautiful beach and a spectacular view of the ship in the background.

Last, but not least, here's a picture of my sweet daughters. I brought them each back a shirt from Haiti and they just HAD to put them on right then. I had to snap a picture because they were so excited to put them on. My homecoming wasn't the homecoming I expected, unfortunately. I missed my kids SO MUCH. When they picked me up at the airport, I opened the van door to Arwen passed out sleeping and Isaac really irritable. He didn't want to look at me, and that absolutely broke my heart. My husband said he had been irritable all day, but I really think he was mad at me for leaving him for a week. I tried to wean him before I left, but it didn't go too well, so he was forced to drink from sippy cups all week while I was gone. Savannah was so sweet and was standing in the van holding the book she had made for me while I was gone. She flipped through each page to show me the pictures she had drawn and colored of me on the boat! I just started to cry! It was so absolutely sweet. When Arwen woke up, she was VERY excited to see me too! She couldn't stop hugging me and wanted to be by my side always. It took Isaac 2 days to "forgive" me. He's back to normal now, but it still breaks my heart to think about his first reaction when he saw me. My sweet little man.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my pictures! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're having a great day!

Halloween Treats

Here are the quick and simple treats Savannah took with her to school on Friday. I used the Spooky Silhouettes set from GinaK Designs which made it VERY quick because there was no coloring involved! I got this set when it first came out because I just LOVED it. Not only are the images perfect for Halloween, but you don't have to color them which makes mass production a breeze! I cut all the paper for the bag toppers. While Savannah folded all the yellow pieces, I stamped all of the images. We filled the bags together. . .all thirty goody bags were finished in 2 hours! Even I couldn't believe how quickly things went. :) Hope you all had a spooktacular Halloween! Thanks for stopping by! SUPPLIES USED: Stamps- Spooky Silhouettes (GinaK Designs); Paper- DCWV, white (Georgia-Pacific); Ink- Onyx Black (Versafine), Summer Sunrise (PTI); Accessories- candy bags (Darice)

Another Prettie Peek

Here's a simple Prettie peek of what's being released tonight at Paper Pretties! This card is super simple and very easy to reproduce. I used Pure Poppy cardstock and sprayed it with Gold Glimmer Mist. Doesn't it give the cardstock such a regal sheen? Then I punched the sentiment out with the Giga Oval Scallop punch and ran gold glitter glue along the edges of the scallops. The finishing touch was this gold cording that my sweet friend Julie sent to me for my birthday this summer. Thanks, Julie! I knew I'd find the perfect use for this! :)

Remember, the Prettie Pajama Party starts tonight at 8pm EST. We hope to see you there! Also, today starts the HUGE SALE at Paper Pretties! Everything (except for Paper Pretties stamps) is 75% off! You won't want to miss it! Thanks for stopping by today and I hope to see you later! SUPPLIES USED: Stamps- Nativity (Paper Pretties); Paper- Pure Poppy (PTI), white (Georgia-Pacific); Accessories- Gold Glimmer Mist, Gold cording (Crate Paper), gold glitter glue; Finished card measures 4.25" square