Sweet Somethings

Cards for Cancer

2009-03-10T09:01:00.006-05:00

Hey everyone! I hope you all are having a nice day so far! It's a nice temperature here, but rainy (bleh!). I don't know if I have ever wanted Spring to come more than this year. I have a serious itch to get my garden started and move some more of our chickies outside. I'm also ready to get a stinkin' tan! I am so Casper right now it's not even funny. Okay, so here is where the weather complaining stops. I'm just glad there's no snow!

So, today's card has a special significance because next Thursday I will be visiting the Foster J Boyd Cancer Center here in Ohio to do a card making class. The staff (including my sweet sweet sister!) at the Center have a wonderful relationship with their patients and want to make every little thing extra special and personal. So, my sister talked to me about the idea of the staff making their cards personally. I jumped at the chance to help out and am now coming up with ideas for several cards that they can put together and assemble next week, along with ideas for future cards to make when I'm not around. Now I know most of you out there have a ginormous card making stash and have trouble choosing what stamp set, paper, ink, embellies, and whatnot to use. I was given $100 and asked if I could get the basics. Huh!? My idea of 'the basics' are so twisted that to me, a 'basic' need is my Sizzix, embossing folders, my Nestabilities dies, and my pricey Copic markers! So, I had to get back to real basics. Paper, ink, brads, adhesive, some stamps, ribbon, and a few other 'fancy' things. It was tough, but I did it!

Now onto my first and super simple Thinking of You card.

Stamps: Inkadinkado Paper: kraft, white, My Minds Eye Ink: Colorbox Chestnut Roan Other: corner rounder, Nestabilities Labels 1 dies, Fiskars scallop edge punch, pop dots

I have to come up with several more that they can just cut and put together for mass making. I'm going to be pulling out some of my Stampin' Up sets that haven't seen the light of day for years! It should be fun!

I just had to share a pic of the new addition to our family! Her name is Katie and we got her last week from friends of ours. She is just the sweetest goat! She loves playing outside with the kids but when she is in the barn seems kind of lonely. That of course means we'll probably be getting a buddy for her! Heaven help me!

Oh, and I took the kids to the circus last night! They had a blast! It was Clinton's first time so he was completely amazed! I think we'll make this an annual trip!

Well, hope all of you have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping in!

2sketches4you

2009-03-09T08:14:00.004-05:00

Morning all! Today on 2sketches4you Starving Artistamps is sponsoring, so if you try your hand at the sketch (which is super cute!) then you have a chance to win the new Doodle Factory Easter set!

Here is my take on the sketch. I have been wanting to use this knight for such a long time! I thought he fit perfectly for the sketch.

Stamps: Sir Silimus (DF Fairytale) Paper: kraft, Mellow Moss, white Ink: Palette Hybrid black Other: Copic markers, Cuttlebug embossing folder, pop dots

Make sure you get over to the SA blog so you can check out all of the other designers cards! Just a reminder, if you'd like to save 10% on your SA order just use the code savetenhk . Have a fantastic day!

Sweet and Simple

2009-03-02T09:30:00.004-06:00

Good morning all! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Mine was packed full of fun stuff for my sweet Ava who's birthday was yesterday. I did dit down and make this 5 minute card for her. I just got my new Nestabilities dies in the mail on Saturday so I had to use them immediately! Then I ran that piece through the swiss dots embossing folder and slapped it on with pop dots. The glitter heart is from the clearance Valentine's section and Walmart along with the 'just for you' sticker. She loved it!

Stamps: none! Paper: DCWV pink, Marcella paper stack (Target) Ink: none! Other: Nestabilities dies, Cuttlebug emossing folder, button, K&Co sticker, glitter heart

An here is my pretty birthday girl! She turned 5 yesterday. This was the dress she picked out the day before while shopping with mamaw, so of course she waned to wear it to church the next morning! We went out to eat afterward and then she got to open her presents when daddy got home from work (7:30pm). It almost killed her! She did get a pink DS along with a few games and a DS case. She said it was better than the best present ever. I guess we did good. :0)

Hope everyone has a delightful day!

Hair Clip Tutorial

2009-02-25T09:55:00.008-06:00

Good day! I hope all of you are having a great week so far! Mine has been busy and is going to be that way at least for another 5 days! Ava's birthday is on Sunday and hubby and I kept asking her what she wanted. The only thing she could come up with was a horse...a real horse. LOL

"Mom, we had pigs, why can't we have a horse?"

Leave it to a 4 year old (almost 5) to rationalize getting a large animal! Anyway, I ended up deciding to get her a pink DS. When Jolee got her red DS last year she passed her pink Gameboy Advance on to Ava. She was thrilled! She plays it regularly but since there is no light in it she strains to see what she is playing. We decided that it was time to move her up in the gaming world. She is going to flip out! I'm so excited to give it to her!

Now moving on to the hair clip/bow/barrette tutorial. I'm sure there are many acceptable ways to make these clips but this is the way I choose to make mine. This would be a great idea to do if you are giving an outfit or dress as a gift and made matching bows to go with it.

I am a very visual learner so I took photos of every step.

28 Gauge wire (30 or 26 gauge would work too) and a 2" barrette

Choose the ribbon you want and cut about 6" of wire off

Open the barrette

Remove the piece from the middle

Fold your ribbon under

Take the other end and fold it under as well

Place your ribbon on top of the clip and make sure it is the length you want it

Cut your ribbon

Place it on top of your clip

Wrap the wire around the ribbon and the clip

This is what it will look like

Next do the same steps with a smaller piece of ribbon

Place the ribbon on top

Wrap the wire around to attach both pieces together

Wrap the wire around for the last time and twist it a few times to hold tight

Snip off the ends of the wire and place the piece you removed back into the clip

Glue whatever piece you want in the center (I chose a button this time)

Ta dah! Your finished piece

Hubby is going to pick up his bike from the shop today (it's been there for months because of winter). I cannot wait to go riding this spring! Anyway, I need to go clean out a spot in the garage to put his bike. Hope my tutorial was good enough for you all!

If you decide to make any of these I'd love you to put your links here in the comment box!

Have a great day!!

A little birdie told me...

2009-02-20T09:22:00.004-06:00

I just have to say that I am soooo ready for spring! Come on, come on already! I am ready to till and plant and see beautiful flowers! Anyone with me?!

I wanted to do a simple card last night that required no coloring (I wasn't in the mood) and this is what I came up with. I love the kraft color paper! It will go with any color and it just looks nice. I stamped off the star before I stamped it onto the kraft.

Stamps: Twee from DF Country, Star from Santa's Sweet Shoppe, Bird Words Paper: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, kraft Ink: Colorbox Chestnut Roan Other: Fiskars border punch, ribbon, pop dots

I really need to get another natural light light bulb. My other one broke and I haven't been able to bring myself to pay for another one. I need to get my behind in gear though.

Well, I am going to go make a few calls and see if I can't take my van in to get the brakes fixed. Joe got the parts like 6 months ago but they are still sitting in the garage so now I am going to pay someone to do it. Men sometimes.

Hope all of you have an exceptional day!

I Spy...

2009-02-19T10:06:00.004-06:00

What's up peeps?! Hope everyone has had an enjoyable week so far! Things have been pretty mellow around here so that's always good!

Today I don't have any stamping but I wanted to share something the kids and I made last night. I know a lot of you that read my blog have youngins', as my brother in law from Mississippi would say, so I think they would really like this. I have seen the idea for it several times but just never got around to trying it. Here is what you need:

An empty jar (I washed out the one we finished up a few days ago):

Rice or sand or anything smaller grained:

Things to 'spy':

This is the smallest piece in the jar. It's a blue sprinkle in my son's hand.

Put them all together and you get this:

It's nice because you can give it a good shake and things end up in a different spot and you can start all over again.

The kids had loads of fun finding things to put in the jar. You could make it more educational and find things that are a certain color, that start with a certain letter, or that even have a long vowel sound in them. You could make it really fun.

I just wanted to let you guys know that I decided to start a family/homeschool blog as well. That way I could keep all of the kid stuff to that one and the craft stuff to this one. If you'd like to check it out here is the link. I made my first post today.

Well, I shall return tomorrow with some Doodle Factory magic! See you then!

{Happy Heart Day}

2009-02-14T09:07:00.005-06:00

Okay, well Happy Heart Day late! I hope everyone had a special {sweet} day! I went and visited my husband's grandparents yesterday and had all intentions of posting this before I left but it just didn't happen. I had to take care of our animals (minus our 3 piggies because we took them to the butcher last week, YAY!) and then you all know how time just gets away from ya! Anyhoo, I made this adorable little Valentine's for my kiddos! I just used the Necco Sweethearts candies and covered them with paper. I also used my new Fiskars edge punch that I bought last week {shh, don't tell hubby!} I love that thing!

Before:

As always, I used my fave stamps...Doodle Factory for my creations. This first one was for Jolee, my oldest...

Stamps: Coco from Santa's Sweet Shoppe Paper: DCWV pink, black CS, white CS Ink: Palette Hybrid black Other: Copic markers, Nestabilities, Fiskars border punch, ribbon, pop dots

This one was for my little man...

Stamps: DF Urban Paper: DCWV red, white CS, black CS Ink: Palette Hybrid black Other: Copic markers, Fiskars border punch, K&Co heart stickers, Cuttlebug folder, pop dots

And lastly, a sweet ladybug for my sweet princess Ava...

Stamps: Gus from DF Animals Paper: DCWV red, white CS, black CS Ink: Palette Hybrid black Other: Copic markers, Nestabilities, Fiskars border punch, ribbon, black brad, rhinestones, pop dots

So, I hope you like them! I ran to Target today after church because I needed to stock back up on my Ghiradelli and Lindt chocolates! I can never bring myself to pay full price for those things but thankfully Target comes to my rescue when they put everything Valentine on sale the day after. I got a huge (okay, 2) bag of Ghiradelli's for $3.49. I also thought that it would encourage me to try some of those cute candy things everyone keeps making.

Oh, and just to amuse some of you out there, I am teaching myself to crochet. I finally decided I had to learn because I want to make my own cute little rosettes and flowers {eventually}. Wish me luck!

Have a wonderful Sunday evening!

P.S. Hubby and I watched Fireproof staring Kirk Cameron (Growing Pains, Left Behind series) last night and I wanted to recommend it to everyone. It was awesome and a real eye opener for anyone in a relationship. I cried, hubby cried, it was really nice.

My creepy Valentine

2009-02-11T10:35:00.004-06:00

Hey! Hey! Hey! I really wanted to get a post in this morning but the card that creeped into my head last night didn't get worked on until this morning. Don't ask me where it came from but I'm going to say that Tracey's personality has rubbed off on me a little too much perhaps! LOL! So, without further ado, here is my creepy Valentine's card!

Stamps: (All stamps Starving Artistamps) Doodle Factory Graveyard Shift, All about Love, various sentiments cut apart for letters Paper: black CS, white CS, Cosmo Cricket Ink: Palette Hybrid black Other: Staples, Cuttlebug embossing folder strip, Word Window punch, pop dots

I wanted to keep the card pretty simple so I just stamped Fredo in black in and mounted him on a scrap piece of Cosmo Cricket paper. I then used staples to 'creep' it up a bit! I would have loved to have used my edge distresser but couldn't find it anywhere. I then stamped out the 'I love you' with my word window punch and searched my gigantic pile of sentiments to look for the loose letters to spell 'to death' One I found them I cut them out and arranged them on the card. Before that though I took my Cuttlebug 'stitches' embossing folder and just pressed it together with my fingers, adding a little bit more 'creep'. Then I threw the card together and viola!

I also wanted to share this picture of my poor kiddos. This is where they have been the past 2 1/2 days because they have been sick. I have either been right there with them or on the couch beside. I'm.....so.....tired..... I guess I'll just have to catch up on sleep when I'm 60. No time for it now!

They are feeling better this morning though and Jolee has a 'Mad Scientist' class at our Community Center tonight. She is looking forward to it!

I'll see you all later! Have a happy day!

Blog Hop New Doodle Factory Releases!

2009-02-07T09:30:00.000-06:00

Good morning you pretty people you! I know you all are just dying to see some new Doodle Factory!!! Can I get a woop woop! First off I am going to share my super cool cards with y'all and then I am going to send you to the next awesome person on the list! If you started with me then be sure to go back to the beginning of he list and check out everyone's fantastic work! You are so gonna want these stamps! Seriously!

Stamps: Set the Scene Rooftops (Starving Artistamps), Quirky Sentiments (SA) Paper: Cosmo Cricket, white CS, black CS Ink: Palette Hybrid black Other: Copic markers, Nestabilities, SU slit punch, hole punch, ribbon, button, pop dots

Stamps: Set the Scene Pidgeons (SA), All About Love (SA) Paper: PaperTrey white Ink: Palette Hybrid black, Colorbox Rouge Other: Cuttlebug folder, Nestabilities, Copic markers, ribbon, pop dots

Stamps: Set the Scene Countryside (SA), Bird Words (SA) Paper: Cool Caribbean (SU), black CS, white CS Ink: Palette Hybrid black Other: Prismacolors, odorless mineral spirits, Copic markers, Word Window punch (SU), pop dots

The direct link to these new 'Set the Scene' stamps are here{1 and 2} and here{3 and 4}. Now go hop and shop!

Check out Leigh's blog for the next stop in our blog hop. Make sure you visit all the other blogs because one of us has some great blog candy to give away!

Here is the complete list in case you just started hopping from here:

Juliana Swanson http://stampinwinkyfingers.blogspot.com/

Lisa Somerville http://www.lisasomerville.com/

Donna Baker http://stampamaniac.blogspot.com/

Donna Duquette http://www.deesstudio.blogspot.com/

Kathy Daume' http://www.kathy-prettyinink.blogspot.com/

Lori Tecler http://www.inkingaloud.blogspot.com/

Lydia Fiedler http://www.understandblue.blogspot.com/

Andrea Cloutier http://andreasscraps.com/

Natasha Trupp http://palmtreesandpogosticks.blogspot.com/

Heidi Kingery http://www.sweetheidijo.blogspot.com/

Leigh O'Brien http://sunflowerstudio.typepad.com/sunflower_studio/

Irene Silva http://doodlefactory.blogspot.com/

www.starvingartistamps.com

Have fun and don't forget...if you would like to put an order in with Tracey then get 10% off with the code savetenHK

Have a fantastic day!!!

Princess hair clip!

2009-02-04T08:11:00.004-06:00

Good morning all! I hope the beginning of your week as been good so far! I'm still truckin' along! I had a long list of things to do yesterday and the kids begged me to 'skip school'. The funny thing about that is, when you homeschool, it's okay to skip! I told them we'd be having Sunday school then, but they were just fine with that! We ended up playing tic tac toe and Chinese checkers for a while. Joe had his First Responder class last night. He'll be having class 2 days a week for the next 5 weeks. I'm happy because once he's finished he will know exactly what to do in any emergency until paramedics get there. There's a nice comfort in knowing that.

Moving on to cute things! I have made hair bows for my girls before and it's so easy to do and you can make them to match a specific outfit. Well, I really wanted to try one adding a shrinky dink to them. For this one of course I pulled out one from my Doodle Factory stash {gotta love 'em}! The princess was my first choice since it was for a little girls hair bow. I sanded down the plastic and colored her with my Prismacolors. Then I shrunk her down and attached her to the hair bow I had just made up. I used E6000 to attach her instead of my hot glue gun because a. I have no idea where my glue gun is and b. I know the E6000 is gonna keep it there!

Stamps: Doodle Factory Fairytale Ink: Stazon jet black Other: shrink plastic white, 1/2 inch ribbon, barrette, wire

If anyone would like to know the details on how to make the hair bow then just leave a comment and I can make up a tutorial.

Make sure you stop by the Starving Artistamps company blog on Saturday! Starting at 11:00am we are dong a blog hop to show the new releases coming for Doodle Factory! You're gonna love them!!!!

Have a great sun-shiny day!

Out of Hybernation!

2009-02-01T07:22:00.008-06:00

Hellllllllllllooooooooooooooooooo! Oh how I missed you guys (if there are any of you left that is, lol)! Every once in a while life has a way of telling you to slow down and focus on the things that are really important in life. That is what has been keeping me from hanging out with you for the 5 or so months. Now though I am back and better than ever! Well, maybe that's an exaggeration. I am back though!

I stamped for the first time in that 5 months on Friday {yes, you can feel sorry for me} and it felt soooo good! I stamped yesterday too and will be stamping today as well after I get home from church!

One of the cards I made yesterday was for my hubby who is turning 29 today {Happy Birthday Honey} and I wanted to make him something funny. Simple cards are always best for him because even though he appreciates my craftyness, a 5 minute card is not much different than a 50 minute card, ergo, he gets the 5 minute one! I'm pretty positive that was just a run on sentence. Anyway, here is my quick no layer card for my humorous hubby...

inside...

I had to handwrite the jackass part, lol. Mabe I should suggest it to Tracey to add to the next sentiment set! LOL

I really ended up liking the sky that I was just trying to fill in as a quick fix. I just took my blue Copic marker and made several lines across the paper letting it dry a minute or two and then added some more, and even more still. I like the streaky look of it. It would be great for water too.

Stamps: Doodle Factory Fairytale, DF Fairytale Sentiments Paper: white CS Ink: Palette Hybrid black Other: Copic markers, black pen

This was the first of my latest Starving Artistamps cards. Can you tell I was thinking of cupcakes? Well, day dreaming actually. {grin} The 'dreaming of' piece is popped up and I paper pieced the cupcake. Those adorable little hearts went perfectly as sprinkles. I picked them up at Wal-mart last week. I think I might go buy like 5 more packs because they are too cute!

Stamps: Simple Birthday (large) Starving Artistamps Paper: Cosmo Cricket Honey Pie, DCWV dark brown Ink: Palette Hybrid black Other: Sakura white gel pen, K&Co heart stickers

I have a super cute project to show you tomorrow! Hope to see you then! Thanks for stopping!

The wait is over...we have a winner!

2008-08-07T07:48:00.002-05:00

I know most of you want to strangle me since I haven't gotten back in a timely manner and I don't blame you. So, I will let the suspense cease! The winner of the 3 sentiment sets from Starving Artistamps is...........

Lucky # 21!!

Dawn Mercedes!!!

Congrats Dawn! Shoot me an email and I will get your addy to Tracey over at SA to send your goodies out!

Thanks everyone for playing along!!

I hope you missed me, cause I have candy!

2008-07-23T08:11:00.007-05:00

Well hello everyone! Long time no see! First off, I just want to say how much I missed all of you and missed posting this past month or so. However, my family needed it, and I think I did too.

Joe took some vacation time and ended up working it to get 18 days straight off. The first week we did yard work and re-did our chicken pen. The rest of the time we went to his mom and dad's camper at a lake about n hour away. We all fished and swam and ate out. It was nice. However, I was ready to come home.

Once we came home it was time for Joe to go back to work (for 3 days), and he did. Then he decided he wanted to take the rest of his vacation he had left and we ended up turning around and going back to the camper again. We fished, swam, and tried not to eat out. It was nice. We got home the day before yesterday and I am so glad to be back. The only internet we could get was on our phones and that tiny screen just doesn't fill in for the real thing!

So, in celebration of me being back to 'real life' I am offering up some yummy blog candy!!!

3 Sets of Starving Artistamps Sentiments!!

If you win, you will get the Boopie, Tropics #2, and Faith sentiment sets.

All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me why you love Doodle Factory! That's not so hard, huh? I will draw a random name on Monday morning (the 28th) and announce the winner.

Now I will leave you with some samples I made using the Tropics #2 sentiment set and the Tropics image set.

STAMPS- Happy Birthday (Tropics #2), Moki (Tropics) - Starving Artistamps
PAPER- Basic Grey Cupcake
INK- Brilliance black
OTHER- Copic markers, Marvy scallop punch, zig zag scissors, push pin, pop dots

STAMPS- Buck-eye Bob, Treasure Chest (Tropics), Best Booty (Tropics #2 sentiments) - Starving Artistamps
PAPER- Basic Grey Cupcake
INK- Brilliance Black
OTHER- Copic markers, Spica glitter pen, zig zag scissors, ribbon, pop dots

A close up of the shining treasure!

Well, hope you all have had a great summer so far! Have a great rest of the day!!! Thanks for stopping by!

Last Tea Party

2008-06-18T11:45:00.004-05:00

Hey all! Today will be the last smARTworks Tea Party for the summer. It seems like everything is harder to keep up with when you just wanna be outside or are going on vacation. So, for our last party Trish told us to make a card using brown, white, and one other color. Oh yeah, and some sparkle too! I decided to add in pink. Here is my finished product...

STAMPS- WD-36, Daisy Trio #1 (smARTworks)
PAPER- Basic Grey
INK- Versamagic Wheat, Colorbox Dark Brown
OTHER- ribbon, sparkle brad, edge distresser, pop dot

Make sure you stop by and get your fill of the last round of everyone else's cards!
In the Works.....smARTworks
Mama Dini's Stamperia
Tah Dah!

I'll be back tomorrow with hopefully some new Doodle Factory stuff! I am on DF overload {in a good way of course} lately so that's probably all you will be seeing from me as far as Starving Artistamps is concerned. Tracey and I just finished up sentiments for the new Tropics set so she will probably be putting those in the store shortly. Keep your eye out for them! Hope you guys have a great day!!

You MUST check this out!

2008-06-13T05:00:00.000-05:00

I want to say that I am so giddy right now! Tracey from Starving Artistamps just uploaded several new sets of sentiments onto the website.......and I helped create some!! Those of us on the Design Team kept asking for more sentiments so when she offered for us to make our own up I jumped at the chance! I racked my brain for about a month thinking of all of the phrases and words I'd like to be able to use and ended up spending about 6-8 hours on the phone with Tracey going over everything and choosing the fonts and editing the sheets. It was a long process but she is wonderful to work with (and for) and she has made me soooo happy!

I brainstormed all of the following sets and some words or phrases scattered about too!
Faith Sentiments
Urban Set #2
Most of Trick or Treat
Some of Holiday Greetings
Most of Casual Holiday Greetings
All About Easter
St. Patty's
4th of July
Some of All About Love
Most of Fairytale
Most of Country
Some of Bird Words
A couple of the Fresh and Funky Farm
Quirky {my fave set because it works perfectly with the Doodle Factory Creatures!}

Please just go take a peek if just to thrill me for a minute! If you decide you like anything then don't forget that you can use my code: heidis to get 10% off your whole order!!

Now, to share a few more of my Doodle Factory cards! This first one is one I made with the Fairytale set. I stamped the carriage and then masked it so I could have Princess Winifred riding along with her horse Favius. I brayered the BG with blue and purple to give it a sunset look. I also used my Copic Spica glitter marker on Favius' saddle and the accents on the carriage. I wanted to make it a 'thinking of you' card but didn't want to put a big sentiment across the top so I just cut out a thought bubble and had her thinking of 'you'!

STAMPS- Favius, Princess Winifred, Carriage (DF Fairytale), tufts of grass (DF Country) (Starving Artistamps)
PAPER- glossy white, Mellow Moss, Paper Trey white
INK- Versamark, Brilliance black
OTHER- Copic markers, Spica glitter marker, pop dots

STAMPS- Doodle Factory Winter (Starving Artistamps)
PAPER- blue, white
INK- Brilliance black, Night of Navy, Versamagic Cloud White
OTHER- Copic markers, ribbon, pop dots

Thanks for stopping by today! I will be running off hopefully today and finding a nice old dresser at a yard sale for the girls. I want an old one because they are usually made of REAL WOOD and not cheap sawdust. Wish me luck!! Have a great day and don't dwell on it being Friday the 13th!

P.S. My article on storage ran on Craft Critique ran a few days ago. Check it out and maybe it will help you solve a few ribbon or embellishment dilemmas!

P.P.S. THE NEW DOODLE FACTORY SET WAS JUST REVEALED ON THE SA BLOG! GO LOOK!!!!!!!

Super Samples!

2008-06-12T12:24:00.004-05:00

Hello! Hello! Hello!!!!! I hope everyone is having a good summer so far! Anyone ready to send their kids back to school yet? {giggle} We have been soaking up the sun and taking care of business around here. We (and by we I mean me, lol) got our pool set up and the kids have been swimming in it just about every day since. It's just one of those vinyl ones that is about 4 ft tall and 16 ft across. It suits our needs! Anyway, I have also been purging lots of the stuff in our house. I just broke down our dining room table and reclining chair the day before yesterday and it's sitting in the back of Joe's truck ready to take in to the incinerator. Before that I took in one of our desks, our old grill, our old trash can, and Franklin's (may he rest in peace) cage. I also send a big load of yard sale stuff with my sister this past weekend when she came up with my mom. I told her just to keep the money made from it because all of it would be going to the Salvation Army anyway and she could really use it being a single mom of 3! We went to the Strawberry festival this past Saturday and we had a nice time. There weren't too many people there (normally you can't even squeeze through the crowds!) because we went immediately after we got a big storm. It was a little muddy but I'd way prefer having dirty feet then huge crowds!

On another note, I got my hair done last week and am now a semi-blonde instead of redhead. I like changing my hair every year or so because I get bored with it. It's still long but I'll probably chop it all off in the fall. Who knows! I am getting really tan too from working outside a lot with the garden and chickens. I mowed the grass today so that should help out too.

Okay, I think I've bored you enough with my silly details! Family does read this so I try to keep them a little up to date with the family stuff!

The following cards are all Queen Kat Designs! This past month I got to work with the Harlequin stamp set. Love It! It's now available for purchase and you can find it here. I also love the new sets that have been released this month! Be sure to check them out! I really loved the samples I made this month! Here they are.....

STAMPS- Harlequin BG, Just Whalin' Around (QKD)
PAPER- Certainly Celery, black
INK- Brilliance black, Versamark
OTHER- Copic markers, Cosmo Cricket rub ons, white Souffle pen, Nestabilities, scalloped edge scissors

STAMPS- Harlequin BG (QKD)
PAPER- pink, Chocolate Chip, white
INK- Versamark
OTHER- Cosmo Cricket rub ons, ribbon, button, rhinestones (the fab Lindsay sent me the button and some of the ribbon in a RAK package! Thanks girl!)

STAMPS- Harlequin BG, Mini Circles set {retired} (QKD)
PAPER- Paper Trey white, Cosmo Cricket
INK- Versamagic Sage and Wheat, Cranberry Crisp
OTHER- Chipboard heart and arrow, Cosmo Cricket rub ons (the word was BELIEVE but I cut it apart to make the word LIVE)

I really love the ribbon flower but I love the 'Live' one too! I was really happy with these!

Here are the new 'Take 3 Club' sets! Aren't they adorable! I love the bikini, flip flops, and Hula girl! Remember you can get a 10% discount on your order by using the code HK10 at checkout!

Want some more good news? YOU could be the net Design Team member for Queen Kat Designs!!! Vicki is looking for 3 new members for the next DT session! For all of the details check it out here on the QKD blog! The deadline is June 15th so hurry and apply!!

Well, I'm off to hopefully put our new grill together that Joe got for Father's day! We have had it for almost a week now and it's still in the box. I'm hoping it's not too complicated and I can get it together without his help! Wish me luck! Have a fantastic day everyone!!!!!

A Little non-Wednesday Tea

2008-06-05T07:33:00.005-05:00

Alright so apparently I am on a roll of being late this week. I was all set to do my post for the smARTworks Tea Party yesterday but after the awful (and I mean awful) storms we had the night before last and yesterday morning, it left me without a dial tone on my phone which meant no internet too. So, even though I wanted to be here yesterday, I had to sit back and go an entire day without surfing anything! I'm surprised I'm alive today! {grin} Anyway, here I am!

It was my turn to do the challenge this time and I chose these colors for inspiration:

Here is my final take. The colors are a little bit brighter in my card but I think it's pretty cool.

STAMPS- Sunshine Sayings (smARTworks)
PAPER- Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, pink, white CS
INK- Colorbox Dark Brown
OTHER- buttons, flowers, Souffle white pen, push pin, Cuttlebug embossing folder, pop dots

Well, I'm off to finish painting the chicken coup! Hope you guys have a wonderful day!

A day late...anyone have a dollar?

2008-06-03T05:59:00.004-05:00

Can't be a day late and a dollar short if you don't have any dollars right? lol Maybe I have some change in my purse. Anyway, yesterday was the QKD challenge and I had my project done and I was all ready to go until Blogger was acting wonky and wouldn't even load. I had lots to do yesterday and didn't get done with everything till late last night. Painting a chicken coup is not as easy as I thought it might be. So, here I am right now with yesterday's challenge. We were challenged to make something that wasn't a card! I stamped the skull from Happy Skullz set 5 times onto white shrink plastic, cut them out, colored the heart eyes (each one is a different color), and used my heat gun to shrink. I attached them to one of her bracelets with jump rings. The whole thing only took me about 25 minutes to do. She loves it too!

STAMPS- Happy Skullz (Queen Kat Designs)
PAPER- white shrink plastic
INK- Stazon Jet Black
OTHER- heat gun, Sharpie markers

Be sure to check out what the other gals posted yesterday! Click the links!
Juliet
Lindsay
Tanis
Penny
Toni

Thanks for stopping today and I hope you have a great day!!

My body hurts...

2008-05-27T12:04:00.004-05:00

These past few weeks have been the most physically challenging ones I've had in a loooong time! But, they are almost over! Whew! My body hurts though and I have a serious sun burn from planting my watermelons, cantaloupe, and pumpkins. Everything is planted though so that is a relief. Now we just have to finish the chicken coup. Yes, we got chickens! Thirty 3 week old chicks and two 3 week old roosters. We are building a movable coup they won't make a big dirt pile where they will eat the grass. Every day or every other day we will be able to move it (it will be on wheels) so they can have fresh grass and we aren't left with any bare spots! It's like a big triangle and at the top will be there nests and roosts and at the bottom will be a fenced area that is directly on top of the grass. Once they get big enough to free range we will just let them out during the day and put them back in their coup at night to keep them away from predators. So far and quite surprisingly, the boys are my favorite. They actually let me pet them and hold them without freaking out. And before I tell you their names please take no offense as my kids helped name them. Little Bill and Pecker. I said Pecker to Joe jokingly and the kids loved it. It's so nice how kids can be so untainted by the world! Anyway, I will have a few pictures to share later this week, just haven't had time to edit them. We will have to thin our group down by about 20 by the time late fall gets here. Hopefully the kids get attached to the ones we are keeping!

Moving on to crafting now, I wanted to share a few more Doodle Factory cards I got done last week. Drumroll please....

I wanted to keep this one simple and obvious...

STAMPS- House from DF Country, Alphabet, Stitches (Starving Artistamps)
PAPER- Mellow Moss, white
INK- Brilliance Black
OTHER- Copic Markers

For this one I was channeling my inner layer-er. LOL

STAMPS- Drake from DF Fairytale, Miss You from SSS Thanks (Starving Artistamps)
PAPER- Basic Grey Archaic, white CS
INK- Tim Holtz Tea Stain distress ink, Brilliance black
OTHER- Nestabilities, Copic Markers, pop dots, sponge

I have some super cute QKD cards to share tomorrow! Be sure to stop back by to see them and get a glimpse at our chicks! Thanks for coming by today! Have a great day!

smARTworks is here for tea!

2008-05-21T11:35:00.002-05:00

Today is another day for our smARTworks Tea Party! The big boss herself Susan gave us a sketch to try today....

This is my take on it. I know I extended the circles a little farther than the sketch but that's the beauty of a 'guideline' right?

STAMPS- Sunny Smiles, Combo Sentiments (smARTworks)
PAPER- The Slab
INK- Brilliance black ink
OTHER- Copic markers, buttons, pop dots

Be sure to check out the other Smart Cookies throughout the day!
In the Works.....smARTworks
Mama Dini's Stamperia
Tah Dah!

Well, as much as I'd love to stay and chat, I have to finish planting our sugar snap peas, green beans, carrots, and onions!! Oh, and did I mention we are thinking of getting chickens???? I think I'm gonna lose my mind! {grin}

I think I'm still alive!

2008-05-19T08:16:00.010-05:00

Give me a second to check my pulse...... Yep, I'm still here. Not going into too great detail, I have been very busy with lots of different things lately. We have been starting a garden which means we had to dig it, till it, fertilize it, and today I have to plant everything. By the way, the tiller must hate me because my arms and hands are so sore! The kids and I have been doing more homeschool subjects too which has added to the lack of time during the day. We are getting rid of our extra couch, chair, end table, dining room table, chairs, and a few other stands so I have been trying to take those things apart and get them ready to go to the incinerator. All of the things we are getting rid of are older and not so sturdy anyway. The only thing we do at the dining room table is school anyway. And we are also building me a super cool desk that I designed! I am so excited about it! Hopefully it actually gets done and in a timely manner! It's got everything I need on it! Anyway, the girls started gymnastics too (which they love) so I'm stuck trying to get everything I need to do done on the day of their class since gas is so high!

So, other than a few things I left out, you can tell how busy I have been the last few weeks. However, I have gotten a lot of DT cards done in the process! Mother's Day cards too! I'm gonna share a card from each company today that I have been working on.....

STAMPS- Blip of Doodle Factory Urban, Lil' Squares BG (Starving Artistamps)
PAPER- black, white, gray, metallic adhesive back paper
INK- Brilliance black ink
OTHER- Copic markers, Nestabilities, ribbon, pop dots

STAMPS- Harlequin BG (Queen Kat Designs)-soon to be released
PAPER- Basic Grey Sultry
INK- Versamark
OTHER- buttons, chipboard

STAMPS- Daisy Trio #1, Proverbs 31:28 (smARTworks)
PAPER- MME, brown CS
INK- Versamagic Agean Blue, Colorbox Chestnut Roan
OTHER- Nestabilities, pop dots

STAMPS- Beautiful, French Quarter (Inque Botique)
PAPER- Cool Caribbean, Certainly Celery, black
INK- Palette Hybrid black, Versamark
OTHER- Marvy punches, edge distresser, sewing machine, ribbon, pop dots, Stickles

Thanks for stopping in today and I'll probably be back on Wednesday to share some more Doodle Factory goodies!

I scream for Ice Cream!

2008-05-09T07:50:00.003-05:00

Good morning all! I hope everyone is enjoying their Friday morning and looking forward to the weekend! I know I am! I will be visiting my momma and sisters tomorrow! My mom is making my favorite food......macaroni in a tomato/bacon/onion sauce. It's poor people food, but I grew up with it and I will eat it until I feel sick! I am sooooo looking forward to eating that tomorrow! Then on Sunday the kids and I are going to Ruby Tuesday's (I am in love with their garlic mashed potatoes!!!!!) and his mom is going to come and take them to their camper (more like a second home!) for the night so Joe and I can have an evening at home (he works 12 hours on the weekend) together. THEN! On Monday I am hoping to get in to the salon to get a facial and a hair trim. It will be a most wonderful Mother's Day weekend! Yahoo!

Now, moving on to the card. This is one of my favorite cards using the Queen Kat Designs 'Sweets' set (which is now available in the store). I wanted to keep it really simple with the kraft paper and the ice cream, although it is hard to see, is shimmer paper. I attached a button for the cherry and viola!

STAMPS- Sweets, Mrs. Piggie (Queen Kat Designs)
PAPER- kraft CS, shimmer
INK- Stazon Jet Black
OTHER- Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder, ribbon, button, pop dots

Because I am a big dope, I completely forgot to announce Queen Kat Designs Big News! Starting May 1st they are offering a stamp kit called "TAKE 3" Here are the details:

Each month we will have 3 large stamp sets exclusive to the club. If you don't subscribe to the club, you won't be able to get ALL of the images ever again! Sure, we MAY release 1-2 of them... But you won't EVER get these sets in their entirety ever again! Tanis, SJ and QK have been working hard to bring you the best sets possible and man, you don't want to miss out on this Take 3 club!!!! Here's the film strip for May's stamps..

There are bunch of cards in the gallery that use these stamps. Click here to go see. Retail value of the stamps will always be $27.00 or more.

Prices are as follows: (free shipping included)
1 month: $22
6 Months: $21/month
12 months: $20/month

You can add this club onto an existing club from Queen Kat Designs. Just check out in the store and let us know it's to be added to your kits club. You can send this as a gift to someone. A handmade card will be sent with the first month's subscription.

Get your subscription today!! Kits will ship on the 15th of each month.

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If I'm not back on here before Mother's Day (I hope to share some MD cards tonight that I plan on making today) then I hope all of you beautiful ladies have wonderful days/weekends! We have the best job in the world!!! God bless and thanks for stopping by!

Sunshine Filled Tea Party

2008-05-07T08:49:00.006-05:00

I am a little sore this morning. Yesterday was a non-stop day. We started at 9am and didn't stop till around 8pm. We had to do a lot of regular things (grocery and such) and then we had to get Jolee's hair cut (she looks so grown up!), I went to Big Lots hoping I could find some thick CD cases because my stamps are overflowing and I need some more to store them in. Nope! So now I guess I am going to have to order online which is what I was trying to avoid. Anyway, we had to pick up the rest of our veggie seeds and plants for our garden too. After that the girls had their first gymnastics class. They loved it and it was fun to watch them through the plexi-glass. After that was home and unload everything. Then the fun part came.....digging up more of our garden! Yee-haw! We bought a tiller a few days ago but you still need to work the ground a little to make the tiller easier to use. We did that will about 8:30 and then I had to put the groceries away. I was super tired by the end of the day! We are planting all kinds of stuff for our garden so I am really excited!! Corn, tomatoes, all kinds of peppers, cucumber, lettuce, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, watermelon, strawberries, pumpkins, and I'm sure I'm missing a few. Now we just get to play the waiting game!!

This morning is another smARTworks Tea Party! We all got our new batches of rubber so I think all of us were excited for this challenge. Well, another reason could be that Dina challenged us to make a card with NO ADHESIVE OR GLUE. It's so funny how there are so many little things you don't think of! When I was done with the card I almost glued on some baubles not even thinking! I caught myself though! Here is my card and I challenge all of you to make a no glue card too!

STAMPS- Sunny Smiles, Sunny Smile Sayings (smARTworks)
PAPER- MME, American Crafts
INK- Stazon Jet Black
OTHER- edge distresser, large brad, Word Window punch, Sewing Machine, Stickles

Be sure to check out the other Cookie's creations throughout the day!!
In the Works.....smARTworks
Mama Dini's Stamperia
Tah Dah!
Dee's Studio

Hopefully all of you have had a great start to your weeks so far! I have to really get busy and make some Mother's Day cards! We have just had so much to do around here that it's been crazy! Maybe I'll make it to them tonight. Have a super sunshine filled day!!! Thanks for stopping by!

Doodle Factory Princess!

2008-05-04T10:38:00.006-05:00

Hey guys! Glad to be back today! My allergies have really done me in this week. I feel better but still woke up stuffed up this morning. Anyway! I got my new Doodle Factory stamps yesterday and finished this one this morning! I just absolutely love it! I really went out of my creative boundaries for this card. I did masking, brayer on glossy CS, crayon resist, and I tried layering the same color Copic markers. It's rare for me to even do a 'technique', let alone 4 one one! Hope you like it! And hope it makes you wanna buy this set! Then we can swap ideas! You can use my 10% discount code on my sidebar too!

STAMPS- Castle, Princess Winifred, Tufts of Grass, Banner, I love you madly (Starving Artistamps)
PAPER- glossy CS, Paper Trey white, Metallic white (for castle) from Staples
INK- Brilliance black, Palette Hybrid black, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue
OTHER- Copic markers, brayer, white crayon, post its (for masking), pop dots

Here is a close up of the castle so you can see the shimmer in the paper.

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I did want to share a picture of Clinton's first fish he caught a few days ago. I just love this pic!

Well, I hope you all have a great rest of your Sunday! We'll see ya tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by!

A fishing we will go.....

2008-05-01T08:56:00.004-05:00

Good morning everyone! Sorry I have been absent the past few days, my allergies have been getting the better of me.....and still are. My eyes are bloodshot, my nose is stuffed up and red, I can't stop sneezing, and now my muscles hurt from the sneezes and such. I can't taste my food and sleep has been quite a challenge since I can't breathe through my nose. Okay, there, I'm done complaining. I'm gonna switch to my happy face now.

Last week, I promised the kids I would take them fishing on the first warm day this week (unfortunately something I wish I didn't promise) which just so happens to be today. After lunch they are going to dig in the yard for worms for us to fish with and then out we'll go. I'm sure my nose and throat will just love that! Okay, so I lied about being done complaining. Now I'm really done. I'm taking my camera so hopefully I get a few good pics. The wind is pretty bad here now so hopefully it dies down by this afternoon so they can see what they are doing.

I'm gonna share a very simple Thank You card I made for our landlord. She is just the sweetest person to us and always makes sure we have everything we need out here. We get all the annual check ups and even get our driveway re-graveled in the spring because of the snowplows that go up our lane to make sure we can get out in bad weather if need be. In my opinion she goes above and beyond. So, I wanted to offer a small token of thanks to her. I took a few flower and sewed the button in the middle and adhered to the card with heavy duty tape. Of course I stamped the swirl and thank you first, then outlining with a gray Copic marker. I really think that gives it depth. Then I sponged the edges and a little of the flower.

STAMPS- Mini Birdi, Petals (Inque Botique)
PAPER- white CS
INK- Colorbox Olive Pastel, Stazon Jet Black
OTHER- flowers, button, sponge, gray Copic marker

Well, I'm off to make lunch and then supervise a hunt for worms! Wish us luck! This will be Clinton's first time fishing and I know if he catches his first fish and Joe isn't there to see it, he will be bummed. Fishing is all they have been talking about for months though so I didn't want to let them down. Hopefully I'll have pictures to share tomorrow! Until then, have a great day!! And as always, thanks for stopping by!