Cards for Cancer

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

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

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

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...

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...

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}

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

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!

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!

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!