So You Think You Can Dance

Ok. Late night drop in with this one. :) If you didn't see this tonight... Shame on you! Hands down the best dance of the night. Heck, the best dance of the whole season so far!

Alex and Twitch doing a hip hop routine. And by the way, Alex is a ballet dancer! Ridiculous!



That's it from me today. :)

Sketch For You To Try

Good afternoon! I'm still obsessed with my new October Afternoon dp, and this dp is all from the Fly a Kite line. Love these colors!!!

I decided to play along with Jen's Sketch for You to Try this week. I stared at it for a while on Sunday, thought to myself, "No way! Too many layers!" and then decided to tackle it anyway, lol. I eliminated one layer by adding a ribbon and bow. I just couldn't get flowers to work along the side of my sentiment. I added some Taylor's Tiny Twinkles alone the apron lace punch and in the corners of this Verve sentiment.

I think I'm just going to declare it Verve week here on the blog. I'm still bummed I missed all of the Verve release fun! Although, I was off having a very different kind of fun with the best of friends. So I guess I can't complain too much. :)

It has been so delightfully cool here in So Cal today! At noon it was still 66 degrees outside! Love it! I've had all the windows and doors open to let the fresh air in. I love June Gloom. It keeps things cooler during the day. All too soon it will be gone and hotter than stink the moment the sun comes up. It always seems to happen around the 4th of July.... *sigh*

My stamping buddy, Angie, is on her way over here today to drop off some supplies I ordered through her! Yay! My white cardstock is on the dangerously low side.... as are my dimensionals. And we always have fun showing off what we've created since the last time we saw each other. She's been branching into a wedding card/special orders business, and I'm still a hobbiest, lol. I love seeing the elegant creations she whips up for weddings! I'm always in awe.

Well, thanks for stopping by! I might squeeze in one more card before Angie gets here. :)
Supplies- Stamps- Verve: Anais Nin PJ
Paper- Very Vanilla, Kraft, October Afternoon (Fly a Kite) dp
Ink- More Mustard
Accessories- ribbon, apron lace punch, Taylor's Tiny Twinkles, dimensionals, nestabilities, tea dye stain

Mojo Monday & Wedding Pictures

Good evening! I'm back with another card to share with you after another relaxing day. I'm still battling that cold and decided to give myself another day of "nothingness" while I can. I stamped, read a whole book (the sequel to Hunger Games called Catching Fire, which I had ordered immediately after finishing HG), conquered some Wii games, and continued to catch up with the blogging world. Not a bad day. I really have to get to a grocery store tomorrow, though. There's nothing to eat in this house after being gone for a week!

I really love this week's Mojo Monday sketch. Something about the combination of square and circle in the card just spoke to me. I know, weird. Circles usually aren't my forte. I loved how Julee rounded one corner of her square card and decided to do the same with mine. I pulled out more of my new October Afternoon dp; a mixture of Thrift Shop and Fly a Kite. Still lovin' this new stuff! I stained the edges of the cream cardstock to match some of the antiqued staining of the sp. And lastly, since I'm still mourning the fact that I missed the entire Verve release and celebration, I just had to pull out more Verve stamps for this card! I love the fonts in this little sentiment, and since my thank you card supply is severely depleted (end of the school year- lots of people to thank!), I figured now was as good a time as any to replenish it.

And finally, here are a few pictures from my crazy wedding week. Thanks, Amy, for posting them so I could steal them! Another friend is mailing me a whole CD of the pictures he took. I can't wait to look through them all! He was snapping pictures like crazy, so I know he'll have some great ones!

Mr. and Mrs.

With my roomie, Amy.

Giving my maid of honor speech. Heather wasn't going to do a toast, but I insisted! It was one of my jobs! Amy loves this picture. She calls it the perfect Biederman pose. I just say that I'm animated and cute. :)

Four out of the five college roomies, together again.

So, I reserved a compact car for my time in Oregon. After wandering around the rental lot for about 5 minutes, I finally realized that my compact car was a minivan! I deemed it my swagger wagon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- Verve: Thankful Thoughts
Paper- Very Vanilla, Red Riding Hood, October Afternoon dp
Ink- Red Riding Hood
Accessories- ribbon, button, twine, apron lace punch, nestabilities, tea dye stain, corner rounder punch

Sweet Sunday Sketch #75

Hello? Anyone still out there? I've been awfully silent here on the blog for the month of June. Let me just apologize here and now before I continue any further. My only excuse is life. But it's been a great few weeks of life!

Since my last post, school finished up in a whirlwind of craziness and activity! I finished last Friday, sent my kids out the door, and finished my final checkout with the office within 30 minutes of school ending. :) I like to finish things promptly. Who wants to go back to work the next day if you don't have to?! The weekend was spent packing, cleaning, doing laundry, and hanging with my dad for Father's Day.

Monday morning I flew out to Bend, OR to join my bf in her wedding preparations. I told her I would be her slave for the week, and I think she took me literally, lol. We worked on projects, ran errands, planned, assembled from sun-up until well into the wee hours of the morning every single day. The wedding was on Friday (two days ago), and it was absolutely lovely. Heather looked stunning in her dress and everything went off without a hitch (except for the missing marriage license!!! But we found it right before the wedding started. Phew!). Pictures are most definitely still to come. I snapped a few in the days leading up to the wedding, but being the maid of honor, was a bit busy during the actual ceremony. Thank goodness some good friends were also there with their cameras. I'm just waiting for them to post their pictures so I can steal them for myself. :)

Yesterday I flew home. And, oh! How wonderful it was to sleep in my own bed once again. I have a raging cold (I looked a-maz-ing in my wedding pictures, I'm sure.... red eyes, runny nose... Oh well.), so it was great to get to sleep in a bit this morning. I literally have nothing planned today; just relaxing and recovering. Oh, and stamping. :)

It felt wonderful to sit in my little corner of our office and stamp again. I've so missed it! I jumped right back in with Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch to get the mojo rolling again. Just before I left for the wedding, my new October Afternoon dp arrived on my doorstep, so it was necessary to use it on my card. :) I pulled my color scheme from the dp itself and ended up with this little beauty. I really needed to add some ribbon on here, some way, some how. But horizontal just wasn't working with me... It felt too crowded with the buttons on the bottom. So vertical it was. Please try to ignore the botched cut job at the top where the ribbon comes through.... Note to self: Use the SHARP scissors next time. Sheesh.

I hope the last few weeks have treated you well! I'm so looking forward to cruising through my blog list and catching up on all the talent out there. And I think I missed a Verve release?! Ack!! Definitely need to go check out the new stamps.

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend! Thanks for stopping by!
Supplies- Stamps- Verve: Blessings
Paper- Aqua Mist, Spring Moss, Whisper White, October Afternoon dp (Thrift Store)
Ink- Ocean Tides, Certainly Celery
Accessories- ribbon, buttons, dimensionals, nestabilities, tea dye stain

Fall to Layout

Good morning! I'm still playing a little catch up with some of the sketches I have missed during my life breaks over the last few weeks. Today's card uses a Fall to Layout sketch from two weeks ago. I kept it relatively simple (well, it is from the clean and simple stamping blog, hehe), by using only the dp as my decor and a big sentiment.

I love the colors of red, white, and kraft together. And PTI's Pure Poppy really pop off of the white. Such a gorgeous color! At the last minute I added a little SU leaf die to add some height to the main panel. It just felt a little empty.

Short and sweet today. Only 3 days of school left! Thanks for stopping by!
Supplies- Stamps- PTI: Giga Guide Lines
Paper- Kraft, Whisper White, In Bloom dp
Ink- Pure Poppy, Moonlight White
Accessories- buttons, leaf die

Taylor's Sketch Challenge #117

Good morning. I have a quick little card to share with you on this lovely LAST Monday morning of the school year! Woohoo! I've been needing some purple and green in my card-making life (love these colors together), and Taylor Sketch Challenge worked perfectly to match this duo.

I used a bit of my Bitty Box dp for the background, stamped the branch image from Blooming Button Bits, tied a bow, and added a little thank you sentiment. I go through lots of thank you cards this time of year. There are so many people to thank at work. Education truly is a team effort: office staff, parent volunteers, teammates, janitors, and on and on. I couldn't do my job all by myself, and am so incredibly grateful for the people that make our days at work as wonderful as possible. Oh, and only 4 days left!!!

I'm off to book club this evening after work, and it's about time it finally came back around! I've had a rather serious addiction to reading during this last month. The addiction is nothing new (I'm a certified bookaholic), but five books in one month (and it's not even summer yet) is a record for me during the school year. I am in desperate need of a new book to read! I do have several books on my shelf to be read, but they are all of the bit longer variety and I didn't want to start one of them over the weekend and then not have time for our new book club book.

My friend Alison (also in book club) talked me into joining The Seasonal Reading Challenge over on goodreads.com. I love the idea of using the books we're reading to fulfill tasks. Plus, it is exposing me to so many books I would have never picked up on my own, or have never heard of. One of the group reads for the summer was The Hunger Games. Oh goodness. So good! If you have ever read the short story, "The Most Dangerous Game," this most definitely reminded me of it. I read the book in two days, and ordered the sequel yesterday, lol. I can't wait to find out what we're reading for this next month at book club and see if it fits any of the tasks for the SRC. :) Any other bookaholics out there? I'm always looking for the next great read!

Thanks for stopping by!
Supplies- Stamps- PTI: Blooming Button Bits, Mega Mixed Messages
Paper- Spring Moss, Ripe Avocado, Whisper White, Bitty Box dp
Ink- Old Olive, Plum Pudding
Accessories- medium scallop die (PTI), ribbon, buttons

Viva la Verve!

I have a little bit of catch up to do with my June Viva la Verve challenges. I still need to go back and complete week 2, but this week's sketch was calling my name. We're continuing our walk through kids' rooms this week (and the whole month of June), and Amber had some wonderful inspiring rooms for us! I loved two of the rooms, but the pink and black room eventually won me over.

I stuck with the pink, black, and white theme, and even tried to mimic the stenciling on the back wall by using my large scallop punch, then tracing with a black maker. I love the uniqueness of this sketch with the off-center rounded panels in the back! Such a fun little accent! I popped of my sentiment to separate it a bit from the fun background.

Well, back to report cards for me. I'm determined to finish them up today. Determined... Of course, there will be stamping breaks here and there. :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Supplies-
Stamps-Verve: Beautiful Kindness, Happy Birthday PJ
Paper- Whisper White, Sweet Blush, Basic Black, Bitty Dots dp
Ink- Basic Black, Pretty in Pink
Accessories- ribbon, brads, dimensionals, ek success scallop punch, black marker, corner rounder punch

Mercy's Tuesday Sketch #77

Good evening, everyone! I apologize, yet again, for the extended silence here on the blog. The only thing I can blame it on is life. And unfortunately, life takes a slightly larger priority over stamping. I know. So backwards and unfair. :)

Life over the last week and one half has consisted of having my sister in town, throwing her a bridal shower, cleaning, dishes and more dishes, having two colds in a row, a mild head bump (can I ever get hurt in a glorious manner?), report cards, end of the school year duties, and getting ready for a wedding. Craziness, in general. But all wonderful life things... Well, except the mild head injury, lol. Totally whacked my head getting into my car Friday morning. So silly.

So today, I finally sat down to stamp once again. Ah, how wonderful it was! I got a new stamp set about a week and a half ago and it was just begging to be inked up. I stamped "Happy Days" in the license plate frame since my happy summer days are just around the corner! Only 5 more days of school until summer break! I am so incredibly excited to sleep in more that two days in a row, have some more stamping time, read a few dozen books (The total for the last month was 5! Thank goodness I have book club on Monday!), and attend a few weddings. It's going to be wonderful.

I used Mercy's Tuesday Sketch to get my stamping feet wet again after yet another break. I had Terracotta Tile stuck in my head, so out came my Autumn Abundance dp. I tattered and antiqued this card up a bit more than my normal, but I like the look of it. It kind of fits the old car, no?

I'm hoping to get to church tomorrow morning... We'll see if I can lick this latest virus before then. Otherwise, the only plans for the day are to finish report cards and put together my parent volunteer gifts. I've almost got everything ready to go for them.

Thanks for tolerating my long silences and coming back yet again. I'll be back soon with more!
Supplies- Stamps- PTI: Enjoy the Ride
Paper- Terracotta Tile, Rustic White, Autumn Abundance dp
Ink- Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories- ribbon, copics, dimensionals, tea dye stains

Mojo Monday

Do not be deceived. This is last week's Mojo Monday sketch. Yup, I'm a week behind. I literally finished this card about 4 hours before the Sunday deadline, lol. It was a sketch I looked at earlier in the week, pretty much tossed aside, thinking I dislike it, and moved on. But then, on Sunday, there it was again, staring at me... Daring me to try it.

I figured if I was going to tackle this one, I might as well pull out some Urban Garden dp. I am going to be so sad when I finally use this paper all up. It may be my favorite dp ever! I just love the colors in it. I also pulled out my Blooming Button Bits set to continue with the trend of using my favorite things on this card. :)

It is back to the work grind today for me. The extra day off yesterday was so wonderful, and much needed. Now it is the long haul to the last day of school. These days really should fly by (there's only 14 of them left, including today!). The tricky part is wrapping up all of the curriculum as well as making sure there is enough left to do during the day all the way to the end. I'm so looking forward to my summer break! Two big weddings... One the week after school ends. I actually fly out for Bend, OR two days after school ends. The other is my sister's in July. So excited for both of them!

Have a lovely week! Thanks for stopping by!
Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Blooming Button Bits
Paper- Going Gray, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Urban Garden dp
Ink- Old Olive, Not Quite Navy
Accessories- ribbon, buttons, nestabilities