Sweet Sunday Sketch #79

Good morning! Ah, it's the weekend! And it sure is nice to have a weekend at home. I'm going to enjoy it, cause I'm off and running again for the next two weekends. I spent a big chunk of yesterday getting my project all ready, photographed, and uploaded to the 'ole blog for tomorrow's Anni-Verve-sary blog hop! I can't believe it has been a year already since the last one.

Today, I was determined to catch up on a few challenges before their time limits expired. First up is Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch. I love this week's sketch! So sweet and simple. I dressed mine up a little bit with some scalloped edging, buttons, and fancy folded ribbon. I stamped the leafy swirl in Old Olive, stamped off, and then stamped onto the white circle. I love how it kind of mimics the dp. I think this sentiment makes a great thank you card for the office ladies at school. They do soooo much for us teachers, likely more that I will ever know. I'm still working on refilling my thank you card supply after wiping it out at the end of the school year.

Well, that's it for today. See you tomorrow for the blog hop! Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- Verve: Thankful Hearts, PTI: Turning a New Leaf, Text Style
Paper- Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Cottage Wall dp
Ink- Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories- ribbon, buttons, matt stack die #2, tea dye stain, scalloped edge punch, nestabilities, dimensionals

Viva la Verve!

Good morning! I worked with a frenzied speed to finish up the Viva la Verve challenges yesterday before last night's deadline. I cannot resist the opportunity to win some Verve-y goodness! This is the third Viva la Verve challenge for the month of July, and we're continuing our walk through some gorgeous bathrooms.

Amber sent us on to an amazing bathroom apparel site called themebathroom.com. I cruised through some of their decor until I stumbled across one called "Milk Bath." Those stripes and polka dots called my name! Aren't they fabulous? They make me want to redecorate my own bathroom! Anyways, the polka dots, especially, made me think (yet again!) about my October Afternoon dp. Some yellow paper to mimic the goldy/cream color in the decor balanced out the polka dots.

Well, it's off to grocery store for me! I'm out of food to cook with here at this house. I try to use things up before going on longer vacations/trips out of town. But the tricky part with this grocery run, is that I'm leaving again next Thursday for another reception for my sister and her husband (weird saying that!) in Washington. And as if I haven't been gone or had enough to do this summer, I received a jury summons in the mail yesterday for the third week in August. I'm just glad it doesn't conflict with the reception or my required dates to be back at work. And hey, if I'm lucky (sooo knocking on wood right now!), the trial will be canceled! Ah, life. I'm going to need a summer break from my summer break! lol

Thanks for stopping by today!
Supplies-
Stamps- Verve: Circular Sayings
Paper- Lemon Tart, Basic Black, October Afternoon Thrift Shop dp
Ink- Basic Black
Accessories- ribbon, slot punch

Fall to Layout

Good afternoon! I'm stamping away here at my house, and have done nothing else today. Sooo happy! I think I might take a little break and read for a while. The book I'm reading right now is actually pretty good!

This card using the Fall to Layout sketch for this week. They're celebrating their 100th sketch this week! Congrats, guys! I pulled out my new PTI Fancy Flourishes set, added a thank you sentiment, and of course some jewels on the scallops. Sweet and simple.

I'm out of words for today, and you probably don't want to listen to me ramble. :) Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Fancy Flourishes, Giga Guide Lines
Paper- Lavendar Moon, Dotti Biscotti dp
Ink- Plum Pudding, Basic Black
Accessories- ribbon, jewels, medium scallop die (PTI)

Sweet Sunday Sketch #78

Ah, home, sweet home. It feels good to be home after being away for so long. Sleeping in my own bed is going to feel amazing! The drive down the mountians was pleasently uncrowded thanks to it being Wednesday. The aweful heat has left for now (it was 103 when I left two weeks ago!), and we're back in the low 80s. Love it!

After unpacking, the first thing I sat down to was some stamping. Oh, how I missed my stamps and paper and ribbon! I going backwards in time with this card, using Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch from last Sunday. It's too late to submit, but I sure love this sketch and needed to play! I'm also a few weeks behind on Maureen's WaCCky challenge, so I figured now was as good a time as any to dive back in. I skipped straight to this week's challenge, since the last two were absolutely stumping me (seriously, Maureen! It's killing me! lol).

I pulled out some patterned paper to help speed things along. I am loving my Dotti Biscotti dp more and more every time I use it. I think the card is rather self-explanitory, so I'll skip ahead. A few pink jewels in the corners, some scalloped edging, and tea dye staining found this card complete. I did play around a bit with the embellishments in the corner... only buttons, flowers, and well, as you can see, I ended up with a ribbon/button combo. It was another great way to get some Ocean Tides on there (the sentiment is also stamped in Ocean Tides).

Lots more stamping is happening tomorrow! I have NO other plans, and let me tell you, that is going to feel amazing! The chance to relax, not to be planning, cleaning, organizing, answering millions of phone calls... I loved the wedding, enjoyed every magical, unforgettable moment of it, but boy am I glad it's over! :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Supplies-
Stamps- Verve: Blessings
Paper- Kraft, Terracotta Tile, Bitty Box dp, Dotti Biscotti dp
Ink- Ocean Tides
Accessories- ribbon, button, twine, jewels, tea dye stains, ek success scallop edge punch

9,000 Feet of Wedding Bliss

Hi everyone! I'm dropping in briefly to share just a few pictures from my sister's wedding yesterday and give you a little idea of what I've been up to in my absence.

My sister married the love of her life yesterday evening in what was quite possibly one of the most unique and beautiful weddings I will ever attend. It was held at the top of June Mountain (around 9,000 feet elevation), and quite likely had the most stunning, awe-inspiring wedding backdrops EVER. The weather was a little uncooperative at times (love those unforecasted summer monsoons!), delaying pictures due to rain, riding the chair lift due to thunder and lightning.... But the sun decided to peek out from the clouds at the exact moment Sharon and Luke were pronounced husband and wife. I think God was smiling. :)

We danced the night away at the reception, and generally had an incredibly wonderful time celebrating their marriage. I officially have a brother! And my little sister is officially a Mrs. (which is still a little strange, lol).

I'm hanging around home for a few more days to wrap up the laundry (I think we had around 30 people staying at our house for the last week... LOTS of towels to wash!), and generally wrap things up. Plus, I'm enjoying the awesome summer monsoonal weather. Thunder in the mountains is the best... It just echoes off of the surrounding mountains.

On to a few pictures... Enjoy!

Our bridal procession involved riding up the chairlift (the wedding was at the top of June Mountain, which is a ski resort). We rode in pairs (bridesmaid, groomsman) up the chairlift and then proceeded down the aisle. Of course, Sharon was the grand finale. I love her face in this picture. It's hard to see, but there is a look of pure glee on her face.

Ok, I love this picture, too. They were praying together after taking communion.

Sisters!

The newlyweds!

The June Mountain staff actually took this picture and posted it on their website today. Check out that wedding backdrop. I love the Sierra Nevada Mountains. :)

Neither bride nor groom like cake. So the logical remedy was wedding donuts! My cousin did make them a small cake to cut and save for their first anniversary. Any tips on how to freeze it successfully? I think that's falling on my shoulders while I'm home.
A final sisters picture.

I'll see you back here in a few days with some new cards to share. Thanks for stopping by!

Table Numbers

Good afternoon! It is absolutely roasting here in So Cal right now. We've hit 100F for the last three days and its only supposed to be worse today. Boo! Our poor air conditioner is running its little heart out.

I have a quick drive by posting for you today. My sister contacted me on Tuesday asking if I could make the table number and reserved signs for her reception next Saturday. I'm leaving today for the bachelorette weekend and then the wedding (no stopping back here at home first!), so of course I said yes.... Only to discover that she wanted almost 60 of these things. Ack! A quick stop in the supply cabinet to make sure I even HAD the supplies to make 60 number cards, and off to work I went. Thank goodness I was able to drag my roommate into the manual labor bit. :) Thanks, roomie!

Sharon will have these hanging from old blank wine bottles on the tables. I didn't have a wine bottle sitting around, but I had this little beer bottle, lol. My parents bought be a "Holy Grail Ale" when they saw Spamalot in Las Vegas a few years ago. It's lightly tempered over burning witches, in case you wondered. hehe
I will be gone from the blog again for about a week to a week and one half. I might be able to drop in with some pictures, but since I'll be away from the studio the whole time, nothing new is getting made. So sad. :( But I'll see you all on the other side of the wedding (and some COOL mountain air!).

Thanks for stopping by!

Viva la Verve!

Good morning! I'm back with the second Viva la Verve challenge for the month of July. We're continuing our walk through bathrooms, and Amber provided some great inspiration pictures. I was going to go with room number two, but the third one eventually grabbed my attention. I think it was the color combo that snagged me.

I really wanted to use some of this blue and yellow dp from October Afternoon. Are you getting tired of seeing this stuff yet? lol Well, the third inspiration photo presented the perfect opportunity!

I paper pieced the cupcake wrapper, colored the frosting with my copics, and added just the littlest hint of sparkle with some glitter along the edges of the frosting. I officially love this sketch, Amber. I'm definitely going to pull this one out again and again. I also used an oldy moldly MFT stamp, It's A Cupcake Kind of Day. I love the larger size of these cupcakes, and, sadly, don't use these lovely stamps enough. And is anyone else out there absolutely stoked that Stampin' Up brought back Baja Breeze as a permanent color?! I have been hoarding my little pack for two years now, and now I feel so free! Prepare to see lots of Baja Breeze in the future. :)

Well, that's it for today. Have a lovely Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!
Supples- Stamps- MFT: It's a Cupcake Kind of Day, PTI: Mega Mixed Messages

Paper- Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Vintage Cream, October Afternoon Thrift Shop dp
Ink- Basic Black
Accessories- ribbon, apron lace punch, copics, glue pen, glitter, dimensionals, nestabilities, buttons, tea dye stain

Taylor's Sketch Challenge #120

Good morning! This card was totally and completely inspired by its future recipient. Growing up, she always had the nickname, "Ladybug" from her family. I was cruising through more sketches to play with and thought that Taylor's Sketch would make the perfect ladybug birthday card!

I started by stamping the red paper in Versamark and then embossing it with black ep. I then pulled out an oooooold stamp set that I picked up at a scrapbook convention a few years ago. I'm ashamed to admit that it has never seen the light of day or been inked since it's purchase. It was just one of those set I knew I would use someday. The bugs were just too cute to pass up! And today was just that kind of day that I knew would eventually come!

The red on the ladybugs came out a little bit funny when I took the picture. For some reason, the light was bouncing back all of the yellows and oranges in the ink, which made the ladybug look orangey-yellow instead of Pure Poppy Red. So frustrating! I played with the color tools in Photoshop to fix it up a bit, but just take my word for it when I say it really is a deep red color. Really.

I stamped the sentiment in Pure Poppy and then rocked and rolled it in black to give it a little bit of dimension as well.

Today's a nada day, and I'm going to enjoy it! Starting Friday, the craziness of life is going to be right back in my face. Two more days of solitude and quiet. *sigh* Perhaps I'll finish my book today. Or make a few cards. Or both. ;)

Thanks for stopping by!
Supplies- Stamps- Close to My Heart: Beetle Bugs, PTI: Polka Dot Basics, Verve: Happy Birthday
Paper- Whisper White, Basic Black, Pure Poppy
Ink- Pure Poppy, Basic Black, Versamark
Accessories- black ep, ribbon, nestabilities, tea dye stain, dimensionals

Sweet Sunday Sketch #77

Good morning! It's book club Monday today, and I couldn't be more excited! I just love getting together with the girls each month to discuss the selected book. As a certified bookaholic, the chance to discuss my readings with other places me pretty much in heaven. This last month we read Brain Rules. I have to admit that it wasn't my favorite book. I went into it with high expectations, but found myself being constantly distracted by other books. Brain Rules just couldn't grab me. I think that is solely my fault, though. Reading a nonfiction book about how the brain learns and improving classrooms just didn't float my boat the week after school let out for the summer, lol. I needed some light, brainless reading! Thus the other five books I read, hehe.

I already know what this next month's book is going to be and it sounds great! I'm in the middle of The Book Thief and really enjoying it. It's very... different... and that's a nice break. It's good to know that I'll have a good book club book to look forward to when I finish this one.

In other news, is anyone else out there watching Le Tour de France? I'm an addict. The Tour dictates my life each and every July. :) Today's stage, being the first mountain stage so far, was both thrilling and heartbreaking at the same time. Let's just say Lance is out of the race. He's still racing, but completely out of contention. I was kind of pulling for him. I figured the odds were low he wouldn't win it, but you can't help but cheer for the guy. On the other hand, Andy Schlek and Cadel Evans had a great day! I think I'm routing for Andy now. That guy is so ridiculously talented. And for my Canadian friends, Ryder Hesjedal is doing really well (7th place so far!). And American Levi Leipheimer is right there in contention, as well. Tomorrow's a rest day, which means I will be going through Tour withdrawals. What am I supposed to do all day? All right, all right.... That's not too tough. I'll make cards, lol.

Ok. On to the card. I have my card for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch over on Karen Giron's blog. It's been a few weeks since I've been home to play, and I'm likely going to miss next week yet again, so I had to squeeze this one in! I absolutely LOVE the ruffles at the bottom of the sketch (at least I interpreted them as ruffles), and had to do some fake book print ruffles. I stained the scalloped edges with tea dye stain and Creamy Caramel ink, and curled them up a bit to give some dimension. I also made this card into a standard A2 size, simply because I don't have the longer shaped envelopes. But I think it still worked well.

Enough out of me. Thanks for stopping by!
Supplies- Stamps- Verve: Beautiful Kindness, PTI: Text Style
Paper- Rich Razzleberry, Pale Plum, Rustic White, Cottage Wall dp
Ink- Rich Razzleberry, Basic Gray, Creamy Caramel
Accessories- ribbon, buttons, nestabilities, scallop edge punch, tea dye stain

Viva la Verve!

Good morning! It's warming up to be a hot day today. I think we might actually hit 90 degrees. Bleh! Thank goodness for AC. I am so thrilled to finally go to church again this morning. I literally have not been since the last weekend in May due to being out of town, illness, or what we thought was illness and was really terrible allergies. I am glad that my church posts their sermons online each week. At least I could do church at home. But I need some live worship music to sing along with! I'm ready!

I have a double challenge card to share with you today. I began with the first Viva la Verve challenge for the month of July. Amber has us walking through bathrooms this month, and the shower curtain in the second inspiration photo completely grabbed my attention. So gorgeous! I want it! I have also been mulling over Maureen's new WaCCCky color combo for us this week. It's a doozy. I think all of the colors were in this shower curtain, though, and that sent my wheels in motion. I actually really love how this card turned out. That little pop of green (and I hate Kiwi Kiss... and have to admit that it actually looks good on this card.) and some lovely My Mind's Eye dp.

Don't tell Amber, but I completely eliminated the second circle in the sketch and put a bow there instead. I just couldn't do another circle... It was stumping me! I didn't have a flower the right shade of red, so I colored it with a copic marker. A little melon berry (not berry sorbet!) button finished it off. I also stamped some Text Style on the Terracotta Tile panel to fill it up a little. Oh, and please ignore the fact that my bow covers up the "b" in "blossom." Oops! Didn't notice that until after I snapped the pictures. It's all fixed now irl.

Phew! That's enough out of me for today. Thanks for stopping by!
Supplies-
Stamps- Verve: Anais Nin PJ, PTI: Text Style
Paper- Melon Berry, Terracotta Tile, Rustic Cream, Kiwi Kiss, My Mind's Eye dp
Ink- Pure Poppy, Vintage Cream
Accessories- ribbon, button, twine, prima, copic, dimensionals, nestabilities, tea dye stain, jewels

Mojo Monday

Good afternoon! My summer really hasn't been all that conducive to card-making so far. But I've been having lots of fun (mostly) behind the scenes. :) I travelled home to my parents' house up in the mountains for the 4th of July weekend. The weather was absolutely picturesque, the waterfall across the canyon from our house was absolutely roaring, and the mosquitoes were voracious! And did I mention it was moth season up there? I hate that season. We have this huge miller moths (about an inch+ in size) that invade our houses each summer. So gross! I spent a large part of my day vacuuming up moths so that there wouldn't be so many at night dive-bombing our faces in the dark. Ick!

But the fireworks were wonderful. We go up to this tiny town called Bridgeport and watch the fireworks launch over the reservoir. The booms echo off of the surrounding mountains, and the sky is so dark it looks like daylight each time one explodes. There were a bunch of other locals up there, too (its a local hang-out for the 4th), and it was lovely to visit with them.

Upon arriving back here in So Cal, mom and I went to get our hair trimmed one last time before my sister's wedding (two weeks from today!), and then to the Ahmanson in Los Angeles to see the touring Broadway show, South Pacific. The female lead (Nellie) was fantastic! We made sure to stop by Cantor's Jewish Deli for dinner, of course. We had to have our fill of matzo ball soup, potato latkes, and corned beef. Soooo yummy!

Thursday was full of doctor's appointments and visiting grandma to help her shop online for my sister's wedding gift. Friday's mission was finding cute silver shoes for the wedding (found some great ones!!!). And we're up today. Finally a chance to sit and stamp. I finished this card a few minutes ago and couldn't wait to share it with you. Well, that and the deadline is in a few hours to be entered to win some Verve stamps. ;)

I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch along with some of my favorite Verve stamps for this card. Oh, and more October Afternoon Thrift Shop dp. *sigh* This may be the greatest dp ever, hehe. I stamped the flower in black, added some golden jewels, stained the edges with my tea dye stains and framed it on a black scalloped nestie oval. I popped the square sentiment up on dimensionals. I had to sneak a ribbon on here somewhere, so a vertical bow was definitely in order. Now to cross my fingers!

I'm on a stamping roll, so its back to the crafting for me. Thanks for stopping by!
Supplies- Stamps- Verve: Budding Blossoms, Circular Sayings
Paper- Kraft, Basic Black, Rustic Cream, October Afternoon dp
Ink- Basic Black
Accessories- ribbon, jewels, nestabilities, dimensionals, tea dye stain

One WaCCCky Challenge!

Good evening! I was compelled by my friend Maureen to try out a new color combo today. See, Maureen has been placing all of PTI's colors into a bag and then randomly drawing out four colors, then using them to create a card. It was too brilliant of an idea to pass up! I had to play along!

My card today has a bit of a different feel for me. But this big leaf from Turning a New Leaf is just to fun to cut out and pop up! And since I had to incorporate green onto this card in some way, I figured a leaf was as good as anything to use. I added a few berry sorbet colored (well, pink, hehe) bling around the leaf. I stamped some polka dots in Scarlett Jewel onto the Berry Sorbet cardstock. The top corners felt a little empty, so I decided to round them off and then stain the perimeter of the card with my tea dye stains. So, welcome to Maureen's WaCCCky Color Challenge!

Thanks for the fun today, Maureen! I can't wait to see what other colors find their way into a combo!

I'm off to my folks' place up in the mountains for the 4th of July weekend, so it will be a bit quiet here on the blog until midweek. Enjoy some fireworks, some good food, and some good company this weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!
Supplies- Stamps- PTI: Turning a New Leaf, Mega Mixed Messages, Polka Dot Basics
Paper- Whisper White, New Leaf, Berry Sorbet, Bitty Box dp
Ink- Scarlett Jewel, New Leaf
Accessories- ribbon, button, twine, medium scallop die, jewels, dimensionals, tea dye stain