Mojo Monday

Good afternoon! It's an absolutely gorgeous day here in So Cal. Wish you were here! We're dancing right around 70 degrees for what could be the last time for a while. We're actually expecting a tiny bit of rain tomorrow and then will dwell in the 60s for a while (which I'm sure sounds GREAT to a whole lot of you, lol).

It was so nice out today that the roomie and I decided to have a little car washing party. My car was absolutely covered in tree pollen from the trees around my school and it was driving me crazy. Have I mentioned that I am quite allergic to tree pollen? It's been a lovely few weeks....


Other than running a few errands this morning, it's been a lazy day around the house, with lots of stamping time. And more stamping time equals more time to play with new dp! I pulled out my new October Afternoon Seaside dp to go with this week's Mojo Monday sketch. When I saw that little bow embellishment on the top of the circle I immediately knew I wanted to nix it, lol. I know, I know... I usually love bows! Something might seriously be wrong with me. But this was one of those moments when I had something else in mind, like a little balloon. :)

I stamped the balloons from Birthday Bash onto some dp and popped up the smaller of the two. Some fun ribbon treatment, a few light green jewels, and a lacy nestie and this card was coming together nicely! It might even pass for a masculine card.... And I can't remember the last time I made one of those!

I hope your Saturday is giving you a chance to relax a bit. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- Verve: Birthday Bash
Paper- Spring Moss, Tangerine Tango, Very Vanilla, October Afternoon Seaside dp, Haiku dp
Ink- Night of Navy
Accessories- ribbon, nestabilities, dimensionals, jewels

Fall to Layout

Good morning! It's a staff development today, so I'm kid-free, but still at work. I'm hoping the training sessions I get to attend are wonderful, inspirational, and full of tools I can take right back to my classroom on Monday! Those kinds of days are the BEST!


While I'm sitting and listening, here is a little card to share with you. I was so excited to play along with Maureen's Wild and Wacky Color Challenge from a few days ago. For once, the colors were a breeze to play with. I love the mix of mellow tones, and a little gray thrown in for good measure. I also used last week's Fall to Layout sketch for a little inspiration help with the layout. That big back panel and the multitude of colors gave me the chance to pull out my lately-neglected Giga Guide Lines stamp set. I didn't have any Smokey Shadow ribbon on hand, so I cheated and colored some seam binding ribbon with a copic marker. I stamped the Cranberry Crisp onto the Lavender Moon cardstock, added a whole lot of scarlet jewel and plum pudding colored rhinestones for a little pop of bling. And since this is a Maureen challenge, I had to throw a button in there as well for the "buttons and bling!" ;)

Thanks for another fun one and some GREAT colors, Maureen! And Happy Friday to everyone!

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Giga Guide Lines
Paper- Plum Pudding, Lavender Moon, Smokey Shadow, Whisper White, Scarlet Jewel
Ink- Cranberry Crisp, Plum Pudding
Accessories- jewels, copics, button, seam binding ribbon, nestabilities, dimensionals, medium scallop die (PTI)

Another Baby Shower!

Good evening! Yup, it's another baby-themed card for yet another baby shower. Thank goodness I only had to whip up five of these little beauties... That's what allowed for the coloring with my copics. I have to say, mass producing is not my most favorite thing. It's so much work! But I do love the look of all those cards line up... There's a beautiful symmetry to them. Five cards was definitely a much for handle-able amount.


These invitations are for my old college roomie. We're throwing her a mini shower over breakfast in a few weeks at a really cute cafe built into an old church. It's going to be just us roomies (four out of five of us) and J's parents. Nice, small, intimate, and special. J is having a little girl, but made sure to pick out some bedding that is not solely pink. She's a pink and green and brown kind of gal. :)

I studied her bedding choice and ended up creating this. The leaves, flowers, and bird are colored to mimic the bedding (called Love Birds). I love how it turned out! I must admit that this is a very obviously cased card from this card Dawn McVey created a little over a month ago. I needed a nice, long image panel to accommodate the branch, and her layout was perfect!

I stitched around the green panel with brown thread, popped up the heavily tea dye stained image panel, and snuck a little doily and some ribbon underneath. A few little pink jewels highlight the flowers and add some sparkle. I also wanted to keep this card relatively flat since it has to be mailed.

It's a staff development day for us tomorrow at work... I'm kid-free!! It felt great to get out a little early today as if it were Friday. If only I could sleep in tomorrow as well, lol. I guess beggars can't be choosers.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- Taylored Expressions: Branching Out, Branching Out Coordinates, PTI: Round & Round
Paper- Sweet Blush, Vintage Cream, Pretty Pastels dp
Accessories- ribbon, button, doily, tea dye stains, copics, jewels, dimensionals, corner rounder punch, sewing machine

Viva la Verve!

Phew! I have officially finished my first whole month of Viva la Verve in I can't remember how long. Last year was just crazy. I made a very loose, very unofficial resolution to try and do more Viva la Verve challenges this year. I love playing along each month and getting to know all the amazing ladies that participate on the splitcoast forum. :)

I so loved the sketch for this week and immediately knew I wanted to use this gorgeous frame from Accent Notes. I stamped it in Memento Rich Cocoa, colored it with a light green copic marker and added a few brown jewels. The sentiment circles are popped up from the frame for some dimension. Some seam binding ribbon and pins finished off the horizontal panel.... And I snuck some scallops under there, too. And if you didn't noticed, there is a ton of tea dye staining on this card. I may be addicted. Maybe.
Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- Verve: Accent Notes, Circular Sayings
Paper- Whisper White, Dark Chocolate, Turning a New Leaf dp
Accessories- seam binding ribbon, pins, medium scallop die (PTI), Taylor's Tiny Twinkles, jewels, tea dye stains, dimensionals, circle punches

Sweet Sunday Sketch #101

Good morning! It's a beautiful morning, despite being Monday, lol. It's a nice, short week at work thanks to a staff development day on Friday. I still have to work all five days, but Friday is kid-free! I hate to admit it, but I do enjoy the staff development days... The time to catch up with fellow teachers, soak in some good teaching practices, and of course the little treat of going out to eat for lunch isn't bad. ;)


My card today uses Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch from yesterday. I have a few ideas for this sketch and some future cards, but for the meantime it worked wonderfully for this little ditty. One of our neighbors hosted a street social on Friday evening, inviting a bunch of the neighbors from our street for a meet and greet at their house. My roommate and I went over planning to just stay for 30 minutes or so, and ended up spending almost 2 1/2 hours chatting! We have some wonderful neighbors and it was great to get to know so many more of them! The neighborhood now has elaborate plans to have a progressive dinner so we can see the insides of every house.

I received some new dp in the mail over the course of last week, which included this MME Fine & Dandy dp. LOVE the colors in this dp pad! They made this card so bright and cheery. I used some brown stitching around the bottom panel, added a frame of glitter around the oval, and a few jewels under the sentiment. I'm quite pleased with how this turned out. Pictures never do this gorgeous aqua color justice.

Thanks all for today. Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Love Birds, Mega Mixed Messages
Paper- Kraft, Whisper White, Orange Zest, Sage Shadow, MME Fine & Dandy dp
Ink- Chocolate Chip, Orange Zest
Accessories- ribbon, glitter, glue pen, sewimg machine, dimensionals, nestabilities, jewels

Viva la Verve!

Good morning! I'm back with my Viva la Verve card for the third week of January. I've been stalling on this one for some reason. I usually don't trip to badly over a tilted panel, but this one gave me a little run for my money. I think it had to do with the larger size.


I opted for a large stamp from my Blessings set and ran with it. I added one of the beautiful scrolly images behind the sentiment, added some red stickles around the perimeter and called it a day. I'm not fussing over this one any more, lol!

This afternoon, I'm heading over to my cousin's house to cheer on the Packers in the NFC Championship Game!! Woohoo! We win this, we're off to the Superbowl! I am most definitely sporting my Packer's jersey to church this morning in preparation for the game. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by! Go, Pack, Go!

Supplies-
Stamps- Verve: Blessings
Paper- Whisper White, Kraft, Pure Poppy, Cosmo Cricket dp
Ink- Creamy Caramel, Summer Sun
Accessories- ribbon, button, twine, stickles, scallop edge punch, tea dye stains

Sweet Sunday Sketch #100

Good morning! It's back to work with me today, but that's alright. I'm actually kind of excited for today. My kids are going to be planting our classroom garden, and we're continuing our weather unit in science (and you know my little obsession with weather! LOL). Plus, a short week is always a great week.


It's time to celebrate sketch number 100 over at Karen Giron's blog. Sweet Sunday Sketch #100, that is. Incredible!! Of course, I had to play along. No excuses this week. I have had an absolute blast playing along since sketch #1, and am looking forward to 100 more!

I finally made it over to Michael's to pick up some doilies for my cards. I've seen these all over the place; definitely a hot trend right now. I had to join in on the fun! I stained the edges of every panel with my tea dye stains to tone down the bright colors. This little Love Birds set was calling my name once more (love the fact that there is a die for that birdcage!), and since Valentine's Day is coming up around the corner, it seemed appropriate for this card. Maybe I'll send it off to my sister. :)

Tonight the roomie and I are off to Taco Tuesday and Bible Study. We joined a new study last week and we're working our way through the book of Exodus. Love! One of my favorite parts of studying the Bible is learning the history and how that is not only relevant to the rest of scripture/history, but to our own lives. Seeing correlations between the words spoken in the OT and the NT always make me excited.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a lovely day!

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Love Birds
Paper- Sweet Blush, Kraft, Regal Rose
Ink- Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose
Accessories- ribbon, apron lace punch, doily, dimensionals, jewels, tea dye stains

Mojo Monday

What an absolutely glorious afternoon! I truly hope the weather is just as gorgeous wherever you are today. It truly feels like spring here (82 degrees!), the sun is out, and the sky is bright blue without a cloud in sight. I've got to enjoy it because the forecast is for winter to sneak back in later this week.


It's a holiday here in the US, and we're celebrating MLK Day.... Which also means I get a lovely day off of school. I have filled my day off with reading, stamping (of course), some cooking and soon to be baking, laundry, and a quick run to a Jewish deli to satisfy my lunch craving. :)

The card I have to share with you today is a double challenge. I loved this week's Mojo Monday sketch and knew immediately I wanted to use some of my new Verve goodies on it. Enter Emery the Elephant. Isn't he adorable?! I knew I had to have him the moment he made his sneaky peak debut. Which transitions nicely into the second challenge... Verve's Diva Dare for January (formerly the Project Parade). The challenge this month is to create a baby-themed card, project, etc. Well, with my new Verve stamps, this was easy! I combined Emery with a sentiment from To the Moon and some stars from Starstruck. The stars had swirly tails attached, but I just cut them off.

I stamped Emery twice, cutting out his head on the second one to pop up. I colored with him with some copics, and then stamped a tiny star from To the Moon to place on his tummy. I covered all three of the stars with Cinnamon stickles for some sparkle. I am so in love with how this card turned out! The roomie liked it so much, she's already claimed it for a cousin expecting a baby boy. Which means I'll have to stamp something on the inside as well (she always checks, silly girl!). Good thing there are some cute sentiments in this set, as well!

I hope your Monday is off to a great start! Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- Verve: To the Moon, Starstruck
Paper- Baja Breeze, Dark Chocolate, Very Vanilla, October Afternoon Thrift Shop & Fly a Kite dp
Ink- Memento Tuxedo Black, Chocolate Chip
Accessories- ribbon, twine, button, stickles, dimensionals, nestabilities, copics, tea dye stains

Feeling Wacky

Good evening! I was scouring through the blogosphere for some challenges to do (is it possible that I've caught up?! Gasp!), when I noticed that my friend Maureen had issued another Waccky color challenge on her blog.

Now, I have to admit that the colors threw me for a little loop. The fine linen, pinks, and purples I could handle. That little pop of dark green, eek! I fell back on my usual fall-back whenever greens are involved: leaves! And since I needed to get some color on here, buttons and jewels were in order.

I shot the picture with the green in the background, but now that I stare at it, perhaps I should re-shoot this picture with a lighter background. The card is so soft and that background feels hard...

Thanks for the inspiration today, Maureen!

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Blooming Button Bits, Mat Stack 1 Collection
Paper- Melon Berry, Fine Linen, Distressed Dots dp
Ink- Handsome Hunter, Vintage Cream
Accessories- ribbon, copic marker, jewels, buttons

Sketch For You To Try

Good evening! I am pleased to report that today went MUCH better than yesterday, lol. Today, we were lice-free, crying-kid free, and problem-free! Woohoo! And to make matters even better, we have a three-day weekend in honor of MLK Day. I am soooo looking forward to some good sleeps. :)

Here is baby card number two, as promised. It's a bit of a style departure for me, using a chipboard decoration, and bold graphics, but I really really like how it turned out! The sketch is courtesy of this month's Sketch For You to Try. I was going to add some Raspberry Fizz ribbon, but thought the twine spoke a little more subtly. A few pink jewels a la Maureen, and voila! One girly baby card! This one is heading right on out to its recipient tomorrow afternoon. One of my co-workers from my last school is having a baby this spring and we're showing her with some gifts tomorrow. :)

That's it from me this evening. A short and sweet post. Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Bitty Baby Blessings
Paper- Dark Chocolate, Raspberry Fizz, Very Vanilla, MME Ooh La La dp
Ink- Chocolate Chip, Raspberry Fizz
Accessories- twine, jewels, tea dye stains, dimensionals, MME chipboard

Sweet Sunday Sketch #99

Good afternoon! It's amazingly warm here today for a January day (hello 82 degrees!) and I am proud to say that I wore a short-sleeved shirt to work. Incredible. Three days ago, I was wearing multiple layers trying to keep warm. Go figure.


Ah, today was quite the ride. It all began well. It was quiet, calm, and smooth. And then my classroom phone rang. My absent student had lice! Eek! Time to check the heads of the class. Fortunately we were all clear. Phew! But I still had phantom head itchiness for the rest of the day. I am most definitely taking a long, hot, hard-scrubbing shower tonight!

I came home from work today, however, determined to crank out a card or two in the studio. Here is the first finished product for the evening. I have babies on the brain again, lol. My cousin and her husband just had their baby boy on Tuesday (1-11-11!), which brought little boy cards into my head. And when I sat down to stamp, the cutest baby shower invitation was staring at me. One of my old co-workers is having a baby this spring and we're having a shower for her on Saturday. This inspired card #2 that I'm saving to share with you tomorrow.

I played around with my sewing machine a bit on this card, mixing stitch patterns, and creating some fancy sewn ribbon (love!). I didn't have pearls in the right colors, so I took some funky orange colored ones and used a copic marker on top to change the color. Oh, and the sketch is Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch. She's had some great ones lately! And can you believe this is number 99?! I feel like we just did #1! Time really, truly does fly.

That's all for now! Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Bitty Baby Blessings
Paper- Hawaiian Shores, Very Vanilla, Dark Chocolate, Orange Zest, Autumn Abundance dp
Ink- Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories- ribbon, pearls, copic marker, sewing machine, dimensionals, tea dye stains, nestabilities, medium scallop die (PTI)

Viva la Verve!

Good morning! I have another Viva la Verve card to share with you today. I'm attempting to get all caught up before I fall hopelessly behind in the first month of challenges, lol! I absolutely love this week's sketch by Charmaine. The layers, the ribbon.... It's a recipe for a gorgeous card.

I was feeling the purples when I made this card, and that's exactly what happened.

I pulled out some purple dp and started to mix-n-match. I have a few little cousins with birthdays coming up, so this will probably go to one of them. I added lots of little purple jewels to the sentiment, added tons of tea dye staining, and a little stitching around the border.

I'm off to book club after work this evening. I'm so excited to discuss our book from this last month, Room. It was an intense, but strangely enjoyable read. As a person whom works with kids day in and day out, observing how the son in this story was raised through the extreme hardships, was fascinating! My mom recommended this book to me, and I couldn't help but recommend it for my book club. It is definitely going to be an interesting discussion.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Mat Stack 2 Collection, Verve: Birthday Bash
Paper- Lavender Moon, Plum Pudding, Whisper White, Pretty Pastels dp, Bitty Dots dp, Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather dp
Ink- Plum Pudding
Accessories- ribbon, tea dye stains, dimensionals, Mat Stack 2 Die, circle punches, Taylor's Tiny Twinkles, sewing machine, buttons

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Good morning! It's a chilly but gorgeous morning here in So Cal. But what truly makes today special is that it is my amazing mom's birthday. Therefore, I am going to take the opportunity to brag on my mom a little bit today. :)


My mom has always been my biggest cheerleader. Whenever something wonderful is happening, she's there. When I'm wallowing, she's a comfy should to cry on. When I need to orally process every detail of my life, I know my mom is only a phone call away. She gives the most amazing, practical advice when my head is in a tizzy. My mom is beautiful, inside and out. She's one of the most organized people I have ever known (maybe that's where I get it from... hmmm...). She makes the absolute best chicken noodle soup with matzo balls, and while we're talking about food, let's throw latkes in there, too. :) She's a fellow bookaholic and has great book recommendations! I know she's always up for a run to Cantor's, or a trip to the ballet, or a Josh Groban concert. My mom has been an amazing example of God's love in my life, and I consider myself one of the most blessed people every single day to get to call her my mom.

So, Happy Birthday, Mom! This card's in the mail on it's way to you. ;)

Have a beautiful Sunday. Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Mat Stack 1 Collection
Paper- Fine Linen, Very Vanilla, Dark Chocolate, October Afternoon Thrift Shop dp
Ink- Chocolate Chip, Ocean Tides
Accessories- ribbon, jewels, copic marker, dimensionals, Mat Stack 1 Die (PTI)

Sweet Sunday Sketch #98

Good evening! Long time no see! I'm just going to skip the excuses (life, holidays, illness) and jump straight into stamping talk. Oh, how I've missed my stamps, and my dp. My inks. Ribbon. Especially, ribbon. Jewels. Tea dye stains. Dimensionals. *sigh*

Lots of goodies showed up on my porch during the winter break and they have been begging me to play with them. Some fun new PTI stamps as well as some new dp made it onto this card. I couldn't choose just one to work with! They were all begging to be used! The dp is Echo Park's Wintertime line, and some new Dawn McVey stamps called my name in the last PTI release. I'm always stumped when it comes to tall vertical images, and I thought this little birdcage just might help solve that problem.



I used Karen's gorgeous Sweet Sunday Sketch for this week to aid this card on it's path to completion. I have to admit, that I really loved the circle image on this card. I know... Weird, right? I borrowed a sentiment from another new to me PTI set, Mat Stack 1 Collections.

As for me at this moment, I'm tired! We started back at work this week, and it really feels like the first or second week of school again. I come home exhausted, ready for bed. I am enjoying being back at work, though. I have to admit that I really do enjoy my little munchkins. I have such a great group this year! And I inherited a new kiddo on Monday whom seems to be the perfect finishing touch on our family. We're getting ready to dive into a weather unit in science, which is perfect considering the crazy weather we've been having down here so far (27 inches of rain in 6 days about two weeks ago!!!! Ice all over my windshield every morning for the last few days). I live in So Cal! This is really not normal. But I am LOVING it! Any weather makes me happy.

Ok. Enough out of me. Time for dinner, some brainless TV time, and then bed. :) Thanks for sticking with me through my little stamping vacation (both planned and unplanned).

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Love Birds, Mat Stack 1
Paper- Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Echo Park Wintertime dp
Ink- Going Gray, Pure Poppy
Accessories- ribbon, jewels, dimensionals, nestabilities, scallop edge punch

A Winter Wonderland

Hello out there! Anyone still here?! Happy New Year!!!

I ended taking a little bit longer break from stamping than I ever planned. It's been a crazy, crazy last month around here. I've been sick, grandma's been in the hospital (she's home now, yay!), travelling, more travelling, wrapping up the classroom for break, parties..... Need I go on? Stamping was the thing that just got placed on the cutting room floor, unfortunately.

And I still have no stamping to share with you today. But I do have pictures! I've been up at my parents' house for the last week and one half, and of course I took my camera along for the ride. We had a mini college friends reunion for the last few days (also at my parents' house), and had a riotously wonderful time.

My hometown has been absolutely DUMPED on by snow. It's officially the snowiest December on record up there. So crazy! I've never seen so much snow up there at Christmastime. Mammoth Mountain currently has the most snow in the world. Does that help put it into perspective? lol It pretty much snowed everyday that I was home, and was freezing cold! The high temperature for half of my stay was only in the mid-teens. Brrr!

So, without further ado, a few of my favorite pictures from the last week.

We decided to try and photograph the sunset out at Mono Lake (the tufa are amazing). However, we missed the sunset, there was a snowstorm, it was 18 degrees, gray, gloomy, and very "doomsday" looking, and the wind was screaming at a good 30mph (can you say below zero wind chill... Brrr!). Oh, well. This picture pretty much does this photo shoot justice.

Looking the other direction at Mono Lake. I was using some of the tufa as a wind shield.

The very next day, it looked like this outside. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. We should have waited to go to Mono Lake, lol. This is the view from my parents' house, by the way. Bluebird day!

There is something truly magical about macro shots. I think they are my favorites. This little beauty is actually on my computer desktop right now. Something about the stark aspen trunk and the snow, with a little hint of the evergreen pine tree sneaking into the right side.... Love.

This may be my favorite shot of the trip. Who knew tree stumps could be so beautiful?! Even better.... This was shot in my front yard with me leaning on a snow burm seven feet tall, lol. Thank goodness for snowboots!

Last, but not least, I stole this picture (with permission, lol) from one of my friends. This was the whole group up at the cabin for New Year's. We even managed to coerse the parents into being in the photo. And it's snowing in this picture. You should be able to see the mountains behind us..... Instead, it's white. And did I mention cold? 17 degrees!

Thanks for putting up with another photo blog post! I love to share other little "pieces" of me every now and then. This also lets you know I'm still alive.... Just out playing. :)

Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully, I'll be back in a few days with a card to share.