Monday, May 30, 2011

Patriotic Icons and Memorial Day

Today I want to share with you a card I made (before surgery, as is this post!) using Patriotic Icons from Sparkle N Sprinkle.  This set has everything you need to make wonderful tributes to our country and its patriots! Plus it is on sale this month!


I stamped my images in Indigo Versacolor pigment ink and then embossed the Liberty Bell with Nautical Embossing Powder. I love patriotic cards! 

And thank you to all of the families with military connections, whether present or past. You are so appreciated!

Want to help support our Troops? Check out Operation Write Home.  It has sent over one MILLION cards to Troops all over the world!


Challenges for this card:
Bunny Zoe's - lace (doily)
Kaboodle Doodles - show your country's colors
KB Cute Monday - anything goes
My Partner in Crafting Crime - uncolored image
Squigglefly - use 3 of something (buttons, definitions)
There She Goes - teal, red, ivory

Thursday, May 26, 2011

You Make My Heart Sing

I am writing this post almost a week ahead, but as you are reading this, I am probably in La-La Land. I thought that today's post would fit perfectly with this cute little bird singing la-la-la!

Why am I in La-La Land?  Today I am scheduled for carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand and left elbow.  That is stage 1. Stage 2 is the right hand and right elbow scheduled for next month.  I have no idea how long it will take to recover, or when I will get to stamp.  I am going to try one-handed by Monday, and I hope that things will turn out okay and that I am not making ugly. :) I don't think I can wait 4-6 weeks for each side to be able to stamp!  I have been putting this off for four years though, and now is the time.

I can't talk on the phone, wash my hair, sleep, type, stamp, or drive without my hands going numb.  So enough is enough and I am under the care of a very good doctor right now.  I told him I didn't want to hear ANYthing, and he said to tell them I wanted to be "snowed." No general, just a block and some La-La medicine! :)

Am I nervous? Yes. Everything I do involves my hands.  I have played piano in church almost every Sunday since I was 10 years old (yep!) and now I will be taking the whole summer off. I think I will be forced to learn to stamp CAS better now, don't you? :)

Anyway, my card today is made with a vintage image from TLC Creations called You Make My Heart Sing. I watercolored using dye inks and an aqua brush. Designer paper is the Annalee line by Prima. I think it's so sweet.

Thanks for stopping by today - wish me luck - and I hope to be back soon~!

Challenges for this card (added later!):
Crafting For All Seasons - anything goes
Color Throwdown 143 - So Saffron, Old Olive, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, Bashful Blue
A Spoonful of Sugar - things with wings
Bearly Mine - die cuts and lace
Scrap-Creations - at least 3 different DPs
Paper Take Weekly - pretty pastels

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

What's Shakin'........Jack?

Oh my goodness! It has been raining for over 24 hours straight (and I mean pouring!).  Last night we had tons of thunder and close lightning and I couldn't get Blogger to cooperate with me.  I do love rainstorms, but my newly planted lettuce and tomatoes have had enough. Last night I had to pour off the water (almost 2 inches) on the lettuce.  I have my garden in pots on my porch because we have lots of little bunnies around looking for snacks! This morning I have had to restart my computer several times to even sign in here to do my post. But here I am and glad for being inside. And glad to be able to type with two hands for the last time for about a month.....and we don't have to water the grass! So, there are lots of good things too. LIKE.......MOONSCAPE!
Today at the Hambo Hoedown, the Moonscape background is the image for the Bacon Bits to work with.  It has so many fun possibilities, and you have to go see what the team made with it.  There are some great samples today!

For my card, I used Moonscape plus Hammer Time.  That jackhammer is making some big craters! The optional challenge is to add texture, and I pulled out some fibers to add to my sentiment tag to look like a meteor or comet.  I haven't used fibers in forever.  Remember when they were all the rage and you saw them on almost every card?  I have tons of them all wrapped around cute little embroidery thread cards, and am on a mission (to the moon?) to use them up! Click on the card for a close-up!

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you will check out the Hambo challenge we have every Wednesday.  We have tons of fun! Next week we will be announcing our new Design Team and have a special treat to show you then.  I want to give a personal shout out to our current team in the Frying Pan: 
THANK YOU
* Christy * Hannah * Joy * Karin * Melissa * Silke *
You all have been wonderful to work with!

Other challenges for this card:
Digital Tuesday - digi plus texture
Top Tip Tuesday - 2 or more stamps (rubber or digi)
Stamping Scrapping Central - masculine
Stamps R Us - digital
2 Sisters - Use a Digi

Stamps: Moonscape- digi and Hammer Time - digi by Hambo Stamps; sentiment by TLC Creations
Paper: GP White, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Only Orange, Twilight DP (Memory Box)
Ink: Copics, computer
Accessories:Sizzix tag die, fibers

Sunday, May 22, 2011

It's a Surprise Birthday Hop!

Today is a birthday celebration for Jessica, owner of There She Goes.  A few of her friends have put together some special wishes for her in a surprise blog hop! Don't miss out on any of the wishes. The beginning of the hop starts at Angela's blog.  If you came here from Joy's blog, you are on track!

It's the weekend, and I am trying to stamp more CAS designs on weekends.  Layers upon layers is my usual style.  There is a reason, as this Thursday I will be having surgery on my left wrist and elbow for carpal tunnel syndrome.  Hurray! One-hand stamping! At least I hope I can swing it.  And I figure CAS will be the easiest way to do that. Fingers crossed that I can stamp at all!

In any case, here is my birthday wish for Jessica!  I used Thinking of You, the first TSG set that I bought during the first months of TSG's beginnings!

I stamped my images using Real Red, Only Orange, Yoyo Yellow and Green Galore markers (Stampin' Up!). I added my Clear Spica Glitter pen to the flowers and they are so sparkly, which my picture doesn't show.  Imagine it :)

A little Cuttlebug, a little red, orange and yellow Baker's Twine (Really Reasonable Ribbon), a tag, and Happy Birthday, Jessica! I will be thinking of you tomorrow on your special day.  Hope you were surprised~!

Now on the the amazing Julie Lacey.  I am always wowed by what she makes and I know you will be too~!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the hop!

Challenges for this card:
Card Cupids - bright and bold
Dream Valley Challenges - old and new (stamps and twine)
Alphabet Challenge - CAS
Fashionista Friday - CAS
Ribbon Carousel - CAS

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Some Graduation Pictures and FUN news!

As many of you know, my baby graduated from high school last Sunday.  It was a crazy week leading up to the ceremony, as I was trying to catch up on 5 years of scrapbooking in a week, planning a reception (they are practically like wedding receptions here), and having family from Arizona and North Carolina.  Plus end of the year talent shows at school (which turned out great).

In any case, I wanted to share some pictures.  I am so proud of my daughter and all she has done. The week before, at her Thespian banquet she won Best Thespian for 2011 and Outstanding Performance Awards for all three plays she was in this year.  Since she is majoring in Theatre, that really meant a lot to her.  Here is a picture at the banquet.
And here are a couple of pictures from her high school graduation ceremony and before:

Definitely Joy #18 (and she is 18!).  She will be moving about 15 hours away for college, but hey, my son was 22 hours away.  I can drive this in a long day!! :)  The reception was perfect - we had over 200 people there and she was so touched by that (as we were).

And now for more Joys and good news.  Remember this card and the Mother of All Blog Hops for There She Goes? I won one of the most awesome prizes ever for it! I won a $100 shopping spree at There She Goes (easy and done and they are on their way to me!) AND the chance to work with Jessica (owner) on designing a stamp set! We are talking about ideas and what vision I might like to do.  Isn't that cool???  

Joy #19. :)

Thanks for stopping by today. Scroll down one post and join the Hambo Stamps "Hamming It Up at the Movies" blog hop! It is so fun to see all the movie titles made with Hambo Stamps!



Friday, May 20, 2011

It's A Movie Blog Hop with Hambo Stamps!

Welcome to "Hamming It Up At the Movies" sponsored by Hambo Stamps! Today Hambo customers and the Bacon Bits Design Team are bringing you fun creations that depict movie titles! It might be our favorite movie, or just one that was fun to design. I have so many ideas for movies from Hambo Stamps that we will just have to do this again! It was hard to decide which one to do~

If you arrived here from Ree's blog you are in the right place! If not, you might want to start back at the beginning at the Hambo blog to make sure you are eligible for the hopper prize!
A prize will be awarded to one participant whose movie-themed creation tickles the Bacon Bits’ fancy in a hammin’ jammin’ way!  Another prize will be awarded randomly to a hopper who comments on all the blogs along the way. The winners will be announced on the Hoedown blog, as well as on the Hambo company blog, Talk to the Ham, on Wednesday, May 25.

I have been trying to make more CAS (Clean and Simple) cards on weekends beginning this summer.  It is very hard for me, as I am known for lots of layers! But today's creation is a one layer card depicting......PATTON!  I remember seeing this movie as a young girl and remembering how gruff George C. Scott was! Scary too.


But my little Camouflage Bear is as cute and non-scary as can be! The inside says "Many Tanks!". The Tank is available at Hambo here. I wanted to be able to make and send several of these to our Troops. Camouflage Bear is an adorable set that you must really check out. And while you are at it, check out Operation Write Home, a wonderful organization that sends cards to Troops. In fact, Camouflage Bear was designed to help OWH!

I printed the Bear on my Naturals Ivory CS first, then stamped the Tank with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored all with Copic markers.

Be sure to leave a comment on every blog in the Hop, so you are eligible for prizes!! Thanks for "Hamming It Up At the Movies" with us today! We hope you enjoyed your stay.

If you played in our guessing game at the Hoedown this week, maybe you guessed that I made this card:
Lots of Judy-typical layers! Soda Shop Pigs and Hogs and Kisses are available HERE. My chipboard heart was stamped with VersaColor Neptune Pigment ink and then embossed with Amour Embossing powder. The designer paper is by Kaiser and Baker's Twine is by Really Reasonable Ribbon. My border punch is by Martha Stewart and dies are by Spellbinders. The clear button was from my stash. 

Don't miss out on some great sale deals this weekend with Hambo at the RSC "Virtual Convention" going on now through Monday, May 23. See Hambo's blog post yesterday for the sale details!

You made it all the way to the end of the hop! Be sure to leave a comment and have a GREAT day!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Who's Who???

Over at the Hambo Hoedown challenge blog today we have a fun game for you! Guess the Mystery Designer!
One of the cards might be mine even! To play, all you have to do is guess who made what and the winner receives an assortment of cards from the Bacon Bits~!  

On Friday, Hambo is sponsoring "Hamming It Up At the Movies" - a blog hop featuring Hambo Stamps and movie titles! We will reveal the mystery designers that day too, so mark your calendars! The hop starts at 7 AM CST at Talk to the Ham.
Whose card is whose??

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

It's a Not So Macho Masculine Card Blog Hop!

Welcome to Sparkle N Sprinkle's "Not So Macho Masculine Card" Blog Hop! If you hopped here by way of Linda's blog, then you're in the right spot. If you'd like to start from the beginning and become eligible for great prizes, then click here. My contribution to the terrific GRAND PRIZE is my favorite Starfire Glitter.  You can use it on practically everything and it has such a pretty shimmer.

Both of my cards are made with an awesome set called 1900 Cars, which is on sale this month! It has five images and four sayings.  Here is the first one:

My image is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and watercolored using dye inks and reinkers. Here is the second card I made:
Again, I stamped in Tuxedo Black ink and watercolored.  My sentiments are embossed with Copper Embossing Powder.  Click each photo for a close-up and a clearer picture! Directions and supplies are listed at the SNS website here.

Be sure to leave a comment here to be eligible for the prizes! Afterwards, hop on over to Joan's blog, where she has something to show you too~!
Thanks for stopping by!

Other challenges for these cards:
Creative Craft Challenge - vintage/distressed
jac-inks Papercraft - heat embossing
Try It On Tuesday - Tag Week - one for the boys (sentiment tags)
Cards for Men - someone special
Kaboodle Doodles - lots of layers
Pollycraft - Boyz to Men
Stamps R Us - masculine

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Peas Anyone?

Well, it's not the weekend, but I did another CAS card for today - just to see if I could make a card in less than an hour! HA! I barely made it - but I included all the thinking time, and photographing and uploading, so I guess that's not too bad.
I made this for two challenges on SCS today: Teapot Tuesday 145 and Color Challenge 322.You can click on the links to see exactly what the challenges are. These CAS cards might just grow on me!

I am crazy working on scrapbook pages for the graduation reception Sunday, but needed a break today. I also want to share that I was a finalist with THIS CARD at Amber's Crafts and Stuff challenge blog!

And I was Top Three at Going Grey with Scrap-Creations with THIS CARD.


Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you are having a PEAS-ful week~!
Stamps: Vegtastic by Paper Smooches
Paper: PTI White, Barely Banana
Ink: Copics, Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Spellbinders Circle die, ric rac
Other challenges for this card:
Scrap Creations - circles
Critter Sketch - green and yellow





Saturday, May 7, 2011

TSG Mother of All Blog Hops!

Happy Mother's Day! 
Welcome to the 2nd annual Mother of All Blog Hops sponsored by There She Goes Clears Stamps! I am excited to join in the fun today. I have always loved TSG and just never seemed to find the time to create with what I had.  So today is the day~! If you’ve arrived here from Angela's blog, Sparkle and Bling, then you are in the right spot! If not, you will want to start back on the There She Goes team blog in order to find out what you need to do to be eligible for the prizes being offered!

My card is made using Crafty Taglines. It's such a funny, whimsical set that came out in 2009. The images and sentiments are on a small scale, and so is my card! After participating in the CAS-ual Fridays challenge yesterday, I decided that weekends this summer I will try to do more CAS, and let the weekdays be for my layers and embellishments! We will see how it goes. In any case, here is my little card with its big statement~!

Again, click on the photo to see a clear picture.  Anyone know why Blogger is blurring up the pics here slightly until you click?

(If you read some of the comments, I did have a second card but after sleeping on it (well not actually on the card), I decided I really didn't like how it turned out.  So enjoy the one~!


Thanks for stopping by today! Now onto one of my favorite stampers, whose creations are so full of fun color - she inspires me every time she makes something:

Stamps: Crafty Taglines by There She Goes
Paper: Cool Caribbean, More Mustard, PTI White, The Paper Studio Textured Brights Pink
Accessories: buttons, Spellbinders dies, small oval punch, baker's twine (RRR), Cuttlebug EF, EK Success border punch

I Love Me Some Pinwheels~!

I am in love with this little pinwheel.  I could put it on my cards all week!  Yes, there is the problem of figuring out how to mail these, but hey, I am hand-delivering, so it's okay~! 

The pinwheel die is available at Lil' Inker Designs and comes with an adorable stamp set that has so many fun sentiments to use with the pinwheels.  I plan to ink that up later this week. The sentiment above is by TLC Creations - one of the freebies that Paulette gave away this week~!

Laura has some adorable samples at Lil' Inker Designs - and a great flag and banner set that should be in my mailbox sometime next week.  Check out everything HERE. I ordered two pinwheel dies, just because it wasn't that much more, although at the time I was thinking "Why do I need two?"  And now that I have them in my hot little hands, I can see that two are delightfully fast and you can cut twice the pinwheels in the same amount of time.  DUH.  Blonde hair, you know. :)


The second card is made for the new CAS-ual Fridays challenge that debuted today HERE. What a fun challenge, and one that is DEFINITELY a challenge for me.  You don't see too many CAS cards on my blog or in my gallery.  It's hard for me.  In fact, see that white space in the corner? I wanted to fill it with brads and buttons and all sorts of stuff.  But I didn't! I had to set it aside so I would leave the white space!! 


The challenge today was to use text in your design somehow.  I chose a designer paper by The Paper Studio and made a graduation card - one of many that I will need in the next week~!

And now I am off to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day by working on my daughter's scrapbooks~! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by~!

Challenges for #1:
Stamp Something - use a digi 
Digital Tuesday - ribbon and lace
House of Gilli - layers and stitching 
Lexi's Creations - friendship
Stamp With Fun - lace or ribbon

Challenges for #2:
Cupcake Craft - something that starts with C - Congrats paper


Challenges for both:
Divas By Design - anything goes
Paper Take Weekly - anything goes

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Teapot Tuesday

I always knew this year would fly -- it happened the same way with my son's senior year in high school.  I think this year seemed to go by even faster, perhaps because it's my last child graduating.  And it's in 12 days.  That seems so strange to me, and I am not sure I have even grasped that.  I am sure I haven't, as we are having a reception and 200 people have said they are coming and I am not panicked yet. WHEEEEEEEEE!


I feel like this butterfly (although definitely not so elegant looking) - flitting from place to place and never settling long enough to get much done! I did get this card done, though, so that is something! You can read all about today's Teapot Challenge HERE. My sentiment is by TLC Creations.

Other challenges for this card:
A Spoonful of Sugar - white + plus 1 other color
Claudia & Co. - butterflies
Clear It Out - ribbon/trim
Scrap Creations - bug themed
Paper Take Weekly - anything goes
The Stamping Boutique - winged things
Try it On Tuesday - older than 6 months (the DP and Spellbinders die) and newer than 6 months (butterfly and sentiment)
Top Tip Tuesday - open

And a few awards I am excited about! THIS CARD received a Top Three at the Gingerloft Challenge Blog. And THIS CARD won Top Three at Creative Inspirations Paint this week. 
THIS CARD won Top Three at Stampin' Royalty~! YIPPEE :)
Top Picks
Stamps: sentiment by TLC Creations
Paper: Basic Black, GP White, stash DP
Accessories: butterfly (Prima), Spellbinders die, MFT die, pearls, flowers and ribbon (HL)