Calendar Page and Christmas Doings

Okay, I know it's been a week since I last posted. I just got so darn irritated with myself when I realized that the cute little gifts I made last Thursday were already given away and I hadn't taken any photos to share with you. And I'm telling you they were adorable. I made Milk Bath from a recipe I have here and filled Starbucks bottles with the mixture. I covered the bottle and lid with cute paper and a tag and ribbon and eyelets and the whole nine yards. So cute! I wish you could see!!

Anyway, since I can't show you those, I have the first Desk Calendar page to show you. January was the month I did and I love the way this page turned out. I started with the Brocade Blue base and randomly stamped snowflakes over it with Night of Navy and Brocade Blue and Versamark. The focal image is on glossy paper. First I stamped the trees with Versamark and then brayered over the whole piece with Bashful Blue. Then I stamped the snowflakes with Versamark and brayered over the whole piece again with Brocade Blue. It gives the snowflakes a softer look than the trees. Then I used my white gel pen to add several highlights to the trees. This was then mounted onto white and then Night of Navy. Ribbon is Navy and White grosgrain with a small tag punched. The small snowflake there was stamped in Night of Navy and I wrote the month with the marker of the same color.

I will share some of the other months with you soon. I still need to order my 6x6 Desk Calendar to put the whole thing together.

I've been busy with my baking and Christmas activities this week. I've got my Sugar Cookies baked but not yet frosted, I made my first batch of Fudge yesterday and did some more Christmas shopping. Tonight is my son's Show Choir Christmas Program at school. He has a solo and is so excited. I had better remember to bring the kleenex. I always get teary eyed when children sing and even more so when they are my kids! I'm such a sap!

Have a great day!

The Last Two Bella Journal Pages

Today I am showing you the last two of the Bella Journal Pages. Let's start with Karen's. I love the Olive Green with the Deep Purple shown on her pages. Karen and I share love for junk food, candy and crafts.

And last but not least is Mary's pages. I love the title of her page: A Few of My Favorite Things. Why didn't think of that for the title of my book? What a "duh moment". Anyway we share love of the color purple, thunderstorms and music.

I have had such a great time reading through each entry and admiring every one's art. Next time I post I will show you some pages for a 6x6 desk calendar. I haven't actually purchased the calendar yet, but I was in a swap. I did twelve of one month and so did eleven other people. I'll be sharing my favorites.

Today I actually spent some time creating. I made a few Christmas gifts. I am looking forward to sharing them with you soon also.

Have a great day! I hope that you are enjoying this holiday season as much as I am.

More Bella Pages and Holiday Ramblings

So here is Chris' Bella page. I love the bright colors of pink and orange. They look great together. So the topic was 10 Things I Love, right? I share several of those with Chris: scrapbooking, photography, spring and fresh laundry. I just don't particularly like to fold all that fresh laundry. Ya know?

Elana also did a fabulous page. We share the love of Grey's Anatomy, pedicures and Bath & Body Works.

Tonight my oldest son, Jacob, is performing in the Drama Christmas Showcase at school. He has had a lot of fun working on his skits. He will be Santa Claus in one of the skits. I am really looking forward to seeing the show tonight. The whole family including grandparents will be there to cheer him on. Next week we'll get to see him singing and dancing in the Show Choir Christmas Show. He even has a solo!

I started my holiday baking yesterday. I got some Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies done and mixed a batch of sugar cookie dough. Yeah, me!

Christmas Traditions and Journal Pages

Happy December! I'm having so much fun with all the holiday preparations and activities. Yesterday we went to the town Christmas Parade. One of our daughters marched in the parade with her JRROTC unit from school. Today we are heading to the Creche Festival. It's a lovely annual event here in town where there are over 1,000 nativity scenes on display. Here's a picture of a nativity that my kids got me for Christmas this year. I got to open it early so that I can decorate with it. I've been collecting creches since I first went to the Creche Festival. Musicians lend to the Christmas atmosphere. We are especially looking forward to the handbell group and the men's quartet.

Today I am sharing two of the pages from my Bella Circle Journal. These pages were done by Alicia and Anouk. They both did a great job. Alicia's page is so colorful! I love all the scalloped circles and the polka dotted paper.

On Anouk's pages I love the glittery pom-poms and the great background paper. She did a great job!

Oh, go Elf yourself!

Okay, this is the funniest thing!! Beckie sent me a link to a great website. You get to plug your face into an elf and then it does a cute little dance. I made an elf of myself and my two daughters. You can see my elf here. Then you will get the opportunity to make one yourself. Try it. It's hilarious!

Grace's Bella Page

I've got another page for your from my completed Circle Journal. This page was done by Grace. She did a great job. I love the way she "dressed" her Bella! Also the circles with her information are computer generated. They say Love It all the way around the circle which is then punched out. Too cute! I want to know how to do that! So very cool!

When I sent my Circle Journal out on it's merry way around the country I hadn't decorated the front and back cover. I was worried about it looking terrible after so much handling. So I just finished with the covers the other day. I'll share that with you in a few days as well.

Journals & Traditions

Do you remember way back when I started the Bella Circle Journal? I posted several pages when I started. You can see them by clicking on the link for Circle Journals on the right side of the page. Well, the Journal has made it's way around the country and safely back to me all completed. I have to give a big shout out: Thank You!! to Jane for hosting this swap. I know it's a lot of work. So thanks again. Here you can see the pages that Jane did for my Journal. So cute! I love the SuperBella that Jane used here. You can check out Jane's blog here.

I'll be showing you the rest of the pages in the next few days. I highly recommend joining a Circle Journal swap or starting one of your own. They help to stretch you creatively and keep you connected to other stampers and/or friends.

I'm so excited about the Christmas season this year! I started listening to Christmas music on XM radio a week before Thanksgiving and I've already got the house decorated inside and out and we decorated the tree last night. I've also got a good start on my Christmas shopping. No wrapping yet. But I'll get there. I'm really looking forward to starting my baking, too. That is my favorite part of the season. Yummmm...cookies. Frosted sugar cookies are my absolute favorites. I think I'll be starting all that next week.

One of our family's traditions is to buy or make a new ornament for everyone in the family every year. We usually get at least one Tweety Bird ornament, for obvious reasons. We also are partial to Disney, Harry Potter and patriotic ornaments. I also like to pick up an ornament when we travel. Last year we went to Seattle for Christmas and I bought a Space Needle ornament with Santa Claus on top. So cute. I'm thinking of making a little journal featuring some of my favorite ornaments.

What are some of your favorite traditions for the holidays? I love to hear about other's traditions.

Fall Friends

Here is a card that I'm actually happy with! I haven't created a card that I really like in ages! I used that fabulous saying from the Time Well Spent sent that Stampin' Up! has so graciously sent to all of their demonstrators. They are just the best. But anyway, back to the card. I used the leaves from Autumn Leaves inked with the Pumpkin Patch Spectrum Pad. For the leaves on the base of the card I inked the stamp and then misted the stamp with water, stamped it off once onto scratch paper and then stamped it on the card. For the two cutout leaves I stamped them full strength and then cut them out. Then I added a little sponging with the Close to Cocoa pad. I also sponged around the card and the piece with the saying. The saying was stamped in Chocolate Chip and colored in with markers to coordinate with the spectrum pad. The saying piece is layered onto Chocolate Chip and that is layered onto a piece of Garden Green. I also added some knots of natural hemp onto the green piece. The leaves are attached with stampin' dimensionals. I have already put this card into the mail to my good friend in Oregon. It's for her birthday with was Sunday. Oops, I didn't mail it until today. I hope she'll forgive me!

Anyway, I hope that you all had a great holiday. I love Thanksgiving! We took our family picture to add to our Christmas cards. We spent the weekend decorating for Christmas and today hubby put the lights on the outside of the house. Tonight we will actually decorate the tree.

I have several things lined up to share with you...so keep checking back!

Hedgie Hello

Here is a card that I made back in August but I realized that I never shared it with you. So here it is. I used the Fun and Fast Notes Stamp Set. The card is Creamy Caramel with the wheel inked in Pumpkin Pie. The hedgie is watercolored with reinkers and aqua painters. The strip behind is Garden Green with the hedgie layered onto Only Orange with Orange Grosgrain Ribbon warpped around the front of the card.

Thanks for looking. I'm hoping that next week I'll have some new things to show you since my daughter will be back as school.

hello, again. hello...

Wow! has it really been like six weeks since that last little post? I guess that makes sense. That's about how long ago my 11 year old came down with mono. Of course, we didn't know it was mono for the first two weeks. She just kept getting sicker and sicker until the doctor had her sent down to UCLA Medical Center for more tests. The big worry was Luekemia. Thank goodness mono was the extent of it. She has been out of school since though. She will finally be heading back to class next week. She is so excited!! I'm hoping that I'll be able to come up with stamping time and some mojo then. Until then, thanks for thinking of me and checking on my lowly little blog. You're great!

Name Tag

All right, already! Here I am. I've been tagged by my sweet blogger friend, Wanda. Although she's not the only one reminding me that I haven't posted in quite a while. *grin* So Wanda tagged me. Here's the funny new names I have now:

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) - Emily Dodge
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Vanilla Oatmeal
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) M-Twe
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) - Purple Cat
5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) - Twemi
6. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put “The”) The Yellow Pepsi *yuck!*
7. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)- Wally Glenn
8. STRIPPER NAME : ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) Wild Honeysuckle Twix
9.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Sylvia Vernon

Now, of course, I'm supposed to tag five people. But seriously, let's be realistic. How about, if you're one of those people who asked me about posting...consider yourself tagged and leave a link in a comment to this post. It's a pretty fun little game. Try it!

As for posting any artwork, hmmm, I guess I need to stamp to be able to do that. Wish me luck. I seem to have lost my mojo BIG time!

Wanted...more stamps!

Well, who doesn't want more stamps? I know I do! I just love this stamp set! I started with Kraft card stock for the card base. I stamped three of the images randomly using Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip and Close to Cocoa. I stamped the medallion in artichoke on a separate piece of vanilla and punched it out with the scallop circle punch. I also punched a scalloped circle from artichoke card stock and placed that behind the vanilla one. I stamped the flower piece in Chocolate and punched it out and then added it to the medallion with a dimensional. I stamped Wanted in Chocolate on Vanilla (mmm, sounds yummy) and sponged the edges before adding it to chocolate and artichoke layers. The ribbon is attached behind the medallion with glue dots and the whole piece is attached with dimensionals. This card already went off in the mail to Kimber in Arizona. I hope she likes it.

Don't expect a post for tomorrow or Friday. I'll be at Disneyland on Thursday and boating on the lake on Friday. I think I'll be exhausted on Saturday but I'll try to post for you faithful readers! Have a great week!

Tickled Pink

I made this card for my upline and bestest friend, Beckie. She is the greatest! Check out her blog. She sent me the stamp set and wheel featured on this card. And I must say, I didn't deserve it. I started with a Pretty in Pink base and wheeled Fast Flowers in Regal Rose. Next is a layer of Regal Rose with ribbon attached and the next layer is Rose Red with the focal image attached. The cute bird is from the Fun and Fast Notes set. I used re-inkers and Aqua Painters to color in. The sentiment is stamped in Rose Red and punched out using the Word Window Punch. I love this bright and cheery card.

As an aside, when I mounted this set the images and words were attached but I cut the words apart and mounted them on the side instead. This gives me more versatility when I'm making a card. I can omit the words, add the words, or mix up which words and images I want to use together.

Yee haw, Cowboy!

Howdy, Partner! There's a snake in my boots! Yee haw, Cowboy! I'm just getting into the Western mood. My sweet upline, Kimber, sent me this stamp set and here's one of my creations with it. For the bandana looking piece I crumpled a piece of Ruby Red card stock and stamped with Vanilla Craft Ink. The card base in Kraft card stock and the horse is stamped in Close to Cocoa. To get the shadowy effect I stamped the horse full strength at the far right edge. Then without re-inking I stamped it two more times, each time moving over a bit to the left. The word "dream" is from Everyday Flexible Phrases and punched with the Word Window Punch. The edges are sponged and the piece is tied with ribbon to a clip from the Hodgepodge Hardware Kit.

I hope you're having a good summer. I've got Disneyland coming up on Thursday. I'm going with my son who is turning 16 and a friend of his. We will be celebrating both of our birthdays. Mine is the 15th and his is the 18th. Let me know how you like this card. Comments are greatly appreciated!

Just to let you know...

My computer crashed last Saturday and it has been visiting the Geek Squad all week to be repaired. I just got it back this afternoon, so I will post new stamped art tomorrow. Happy August!

Seeing Red

I tried another go at the Big Flowers set. Red was still out on my desk so I went with it. Here's another sentiment from the All Holidays set too.

Today went to see Hairspray. It was pretty fun! Jake wanted to go straight away to buy the soundtrack. But he'll have to wait. The music and dancing were great. Watching John Travolta as a woman was rather odd though.

I've got to go get ready for my workshop tonight. Have a great day!

Paisley Joy

For today's card I used the Polka Dots and Paisley set with the coordinating Petals Jumbo Wheel. I wheeled the background in Certainly Celery and colored in some areas with markers in Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, and Pretty in Pink. The paisley image is also colored in those colors. There are silver brads around the focal image which is layered in celery and Basic Black.

When I made my hubby pick between four card samples this is the one he liked the best. He hates to do that for me. He is totally supportive of my stamping habit but does not like when I ask for his opinion. He says he likes everything. He's a sweetie!

Have a great day. Tomorrow morning I'm taking two of the kids to the movies to see Hairspray. Yeah!

Big Flowers for a Friend

I especially bought the sets Big Flowers and Little Flowers to make swaps for convention. This is my first attempt. I'm not too pleased, really. Although I had envisioned this layout using the new scallop punch which was on back order. It finally arrived on Monday so now I can try again. The sentiment is from the new greeting set: All Holidays. I love this stamp the most in this set. The background is the petals wheel in Real Red. The other colors used here are Old Olive and Night of Navy. The ribbon is Mellow Moss.

Today I am working on projects for a workshop later this week. I have tons to do before convention next week. I'm so glad that I am going to Session 2. I never would have been ready for it to start today! I'm sure everyone that is already there is having a great time! I love Convention!

Journaling Again

Wow! I have had such a busy week! Kids activities, Dr. appointments, laundry, etc. And then there was the weekend. I did little other than read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I finished last night. Now life can get back to normal! We were at the bookstore at Midnight Saturday AM to get our three copies. Yes, three! I needed one, hubby needed one and oldest son needed one. We just could not wait for each other to finish! DS and I have both finished and hubby is about half way through. (He had places to go on Saturday) Anyway, I loved the book! No spoilers here, but, wow! I was not disappointed!!

Today is the mailing date for my Circle Journal Group. So here are the pages. I have completed for Charmaine's Journal. Her theme is travel. I used the So Saffron Prints Paper with Chocolate Chip layers. The stamp set is Polka Dots and Paisley stamped in Chocolate Chip and colored is markers of So Saffron and Almost Amethyst. I added strips of the reverse side of the paper and did paper piercing and faux stitching. I also added a punched flower with a So Saffron brad.

Cards and Movies

Here is another take on yesterday's layout. I used Mellow Moss and Brocade Blue. The stamps are Be Happy and Little Pieces. The ribbon is mellow moss gingham. I think I like this one better than yesterdays. But maybe it's just the color combo.








Here is a slight variation on the same layout. Here I used Mellow Moss, Brocade Blue and So Saffron. The stamp sets are Seeing Spots and Unfrogettable. I also added some paper piercing on the middle strip. I think I like this one the best of all. Please put in your two-cents and tell me which of the three (yesterday and today) do you like the best. I need input!




Hope you all had a great weekend. I went to see Transformers on Saturday. Wow! That was a great movie. I did not expect to be that entertained for 2 1/2 hours. There was not a dull moment in the whole movie. When I saw the first trailer months ago, I thought, oh great, this will be a total waste of time. Boy, I'm delighted to be wrong! Shia LeBoufe (sp?) was so good. We'll be off to see Harry Potter on Thursday afternoon and then at the Barnes and Noble Party on Friday night to get our HP Book 7 at midnight. Yeah!

Be Happy!

I sat down the other night to figure out a swap for convention. This one is my first attempt.

The card stock colors are Brocade Blue, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White. I used the new See You Around Jumbo Wheel in pink on the main background and the white strip through the middle. The tag and flower are from Be Happy and the sentiment is from Polka Dots and Paisley. I tied pink grosgrain around the middle strip before placing it on the card. The tag is attached with dimensionals.

I'm really not sure that I like this card. I'm not sure if it's the color combo or what. What do you think? Dare I make many more of them?

What I've been doing...

I have been spending this summer catching up on the series, Gilmore Girls. I only started watching this a few weeks ago in the afternoons. But my daughters, my son and myself are totally hooked! So we started during the middle of the second season and now ABC Family is into the third season. But we had so many questions about the first season that I bought the entire first season on DVD (used). We have been spending hours every day watching Gilmore Girls. We are also getting one episode a week of the seventh season on the CW (Tuesday nights). It's so weird watching a series like this. We'll watch the DVD's in the morning (season 1). Then we'll catch an episode in the afternoon (season 3). And once a week we get a glimpse of season 7. We have so many question about how Lorelai and Rory got to where they are now. I can't wait to see all the episodes. It's taking about a month per season on the daily episodes so we'll be through everything but season 7 this fall.

There are so many things to love about this show. I wish that I had started watching it in 2000. Although, my kids were too young then for some of the shows content. The dialogue on this show is really very well written. Let me know if you are a Gilmore Gal and maybe catch me up with some details: Like how is that Rory went to Yale instead of Harvard? What does Rory get out of her relationship with Paris? When did Luke and Lorelai get together? Did Lorelai's parents ever accept her? Do Sookie and Jackson have kids?

These are the burning questions on my mind! I haven't even been stamping enough because of this show. But we will be through with season 1 today or tomorrow so that will free up some time.

Okay, I've gone on enough about this. Have a great weekend!

Thanks for the RAK, Heather

I got this beautiful card in the mail the other day from Heather Phillips. Make sure you check out her blog. She has awesome ideas and creative samples there. I love the colors that Heather used on this card. And the simplicity of the design. Thanks so much, Heather!

Petal on the Square

This card is a 5x5 square. I started with Regal Rose paper and stamped the petals with Purely Pomegranate. I cut them out and attached a stamped circle from the Pick a Petal set. I used my 1 1/4" circle punch. I layered my flower onto Wild Wasabi card stock that had Mellow Moss grosgrain wrapped around it with the sentiment added in Wasabi also. This layer was attached to a Confetti White layer and paper pierced along the top and bottom of the wasabi layer. Then I attached the whole this to a Pomegranate card base.

Hope you like! Have a great hump-day!

Red, White and Blue Birthday

For today's sampling I used the stamp sets: Pick a Petal, Little Pieces, & Sincere Salutations. I started with a Real Red card base. The next layer is Bashful Blue with is stamped with the small flower image from Pick a Petal in Bashful Blue. I added a scalloped edge using the corner rounder to make the scallop. I then used the 1/8" circle punch along the scallop. I layered red and white down the side of the card and finished the white edge with another scallop made the same way. I stamped the greeting in Real Red and tied a piece of Red Gingham Ribbon in a square knot before attaching this strip to the card. For the focal image I stamped the flower in Real Red and Bashful Blue then layered circled that had been stamped with Little Pieces and punched with the 1/2" circle punch. And there you have it. I am considering a version of this card for my convention swaps. And I'm going to place a small order from the new catty today. I want more, but I need a few things for swaps and that's all I afford at the moment.

Have a great Tuesday!

Birthday Bella

I participated in a great image swap with the bellaholics anonymous group. I got over 60 bella images to play with. I finally had some time to play the other day and here is what I came up with. The card base is Basic Black. The patterned paper is from the pack at Costco. The sentiment is from SU!'s Everyday Flexible Phrases, then punched with the large circle punch and placed under the strip layer. I colored the cute Bella in with SU!'s awesome markers. This was a super quick card to make. I can't wait to try some more of the images I have.

Today was the first day of school for my 3rd grader. His school is the only one left on the year round tracking system. The rest of the kids don't go back to school until the middle of August. But Matt was looking forward to it and likes his new teacher. The new backpack and lunchbox helped in the excitement department, too.

Have a great day!

Catalog CASEing Challenge

Last night I had some time to stamp. One of the challenges over at SCS was to CASE a card in the new catalog. So I CASEd three. This first one is from page 51 and uses the Be Happy set. The sample in the catalog used Blue Bayou but I substituted Wild Wasabi because I do no have the Blue Bayou ink pad yet. The second card is from page 115. I don't particularly like this card. I think it's just too plain. It features the Office Accoutrement set. The third card is from page 145. I changed the size of this card and used a different sentiment stamped in a different color because I hate to emboss...too lazy! Try copying a card from an idea book or catalog. It can get your creative juices flowing.

The Bella in Me

This week was also the mailing day for the Bella Circle Journal I'm in. For the page on the left I used PMSabella. I paper pieced her clothes and used marker to color the rest of her. The background paper is from the huge stack at Costco, accented with SU! paper in Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip. I also added silver brads where I used my ticket corner punch. The tab is made with the Round Tab Punch.





For this journal entry we were to share the bellas in each of us. I used the same papers here and added a layered, punched flower, attached with another silver brad.

I'm having such fun with these journals. I can't wait for the next one to arrive!

Sum-Sum-Summertime!

I hope you all had a happy and safe holiday yesterday! I took my four kids and one of their friends to the local Six Flags Park. I had never gone to an amusement park on the 4th before and was a little worried about the heat and the crowds. The temperature was at least 101-105 but there was a breeze and lots of shade and the temp started dropping around 4pm. Surprisingly, the crowds weren't too bad. It was a little busy in the early hours of the day but by 3pm there was no wait on older rides and only 30 min waits for the newest, biggest roller coasters. We had a fantastic time and even got to see fireworks!

For today's card I used Summer by the Sea. I stamped with StazOn onto Whisper White and water colored with aqua painters and re-inkers. I also touched up some with markers. The card base is Barely Banana stamped with the Canvas background stamp in banana and sponged around the edges. The focal image is layered with Sage Shadow and Perfect Plum. Light Pink Grosgrain is wrapped around the left edge of the card and tied with a square knot.

I have had this set for quite a long time but only recently have I liked what I have been making with it. Before I would stamp and color and play and then hate what ever I completed. So I'm glad that I have tried again because I like this card. I hope that you do too!

More CJ Pages

More Circle Journal pics today. This is the page where each participant embellishes a tag and leaves it here. I included several items on the front and back about me and requested that each person do the same. For the scalloped circle around my photo, I took a cool idea from Beckie. I punched out several word windows and layered them around the back of my photo to make the scallop. Does that make sense? Let me know if you need more info explaining that one. I know I'm a visual person and sometimes I just don't get those verbal instructions!

Now on to my two-page spread of the theme: Things I Want to do in my Lifetime. So for the stamped image I used the set Summer by the Sea. I water colored it with aqua painters and reinkers and then did final touches with markers. The image is stamped with Staz On onto Watercolor Paper. This paper is awesome! I don't use it very often-because I'm hoarding. LOL You can see that I used Twill Tape and Hodgepodge Hardware as well.



For facing page I added my journaling, listing a few things on my list of things to do. The Journal went out in the mail yesterday to Germany! Let me know when it arrives, Jana!

Have a great day. Tomorrow is the fourth of July and I'm taking my kids to Magic Mountain!! We all love Roller Coasters and my mom is even coming along. The only bad part is that it's supposed to be 105 degrees tomorrow. Yuck!

ETA: The font used here is Retrospect by Creating Keepsakes.

Tagged...Pass It On!

I have been tagged by Beckie. I am supposed to list seven little know facts about myself. I guess it's time you learned some of my little idiosyncrasies.

Here goes:
1. When a drink has ice I must use a straw. Unless that drink is water. Water just doesn't taste right through a straw.
2. I hate feet. Even my own. Keep yours away from me! Yuck. I can tolerate baby feet until about the age of two. Then forget it.
3. I recycle. Not just glass and plastic. I put everything I'm allowed to into my recycling bin. Junk mail, food boxes, etc.
4. I am the new den leader for my son's Cub Scout Troop. This month is the Raingutter Regatta. Too Fun!
5. I got married when I was barely 19. My birthday was just two weeks before the wedding. This August will be 21 years! Yes-That makes 40 next month! How did that happen?
6. I was born on an Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi.
7. I have to be covered when I am sleeping. Even if it's really hot. I just feel too exposed without covers. I will stick me feet out if I get too hot, though.

Okay, there's seven things about me. I hope I kept you entertained. Now I'm supposed to tag 7 more people:
Jana
Charmaine
Libby
Yvette
Paris
Jeanna
Terri

Enjoy the game. It's fun to get to know the people behind the blogs we enjoy!

Circle Journal Preview

Hey there! Long time no blog! Today is the first mail date for the Circle Journal Swap. Here is page one of mine. This is the title page. I have intentionally left the cover un-embellished. I will decorate it when it comes back to me in December. For the background paper I used Brocade Background Paper from the new SU! catty. I used Hodgepodge Hardware and Mellow Moss Grosgrain Ribbon.




Here is page two of the CJ. This is where each participant will sign their name. For the dots on the eyes of "sign in" I used Circle Rhinestone Brads. The stamp is from Stamp of Authenticity.






Here is page three. This is the instructions page.
I will show you the rest of the pages tomorrow. I am really looking forward to seeing the next CJ. It should be here later this week. Yeah!

Thanks to all of you who are participating in the CJ Swap. I hope you are as excited as I am!

Stitched Roses in Winter

I think this set will be the most missed when it retires on June 30th. And not just by me. This is one beloved stamp set! For this card I stamped the rose in Regal Rose and Rose Red and cut it out. I stamped the leaves in Mellow Moss and Old Olive and cut them out, attaching them behind the rose. The rose is attached with dimensionals to a Pretty in Pink layer which has been distressed with the cutter tool kit. That layer is attached to a Rose Red layer that was pierced and faux stitching was added with my white gel pen. The sentiment is stamped in Rose Red onto Pretty in Pink and attached beneath the Rose Red Layer. The twill tape is frayed on the ends and attached to the back of the focal image and the entire piece is attached with dimensionals to the Mellow Moss layer. That layer is stamped randomly with the leaf stem in Mellow Moss. I added copper brads to the corners and put the whole thing onto an Always Artichoke card base.

This is one of those sets that I highly recommend you purchase if you don't already have it. You just can't go wrong here! My biggest regret about this set is that I only just purchased it a few months ago. What was I thinking? I'll be letting go of a lot of my retired sets in July but this won't be one of them.

Wanda pointed out that I have hit the 10,000 mark for hits on my blog! Wow! Thanks to all of you who come by to see what I'm up to. If you haven't already done so, feel free to subscribe to my blog...because it is free! You will get an email every time that I post. It's quick and easy to sign up. Just look for the link on the right!

Bold and Bright

I'm not a huge fan of bold brights but I thought I'd give it a try for this card. The card base is Green Galore stamped with flowers randomly in the same color. The Real Red layer is scalloped using the corner rounder and a piece of black gingham is wound around that. The focal image is on Whisper White stamped with Basic Black and colored with the markers. There is paper piercing in the corners. This layer is attached to Only Orange and the Round Tab Punch is added to the bottom. I stamped the word "friend" from the saying in the set. I used marker to only ink the word I wanted, thus omitting the rest of the saying.

I like the cheery feeling of this card. Maybe I'll have to use a little more brights.

Circle Journal News:: I can add more people to the swap. The cut off will be June 22nd. But be aware that the first mail out day is July 2nd! So if you are still interested please contact me via email with your information and I will forward the guidelines to you.

Baroque Motif in Pomegranate

Hello Stampers! Today I have a card to share with you done in one of the new In Colors and the Baroque Motif set. I'm really liking the richness of the Pomegranate on this card. The card base is Purely Pomegranate stamped in the same color using the flourish stamp. For the focal image I stamped the squarish flower on Confetti Cream and punched the corners with the Ticket Corner Punch. I layered that onto Basic Black and added silver brads. I stamped "kind" in pomegranate and punched out the word using the Round Tab Punch and attached behind the black layer. I wrapped some Black Gingham Ribbon around the card and tied in a square knot before attaching the focal image to the card. This card was quite simple to make. I hope you like!

Circle Journal News: We have eight participants for the Circle Journal. I'm so excited!! We are getting our themes ready and our first mail date will be: July 2nd. My theme will be: Things I Want to do Before I Die. I'm really looking forward to seeing every one's books as they make it through my house. I will post pics as they are available.

Simply Stamped

I recently got this set: Simply Said. I have admired it all year and finally broke down and bought it. I'm so glad that I did! For this sample I stamped three of the flowers randomly over a square of white. I stamped in Regal Rose and Apricot Appeal and added stickles in some of the flower centers. I added a thin black layer and wound a piece of black gingham ribbon around. I then attached this piece to a larger layer of Regal Rose. The card base is White with a layer of black and then a layer of celery patterned paper from the Palette O Prints. I stamped the sentiment in regal rose and punched it out with the large oval punch. I then cut a narrow black layer to make it pop and attached to the ribbon. I put three small black brads from the vintage brads asst. on the side. I used my mat pack to help center the brads.

Have a great Thursday!

Bug in the Guava

No, not in your food, silly! In your ink pad!! I CASEd this cute little bug from Doodledop on Splitcoaststampers. You can see her adorable card here. I used Groovy Guava instead of red because I was using my downline, Alicia's, ink pad that she brought along to Group Meeting last night. I wanted to play with the guava while it was here and I remembered seeing this bug on SCS. So I made the bug by stamping the polka dotted petal from Pick A Petal in Groovy Guava onto Blush Blossom. I then stamped the smile petal over the polka dotted one in black. The head of the bug is half of a large circle stamp and the body is a whole one. I attached my little bug to a 3x3 piece of blush blossom and did some paper piercing around the edges. I also drew in some curly antennae. This layer is then attached to Pumpkin Pie and the whole thing is attached to a guava card with circles stamped in Pumpkin Pie. For "kind" I stamped the word in black onto Blush Blossom and punched it out with the large oval punch. I used my rectangle punch on each end of the oval and wove black grosgrain through the oval and around the card. I'm loving this one. And so did everyone at the meeting because they all ended up making one!!

Have a super day!

Baroque Kindness

Tonight was my June Group Meeting with my downline. We didn't have anything planned so we just played with the new stamps and colors. Susie liked this card so much she asked me to put it here so she could print out a copy. So here it is.

The card started with Old Olive for the base. I stamped two of the flower stamps randomly around the background in olive. I used the saffron print paper for the back layer. And River Rock card stock stamped in Versamark for the front layer. Both of those rectangles are layered with Chocolate Chip. I stamped the large flower on vanilla card stock once with olive and once with saffron and the small flower with olive. After cutting these out I placed a silver brad through the large flowers and attached them with dimensionals. The small flower is just adhered with snail adhesive. The chocolate tab on the right side is made by punching the large oval and folding in half around the River Rock layer and adding a silver brad.

So there you go, Susie. I hope everyone else likes this one too! This set is so easy to work with.

Pick a Pomegranate Petal

Pick a Petal is the other stamp set I bought from the Fall Preview Brochure. I admit that I'm having a difficult time make something cute with this set. I think I'm going to have to check out the SCS gallery for some more ideas. For this card I used card base of Purely Pomegranate. I stamped an image from the Pick a Petal set randomly over the background in the same color. On White I stamped the green circle using Wild Wasabi and then masked it off and added the petals in pomegranate. I cut that out and attached it to the triangular shape cut from Wasabi. I sponged the edges of the flower and the triangle. I also did paper piercing around the edges of the triangle. The sentiment is from Everyday Flexible Phrases and stamped in wasabi and punched with the file tab punch. I hope you like it!

Circle Journal News: I need emails from anyone who has signed up through the comments area if you have not already done so. Namely: Bonnie and Charmaine G. Bonnie...I can order the book for you. Just contact me via email and we'll get that taken care of. Just click on About Me on the left. You will than find a place to click on a link to email me. I would like to set the first mail out date for July 1st. So let's work toward that, stampers!

Baroque Motif

Here is another sample of the new Baroque Motif set. I love the simple elegance here. I was inspired by a beautiful card at Paperfections. Check out the link to see the inspiration card. Mine is much simpler. This is the first card that I have used the corner rounder to make a scallop border. That was fun. The card base is River Rock with the large flourish stamped in Chocolate Chip. The edges were sponged in chocolate also. The flower was first stamped in Old Olive on White and cut out omitting the dots. Then the flower was stamped on olive with chocolate and cut out leaving the dots. I layered the two flowers and attached them with a round rhinestone brad and attached to white card stock with a dimensional. The word "kind" was stamped in Old Olive. The focal image is layered on Chocolate Chip with two corners rounded and the white layer sponged in chocolate. Brown grosgrain ribbon is wrapped around the front of the card and tied in a square knot.

The new color: River Rock has a lot of green in it which I think the Chocolate chip tones down somewhat. It is a nice neutral. Tomorrow I will post a card using Purely Pomegranate. I'm liking the bright purplish pink of that color. Have a nice day!!