While the Big Boys Are on the Baseball Field...

...the little boys need something to keep them occupied.

...something as simple as digging a hole, dumping water in the hole...and causing lots of their friends to also be covered  in mud.

Playing in some leaf piles...

And occasionally just posing for a picture for mom...

Marcel, Katelyn (Collin's kindergarten buddy) and Collin

Getting Started on Teacher Gifts

When I saw Keesh's color challenge for this week...it called out to my SU Tart and Tangy set...and I decided to make a few thank you gift tags for teacher gifts.

I then moved on to the Clean & Simple challenge and made some color coordinated thank you cards to give as gifts to the teacher...I'm building of a stash of assorted cards for the boys teachers...love giving gifts of cards!  Summer will be here before we know it!

Ingredients:  SU DSP, Blue, Real Red, Whisper White and Old Olive Papers and Inks; PTI Beautiful Blossoms II and Beyond Background Basics Stamps; PTI Buttons; SU Tart and Tangy Stamps

I May Be Just a Little Biased...

...but isn't he absolutely adorable...my little man Marcel having fun playing with his cars...we were having crashing contests!  A relaxing Sunday afternoon game of car crash!

Thank You

Had some more time yesterday to stamp with all the rain!  I decided to play along with Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch...I love when the sketches go right along with coordinated paper.  This sketch was the perfect opportunity to get out my October Afternoon paper and make a quick thank you card!

Noticing that my thank you is a little tilted...I'll have to fix that...but not for the picture!

Have a great start to your week!

Ingredients:  DSP October Afternoon; PTI Beyond Background Basics Stamps; SU So Saffron, Very Vanilla and Not Quite Navy Paper and Ink; K&Co. Butterfly

PTI Blog Hop

Happy Sunday night!  This is my first time participating in the PTI Blog Hop...the challenge this month was to use tissue on your card. I have never used tissue before on any of my cards.  I used my PTI large scallop die and then used Ranger Distress Ink to match the three colors in the paper...added flowers and yummy buttons...all perfect for a Mother's Day card for my mother-in-law who loves anything with blues in it!

Hope you enjoy...thanks for stopping by the blog hop!

Ingredients:  Ranger Distress Ink Wild Honey; Faded Jeans and Broken China: October Afternoon DSP; PTI Buttons; PTI Beautiful Blossoms II and Daily Design Sentiments Stamps; SU So Saffron and Very Vanilla Paper; PTI Twine

Embellish Embossing Challenge

The current challenge at Embellish Magazine is to emboss with the colors from the color inspiration shown on the right.  I have to admit all the colors together intimidated me a bit, but I am pleased with how the card turned out.  All the bright colors together are very cheery!

I love the new Hero Arts Earth Flowers that I used for the green background that is embossed using Ranger Distress Peeled Paint Ink.  I distressed the card edges and popped it up a little bit with dimensionals.

It's a rainy weekend here...good opportunity to spend extra time creating!

Ingredients:  Hero Arts Earth Flowers and PTI Damask Designs Stamps; PTI Twine, SU Regal Rose Ink, Paper and Ribbon; K&Co Flower Stickers; Kaiser Kraft Gems; Ranger Distress Ink Peeled Paint; Clear Embossing Powder

Pretty in Pink

I loved, loved, loved the butterflies on this SU DSP so I decided to use it for my focal point for my card.  I cut out the butterflies and added a little thread for the antennae and a pearl to the top of the butterfly.  I embossed the pink grass on the bottom layer and had lots of fun with tons of pretty in pink paper and ribbon!

Thanks to Stampin' 411 for the sketch inspiration!

Ingredients:  PTI Damask Designs and Hero Arts Earth Flowers; Embossing Powder; SU DSP; SU Pretty in Pink Paper and Ribbon; SU Chocolate Chip Paper and Ink; Kaiser Kraft Pearls

It's the Weekend!

I announced to Pat that I was heading down to the cave tonight (also known as the basement craft room)...haven't been there much this week with the start of the baseball season this past week. 

So, I have a Friday night creation to share....this card is for two challenges...the Clean & Simple Challenge as well as the Caardvarks Challenge to create a monochromatic card.  I typically do monochromatic cards in lighter colors so I decided to do some darker colors. I used an embossing folder and sanded it...love the effect on the Core'dinations paper.

Hope everyone is off to a great start to the weekend!

Ingredients:  Core'dinations Red Paper; PTI Kraft Paper; SU Whisper White Paper; SU Chocolate Chip Ribbon; SU Bravo Burgundy Ink, Making Memories Button; PTI Twine, Hero Art Earth Flowers Stamps; PTI Damask Designs Stamps

Photo Shoot

I'm in my final week of class with Maggie Holmes...and I have loved, loved, loved the class.  I think I need a little break to keep practicing some more, but will eventually sign up for her advanced class.

Over the weekend, my niece, Madeleine was my model!  Below are a few of the shots from our informal photo shoot at my brother Mark's house.  Hope you enjoy...isn't my niece gorgeous?  I'm scheduling time with my other niece, Elizabeth, so stay tuned for more photo shoots of my beautiful nieces!

Made me smile that Madeleine liked the pictures as she changed her Facebook profile to the one of the pictures below!

Inspired By...

I love Jill's blog where she picks a different person each week and shows the cards that inspire her along with her take on their creation.   So...today...I decided to play along for my blog.  I am thoroughly inspired by Jennifer McGuire's blog and two weeks ago took one of her classes.  She taught us a technique to combine multiple distress inks.  I used this technique on the paper for the butterflies and then used a SU Sizzlit to make the butterflies.  She also taught us the trick of using black thread for the butterflies antenna.  The layout of this card is from the Clean & Simple challenge.

My inspiration card from Jennifer's class:

Ingredients for First Card:  SU Sage Shadow, Lovely Lilac and Whisper White Paper; KaiserKraft Pearls; PTI Damask Designs Stamps; SU Butterfly Sizzlit; Distress Inks and SU Basic Black Ink

Happy Birthday Neal

It's my oldest brother, Neal's, 46th birthday today! 

I adore both my brothers...but there are a few unique things about Neal...

• He's the only one of very few people that gets away with calling me Lynnie.
• My boys affectionately call him the tickle monster...just about everytime we are together I snap shots of him with one of my boys on his lap or being tickled.
• He's a big kid at heart...still playing indoor soccer...which I'm sure he'll return to after he recovers from his knee surgery last week.
• He is extremely caring and compassionate.  There is never a holiday where he and Cindy don't invite others without family nearby over to celebrate with our family.  And in all honesty, his compassion is not limited to holidays for friends...he is often quietly helping others.
• He loves to tease me about my blog...we'll see if he reads it today :).

Happy birthday big brother!  His card is inspired from Keesh's challenge this week.

God Bless You

Today is my niece, Olivia's, First Holy Communion.  I am sure that she is going to be absolutely beautiful and what a special day it is for her and our entire family.  I made the card below for her to celebrate her special day.

Thanks to Stampin' 411 for the sketch.  I used Versamark and glitter embossing powder for the stamps on the top of the card.  I've had these stamps since Ryan's First Communion 5 years ago!  I had fun distressing the edges and adding the extra touch of the pearls.  The polka dot SU DSP was compliments of blog candy I won from Lisa.  Thanks Lisa!

Ingredients:  SU Pink Pirouette, Whisper White and DSP.  EK Success and Inkadinkadoo Stamps; Glitter Embossing Powder.  KaiserrKraft Pearls.  PTI Scallop Die. 

Happy Saturday!

Today is the official opening day of the Little League baseball season!  We'll be at the fields a lot with Ryan and Jonathon cheering them on with Collin and Marcel in tow!  Looking forward to lots of sunny days in the stands!

On to my card to share today for Lucy's Stitching Challenge.  I have to admit sewing on cards intimidates me...never seen to sew straight!  Lucy is amazingly talented and stitches perfectly!  I've watched her tutorial on sewing several times...trying to improve!  Hope you enjoy my card...happy Saturday!

Ingredients:  PTI Kraft, Jillibean Soup DSP; SU Pink Pirouette Paper and Ribbon; PTI Beyond Background Basics and Text Background Stamps; Making Memories Button

Rarely a Dull Moment...

...before I share my card...I need to share that there is rarely a dull moment at our house.

Three days ago...our first floor toilet was not really flushing well at all.  After multiple plunges over the course of the day, the door was locked until Pat had more time to take a look at what was wrong.  (You can't just ask four boys not to use that particular bathroom...they can't remember when they come running it from outside:)!)  Then the interrogation of each boy began, "Did you put something in the toilet?"  "No."  "Nope."  "I didn't do it."  No confessions...

...fast forward to today at noon.  Collin is getting off the bus.  "Hey Collin, I fixed the toilet."  "Daddy, did you get my bubble can out of the toilet?"  "Yes, I did."  (Nasty stuff...so glad my husband is handy...and glad that I wasn't here to see or smell what it looked like.)  I guess my Collin had a little memory lapse for the last few days.   Have to laugh...it is fixable!  Pat had a little chat with Collin but was laughing his head off about Collin finally admitting it...and we knew he likely was the guilty party.

Now...on to the card!  These colors are all my dear friend, Sandy's, favorite colors!  She would love all the inspiration from the Embellish Challenge!  And if you haven't had a change to check out the new Embellish Magazine...take a look - it is awesome!

For this card, I used PTI Damask Designs - I stamped on the red background page too...which is a little hard to see.  Hope you enjoy the card!

Ingredients:  SU Whisper White, Basic Black and Real Red Paper, PTI Kraft and Twine; PTI Damask Designs Stamps; Tim Holtz Distress Bard Red Ink; Making Memories Buttons

Sometimes...

...I start to create a card...and it ends up nothing like I thought it would.  When I looked at Keesh's challenge this week, I had the argyle paper in mind and thought I would do a masculine birthday card.  Needless to say...ended in a fun little thank you note.  The birdhouses are the back side of the Jillibean Soup argyle paper.

My stash of thank yous is completely empty...so you'll be seeing several thank yous coming up!

Today was a happy day too in blog land for me...Lucy picked me as a winner in her most recent challenge and Keesh picked me as an honorable mention for last week's challenge.  Happy Day!

Ingredients:  Jillibean Soup DSP; SU Sand and Very Vanilla Paper; Making Memories Buttons; PTI Twine and Beyond Background Basics Stamps; SU Sizzlit Tag

Breaking Boards

Simply amazed...and so proud.

That is how I felt after Jonathon completed his red belt testing on Saturday.  After they earn their red belts, they are allowed to break a board and he did it on his second attempt.   The self confidence karate has given my sweet boy is incredible.

So, so proud.

A couple more pictures from Jonathon's big day!  Check out that high kick!

Push ups...when he forgot to tell Mr. Patten to "lock out" before breaking his board!

Thanks to Just Us Girls for the sketch inspiration!

Way to Go Allison!

My dear friend, Katie, texted me Friday night to let me know her daughter, Allison, made the 7th grade cheer squad.  I am so excited for both Allison and Katie.  Allison is an incredible dancer and cheerleader.  This is the first year there are tryouts for cheerleading!  Katie and I are looking forward to sitting on the sidelines together in the fall...watching Allison cheer and Ryan play football.

Here's a fun card for Allison in our school colors/theme...go Loveland Tigers!  Thanks to Stampin' 411 for the sketch inspiration!

I liked the sketch so much I also did a second card.  I took Jennifer McGuire's class over the weekend (so much fun...take her classes if you ever get the chance!) so I wanted to try some distressing inks out on this card and had some fun new October Afternoon paper to try!  I also had to ink up my new SU stamps!

Too tired to type the ingredients out tonight :)

Love You

As I was driving over to my mum's house last night, I was thinking how lucky I am that I have such a wonderful relationship with my mum.  I also think about my mum when people say to me, "Don't you wish you had a girl?"  Honestly, the only time I would hesitate on this is when I think about my relationship with my mum. 

My mum is a wonderful mother to me and nana to my boys.  I love her so very much and she is continuously a great example to me on how to be a great wife, friend and mother.   We love to laugh together, shop together and of course, chat about how the boys are growing up.  My boys love when it is a nana day and she gets to play/spoil them all day long.  So, I made this card for her and gave it to her earlier today.

I love you Mum!  

Thanks to Clean & Simple for the sketch inspiration.

Ingredients:  Jillinbean Soup DSP; SU Very Vanilla and Old Olive Paper and Ribbon; PTI Mega Mixed Messages and Beyond Background Borders Stamps

Sweet Baby

I wanted to play along with the current Caardvarks Challenge...making a baby card.  I have a few girl baby cards in my stash so I decided on a boy baby card!  I used my new SU Set Fox & Friends along with some fun paper from Three Bugs in a Rug!  My button is from the stash my nana sent me!

I also have a funny Collin story to share. Pat went to the Reds' game with his dad, Collin and Marcel today.  They went to grab a bite to eat and Collin announces, "Daddy, my bottom just threw up!"  Yikes...not good...diarrhea at the baseball game!  Pat was laughing his head off though...so the throw up wasn't too bad...life in a house of boys is always a hilarious adventure!

Ingredients:  SU Fox & Friends Stamps; PTI Daily Design Sentiments; Three Bugs in a Rug Animal Stackers DSP; SU Chocolate Chip Ribbon and Ink; Bazzill Blue Paper; PTI Twine; SU Whisper White; Vintage Buttons

Random Conversations and All Boy Pics (lots of photos!)

Random conversations...

"Mommy, you are the best kisser ever and so am I."  I love this little man's sweet little kisses. 

Last night at dinner after picking up Ryan and Jonathon from religion.  "Ryan, you look hot.  Were you outside before religion class?"

"Mom, I'm always hot."

"Nice...is that what you tell the ladies."

"I don't have to tell the ladies...they know."  Insert eyebrow raise and grin from Ryan...
...oh my to have that type of confidence at almost thirteen.  And being the unbiased mom that I am...I think he is pretty darn cute.

Monday night after playing outside, Jonathon says, "Mom, I need deodorant." 
"Okay, I'll get you some next time I go to the store." 
"No mom, now.  Come here."  Visualize him lifting up his arms...and for some reason me walking over to take a smell.
"Yes honey, you do need it now.  Go take a shower!"
Why on earth did I need to take a whiff?!

Have I mentioned how much I am loving Maggie Holmes photography class?  Here are a few of the pictures I took over the last week trying to figure out all the settings!

Sweet Marcel (leaning against Jonathon):

My beautiful nephew Jake:

Another adorable nephew, James:

And my cutey pie next door neighbor...Michael.

Happy Wednesday!