An Irish Blessing

Good morning...popping in to share a fun St. Patrick's Day card with you inspired by this week's CPS sketch layout.  Nothing like a great sketch to quickly inspire you!  This card will be going in the mail to my college roommate, Colleen, who never misses a St. Patrick's Day celebration!

Ingredients:  Cardstock Stampin' Up Whisper White and PTI Kraft; Patterned Paper:  My Mind's Eye So Sophie; Stamps:  Kitchen Sink and Verve Blessings; Stampin' Up Whisper White Ribbon

Last night I hosted card club too...thought I'd pop in and share the beautiful cards from my dear friends, Chrissy, Denise and Karen.

First up: Chrissy's card...love this PTI sentimentt and the yummy paper..one of my favorites.  I made tons of teacher gifts with this paper last year.

Next is Denise...she always has the most wonderful layers and coordinating papers on her cards...love this!

And last, but certainly not least, Karen...love the Sizzix template for this card!  Perfect to finish a card on the inside too!

Have a wonderful day!

Stepping Out (of my normal style)

Hi there...hope your weekend is going well.  It's raining like crazy here, but we still have a couple in door baseball meetings to get uniforms sorted out.  This is Collin's first year playing and he is so excited to get a uniform and meet his coach!  It will be fun watching him learn to play.  For my first card today, I'm stepping out of my normal style this to bring you lots of pattern...and bling!  I was drawn to these scalloped gems a couple of weeks ago and the colors (plus a couple extra neutrals) go perfectly with Heather's Color Hue Challenge issued yesterday.  All ingredients are from the My Mind's Eye Fine & Dandy collection along with a PTI stamp.

My second card is the final card for my mum's friend...playing along with the CPS sketch for this week.  A nice quick and easy card.

Ingredients: DSP and Flowers: Little Yellow Bicycle; Stamps: Hero Arts: Cardstock: SU Sahara Sand and Baja Breeze Ink/Paper

Knowing Your Style

I decided to play along with the CPS Challenge this week.  I started off by making this card.  Let's just say vintage is not my style...yuck!  I really don't like this card, but I thought I'd share it anyway.

Then...I made this card which is my style.   Note to self:  stick with clean and simple.  Much happier with this one.

It's Friday!  Hope your weekend gets off to a great start!

Sketch Challenges

Good morning!  Yesterday was a successful day shopping....have to say I really appreciate the stores that have 40% off everything...makes Black Friday much easier!  My mum and I had a great time.  About seven hours of shopping and lunch and a great deal of her Christmas shopping is complete.  Of course, this morning I continued shopping and hit Verve's Sale! 

Today, I'm taking the little boys out to see Megamind.  Looking forward to some yummy movie popcorn!  And then tonight we're having both sets of parents and Pat's brothers family over for dinner.  Pat made up his chili which is perfect for the cold weather we are having.

I'm busy trying to finish up my Christmas cards this week so that I can get them in the mail in the next week or two...so I'll have tons of Christmas card inspiration.  First up are two challenges I haven't played along with in way to long.  CPS challenge...I love sketches!

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up Stamps, Whisper White Paper, Cherry Cobler Ink/Paper/Ribbon; Ranger Distress Inks; PTI 2010 Christmas Tags and Buttons

Next up is my take on this week's Mojo Monday challenge.  This Basic Grey paper is what I used for all my Christmas cards last year...still love the subtle color tones on this paper.

Ingredients;  PTI Twine, Kraft Paper and Daily Design Sentiments; Basic Grey DSP and Snowflake Die; Stampin' Up Almost Artichoke Paper/Ink and Tag Die;

Random Little Things

Ever stop and think about the little things happening around you that make you happy or sad?  Here are some random little things happening around here lately:

• Twice in the last week, I've had to fill out papers for Ryan and had to put down what year he is graduating from high school.  Stopped me in my tracks the first time.  I'm not ready to think about when he graduates...it may be six years away...but I know it will be a happy and hard at the same time.
• I love my neighborhood....all the little things...
• The sidewalks...so the boys can ride bikes on the sidewalk instead of the street.
• When I go running, there is always someone else out running, walking or riding bikes...lots of "good mornings"...make me smile.
• Playsets sprinkled throughout so many backyards.
• Friends we can count on...
• A yard full of bikes in my front yard when I get home from work. Love lots of boys playing at our house.
• Jonathon and Emma holding hands when we went out The Beach Waterpark on Sunday.  Two best friends...at 9 years old...just having.

What little things make you happy or sad?

Now...onto some crafting!   It's been a long time since I've played along with a CPS Sketch.  I needed some quick inspiration for a card earlier this week so off I went.  Not to sure about the ribbon on the card...added it at the last minute (so you'll have to tell me what you think!)  I'd also love to hear what your favorite challenge websites are...I love a good challenge blog...so leave me a note.  Tell me which ones you love and why!

Masculine Thank Yous

Happy Tuesday Everyone...can you see the happy dance I'm doing?  I received an honorable mention in the most recent Embellish Challenge....makes me very happy!

On to some new cards!  I needed some more masculine thank yous this week and decided to play along with the Just Us Girls for this first one.  I used my favorite PTI Turning a New Leaf set and some of my new SU Colors - Crumb Cake is one of my new favorites for the stamped leaves.

The second card is my first attempt at using cork...how is everyone cutting their cork?  I tried to put it through my Sizzix, but it was too thick.  Ideas are certainly welcome!  Again...stuck with the PTI Turning a New Leaf set and played along with the Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge!  Hope everyone is having a great week... 

Signs that Spring is Coming

A few signs around our house that Spring is on its way:

• Because it is approaching 40 degrees...Ryan is sure that it is time to where shorts to school everyday instead of pants.
• The Little League Baseball Draft is complete.
• Baseball practices and games have made their way onto our calendar.
• The Loveland Whippy Dip opens on Friday...everyone loves soft serve!
• The makeshift batting cage is up and running in our garage.
• Very soon I'll be coming home to a neighborhood full of bikes being scattered around my yard...a sure sign that Spring is here!

Here's hoping the weather folks are right...and we really will hit 60 degrees this weekend!

A quick card to share!  For two challenges:  Lisa's Poppy Seed Challenge and the CPS Sketch.

Ingredients:  PTI Daily Deisgn Sentiments and Background Basics Text Style; Basic Grey Lemonade Paper; Martha Stewart Flower; Hero Arts Gem:  SU Whisper White and Old Olive Paper; SU So Saffron and Old Olive Ink; SU Sizzlit Leaf

Lucy's First Challenge

So fun! Lucy has started doing challenges!  Her challenge was to use pink, aqua and kraft together on a card.  The aqua portion of the card is embossed using my new Sizzix texture plate.  For the flowers, I used my Cricut and stamped on them using PaperTrey Ink's Fancy Flourish set.  I then added some ribbon, twine and pearls to add a little dimension to the card.  The sentiment is a rub on from SU.

The layout of this sketch is from CPS.  I'm looking forward to more challenges from Lucy. Her cards are always so elegant!

Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:  Hero Arts Pearls, SU Aqua and Pink Pirouette Paper and Ribbon, PaperTrey Ink Kraft Paper, Twine and Fancy Flourishes; SU Rub Ons and Dimensionals

Just Because

I saw this flourish turned into a flower on another blog and thought it would be fun to give it a try...Just Because!  I used the CPS layout as inspiration.

Ingredients:  SU Old Olive Ink; PTI Flourish Set and Twine; Cosmo Cricket DSP; Making Memories Buttons;

It's Friday Eve!

It's Friday Eve and I'm looking forward to the weekend!  Tonight I have my card club.  Always love to have a few hours of girl time and get new ideas for card making! 

I'm hoping everyone is healthy in our house for Halloween.  We've had two of the four boys sick so far.  Collin has been home from school for the last couple of days.  I'm hoping today his fever breaks and he can enjoy trick or treating!

I have a quick card to share that I followed using the CPS Sketch.  I loved this Cosmo Cricket paper...very simple and so pretty!

Teacher's Thank You

Every year for our Middle School PTA, my friend, Katie, and I make a card basket for the silent auction and one for the teacher appreciation lunch. I'm trying to set a few cards aside here and there for our card baskets. I picked up this cute hopscotch paper for the boys back to school scrapbook layouts and thought it would make a cute teacher thank you card. Just about everyone needs a few of those!

Thanks to CPS for the sketch layout.

A Basic Grey Kind of Day!

I picked up some of the new Basic Grey papers - love the fall like colors of the Indian Springs line of paper! I picked up a couple of challenges with the new papers!

First off the Crazy 4 Challenges challenge. This challenge was to sew something. I am thinking about it, but haven't ever sewn on a card...so the buttons are sewn! Katie...if you're reading about this, I'm thinking soon I will sew on some cards :)! The ingredients on this card are Blush Blossom and Bravo Burgundy SU papers, PaperTrey Ink ribbons and stamps.

Second was the CPS challenge. Same papers and stamps as above except add in some Kraft and Pumpkin Pie paper! The flower is Martha Stewart.
Hope you enjoy!

Happy Birthday Erin!

It's our sweet niece/Godchild's birthday this month! Erin is turning nine on the tenth! I enjoyed pulling out the pink paper to make a birthday card for a little girl. With the exception of my nieces, I don't make too many girl birthday cards!

Happy Birthday Erin! Below are a few pictures of Erin playing monkey in the middle with the boys this spring! No back down in this little girl!

Thanks to CPS for the sketch inspiration!

Birthday Boys!

Seems that Ryan has had a lot of birthdays to go to lately. He mentioned to me that he didn't have much to chose from in my card stash! I love that they all know to go directly into my stash to find a card for their friends or even better they occasionally make cards of their own. I made the first card below and asked Ryan if he would use it. He made a face at me and said, "Well I don't really like the outside part." My reply, "Nice." Ryan's reply, "Well mom, you shouldn't ask if you don't want to know. It's not like you asked how your dress or clothes looked or something like that...I know to always say I like it then." My reply, "Huh..." Made me laugh! He liked the second plainer version better. Note to all future girl friends...don't add too much flair!

Thanks to CPS for the inspiration!

Happily Ever After

My in-laws 46th wedding anniversary is this week. 46 years and counting and absolutely wonderful. So happy for Mary and Henry! Happy Anniversary!

Thanks to CPS for the sketch!

Ingredients: Fancy Pants DSP; SU Rub-ons, Retired In Color Paper and Bravo Burgundy Paper; Martha Stewart Gerber Daisies

Celebrate Today

Yummy. I made another trip to Archiver's and was glad to see they had several new Jenni Bowlin papers and embellishments. I used them to make this fall like birthday card. With the change of seasons, it's time for some more fall colors.
Ingredients: SU Ruby Red Paper; Bazzill Paper, SU Chocolate Chip Ribbon, Jenni Bowlin DSP, EK Success Edge Punch, PaperTrey Ink Mega Mixes Messages and Damask Designs

Monkey Business!

With many, many boys in my house...there is always monkey business going on! When I saw this paper, I thought it was very cute and perfect for a little guy's birthday card!

Thanks to CPS for the sketch inspiration!

Ingredients: SU Papers: Almost Amethyst; So Saffron; Sage Shadow; Reminisce Papers: Animal House: Monkey Business; PaperTrey Ink Mega Mixed Messages; Hero Arts Pearls

"Mommy, I don't want to be cute anymore..." and CPS/SFYTT Challenge

Collin walks up to me on Sunday night with a very serious, disturbed face..."Mommy, I don't want to be cute anymore..." "Excuse me?" "MOMMY, I don't want to cute anymore!" "Why not, buddy?" "I have another 'squito bite and I don't want to get stung by a bee again." "Do you mean you don't want to be so sweet anymore." "YES MOMMY, I don't want to be cute or sweet." Duh...don't you understand what I'm saying mom?

Collin experienced his first bee sting while we were on vacation...it hurt! Daddy's response after the bee sting, "Collin, you're just so sweet that's why the bee got you..."

Collin must have pondered on this statement for a while...he's done with the summer mosquito bites and isn't interested in another bee sting!

I can see why the "bees and 'squitos" can't resist this little man! Now...onto the challenges that I am loving so much...helping me create in many different ways!

For the CPS Challenge for this week, I found these cute PaperBliss tags and thought they would go perfectly with SU paper colors I already had...I haven't used VersaMark much before and liked the way I was able to create a background using PaperTrey Ink's Simply Stationery kit. It's hard to see on the picture but the Damask designs match a portion of the tags. Hope you like it!

This is my first time participating in the SFYTT challenge. I love the way this card turned out, but the photos are awful...bummed about that! I love the bright colors in this card. I'm going to use these papers to make some monogrammed cards too...it will be nice to make some that are in brighter colors versus more traditional muted colors for monogrammed stationary!