Celebrate

Hello there...blogging live this morning!  I intended to get my blog post ready last night, but when I got home from Jonathon's basketball game, sitting on the couch watching The Voice was more appealing to me!  So...I'm keeping it short and sweet today and posting a card for the current Moxie Fab:  Happy Hexagon Challenge.  I used my very old SU Hexagon punch for this super CAS card.  Love the mix/match of patterned papers.  I hope you have a fabulous day my friends.  

Moxie Fab Thanks! Blog Hop

Hello there...if you're hopping along this fabulous blog hop for Cath you should have arrived from the Fresh Squeezed Stamps blog.

Cath has been an amazing inspiration to me over the years. I'm truly thankful for her positive attitude, her creativity and introducing us to so many fabulous companies.  I especially loved the Moxie Fabber of the Week post where she has introduced us to so many other fabulous bloggers in this amazing community!   Cath...I simply don't know how you kept up with all of us, the incredible trends you created/watch for us and your caring heart.  You are a gem.

For my card, I decided to take inspiration from Pinterest (I've loved following Cath's pins over the years too!)  My card is inspired by this pin here.  Since Cath has inspired so many companies products over the years, I thought it would be fun to use stamps from a variety of companies. This card features stamps from CAS-ual Fridays, Verve and WPlus9.  Three of many companies that I love!

Be sure to pop on over to Kim Kesti's blog for the next step on the blog hop!  A big huge thanks to Cath for her loving, heart warming inspiration over so many years.  You will be missed Cath!

Happy Birthday

It's Saturday...yahoo!  Have anything fun planned for today? We have a baseball game for Marcel and other than that it will be relatively quiet.  I mentioned yesterday that I am going to try and play along with the Moxie Fab Challenges.  Today is the sticker and tape challenge...I added washi tape to the die cut to add a bit more interest to the card.  To finish it off, I added the enamel dots.  They remind me of bubble gum against the hot pink!

Ingredients:  MME Enamel Dots; Washi Tape; The Craft's Meow Typically Teen stamps; PTI die

Happy Anniversary

 

 Hello there.  Remember my card from Sunday?  Well, I wasn't quite ready to put away the  WPlus9 dies after making the card.  I decided to cut through out of some black card stock for an anniversary card. The solid paper behind the die cuts is gold.  I stamped the Verve Plain Jane sentiment and embossed it with gold embossing powder. I wasn't sure what color to mount the black panel on so I went ahead and mounted it on some subtle pattern paper.  I'm entering this in the Moxie Fab All That Glitters is Gold Challenge.  I'm going to try and play along with the other challenges going on over there now too. There's tons of fun ones!

Hope your weekend gets off to a great start!

Merry Christmas

Good morning my friends, I'm popping in to share a very quick card this morning.  I used generational stamping to stamp the leaves and berries off a few times each to create more movement.  I love one layer Christmas cards...so easy for mailing!  I'll be popping this into the Moxie Fab World Holiday Card Challenge.

Hope you have a fabulous start to your weekend my friends!

We're Home Sweet Home!

{My guys in Cambridge...Ryan was in Paris with my mum/niece/aunt and cousin's daughter.}

We got home last night from an absolutely amazing trip to England to see our families.  Our trip was simply wonderful.  We have all been smiling from ear to ear!  Here's a few highlights of our first day.  We got off to a bit of a bumpy start missing our flight in NY to London because of air traffic control delays...navigated our way through 4.5 hours of sleep in a hotel in NY and arrived without luggage to my cousin's house.  Our luggage made it the next night.  Two funny stories from the travel:  When the plane was about to take off put Marcel put his hands up in the air like we were on a roller coaster.  He loved it.  It's only the second time he's been on a plane.  And then at midnight when we are in our hotel room in New York, I can't get the light on.  Dead serious he says to me, "Hey mommy...maybe it's one of those lights that you clap to get it to turn on.  I've scene that before on TV."  Never did figure out how to turn the light on :)

So here we are on day one (wearing borrowed clothes and minimal make up after a quick trip to a couple of stores in the morning).  We had a fabulous time seeing Matilda.  It is an awesome musical and was perfect for the kids.  Here we are all below...and despite his face, Collin really enjoyed it.  We were all dancing in our seats.  So happy to see Sandie too!  The bottom right was on Saturday night when we went out to a BBQ.  Collin found his smile...he has a big crush on my cousin's daughter so he was very eager to be close to her with a big smile for the photo.

The musical was right by Covent Garden where we had lunch and the boys loved seeing the street performers.   They are everywhere and are pretty fascinating for the kids!

And of course, I couldn't leave you without a card.  This is one I created before we left.  I'm entering this in the Moxie Fab Birthday Card Challenge.  I'll be back soon with more cards and of course more pictures!

 

Super Fun Birthday!

I love the sketch over at CASE This Sketch this week.  I can see trying a lot of different designs for this layout.  I went ahead and used die cuts that were sitting on my craft table so this card came together really quickly.  To create the circle background I masked off the circle, stamped the Hero Arts Envelope stamp and finished it off with the sentiment and die cuts.

I'm also entering this in the Moxie Fab anything goes birthday challenge!  Happy Tuesday my friends.

 

Moxie Fab Mixy-Matchy Challenge

Happy Monday my friends.  I have a busy work week (traveling Monday through Friday) so if I'm a bit quieter stopping my your blogs it's likely because I'm on an airplane!  But no worries...this weekend I had play time in my craft room and decide to play along with the Moxie Fab Mixy-Matchy Challenge.  I took some strips of paper and adhered them to a piece of card stock before I die cut the triangle and stamped the sentiment.  I love 6x6 paper packs as the papers go together so perfectly...added a bow and I was finished!

I made this set of cards before I made the praying for you card above.  I pulled out the paper pad in the top of the drawer and looked for the scraps.  I cut the scraps into half inch strips and adhered them to a piece of white cardstock.  I then cut into four strips to make a quick set of cards.  These will likely be given away as part of a gift!

I love when I get to use up my scraps...I really need to do this more often!

 

Moxie Fab: Negative Die Challenge

Hello there...I'm up this morning, but I have the day off...time to run around for doctor's appointments and passport renewals for the boys. Lots of errands, but those things that need to get done!

Before I get on the move, I thought I'd share a card for the Card Creations Week:  Emphasize the Negative Challenge.  I'm addicted to the notebook die from PaperSmooches and thought it would be fun to make a thank you card for a teacher.  It's been a bit since I've pulled out the PTI stamps.

Hope you like my card and that your weekend gets off to a fabulous start...lots of baseball and show choir this weekend!

Advice from a Tree

Hello there, I'm popping in with a card for the Card Creations Week:  Chevron Challenge.  My card was inspired by Maile Belles card here.  I loved the color palette she used and she quite often uses silk ribbon through her buttons.  I love how it looks!  I used Verve's Borderline stamps for my card.  Nice CAS birthday card to add to my stash!

On Monday night, Collin had his school concert.  All of the pictures from the concert turned out blurry, but I realized I never shared cards from his Valentine's Day party.  He has two teachers this year and I love them both.  Ryan and Jonathon had the same teachers too. It is so nice how well they know Collin and our family.

When I came into Mrs. Lawrence's class, she had this saying on the wall.  I thought it was fabulous and had to snap a picture of it.

After the concert Monday, Collin didn't want his picture taken with Mrs. Lawrence, but she wouldn't let him sneak away.  I love this picture!

And here are a few pictures from Valentine's Day...crafts - a bookmark, a fortune teller paper craft and a spoon race.  The perfect party!

Wedding Day

For my CAS-ual Fridays post, please click here.

I didn't think I was going to play along with this month's PaperTrey Ink Blog Hop, but inspiration struck last night!  I was struggling to think about coloring in a background stamp or doing lots of paper piecing, but at the last minute decided to play along and create background paper by stamping in white and heat embossing.  So...A double entry, one for the Moxie Fab Create Your Own Background and one for the PTI blog hop.  I also added in a little jingle bell to represent a wedding bell!  Happy Friday friends!

 

Moxie Fab Square Challenge

Happy Sunday.  We went to church yesterday instead of this morning so we're enjoying a beautiful lazy Sunday morning.  Marcel is sitting with me on the chair as I type this anxiously awaiting to use the computer himself. So...I'll keep this quick!  I'm popping in with two cards for the current Moxie Fab Square Challenge.  This is the perfect challenge for mixing and matching patterned papers.  I made these cards two weeks ago at my scrapbooking weekend.  Believe or not, I haven't made it to  my craft room since that weekend...hoping to change that a bit later today.  I need to get myself organized!

Have a fabulous day my friends!

 

May Your Spirits Be Bright

 

Hello, I'm off work today and up very early to take my mom in for knee replacement surgery.  I'm praying for a very successful surgery and a quick recovery for her.   She's so strong and I'm sureher faith and strength will help her through this. 

I do have a card to share for two challenges.  The Moxie Fab Canvas/Burlap Challenge and the Viva La Verve Sketch Challenge.   On my scrapbooking weekend, I had a ton of fun using different patterned papers to create cards.  I love how this My Mind's Eye paper from the Lost & Found collection goes perfectly with the Verve Sentiment.

 

I hope you have a great day!

May Peace, Joy and Love Be Yours

Hi everyone...I'm back from my fabulous scrapbooking weekend.  Here we are just before we all hopped in our cars to come home today.  Marcel was in here when I was cropping my photos and said, "Why are you all looking so sexy in your picture?"  I replied, "Why do you say that?"  "Well you know mommy, you're all posing like this..."  And he proceeded to imitate the hangs on the hips.  Oh my...he's only seven...we already have our hands full!  Doesn't he realizes hands on the hips makes you look thinner?! :)

I had to pop in and share my card for the current Tuesday Trigger before it expired!  I'll be back on Tuesday with more cards and a bit more about our fabulous weekend away!

 

Just Us Girls & World Card Making Day

 

Happy Saturday my friends...and not just any old Saturday for all of my crafting friends...it's World Card Making Day!  And...it's also time for another awesome challenge at Just Us Girls!  Andrea is our host this week with an awesome sketch challenge for you to give a try.  Want to play along?  Pop on over to the Just Us Girls blog and link up your creation!  We can't wait to see what inspires you!

And while you are at it...you can get two for one and link up with the Paper Craft's World Card Making Day Challenges too!  I'm hoping to play along with a few more too!  Happy creating!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Labor Day!  We're off to the Great American Ballpark today to cheer on the Cincinnati Reds!  Who...yahoo are in first place in their division!  We're looking forward to cheering them on to another victory...but before we get to that!  I wanted to pop in and share another card using my gorgeous new Verve goodies!  Today's card is also going into the Moxie Fab Gallon, Quarter, Pint challenge.  My gallon color is orange, quarter is green and pint is yellow.  Don't you just love those fun chevrons and arrows!  I do :)

And...before I got, I wanted to share this picture from last weekend.  Instead of a friend birthday party, Collin decided to take a couple of friends to Kings Island to celebrate.  Here he is on the right with his best friend, Logan, in the middle and Marcel on the left.  They walked like this a lot during the day. I thought it was so cute...and it made them much easier to keep track of in a crowded amusement park!

Just Us Girls Sketch Challenge

Happy Saturday everyone!  What are your plans for this weekend?  We're taking it easy most of the weekend and I think the rain is supposed to hit here...so that is the perfect plan.  Having family over tonight for a belated birthday celebration for Collin and then on Monday we'll all be heading to the Cincinnati Reds game. So...I'm hoping to do a lot of relaxing with the boys and am going to try and sneak in some scrapbooking for their books too!  Cards are so much easier to do quickly.  Pulling out all my goodies for scrapbooks is a much bigger endeavor! :)

So...onto the topic at hand!  It's Saturday and it's time for a fabulous sketch created by Maria over at Just Us Girls.  I am moving into the fall color palette!  I'm using some new PaperSmooches stamps and am also going to enter this in the Moxie Fab Movement Challenge.  Hopefully I've created a bit of movement with the falling leaves!

 Pop on over to the Just Us Girls blogs to check out what the fabulous designers have created and come play along with us!

You're My Type of Friend

Hello and happy hump day?  Do other countries refer to Wednesday as hump day?  Middle of the week?  Over the hump?  Let me know my international friends!  I have a very CAS card coming at you for this week's Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger.  I went literal with my interpretation of the inspiration photo...no surprise there!  And...all Hero Arts yumminess so I'm entering this card in the HA Clean & Simple challenge too! 

And a quick funny story...last night we were watching the Olympics and balance beam came on.  Marcel starts yelling at the tv, "Hey, what is she doing on that stick?!  What is SHE DOING on that stick?"  I was cracking up...I guess we don't watch gymnastics very often!  Have to say I'm amazed by what the girls can "do on that stick." :)

Little League All Stars & Stretch Your Stamps: Day 5

This past week has been a super busy yet very exciting week for us!  Ryan was in his final Little League All Star Tournament and Pat was his head coach along with Doug, his normal assistant and Steve, a great friend and rival from our another Loveland team.  This team consistent of boys from four teams in the 13/14 year old league.  And man oh man did these boys play hard!  They lost their first game, won five straight to make it to the tournament championship and lost in the championship, but they had a blast...and all the families of the boys did too!  So hats off to these boys for a job well done!  This is the furthest a team from our community has ever made it in the All Star tournament.  We are swelling with pride!  And here's Ryan's tweet from last night to his teammates, "I'm going to miss this.  This was the last game my dad will coach me in."  Oh Ryan, your dad will miss this too!  But he's here for you ready to keep on coaching you in the game of life. 

Now...onto a couple of cards!  Yesterday, I went out of order (yes unbelievable for a Type A person like me that needs to go in order) and posted cards inspired by Day 6. Today...I'm back with Day 5 which is to stretch how you used your sentiment stamps.  My first card is this one using the fabulous Inspired by Audrey set from The Craft's Meow.  This set has the Thinking of You sentiment separated from the other sentiment, "know that you are never alone.  I am here for you."  Love the ability to ink it up in different colors.  And...this could also go in the day four gallery for using geometric stamps.  I used the medallion from this set to create a grid and then added the small flower stamp in blue.  I'm still in love with this set!

My second card using sentiments in a completely different way. I love to stamp the sentiment and then stamp off to stretch the colors of my ink pads.  This is going off to a friend who has some very exciting news that she'll be sharing soon!  It uses The Craft's Meow Dads and Grads set. I'll also be entering this in the Moxie Fab's Stamp It Congrats Challenge!

I hope you enjoy both these cards!  Have a fabulous Monday!

You are the Best Dad

The color combo and the fun pattern for the current Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger definitely caught my attention.  The color combo shouted masculine to me so I went ahead and inked up my new Craft's Meow sets.  The retro backgrounds on the bottom will be used a lot.  Super easy to line up all the patterns.  Of course, as you can see from my blog header I love chocolate chip and cherry cobler, so what's not to love about this challenge line up?!