Brotherly Love

Saturday night, Marcel was giving his older brothers kisses good night before bed.  It made me remember that I hadn't shared these pictures from vacation with you.  I love that he wants to give them all kisses...you can see him going in for the kiss on the first photo, Jonathon's face, "What are you doing?"  Oh...okay!  And then Marcel cracking up..."I got you."  Sweet brotherly love!

And of course, I wouldn't want to leave your without a card.  My card today is for the Runway Inspired challenge.  I love the variety of widths on the touch of stripes on the group and the touch of orange on the model in the back...my CAS inspiration!

 

Hope You Get Well Soon

Happy Thursday, popping in with a super CAS card for the Runway Inspired that started this week.  Love the color combo of orange and navy.  I once again used new Verve stamps.  And...that is all folks...type this at 10 pm after getting home from parent night at the high school and then a drink/appetizer with a great friend.  So...I'm a bit tired but wanted to share this card with you!  And if you have school age children, here are two websites for you that we just found out about and are using already:

• Quizlet.com - creates all kinds of flash cards, creates tests based on the questions you create, etc.  We are using this for several subjects including foreign languages.
• Classzone.com - My niece told me about this site and you may be able to find the exact book your child is using in his/her class to help with exercises, etc.   

And those are my helpful educational tips for today...if you have any websites or apps that you like, I'd love to hear about them!  Hope you have a fabulous Thursday!

Runway Inspired

Okay...craziness...I don't normally post three times in one day, but just realized the challenge is about to expire...so I apologize up front for the number of posts!

On Thursday night, my new Verve goodies arrived, so I immediately had to get inky.  Oh how I've missed getting some new Verve...so now I have a whole pile of goodness to play with...you'll be seeing a lot of it! I decided to start by playing along with current Runway Inspired Challenge. I was inspired by the leaves and touches of color on the model's blouse and the pop of orange on her purse.  So for the card above I added blue gems to the strongly contrasted black leaves and a touch of orange on the sentiment label.  I love how these layer so perfectly! 

My second card (which was actually the first for the challenge) takes the colors and makes them center stage.  I wasn't too happy with the result...so I made the first one above! :)  Does that ever happen to you?  What you visualize in your head doesn't translate as well to paper? :)

You Are Too Kind and Camp Wilberding 2012

It's me again, playing along with more new PaperSmooches stamps.  I had fun using water color markers with distress inks to grab the gradient colors in the current RunWay Inspired challenge.  And...that big huge ribbon?  It came from a whole punch of ribbon that my nana sent home with me when I visited her in April.  I thought it made the colors on the flowers pop even more off the page.  The inspiration photo is at the bottom.

I thought I'd share pictures from a week ago Sunday.  We went over to high school friends to hang out with their family and another high school friend's family. We always have a blast when we get together.  We call our friend's house Camp Wilberding as they have a ton of toys:  a pool, playset, trampoline, basketball, dirt bikes and a huge back yard for games like wiffle ball.  My boys think they have arrived in heaven!  So here are a few pictures! 

Collin having the first turn on the mini bike...he was lobbying to ride by himself...but we decided ten was the age limit so he rode with Mike.



Marcel loving the ride with Pat!

Jonathon first rode with Mike and then got a bit braver and took it for a spin by himself!

And here's the whole crew (even their dog!)  Yes...nine boys and beautiful, Madeline, who is the oldest, but quite a few of the boys have passed her in height!

And this is what happens after 7 hours at Camp Wilberding.  Marcel completely crashed out on the ride home!

 

You Inspire Me

Happy Tuesday...Before I get to my card for today, I have to share a couple photos from our night out with Sara and Andrew. We had a great time at dinner and the Reds game.  At the Reds game, there was a guy they highlighted on the big screen a few times.  Hilariously dressed and dancing his head off.  So when we saw him at the bar after the game...we, of course, had to ask for a picture with him.  Can you tell we're having a good time?  It was so great to see Sara and Andrew again...here's hoping our show choir schedules overlap again this year so that we don't go too long in between visits!  And here's one of us at the Reds game...

Now...onto a card for the day!  For the current Runway Inspired Challenge, I wanted to capture a few elements...the stripes...the shine on her sun glasses and the pop of pink on her shows.  So, I adhere a few strips of paper to white cardstock and die cut the flourish.  I then inked up the flourish and embossed it to give it a bit of shine.  I thought the sentiment was perfect for the inspiration :) and added a few touches of pink gems to finish it off.

 

Runway Inspired Thank You and My Talented Niece

Hi there.  We are having a super busy week here...so I'm popping in really quickly to share a card for the Runway Inspired Challenge. I loved the plaid and used my Hero Arts Envelope Background stamp to stamp a plaid inspired pattern.  Kept it ultra CAS!

Now...I have to have a bragging moment on my niece, Elizabeth.  She is an amazingly talented oil painter.  Look at this gorgeous ballerina that she painted.  Isn't is absolutely beautiful?  I am in awe of her talent!!  And I adore the monochromatic feel of this.  So stunning.  

 

At the Fields....

This time of year our evenings and our week nights are spent at the baseball field.  With three players this year, we rarely have a night free.  Pat has coached Ryan's team for six years now so several of the boys have been together for along time which always makes for a fun time at the fields.

On Saturday, we were short a player and our old neighbors and dear friends, the Glomskis, were visiting for the weekend.  So...Ryan and Cooper convinced Josh to play with them.  They had a great time!  And came away with a 15-1 win on Ryan's pitching :)

And of course, I rarely leave you without a card!  I loved the black pattern on this current Runway Inspired Challenge and the flashes of color.  I played along using my Craft's Meow Retro Backgrounds  set and added a rainbow of colors to make a fun birthday card.  Hope your week is going well!

 

Runway Inspired Thank You

Oh me oh my were there a lot of different ways to interpret the current Runway Inspired Challenge photo below.  All kinds of symmetry and color patterns. I decided to focus on the colors and a little bit of symmetry.  Judith sent me this fabulous Hero Arts stamp that has a gorgeous background and one flower that pops out.  I used the flower and since I don't have Copics used water color pens like I did on this card here.  To add a touch more color, I put several little red gems in the middle.  It would be fun to make different color flowers for a set of thank yous.  Thanks so much for the gorgeous stamp Judith!

 

Runway Inspired: Thinking of You

Thank you all so much for your kind comments on my posts on Monday and Tuesday.  I truly appreciate them so much!  Thank you my dear blogging friends.

Now...onto a new card...I love the Runway Inspired Challenges and this one is no exception.  When I saw the current challenge photo, I thought of medallions. It was the perfect chance to use my new Inspired by Audrey set which the super talented Karen Baker designed.  It inked up like a dream.  I used Stampin' Up Basic Gray ink with a touch of pink for the inner image.  So gorgeous Karen...can't wait to see what you design next!  I'll definitely be purchasing more of your sets!

 

He's a Little Excited...

...to have his first baseball game!  Marcel got his uniform at practice last night and was thrilled.  "I have my uniform.  I'm number 3.  It has my name on my shirt.  And they spelled my name right.  I have socks too.  And you didn't have to give me pants Mommy, my coach gave me pants."  I don't think he took a breath until the end of all those sentences.  Of course, when we came come we had to make sure it fit and take a picture since daddy was out of town.  We showed it to him as soon as we walked in the door!  Have to say though...it is a bit of a crisis as the St. Louis Cardinals are huge rivals of the Cincinnati Reds.  But we'll live!  The season kicks off for Marcel next weekend. More baseball pictures to come!

I have a card to share too for the current Runway Inspired Challenge.  I loved the pop of color against the green and the strong graphic lines in the inspiration photo.  I played along with new WPlus9 & PaperSmooches stamps along with a Verve sentiment.  I'm thinking I'm going to make a set of these cards with different color flowers.  Look for lots more WPlus9 and PaperSmooches over the next few days!

 

Celebrate Everyday!

Happy, happy Friday to you!  I'm popping in with a bright, cheery card for you!  Not my normal color palette at all...but when I saw this week's Runway Inspired Challenge I new I had to try to go for it.  Bold and beautiful, right?  I was inspired by the damask and bright colors.  I added a bit of stitching too.  What do you think?

And...how is your weekend kicking off?  We're having cousin weekend at our house.   Our nephew, Will, is going to stay a few nights with us.  It will be fun to have one more little guy in the house and sleepovers are always very exciting!  Then Monday night we'll add my niece, Olivia, to the mix...I think we'll spend some time in the craft room together...we don't get to do that often enough!  What about you?  What's up for the weekend?

 

Time for Baseball!

Wondering what else is going on around our house?  Baseball season is gearing up. This will be Marcel's first year (he's just a little bit excited!) and Ryan and Jonathon are playing too.  Pat's volunteer duties are in full swing.  This was the look of our ping pong table in the basement.  Coach shirts and hats left our house on Sunday...along with the kids uniforms and equipment bags!  Here's hoping for a sunny spring on the baseball field.  I'm ready!

I have a card for you too!  More new goodies from PTI. When I saw the Runway Inspired Challenge, I immediately thought of this new set.  I love background sets and of course, I love the CAS feel.  So..here we go for my entry for the current Runway Inspired Challenge.

Congrats

Hi there.  Happy Wednesday.  The Runway Inspired Challenges are so clean & crisp. How do you interpret them or other inspiration photos? I'm normally a pretty literal interpreter of inspiration photos.   For this one, the translucent feel of the model's top made me think of glittery stripes.  So off I went.  Three glittery stripes, some spray mist and a nice big Congrats.  I love PTI Think Big sentiments. A few more will get added to my cart in the near future.

And...I have a technical question:  Any of you having problems with your flickr feed in Blogger?  Mine is saying invalid API key.  I'm not sure how to fix it!  Any suggestions are welcome!

And that's all for today folks...hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day yesterday.

Runway Inspired Thank You {and a winner}

Hi there, before the craft room renovation started last week, I had a few minutes to play along with the Runway Inspired Challenge.   I kept it very simple. Inspired by the circles on the runway, I embossed the bottom of the paper, added a sentiment and gave a nod to all the stripes by using lots of twine.

Now..keeping it short today, but I do have a winner from my giveaway from last week.  Random number chose number eighteen and that is Noelle!  I've gotten to know Noelle from her gorgeous layouts and cards over at ColourQ.  We have a lot in common too being mom's to all boys.  She has a Collin too like me.  So happy for you Noelle! I'll email you for your address. 

Christmas Eve {plus a couple cards}

Hi there, I thought I'd share a few photos from Christmas Eve at my mum and Hank's home.  We go to Christmas mass and then head back to their house for ribs for dinner.  At mass, Marcel was thrilled to be one of the children that got to ring the bells with the processional.  After dinner, we had our crackers again and we all had to show our hats.  We then exchanged gifts with one another.  Ryan, Madeleine, Elizabeth and my mum all got new hats so they had to model. That's the rule:  you get something new...you must model!  Don't they look adorable?  Of course, look at the picture to the right and you'll see Pat modeling my mum's hat too...with his wine glass that he is holding very femininely :)!

I love to get a picture of all the cousins together to watch how they are growing.  Olivia gave us a big giggle, when Ryan walked in the room, "Oh Ryan, you smell really good.  I like your man perfume."  He has found Hollister cologne.  We're sure to remind him that a little goes a long way!  Overall, a great night blessed with lots of family.  I have more pictures to share from Christmas day and our day after Christmas brunch too.
A couple more things today too:  It's Hank's 75th birthday today and I wanted to share his birthday card. This card was published in the September issue of CARDS.  Happy Birthday Hank! 

And I have a challenge card for the new Runway Inspired Challenge. I was inspired by the stripes and the colors on the model in the background.  The stripes are done with a WPlus9 set and the sentiment is from Hero Arts.  The touch of ribbon is inspired by Maile Belles :).  Hope you all have a fabulous Wednesday!