Scrapbooking Feedback

In a few weeks, I'm going scrapbooking for a long weekend...can't wait!  We go to a cabin on a lake and scrapbook to our hearts content and all our meals are prepared for us.  Simply wonderful!  But here's the dilemna...I've done so little scrapbooking this year. (Ryan pointed this out when he pulled out his scrapbooks over the weekend and noted that I hadn't done anything since last fall in his book!) 

I love the satisfaction of making cards...such instant gratification.  Here's my thinking though about scrapbooking.  I'm thinking if I had a better printer that I would scrapbook layouts more often since I could print out photos here and there versus running up to Walgreens.  So...here's my request for feedback!  Who has a printer that works well for everyday use and photo printing? My printer uses a ton of ink just for normal printing! Anyone have any suggestions?  I'd love to hear them!

Now onto my card...is this butterfly big enough? I rarely use embellishments this big, but wanted to finish off this back of butterflies from Martha Stewart.  I love the Sweet Sunday Sketches and this card follows this week's layout.  Hope you enjoy it!

Happy 7th Birthday Collin!

Happy Birthday to my now seven year old, Collin!  Yesterday was a very exciting day!  His favorite presents were his craft supplies...you should have seen the smile when he opened the present with glue and glitter glue pens!  He was also thrilled to receive a camera so that he could take pictures of his crafts (hmmm..wonder where he sees people taking pictures of their crafts?!)

We celebrated with his cousins and friends at Chuck E. Cheese's!  Selfishly, so nice to not clean my house for his party!!

Here's his birthday card from us! Entering this in Jenny's Wee Memories Challenge!

And his thank you notes...Entering this in Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch! 

Happy Birthday

Happy Monday...Pat spent the better part of yesterday painting.  He covered a portion of our back patio now that we sold the hot tub.  It is so nice to have a shaded area to sit down and relax while the kids run around the yard.  Now he just has a little bit of landscaping work to do.  I see many nights sitting out side relaxing in our future!

My card today is for Karen's Sweet Sunday Challenge.  I love all of the scallops on her sketch and the size of the card. 

And Guess What? I won WPlus9's Color Cue Challenge!  Very happy crafter I am!  Check out all the fun inspiration!

Hope everyone has a great start to their week! We're hoping that the weather holds up and that Ryan's Little League All Star Tournament kicks off tonight!

Ingredients:  Cosmo Cricket Material Girl DSP; Bazzill Basics Paper and Ribbon; PTI Fillable Frames Stamps

We're on Rain Delay...

...Ryan's tournament game was rescheduled from 2 until 5 due to the rain today.  We're getting ready to head out the door to cheer him on, but before we do, I wanted to share a quick card using Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch.  I'm sure this one will be gone from my card stash quickly for a birthday party!

Hope you are all having a fabulous weekend...I'm looking forward to next weekend already...3 days off in a row! 

Ingredients:  SU Tag Time Stamps, Brillant Blue, Real Red and Whisper White Paper; Brocade Blue, Gable Green, Real Red Ink; SRM Stickers

Summer Nights

As I type this, we're sitting in the family room having a lazy summer night.  Jonathon had a baseball game and his team was run ruled so we got home earlier than normal for a baseball night.  The summer game of choice at this point is Go Fish...during which Collin regularly proclaims, "I know my numbers really well."  Jonathon, Collin and I have been having lots of "Go Fish" games.  Ryan is out and about in his teenage world having spent the day at the amusement park and is now hanging out with his friend's grandma's house...should be rolling in any minute.  Jonathon, Collin and Marcel are all in Vacation Bible School this week, so we're hearing all the VBS songs...very fun especially for Marcel as this is the first year he is a "big boy" and can go to VBS with his big brothers.  Hope you are all having some lazy summer nights with your families.  It is so nice to not be rushing around after working all day!

My card today is from Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch.  I made this for my Card Club group last night...our Card Club had missed the last couple of months...very nice to get together and catch up over some crafting and a glass or two of wine! 

Ingredients:  SU Whisper White Ribbon; SU Sand and Ruby Red Paper/Ink, Mellow Moss Ink; Hero Arts Stamps; PTI Daily Design Sentiments Stamps; Fancy Pants My Family Aunt DSP

Clean & Simple

I love when you have an idea for a card in your head, you go to create it and it works out the way you think it will...it very rarely actually works out...and last night it did.

So...a very clean & simple quick card for two challenges...Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch and the Wee Memories Challenge.

I hope you like the card.  I'm going to send it to a co-worker who is having hip replacement surgery today.

Ingredients:  PTI Kraft Paper; SU Chocolate Chip Ribbon; PTI Twine and Twill; Hero Arts Earth Flowers Stamps; PTI Background Basics Text Style; SU Very Vanilla Paper; Ranger Distress Inks Corduroy, Barn Door, Peeled Paint

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

Sweet Sunday Challenge (actually on Sunday)

We've had a beautiful weekend here with lots of outside time...perfect for all of us!  Not ending on the best note though as 2 out of 4 are in bed due to being in trouble....live and learn!

Here's a quick card for Karen's Sweet Sunday Challenge.  Michelle had lots of fun cherry cards on her blog over the last few days so it inspired me to get out my cherry stamps and paper too!

Ingredients:  Cosmo Cricket Cherry Hill DSP; Certainly Celery SU Ribbon and Paper; Ruby Red SU Paper; PTI Twine, Mega Mixed Messages and Everyday Button Bit Stamps; Making Memories Buttons

Little Bit of Randomness (and a card...)

A little bit of randomness about what is going on at our house this week:

• We are in March Madness mode...we will have no less than 10 brackets filled out for various basketball bracket challenges...and we will love highlighting the games we won and counting and comparing who is winning/losing.
• Marcel's favorite phrase right now is: "I can't know."  His response to a question he doesn't want to answer or truly something he doesn't want to do.  Pat and I have taken to this response when we don't want to answer something we've asked each other.  I need to video tape Marcel saying it..."I can't know." 
• Jonathon has decided he is playing football in the fall.  We're a little nervous about him playing, but he is absolutely adament about signing up.  We've had the "you need to be tough" talk and he is still adament.  So on we go to lots of lots of practices in the fall (and really we love it because we get to spend time with lots of great families in our community).
• I'm taking Maggie Holmes' photography class...and have been playing with my camera that I've owned for entirely too long without really knowing how to use it.
• My mum and I had the best day out shopping on Sunday.  Laughed our heads off...I love days out with my mum. 
• Sweet little Collin is fighting an ear infection.  "My ear hurts and it is really annoying."  Thank goodness for some good antibiotics.

And on to my card...loving the spring papers that are out.  Thanks for Karen for another very fun challenge.  I turned the sketch the other way for my card.

Ingredients:  Jillibean Soup Egg Drop Soup Paper and Alphabeans; SU Chocolate Chip and Whisper White Paper; SU Regal Rose Ribbon and Stampin' dimensionals

Happiness Is...

...all the little things that make me smile....

• Bikes of all sizes covering my yard (a sign that lots of boys are playing at my house).
• The pitching mound in our yard where Ryan pitches to Pat as often as he can.
• My boys smiling even after tournament losses in basketball knowing that they played their best game possible.
• Hearing thank you.
• Ryan's coach complimenting him on how he is focused and makes great eye contact.  "Very coachable."
• Jonathon, my little cuttle bug, cuttling with me on the couch.
• Collin getting more confident in his reading, "I can feel my brain learning!"
• Little boys who fall asleep on the couch after a day of playing outside.
• Dirty pant knees after a big game of pickle with 7 boys and 2 dads.
• Marcel refusing to follow the letter of the alphabet for show 'n tell because he really wanted to bring in Batman even though the letter of the day was K.  He has his opinions...
• Running four miles by myself when I never thought I'd be able to run an 1/8 of a mile.
• Friends who love my cards and ask to buy them...
• Family.

Happiness is...a Sweet Sunday Sketch and Lots of Jillibean Soup Products!

Ingredients:  Archiver's Red Paper, SU Butterfly Sizzlit; Jillibean Minestrone Paper; Kaiser Kraft Gems; SU Bordering Blue and Old Olive Paper; SU Edge Distresser

Birthday Wishes

It's Sunday night...back to reality tomorrow!!!  I am trying to increase the number of masculine cards I have in my stash.  I loved this sketch.  Quick and easy for a masculine birthday card! 

I embossed the stamped images to make them pop a little bit more.

Many thanks to Karen for the sketches each week!

Ingredients:  Jillibean Soup Minestrone Elbow Macaroni DSP;  PTI Simple Stationery and Mega Mixed Messages; SU Whisper White Paper, Chocolate Chip Paper and Ribbon; PTI Kraft Paper; SU Brocade Blue and Chocolate Chip Ink; Clear Embossing Powder, PTI Button and Twine

Sweet Sunday Challenge

Looking forward to my card club tonight!  I'll be sure to share our creations in a post later this week!

A few more birthday cards for my neighbor!  I had fun playing with Karen's sketch. 

Lots of pink on this card!  I used various SU papers and the PTI Everyday Button Bits set along with a sentiment from SU's Picture This set.

A boy one...using more of the Little Yellow Bicycle paper...I'm about through the paper pack!  I used PTI's Polka Dot backgrounds around the Happy Birthday sentiment!

Purple Belt

Jonathon passed his purple belt testing this weekend with an excellent rating!  Only three more belts to go and then he will be a black belt (red, brown...and then black!).  To say he loves karate would be an understatement!  He absolutely loves it.  It is amazing to watch his self discipline improve and his confidence grow as he continues to learn more and more.

When he takes his next belt test he will begin breaking boards.  It is very neat to watch the children break their boards and their instructor is outstanding.  He is extremly patiently and encouraging to all of the children and adults that he teaches!

Here are a few layouts from Jonathon's day.  The first follows the layout from Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch.

The second layout follows the Stampin 411 challenge.  His pant legs make me laugh...one was rolled up much higher than the other!  Check out his kicks too on these pics.  His kick is high in the second one from the left, but he can kick even higher over his head!

I'm going to try and do more layouts this year...versus saving all my scrapbooking for one or two weekends a year!  Maybe that will make things a little easier!

Ingredients:  Bazzill Tan Paper; Little Bicycle DSP;  SU Whisper White and Elegant Eggplant Paper

Card Basket Craziness

I've volunteered to make a couple of card baskets for some upcoming fundraisers.  So...I've been a bit of a crazy card maker! I'll be sure to share a photo of the finished baskets later this week.  Sometimes I think it is good to make a lot of cards at once...forces me to not think too hard about this or that and it makes me so happy to see the finished product!  Pat started laughing when I told him how many cards I needed to make, "Your going to be busy, but so happy!"  He knows me well.

If your interested, a reminder to about my give away post!

First card is for Karen's Sweet Sunday Challenge.  The colors were inspired by this Vera Bradley bag that my niece requested for her birthday...love the colors on the bag and butterfly!

The second card is for the Clean and Simple challenge...come on spring get here fast!

Ingredients:  Cosmo Cricket Early Bird DSP; Old Olive SU Ribbon, Ruby Red, Yellow and Old Olive SU Ink, Blush, Kraft, Whisper White, Blush, Ruby Red and Bordering Blue Paper, PaperTrey Ink Stamps

Creative Therapy

Last night was our monthly card club.   Oh, how I love these ladies.  It's always good to decompress for a couple hours...

We all have such different styles which makes the night even more fun.

I used the Sweet Sunday Sketch as an inpsiration for my card. 

Chrissy's Card...isn't the flower just stunning?  This idea is from Dawn's video on her blog.  I love the brad in the middle...stunning!  I think this card will probably go to my nana for her birthday in early February.

Denise's card.  She has an amazing eye for color.  The Basic Grey chip board is beautiful surrounded by the blues and deep purple.

Katie's card.  I love the scalloped edges, the sentiment and colors. Beautiful and perfect!

Karen's fun ribbon card. We were all oohing and aahing about how many different styles we could make of this using our ribbon stash!  This will be going to my niece who is all girl!

Ingredients (for my card!):  SU Real Rust, Close To Cocoa, Very Vanilla Paper, My Mind's Eye DSP; PaperTrey Ink Stamps, SU Dusty Ribbon

Hope Your Day is Fabulous!

I'm in need of some male birthday cards...Ryan tells me when he looks at my cards that they have "too much bling."  How's that for a 12 year old's opinion?!  So...I'm going to be working on some more male cards...although I know he won't like the sentiment on this one!

I played along with Karen's challenge for this.  I pulled out some retired SU Paper along with Old Olive and Navy paper.  The stamp set is from Paper Trey's Signature Greetings.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Two Sketches...Similar Cards

I am in love the Turning the New Leaf set and coordinating paper from PTI...so when I got my goodies out tonight I decided to play along with two sketches at the same time.    The first card is for the Mojo Monday sketch.    I used the mixed messages stamp set, textured background and turning a new leaf sets from PTI. SU Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla and Kraft paper.  The border is a Martha Stewart punch.  Quick cards and I liked the way they turned out too...double bonus!

  

The second card was for the Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge.  I used the same some supplies with some Chocolate Chip SU ribbon and I sponged the back of circles to provide a little extra dimension. 

Let me know what you think!  Happy Monday!

Friends and Blog Candy Thank You

My dear friend, Sandy, shares my crafty habit with me.  For Christmas, she gave me some yummy goodies.  I loved this Hero Arts stamp and decided to try it out for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch.

The ingredients for this card were Vintage Valentine - I'm Yours paper by Nancie Rowe-Janitz.  Picked this up on a scrapbooking road trip my card club ladies and I took earlier this month to Dayton!  I then used Ruby Red paper and a Martha Stewart lattice punch and a tiny little pearl on the flower.

In addition to sharing this card, I wanted to thank Sandy Dixon for the blog candy.  I get to pick out some Stampin' Up goodies from her.  Thanks so much Sandy!  I'm never one to shy away from placing a SU order!

I also won this awesome book from Kimber.  I've already been using the ideas in this book.  I'll definitely be putting it to good use! How lucky am I to win two times?! 

Baby!

I mentioned in my post yesterday that our friends, Ed and Julie, are expecting a little one in June.  I wanted to make them a card to celebrate the news!

I used the Sweet Sunday Sketch for my layout.  The baby stamp is from PaperTrey Ink's mega mixed messages and the little onesie is from Stampin' Up.  I love the Kaiser Craft little pearls that I added underneath the baby sentiment.

I liked the pink with the green for either a boy or girl...need to get pink in whenever I can with all the boys at my house!  The DSP is Kaiser Crafts Bloom. 

Hope you like my take on the sketch!