Time Out: Get Well Soon

Hi there, it's time for a new challenge over at Time Out!  The challenge is a theme challenge to be inspired by nature. One of my very first stamps sets was a gorgeous set of leaves..and I'm always inspired by gorgeous leaf stamps or stencils so I loved playing along with this challenge using the  Uniko (our sponsor) stencil - Nature Treasures and stamps - Paradise Hummingbird

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As I mentioned above our sponsor for this challenge is Uniko. Bev has created gorgeous stamps, dies and stencils.  Be sure to pop on over to their blog to take a look!

And be sure to pop on over to Time Out to play along with us and gain the change to win some amazing Uniko goodies!  And be sure to pop on over to our guest designer Lise for gorgeous inspiration as well!

Get Well Soon

Happy Monday my friends....I'm back to work after a four day weekend.  The boys had their spring break last week and I took a couple of days off for us all to hang out together.  Nice to have time home and not be in a rush to go anywhere.

My half marathon training is in full swing. I had a 10 mile run on Saturday and am pleased that I only walked for a few seconds at the top of one of the hill.  One more long run next weekend - 12 miles - and then we start to taper off in preparation for the run on May 1st. Too bad I haven't lost any weight while I've been training!

But enough chitter chatter!  I was happy to be crafting yesterday morning and played along with CAS(E) this Sketch.  This card just came together...always love when that happens!

 

Hugs From Me to You {and show choir...if you are interested!}

Happy happy Monday...it's time for another work week. We're coming off a gorgeous weekend of mid 50s/low 60s.  It will be very cold by the end of the week, but I'll take the warmer weather while it is here.  It made half marathon training much easier this weekend to be running without feeling like I have tons of layers on!

But...you're here for a card. This CAS little number is using a new die from Winnie & Walter and a stencil die that I inked up with distress inks...thus the entry over at Casology!

And...show choir videos are hard to come by due to copyright laws, but here is one for those who are interested.  Ryan's group performs at the 15:26:35 mark.  He is in the front left for the starting number.   Not sure how long they'll keep this video up...but hopefully for a little while at least!

Feel Better Real Soon {and the chocolate milk challenge}

I don't use a ton of patterned paper so I always love a sketch that encourages me to grab those paper pads that don't see to much time around my craft space.  This week's CAS(e) this Sketch challenge was the perfect chance for me to pull out the patterned paper.  This card came together quickly and is being sent to a co-worker who was injured in a mountain biking race.  Thankfully, he will be okay but his recovery is going to be a long one.  He doesn't like to sit still and is a huge marathon runner and avid biker.  Sending prayers of healing and patience his way with this card.

Now, onto a much lighter subject!  The Chocolate Milk Challenge!  Pat was heading out to the grocery store a few days ago and we were all saying everything we needed.  One of the boys suggested chocolate milk...which led to the chocolate milk challenge.  The challenge was to see whose half gallon of chocolate milk would last the longest.  He came back from the grocery store and each boy had their name written on the bottle of chocolate milk.  Needless to say...Ryan's was gone in about 15 hours (Friday night to Saturday morning).  He left a note for his chocolate milk. Of course, lots of laugh over this impromptu challenge!

Fusion: Get Well Soon

Happy Thursday!  It's time for another challenge at Fusion. This time I went a bit with the inspiration photo (woodgrain and flowers) and followed the sketch changing up the hearts for rectangles.  This isn't my favorite card, but I'm sure it will get used sooner rather than later and I'm a firm believer in sharing the ones you love and the ones you don't love so much!  I do love this retired Craft's Meow set.  The wood grain and bird are fabulous.

I'd love to see how you're inspired!  Be sure to come play along at Fusion.

PROCEDURES:
1. Play with just the sketch challenge.
2. Play with just the inspiration photo challenge.
3. Or you can create FUSION by combining BOTH challenges into one card.
4. Use the challenge graphic and link back to Fusion in your post.
5. Please read the other considerations on the Our Rules Page before playing along.

Winners: Will be chosen by all of our teammates in two weeks! We each will choose one favourite! The winners will be announced at 4am (PST) in two weeks!! Please check the linky for the days left to play with us!

Sending Caring Thoughts Your Way

As soon as I see the Cutting Edge Challenge, I am almost always immediately inspired to make a card. This week's challenge was no exception.  This card was made on Saturday after I saw the challenge.  I used my distress inks to ink up paper and die cut three of the wreaths. I adhered them together with a touch of glossy accents and finished off the card with a touch of twine and an enamel element. This card will be going to a co-worker who is having shoulder surgery next week.  Don't you just love the beautiful fall colors right now? They are beautiful!

Stamping Away 2014

Hello friends, I'm coming back from a wonderful weekend away with crafting friends. Amy Kolling and Laurie Willison organized the most incredible weekend away for us and I loved it.  Loved it, needed it, loved it and it was all around perfect. We did a card swap with the group and this was my entry for the card swap.  It was awesome to come home with 15 different cards from these talented ladies.  Laurie and Amy were the only friends I had met prior to going away.  It was awesome to meet all of these ladies in person (I'll list them out tomorrow!).

When I was on my way on Friday, I downloaded the Project Life App.  Seriously...it is so amazing.  I created six layouts in the airport on the way home in about 45 minutes. Talk about life changing. I think this is how I'll be doing all my pages from here on out.

 The house where we stayed were incredible and Amy/Laurie out did themselves with swag bags for all of us and tons of fabulous snacks (let's just say I don't need to get on the scale for a while).

The pictures above show our stamping space.  Plenty of room for all of us; stations for the shoe box swap, tutorials in the kitchen from Eva, line dancing on Saturday night (Lindsey and Heather) and Laura Pryor from Lil Inkers is seriously won't of the sweetest and most hilarious ladies I've ever met. We almost left her in the house when we went to dinner on Friday night. She was in the bathroom and didn't hear us call for her. Her face when she came out the car was hilarious.

And here are pictures from the amazing house where we stayed.  Many of these pictures are from Laurie and Nichole.  We could have spent the whole weekend taking pictures of the house!  To say I had a fabulous time would be a huge understatement.  It was amazing.  A big thanks to Laurie and Amy.  I'll be back tomorrow with three more layouts and a picture of the whole crew.

Collinisms and Get Well Soon

It seems that when I make a card for the MUSE challenge I'm always sneaking it in at the last minute.  I was itching to play along this week as Bev's card is truly fabulous and my Uniko stamps needed more ink. The detail on the butterflies is so gorgeous.  This card was very quick to make and is easy to mass produce too.

Last week I shared some Marcelisms with you. I thought it would be fun to chat about all the boys at different spots.  So...here's what my sweet little 10 year old, Collin is up too.

• Every since he was very little he has loved to cook. It started with pretend play making tea for us with water.  He's deliver it to my mum proclaiming that is "scrumptious and delicions".  He's now making grilled cheese and scrambled eggs and bacon on a regular basis.
• He also is extremely handy.  Out of our four, he is the one that is exactly like Pat.  Wanted to know how to build things and more than happy to do yard work.  All 63 lbs of him has taken over cutting my mum's yard as well as cutting most of our yard too.  When he took his shirt off the cut the grass, we were cracking up laughing.  We really aren't making him do it!

• He loves to fish.  Last week he went to fishing camp. He didn't catch anything in over 30 hours of fishing, but man oh man did he have a great time.  He loved every minute.  "Mom, I'm so much better at casting, tie the knots the way dad does and putting the worms on myself."  He also used his grass cutting money towards a new rod. 

• Monopoly is his favorite game right now. Friday night was a sleepover night for our nephew, Will, and Collin's first choice was Monopoly followed by a game of Headbandz. Love that game!

 I love how each of my boys have a unique personality and interests. Right now, pictures of Collin are only when he's not paying attention. He'll have nothing to do with a regular picture, but I do love that he'll still be quick with a kiss and an I love you. His sweet little freckles melt my heart.

FUSION: Feel Better Soon

Happy Friday! We'll be celebrating Marcel's birthday tonight with his neighborhood friends and cousins.  We're going to a place called SkyZone filled with trambolines.  Perfect for all the kids to use up their energy!

But I'm here to pop in with the latest inspiration for this week's FUSION Challenge.  I immediately was drawn to the photo.  I was looking for some presents in my PaperSmooches stamps sets, but don't have any.  The band aid stamp immediately jumped out to me.  A little paper piecing and ink and it was finished!  

How about you?  I'd love to see you play along with the picture and/or sketch inspiration.

PROCEDURES:
1. Play with just the sketch challenge.
2. Play with just the inspiration photo challenge.
3. Or you can create FUSION by combining BOTH challenges into one card.
4. Use the challenge graphic and link back to Fusion in your post.
5. Please read the other considerations on the Experiment Page before playing along.

Be sure to check out my Fusion teammates amazing creations:

Kelly Griglione

Stacey Schafer

Lyndal Higgins

Amy Tsurata

Geri Freeman

Ingredients: PaperSmooches Stamps

Feel Better Real Soon

Happy, happy Monday!  Oh did I have fun getting inky yesterday.  In between peaking out to see how the Cincinnati Reds and Bengals were doing during their games.  Thankful that they both won!  When I saw the Curtain Call Challenge, I didn't think I had my PTI Sunflower set anymore so I wasn't going to play along.  But...I was looking through my sets yesterday and found it. I love cards that are almost all inks and stamps with just a few embellishments.  The layout is inspired by Laurie's card over at Retro Sketches this week. 

Random Blogger question for all of you too:  Any ideas how to change your default font?  I keep changing mine with each post and think there must be a way to change it for all future posts.  Help is appreciated :)!

Stamps:  PTI and PaperSmooches Sentiment Sampler

 

You are in our thoughts and prayers.

Continuing along with my get well card stash creation today.  I LOVED the current Runway Inspired Challenge.  I mean loved it!  When I sat down to create this card, I wanted a bit of texture so I used Bazzill cardstock for the base and the leaves.  Super CAS design, but I love the elegant feel of the card.

Ingredients:  WPlus9 Dies and Hero Arts Stamps

Hope You Get Well Soon

Hello there...we're having a lazy Sunday.  I had planned on heading out to run some errands, but it was snowing earlier.  So I stayed and watched basketball and did a bit of crafting. I couldn't miss playing along with the current Diva Dare challenge.  The challenge is to take inspiration from Maureen (who you all know I adore) and Laurie.  Both of them have such fabulous style!  When I went to work on creating, I knew there were a few things I had to try:

• Mix/match lots of patterned paper
• A gorgeous bow 
• Tilted panel
• Bling
• The scalloped shape on the top.  All of these elements remind me of both Moe and Laurie, but this last one really reminds me of Moe.  Every time she makes a card with a scalloped edge, I think I need to do it more often!

I also weaved strips of pattern paper which was another technique I learned in the Pattern Play class. Hope you like how I was inspired and that your weekend is finishing up perfectly.  I'm off to get ready for my mum and Hank coming over for dinner!

PaperSmooches Sparks Challenge: Picture Perfect

Merry Christmas my friends!  I'm popping in to share two cards for our new PaperSmooches Sparks Challenge.  We have a gorgeous inspiration photo for you today.  You could take it so many directions:  wedding, color, texture.  Love it!

For my first card, I was inspired by the colors.  I used the new Flap Happy set.  I love the clean, whimsical feel of this card and this stamp set has a ton of images that are great to layer images. This was mailed to my nana a couple weeks ago as she recovers from her shoulder surgery.  

 

The second card keys off the colors and the texture.  I die cut and adhered several of the snowflakes together for added texture.  The snowflake images are from the Circle of Honor set.

How does the inspiration photo inspire you?  I'd love to see you play along.

Caught a Bug?

I love this week's Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge.  Isn't the inspiration photo below gorgeous?  Love all those flourishes and the color palette is stunning.  At first, I was going to pull out my PS Reflections set, but then when I was going through my PS sets, I changed my mind.  I haven't used this sweet little bug before and I like the way having three bugs captures the movement like the tree.  Added a couple of gems on the antennae to add a little extra dimension!  I hope you like it!

And...most importantly...happy Friday Eve to all of you!

 

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!

Feel Better Soon

Happy Sunday!  I'm going to keep it short and sweet today...we're celebrating Ryan's Confirmation this afternoon so we're getting ready for our family to come over.  I am playing along just for fun today with the CAS-ual Fridays challenge. I love the idea of the opposites attract - using the opposite colors on the color wheel.  And...even better that I'm playing along with my new Paper Smooches stamps that I won from the Sparks Challenge.  I love that band aid!  (or plaster as my friends in the UK would call it!)  

And while I was playing in the craft room, Collin and Marcel were busy creating too.  First up, Collin's All Star card.  He had to use some punches, stickers and stamps! 

Marcel was all about the stickers...and this card ending up going to Collin as an apology card.  Collin's feelings were a bit hurt that Marcel didn't want any help making the card.  I should have snapped a picture of the inside.   Marcel request that I write, "I'm sorry Collin.  From:"  And then Marcel signed his name.  Too cute...and I didn't notice until later how symmetrical Marcel made this card! Hope today gives you time to craft away!

Get Well

Happy Monday.  I hope your week gets off to a great start.  I could give this card to my little man, Marcel.  He's been fighting a stomach bug this weekend.  Hopefully the rest of the house won't get it, but he's had a case of the vomits for a few days. Even when he is sick, he is a happy go lucky guy.  But enough with that!

I have loved Laura's creations this month at CASE Study.  She has an elegant, CAS style that I adore.  So, of course, I had to play along!  I kept it simply with the woodgrain embossing and a few die cuts.  Hope you like it.  And below is Laura's inspiration photo.  You can tell I used her sketch and the polka dots as inspiration!

Also, before I sign off, I wanted to mention this post.  I have a box of goodies going in the mail to Angie tomorrow.  I thought many of you would like to see this as well. 

End of Show Choir Competition Season!

Happy Tuesday!  Popping in with another card that I made a while ago.  Featuring Hero Arts butterflies and a PaperSmooches sentiment.  I love the soft color palette and layered butterflies.

And...I thought I'd share a few more pictures from the last week of show choir competitions.  Ryan's cousins came to his regular choir concert when he had his solo.  Aren't they too cute!  Thanks for coming Ella, Shelby & Jay!

 

And...here's the last couple photos from last weekend's competition.  We won grand champions (isn't the trophy massive!?), best vocals and best choreography.  What a way for the kids to end the season on a high note!  And...we were so thankful to make it there.  About 10 minutes from where we were competing there was a bridge that had restricted weight limits (just imposed that day)...so we had to turn around and go back to another bridge which added an extra 70 minutes to the drive.  Craziness when we got to the competition and all the girls were trying to get ready!  But we got it all together and came out strong!

 

A close up of the group!

And time for a little Loveland Revolution cheer!