Vintage-y ... So Hard for Me!

I was talking to a friend while I was making this card (Hi Deb!!) and I said to her, "Vintage-y is hard for me! Oh! I should use that as the blog post title!" Seriously ... y'all already know that I have a love/hate thing with "dude" cards ... really struggle with those, too! But the whole distress/sponge thing has me baffled!

I learned how to make this COOL flower on Patty Bennett's blog here. SOOOO super easy (WAAAYYY easier than you would think), and I really like how they turn out, despite the vintage-y direction they make one go! I have one slight adaptation on my flower ... I added the smallest of the flowers from the Boho Blossom punch to the center, directly behind the brad.

This past week has been NUTS!! Had a big ol' party for my daughter's birthday, and have been prepping to get ready for graduation and such ... not sure what-all I've accomplished, but I must be making progress, right??

I'm off to work on the grad announcements for my daughter and my nephew ... I am doing photo collage-type announcements, so they should be EASY!

Have a great week!

Stamps: Style Beautiful, Together Forever
Paper: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Pool Party, Pink Pirouette, Very Vanilla
Ink: Soft Suede
Accessories: Blossom Punch, Boho Blossom Punch, Tag Corner Punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Elegant Lines Textured Impressions Folder, Large (Wide) Oval Punch, Victoria Crochet Trim, Vintage Brad, Pearl Basics, Gold Smooch Spritz

Another busy week ... but I could NOT let today go by without wishing a happy birthday to my baby girl ... who is turning 18 today!! I have NO idea where the time went!! Seems like only yesterday she was roller skating naked around the house ... :)

Here's a card I made forever ago, but then the weather got cold and it seemed weird to post it. So, here it is ... READY FOR SUMMER!!

How's that for a short post? Have a great Wednesday, everyone!

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases, Up, Up & Away (polka dots for bikini)
Paper: Island Indigo, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Basic Black
Accessories: Stripes Textured Impressions Folder, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Cricut Life's a Beach Cartridge, Basic Black Scallop Gingham Ribbon, Small Oval Punch, Brights Buttons, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Folder

A Freaky Farewell ...

I have a love/hate relationship with this time of the Stampin' Up year. I LOVE that we are going to be working from a new catalog (SOOOO much wonderfulness to look forward to!). But I HATE to have to say goodbye to so many lovely stamps and accessories. You should have just come from the a-MAZ-ing projects done by Patty Bennett ... if you don't have everything you need to make them, act quickly!! The catalog is still good until May 30 ...

Which brings me to my first card. Ahhhhh ... Baroque Motifs. It has long been one of my most favoritist stamp sets (that swirly flourish is DIVINE!!). Combined with the also-retiring Medallion stamp set, ticket corner punch (whimper!), Short & Sweet sentiment and Eyelet Border Punch (double-whimper!), this card is LOADED with things on the Farewell List!! (To help you out, all retiring items are italicized in the descriptions.)

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Medallion, Short & Sweet
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Whisper White
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Small Oval Punch, Eyelet Border Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, Linen Thread, Pearl Basics

This card also contains some of my favorites. I have really loved the Ornate Blossom stamp (which is a larger version of an image from "Friends Never Fade - used in the background strip here). Sometimes clean and simple just really gets my attention.

Stamps: Ornate Blossom, Friends Never Fade, Short & Sweet
Paper: Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry, Pink Pirouette, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White
Ink: Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: Eyelet Border Punch, Modern Label Punch, Demin Ribbon, Pearl Basics

Finally, I made this sweet little pillow box (will also miss seeing THAT die!). How could I do a farewell without a butterfly or two in there SOMEwhere?? What a happy pair!!

Stamps: Butterfly Prints
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Pillow Box Bigz Die, Butterfly Punch, Basic Black Taffeta Ribbon, Flower Brads (Brights), Rhinestone Basics, Finial Press Textured Impressions Folder

Time to move on to the wonderfully-talented Connie Babbert!! FABULOUS!!

For the Moms ...

This year, I made the same card for both of my moms for Mother's Day (I usually try to change it up a bit, but being as I had just gotten back from Disneyland and was on borrowed time, I just made two of the same thing ... good thing they will never know!)!

Stamps: Bordering on Romance, Family Reunion
Paper: Wisteria Wonder, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Vellum
Ink: Whisper White Craft, Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush, Always Artichoke, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories: Whisper White Embossing Powder, Large Oval Punch, Framelits Labels Dies, Elegant Lines Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, Wisteria Wonder Ruffled Ribbon, Pearl Basics

I am sooo grateful that both moms are out of the hospital and on the road to recovery. Best Mother's Day present, ever!! Sooo nice to have my boys home, too. We had a great family dinner together ... lots of food, laughter and CHOCOLATE (I swear, my family is trying to fatten me up!!)

MDS & Memory Lane

I have a love/hate thing with scrapbooking of ANY kind ... I love scrapbooking (of ANY kind ... tactile and digital!). It is a stress reliever. It is fun to take beloved photos and present them in such a way that they are showcased attractively and help you relive the memory. But that is also why I hate scrapbooking ... I guess "hate" is too strong of a word. That is one of the things about scrapbooking that is difficult for me ... looking at photos of my "babies" when they were still babies!! I sooo miss the days of my kids being little. Being a mother has been one of the biggest joys of my life ...

I took this photo of my kids one lovely Easter sunday. The lighting was just right, the setting was fantastic and the kids looked sooo great (don't you agree??)!! Just can't believe how grown up they had become. Maybe I will have to make them get dressed up and take them where this photo was taken so we can do a revisit ... which will probably make me melancholy all over again!!

We are still playing at Disneyland. Spent all day yesterday soaking up the sun (and some WATER!! I got absolutely WATERLOGGED on Grizzly Rapids. So much so that we had to go back to the hotel about 4 hours later so I could change my shoes ... my right one was still "squishy" and my foot had become a raisin!)  .

We get to play for half a day today before heading back ... sigh ... good times!

This layout is CRAZY loud, don'tcha think? The color scheme is NUTS!! (Never thought I would EVER touch Orchid Opulence again!). My son was in LOVE with this purple suit. Bought the pants and jacket at a local thrift store to make the costume he needed for their school's production of "Guys & Dolls." Dyed them in the washing machine with some good ol' Rit dye. He was sooo happy with how it all turned out that he wore this get-up (and the two-tone black and white shoes we ALSO found at the thrift store) to church on occasion until he outgrew it all. I loved that he loved it so much ... great memories!

Wanna learn how to create fun digital stuff? Check out THIS LINK and come and play with Jan and me ... we are having such a great time!!

Off to the Magic Kingdom ... as Tigger would say "TTFN ... Ta-Ta for Now!"

R is for ROCKET!

Funny thing about this card ... it wasn't until I was looking stuff up to upload this blog post that I realized I missed a whole BUNCH of pieces I could have cut out for this rocket ... I was frustrated that it didn't have more "parts" while I was making it ... guess it woulda been a good idea for me to look a little more carefully while I was playing with this image on my Gypsy. Oh well!!  I used the 1" square punch to punch out the little notch at the bottom of the Pacific Point banner ...

I am almost embarrassed to admit that I am headed out of town this afternoon to ... um ... Disneyland (again!). Soooo glad I bought a season pass when I was there in January. My sister in law and I made an impulsive decision a couple of weeks ago (she has a season pass, too) and just decided it was time to "get outta Dodge!" I you don't recognize that phrase you are just gonna hafta "Google" it ... makin' me feel old just thinking about all of y'all who have no idea where that came from!!

Stamps: Just My Type
Paper:  Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade
Ink:  Pacific Point
Accessories:  Cricut B is for Boy Cartridge, Bricked and Seeing Spots Cuttlebug Embossing Folders, EK Success Zigzag Border Punch, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Large and Small Star Punches, 1" Square Punch, Regals Button, Whisper White Baker's Twine

Off to the Happiest Place on Earth ... hope my foot can keep up with the rest of me!!

Suh-WEET, Baby!

Sleep ... it's highly over-rated, right??? I was up at midnight last night hurriedly putting in my Stampin' Up order. You see, for demonstrators, last night at midnight was the "Golden Hour." Included with the shipment of the first order we place on May 7 will be a copy of the new Idea Book and Catalog!! It was also available for us online to preview (since I am typing this a little ahead of time, I haven't quite decided if I'm going to actually look through the online version, or wait until my hard copy comes in a couple of days ... decisions, decisions!).

In the mean time, I was able to do a non-DUDE, sweet-baby-girl card!! I was totally inspired to makes this from THIS adorable card I saw on Carrie Gaskin's blog. Stinkin' ca-YOOT, right?? I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how she fanned the pleated thing at the top (and believe-you-me, I tried EVERYTHING!), so I adapted my "fan" to the thing you see at the top of my card. It is actually three of the Blossom Punch shapes tucked under the panel. I also ran them through the paper crimper, but you can't really tell from the photo. I like how it turned out.

Stamps: Button Buddies, BFF, Petite Pairs
Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Summer Smooches DSP
Ink:  Early Espresso, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake
Accessories:  Blossom Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Curly Label Punch, Pearl Basics, Daffodil Delight Seam Binding, Dimensionals

And just because I thought it was fun ... I wanted to share with you what I did (with the help of my amazingly supportive, cooperative and helpful husband) to the door in my closet. After seeing a lot of COOL ideas all over the 'net (mostly on Pinterest), we made this jewelry/scarf/belt board inside my closet door. I live in a charming and historic neighborhood ... which equates to itty-bitty closets and storage space. I wish I would have figured this out YEARS ago. I wear a MUCH larger variety of jewelry now that I can actually see what I have!!  We used some coated wire mesh window screen (you can get it at any hardware store).  We secured the corners with washers and screws.  Then, we used a bunch of miscellaneous drawer knobs/pulls and some coat hanger hooks.  Turned out pretty danged awesome!!

Senility??

I seem to be losing track of myself!! I had EVERY intention of doing a blog post yesterday ... in fact, at some point I thought I had actually done it (at least in the back of my mind!). I went as far as opening the "new post" window and everything ... then? Nothing!! I got distracted/sidetracked and moved on to something else. I think having had teenagers for so long has finally affected me permanently!! Sheesh!!

Two more "dude" cards. I really need to make something "pretty" and "girlie" ... but I do like how this first one turned out. It DOES have a LOT of layers, though. I went looking around for a sketch idea, and before I knew what had happened I had layered this baby up but GOOD!! I made it for my nephew ... who is a flight instructor. Who ALSO happened to give me my first flying lesson last Saturday! Pretty cool, eh? I seriously felt like my head was gonna explode from all the information he gave me, though. LOTS to learn, I tell ya!! But, pretty exciting!!




Stamps:  Plane & Simple, Perfectly Penned
Paper:  Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Mocha Morning DSP, First Edition DSP
Ink:  Early Espresso
Accessories:  Paper Piercing Tool/Mat Pack, Early Espresso Baker's Twine, Oval Cutter, Small Binder Clip

This card is for my cousin's son. He turned 14 this past week. I made the car paper myself, too!! LOVE using MDS to create patterned paper. I don't do it nearly enough. And it is SOOOO helpful when trying to come up with "dude" ideas...

Stamps: Daring Adventure, Adventure Awaits (Stamp Brush Set from MDS)
Paper:  Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Ink:  Early Espresso, Soft Suede
Accessories:  Neutrals Buttons, Paper Piercing Tool/Mat Pack, Linen Thread, Paper Distressing Tool

 I had a cortisone shot in the bottom of my foot on Thursday. I wasn't too worried about it, as I had had three others there before we finally decided to go the surgical route. Since my foot was/is STILL so numb/hypersensitve (I'm about 9 weeks post op and still pretty uncomfortable), the doc figured that this could help me along. Can you say OWWWWWIIIIIEEEEE???? I know it only lasted a minute or so (felt like WAYYY longer), but I SWEAR I thought I was gonna die!! In fact, I pulled BOTH of my triceps from gripping the arms of the chair (took me a minute yesterday to figure out why they were both so dang sore!!). By the time I was done my hands shook for about 15 minutes ... and I was a little goofy in the head. At this point I kinda limped out of the office dazed ... "Thank you," I said. Thank you????!!?? YIKES!! Hope I don't have to THAT again any time soon ... or EVER!! Good news is that it seems to have helped my foot. Still have numbness and hypersensitivity, but at least I don't feel like I have something stuck to the bottom of my foot all the time. YAY!! Now if I could just get rid of the feeling that there is something stuck between my toes, I'd be doing GREAT!! Patience ... sigh ...

Catching Up ...

I know I've mentioned this recently, but it seems like all the guys in my family are having birthdays are scrunched together (is that a real word??)!! I feel like I have been making "dude" cards forever!! So here is yet one more for ya!

I realized when I was about halfway through this card that the people looking out the window at this lighthouse must live in a REALLY rustic house ... I mean, just LOOK at that beat up brick!! Sheesh!! At that point I was too far along, so rustic won out!!

Stamps: Uncharted Territory, Occasions Alphabet
Paper:  Early Espresso, Whisper White, Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke
Ink:  Soft Suede, Stazon Black, More Mustard
Accessories:  Grand Madison Window Die (Poppy Stamps), Bricked Embossing Folder (Tim Holtz), Little Leaves Sizzlets Die, Twill Tape, Square Clip, Large Oval Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Scallop Circle Punch