I've Been Tagged - What??????

OK, so this proves how much I actually check my blog :-( - I was tagged last week (Friday) by Miss Moon and have yet to respond. I didn't even know anyone actually even looked at my blog, I update so infrequently. Well, here goes, this is an easy one:


1. If you could have £100 worth of scrapbook paper or assorted embellishments, which would you choose?
I don't know how much that is in US dollars, but either way I would go with the paper, I'm an addict!

2. If you had to choose between using only stamps or rub-ons which would you choose?
Gotta say stamps at this point. Rub-ons, nice, but not my thing yet.

3. If you knew how to do both awesome cards and layouts, but could only do one for a year which would you do?
I guess I would say layouts for scrapbooking. I am soooooo far behind on my kids books that I would feel great to have them done or at least up to date!

4. Would you rather own a scrapbooking store or have your own scrapping room at home (can't have both, lol)
This one is tough for me, I guess I would like my own room. I need more space, which is why my scrapbooks are so far behind. We're working on that though :-) But a whole store, just think of the discount...

5. And then last but not least, what is your current cardmaking or scrapping style?
I like distressing, and I love browns and natural colors. It is hard for me to do fun, glitzy colors and embellishments, it feels unnatural. I use both rubber and acrylic. I prefer acrylic because I can see where it goes, but rubber still gives a crisp impression, so I am torn. I am starting to use more glitter and stickles though, I like the sparkle so we'll see where it takes me :-)

Now I'm supposed to tag 5 more friends, but I don't really know anybody, so I will do what Miss Moon did and tag five new bloggers per Allison's site. Here goes... (hope they don't mind)

1. Cindy
2. Melissa
3. Helena
4. Melinda
5. Kimberley

Happy Halloween!

I hope you are all having a better day than I am today. The only good thing about today is that it is an absolutely beautiful day (weather), and that my kids get to go trick or treating. It has been a rough day!

But on a happy note - I wanted to quickly share two of the Halloween cards that I made. I did actually make Halloween cards, but they were few and for those closest to my heart, as my time was limited after I so brilliantly decided to be "that" mom who makes the Halloween costumes instead of buying them. I must say though, I am very proud of my work :-) LOL! Plus, an added bonus is that my son is sooooooo Super excited about the whole thing and loves his costume. Can't wait to see them in them!

The cards were both made from stamps I found in the cheapy bins at A.C.Moore and Michael's respectively. I colored them both with Prismacolor pencils and OMS. And of course both of them had to have some Stickles for sparkle.

The paper on the spider card is actually from a stack my mother bought for me about seven years ago. I seriously don't know why I still have it, but it was a good thing I did cause I don't really have much in the way of Halloween colors, except black of course.

The "faux" stitching is from Technique Tuesday's Hanging By A Thread set with Brilliance Black Ink. The sentiment is from a letter set I found in Target's $ bin with their Halloween punched and gems. That was stamped in Versamagic Dew Drops Pumpkin Spice and cut with an SU! Word Window Punch.

Now for the Ghost card: the orange polka dots is from DCWV, the ric-rac is May Arts, the spider web paper is actually hand drawn by me with a white Signo Gel Pen since my supply for this holiday is so limited.

The sentiment is letter stamps from the MSE set Perky (I think?). The spiders are actually very glittery IRL, they are those Halloween double sided stickers from Martha Stewart at Michael's. I got them last week when they started their 50% off sale on some of her stuff. I got some great stuff with that sale - but I won't go into that here :-)

Well, I better get going, gotta get ready for the big reveal! Have a safe and haunting night! BWAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Thanks for stopping by!

Caardvarks Micro Challenge Part Deux

Okay, while I was using eyelets I was inspired to create just one more card. I finally broke out my crop-a-dile this past week and I am still getting the hang of it. Does everyone's eyelets get all torn up on the back? I like my old fashioned Making Memories set because the eyelets look cleaner and seem to sit better on the back. But of course we all know how loud that is. Maybe I am not using it right??? I have the thing set for 1/8", at least I think I do. Any suggestions?

Well, anyway, while my kids enjoyed their Friday night movie and hubby was relaxing on the couch, I decided to give the eyelets another try. I needed another Birthday card, so I used the Papertrey Butterfly Kisses set to create this one. The paper is Basic Grey Blush and the white is PT Stamper's Select.

I used Versamagic Dew Drops in Pixie Dust and Sahara Sand. The scallop piece is created with Wave decorative scissors. I pierced some butterfly trails and the scallops at the bottom, distressed the edges a bit, and finally tied on a bit of twine for a little something. The scalloped piece is up on dimensionals to create an overhang. Of course the eyelets are Making Memories.

There you have yet another entry to the Caardvarks Micro Eyelet Challenge. Now gotta get it on there on time; I have 15 minutes - UGH!

Have a fab weekend!

Boho Birthday!

I absolutely had to have the new Boho Blossom set from My Favorite Things when it came out. As a matter of fact, this is my very first MFT stamp set ever! I love the femininity of this set. But, once I got it, I truly did not know what to do with it. I truly did struggle with this card, and revisited many times throughout the day. In the end, I like how it turned out, but boy do I feel drained!

I knew I wanted to use my new set, with Kraft paper and Versamagic Dew drops Aegean Blue ink (I love this color but have such a hard time with it because I have almost nothing to match it). That was where the creativity ended. I had nothing! I put it with a million things (well, it felt like it anyway) and ended up using Basic Black from SU! to make the image stand out.

I thought about putting a big brad in the center, but I really like the center of this flower. Plus, I wanted to submit this to the Caardvarks contest to use eyelets, so a brad would have been too much. The eyelets are Antique Copper from Making Memories.

Then I saw my Stardust Stickles in the drawer and had an epiphany. I don't use them near as much as I should. So I added some stickles for some glitz and some Organza ribbon from Joanns, and WALLAH! Sounds like it shouldn't have taken all that long, but trust me it did! Here is another pic so you can see the glimmer of the stickles...

There has been so much going on here, that I truly have no creative juices flowing through my veins. Hence the reason I have not posted a thing in over a week. We are in the beginning stages of building our very first brand spanking new house, so we have been quite busy finalizing plans and meeting with the builder, etc. I can not wait! My son just wants to move so he can have bunk beds, I have another agenda *wink* (can you say stamp room???)

I have other things done, and posts I could do, but just haven't felt like doing it. I have a list of projects that I want to accomplish, but haven't touched one. However, I am making my kids costumes for Halloween, and promise to post them here after the big reveal. I am very excited about those and hope they turn out as good in real life as they look in my head. Not much does these days!

Well, I hope my blog gets more interesting with more posts and more projects. With two little ones, I don't make the time to update it as I should. It is kind of like the family website I started when my daughter was first born, it hasn't been updated in over a year :-( GASP!

Have a fabulous Friday! Thanks for visiting.

On a Roll...

Ok, so it wasn't the very next day, but twice in one week, that's a roll for me! I actually did try to post yesterday, but had trouble with Blogger and didn't have the time to devote to figuring out what the problem was, so I just moved on to something else. I wanted to share my first single layer card ever, which I am very proud of, particularly because I had an idea and went with it in minimal time. I dare say that I am getting better at quick cards, but I wouldn't want to jinx myself :-)

So, here is my very first single layer card...

This was the thank you card I made for my birthday gifts, mostly money, but I am certainly not complaining! The idea actually came from the ribbon, which I got at the dollar bin at Michael's. I wish I bought more, because after making all the cards, I actually finished a roll of ribbon, I don't think that has happened since I made the programs for my wedding! LOL! I have sooooooo much ribbon, that is truly my scrap addiction, well that and paper.

Anyway, I loved that the ribbon had so many colors and that it was shiny. So to go along with that I used shiny inks - Versamagic Dew Drops Cosmic Copper and Pearlescent Sky Blue, and then Spanish Olive and Sage for the stem. First I stamped the flower from Fancy Pants Pollen Dust in the Copper and then just the tips of the flowers were inked with the Sky Blue. The stem is from an acrylic Autumn Leaves set call Build A Flower and I made it sort of curvy on the block before stamping it and then did the same with the dotted line from the same set.

The sentiment is from SU! Noteworthy set. I stamped that with Versamark and then embossed it with Copper EP. Wallah, super easy and understated!

As for my birthday - I was able to go on a craft shopping spree, on the Internet of course, with my birthday moolah - I bought stuff from All That Scraps, Linnecards, Joanns, and Scrapbookpal. So I had a very fruitful week spending and getting the things I can't find in our local stores. Now if I could just find the time to use them...hmmmmm...

Well, I hope you enjoyed my latest posts. I have some more to show tomorrow believe it or not :-) Have a wonderful day and evening, and hope to see you then!

I'm still here...

I am sooooooo sorry that I have been remiss in posting anything. I really don't know where the month of September went, and now here we are into week two of October and I still feel like I can't catch up. After deciding not to put my son into preschool this year, I guess I have been feeling like I need to do more things with him, showing him the world. So that's where most of my time has been, devoted to my kids. We are doing preschool things at home and exploring nature a bit. We have been to the beach, went hiking, we shot ears of corn out of a corn cannon, we visited the local gardens, went to a petting zoo, and today we took a hayride and picked some pumkins. By the time we get home, I don't even think about blogging. So, I am sorry to anyone checking back to see if I have done anything new.


I am still creating, just not posting. But, I do hope to change that. I have quite a few things I have been doing actually. I made some scrap pages and sent one to Cara (aka mom2tysonnashlee on SCS) so she could send them to her cousin, a soldier in the Army. She wanted to have a page sent from each state to compile a book of the United States. Check it out...
I like how it turned out, and she seemed happy with it too. I really do appreciate what those soldiers and their families have done and are doing for all of us, and this was truly the least I could do. My husband is a former Marine (Thank God!) so I know what they endure, and can not thank them enough!


I also made some thank you cards for my daughter's second birthday. I was so excited that my new Papertrey Ink set Beautiful Blooms had arrived just in time to make them. Now, so unlike me, I actually stayed up on the night of the 14th of September to see the new holiday releases from PTI. I don't know why I did, I was surfing and looking for inspiration and then it hit me, it was their new release party. So I decided to buy myself an early birthday present, I so deserved it! So of course I had to buy more than just one set to get free shipping, so I also bought Holiday Wishes, which I know will definitely get used on our Christmas cards (maybe not this year as I haven't decided whether or not to undertake that task, but definitely next!).


So where was I, back to the thank you cards. I wanted simple of course, as I had to make quite a few. And this is what I came up with...

The picture really does not do it justice, I had such a hard time getting something good because I took them the night before I mailed them, so the lighting wasn't great. The colors were inspired by the ribbon, which I got at Michael's a few weeks ago when they had their big ribbon extravaganza. Of course the base is PTI Stamper's Select, and I used all Dew Drops inks: Sea Breeze, Pearlescent Purple, Purple Hydrangea and Spanish Olive. The flower stamp is of course from PTI Beautiful Blooms, cut out with my Cuttlebug and Flower Die Cut, and then mounted with a dimensional. The stem is from Rhonna Farrer Elegant Flourishes set by Autumn Leaves, I love that set and can't wait to do more with that in my scrap pages. The sentiment is again PTI, Paper Tray. Simple and sweet, and I need something that went fast. Of course, then I had to write novels inside them to thank everyone for their generous gifts, but that's my style. I am big on thank you cards; people like to be acknowledged, and what better way to do that than to send a thank you.

Well, my daughter is talking up a storm in her bed so I must save the rest for later. Perhaps tomorrow there will be another post? Oh surely you jest :-) See you then, and have a fabulous evening!

Today Was My Birthday!

Well, there you have it - today was indeed my birthday :-) But somehow, it just isn't as much fun as when I was a kid. It seemed like every other day in many ways; I still had to feed the kids breakfast, still had to make lunch, still had to do laundry, still had to clean, still had to change diapers, and yes, I still had to shower! I even had to make my own birthday cake, but that's a story I refuse to go into right now :-)

But I also got to sleep in an hour later, get two hours of kid free shopping :-), buy new jewelry from my favorite sterling silver boutique, buy new stamps and ink from Michaels, get cards in the mail, get phone calls from friends and family, dance with my kids to music I like, eat birthday cake (YUM!), eat at Outback (yet again YUM!), and eat the birthday sundae at Outback (yet again YUM!).

So I guess all in all, even if it isn't as much fun as when we were kids, it's all in how you look at it!

Happy Birthday to me and to anyone else who is blessed to be born on this day!

P.S. I am 25 again for anyone who is wondering - that was such a good year *wink* I think I'll stick with it!

Itzy Bitzy, Cutey Patootey?

I love, love, love these little bugz from C.C. Designs! They are so adorable! I was going to give this one to my husband, just for being such a great guy! But after I added the flowers, it really doesn't fit his personality anymore :-) I think I might add another little flower to the other bugz head and send it to my cousin Tricia, who I have written about previously. She has had a really rough week, and I think she could use a little pick me up.

Anyway, I just got these Luv Bugz from Christine at ATS this week, and I couldn't wait to do something with them. I had purchased the Junkitz Salsa Pad a few weeks ago, and I thought that would work great with these little bugz; it's such fun paper!

The base and the red are from Bazzill, not sure which colors exactly, I bought them at the CKC convention in preformed packs.

The base is 4 1/2 x 4 1/2. The White is Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Select, of course! I stamped the Itzy Bitzy Luv Bugz with Brilliance Graphite Black ink. I cut that out with a Marvy Giga Scalloped Punch and then highlighted the edges with a light blue gelly roll pen. The bugz are colored with Prismacolor Pencils and OMS. I added Xmas Red Stickles to her flower, and then put a little blue gem in the middle for some dimension and sparkle. I layered that on the Bazzill red and added blue dots again with the gelly roll pen to mimic the circles in the paper.

I glued that on to the Salsa paper and then added my primas and brads before gluing that layer on top of the base to hide all my work. The brads are all Making Memories. I think it turned out so cute! I was very pleased with this one, and amazingly, this one didn't take me all that long. (I can stare at my desk forever trying to figure out what to do; my husband says that's because I have too much stuff - GASP - Blasphemy!)


Hope you enjoy your day today! Thanks for visiting!

Let's Pay It Forward!

I found this on Angel Wild's blog Angelosity, and I think this a fabulous idea! So, I wanted to send it forward to anyone who would like to do the same. This is a great way to make some new friends and to send something to make someone's day (I know how much I love to get fun mail!). Plus, did you ever see the movie "Pay It Forward"? If not, I highly recommend it - one of the best movies EVAH! This is a small way to maybe make a small difference in someone's life - we all love new goodies, right? :-) So, I will send some goodies in the mail (ribbon, chipboard, this-n-thats) out to the first person who comments here. But, please remember you have to put the icon on your blog and send some goodies out to someone else. Thanks for visiting!

P.S. send me your home address via my email at kaceycant@yahoo.com

Funny Thing About Life...Well Maybe Not So Funny...

OK, in the midst of a not so funny (ha-ha!) world, I have managed over time to find some humor in it all. Most recently in this... I took my daughter for her checkup a little while back and the doctor asked if she was talking. I said "Uh-huh!" Doctor: "Is she putting two words together?" ME: "UH-huh!" Doctor: "Is she putting three words together?", ME: "Uh-huh!". Doctor: "She is talking in full sentences?" as if in disbelief (she doesn't speak in front of him, only cries, HYSTERICALLY!), and I again I reply "Uh-huh!" He looked surprised, but in a non-believer way. So, she goes for her two year checkup, he comes out into the waiting room to get a parent who has brought their older child in, and sees my daughter talking away to another child, older than her, having a full fledged conversation, hand motions and all. We go back to see him, and he apologizes for not believing me when I said she could talk. I just smiled. I had a feeling he didn't, but who really cares, right. I know she can talk, and many times a day wish she would stop (LOL!), so who really cares. This brings me to the funny (not funny as in ha-ha!, but funny as in huh?) things I am finding...

Why do we place so much importance on what other people think or feel about us? Today I got an "email" from someone asking why it is that she can't seem to make and keep friends, or make relationships in general work when they are the things she wants the most in life. Yes, an email! Rather personal question for a mass email (at least 10 people on this list). I wanted to reach out to her, even though I myself have mixed feelings about her. My first instinct was to address it honestly, but given this person's history, I called my husband and asked him for guidance :-) (I often stick my foot in my mouth). He said, "tell her to talk to me", he is a lot more tactful at times like these. My counseling side screams out for honesty! Sometimes in real life I have to surpress that side of me :-) or it gets me in trouble.

Here's my problem these days, I don't care about insignificant things like this anymore. I can't! I want to, but I can't! This is why: that cousin that I wrote about last month, she had her first shot at Chemo, and they learned she was allergic to Taxol, the drug used in this particular type of treatment. They pumped her up with steroids a week later and tried again. She did ok for the first few days, and then developed a high fever, only to find out that she now has a Staph infection, MRSA, probably the worst Staph as it is immune to almost every antibiotic. They can not continue with the chemo until she gets rid of this infection, if she gets rid of it! I talked to my aunt, who is obviously distressed, and she begins to cry as she describes her daughter asking her "Why is this happening to me?" Her reply, "I don't know." Who does?

Then we learn that the niece of a very dear friend of ours was in a car accident this past weekend, and her friend who was in the passenger side was killed on contact. His niece is alive, and considering the accident, she is very lucky to be, but imagine the guilt that child (only 17) will carry around for the rest of her life. No amount of counseling will erase that.

So you see, I am having a hard time being concerned about "everything else" these days. I don't mean to sound callous and certainly don't mean to offend (see I even feel the need to apologize for what I write). But, these "life altering events" or "teachable moments" as I like to refer to them are putting things into perspective for me. Focus on what's important in life, and please STOP WORRYING WHAT EVERYONE ELSE THINKS ABOUT YOU; it gives them way too much POWER! Live your life for you and ENJOY it!

Nuff said!

She's 2!

Well, it's official, my kid's are growing up! (tears) I can no longer refer to my daughter's age in months, she is officially two years old! UGH! She turned two this weekend, and it suddenly hit me that I have no idea what happened to the last two years of my life! It all seems a blur! Anyone else feel that way? My kids didn't head off to school like everyone else today,

I can't even imagine what that will be like... I feel the tears developing already, and the anxiety too! Oh, how I digress...

This was the card I made for my daughter's 2nd birthday. I love this paper from Junkitz, called Salsa Celebration. I got it from All That Scraps a few weeks ago and bought it for this card specifically. I've had this cupcake stamp for a while now, bought it at a Clearance sale at Joann's for .25, love that! I hadn't used it until now, but it has been waiting patiently for some ink :-) I stamped it in Brillance Graphite Black on Papertrey White, and colored it with various Prismacolor Pencils and OMS. Then I added some Stickles to it for some sparkle (little girls love sparkle!), and topped it off with some bling and a flower punch to match the little cupcakes in the paper.

The turquoise and the pink are from a paper stack I bought a while back, not sure who makes it, but they matched the cupcakes perfectly. I punched tiny flowers out of the Salsa paper and used them to surround the cupcake in the circle, the cupcake seemed a bit lonely without them. I pierced the center circle as well as the scallop I punched with a Marvy Giga punch. Added a little yellow bow and a sentiment from Papertrey, also stamped in Brilliance Graphite Black. You can't see it well in the pic, but I also stamped three flowers from Papertrey's Paper Tray set in the upper left hand corner with versamark.

That's about it! I really like this card, it was fun to make. Plus I want my daughter to look back on it one day and know how much she is loved. Especially if I'm not around to share it with her.

Have a wonderful day!

Do You See What I See?

And yes, from there I started singing Christmas carols - fa,la,la,la,la! Should be of no surprise though, my daughter, almost 2, sings Jingle Bells repeatedly throughout the day; so Christmas carols are commonplace around these here parts!

I did this card for Shannon's contest, to make a card with stamps used in a way that they were not necessarily intended. I had to do this challenge, because it truly was a challenge! Love this idea!

In this card I used a few things for their intended purpose (obviously), but I also used some other things that I saw a bit differently. The main thing I changed (and this was the start of the whole card), was from an old SU! set called Framed Greetings. This was one of my first SU! sets, and I have thought about parting with it, but I go back to it every so often, so not yet ready! Anyway, I used the purse from that set and turned it upside down to make the chef's head and hat, then I gave him some eyes so he could see what I was doing to him :-) I added Star Dust Stickles to the curlies of his hat to make it sparkle a bit. Then I made him an apron out of some generic red cardstock and a Zig journaling pen. I cut that out and added a little strip of checkered Papertrey White that I colored with a red marker. I used the smallest "stem" stamp from Papertrey's Green Thumb set for his arms, pants, and the spatula handle and doodled on some extras. I used the cupcake outline from a Technique Tuesday Collector's set called Icing On The Cake for the spatula base, and colored it in with a black Prismacolor pencil and OMS, and added some Black Diamond Stickles to the spatula and grill for sparkle. The rest is pretty self explanatory. I doodled the outline to make it mirror the smoke coming from the grill, and added some black mini brads to finish it off. I got to use some of my dollar stamps that have been eagerly awaiting ink. I buy tons of those things and then forget to use them. So this contest made me look at everything I have, thanks Shannon! Oh, one more thing, the ink is my new favorite Black - Brilliance Graphite Black, and the paper is Papertrey White, Cool Caribbean SU!, and Paper Company red.

Here is a pic of the stamps I used:

Well, I think that about covers it! Can't wait to see who wins, there are some really cool designs coming from Shannon's contest. Great prizes too!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone! Thanks for visiting!

Do You Have A Green Thumb?

I can't seem to put my Papertrey stamp sets away! I had them for so long without the time to use them, and now they have a nice little home on my desk, just like my glue :-) I am also truly LOVING the Versamagic Dew Drop Inks! They work so well on all types of paper, and are such a deep color, they work almost like craft inks.



The card base is from a card boxed set I got from Michaels. It's kind of a mustard color with speckles on it, almost like recycled paper. The rust color is from the new Paper Company collections, called Desert. Followed by some MME striped from the Asparagus collection. The White paper is of course, Papertrey Ink (that's the only white I seem to use these days). I used flower stamps from both Papertrey's Green Thumb and Butterfly Kisses and the "smile" is from Paper Tray again. I used Dew Drops in Brick Red, Gingerbread, Spanish Olive, and Sage. I also used Stampin Up! Marigold Morning ink (retired) and Colorbox Chalk Ink Yellow Ochre (I love, love, love chalk inks!). I added a little Gingerbread ink to the main image to give it a more natural feel, the white seemed too stark to me. For the white flowers, I brushed some Making Memories white scrapbook paint onto the stamp and then stamped away. I don't have white craft ink (on my never ending wish list), but this works well! The scalloped piece is made with a corner rounder, then pierced, and highlighted with a Signo Gel Pen. The ribbon is Mellow Moss from SU! On the inside it reads, "It's Your Day!" So I guess it's a birthday card, always need those!

September is a big month around here. First is my daughter's Birthday on the 2nd, then my long time friend Steve on the 3rd, my nephew's follow on the 24th and 25th, and then ME! on the 26th, our very dear friend Vic (currently in Iraq flying planes from the ground - very interesting stories) on the 27th, and one of my mother-in-law's, Connie, on the 29th! Very busy Birthday month here! I think I'll ask for a gift certificate to Papertray for my birthday - he-he!

OK, well, I guess I should go play with my kids, they are looking at me with sad eyes...

Have a wonderful day!

Super easy B-Day card for a guy!

Ok, so I kept reminding myself it was my brother's birthday, and I had to get a card made, but I so dislike making masculine cards (because I can never think of what to do) that I kept putting it off. So, I was at storytime with my kids at the mall, and went to the card store to buy one (GASP! - I know, but it was getting close and I had nothing!). Then I came across this concept from, I think Papyrus, and said to myself "I can do that!". So I went home and reproduced it; it isn't an original idea, but very cute nonetheless!

I used Very Vanilla cardstock for the base. Used what I think is 18-gauge wire to make the shape of the hanger and used a glue dot behind the top part to secure it to the card. The sentiment is Papertrey's Paper Tray of course, stamped in Staz On Black. The ties are made out of MME Magnolia collection scraps. I love those papers! Super easy and quick! One the inside I stamped my own sentiment that read, "Tie One On - he-he!". I think he liked it, or at least got a kick out of it! He laughed when he left his message on the voice mail!

It's kind of dreary here right now, no rain, just gray. I like days like that, but somehow today I can't muster up the energy to get the kids out of the house! Right now that are playing well together, but you know that it is just a matter of time...

Hope you enjoy your day!

A Super-Quick Healthy Recipe That Tastes Good Too!

Good morning all!
Do you love the idea of eating something healthy, but that tastes good too? I have been trying a few new recipes (while tweeking them a bit to meet my tastes) and this is a fail-safe recipe that so far everyone loves (even people who look at it and say that looks interesting!). A friend of mine who is also an at-home caterer discovered a fabulous, super-quick, recipe that everyone loves, and passed it on to me. I wanted to pass it on to you all for something really quick for you to try. Here goes:

• 1 whole tomatoe chopped, seeded and drained
• 1 can of corn drained
• 1 can of black beans drained
• a few dashes of hot sauce

Here is where my tweeking comes in... I use 1 can of diced tomatoes with mild green chilies already in them (faster and no mess). The I add a few dashes of mild green hot sauce because my kids don't like things really spicey. There you have it! I serve it like a dip/salsa with multi-grain tortilla chips. Wonderful, quick, healthy, black bean salsa if you will! Try it and hope you like it!

Lots to share...

I love my camera! I am soooooooooo happy that we got it back! It really didn't take any time at all and they seem to have done a great job. Something about calibrating the lens, and testing the aperture??? As long as it works, I don't care what they did :-).

Then we had family in town and I just wasn't thinking about blogging :-) Though I have missed stamping and creating, it was nice to just enjoy everyone. I thought about it a few times, but couldn't seem to find the time. And then first thing Friday, I fell off a curb (I know duh!) out front of Michael's of all places! What kind of irony is that!

I was carrying my little girl and holding my son's hand and went down one of those little hilly islands in the middle of the parking lot. Just singing the morning away, when BAM! I don't know where the strength came from, but I was able to get my kids back into the car when I seriously thought I was going to pass out. Somehow I fastened everyone's seatbelts, although I don't recall doing it, and called my husband, who I had just dropped off at work because his car was being inspected (this is all his fault right :-). I drove to his work and he drove me to the doctors. We spent most of the morning at the doctor's office getting x-rays, etc., to find that I have a severe hematoma?, and a possible hairline fracture. What a weekend! And it was absolutely beautiful here, missed it all. But I did get to stamp a little. So here is some of what I came up with...

This first one is the one I sent my cousin Tricia in the package we sent her last week. It is of course one of my Bellas. The white base is Papertrey's Stamper's Select. Flowahbella is stamped in Timber Brown Staz-On, and her dress is paper pieced with the patterned paper from a DCWV stack. The rest of her is colored with Prismacolor Pencils and OMS. I cut her out with the Curvy Cutter Oval set, and then mounted that onto a piece of Cool Caribbean SU! cardstock cut with mini scalloped scissors. The patterned paper is layered onto a piece of Tangerine Bazzill. I punched two small wholes at the top and bottom of Bella, and then in the patterned paper layers before adhering it to the white base, that way it was all hidden :-) I tied it all together with Moss ribbon from SU! and added some turquoise Stickles. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Paper Tray, stamped with Timber Brown on vellum and highlighted with some Stickles. I put glue dots under the flowers to hide the adhesive.

This is one I did this weekend for a friend who's father just passed away, Cancer yet again - anyone hate that word as much as I do??? I was trying to go for something understated yet pretty, but for a guy. I think it might be too feminine, but I gave it to him anyway; I am soooo not good with guy cards. I used some scraps I had left over from the Basic Grey Perhaps 6x6 pad, cut two strips of the green and used a strip of the Beatrice Pattern. Before gluing them into place I inked up the edges a bit with Chestnut Roan Fluid Chalk by Colorbox. I stamped Papertrey's Butterfly Kisses with Colorbox white and added clear embossing powder to make them stand out. Didn't stand out as well as I thought they would because of the patterned paper, so I made a reverse mask of the butterflies and sponged a little Gingerbread on them to make them stand out more. Then I adhered everything to SU! Chocolate Chip cardstock base and added a piece of twine with a tag made from the the yellow paper (think it's called East of the Sun) in the Perhaps pad. The white rim around the tag is Papertey's Stamper's Select cut with mini scalloped scissors, then sponged with a little Chestnut Roan again. The sentiment is of course Papertrey Ink's Paper Tray again, have I mentioned how much I love this set, so versatile! I find that I use it over and over again for almost every occassion. Looooooove it!

Now for the final card of the day...

This was inspired by the Splitcoast Inspiration Challenge from Saturday, found here. I needed an anniversary card for my parents, who by the way will be married for 38 years on the 23rd. This was the first card I did this weekend, so I was having a bit of a mental block. The challenge helped me come up with some colors. I had bought this set used from Lauren Meader (mytime on Splitcoast) a while back, and hadn't used it yet. So Big Blooms was perfect because I was a flowery mood. The card is a 5 1/2" square, different for me. I stamped the flower from SU! Big Blooms on Stamper's Select in Colorbox Fluid Chalk Warm Red. Cut that out and adhered it with dimensionals to a cuttlebugged piece of white measuring 2 x 3 1/2. The brad in the middle is from Joanns I think. The green scallops are made using the SU! Slit Punch on paper from MME. The brown is Bazill, but I am not sure of the name. The leaves are from SU! Best Blossoms, and they are stamped with Versamagic Dew Drops in Spanish Olive. I added strips of the MME green to the top and bottom, then some ribbon from the Michaels dollar bin, and then adhered the whole thing to Stamper's Select white. The sentiment is a shortened version of SU! Wonderful Words stamped in Chestnut Roan on an oval cut with my Curvy Cutter. The mini brads are again from Joanns, and it is also on dimensionals. The corners are punched with SU! ticket corner punch, but I think it's missing something. I struggled with putting brads in the corners, but I don't want to do it then hate it. All in all I like the way it turned out. This was my first inspiration challenge - I had fun with it!

WOW! I can't believe I just typed all that. Haven't done that in a long time. I hope you enjoy my latest creations. My kids will be up very soon. I must run, figuratively speaking of course - he-he! Thanks for visiting! Have a wonderful evening!

A Life Altering Moment

This is just a quick post to share something that has been on my mind for the last few days. For those of you that pray, please say a prayer for my cousin, her name is Tricia. She has cerebral palsy, and is an amazing woman who has done some great things with the life she has been handed. She was diagnosed last week with cancer and she is only 39. We worried she wouldn't understand what that means. I don't really know that I truly understand what that means; there are so many possible scenarios, it is hard to get a grasp on cancer. Tricia is such an upbeat person, many people, including myself, could learn a great deal from her. I can't begin to understand what she is going through right now. But I do know that she is a fighter, and stubborn as a mule, and I have every faith in the world that she will fight this. She actually said those words when they explained what it meant to be diagnosed with cancer, "I'm going to fight this!". So, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers as someone who needs a little help right now. She will start chemo in a few weeks, after she recovers from her surgery (which is how they found it). We are sending her some love in a box, with cards from my kids, and some Care Bears (Good Luck Bear and Cheer Bear) to keep her going. Every thought and prayer helps. Thanks and have a wonderful night!

My guy!

My husband and I just celebrated our anniversary, separately I might add, but celebrated nonetheless. On July 27th I was in Philly with my mom and he was watching over our little ones for the weekend. This weekend, he had his guys' thing and I had the kids. Sense a pattern here? One of us always has the kids. We don't live in the same town as either of our family, and have only one family member close by. Babysitting has been a trouble spot for us these past few years, so we take what little free time we have together and try to make it as special as we can, while our two little ones sleep soundly nearby :-) For our anniversary I made my husband the first two pages of his scrapbook. We have decided that we want to leave a legacy for our kids of who we are/were (just in case anything ever happens). We want them to know us if God forbid we are taken from this earth. So, I made the first layout entitled "things I love about you..." I can't post it yet, but will as soon as I can, because our camera has finally reached Kodak for repair (I hope). But some of the things I love of about my husband read:

• Your positive attitude


• Your strengths make up for my weaknesses


• Your gentle and often calming nature


• The way you suport me in everything I do


• You love me for who I am


• Your love of life


• Your often strange sense of humor


• Your ability to see other's perspectives (sometimes I hate this too :-)


• The love you have and show for your children


• That you are still a kid at heart, and that you remind me how important that is

These are the biggest things that me happy I have him. He is a fabulous person; people like him even before they get to know him. We all laugh about my husband; he can seriously walk into a room of perfect strangers and by the end of the night he will have made several new friends. He never feels uncomfortable. He is happy to be who he is! I, on the other hand am more of a wallflower, so we balance each other out.

One funny story about him meeting people, and our friends still laugh about this, we went to an apple festival about two hours from our home and while browsing the little inn we came across a family who was visiting from Italy. They spoke very little English, but somehow my husband was able to hold a 30+ minute conversation with these people and in the end exchanged phone numbers, addresses and email with them "just in case" they ever came back. We just watched as this all unfolded in amazement. I don't know how he does it. They have exchanged emails a few times since and have seen some beautiful pictures of Italy, that we would otherwise never have seen. Perhaps one day we will get there... oh to dream, we can't even go on a date!

One of our friends pointed out that Doug has something in common with everyone. He really does! He is a pretty worldy guy. He knows a lot about politics, foreign and domestic, he enjoys sports and also a good book, and he spent a few years as a Marine and working for the military. He is just an all around great guy, and I am happy to call him mine!

My challenge to you is to think of at least 10 things that make your significant other so special. Sometimes it truly is the little things... Have a great day!

Someone HELP me with my guilt...PLEASE!

Have you ever gone on such a shopping spree that you just couldn't stop spending, no matter what your conscience was saying to you? That was so totally me this weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the crafty shopping my mom and I did. The CKC was great, although I didn't feel like we really got any great bargains there, just some stuff that you can't really buy in your usual craft retailer. Now although I did spend some money at the convention, my before and after shopping spree was even more fruitful. We don't have an AC Moore around here, closest one is 50-60 miles away, so I stopped there on my way to return something I purchased a few weeks prior, and ended up spending money there. They had the cutest Halloween stamps on sale, I found a new paper trimmer for 40% off, glue dots were 50% off (couldn't resist that), and of course I couldn't leave without some ribbon from American Crafts and paper from MME :-) I think that's all I got there.

(here is the MME paper, isn't it awesome)
Then I was off to Mom and Dad's to sleep...

I got there about 12:45 am and had to get up by 6:15 am to meet a friend for breakfast and get my hair done (yes, I still go all the way to Philly to get my hair done!). Of course, I overslept, but I still made it. Breakfast was great, and my hair turned out just as I had hoped (I kind of like my hair, how many people can say that?). Then we were off to the Creative Keepsakes Convention. We walked around the vendor faire first, and then went back to buy ALL the things we wanted before we took our first class. Then... buyer's remorse set in... OH WELL! The deed was already done. I got some great stuff though, but I never spend that much money at one time. Here are some pics of what I got...

Sorry about the pic, but the camera is still broken, shipping it out tomorrow to be fixed. The chipboard letters are from Rusty Pickle, and I was planning on purchasing something like this on-line to make word banners for our new house (when we finally move?) so this purchase was justified (in my mind). The paper packs are from Scenic Route, so cute. That little tweezer thing is called a glitter grabber, never saw that before, that was only $1. Then of course, I got the Basic Grey precision file set, been holding off on buying that and found it for $6.

Here are some of the chipboard sets from Scenic Route that I got for scrapbook pages, and I also picked up some alpha slides for $1 each.

This was the first thing I bought, some Paper Pizazz templates. You can cut them out and make 3-D flowers out of them. I also bought one with background designs that are really cool, here is a link to see that one. What trip would be complete without some new BG paper, Mellow, had to have it.


Of course, I had to pick up some Stickles, and was able to get the Black Diamond stickles that seem to be wait-listed everywhere. I also got some Heidi Swapp ribbon sets for $1.50. I met the owner of Zsiage, who was selling these scrapbook film letters, and I looked at them the first day, but waited to buy them until the second day (Thank God!) when they were on sale buy 1 get 1 - Yeah! My mom took a class on these Home Grown Bloomers by Crafta Frame, and after seeign the demo I had to get some of these too. You can make them any color you want using chalk, markers, inks, glitter, whatever. That makes me happy because I hate when I don't have a flower that matches the colors I need for my project. These are any paper crafter's
must-have.

And now for the store purchases we made. Mom and I drove over to New Jersey to hit all three craft stores in one shot. I had read about a Super Joanns and had never been to one, so I mapped one out before I left Virginia so we could go and check it out. I bought a ton of clearance metal monogram charms in all shapes and colors. Packs were originally marked 9.99 and we got them for .97! I also got the new Luxury Stack by DCWV - so pretty, and two packs of Dew Drops. Then we hit AC Moore and I didn't buy much because I had already bought "stuff" on my way down. So we went over to Michaels and I got some new $1 stamps, $1 ribbon, and 5X7 canvas to make these cool magnets I learned about in one of my CKC classes.

So, do you think I bought enough? My conscience does! I blew my budget, and am not going to spend anymore money on crafty stuff this month - oh, hey, its the 31st! No really, for a month! But we had such a great time, and I would do it again in a heartbeat, minus the classes probably as I didn't feel I got all that much out of them. However, they did inspire me to set a goal for myself, to complete 4 scrap pages each week - 2 layouts, one for each of my kids. Is that unrealistic? I hope not. Now to just get some of those 2006 pics printed out :-)



Thanks for visiting!

I'm Off To CKC!

I am so excited about going to Creative Keepsakes Convention I can hardly stand it! Plus, I get to spend the whole weekend with my Mom, kid free!!!!!!! This is only the second time I have ever been away from my kids, and although I will miss them dearly :-) it will be nice to only have to worry about me. So, I am in countdown mode now, waiting for my DH to get home so I can jet out of here. The ride is about 5ish hours away to my parents. I usually don't mind the drive though, plus it gives me a chance to listen to whatever music I want, not that my kids don't enjoy my favorite KT Tunstall album these days - my almost two year old knows the words - how bad is that! But it also gives me a chance to just relax, despite the fact that I have to drive through Washington DC.

So, I am leaving here with a game plan, and have many items on my wish list, however, I do have a budget. It's a pretty reasonable one given that my hubby new this was coming up, but I hope to keep myself restrained as I know that since CHA was just last weekend, there may be some new things to make me stray from my plan. I am also taking some classes to learn some new techniques, so I'll share anything that looks good when I get back, well after my camera is fixed (keeping fingers crossed).

Anyway, my camera is officially on the fritz and we are going back and forth with Kodak now to see if they will fix it. They are looking at some sample pics now and said we should hear back form them by tomorrow morning. So I would like to leave you with some pics of my kids from this weekend. My little ones are great lovers of the outdoors. They are truly loving summer, especially the "big pool" (now that we have finally gotten my daughter to go in). But this is just them in our backyard playing in their "baby pool" with our friends' kids. They also played a bit on the slip and slide, which has since ruined our grass, but oh the fun they had! Enjoy! Have a fabulous weekend!

What's Silver and Black and takes a bad picture??? My Kodak Z612! UGH!

I can not believe it has been a week since I last posted anything! I truly do not know where the time goes these days. I am sure that those of you out there with little kids totally know where I am coming from. I had friends come to visit this week from my hometown, and the three days they spent here just flew by. It was so good to have some old friends staying with us, I can't remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did this past weekend. We just watched the kids play together, ate lots of food, played games and just talked forever until the wee hours of the morning. I am still trying to catch up on my sleep. We just had such a great time!!! I admit, I was worried about how the weekend would go before they arrived. They aren't as organized (insert control freak!) as I am. They don't do things on a schedule (they sleep in til after 9-10ish). They eat pretty much whatever they want (most things in my house are whole grain, wheat, or low to no sugar - I know UGH!). But somehow it worked wonderfully! I can't wait to do it again! Our two sons are only 5 weeks apart, and they got along famously! So much so that her son didn't want to go home yesterday. But we came up with a plan; they are going to be penpals of sorts, sending each other pictures, letters (that we write, they are only 3 1/2), and little gifts. They both LOVE to get mail, so this will be perfect!

Now for the bad part, I discovered a few things that were broken at some point during the course of the weekend. Among them, my fabulous (hope I can get another one) alarm clock (I love the display and the sounds). And worst of all, today when I attempted to take a picture of the card I made for the Sketch This Challenge Week #3, I discovered that my camera is now broken! UGH!!!!!!!!! My Kodak is only 7 months old, so I am hoping that it will be covered under warranty. The bad part is I didn't take any pics of my card until today, so after much editing, and many attempts, we got something that is not great, but okay. I couldn't go through the last two weeks and not be able to post something for week three. So here it is, lines and everything, and I am still getting it there in the final hour even though it has been done for days. I needed my computer genious hubby to try something before I submitted it. But we are still getting lines across every picture - flash and no flash, good light and bad light, black background and white background! UGH!!!!!!! Well, I hope Janelle understands over at Sketch This Cards; I am so distraught over this, I just can't believe it! But, this is soooooo my luck! So, not much I can do, but pray that it can be fixed.


My brand new LG EnV died last week, and now my camera! I got a new phone out of that deal, but doubtful a new camera is coming our way. What is worse is that I hate to miss one day of my kids; I hate not having a camera just in case they do something cute - which they do every day!


Well, here are the details on this card. I started with Papertrey's Stamper's Select White Cardstock and stamped a flourish from Fancy Pants Pollen Dust in Colorbox Black , then added a layer of Bazzill black, and another layer of Cuttlebugged Stamper's Select again. I used the Textile embossing folder for the top layer. I then smeared it with Versamark and used a soft paintbrush to apply PearlEx in Blue Russet across the cuttlebugged layer. The hearts are chipboard I cut with my Cuttlebug dies, and covered them with My Mind's Eye Bohemia "Girlfriends" cardstock, smoothed with a file, and painted with Making Memories paint in Spotlight. The paper is double-sided so I was able to use two patterns for the hearts and for the layer under the sentiment. The solid hearts are popped up on dimensionals. The sentiment is stamped in StazOn Black, and it is from Technique Tuesday's Words We Love and Truly, Madly, Deeply sets. I cut the pink layer with my Fiskars Mini Scalloped scissors and pierced the scallops. I finished it off with some Black Organza and some tiny flowers I punched with an EK Success Daisy Punch with Making Memories Mini Black brads. I think that about covers it! I wish my camera worked because it is actually a beautiful card, if I do say so myself :-) And shimmery too! Perhaps if (when???) it gets fixed I will upload a new photo to this post.


Well, good night and thanks for letting me blab about my woes! Thanks for visiting!

Finally a Chance to Stamp: Sketch This Challenge #2

Yeah! What a week it has been since the last challenge, I never thought I would finish this. But alas, with 20 minutes left to spare, it has been uploaded by the end of Monday. Yippie! I am truly loving these challenges because they are making me think out of my normal box. I have been dying to use my Butterfly Kisses stamp set, and I thought why
shouldn't a butterfly land on this flower, thereby creating the

second layer the sketch called for. Sure, I could have done something easy like placing two flowers on top of each other, but where is the fun in that? *grin* Instead, I had to mull it over in my head for the last three days until I could finally stamp. Plus, I couldn't really see the top of my desk, so I had to clean that off again, and now it's right back where I started - vicious cycle!

Well, here are the details: I used my oval Curvy Cutter template to make the petals with Vanilla Cardstock, sponged them with some Colorbox Chestnut Roan Chalk Ink, curled them with a bone folder, and glued them under the chipboard piece in the center. The Butterfly is stamped first with Versamagic Dew Drops Aegean Blue, then the swirls are stamped in Chestnut Roan, same for the flower center. I used some BG Lily Kate that I have been hording. That is such pretty paper; I just couldn't bring myself to cut it up, until now. The second layer is Vanilla again, and the base layer is Chocolate Chip. Brads are Making Memories, mini antique copper. The Ribbon is by American Crafts. The sentiment, also stamped in Aegean Blue is from Warm Words SU!

Well, I hope you like it! I am off to bed only to face the dishes from tonight's dinner in the morning (as my husband likes to say - "They're soaking!") - so not like me, really! Have a good night!

Cute little find...

I don't know about you, but I am always so excited when I get some really great finds in the clearance bins. I pride myself on the fact that I don't pay full price for anything (well except Papertrey Products). My husband is always so impressed with my ability to come home with bags of stuff having spent minimal amounts of money. I just found shirts for my kids for .98, even I couldn't believe that bargain!

Anyway, in my latest search for a bargain I went to Joanns to try to find some fabric to recover some pillows that I never really liked, they were having 50% off on fine fabrics. Instead of fabric, I found some great clearance buys. Aren't these little photo (I am going to use them for cards) holders really cute? I couldn't pass them up, and after paying for them, I should have bought more because they were only .59 each. You can't see it so well in the pic, but they even have glitter on them. I also got bags of Patriotic confetti for .25 each, and some dollar stamps for .50 each, as well as brads and an EK Success flower punch on a 40% off coupon. I love sales!

I hope to work on some crafty stuff today after attempting to clean up my space. I will post something new either today or tomorrow. Have a wonderful weekend!

It's a Bella Birthday for Mom!

Oh, I am so proud of my first Bella (and that I learned how to do Hyperlinks). I had to have Bellas, who doesn't? Bellas are rather strange if you really disect them, but they are also so extraordinary, not to mention so truly feminine and cute! Just look at their smiles, so inviting, and yet primitive, they have sticks for arms! Whatever it is they have, call it feminine wiles (is that the term?) - it made me buy five different Bellas! She is just too cute!

Which is why I chose her for my mom's birthday card. My mom turns 60 Thursday, I can hardly believe it! I wish I could be there with her to celebrate, but we live almost 300 miles away, and with two little ones, the trek can be very, well let's just say, long... But, I will see her in two weeks when I drive up to Philadelphia to attend the CKC at Valley Forge. It will be my first convention, and my first scrapbook weekend with mom. I am so excited! My sister calls us dorks, but I'm OK with that!

Anyway, I colored her hair with various orange and yellow Prismacolor Pencils and OMS to represent me (I have strawberry blonde hair). Of course, I had to use my Basic Grey Perhaps papers to compliment Flowahbella, plus I was happy to do something pinky. The sentiment is from Papertrey, more of my favorite stamps. Their stamps are so awesome, as is their paper, which I also used on this card. The Prismacolor Pencils seem to really adhere well to this paper, and yet it is so easy to move them around with the OMS. The ribbon is organza I picked up for .50 at a clearance sale - I love the color, but it is so not me - I'm an earthy girl! To top it all off, I had to use some primas, how would Flowahbella be complete without a few extra flowers thrown in there? I think she turned out rather nice and I hope my mom enjoys her. That's all for now, off to do some Soduku before bed. Have a wonderful night/day!

Supplies: Paper: DP Basic Grey Perhaps, White Papertrey. Ink: Stazon Timber Brown, Versamagic Perfect Plumeria. Ribbon: Organza Joanns. Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, OMS, CM Corner Rounder, Cloud scissors, Primas, MM antique mini brads.

Another Boy - Another Card!

Well, here is yet another baby card for yet another Boy! It seems like I have been doing quite a few baby cards lately and all of them for boys! I have such pretty pink paper calling out for a baby card, but alas, the number of boys entering the world is far outweighing the female population. So, here is a quickie, but an oh so cute one I made for a friend of my husband's new little addition. I love this MME paper, it is so versatile, and as soon as I saw this pattern I thought it would work great. The stamp is actually from a Fiskars set I found at AC Moore, and I used a 50% off coupon so I think it cost me like $7 for 44 stamps, can't beat that, and they work pretty well. This is also a card of firsts, in that it is MY FIRST card ever colored with my new Prismacolor Pencils and OMS. I know I am behind the times (everyone else is using their new Copic markers - way out of my budget). I think I did a pretty good job with the pencils, let's just say I am not embarrassed to give it away! I bought my pencils on Ebay, 120 pencils for $46! I almost attempted to use a coupon at Michaels to buy them, but it still seemed pretty expensive. Then it hit me, EBAY! I must have hit it at a good time because I haven't seen anyone get them for that cheap since, nor before. YEAH ME! Okay, enough on that one, I have one more to upload.

Supplies: Paper: DP and dark blue MME Magnolia, White Papertrey, Cool Carribean, Bazzill Tangerine. Stamps: Fiskars baby set, SU! Warm Words. Ink: Versamagic Aegean Blue. Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, OMS, Tangerine ribbon SU!, MM antique mini brads, and dimensionals.

My First Blog Post!

WOW! This is a post of many firsts. This is my first Blog post and my first contest post - Go ME! So, Welcome to my blog! I hope you enjoy what I have to share and enjoy the journey with me. Like many of you out there, I am new to stamping and card making, but not new to crafts. I have been into some kind of craft since I was in middle school, learning to sew clothes from my mom. She is a super crafty lady, so I guess I inherited my love for crafting from her. But, last summer a friend introduced me to Stampin Up! and I have been hooked on stamping ever since. I am using it in scrapbooking and in card making, and recently started doing some altered art projects. This is addictive!

As is blogging! I have been surfing many a blog these days, learning a great deal about stamping and all the products that are out there. As a result I have probably been buying more than I should, but we need it all right! Nah, I have been pretty good about keeping myself on a budget. But it is ALL so awesome!

I decided that I would submit a post for the Sketch This challenge at Janelle Richmond's blog, http://janellerichmond.typepad.com/sketchthiscards/. This was so exciting for me because I really liked the sketch and the prize is really great too! Now if I could just learn how to take better photos at night... The cards were do by Monday night, and I just barely got it done. I kept putting it off and then next thing I knew it was 9 Monday night - UGH! - and I wasn't even close. But I did submit it at 11:59 Eastern time, so I did meet the deadline. So, off I go for challenge week #2, check it out!

Supplies: The DP is from a chipboard stack I bought at Joanns ages ago, the blue covering the chipboard flowers is MME Magnolia, the red is the PaperCompany, and the white is Papertrey. Brads are all Making Memories, Ribbon is Sheer Creations (Michael's), Flower Punch is All Night Media, Sentiment is Happy Harmony by Stampin UP! Ink, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Warm Red.