Another special one.

So I started working on a couple of new cards yesterday to kick off a new series - to replace our beloved umbrellas *wink*

But as I was sitting at my craft table last night thinking about the events of yesterday, I felt compelled to make this card instead.

*tears - for real* I took my baby girl to kindergarten orientation yesterday. {sigh} - - my baby girl is going to be starting kindergarten in the fall. I am so blessed to have a son and a daughter - the best of both worlds...but if you have a daughter, I know you're feelin' me. They are your little best friend. They go shopping with you, they ask you girly questions, they try on your shoes, and sometimes if you're lucky, out of nowhere they'll hold your hand. She was trying so hard to be a big girl as we toured her big brother's school, so she would go back and forth between dropping my hand and holding on to it tightly as if to never want to let go - - truth be told: I didn't want to let go either. I'm going to give this card to my little one - and I do call her that. I say things to her like "...and who's talkin' to you, little one?" - she smiles.

A little emo, but from the heart - for my baby girl who is growing up too fast for her mommy....who wants her to stay a baby forever.

...it had to end *sigh*

....'tis the last of the umbrellas, my dears *tears*

And sadly, this one was hard to cut too - LOL I think Phase II of Operation Scattered Showers is going to be NOT cutting the umbrellas out and just stamping on to a focal point area and see how that goes. I have loved all of the sentiments though - made me feel so sweet and demure like that...which isn't a stretch for me anyway *wink*

Hope you're all having a great week so far!

Off by 1 letter....

So Miss Marti from Pez-A-Doodle is hosting a challenge over on the Studio G Collector's Group at PCP. I don't think any of y'all are over there, think I know you all from SCS - it's totally different....more intimate I would say - and me likes it. Anywho - so I got the list of assignments a while back and I can't do all of them because some of them are with the images that are Pez-A-Doodle exclusives and in case you're just tuning in: I don't color images. But I work with all the Studio G stamps - that's my job ;) So the challenge this week was to create a card featuring the paper PIECING technique. Oh yeah, I can paper PIERCE for sure. Then I saw the examples yesterday and I didn't see no paper piercing....and then I read the fine print "paper PIECING" (no r) *horror* Part of my "crafting for the working mom" mantra is that I don't do things that require a lot of time or patience - - for I have neither. But off I went to try and paper PIECE - ugh. I didn't do it right - but I do like the outcome - LOL Would love to see some of you join us over there - it's mellow...not fast-paced at all...kinda like a soap opera, you miss a week, a month, a year, you come back and it's all the same - - in a good way!

So here's my lil' card with my paper-pieced-all-wrong butterfly...and a cute lil' Studio G Series 30 stamp which of course you can pick up at Pez-A-Doodle.

....and here's my umbrella for today! Umbrella #6 (just 1 more left to show you). Now this umbrella = 2 thumbs up for sure for it's cute AND it's easy to cut *whew*. I am hearing some of you are running out to buy Scattered Showers - can't wait to see what you do with your umbrellas - they are soooo addictive. Not sure what I'm going to do once I finish working with the 7th one. Guess I'll start over - ha.

Thanks for stopping in today, Girls.
Wishing you a wonderful day!

I {heart} Talladega *giggles*

Ain't nothin' like seein' your old teammate plus the guy who is in your old ride, go out on Lap 7.

{happy sigh}

I'm hosting over at Fun-Frilled today - the last week to enter the B I G contest. So be sure and head on over to check out my card - and see how you can get in on some sweet prize action!

And because it's another day, that means another umbrella! This is number 5 out of 7 - and, um, I don't like this one either! Too hard to cut. So thus far we are at what, 3 out of 5 that I enjoyed. Granted I don't have to cut them out and pop them up, but that's really the only way I can see myself working with them. I have seen people use Valentine paper on a non-Valentine card and I like that - - way to get your money's worth, you know? The bottom DP on here is from Papertrey's Holiday Vintage Prints and I don't think this card looks Christmassy at all now that I've paired it with Everyday Blessings DP and thrown in some Summer Sunrise ribbon and cardstock.

Hope your week starts of great!

*whooped*

Lots of stuff goin' on - did you notice? - - I'm a regular entrepreneur - LOL
I figured with neither of our jobs being secure anymore (he's in hi-tech and I'm in the newspaper business) that it was time for me to get my piece of the e-commerce pie.

I've set up an ETSY store to sell my cards. I have way too many, so I started with getting rid of my older ones just to get in to the swing of how it all works. I realize that 99% of you that come to my blog are in the cardmaking world and probably wouldn't buy someone else's handmade cards and that's cool, but you never know, there could be that anonymous blog stalker out there who has an affinity for more-is-more cards...or umbrella cards *wink*

In addition to the ETSY gig, I have started my own digital stamp company called Digiments. I have no idea if this is going to fly or not but I do know that I have enjoyed designing my digistamps for a May release and if I make a few bucks off it, great - if not, then I'll quit when I've got no mojo left to make any more and realize that I haven't sold a one - ha. It could happen.... But for now, I am having a DT Call wherein I sent out a sample Digiment for people to make a card with - - it's been fun seeing all the different entries for sure.

OK - enough of the blah blah blah....I've got another card to show ya' and let me tell you this - THIS IS MY LEAST FAVORITE OF THE UMBRELLAS! *gasp* I did not know there would be one I didn't like. With all due respect to the super-talented Dawn McVey, this one is super hard to cut - maybe you're supposed to use an exacto knife? Either way - too hard for me. But I still gots crazy love for Scattered Showers. I tried to change it up a little before all the umbrella cards looked the same - so I dabbled in glitter for only the second time ever (I'm talking after grade school).

It's Talladega, Girls - goooooooooooooo CASEY!

♥ me some Saturday.

Oh it's gonna be a grrrrrrrrrrrreat day, I can just feel it!

Gettin' a pedicure at 9 this morning....then it's off to the soccer fields (showing off my pretty toesies in some flip flops)...and then home to work on real mail - I've got a stack of cards that we've been working on for like 3 weeks now - D does his on his own but I still have to spell out every single word letter by letter to K.

This first card could be for Mother's Day or just a card for mom. I'm already all Mother's Day'd out - there's only so many cards I can make for mine, his and for my friends to give to their mothers -- one occasion you do not need bunches of in your stash for sure. Anyway - this card features goodies you can find at Pez-A-Doodle. Both my stamps are from Studio G Series 30 - remember, 24 stamp sets for $23.40! Series 32 is coming out in a couple of weeks and you can pre-order it from Miss Marti. There are 16 sets in that one for $14.40 - and there is this adorable tiny "Hi Friend" stamp that I can't wait to ink up. OK - back to this card...so yeah, we have our affordable Studio Gs and also there's some Pez-A-Bling on there. I didn't even get a whole set, I got a little sampler pack to demo and there were like I don't know, 30 in it and I still have several uses left. I'm ordering more but can't decide on what colors I want - just might have to get all of them...I hate it when that happens *giggle*

And holding true to my word - today is day 3 of 7 in my little tour of Scattered Showers I promised you all. Are you sick of these yet? You only have to indulge me for 4 more days. I can't stop playing with these umbrellas!! This is probably the only sentiment out of all of them that is even close to being me - only I would say something like "what's up, buttercup" or "tough luck, buttercup" - LOL - a little different and less cheery, I guess....but at least I'm cute with the buttercup *wink*

Alright, lots to do - time to motor.
Hope you have a fabulous start to your weekend!

Did you think I was kidding....

...when I said you just may see these little umbrellas here for 7 days straight while I play with my new Scattered Showers set? *giggles* <---do you think that's retarded? I think I picked up the *emote* kinda thing from Catherine, but I like using it to sort of show you the frame of mind I am in when I am saying something - you know how it is with blogging and e-mailing, the person reading it may not get the spirit in which it was intended... *wink* - ha.

So anyway - umbrellas....Scattered Showers - LOVE IT! - and me thinks some of you all do too gauging by your comments. Speaking of comments - man, it was not too long ago when I was begging for 2 a day and now I got you all coming and sharing a little of your day with me and I really appreciate that. OK - card, yes - you like? Me likes!! My most favorite Papertrey Ink colors - say it with me: Ripe Avocado & Raspberry Fizz - HOLLA!!

{For those of you not in the know, I am originally from California
and I went to college in Oakland, so sometimes, well, it just comes out - heh.}

So yeah - I love these colors together, I love me some little umbrellas - and hey look - I cut one out of some Raspberry Fizz Mix patterned paper from PTI. I didn't want to overdo this card (even though I come from the school of more-is-more) but too much white unnerves me. Andddd do you see those 3 little gems, do ya'? Those are my beloved Pez-A-Blings from Pez-A-Doodle!!
Would you believe there are some that go that well with Raspberry Fizz? - saweeeeeeeeeeet!
(I have such a hard time capturing pinks/reds in my pictures, but if you know Raspberry Fizz
it's a vibrant, rich fuschia with a lot of pop - and this picture does not do it justice.)
Alright Girls - it's FRIDAY - we made it!
Cheers!

Scattered Showers.

It's a timing thing. It was 82 degrees and beautiful yesterday and now today we are looking at thunderstorms - welcome to spring in Boise.

I simply could not get home from work fast enough yesterday as I knew my monthly order from Papertrey Ink was going to be there waiting for me. I was really excited this month as Dawn McVey {who is in my top 3 of cardmaking inspirations} was releasing her second stamp set: Scattered Showers. I have to be honest, her first one - Damask Designs - just was not for me. I kept talking myself in and out of it and finally decided that I did not have the skillset to make backgrounds and I didn't want to buy it just to buy it. However, Scattered Showers I knew I would use from the word go. The fun sentiments, their great font, and the variety of umbrella toppers just made me so happy!

So voila! - here it is, my first card using Scattered Showers....the first of many most likely. Heck, you might see a different umbrella on here for the next 6 days while I try out each of the 7 *giggles*

Have a wonderful day....Dearies *wink*

A shout-out to the 208 - holla!

I really crack myself up sometimes.

So check this - my card today...I love it.
So let me tell you right now, if you don't like it, don't say you don't like it, don't post at all, do not pass Go, do not collect two-hundred-dollars, just move on to the next blog - haaaaaaaaaaaaaa....

I'm still tryin' my hand at the vintage thing and I {heart} this card. But this card is special - lemme tell you why. So Miss Lindsey from Jacksonbelle Embellishments lives like 10 miles from my house - who knew? I ordered some goodies from her taking advantage of that spring sale (sorry girls, you missed it!) and I just went over there and picked up my goodies. All the DP on this card is from BasicGrey's new Porcelain series which you can pick up at Miss Lindsey's store (depending on where you live, it might be cheaper to have her mail it to you *giggles*). Now the second part of this card that I love is the sentiment - from Verve. Miss Julie and Verve central are probably 10 miles from me in the opposite direction. I love me some Verve stamps - y'all have heard me say that before. This sentiment is from the Circular Sayings set which was released last month but as I was over budget, I had to wait and get it this month and I got this month's order in the mail yesterday so you betcha I had to ink me some Verve last night - wooooooooooo!

Wednesday is here already - gotta love it.

Have a good one, Girls - thanks for stopping in.

Wishing You Well.

Good Morning, Girls.

Got some things goin' on, so just a simple card to share with you today.

However, I went by Lindsey's yesterday - Lindsey from Jacksonbelle Embellishments - and picked up some goodies that I had ordered. And I have something in the works with some super pretty new paper. Hopefully you'll see something more inspired tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping in - much appreciated.

No singing today....

...because it's Monday {groan}.

Monday....and I'm in 2 places at once!

First off, I'm hosting over at Fun-Frilled today with a theme that I know everyone can partake in. Here's a lil' peek at my card. Head on over there to see the full thang.

And last but not least - it's my day to post over at the Paper Temptress blog.

This is the card I made featuring Patricia's Cream Velvet. It's a really strong paper, but has this very interesting velvety feel to it. Again - oddly interesting, oddly good. I don't think I have ever appreciated paper as much as I have in my short amount of time with Paper Temptress. Paper is one of those things we take for granted and just say paper is paper. No, paper is not just paper - not all papers are created equally that's for sure. I've embossed my Basis Golden Green cardstock with Cuttlebug's Leafy Branch embossing folder and then I went with Basis Light Yellow for my flower and sentiment. I love greens - and I love Mother's Day cards in non-traditional girly pastelly colors apparently.

~ SUPPLIES ~
Paper: Cream Velvet, Basis Golden Green and Basis Light Yellow from Paper Temptress; DP from Fancy Pants.
Everything else: Papertrey Ink ink & ribbon; Studio G Series 30 sentiment; Foofala buttons; Leafy Branch embossing folder by Cuttlebug/ProvoCraft; Nested Flowers Shapeabilities by Spellbinders; Royale crochet thread.

You still have until the end of the month to try some amazing papers at a discount - what's not to love about a discount, right? The whole Leather line is 40% off, and you can score 25% off the Velvet, Suede, and Plastic Touch papers. I'd love to see you over there at the blog - a little love from people you know is always nice ;)

Here's to a great start to the new week.
Thanks bunches for stopping in, Girls!

Heartfelt Thanks.

I'm battling a migraine, so this post is going to be short and sweet.

Today is the last day of K's religious education class, so I made some cards for her teachers to go along with a little gift of Martha Stewart spring cookie cutters.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Time for the Mother's Day cards.

Mother's Day is May 10th - and I suspect I'll be making whacks of cards between now and then for the occasion. Problem is - I only have 1 mother. So I'm thinking I need (7) Mother's Day cards. (4) for MY mother which breaks down to one from me, one from D, one from K and one from Rob. And then for HIS mother I need (3) - {giggling already, you know where this is going, don't you?} one from Rob, one from D and one from K - heckles NO am I giving her a card from me - yes, it would kill me to be that kind. *wink* I need to check my stash though because I vaguely remember making some grandmother ones already.

Anywho - this card has (2) fantastic Pez-A-Doodle elements on it. Number one being my beloved Studio G sentiment - from Series 30. You can get the entire collection - 24 stamp sets - for $23.40 from Pez-A-Doodle.

Now number two is what is called German Scrap - my husband is 1/2 German and 1/2 Swedish, so I am having a field day talking about German Scrap and making jokes about him and his people - ha. But really, German Scrap is this interesting metallic paper already cut into this neat design. What you get for 90-CENTS!!! is a strip that is almost 2' long, and it's 2 pieces together, kind of sectioned off into 8 parts...only still all together. And I would say that you use about an 1/8 of this per card depending on your use. So for less than 12-cents, you get a really cool embellishment on your card.

Soccer games today....soccer pictures too - love the hurry-up and wait before games so that they're good and cranky and whiney by gametime...awesome.

Have a GREAT day - and thanks for stopping in!

It's a boy!

LOL - no, I ain't havin' a baby.

Tonight is the April release of the new Verve stamps - big party in the Verve forum tonight.

My husband kind of chuckles when I tell him I'm going to a release party, but hey, in the online/cardmaking/blogging world, we have our little *things* and it's OK if those that aren't in that world don't get it *wink*.

So anywho - as with every release party there are PRIZES - kinda like door prizes at a Tupperware party or something - ha ha. Miss Julee made (3) sketches and put out (1) color challenge - - there is a winner for each of those...so 4 winners...and then for those that do them all, there are 2 winners. Who doesn't like free stuff, right?

I went with a theme here of baby boy cards as it's one card that I don't have in my stash, and I really wanted to use this Verve sentiment.

So, here are my creations based on the sketches.....

...I received some criticism recently for having too much stuff on my cards...making them too busy....not having a flow.... - - criticism sucks *sniffles* - - but in my defense, I believe you have to be true to yourself. If you like it, you make it. I don't think it's any fun to create something that isn't you. And since most of us make cards for fun, as an escape, and to actually give to family and friends - you put your heart in to it and most people will appreciate that you made them a card. So I guess what I'm saying is, something like I have said before - I am me...and yeah, my cards tend to have a lot goin' on...but I like it *giggles*

This last card - the one with the yellow - was the color challenge card. No sketch to follow, but you had to use Soft Blue, Soft Yellow and Soft Brown - which I think are SU! colors...but since I don't use SU! papers (just a personal preference), I used the soft blue and soft brown in my DP - and then Papertrey Ink's Lemon Tart for my soft yellow.

Happy Friday, Girls!

Tryin' the Vintage thing.

Happy Thursday, Girls - didya' miss me?

I took a day off - shocking, I know. Just had a few things I needed to handle, but here I is!

OK - so this card is made from a card kit I received recently. In the kit was the DP, the ribbon with the words, the flower, the red cord, the brad, and the safety pin. Let me start out by saying: this is not my style. I really like the vintage thing a la Melissa Phillips. Her creations are just amazing, inspiring and breathtaking. She uses a lot of embellishments, stitching, sugary looking things, pink....just amazing stuff. It's a real treat to relax with some hot tea and look at Melissa's beautiful creations. So like I said - the vintage thing, LOVE IT. However - it's not me. When I got this card kit I thought the stuff was cute for sure - but really was not inspired, could not get a layout together, and a safety pin? What? WHERE would that go?? So this is the best I could come up with - pretty sad, eh? The simplest layout. I love these Maya Road leaf trinket pins. They have been sold-out everywhere so I went straight to the manufacturer to get mine. I had to have them! So I added those and that's honestly my favorite part to this card although my little sentiment tag is starting to grow on me. I'll have several more better *giggles* things to show you tomorrow.
Until then.....{hugs}

Thanks so much.

Good Morning, Girls!

Today I have (4) different cards to show you - all the same layout - and featuring Paper Temptress paper. The first one has less of it, but 3 out of 4 ain't bad, right? I know these are bold on the Jesus side, but these are thank-you cards for the kids' religious education teachers and we'll be giving these to them on the last day of class in a couple of weeks.

My friend Vicki here in Boise embroidered these precious crosses with her Bernina embroidery module. She was making these for bookmarks and they kept coming out with a minor mistake. Rather than have her toss them, I took them because I knew that I could cover up the mistake with something. Remember - it's not a mistake, it's an embellishment opportunity.....*wink* In case you are wondering, on the lower right of each cross, the middle was pulling away from the edging, so there was a little gap there - hence the flowers.

This first card features Paper Temptress' Blue Leather paper. And once again I am not using it on a Father's Day card *shhhh* I paired the Blue Leather with some Melon Berry from Papertrey Ink and I just love the sherbet feel this card has to it.

I'm including some close-ups so that you can see more of the texture - see the Blue Leather how it's got that attache' case kind of look to it? It is sooo soft and very different - a real gem of a paper.

This next card features Paper Temptress' Aquamarine Metallic Cardstock and Azalea Metallic Text. The Aquamarine is a pale minty-blue shimmer and it's quite pretty - subtle though it may be.

What I want you to notice on the close-up here is not only the Aquamarine, but the Vintage Silver Lustre Text that I am doing my sentiment on. It's so bright and with that paintbrush texture etched in to it - this paper really kicks up a card.

I think this next card may be my favorite of the lot. And I think it's because the cardstocks I used are very simple - inexpensive - no fancy names, but still very rich and still bringing a lot of character to the card. What I've used here is Light Green Basis Cardstock & Light Yellow Basis Cardstock. These colors are the kind that aren't the easiest to match - at least for me, but if you put something in that doesn't quite match, throw in a matching component to that piece, and you can pull it off. For example my DP in the middle of the Light Green and the Light Yellow doesn't quite match the Light Green - but the ribbon I am using is the exact same green as the DP (Ripe Avocado from Papertrey Ink).

That light green almost has a split pea soup color to it - in a not at all icky kinda way. And in my opinion, I think there's a little green to the Light Yellow which really makes it work with the Light Green. And again - look at our shine with the Vintage Silver Lustre! This card would otherwise be drab because we're going very earthy here and the sentiment box in that sheen really kicks us up to another level.

My last card features Paper Temptress' new Silver Metallic Glossy. I can't even begin to describe this paper, but it's got that shimmer all the way through and it's a very strong textured paper. It's not at all manly - so you won't see me using this on a Father's Day card either. *giggles* It's a girly silver which is why I have it here with some Mountain Rose Text.

If you've never tried Paper Temptress paper before, this is the time to do it. There are sales galore going on over there. 15% off everything, the whole Leather line is 40% off this month and the Velvet, Suede, and Plastic Touch papers are all 25% off this month. I know we all have our cardstock faves...like PTI and SU!...but these are some papers that you can't find anywhere else...they look different...they feel different...and they will make a different card.
Don't you get tired of seeing the same-ol', same-ol'? I know I do!

That's it for me, Dolls - have a good one!

Monday Monday ( ba da, ba da da da....)

...so good to me (ba da, ba da da da) - *BLAH*
I do not {heart} Mondays...nope...not at all.

But if it's Monday that means it's a new week over at Fun-Frilled.
And I'm going to just throw my shoulder out patting myself on the back right now because Imma admit that I really do love the card that I made over there - go check it out ;)

Here's a little peek....

...and if you're a cardmaker, have you entered the contest over at Fun-Frilled?
Big ol' prize package we're giving away - if you're making cards anyway, why not play?!

Oh - and by the way - I am NOT old enough to remember the Mamas and the Papas...that song was from 1965 and I was NOT born until the next decade! I think it's one of those songs that I have heard over and over on late night tele commercials for Time Life old school CD collections - heh.

Hope Monday is good to you!

Happy Easter, Friends!

Easter is here - what a great day!

The kids will be up early looking for their Easter baskets that the Easter bunny brought them last night....and then we'll have our traditional Easter breakfast: sweet rolls and hard-boiled eggs. Then it's off to church and then home for an Easter egg hunt, opening presents - the goody bags I made them and a few gifts that have come from family and friends - and then we'll have an early dinner of ham, mashed potatoes and all that good stuff. I made banana bread last night, and I also made one of those acini de pepe salads - - K came in to the kitchen and said "mommy, I didn't know you knew how to cook..." *d'oh*

Today being Easter means it's the last of the Easter cards. If you remember, I made the kids these Easter treat bags. So I went with my current layout of choice and made them these cards to match. This Verve sentiment was probably my most-used Easter one this year - - I just cannot get enough Verve....you get a ton of mileage out of Miss Julee's stamps for sure!
{I changed my mind after making these and decided to give K this pink one instead as she is more of a PINK kinda girl.}

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

Saturday Scrap-Boxin'.

Wooooooooooooooo - it's Saturday!
D had a soccer game last night - they got crushed *ouch* We have the subdivision Easter egg hunt this morning and then we are flyin' up the road to K's soccer game.

I told y'all to get used to this layout, didn't I? I think mass-producing is smart - especially if you are a busy working mom like myself. However, I learned that mass-producing the same exact thing kinda doesn't feel so creative after a while. So, I've moved on to mostly mass-producing out of my scrap box with an easy layout like this one.

Here's to a wonderful weekend, Girls!

Good Friday....*..really good..*

It's Good Friday, y'all - and don't worry, I won't go gettin' all religious on ya'....but I'm fasting today so I'm gonna be one CRANKY girl by the time 5:30 rolls around. D has a soccer game tonight though - totally looking forward to that!

This is a really good day though - wanna know why?

I'm finna tell ya'....

Remember that little color challenge card I showed you on Monday on this post HERE?

Turns out my card was pretty dang good! There were 152 people that entered, and my card was in the top 12 and made it in to Dawn's spotlight! I about choked on my diet tapioca pudding {and choking on pudding is not an easy thing to do}.

Go check out Dawn's post HERE - I'm famous!

Seriously, I feel like crying - for Dawn McVey to think I made a decent card is completely humbling.

And then to get all the comments on that card from my regular girls plus the people that have happened by since - just....man....I'm speechless - you all are just the best *sniffles*

Alright - enough of the melodrama - ha....

Here's a little card I made for my Uncle Joe. Lemme tell you a little somethin' about Uncle Joe: I don't like him. Actually, I used to LOVE him, but then he made some smart-o comment when my daughter was born and I was done with him. Well, he's been on the kidney transplant list for years now but considering he's like 60 and still an alcoholic, he probably ain't gonna be gettin' a kidney any time soon. And now my mom tells me that he's got stage 3 prostate cancer - that ain't good. So, I'm gonna send him a card - my Yaya would be so proud of me for taking the high road - and just tell him that I was thinking about him and that I wish him comfort.

BTW - Laura asked what I have been doing to my pictures to make them better/different. I edit my photos in PSP - PaintShopPro. And what I've been doing different is one extra sharpening (so 2 as opposed to 1) and then I am adjusting the brightness/contrast. Speaking of Miss Laura - she's got a swap going on her blog for DP! I signed up - don't make me swap with myself because that's just a waste of good postage - LOL Go check it out HERE.

Alright Girls - T G I F

Much love to y'all for stopping in today.

Yay! Scott is gone.

...that's all I'll say about that.

I took a break from all the Easter stuff and got my Mother's Day engine all fired up. But don't worry - I still have some Easter stuff left to show you - ha.

Patricia at Paper Temptress has got some hot deals goin' on over there. First she put the entire store at 15% off due to the economy which is a pretty cool thing to do; every little bit helps as we all tighten our belts. And now this month she's got velvet, suede and plastic feel papers for 25% off and then the entire leather line at 40% off! I made a card last month with some of the Gray Leather - very interesting paper for sure. We're supposed to be using the leather paper for Father's Day cards, but I've never been one to follow the rules, so, I tried some of this pretty Cordovan Leather on a Mother's Day card.

This is me breaking the rules.....

.....and this is me getting fired from my very first DT gig - LOL
Nah, I'll be fine - it's a great card, no? I think it's a little bold and heavy for Mother's Day, but, I also think that my crazy mother would love it.

~ SUPPLIES ~
Paper: all paper from www.PaperTemptress.com - Cordovan Leather; Bluestone Antique Parchment.
Everything else: Papertrey Ink ink & ribbon; Studio G Series 30 sentiment; Foofala button; Manhattan Flowers die from SU!

Thanks for stopping in, Girls!
Have a great day!

Pez-A-Bling!

There are very few things that make me weep - for example being a big fat chick tryin' to lose weight, and driving by the Krispy Kreme...man, that's rough. Another thing that makes me get teary is when I see something on a card or a blog that is so stinkin' cool I wish I had it. You know what I mean, right? Well maybe not about the Krispy Kreme. *giggles*

So Miss Marti showed us these cute little embellies and I wanted them right now right now...not later later. I love different, I love colorful, I love new-and-not-everyone-has-it - yet. I whimpered in silence knowing that I had already gotten my April Pez-A-Doodle goods and would have to wait an entire month to get my hands on these bad boys when well well well what do I find in my mailbox!!

Woooooooooooooooooooo - I gots me some Pez-A-Bling!!
Are these little colorful cubes not the coolest thing??

There are bunches of different sets - both solid and mixed and I am just in love. My latest love...yes, I {heart} Pez-A-Bling. There are 2 sizes....some are shimmery like with glitter on the inside and some are solid but in a clear color kinda way. Gosh these are just sooooo COOL!
They will be shipping on April 13th - with a price tag of $6. You get about 250 for the $6 so my math has them at a little over 2-cents a piece. The look I have on my card above would cost less than 20-cents, and when you think of what you spend on Primas and all those other beauties to accent your cards, this is an investment I would totally make. You can order yours HERE.

Oh Oh Oh - I almost forgot to mention: those are my new Studio G stamps too! {Series 26 Holidays also available at Pez-A-Doodle.} Look at that card!! - - inexpensive Studio G stamps....new Pez-A-Bling; does that card look cheap to you? Heckles no!
99-cent Hallmark ain't got nuthin' on me!

I gots to run - my husband taped American Idol last night because I was at church, came home and watched it after and the DVR stopped before it got to Adam! Noooooooooooooooooo!!! I wanted to strangle my spouse (just think of all the cardmaking goodies I could buy with his life insurance if I staged that correctly - heh). So I'm off to find Adam's performance from last night online somewherez.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

More Easter goodies.

I have been reminding you about Easter for daysssss now, so if you're not ready yet - you have no excuses!

During the NASCAR race on Sunday I put together these goodie bags for D to take to his church class tonight. Similar to the ones I did for K's class, but different DP and then of course the clothes pins. These goodies were a little more spendy - 7-cents more each - and it's because the clothes pin created a thicker tie for the ribbon to go around. You could certainly take the price down by using just one color of ribbon per, but 7-cents each was worth the fun look to me. I've done the math for you too.

Clothes pins, 4-cents each = $1.20
Glassine bags from Papertrey Ink, 12-cents each = $3.60
Whoppers, 50-cents each bag (w/coupon) = $3.00
SEI DP from All That Scraps, 2 sheets = $1.26
Stamper's Select White CS from Papertrey Ink, 2 sheets = $.30
Ribbon from Papertrey Ink, $3 each = $9.00
{I used Lavender Moon, Spring Rain, Melon Berry & Fresh Snow}
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$18.36 / 30 goodie bags = 61-cents each

Be sure and check in tomorrow, I've got a *...SNEAK PEEK...* at something so amazing, you are going to be chomping at the bit (I don't even know what that means - LOL) to get your crafty little hands on it. I am so excited to have it before you - neener neener neener - and can't wait for you to see it manana!

Have a great day, Girls!

Boo...it's Monday....

...so I'll be happy here before I head to the office.

>smiley face<

I'm hosting over at Fun-Frilled today - and if you make cards, you may want to head over there because we've got a smokin' hot contest going on this month. Here is a sneak peek of my card - head on over to see the rest of it {it's not that great though so if you don't want to head over, I won't be mad atcha this week}.

I have one more card to show you today and it's the card that I made for Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Challenge. Dawn is a designer for Papertrey Ink and I have mad love for both PTI, and Dawn's work. I've included the label that she created for the challenge - these are color challenges which means you can make any style/layout of card that you want....but you have to use the colors below. It looked like a challenge from the outset, but I didn't find this to be all that difficult - yay me.

~ SUPPLIES ~
Paper: Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream, Melon Berry, Pure Poppy & Kraft CS; My Mind's Eye Daydream DP.
Everything else: Papertrey Ink Hibiscus Burst button; Foofala (red) button; Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream ink & ribbon; Verve (larger) sentiment; Papertrey Ink (smaller) sentiment; Royale crochet thread.

Sunday Math Lesson *giggles*

Oh man, another whole day off - I swear, I live for the weekends.

Soccer yesterday was just the best - it was bitter cold in the morning for K's game, but that didn't stop her from scoring 2 goals! It warmed up later in the day for D's game where he played goalie and they won 7-2!

In between games I sat down and put together goodies for K to take to her church class this morning. No class on Easter Sunday, so these had to go today. Nothing like waiting 'til the last minute (again). A few weeks ago I bought whacks of Robin Eggs - - I had some coupons for 50-cents off each bag and Albies had them 10/$10 making them 50-cents a bag!! - - so I knew I was going to do something with them. I bought these tags at Guadalupe's Rubber Stamps in Santa Fe and just played around at my craft table with papers and ribbons and bags and tags until I decided what I was going to do. I think these little bags are just the cutest. And, they are AFFORDABLE.

Glassine bags from Papertrey Ink, 12-cents each = $2.40
Tags mentioned above, 5-cents each = $1.00
Whoppers mentioned above, 50-cents each bag = $2.00
My Mind's Eye DP from All That Scraps, 2 sheets = $1.98
Vintage Cream CS from Papertrey Ink, 18-cents each = $.36
Ribbon from Papertrey Ink, $3 each = $3.00

{I used Raspberry Fizz, Spring Moss, Ocean Tides & Sweet Blush

- total of all ribbon was 5 yards (1 PTI spool) or less}
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$10.74 / 20 goodie bags = 54-cents each

Today it's church, NASCAR {gooooooo Casey!} and figuring out what goodies I'm going to make for D's church class on Tuesday night.

Have a wonderful Sunday, Girls!