Postcard -

Hey Girls!

We're in Wisconsin with Rob's family. The kids think it's soooo cool to meet new family - lots of aunts, uncles and cousins. They hosted us for dinner last night and then today we are going to uncle Bruce's farm to harvest corn and then to cousin Penny's farm to ride some horses and then tonight there will be an even bigger family dinner in our honor.

We started in Boise on Saturday and then stayed in Casper, Wyoming and then went to Mount Rushmore and stayed in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and now we're in Wisconsin for 2 days. Tomorrow it's off to Pennsylvania for a lil' overnighter before heading to the Big Apple - I am soooo excited about going to NYC. Having only seen it in the movies, I am just insanely stoked about going there. I found a stamp store to hit and I'm going to buy something at Tiffany (it may only be a shoehorn, but by God I am buying something from there!).

Have a super fab day!

Yellow makes me happy!

Almost every girl I know when asked what their favorite color is says either pink or purple. My favorite color is purple and my daughter's goes between pink and purple depending on her mood. But rarely do I hear a girl say anything other than those 2 colors. As I was putting this card together - I did it when I was home sick last week - I felt myself getting happier and happier and feelin' it more and more. And I think it's because yellow is such a happy color - happy, bright, cheery. This isn't any ordinary yellow cardstock though, this is Metallic Gold from Paper Temptress. I just love the little flecks of shimmer in this paper.

I also used some of Paper Temptress' new Ruche paper. Oh my land is this fantastic paper. I've taken a close-up shot here for you so that you can see the texture in this paper. It's like a cross between crepe paper and papyrus (yes, I work with papyrus all the time so I know - not - LOL). I've got the Green Crepe here from the Ruche line and it's one of those papers that really grounds you and gets you caught in the moment that you are creating with paper - really extraordinary paper.

Hope your week starts off super fab!

Fun lil' news -

Hey Hey Miss Lindsey done lost her mind and put me on the Jacksonbelle Embellishments DT! I don't know what got in to her...I'm thinkin' it has to do with the fact that I know where she lives *giggles* So yeah, I'm totally excited to be a part of the Jacksonbelle Embellishments DT since I love everything she's got in her store: Cosmo Cricket (you know how I love me some CC!!), pretty Prima stuff, BasicGrey and more.
Oh yeah, it's gonna be a fun time for sure. You can see who else I'll be playin' with HERE.

I already made my card for the first Tuesday sketch challenge - can't wait to share it with you and get started and play with all the fab things from JBE store.

Have a super Sunday!

Vacation!

I hope we don't have a Clark Griswald vacation, but we usually do. Hey - it's great memories for the kids, right? Like "remember the time we ran out of gas at Hoover Dam?" or "remember the time they wouldn't let us in to Canada?" Guaranteed we'll have another "remember the time" moment for the kids to add to their memory vault.

We're off for a 2-week road trip with stops at Mt. Rushmore, New York City, Wisconsin (to see Rob's family), and Washington, DC.

I was busy making cards for Pez-A-Doodle for my WE/FR posts - - Miss Marti said it'd be OK if I didn't, but I'm a trooper! And I did one for Paper Temptress too so there'll be a couple of card posts around somewherez. I'll blog here and there depending on internet connections and if there's anything exciting to report; you can always follow me on Twitter too *wink*

TTFN!

Card candy....?

THIS JUST IN: New Glittered Skittles in bunches of fab colors are now in stock at Pez-A-Doodle. Also new Printed Skittles. Oh man, I can just go and get me a pack of Skittles and get my mouth all watery starin' at these super hot colors and patterns!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK, on to my post....so am I the last person on the planet to hear of such a thing? Card candy. Candy of cards. Peculiar little moniker, no? Now I don't even know what the definition of card candy is, but from what I've gathered, it's essentially pre-made embellies for cards. The cool thing is that sometimes when we're making cards and we need a lil' something besides the same ol' Prima flower (beautiful though it may be), we want something different and all we have is more of the same. Card candy - especially the exchanged kind - is that lil' something different you might be looking for.

So what I've made is a little set of heart card candy. If you are submitting cards to pubs, you know that right now you should be working on Valentine cards. So I had Valentines on my mind - but I reckon hearts can be used for anniversaries and weddings and other special occasions as well. I used some leftover pieces of Paper Temptress paper, ran them through the Big Shot with my Swiss Dots embossing folder, punched them out with my large EK Success heart punch, and then embellished with German Scrap, Pez-A-Bling, Glittered Skittles and Studio G Glitter Glue. Almost forgot - each one of these has a lil' dimensional on the back of it for you to adhere it.

I then packaged them up in a little glassine bag that I ran through the Big Shot with my Heart Blocks embossing folder, tied with some ribbon and linen thread from SU! with a lil' taggie made with Studio G Series 26 and Series 32 goodness and accented that with some more Pez-A-Bling.

Want this lil' package to come your way? Just hook yourself up to the Mister Linky widget below. I'm doing this instead of comments because someone might want to leave a comment to say hello, but might not really be interested in the card candy - - might not be their style or whatever, it's all good *wink* Remember - we're leaving on vacation tomorrow morning so it's going to be a longggg time before this comes your way. I'll announce the winner soon though - you just won't get it for a while.

Happy Friday to you!

Lucky for you....

...I am headed on vacation. Because if I weren't, you'd be looking at a week of Scarlet Jewel and/or Cupcake Collection stamps - ha. I think Scarlet Jewel screams vintage. So I'm still tryin' to work it. What is with the cut off flower thing I have seen around lately? I think it's so lame - so lame that I had to try it - haaaaa. Another color combination with Scarlet Jewel checked off the list. Isn't that part of the fun of getting a new color? - trying all the different color combinations. I've got one in mind that is going to be hot or horrid - - that fine line always gets me *wink*

Do you Twitter? Add me - no one likes to talk to themselves, right? I am MPinthe208. I would have Twittered sooner, but I couldn't come up with a name that I liked. So yeah, follow me...and me follow you. We can be trendy together!

Have a fantastic day - thanks for stopping by.

Cheering the red, white and blue.

This is totally my go-to layout. I {heart} this layout. It's fairly easy although the part in the middle getting the ribbon around that panel does test my patience. But I am always pleased with the outcome. I made this card for the Studio G Challenge over at PCP. The challenge this week is simple: red, white and blue - - featuring Studio G. And by the way - you can win a prize! I'll let you in on a lil' secret - this isn't one of those groups that has hundreds of people participating, so the odds of winning are really good *wink*

Some sidenotes here:

* when making a card the quick & easy way, patterned paper is a good thing - - your card gets a lot of character in very little time.

* and just because you are making a card on the cheap or on the fly doesn't mean it can't stand out from the crowd - - this is a red, white and blue card but I've used Sweet Blush as my base to complement the little bits of peachy/pinky in the patterned paper; think outside the box when you are choosing your colors for holiday cards.

Have you seen the Studio G previews yet? Head on over to Miss Marti's blog and have a look. So many fabulous fall things coming out! Pre-order now at Pez-A-Doodle and you can get them first - - and on the cheap *wink*

Have a super day, Girls!

I ♥ Papertrey

So yesterday turned out to be a miserable day. I was having some issues before I went to the office, got there, and decided I couldn't stay - stomach flu kinda stuff (I'll spare you the details). So I came home and ate saltines all day. My son doesn't like salt on saltines so we get the unsalted tops. Now I don't ever eat saltines, but now that I had to I have to say unsalted saltines = 2 thumbs down. There is a reason the word salt is in saltines - - and it needs to stay there. I was up at 3am this morning worse off than yesterday, and I have a retreat at my boss' house today...ugh.

The only good thing about my day was that I was home when that hunky guy with the brown truck wearin' the brown shorts came-a-knockin'. My Papertrey order is here *happy dance* Scarlet Jewel - LUSCIOUS. Cupcake Collection - ADORABLE. I wanted to combine both and was a little worried because fun and regal together I wasn't sure I could pull off. So I went the vintage route - and I am tickled to bits by how this card turned out. What's more is that Ocean Tides is low on my list of fave PTI colors - but it goes so well with Scarlet Jewel.

Thanks for stopping in today.
Hope you have a great day!

Is it Friday yet?

Sorry, we're leaving for vacation Saturday morning and we are all starting the countdown thing around here. I am going to want this week to go by with a quickness - but of course there is bunches to do *sigh*

Anywho - I hope you had a fantastic weekend; and a great Father's Day with your loved one. Our Father's Day was pretty good - I cooked breakfast for Rob (I don't cook so that was a big deal) and then he grilled up burgers and corn for lunch and then for dinner we went to an all-you-can-eat Brazilian restaurant only to find out that they are closed on Sundays. So we ended up at the Chinese buffet - - not a good experience for so many reasons.

This is the card I made for Rob for Father's Day. Another one that I can admit to being pretty pleased with - he was impressed with the stitching.

Hope your week starts off just swell.
Thanks for stopping in today!

Loving New Leaf!

(this is for you Rebecca *wink*)

I bought the New Leaf paper from Papertrey Ink what was that, 2 releases ago, I think? Anyway, I bought it, got it home and it was the first paper I've ordered from PTI that I didn't jump in and start creating with. It really intimidated me. It's BRIGHT. And it sure is green. So I just panicked and put it in my paper box. But then I saw this cherry paper in my stash and I thought it would look FAB-OO-LUSS with the New Leaf.

And can I just tell you right now - I freakin' LOVE this card!!

I had such a fun time with it - the stitching, the border punching, cutting out the cherries - just a lot of fun lil' elements that made me sooo happy and even happier to see the finished product. I gave this card to my hairdresser along with some other ones I've made lately and now I wish I had it back *sniffles*

Got the house to myself until afternoon - woooooooooooooo!!
Laundry and cards - love it!

Have a super Saturday - thanks for stopping in!

About this card....

...yes, I made it.

I will not lie and blame it on one of my children *giggles* My son made some sort of artistic creation while he was at his grandma's and I said something about cutting it out and using it on a card - - well, he held me to it! So this is the best I could do - I honestly did not know where to go with it. But I figured with a cute lil' Studio G stamp and some Glittered Skittles from Pez-A-Doodle it couldn't be all bad, right?


Speaking of Studio G - have you seen the previews on what's coming? All the Halloween goodness!! Check out the previews on Miss Marti's blog - - metallic ink, Halloween cut-out cards, color-coordinated Halloween glitter glue? Oh momma! Love fun stuff on the cheap - so many things to make for family, friends and the kids' school parties.

Happy Friday, Girls!

Has this ever happened to you....?

You're a cardmaker. You make cards almost every day and several on the weekends. You have boxes of cards that you have made and you send them out for birthdays and hellos and whatnot. And then a special occasion comes up - and you don't have a card! How can that be?? Doris sent me a RAK - - some Hanna Stamps stamp cleaning stuff and some card scents. I have tried neither before and the thought and the gift were very much appreciated. So I go to send her a thank-you card - - do you think I have one? No! A simple thank-you amongst the 100 cards I have in my stash? Madness. And Doris if you're reading this: your thank-you still hasn't gone out. But it will....you mark my words, it will!!

Anyway - so new goal: start making at least one card for each odd occasion that may come up and you will find yourself unprepared for - graduation, anniversary, sympathy. Thank-you is not the random odd occasion, I am still shaking my head on that one. But anyway - baby shower, that's one. So here's a little bebe shower card and for a limited time only: the return of the umbrella!!!

Thanks for stopping in - and have a wonderful day!

Still rollin' with the Vintage.

Who would have thought that you could go Vintage with Studio G?!

I think part of the vintage look is in the supplies and the other part of it is in the execution. I've got the supplies down, but I'm still struggling with the execution, although I am pretty pleased with the outcome of this card. I used a stamp from Studio G Series 32 on a torn piece of paper and then adhered some German Scrap to it and stapled it down - I see that a lot on vintage cards...stapling - who knew stapling was vintage? I think however that this color and style of German Scrap begs to be used on a vintage creation. Also, this is some of that great paper that I got from A Million Memories. It's the new Great Escape from Making Memories and I just love it.

For those of you digi-stampers out there, Miss Marti from Pez-A-Doodle is offering a digi Nesties image on her blog today - head on over and take advantage - it's free!

Thanks for stopping in today!

Pink!

I found this great new website called A Million Memories. Do you know it? If you do, why haven't you told me about it? And if you don't know it, go buy something from there - you'll get bunches of e-mails with coupons - - and they are good for clearance too *love it!*

Anyway - there is nothing on my card today that is from there - ha. My point was, I bought all sorts of vintage things from them and I have been making a fair amount of vintage cards lately (you'll see them soon). So when I was working on my card for the Paper Temptress blog, I was still in vintage mode. I can admit that I really am not good with the vintage thing. I'm just not - and it's OK. But I sure do love trying. The papers and the styles that are vintage are incredibly lovely. If you haven't checked out the tres tres chic Betsy Veldman's blog - and you love vintage - it's a must see.

When I grow up, I wanna be just like Betsy.

I intentionally oversharpened this picture because I wanted you to see the sparklies in the emerald Metallic paper I have used as my card base. I’ve also used some pink lemonade Pop Tones here as my sentiment panel. And doing my lil' part to save Mother Earth, I tore a lil' scrap piece of this beautiful Pearl Glimmer cardstock for another little sentiment area. Don't you love that flouncy fringe I got at Hobby Lobby in Santa Fe, NM? Ohhh guess WHAT!!! Joe's down the street is going out of business and now there's a big ol' sign that says: Coming Soon HOBBY LOBBY.

Sweet Mother - I have died and gone to craft heaven.

Thanks for stopping in - and have a great day!

Sunday Funday!

No card today - but Rob and the kiddies are going to be gone most of the day so I can stay home and watch the race (gooooooooo CASEY!) and make some cards. We're leaving on our big trip in less than 2 weeks and I need to get some cardie projects done beforehand.

Just a reminder that today is the last day to score the smokin' deal at Digiments - the entire new release of 30 Digiments for only $10.

No card for today, I thought I'd share pictures from the birthday party yesterday. The weather held up, it was nice and cool - not cold and not hot, just right - and it started raining exactly at the party's end time; Jesus loves me sometimes *wink*

The birthday girl - -

The birthday girl and her big brother - -

Me and the birthday girl - -

The Hannah Montana guitar cake that I made - -

The Hannah Montana guitar pinata from grandma - -

Thanks for stopping in

and have a wonderful Sunday!

Jam-packed Saturday!

Got a busy day today, so I'm gonna be brief. This morning is little miss K's 5th birthday party - the Hannah Montana birthday party! I made a guitar-shaped birthday cake and we got a guitar pinata. Should be great fun - if it doesn't rain. We're having the party at the park across the street and if it rains, we're moving it to the garage. Is that ghetto? Maybe! LOL Thing is, we only clean the house when people come over - seriously. We both work and we love our time with our kiddies and we love our hobbies, so we learn to live in squalor - ha. And then this afternoon we are off to a high school graduation party for our babysitter. Busy lil' day for us.

BasicGrey is really growing on me. I'm getting all their paper packs now. And the stuff they have coming out this month is fantastic - can't wait. This is from their Lime Rickey paper pack. With a lil' Verve sentiment on there. I even ran a piece of felt through the Big Shot with the Nesties for a lil' somethin' different.

Today is the big Digiments release - - 30 Digiments for $20. But if you order this weekend, you can get them all for only $10!!

How was that for brief? Not so much - but I typed it really fast - ha.

Have a great Saturday!

Viva Friday!

What's not to love about Friday, right? It's my most favorite day of the week.

So check this out, last weekend when we got home from Cascade, my little one had tummy issues - she threw up in the morning before the ride home. So we came home and Rob and D went out for the afternoon and little Miss K stayed home with me and just chilled. She was awfully quiet in her room and I thought she was asleep and then I heard a noise. So I walked down the hall and there she was on her floor coloring this plant - for me, she said. So sweet ♥ I talked her in to this being a great birthday present for her grandma though. So it's now for grandma. We brought it to my craft table and stamped a little Studio G Series 30 goodness in the center of the flower....

...and then it was her idea to embellish the flower pot. For some reason she thought the watermelon Printed Skittles would be perfect for the top (I'm thinking her thought process was to match) and then the pretty spring green Glittered Skittles on the bottom. The watermelon Skittles are only $1 and the Glittered Skittles come in a bigger pack for $2.50 - - this little gift cost a $1 for the wood art, .33 for the Printed Skittles, .50 for the Glittered Skittles and .5o for the ribbon = $2.33; but the experience of making something with my little girl, again, is priceless.

And just so that I'm not replaced on the Pez-A-Doodle DT by my daughter, I made a bright Father's Day card using more Studio G Series 30 goodness - Series 30 is jam-packed with all occasion and multiple holiday goodness. I broke a cardinal rule of masculine cardmaking though and that is no ribbon. Ask me if I care? *giggles*

Be sure to check out Digiments - today is the last day of sneak peeks before the big release tomorrow. Big release as in 30 Digiments big!

Oh - and if you want to win some blog candy, my friend Laura has a cute lil' stamp set on her blog - check it out HERE.

Have a fab Friday!

Thank you....for CASEing *giggles*

Let me start out by saying that I don't believe in CASEing. Well, maybe that's not totally accurate, I guess I don't believe in acknowledging CASEing. I mean, where do you draw the line? You've got people referencing a CASEing of a CASEing, and referencing a bow technique that has been done a thousand times. But I know some people are like militant with that whole CASEing and referencing thing, have signs posted all over their blog about cardie etiquette and whatnot - seriously? Come on. I just have fun making cards, I ain't got time to worry about givin' shout-outs and followin' "rules". And, honestly, I don't really CASE - sure, I look at blogs, but I don't take notes and go back and try to recreate anyone's card.

Having said all that - this card IS a blatant CASEing of one that Kristina Werner did - LOL I say all that and then go and do it! But there's no denying that this card was CASEd. Her card, and the video - love her videos! - was so easy, so clean, and I had the same package of flowers that she did (same brand, size, different pattern), that I just had to do it. So there you go - I CASEd, referred, and admitted to it - so don't send me no hater e-mails, OK? It's a little card too - that's another reason why I did it....something different.....because my cards are 99% standard A2 cards - this one is like 4.25x4.25.

Have you been to Digiments yet? Today is day 2 of the sneak peeks before the release. The Digiments girls have done a smokin' hot job with previews - head on over and check them out!

Thanks for stopping in!

Happy Wednesday!

Ohhhh this card makes me so happy!

I think this Studio G stamp is my most fave - I use it all the time. I have a bunch of cards now that say "one of a kind" and it's going to be a little awkward if the people who get these cards get together and say that they thought they were one of a kind *giggles*

Don't forget - today starts the free-shipping with a $50 purchase over at Pez-A-Doodle. With goodies like Studio G and German Scrap affordably priced, you can get bunches of stuff with $50!

And speaking of affordably priced, head on over to Digiments where sneak peeks of the new release start today. The new release comes out Saturday morning at 4am - you won't want to miss it!

Thanks for stopping by today!

The road to somewhere....

...is paved with good intentions, right?

So this girl I work with sells Scentsy. Not sure if you all know what that is, but it's an Idaho company that is about 5-years old and they sell wickless candles. It's quite popular here. Personally I'm not in to it - I think it's overpriced - LOL - and I'm true to my Yankee Candles. However, they have some great scented car fresheners and room sprays, so I'm down with that. Anywho, so Robyn brings in these little wax scent samples all the time in different little shapes and I thought you know, I can do something with that.

I took the star shape and accented one of my star cards featuring the latest Papertrey goodness. The color goes great, love the star shape obviously, but it took a lot of glue to get this puppy to stay down, and close up you can see it. So I gave her the card - along with a few other ones so that she would know that I can make a decent card every once in a while. It smells good, but, it's just kinda too heavy for this. Ah well, what are we if we don't try things, right?

Thanks for stopping in - have a good one!

A new week.

I know I usually say that I don't like Mondays - and I don't - but it's a new week and I've got some stuff behind me, so, I'm really not dreading today so much. Although come 5:30 I could be singing another tune - ha.

Alrighty, so for those of you sketch-addicts - - and I know you're out there - - there's a lil' sketch challenge up at the Studio G group on PCP. Now, I'm not a huge fan of sketch challenges - I used to be when I was just starting out (LOL - all of what, a few months ago) but I really do find them to be a bit constricting of the creative process. Maybe I just don't approach them with the proper mindset, I don't know. However, if I find myself in some serious mojo-funk I do turn to a sketch so that I am still creating and hopefully the real me will come out before I finish the sketch challenge. So here's my lil' card for the challenge - featuring the latest in Studio G Series 32, and some Honey Gold Sparkle Pez-A-Bling.

THIS JUST IN: starting on Wednesday, Pez-A-Doodle is offering free-shipping with orders over $50. You can get a LOT at Pez-A-Doodle for $50, y'all!

It's also a new week over at Fun-Frilled. Head on over to see the fun card I made for this week's theme.

And last but not least - this week is the last week to get in on the Digiments weekly contest to win the entire new release. The June release comes out this Saturday at 4am. And just to let you in on a lil' secret - - if you order early, you'll save money *wink*

Have a super-fab Monday, Girls!

My MOJO has left the building!

So I really had good intentions with this first card but I think what happened was I tried to do too much. I think this is a case of more-is-more gone wrong *laughs* Good thing is it'll be from my son to my husband for Father's Day so without overtly lying, I'll imply that it was made by him - haaaa.... I love the German Scrap that I have down the side, so I'm good with that. I think that's a great look - and for only 90-cents you get a really fancy look. Then I added some Pez-A-Bling which I adore as well - - I don't think I've used the new bigger solid ones yet and I wanted to use those really bad. I like the little patch of Honey Gold Sparkle ones, so I'm good there. I think my issue is using all of the embellishments together. But again, heartfelt and handcrafted - what's not to love, right?

And just so that you know that I can create a good card on occasion, I decided to post this one that I created a while back. It's the second of 2 cards that I submitted for pub to an Ezine that I didn't know was an Ezine, sent in my cards and have no idea what's become of them or the Ezine - ha. So if you see this card out there in the blogosphere, let me know!

It's Friday, and I have had a really rough 6-weeks or so, so we are heading up to the mountains this afternoon. We're going to stay at The Ashley Inn up in Cascade - a fabulous hotel with Victorian-themed bedrooms, a jacuzzi tub so I can take a nice, long bubble bath, and the most amazing breakfast buffet ever *heaven*.

Have a wonderful weekend, Girls!

School's out!

Yesterday was the last day of school - and Mother-of-the-Year over here didn't know it was a minimum day until I asked my son last night "so what'd you have for lunch today...?" (we have an auto-pay account at school and he eats there) and he says "well, I was supposed to take a sack lunch, but I didn't have one because you guys didn't make me one, so Miss Casey gave me some of her chips and a cheese stick...." Nice, eh? I guess school was let out early and the kids went back to daycare after lunchtime but earlier than normal and that's where they were supposed to have lunch...apparently mom missed a memo. I panicked and felt bad and he told me "it's OK, really....don't worry, mom!"

So yeah, school's out and next year I'll have 2 kiddies in school! Oh what F-U-N! Twice the goody bags, twice the teacher's gifts - twice the forgotten lunches *giggles* I made Mrs. Wilson a set of notecards that you may have seen HERE and then I made a card from us and one from my son. Did I mention I got a new sewing machine? Still trying to figure out the little bugger, but I sure am having fun with it!

The teacher actually sent home a thank-you card for all the nice things I'd sent her this year, and for yesterday's gift. I cannot impress upon you enough the importance of a thank-you card. And since you all are in the cardmaking world, be sure and get your kids doin' it - have them hand-write those notes thanking their friends for the birthday present, and grandma for the Christmas scarf. These are important things that when they grow up and are out in the real world say looking for a job, they will not hesitate to send a thank-you note to the interviewer and I can tell you having experience in interviewing people lately, that goes a long way.

Thanks for stopping in; have a great day!

Pez-A-Doodle Wednesday *...kidstyle...*

As you may have already guessed by the title of today's post, today's cards are not brought to you by yours truly, rather, they are handmade by my little ones. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that my greatest joy in the world is being my children's mother; they truly make me want to be a better person - - and Lord knows I've got room for improvement *wink* I work a lot of hours, and I do spend a significant amount of time at my crafting table. And about once a week my little girl says "when are we ever gonna get to make some cards". So finally last week I told her that we would spend Friday night making cards.

My daughter is almost 5 - just a couple weeks away - and my son will be 7 next month. They still have a tendency to ruin everything they touch - seriously. So I knew I wasn't going to let them play with a $24 stamp set - no way, no how. But you know what they can play with that is not only affordable to replace, but perfect in the variation of fun sentiments: Studio G (you knew that was coming).

So there we sat at the dining room table, just the 3 of us, about 50+ sets of Studio G stamps, Studio G Glitter Glue, Pez-A-Bling, Glittered Skittles, and my scrapbox.

My kids both now know the first rule of cardmaking: always thread your buttons. I am seriously unnerved when I see unthreaded buttons on a card. So after choosing our patterned papers, and ribbon scraps, we chose some buttons and then threaded them.

The only real thing I helped the kids with was putting down the pane of DP - I didn't do it, but I said pick it up, look at it, center it before you lay it down, and much to my surprise - my little girl's came out way better than my son's. That lil' hello stamp is new Studio G Series 32 by the way - they have some great friendship and simple sentiments in that series.

I do like that they both seem to have the symmetrical thing about them - Pez-A-Bling and the Glittered Skittles in the 4-corners, but I also like the Glitter Glue design that only goes down 2 sides, and the uneven amount of Glittered Skittles on the I {heart} Sunshine card.

Before I joined the Pez-A-Doodle team, I had no idea that Studio G had their own line of ink and Glitter Glue - they do all the matching for you; love that!

Look at those Glittered Skittles right there - notice anything? They've got little watermelons in them! They are the perfect watermelon color - and they have a little watermelon in them - perfect for your summer cards. The I {heart} candy and the hugs & kisses stamps are from Series 26 - the holiday one; be sure you aren't ruling out a stamp set because it's labeled for Christmas or Valentine's or something else - - there's always a simple sentiment that you can use for non-holiday cards and when you can find uses for a $1 stamp set all year-round, you are goin' above and beyond in getting your money's worth.

In case you are wondering - the top 2 were made by my son and the bottom 2 were made by my daughter. I don't know if they'll be on the cover of CARDS any time soon, but it sure was fun watching their creative minds at work.

Have a great day, Girls!

Absolutely fabulous.

Happy Monday, Girls!

I host over at the Paper Temptress blog every other Monday - and today is that day. I had some leftover pieces from the Hannah Montana birthday invites I made last weekend and decided to take advantage and make my card for this week with those pieces. Patricia at Paper Temptress is big on the whole "green movement" so much so that she's going to be selling scraps of paper - like 4x12 - something about the way paper is cut, there is some scrap product left. What a way to take advantage of repurposing, and, making it a little more affordable to try some top-of-the-line paper.

My card today features BASIS magenta cardstock and don't let the picture at the store fool you, this is a lot like Papertrey Ink's Raspberry Fizz - so much so that I use the PTI Raspberry Fizz ribbon with this paper. That beautiful white is Paper Temptress's Laser White Glossy Lustre - it's topnotch at 84-cents a sheet, but I am a big believer in you get what you pay for. The greyish color that you see is Silver Ore Glimmer and it is so shimmery in person - you'll have to trust me on this, or come on by for tea and I'll show it to ya' *wink*

Today at Fun-Frilled we are celebrating teachers - head on over to see what I've got to share there.

And last but not least - Digiments. We've got weekly free Digiments that you can download and play with and enter to win the entire next release for free. If you haven't made the leap to using digistamps, not sure if you can get it to work on your printer or will like it - try it for free - - you have nothing to lose! The next Digiments release is June 13 - with sneak peeks starting in just 10 days!

Here's to a great start to your week!