Congratulations Grad!

First off - NO LAUGHING! I'll get to that in a moment!

I recently had a friend ask me to make a graduation card for one of her friends - the colors at the college she graduated from are black and orange. ??

:D

I love this layout and have used it many times, so it was a quick card to pull together. I used the flower from my stash and I love the extra sparkly center I added! Can you believe how well that flower matches the paper and everything? Had to keep a girly look to it ya know! Everything on the card is accented with black and the sentiment is embossed with fine black detail embossing powder. I sponged around the sentiment to ease the stark Ivory color.

Now the laughing part...this was the FIRST card I have EVER stitched on - AND it's not a typical sewing machine. It's a teeny-tiny handheld machine I bought at Michael's for $5, it runs on 4 double A batteries. I bet I've had that thing for a year and never used it! It's really tough to sew straight, but I liked the touch it added to the card! My next purchase? A Mini Janome! Yeah baby!

I hope you had a great weekend! Thanks for popping in; I love when you visit! Hugs, ~M.

#8

This is what happens when dad is out of town and the boys are living up baseball!

An "8" shaved into his head and highlighted with a black marker (since he has red hair). The other boys had a # shaved in their head and were highlighted with a red marker.

TEE HEE!!!

We have two games today - 3 p.m. & 8:15 p.m. - GO BOMBERS!!!

Wedding Bells & Animals Eating Their Young

WOW...do those two things in the title even GO together? Nah, not when you first get married...but after you have kids, trust me, you'll understand the 2nd part to the title. LOL

We have a co-worker getting married in June and the girls at work asked me to make a card so this is what I came up with. The green accent on her wedding invitation was a sea foam green, so I worked hard to accent the card with a pretty green. The main card is made with Papertreyink's Ivory card stock and is a gate fold card (my first ever!!). The front panels are embossed with Cuttlebug's Birds & Swirls. I mixed a couple colors of VersaMagic ink and lightly dabbed the embossed image to help it pop a bit.

The wedding dress is stamped in SU! Craft Black as I was going to emboss it, but that didn't work out. That's okay, I think it's still totally beautiful! I colored the flowers and leaves on the dress with a sea foam green color and then added pearls down the back of the dress. (don't forget, you can click on any image to see a closer view) The "Celebrate" comes from PTI's Damask Designs set. The inside of the card says "To Love and To Cherish"; I LOVE the script lettering, it's so elegant IMHO. Since this was my first gate fold card, I followed the exact instructions I found on Splitcoaststampers...I wish now I had made the card a bit taller, but that's okay, it's the gift card inside that they'll love the most! :D

OK, now for a walk on my somewhat questionable side - LOL !! I bought this sentiment from Whipper Snapper, remember how I said I love to buy sentiments but then sometimes don't know what to do with them? Again, I asked my BFF to help me with this one. It's such a sarcastic sentiment, I decided to make the entire card sarcastic!

The base card is SU! Pink Pirouette layered with SU! Chocolate Chip and then another layer of SU! Pink Pirouette stamped with SU! Close to Cocoa sentiments from MFT's "And Then I Said". So many great sentiments in this stamp set. I stamped the "seriously" on the screen of the phone, colored the phone with Copics and then added Crystal Effects to all the buttons and to the screen. Doesn't that look really cool? My kids love feeling the Crystal Effects once it has dried!

The inside sentiment from Whipper Snapper says "Mothers of teens know why some animals eat their young". Now that we have a teenager - I SO GET THAT!!!

Such a funny little quote; hope you find the humor in it! I also hope you've had a GREAT weekend!!! Thanks for popping in!! Hugs, ~M.

I am the QUEEN of P!!!

How do you like THAT title? LOL

Our babes finished school yesterday, Thursday, and I have officially determined I am the queen of procrastination!

These are the gifts I made for the teachers of our youngest kids (2nd & 4th grade). I found these boxes at the Dollar Tree and painted them white; the decorations are rub-ons from Stampin' Up! and the buttons are from Papertreyink.

The boxes were filled with 12 Hibiscus Burst Thank You cards (thought those would come in handy for all the thank you notes they write at the end of the school year), a beaded pen (didn't get a picture of the pens) and two candy bars. YUM!! When I had lunch with our son, he's teacher said she ate one of the candy bars right away. LOL - my kinda chick!!

I thought about doing ribbon around the handles - decided not to. I thought about adding more details to the cards - decided not to. I thought about putting rub-ons or buttons on the handles - decided not to. I mean it was so late getting everything done I decided it was "OK" to not make them perfect in my eyes.

I just hope the teachers liked them. I also had a secret pal this year, I'll post her gift later this weekend.

We have a double-header baseball game tomorrow morning, then we're free the rest of the weekend. I hope to get some extra rest!!

Thanks for popping in, I really appreciate you visiting! Hugs, ~M.

Ice Cream Anyone?

Yum - doesn't that sound dee-lish? My favorite is Baskin Robbins Chocolate...I know, you're thinking CHOCOLATE, out of ALL the flavors you choose Chocolate? Yes I do and it's the BEST!!! Love that stuff!

But you'll notice, I DIDN'T make a chocolate ice cream cone though!

I love this layout from SCS, #225; it's one I'll definitely use again. I like everything about the card but when I was adjusting the pictures I thought the butterfly looked a little too big - what do you think?

I edged everything in PTI's Fresh Snow; love how white it is. I stamped the ice cream cone 3 times, once on PTI's Kraft card stock and then twice on the DP; the 2nd layer of DP is popped up with dimensionals. Same thing with the cherry - I also added Crystal Effects to the cherry.

The butterfly is stamped on vellum in PTI's Pure Poppy, cut out and adhered to the Kraft panel. The inside says' Happy Birthday"; all the stamp images are from Kim Hughes Little Gal set. Such a great stamp set for girls!!

Thanks for stopping by; I hope you like my summer creation...ready for some ice cream? :D

Hugs, ~M.

Cheer Up, Buttercup!

Isn't this umbrella adorable? It's a stamp set called "Scattered Showers" by Dawn McVey for Papertreyink. There are so many umbrellas and possibilities and the sentiments are adorable!

I made this card for Jen's Sketch For You To Try Challenge this weekend; such a fun sketch! I'll definitely be using it again.

I paper pieced the umbrella twice (my favorite technique) and pulled the colors from the DP (Washington Apple) by SU! The 2nd paper piecing is popped on dimensionals as is the white panel it is stamped on.

All layers were edged with SU! So Saffron and SU! Apricot Appeal. I added white polka dots to the scalloped circle with my new white Signo pen. I'm trying to find the "perfect" white ink pen...we'll see what I think of this one.

Thanks for popping in; I hope you've enjoyed today's card! Hugs, ~M.



Ingredients:
Paper: SU! So Saffron, SU! Only Orange, Gina K Designs 80 lb. Pure Luxury White, SU! Washington Apple DP
Stamps: Scattered Showers by Papertreyink
Layout: SFYTT

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!

WOW - where have I been? Trust me, you would never believe me if I told you, so I won't even go there!

I'm a member of the Fan Club over at Splitcoaststampers (if you're a stamper and you haven't joined this club, you should, it's SO worth it!!) and recently won a card in their gallery made by Becca. Her creations are out of this world gorgeous! Becca not only sent me the card I won, but she also sent me a bonus card - WOO HOO! I think I can find links to both cards so you can take a peek.

I lost my "Mo" and "Jo" for a few weeks, but I think I've found them again, so I'll return soon with some new posts.

WINNER:

Happiness Shared (this is the bonus card Becca sent - isn't is beautiful?)

Flowers for Tomorrow (using a soda can - amazing, huh?)

Thanks for popping in; I love when you visit! And I'll be back soon with some new creations!

Shoes & Barbie

Ah...let's talk about Barbie first, what do you think? But don't jump ship after seeing my Barbie card; stick around for my next card which is pretty darn funny too (well I think so, we'll see what YOU think!)!

I am such a sucker for funny sentiments; I love them! BUT sometimes I end up with a sentiment and I have no clue what to do with it. It's too small to be the focal point and I can't quite figure out what to do. For the sentiment inside this card, I asked my BFF for some ideas and alas, my Barbie stamp came to life. tee hee

This young lady is from MFT's BC Dzyns set called "And Then I Said". Such a great stamp set!!

Well here's what she said, "If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?". Come on, doesn't that make you giggle? The sentiment is from Whipper Snapper and I just love it! It just makes me laugh every time.

The girl was colored with Copics and mounted onto a rectangle scalloped nestie. I so love my nesties - I need more!! The DP is from SU!

I might still add something on the outside - maybe a sentiment in the lower right-hand corner, or maybe some jewels - not sure yet.

Next up I created a card while thinking about my BFF. You see, she has a SERIOUS shoe problem - that girl owns more shoes than my entire family put together! I AM NOT kidding! This image is from MFT's "Window Shopping" set.

Look how that window shines!!! The only thing I did wrong was I should have put the girl in a blue dress; my BFF loves blue. Alas, I was coordinating paper, so it's just not to be! I colored the shoes with Copics and then added Crystal Effects all around the images and the girl. So you "think" this is a window? It's really my BFF drooling down the window - LMBO! :D

All the DP is from SU! and covers the base card which is actually SU! Ivory. I added several layers, a ribbon & bow and a couple border punched strips. See that black ribbon? Yeah, it used to be white, but I colored it black with my Copics, I so love doing that!

I'm glad you popped in - I hope one or both of these gave you a chuckle for the day! Hugs, ~M.

Funky Bag FILLED With Candy

Greetings!!

This week is Teacher's Appreciation Week - I think I've mentioned in the past I have a secret pal this year at the grade school. It's my first time to sign up for this fun little gift opportunity. You're given a teacher or other personnel from the school and you give them gifts throughout the year - nothing expensive, everything should be less than $5. Well, I wanted to start the week off right for my secret pal so I made this Funky Bag by Kelleigh Ratzlaff and filled it with candy - Y-U-M!!!

Can you see it kind of bulging at the sides? That's because I filled it full of different kinds of candy - come on - who doesn't want a little bag they can sneak their hand into and pull out a scrumptious little treat?

I downloaded the pattern and printed the 'lines' only option onto Spring Rain by Papertreyink - such a pretty blue! I edged everything in close to cocoa and added the beautiful blue DP. The best part of the DP? It has real felt flowers and felt polka dots on it - is that not the coolest? If you click on either of the pictures, you should be able to see a blue felt flower sticking out from underneath the flap. So pretty, love to touch it!

I then used a Sizzix die to cut the Chocolate Chip flower - I also cut a Spring Rain flower and placed a Basic Grey small magnetic snap between the two flowers then adhered the flower to the edge of the flap. I then placed the other piece of the magnetic snap inside the box. Works like a charm!

I had embossed the DP and the image I embossed didn't work, so instead I punched the little butterfly out of the paper and adhered to the flower. I finished the bag with some Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon.

I had one of our babes deliver the bag on Monday - hope my secret pal likes it!

As I write this, it is midnight. My DH is currently on a 14 hour flight to Germany; he arrives at 7:30 a.m. and heads to the factory to go to work. Hope he was able to catch a few zzzzzzz's on the plane!

Thanks for popping in; great to see you! Hugs, ~M.

Dots & Baseball

Hey there, how's everyone doing? Life has been so busy - insanely busy! I had a request a few weeks ago for a Thank You card for a friend's daughter's orthodontist. Anyone that has put their child through braces knows that swell of joy when the braces come off and the teeth look PHENOMENAL!!!

Our oldest is currently in braces - we have about 9 months left to go. Anyway, I had the toughest time coming up with a card - I couldn't find any 'dental' type DP but one night while lying in bed I had an A-HA moment. Yes, I'm blonde and these moments can be big ya know! LOL

I knew I wanted the card to be bright and I decided to use JustRite's small letter set to say just what they wanted to say (well, they didn't TELL me what they wanted to say, but I had a pretty good idea)!! "A Perfect Smile...Thanks To You...". The base card is SU! Regal Rose layered with Gina K's 80 lb. Pure Luxury white card stock. I stamped the sentiment in SU! Pumpkin Pie, SU! Regal Rose, SU! Close to Cocoa and SU! Chocolate Chip. I cut the polka dot strip of DP and layered it on Regal Rose...but the card still lacked something - too much white with the letters being small. So I kept working, not sure how to 'make it work' to my liking, but alas, it was late and I knew it would come to me. I stamped the main sentiment in Chocolate Chip and punched it out with a Marvy Circle Punch, I then layered it onto SU! Regal Rose and SU! Pumpkin Pie; as you can see the SU! Pumpkin Pie circle has scallops, so of course I had to add some white polka dots. I sponged the white card stock with both SU! Regal Rose & SU! Close to Cocoa. Added the large pink button tied it off with some hemp and white ribbon.

Once I decided to put the button in the center, I immediately knew how to finish off the rest of the card - add some polka dots. So I added polka dots (all 2nd generation, meaning they were inked and stamped off once before stamping onto the white card stock) in various colors inside each sentiment.

I delivered the card at 7 a.m. Friday morning and was DELIGHTED to hear they really liked it. I'm sure the orthodontist will appreciate it too - handwritten thank you cards have almost become extinct...unfortunately!!

And last is another brief slide show of baseball - oh how I love baseball season. I'm not sure if ANYONE gets as excited as I do about a baseball tournament! I love the other boys on the team, I love the parents, I love our coaches...oh I just love it!!! We played in Hutchinson about an hour away. We met at our Corner Mart at 7 a.m. and headed over. We got back into town, but I had another appointment, by the time we got all that done and arrived back home it was 6 p.m. We ended up having 3 other kids at our house to play - so that was six kids. Sometimes I think I'm insane! We played charades and had a BLAST!!!

This slide show features two of our coaches, they are AMAZING...they have the patience of a saint - thank goodness as I know our son can push the envelope. Poor guy. You can also see Coach Smitty in shorts, he was walking by as I took the picture. Our son is convinced he can't hit the ball (even though he had 2 RBI's earlier this year) so when he strikes out he comes unglued. He's #8 and typically plays 2nd base. He also pitched briefly this weekend and did fantastic - threw some serious strikes!! K...enough of me discussing my delight in baseball! BUT I will add our middle daughter has had 2 softball games and they have SPANKED the other teams. They are seriously good!!!

Thanks for stopping by, leave me some love and let me know you visited!! Hugs, ~M.