Wish BIG!

I love how this card turned out; not my typical colors at all, but I love all the dots!! I used Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge #234; what a great layout!

The polka dot star is from PTI's Star Prints set - lots of fun stars in this stamp set as well as fabulous sentiments; can't wait to get the rest of the set inky! The sentiment says "wish big"; I just love the fonts used.

I made this one into a b-day card with an appropriate greeting inside. Below I've listed "What It Takes" for more details if you're interested.

And later this week? Oh yeah, I'm taking a walk on the W-I-L-D side; I'm going to show YOU my bikini. YIKES!!! I know, I've totally lost my marbles! Wanna sneak peek?

Do you? I can't HEAR you? I know, the thought scares me too!!

Skimpy little thing isn't it?

If I haven't scared you off, I hope to see you again later this week; thanks for popping in! Hugs, ~M.



WHAT'S IT TAKE?
Stamps: PTI Star Prints,
Paper: SU! Tempting Turquoise, Gina K Design 80 lb. Pure Luxury White, SU! Pink Flamingo DP
Ink: SU! Tempting Turquoise, SU! Basic Black, all edges inked in SU! Tempting Turquoise

Easy Peasy Thank You's

I made these 2 cards MONTHS ago, but found I had never shared them on my blog! Now I can't find what sketch I used to make them - OOPS!

Nothing fancy, just straight-forward stamping. Thanks for popping in; after a really long, hot weekend, I found some stamping time tonight (might have ignored the laundry, kind of, sort of - LOL), can't wait to share some new creations with you.

Hugs, ~M.

Twitter Groove?

I've joined the Twitter groove; come on over!

WhimsyCreation

Don't you hate when your "username" is taken!! LOL

To Love & To Cherish

I was asked to make another wedding card recently - the colors were black, white and pink. Well, I really liked the last wedding card I made, so I basically CASE'd myself! :D

I did make this one a typical A2 size card and used Papertreyink's Piece of Cake stamp set for the main image. Isn't that cake beautiful? I stamped the cake using Versamagic Pink Petunia and Pixie Pink. I added glitter to each flower and then a pink half pearl to the center of the medium and large size flowers. I just love how cool the cake looks!

As you can see, I embossed the front with the Birds & Swirls Cuttlebug folder and then gently rubbed ink on the embossed images.

This time I also added decorative paper to the inside of each front panel and punched it with a Martha Stewart border punch - I just love the touch it added.

This last picture shows the inside and the decorative paper I added. One of the best compliments I can receive is someone seeing one of my cards and saying "how much did THAT cost?"; they're always shocked to find it is handmade and cost less than anything you can buy at Hallmark! :D

TFL; I hope you're having a great week! We have a ball tournament this weekend; the temps have been 100+ and we've been under a heat advisory every day this week. Our little ones will need to drink lots of water - trips to the ER for dehydration are NOT needed! Have a great weekend.

Hugs, ~M.

FREE Digital Photo Editing Class

Check it out - hope you join the fun!!!

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If the above link doesn't work, copy and paste this link into your browser:

http://www.jessicasprague.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=976:free-photo-editing-class&catid=1:latest&Itemid=148

Hugs, ~M.

Good-bye Patches

One of our beloved guinea pigs passed away today; our girls are so very sad. I'll leave this post with a few pictures of our friend Patches.

The daughter with glasses is our oldest; the other with brown hair is our youngest daughter. Patches belonged to our youngest daughter.

Take care Patches, we'll miss you!

Hugs, ~M.

Hope for Comfort

A very dear co-worker's father passed away earlier this month. She has 2 sisters and those girls were most definitely the apple of their dad's eye!!! I've never met her dad, mom or sisters, but I feel like I know them. I've cried and prayed for them endlessly since their loss. My co-worker returns to work Monday; I'm so looking forward to having her back, but I know the hurt is very deep. I made a sympathy card for her and really like how it turned out. I used Basic Grey's Porcelain paper; it's so soft and elegant (at least I think so).

I used the stamp set "Hope for Comfort" from Stampin' Up! The white in the lower left-hand corner is a rub-on, I like that it's soft and elegant and doesn't jump off the paper. The main panel is raised with dimensionals and all paper is sponged with SU! Close to Cocoa. This next picture shows the inside of the card where I added a strip of the floral paper in which I used a border punch. Not sure you can see it in the photo, but it adds such a soft touch.

For my dear friend...I know your loss is great and the pain is deep, but remember to celebrate the memories; he was a wonderful man! {{{big hugs}}}

Thanks for popping in; I hope you're having a great weekend. And to all those fathers out there - HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! Hugs, ~M.





WHAT'S IT TAKE?
Stamps: Hope for Comfort by SU!
Paper: PTI Sweet Blush, SU! Mellow Moss, Basic Grey Porcelain
Accessories: SU! Rub-on, dimensionals, sponging, border punch

Desk Organizer & Stationery

As I mentioned a few times this past school year, I had a teacher as a secret pal and gave her gifts throughout the year. I couldn't help but almost always giving her something handmade. I know our teachers always ask for thank you cards, note cards, etc., so I decided to make my secret pal her very own desk organizer and stationery. Her favorite colors are purple and orange - but I just didn't have any DP that worked for those colors so I went with pink, orange and brown in polka dots and stripes. I have a ton of pictures to share so you can see the full project.

I used Lauren Meader's Desk Top Organizer Template from Papertreyink. If you haven't tried these templates - you HAVE to! You download the template along with several projects for you to peruse, then you can print the template as many times as you want - use it again and again...all for only $5 - how great is THAT?

I printed the template onto PTI's Sweet Blush paper, folded and glued. I then covered the areas with the brown DP (Sweet Always) from SU! but leaving a bit of pink showing too.

The note cards are like post cards - front and back only, they don't open like a typical A2 card. You can see I used the same DP in stripes for the note cards alternating her initial onto SU! Orange or Sweet Blush card stock. I really like how the set turned out. The very first picture shows the cards, the organizer and the matching envelopes. The "T" and circles are done with JustRite stamps. LOVE how you can customize whatever you want to - how convenient it is!! I also made a matching beaded pen (not pictured) and included a couple of candy bars to get the day started off just right. LOL!

We took all our gifts to school the last day and the children gave their gifts to their teachers. Our youngest daughter delivered this gift set to my secret pal - I included a note revealing me as her secret pal. It was such fun - I can't wait to do it again next year!!

And my last project to share today are more pictures from our youngest daughter's b-day party. We met at the park for cake & presents (is that cake not AMAZING - some dear friends made it as part of her b-day gift); it was so scrumptious; then we headed to see Up! opening night. The girls really enjoyed the 3D movie and to make the night even better? When we left the theater there was a REAL hot air balloon outside. We took lots of pictures! Enjoy the slide show!

I hope you have a great weekend - thanks for popping in! We have a steady shower of rain today & the boys in our family are gone this weekend so I think us girls might do some shopping (for Father's Day), get a makeover and just hang out. We were hoping to hit the pool, but doesn't look like the weather is interested in cooperating! Hope your weekend is sunny & bright! Hugs, ~M.

Fresh Bloom

Greetings friends! How's everyone doing? We've had a pretty easy week - our youngest has not had baseball practice this week, they normally practice 3 nights a week and our youngest daughter only had 1 softball game. That's a slow week for us! I've created 3 cards just tonight so I have lots of things to upload and share; tonight I'm sharing the card I made for the Mojo Monday Challenge #90. It's been awhile since I've had a chance to participate in their challenges - I always love them!

What a fun layout; I wanted to go with bright colors - did I succeed? :-)

I have had this large flower from Stampendous called Fresh Bloom for quite some time; I finally used it and colored it in with my Copics. Boy...it's a BIG flower!

Not sure if you can tell or not, but I just could not make myself happy with this flower. LOL I used 3 different colors of Copics; then highlighted with a white gel pen and I still wasn't happy so then I covered the entire square with VersaMark and clear embossing powder - I loved the shine the embossing powder added to the square. I was finally happy!

I layered everything with SU! Real Red and embossed the large white panel with Cuttlebug's Swiss Dot folder. Love that embossing folder!

The bottom square is SU! Pink Flamingo DP also layered on SU! Real Red. After I took this picture, I went back and added white polka dots to the scalloped circle at the top.

I also embossed some yellow SU! DP with the Swiss Dot Folder and then used a Martha Stewart punch for the butterflies. Each butterfly is glued in the center and the wings are lifted - I just love that look!

Thanks for popping in; I'm glad you stopped by! Hope you have a great weekend! Hugs, ~M.

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Welcome Baby

A couple baby cards I made a few months ago - both for little boys. The baby image is a bit small; but isn't that DP such fun?

Little boys were colored with Copics. Thanks for stopping by; hope you're having a great week!

Hugs, ~M.

Sip & Relax

Greetings! Big plans this weekend? We have a baseball tournament so we'll be very busy traveling back & forth and playing hard each day!

This card was made using SCS sketch #229; I love the layout and will definitely use it again.

Isn't that tea pot just adorable? Another incredible stamp set from Papertreyink called "Tea for Two". The DP is from SU! called Candy Lane. The tea pot was stamped in SU! Chocolate Chip & then I colored the polka dots with a pink marker. Love all the brown & pink; one of my favorite color combos!

I used a border punch on some of the DP for the inside of the card; so simple but adds such a nice touch!

I'm glad you stopped by; hope you have a great weekend! Hugs, ~M.

How our young man will look with facial hair!

During the summer, our youngest goes with his dad to work. DH rents shop space at Murphy & Sons; one of the Murphy's son's now runs the shooting range and shop. Anyway, the son is SO GOOD with out kids; he's always willing to play with them, put them to work, or just chat with them. We have some great stories of fun things he's done with our kids - like one time he put our youngest daughter in a box, hid her in a room and when the secretary went in the room, our daughter popped up out of the box and I'm sure scared her spitless.

Anyway, THIS is his creation today - he taped our son up and then place beautiful facial hair, lips and teeth on him. Made me laugh!

I have lots of new stamping projects, I'll get them loaded soon. Thanks for popping in and sharing in our fun! Hugs, ~M.

Birthday Butterfly & Softball

This is a card I made for the SCS Challenge #228; I so love the challenges! The base card is SU! White layered with SU! Rose Romance and DP by SU! (Sweet Always). I stamped the butterfly 3 times; once on the white card stock and twice onto the pink polka dot DP. I then cut the two butterflies from DP; adhered one flat, adhered the 2nd one with glue down the center of the butterfly so I could slightly lift the wings for a 3D effect.

All layers were sponged with SU! Close to Cocoa. The butterfly is from Kim Hughes' Little Gal stamp set - I really like her whimsical stamps!

The white bow is a double loop bow I made with my new Bow Easy - my first attempt. I think this will be a GREAT little tool, just need to find some time to use it!

OK, on to some personal 'schtuff'!

I finally got some pictures of our youngest daughter playing softball - I've got to get some more, particularly of her pitching! She pitched the entire game last night and did GREAT!! None of these are great pictures, but there will be more soon. I tried to take several of her at pitching camp, but only one of those turned out and it's still pretty blurry!

Thanks for popping in; have a great week! Hugs, ~M.