Retirement Jayhawk

The CFO of the company where I work retired Friday and loves KU....so of course I had to make a Jayhawk card!

The inside says "Welcome to the seven-day weekend! Congratulations on your retirement." I used SU markers to color in the Jayhawk; there are a few things I would have done differently, but when you start a card at 10:30 p.m., you just 'go with it'!

Hope you're having a great weekend, thanks for stopping by and peeking in!! ~M.

Card Details: SU Yoyo Yellow cardstock, Jayhawk paper, SU Whisper White
Punches: Marvy Giga Scalloped Circle, Marvy Mega Circle
Stamps: Jayhawk, Gina K. Designs Scalloped Frames & Doodles
Ink: SU Real Red, SU Brilliant Blue, SU Yoyo Yellow

Kaitlyn and the Box Turtle

Some things just need to be shared! All of our children LOVE pets; but Alyssa, our oldest has a rare and unique passion for animals - particularly dogs. You know how some people just 'connect' with animals in a way you never can? Well, that's Alyssa.

But as I mentioned previously, Alyssa traveled to Atlanta, GA over a week ago so we've had the 2 younger ones at home. Kaitlyn (age 9) found a box turtle and brought it home. She got a box for it to live in (it hated the box); she gave it water and we researched on the Internet what it needed to eat. Each and every day she'd take it outside to play on the playground, but she was always a bit frustrated that it tried to crawl away. :) She just couldn't understand why it kept wanting to crawl off. Trust me folks, she loved the turtle, she'd put it on the swing and swing with it and all kinds of great things. Well...she thought they were great, not sure what the turtle thought.

She would give it water in its box, but it would step in it and THEN it pottied in the water - so uncalled for! :)

Isn't this picture of her and the turtle adorable?


Well, a few days ago, Kaitlyn came home and through tears told me she thought she should let the turtle go because it didn't like living in the box. You could tell she had thought long and hard about this and it was killing her. She was sobbing.

I gently walked her through the process letting her make the final decision on what to do. I was very surprised to see her so sad about this - but this was a big deal.

I took the above pictures just before she decided to let it go. This next one is her W-A-Y O-U-T in our backyard getting ready to turn it loose.

This last pictures is an up close picture when she returned with the empty box - no turtle. I took the picture, then she broke down and sobbed again. It was a tough evening, but she knows she did the right thing. The tears don't come so quickly now because we focus on how the box turtle has probably already found new friends and is exploring like it loves to do!

Hope you all had a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by...even if it's not stamp related! :)

Hugs, ~M.

"Smooshing Roses"

I love visiting blogs and getting stamping ideas! This one is called "smooshing" and I think it makes the roses appear more realistic - what do you think? I learned the technique from Emily (click HERE). I made this for a friend's grandmother; her middle name is Rose; hence the reasoning behind the card!

The base of the card is SU Marigold, layered with SU Apricot Appeal, layered with Whisper White. The roses are made using the Marigold, Apricot Appeal and Pumpkin Pie. The leaves are done with True Thyme, stamped off 2 times before applying. I don't normally work with these colors so tell me what you think? I'm very pleased with the way it turned out and I hope her grandmother loves it!

Hope you have a splendid weekend. Our oldest, age 11, leaves to a big trip to Atlanta, GA this weekend, she'll be traveling with my mom. She's very nervous...and particularly nervous about passing through the metal detector and such. She was going on and on last night about the metal on her DVD player, her gameboy, etc., I finally realized she was a bit panicked, so I stopped and explained that only SHE would walk through the metal detector, her luggage and such would pass through a "x-ray" machine (best explanation for a young lady I thought). She was quiet for a bit and then asked "Will my shorts make the metal detector go off (you know, the metal button)... :) I smiled and explained no, they wouldn't. She's really nervous, I can't blame her, I don't like to fly, they know that - but they also know I will fly, so hopefully she'll do great. They have many things to see and do while in Atlanta so I'm delighted for this opportunity for her. She's saved her money for over a year so she's well prepared!

Take care and thanks for peeking in! ~M.

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I found more than 10 people that had initially subscribed to my blog (by clicking on the orange button under the "Subscribe to this Blog"); however, they did not complete the enrollment process.

Once you click on "Subscribe to this Blog"; you will enter your e-mail address. You will ALSO receive a confirmation e-mail at the e-mail address entered - you MUST click the link within the confirmation e-mail to complete your registration and receive updates whenever I update the blog.

I typically update the blog 1-2 times per week, so you're not inundated with tons of e-mails; but you do get to see my newest creations!! Go ahead, sign-up, it'll be fun!

Hope you're having a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by! ~M.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk

My boss turned 50 last week and LOVES KU; I think I've done 3 KU b-day cards in a row for him. :)

Can you tell the triangle on the right is a smaller size??? It's all mounted on a white card; the Jayhawk was colored with SU markers.

I ran the inside through the printer and it says "Birthdays are for the birds!". LOL!

We bought a large cake and had the same saying put on the cake and a Jayhawk; it was so awesome.

This was kind compared to the decorating we did to his office - man, there are some funny things out there for milestone b-days. Hope he doesn't figure out I have a milestone b-day approaching!!!

Have a great Friday, thanks for peeking in. ~M.

Roses in Winter - multiple use

Good evening!!

Wow; what an interesting weekend. Our weekends are now free (somewhat) now that soccer is over - but we have anywhere from 3 to 4 softball games per week - whew, exhausting!

I had a little 'accident' this weekend and injured 2 fingers on my left hand - until today I did not have any feeling at all in my pinky finger, but it's getting better. Oh my; I shed a lot of tears - honestly thought I'd lost my finger!!! PTL I didn't.

I made these two cards over a week ago; but shoot, I couldn't even type for a few days so it's taken me awhile to get them loaded. Can you tell each one has a 'mistake' on the front of the card? I hope I hid them well; I love the colors, thought they turned out nice. This was my 2nd time to use the Roses in Winter stamps and the rock & roll technique on the larger sizes of the rose.

Hope you enjoy; thanks for stopping by! ~M.

Card Details:
Cardstock: SU Regal Rose, SU Chocolate Chip, SU Tempting Turquoise (I think), SU Whisper White
Stamps: Roses in Winter and various others (rock & roll technique used on roses)
Designer paper by SU
Miscellaneous embellishments

Totally Cool!

GOOD MORNING!!! Happy Saturday to each of you! Any big weekend plans? We have a few things to do, but now that soccer is over, our Saturday's are abit more calm (thank goodness).

I had a blast making these cards this week - I did all 3 plus 2 different ones in one sitting - that's pretty good for me, I normally don't have that much time to sit and play! Of course...I didn't finish till midnight either, so I got a pretty late start.

This young lady is from SU's Totally Cool set - I think she's adorable. I'm so in to Chocolate & Pink...guess that explains the colors eh? The coloring was done with SU Markers and Oil Pastel Crayons with Odorless Mineral Spirits.

The inside of one of the cards says "I'd rather be shopping!"; the other two say "I hope your birthday is like, totally cool!". Too cute!

Thanks for peeking in; I hope you have a fabulous weekend!!! ~M.
Card Details: Base Card SU Very Vanilla, SU Au Chocolat Designer Paper, SU Chocolate Chip
Coloring: SU Markers, Oil Pastel Crayons & Odorless Mineral Spirits
Embellishments: Variety of flowers & brads