What's up with Blogger?

Sorry friends; blogspot and I are having problems! My banner; layout and colors haven't been showing up...not sure why, but hang in there; I'll get it looking all 'purdy' again!

Mojo Monday #53

I found some time to participate in Julee's Mojo Monday challenge again. I truly enjoy her challenges; they really stretch me!

I used lots of different stamp sets with this particular card. See my little ladybug? I so need some larger circle punches! What I "really" need is the circle nestabilities...I think I have every other option of nestabilities but the circles...go figure! :D

The base card is SU Rose Red layered with SU Pixie Pink (who would have thought to put those colors together - not me!). I then layered Basic Grey's Sultry paper (two different pieces); the rest of the items were all layered on SU Rose Red. The flower is by Kitchen Sink Stamps; it's 3-step stamping and ANYONE can make it look awesome! This particular stamp is from their 3-step Hibiscus set; it's the middle size Hibiscus. I used Pixie Pink stamped off 2 times for the first layer; the 2nd layer is Pixie Pink stamped off once and the final layer was done with Rose Red. Same with the ladybug; she's made with Pixie Pink and Rose Red.

The ladybug and the saying are from PTI (papertreyink); I love the little ladybug set; always fun to bring out and stamp away! Here's the full card; the quote says "God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars. ~Martin Luther"; isn't that beautiful? I love it!

Thanks for stopping by; hope you have a GREAT week! Hugs, ~M.

I Give a Hoot!

OK, these cards just crack me up!! There is NO STAMPING on them; how cool is that? I used Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #52 (I didn't follow it "exactly"; but close enough); it was a great starting point!

Here's a much better shot of the card:

The base card is Tempting Turquoise; the owl and the paper with the polka dots and stripes comes from Kim Hughes' new collection, Mocha Chica.

The bottom DP is from Junkitz Salsa Collection. Nothing fancy, just lots of layers, polka dots, stripes and a cute little owl saying "I give a hoot"!

Thanks for popping in; hope to see you again soon. Hugs, ~M.

Penny Black Birthday in PINK!

Greetings friends! How's everyone doing? I've had an incredibly long week; lots of traveling and not a lot of sleep...all that combined makes for a cranky mommy that needs a nap! LOL

I had lots of pictures done and ready to load and thought I'd have time while on the road, but I was just kidding myself; there WASN'T any down time!

Here's the first two I did using Splitcoastampers Sketch Challenge #193.

I love the way these turned out; all pink and girlie! I used Copics to color the images as well as Spica Glitter Pens.

So...tell me, what do you think about that cupcake in her hand? Come on...really...tell me what you think? I'm curious because I drew the cupcake - *gasp*!

I'm a horrible artist; our oldest is an incredible artist (just know it didn't come from me), but I needed a little tiny cupcake to fit in her hand and the only one I had is one that I could draw myself.

Each card is accented with Dew Drops purchased from Ellen Hutson's store. Hopefully I'll be back this weekend with more cards and some fun stories from my traveling adventures this week.

Thanks for popping in; hope to see you again soon! Have a FANTABULOUS weekend! Hugs, ~M.

Hope & Faith

Greetings,

How is everyone doing? I've had a great weekend (read as ... I've snuck in some stamping time - LOL)!!



WOW; what a weekend with Hurricane Ike? I hope and pray any of you with family/friends in the region hit are safe and sound! Our thoughts and prayers are with you. Hurricane Ike caused a storm to stall over our region and we got soooo much rain - nothing compared to Hurricane Ike, but enough that schools were dismissed early and businesses were shut down early on Friday. We finally saw some sunshine today (Sunday), the weather was cool, but it was nice to see the blue, blue sky!

Just a quick post here, not a lot of details; but this is extremely similar to THIS post; just a different colored base card and different Copics used to color the stamped image. I LOVE the colors used on these two cards. I also added some bling like you see in the previous post, but I added those b4 I headed to work one day and didn't have time to take new pictures - sorry!

I brightened the individual pictures a bit too much; but the picture of both cards is more true to the base card color.

Thanks for stopping by; I hope you've had a great weekend. I'm traveling Tuesday - Thursday from our home city to Indianapolis then to Salt Lake City then back home - all from Tuesday afternoon to Thursday evening; then I have a meeting at 7 a.m. on Friday. OH MY...and may I mention...I HATE flying and that's putting it mildly!


Take care, I'll be back soon with more new cards. Hugs, ~M.

6 x6 OSW (One Sheet Wonder) Challenge

Greetings!

I participated in Julee's 6x6 OSW this weekend making 4 cards. I flipped one in the opposite direction, but overall I had a good time making them. Can you see the "ugly duckling" in the set? LOL

I got to work on the project and made the first one and thought, 'oh, this won't work', so I came back to the computer and peeked at Julee's. Sure enough, you could have multiple layers, etc., there weren't any restrictions. I like the other 3 so much more!

I used various Verve Stamps; I'm really loving clear stamps; I'm becoming addicted...shhhh...that should NOT be repeated! Verve has a new release this week; I can't wait. I have a couple sets from their last release I need to purchase and I'm sure there will be something I have to have from the new release!

I used SU's Regal Rose and Old Olive throughout the cards; the DP is also from SU!

Here's some individual shots of the cards (a bit better than the group photo), but I had to leave out the ugly duckling; don't worry; I'll still give it some lovin'! I just tend to like more layers!

I think the last one is my favorite...not sure, there are two that I really, really like. The embossed background makes a huge difference...I think.

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

Black, Gold & White, Fight, Fight, Fight!

WOW; sounds like we're brutal eh? LOL

Our oldest had her first football game last week in which she cheered; what an exciting and emotional time for me. I had lunch with a dear friend a couple of weeks ago and she mentioned how she tears up when she sees her children doing something - I just laughed not getting it. OK, I admit...I get it! :D

There's something about seeing your oldest enter middle school, then to see them in a CHEER LEADING OUTFIT - oh my, my!!

Here are a few pictures; DO NOT TELL HER YOU'VE SEEN THESE - LOL; I'll tell you why after I show them to you!

The first picture is right before the game began, she's standing with her hands on her hips watching the football players; the second picture is the very first cheer they did; this is their FIRST YEAR to have uniforms; before they've always had shorts and t-shirts. So those uniforms are pretty darn exciting!

Of course, this is our first kid in middle school so EVERYTHING is new to us!

The 3rd picture is the 2nd cheer they did - notice how both girl's bangs are blowing in their eyes? What is it with growing out your bangs? They aren't allowed to use bobby pins or anything to hold them back - drives me INSANE!!! :D

OK, this next picture is why you cannot tell her you've seen these! Their 'boy briefs' for under their skirts did not come in, but no one told us this so they had to wear their gym shorts. Yep; those extra 3 inches below her skirt is her gym shorts. She was so embarrassed about that, but she handled it VERY well. If they don't have their briefs in this week, I'll go buy her some. COME ON PEOPLE; we want to look cute here! LOL I also caught her without her knowing I was there. This was at halftime, the girl needed a drink.

The last one is when I asked her to pose for me - you should have seen the initial poses she did - KIDS! Makes me laugh thinking about it.

I can't wait to see her cheer this week, what fun!!! And it won't be long and her bangs will be long enough to go into her ponytail and I'll be much happier...that and when those shorts are no longer sticking out! HA HA

Now a personal note; I purchased a new CD this week and before each song on the CD they have a quote. This one particular quote has stuck with me all week long and I want to share it with you. I consider it 'deep'; what do you think?

"When a pending pain is so big, there is an inner place that a soul will go to keep from breaking. A place where it sits and holds terribly still, an emotional coma that allows our heart a moment of Peace so that we can begin to heal. In this place we find a void, where there is no feeling, no up, no down, no sound, no taste."

I relate this "moment" to when the call came and my DH's dad had passed. We knew it was coming, but it was a pain so big our soul had to go somewhere to keep from breaking. We're approaching the 2 year mark of the loss of my DH's father; there are many days I think to myself "my husband no longer has a dad here on this earth" and it makes me cry. I'm sensitive, as my dad has been diagnosed with a type of cancer; not the same as DH's dad; but still, that C thing is very scary. Knowing my dad gets very sick after the treatments, knowing that as I age, he ages - all those things are just too much at times.

K, I'm off my personal kick; just a quote that really made me think deeply.

I hope you've had a great weekend. I'll have some new cards posted soon; I've been busy creating, but also very busy running kids here and there. I'm like a soccer mom on steroids. LOL

Hugs, ~M.

Girl - Call me!

Happy Labor Day friends!!


So...how many of you are cooking out today? We will be tonight - some chicken. YUM, YUM!

If any of you know me very well, you know I typically ALWAYS make 2 cards basically identical when I sit down to stamp. I don't get much stamping time, so I have to use it wisely and getting 2 done just fills my stash a bit more.

These were made in conjunction with Taylor's Cupcake Challenge - but you don't have to use cupcakes (thank goodness).

This adorable stamp set, Call Me, is by MFT and had NEVER seen ink. Had to change that last night! It was a fun challenge and I could have made my card almost identical to Taylor's as I wanted to use Dew Drops and the ticket punch; but sheesh, she'd be alarmed and clued in that I stalk her blog regularly. LOL

The coolest thing about this card in my books? The entire scene (except for the phone...and her skin) is paper pieced - no joke; I'll give you a close up in just a moment. I should have been smart and colored in her skin b4 I paper pieced, but hey, I'm still learning. You'll see where a bit of the color from her feet bled over onto the paper, but that's okay, she's still adorable.

The young man in our family, age 8, does not understand why we cannot see her head! LOL It was so funny when he was talking about the image; he seemed pretty impressed I had paper pieced the image. He had lots to say about it.

Here's the close-up of all the paper piecing - the chair, her pants, her shirt, the wall behind the chair and the floor - WHEW, that's some serious paper piecing!

I hope you have had a great weekend; thanks for popping in! Hugs, ~M.

Back to School!

I created this card for the Stamp Something weekly challenge. Yes, you guessed it, the project had to be related to heading back to school.

All our little ones are back in school; our oldest entered middle school this year - YIKES! And did ANYONE tell me what the teenage years would be like...or is that one of those things you just can't explain you have to EXPERIENCE it? LOL

I mentioned to my DH the other night that we have entered the eternal land of ignorance - you know, the place ALL parents enter until their child reaches about 22 yrs. of age!!!

The crayons are from a set called "School Set"; its from SU! but I bought it used many, many years ago. Came in handy for the challenge. The scissors are from the same set. I used the black to resemble the chalkboard and look...I even used white chalk. :D

Thanks for popping in! Hugs, ~M.

Our Hope is in the Lord!

I made this card several weeks ago with a new stamp set from Fancy Pants. I colored the image with Copic Sketch markers; it's a very simple card, but the message says it all!

I submitted it to my stamping group as consideration for the Front Page Artist (a new one is chosen weekly) and mine was chosen this week. Yeah!!

I hope you're having a great weekend; I think we're headed to a movie today. Thanks for popping in. Hugs, ~M.