NO WAY!!!

Did you see the news????

Check it out!

September Honorable Mentions - that project there...the first one?? It's MINE!!! I'm still in shock I think. I just adored that project, as originally stated in my post about it, HERE.

I'll be on cloud 9 all day, I'm sure...but I have another post for this evening, so I hope you stop back later!!!

Have a great day!!!

For Some Special Friends

So it's been a busy week. My younger DD has pink eye - YIPPEEE! (do you hear the sarcasm??) She's been pretty good about her drops, and is already much better, thank goodness!! We're also coming to the end of a very long drawn out home improvement project that I almost can't bear to talk about, because I get frustrated...but we're definitely in the home stretch, THANK GOODNESS!! But these things have really kind of taken me away from the things I love to do when the girls are in bed...stamp and chat on SCS!

I have a few things that I've been waiting to share, but will finally be going ahead with over the next few days.

My first 'installment' is a card I made for my friend Samantha (Sammystamper on SCS). She lives on the other side of the country from me, and we've never met face to face. She reminds me of me really...especially BEFORE I had kids ;) I can't wait for the day she comes to the city, and I head down to hang out and have a few drinks with her!


Ok, so onto the card...
Ta-dah!!! Ok- so I think my FAVORITE part about this card are the paper flowers I made. I've got a few of the punch bunch punches, and decided to finally put them to use! Looking at this card after the fact, I kind of wish I had put a mat behind the DSP, but overall I'm pleased with the way this turned out...and I just love that sentiment from A Muse.


Let's get a closer look at those flowers, shall we???
I used Always Apricot and Really Rust CS punched out 3 daisy shaped punches (1 for each flower) I used my stylus on the backs of the punched pieces (on my rubber mouse pad) to give them more dimension, get that rounded petal look. I did that also on the leaves, but wanted the 'veins' in the leaves as well...the centers of the flowers are the 'sakura' flower shape and it's punched out in PTI's Lemon Tart CS, and the very centers of the flowers are finished off with some cinnamon stickles.

If you ever get the opportunity to check out The Paper Garden it's a really fun book...I need to add some more punches to my 'arsenal' before I can accomplish more of the beautiful flowers in this book, but WOW. The author also realeased another book this summer, called The Paper Boquet which is also carried by All That Scraps...speaking of All That Scraps, did you SEE their new Halloween sets??? I mean really...they don't get much cuter. If you get a chance, stop by, and check them out. I'm tellin' ya, they're SUPER cute...

Well - Samantha - thank you for being such an awesome friend - I hope you enjoyed your package from me :)

Have a great remainder of your weekend everyone, thanks for stopping by!!!

7 Years...

Seven years...that's a long time. But it feels like it was just yesterday. Seven years ago today, my life changed. I think in some way, everyone's life changed...from the people who were on the planes, the people who were in the buildings...the loved ones waiting at home, the servicemen and women of this, and many other great countries, everyone's lives had changed.

This is a day I will NEVER forget, my husband and brother as well as friends were in the city that day, and things were just turned upside down. What an eerie feeling...it was a beautiful crisp morning...they don't come any more gorgeous...and then I heard the news...

I didn't lose anyone personally in the attacks, but know many who did, including my brother, his college roomate's brother and father were both lost that day. My brother would go down to the armory every day to check on news of Mr. Coffey and his son Jason, but unfortunately there never was any news to be had.

So sad, so unsettling.

Take a moment to remember today...a moment to remember those lost, those who they left behind, and those who are deployed all over the world to help ensure this doesn't happen again.

Thank you to the Fire, Police, and EMS that put your lives on the line daily. Thank you to all of our servicemen and women who fight for peace, and our freedom.

Here's a card, in the spirit of today...this was sent to My Favorite Marine, also known as THE Major, while he was deployed in Iraq earlier this year.

Thanks for stopping by...God Bless America...

Inspiring Friends...

Inspiring friends...do you have any?? I do. Quite a few actually. One is my friend Laura - she inspires me to be more independent, and just always see the funny side of things. On SCS her name is Okiechic, and I think she rocks...I made this card for her recently...and guess what? The card is a result of being 'inspired' by my DD's sundress...which is of course, in the laundry, so I can't take a pic, but trust me here...

The circles are stamped in craft white on orchid opulence, tempting turquoise, pixie pink, and only orange, and are ahdered to the dark chocolate base with dimensionals...simple, but I like it. This is PTI's anniversary set "Simple Little Things" for those of you that aren't familiar...

What inspires you?? Whether it's card making or in your general life...

Thanks for stopping by!

A shower...other than rain...

WOW - we got a LOT of rain today - the perfect day to be inside, and playing. Well - we had painting to do, so no playing until late, and that's why I'm posting at 1:30!

Tomorrow I am off to a bridal shower for my dear friend Gen's daughter Denise. Denise and I are about the same age, so I tried to think what I might like someone to give to me. She has quite a bit of the necessities, as she's been living on her own for a while, but they found plenty to register for, so that made my job easy...but I still wanted to make something special for her.

I came across these coasters in Bed Bath & Beyond...they're glass photo coasters...this is nothing new really, but figured I'd share my project with you.

I used my Just-Rite Monogram Stamper using thier initial, and wedding date. That's stamped in Brilliance Chocolate ink...it has a nice shimmer. The flourish is from Inkadinkado's Flourish set, and is stamped in Old Olive.

I've lined the 4 sides of the coasters with Grass dew drops (just so you know, to do the 4 coasters, I had almost a full bottle to start and there was still about 1/4 of the bottle left when I was done) I adhered them with crystal effects. Now - I would have been happier if the coasters were a wee bit thicker, so that the full backs of the dew drops would be adhered, but I'll take what I can get! I think they're pretty, classy, and best of all, she can change them if she gets bored of 'the seal' as I like to call it :)

Now...onto her card...

As part of my 'go green' attitude, I don't do envelopes anymore, unless the cards are going in the mail. Besides, I think these works of art should be on display for all to see before present time!

Since I don't do envelopes, I wanted the card to coordinate with the gift (the coasters and the basket/tray, everything else is glass and stainless steel) I just LOVE these bridal confetti flowers from M's...NO they don't have brown...I made these with my Brilliance Chocolate pad...look at this close up - don't they look yummy?!?!?!? The middles are finished up with a clear swarovski crystal...Classy.

Again - the flourish is from Inkadinkado, and I used 'the seal' once more.

I'll be married 9 years next month, and my wedding seemed so long ago - thinking about wedding stuff made me think of my own, and if I had to do it all over again, I think I'd have fresh flowers, instead of silk, and I'd make sure I took more pictures with my grandmothers...I hardly got any - part my fault - part the dopey photographer's, but that's another post.

How long have you been married, and what, if anything would you change about your wedding???

Thanks for stopping by!!

Thanks Ghoulfriend!

Hey all -

Have you ever seen something in a store, and you think "WHY on Earth would I want that, or what would I do with that???" Yep - I have...in fact, I did it not too long ago, when I saw the new Martha Stewart Halloween craft stuff. So I kept right on walking...little did I know that I would come to *need* one of those things...BADLY.

So, fast forward a few weeks, and I've got this idea for my nieces and nephews for Halloween...and I thought... "ACK! I should have gotten that punch!!!!" So, I head back to M's to find out that they were ALL gone...yep, not the pumpkin one, or the fence one, but the very dripping goo border punch that I now NEEDED was SOLD OUT.

*sigh*

But then...I had an epiphany...I'd put my PSFs on the job...what's a PSF?? Why, it's a Pretend Stamping Friend! The name given to us by Lauren's daughter Alexa :)

So, I got my girls on the job, and literally, the NEXT day - Sandy located one for me, and is sending it my way...I'm so excited...THANKS SANDY!!

Sooooooo...this post isn't without purpose. I did make Sandy a card to thank her...since she got me a Halloween punch, I made her a "Halloweenish" (my word) thank you card...

The 'Thanks a Million' part of the sentiment is from MFTs "Essential Sentiments" and the 'Ghoulfriend' is from "Totally Witchin". (I used my marker to ink up the 'Ghoulfriend' I like how it came out a little blurry, kind of 'ghoulish', right?)

The flower is the newest colors of bridal confetti from M's (the leaves on the stem are a green one cut apart) The stem of the flower is actually the hoe handle from the "Can you Dig It?" set. Instead of a butterfly or a bee, I decided to add a bat flying around...he's actually ribbon I got from M's as well...they had bats and pumpkins...kind of fun...

Well - thanks again Sandy - I truly appreciate it!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Ready for Halloween??

ETA: I apologize for not providing the info on where I got the tubes...I usually purchase my tins and such from Specialty Bottle, and I googled their website, and saw this other company SKS Bottle and Packaging. I found the tubes there...they come in a bag of 48, but I've got plans...heh heh heh... Here's the link, direct to the tubes these are the 40 ml size.

Well - those of you who already know me, know that I swore off buying any new Halloween stamp sets this year. I always set out with good intentions of making cards for all of my nieces and nephews, or big plans for projects, and then wind up running out of time, and I have all of these Halloween stamps with nothing to show for it...well, not totally true I guess, I *did* make 40 treat bags for my daughter's pre-school class last year.

Anyway - I caved. Totally...not only did I buy MFT's 'Totally Witchin', but then I *had* to get PTI's Spooky Sweets 2. The images and sentiments are just too perfect.

So...with that said, I decided to put my new Halloween stamps to use...I've already posted a card done with 'Totally Witchin' here. And now I'm about to share with you my project with the PTI set...

Are you ready??

Here it is...

So, what do you think??? I loved the idea of an ice cream sundae kit, but wanted to make it more halloweenish...I had these tubes with the twist on tops, so I thought they looked like test tubes...


I made a 'rack' by making a little cardstock insert with holes in it to hold the tubes in place. I was hoping they'd fit inside the PTI clear card box, but the box was just a wee bit too small, so I cut the top of the box off, and left it open.

Then I just covered over the label on the bottle of Magic Shell, and it's all set...

I had a lot of fun making this, and put everything else that I should have been stamping aside *hangs head in shame* but I think sometimes you need to stamp for fun, before you can do your 'have to' projects, you know?

So, since this is about an ice cream sundae kit...tell me, what's YOUR favorite flavor of ice cream?? In a sundae, I'm plain Jane, I like Vanilla with Hot Fudge and caramel sauce...but just plain ice cream, I love Mint Chocolate Chip...

Thanks for stopping by!