More Halloween

I'm back with more October holiday cards. If I were only allowed to keep 10 Stampin Up sets (out of the kabillions that I've bought), Best Fiends would make the cut. That's how much I love it. Frank and the witch from this same set are my number one "go-to" Halloween stamps.

And in keeping with the green skull theme I've got going, here is another Halloween card. These little guys are from DRS (except the sentiment which also comes from Best Fiends). The stamps are Ghost Family Portrait and Ghost in Socks. I popped the front ghost with pop dots. How stinking cute are those socks?

Back tomorrow with the last of the Halloweenies

It's November

Can you believe it's here already? And you know what that means ... fruitcake, mistletoe and Christmas are lurking around the corner. And even though snow is predicted this week, I can't really get into the fa-la-la spirit. So, for now, I'm going to share some more Halloween cards.

I bought a ton of new Halloween stamps this year (yikes, don't tell Ken) and this little mummy leapt into my cart as soon as I saw him. I hummed "Walk Like an Egyptian" all the way to the cash register.

This second card's stamps are from Stampin Up. I have a tendency to use the little skeleton and dog from the same set quite a bit but had never inked the bird up. It was the perfect image for a bird loving friend. I like the way it turned out (sorry for the blurry image). I'll be back later with .... yup, more Halloween.

Another 50th Milestone

Guess who ELSE is having a 50th birthday this year? My friend, Janet Jenkins from Janet's Gems. She was my Secret Sister from a swap a few weeks back and I wanted to be sure to wish her a wonderful day!

I used the sketch from the High Hopes blogaversary. First of all, Janet and I are both big High Hopes fans (and I truly do love this little pig) but also the winner could have won 10 new High Hopes stamps. Yowza.

I say "could have" because life got in the way and my card did not get made in time for the contest. BUT, it will make it to your house in time for your birthday Janet (which is kinda a major deal for me ... just ask poor Jessica and Deb who were able to celebrate THEIR birthdays all month long thanks to me!)


I also wanted to show you Fall in Colorado. This first picture is the family and this could be classified as "fall" because we were on the edge of a cliff looking down at the changing leaves. Do you notice the death grip I have on my eldest?

And here is the gorgeous view we could see. The only bad thing about Colorado is that we rarely get any red in our Fall colors ... just vast fields of yellow. It's pretty tho.

Hope your day is fantastic Janet!

Happy Birthday DEB!!!

When I first "met" Deb three years ago we were part of a Splitcoaststampers swap of House Mouse ATC. I was just starting to swap and consulted her about how to improve my stamping. You can imagine that I was delighted to learn that Deb lived a mere 40 minutes from my house ... we could really MEET! Since that time, things have changed. My kids are no longer toddlers (thank god!), I rarely reach for my beloved mice when I stamp and I have FAAAARRR more confidence about the cards I make. But one constant has remained ... Deb. She is my Archiver chick and grunge guru.

As a tribute to you on your birthday Deb ... I decided to once again ink the mice. Instead of House Mouse, I went with the new Henry stamp from Whiff of Joy. I knew that I had to have this guy as soon as I saw his Hawaiian shirt and Margarita glass.

So without further ado, let's get this 50th birthday blog rolling! I send you out to Paris and Heather

Happy Birthday my friend!

Supplies: Whiff of Joy and unknown sentiment stamp, copics, brads, nestibilities, ribbon, crystal effects.

Happy Birthday Steve

What a weekend we had! On Saturday we spent the entire day at UCCS, the local university doing "Cool Science" with the kids. The kids rotated through stations doing all sorts of ... well, cool science stuff. They made flarp (gooey, sticky things) fake snow (fluffy things), and fake worms (er, more gooey, sticky things). They played with electricity, motors and bubbles. They had an absolute blast. In fact, I don't know who had more fun ... the kids or the husband.

On Sunday we went to see the changing Aspens. We had a great time going to the small towns just North of us, hiking and shopping.

By the time Sunday night came, we were all a little tired. My oldest climbed into his dad's lap to watch TV and then slowly ... slid into the position you see ... dead asleep! It was NOT a relaxing weekend, but it was fun!

But in all the craziness, I wanted to post the card I made for my brother-in-law's birthday on Saturday. Hope your day was fabulous Steve!

Supplies: Stamps: Reflections, Dog Unknown phrase
Memento ink, Copics, Nestibilities, brads.

Oh, Look ... another birthday card

You are probably going to get sick of birthday cards from me this month! Sorry.

This time I used a ribbon slide stamp from DRS Designs. The sentiment and butterfly are both from DRS and work well together. I love brown and pink, and the card will be perfect for my pink loving niece!

I tried to Cor-dinations paper but ended up scratching the base when I tried to sand the dots. In the end I put it away and just did the old fashioned way with white ink. Apparently I need to work on my sanding technique!

Stamps: All stamps from DRS designs
Accessories: Ribbon, Crystal Effects, Swiss Dots CB folder, copics, all ink: Memento

U Cured?

I'm supposed to be calling Appliance repair stores even as we speak. This is the task that was "assigned" by my husband as he left this morning. Our microwave died yesterday (and when I say died, I mean there's no saving it ... black smoke, and a funky burnt plastic smell). But my husband is a frugal man. He is determined to save it despite the fact that the part (the magnetron) is $200 and a new microwave is on sale for $169. He will come to terms with it's loss by tonight and I'm pretty sure that we'll be packing up the kids to buy one tonight (a microwave ... not a kid).

In the meantime, I'm making get well soon cards. I have two friends who are sick and one who broke a collar bone so I need a few cards to send out. This is Leonard Pig from DRS Designs. I think he's pretty cute.

So to my sick friends (and their sick kids) I say "Feel Better" and to my ailing microwave I say "Rest in Pieces" and out with the old and in with the new! I'm off to go boil water on the stove for my tea.

All stamps DRS Designs: Are You Cured Sentiment, Leonard Pig Sick Day Blues, Lines O' Plenty
Accessories: ribbon, Nestibilities tag and circles, copics

Happy Bir ... I mean Halloween

Nine people I know and love have birthdays in September. In fact it IS my busiest birthday card-making month of the year.

And I have tons of DRS stamps and cards to show you too.

So I know that you are surprised what I decided to post is ... a Halloween card. OK, maybe a poor choice on my part but I just couldn't keep away from the Halloween stuff when I went down to craft, yesterday. In fact I'm really excited that it's September 1st, and I can officially start decorating for Fall! Yay.

I love skeletons and this little SU skeleton is one of my favorite's. I went over to a friend's house yesterday to see her new crafting area (which she is calling "Craftopia") and it was like I had died and gone to heaven (I swear I could hear a choir singing while I explored her area!). Stamps, paper and punches galore and she shares my passion for the skulls. The entire time I was there I thought ... I want this one and this one ...

So many stamps .... so little money!

My baby is 5 (yikes)

I'm back from two weeks of company, a birthday party with 12 four, five and six year olds and a vacation with the fandambily. I'm actually looking forward to spending some quality time with myself ... crafting.

I thought that I'd share the invitations that I made for my youngest's birthday party. As you can see, he is HUGE into super heroes (if he had his way, he would sleep in his Spiderman mask every night). So we went with a hero theme. It's a gate fold card and the inside of the card says, "Holy Cake and Ice Cream Batman, it's time for a party"

Since I am a TERRIBLE baker, I asked my buddy Mary Williams to make the cake. The masterpiece she brought to the party was ... well, amazing, see for yourselves.

There are three layers. My favorite part of the cake was the rice crispy treat Spiderman hand with the chocolate webbing. I love how she put TJ's name and how old he is inside the chocolate. Amazing, isn't she?!!

"Where you been?"

OK, it's been awhile since I've posted ... almost 6 weeks in fact. It is just so darn hard to find time to craft in the summer. The boys and I have been having a great time swimming, skating, playing and reading. Today was pajama day. We had waffles and spent the entire day in 'jammies (well, I had to change out of them at 4 to mow the lawn ... couldn't see mowing in fluffy slippers!)

I'm excited to start showing you some of the cards I'm creating for DRS Designs. I've admired DRS stamps for some time now and was really excited when I got the call to design.

Supplies:
Stamps:
A1003 Cat Paw
A1006 Dog Paw
H074 Four Legged Friends
Accessories: ribbon, bling, MS Gothic Arch punch, Nestibilities Heart dies

Best Friends

It's been a long week. In addition to being the end of the school year, it's also been 5 days of stomach flu for the boys. Yay ... Happy Mother's Day to ME!

Sooo, between the million loads of laundry, there was very little stamping time for me. I made this card for Janet J's High Hope card kit swap about two weeks ago, and I'm sharing him with you now. I hope to be back in the stamping saddle soon.


Card Supplies:
Stamps: High Hopes: Sir Dustin, Phrase: Hambo
Accessories: ribbon, CB folder, CB fancy corner die, button, copics, sewing machine

Extra ... Extra ... Joanna buys a digi image!

A few days ago my DH asked me to make a card for his best friend, who got married on Saturday. The only catch was there was a theme ... Alice in Wonderland (what can I say, they are artsy people!). Unfortunately, I had zippo in the Alice stamp department.

I happened to be on the phone with my friend, Michelle and she sent me 12 links to digi-stamp companies with ... you got it, Alice themed stamps. Is she a computer wiz or what?!! I really liked a vintage themed one I found but the seller's link stated that she would send the image in 36-48 hours after receiving payment ... time I did not have.

So I settled on this one. It's Briarly from Louby Loo. It's probably cuter than Ken wanted but ... more time would have been good! I thought that the images were perfect anyway since this card is definitely going to be "late for a very important date."

I CASEd the layout from Jacque's friday post. I thought her ribbon treatment was really cool!

Supplies:
Louby Loo: Briarly, Rabbit, and clock
Accessories: MS punch, ribbon, card brads, copics, pop dots, sewing machine.

I Need a Calendar in the Worst Way

I made this card for two reasons...

The first was because my mom's dearest friend recently had a stroke and is in the hospital. I'm trying to send him one get well soon card each week.

The second reason is that Whipper Snapper Stamps was (note the use of the past tense here) having a contest with a Spring theme. I thought that this little Whipper Snapper cleaner would be perfect because when I think of Spring, I think of cleaning. Well, as I got ready to package up this little baby to send ... I noticed that the closing date on the contest was, well, yesterday. Whoops.

Then, I took another look at my card and realized that it MAY not be terribly appropriate for Eldon. It has the word "sucks" on it. He's 86 and it may offend him (heavens knows that my own MOTHER would be horrified by it).

Soooo, I guess that I'll enter it into the KL SNS inside/out challenge.

I hate when I'm disorganized ... I suppose that I better get a calendar! Do you think that I'll find one now that it's May?!!




Supplies:
Stamps: WhipperSnapper Designs
Accessories: MS loop punch, SU Corner punch and circle punch, copics, brad, crystal clear, sewing machine

I have four kids over.... well, my two and then two additional boys and it just started snowing.

I finally had to break down and turn on the TV. Three out of the five of us were crying, there is still 45 minutes left of this play-date and I can't find my "good" camera. It's been a rather long day.

But on to the cards. I have two to show you. First, I decided to answer Lori Boyd and the rest of the gang at The Pink Elephant's challenge to use Aqua. I made this card. It's lovely but ... not very aqua-ish. It's more yellow, green and a smidgon of light blue (again, my apologies for the icky picture) . This is another card kit so I can't really say whose image it is (though if I had to guess, I'd say Stampavie, maybe Sarah Kay?)

Back to the drawing board ...

Now THIS is aqua. This is Maude from Art Impressions. Isn't she a riot?!!

Have a great day!

Supplies:
Card One~ unknown card kit contents
Card Two~Maude, Art Impressions; Fashion tip: Eat Cake Graphics, ribbon, brads, crystal effects, copics

Card Kits

I think that I have almost 150 card kits downstairs in my studio.

Seriously.

The problem is that I like swapping them but then never think to use them. Or if I DO remember them, I don't want to use the stuff that's inside the ziplock!! So I decided to whip one out and force myself to use it. This kit was actually a nice one. I was able to make two and a half cards out of it. This is the card made from the leftovers. The ribbon and solid papers were from my stash ... everything else is kit materials. I tried out my airbrush system to make the background. It turned out OK, but I think I need more practice. I still feel like I'm wasting a TON of compressed air when I first start out!

I'm not sure whose image this is ... I THINK it's a digi image. The question I have for you is this ... what IS this animal? A dog, bear?


supplies:
Stamps: SU: Fancy Flexible Phrases, unknown digi image
Accessories: brad, ribbon: SU, punches: SU, copics, crystal effects

KL SNS Challenge 27: Earth Day Colors

Happy Earth Day Week!

Did you all do something to celebrate our Mother Earth? We put in a new planter in our front yard and planted some flowers.

But in case that you DIDN'T do anything to beautify the planet, here is another opportunity to do so. Grab your earth tones (browns, greens and white) and make a card. I love brown and green together. In fact, if I could have MY way ... my bedroom would be painted in those colors. Sadly, my DH likes white walls. Our joke is that he has to paint the bedroom in my colors before I die and every time I get a cold, I tell him to head to Home Depot for paint. Silly aren't we?!!

I used Quentin from High Hopes. This is my last card as a design team member for KL SNS, it's kind of bittersweet to be done. I'll miss everyone greatly, so hippity hop over to Kelly's and buy something!

You have until Friday April 30th at 12 midnight EST to link your entry. The top 3 cards submitted get this amazing Top 3 blinky for their blog sidebar AND one lucky person will win a fabulous prize package!

Supplies
Stamps: High Hopes: Quentin, SU: unknown set
Accessories: Ribbon, brads, SU punches

KL SNS Challenge 26: Bling it ON!

When I first read Risa's challenge for KL SNS, my response was ... "Yeah Baby!" I love pink, sparkles and all things girly but as the only girl in my house (except for a lone cat), I don't get a lot of that. I went ALL OUT! I've got sparkly paper, rhinestones, and even used a sparkle gel pen to add that EXTRA bling!

This is a Sweet November stamp from the CC Designs line. I think that she's cute and just perfect for a blingee, girly card. I paper pieced her dress and used my copics to color the rest.

Last week I got a Copic Airbrush System and I was determined to use it for this challenge. I bought these white flowers thinking that I could airbrush them the right color and then found that I really liked the white ones on the card better! It was amusing to watch me airbrush the flowers tho! I kinda forgot to hang on to the flowers and so when I pointed the COMPRESSED AIR in the system at it ... they flew across the room like leaves in the wind. Duh Joanna!

So now you've seen what I've made ... I want to see what YOU can do. Grab anything that sparkles and make something amazing. You have until Friday April 23rd at 12 midnight EST to link your entry.

The top 3 cards submitted get this amazing Top 3 blinky for their blog sidebar.

Supplies
Stamps: CC Designs, Sweet November-April Rabbit; SU Fancy Flexible Phrases
Accessories: Ribbon, rhinestones, copics, sewing machine, prima flowers, CB "vintage" die

Happy Birthday Jodi

Happy, happy day to my Design Team Sister, Jodi! We at KL SNS are gathering to throw a blog hop and party to celebrate her birthday. If you've come here from Jacilynn's blog ... you are right on track. Otherwise, back up and head over there first.

First, my card. You can tell that I admire Jodi's work since I broke out the Bo-Bunny paper. I love this stuff but tend to hoard it!! The pig stamp is from Hambo. I love this stamp company because all their stamps are REALLY funny. The sentiment matches perfectly but it's actually from Eat Cake Graphics.

And what's a party without cake (as my piggy friends can certainly attest) so I whipped up a cake to celebrate Jodi's day. OK, those of you who know me can stop laughing. This is my friend Mary William's cake. She has turned her immense talents to cake making and trust me, they are pretty AND tasty!

So Jodi, I hope your day is wonderful. Head on over to Kathy's blog to continue your celebration!

Happy Birthday Kelly!!!!

It's Kelly's birthday today! Can you give me a "woot, woot?!!" We all decided to make birthday cards to celebrate her day.

I made a Joy-Fold card. I first admired this kind of folding on Jacque's blog: Joie de Vivre. She does AMAZING cards. I really do recommend that you take a minute to check out her blog. The astounding thing about Jacque is that she has only been making cards for less than 2 years. Wow!

This stamp is Sweet Kiki which is currently out of stock but Kelly DOES have some new CC Designs. I am drooling over Puppy Kiki. It's really cute.

So stop by Kelly's blog, admire her projects and give her some love. I certainly hope that her birthday is happy, restful and all that she wants it to be. Love ya girl.

KL SNS Challenge #25 Organic!

Happy Saturday and welcome to another KL SNS challenge. Kathy is our hostess and she'd like us to think about the coming Earth Day holiday and use something organic on our cards.

When I first read the challenge I was stumped ... what's organic that would work on a card? I thought about leaves or flowers but I was worried that they would wilt and start to look bad. I settled on seeds and went to see the only person I know who can grow things in this house ... my husband.

Me: Hey, I need some seeds to make a card
Ken: OK (can you tell he's used to odd things coming out of my mouth?!!) What kind?
Me: Black or blue, preferably round.
Ken: Joanna, I meant what kind of vegetable or flower seed do you want to grow?
Me: I don't care what it grows ... I just want something pretty.

I won't go on from there but let's just say he walked away, shaking his head at me! I ended up using corn seeds and then coloring them black with a sharpie marker. When I saw my fingertips ... I was REALLY wishing that my Copic Airbrush system had arrived. Wouldn't you know it, the day AFTER I finished this card ... it arrived. I am VERY excited to play with that little baby!

Apparently I'm in a Swiss Dot kinda mood since this is the THIRD card that I've used the folder with in the last week. Oh well.

So groove on over to KL SNS, and check out the new Stampavie and CC Designs, then whip up something organic and amazing. Feel free to combine any other challenges with your entry, and use any stamps that you own . Just don't forget to use something, ANYTHING organic.

You have until Friday, April 16th.
at 12 midnight EST to link your entry.

The top 3 cards submitted get the coveted Top 3 blinky for their blog sidebar.

Supplies:
Stamps: Henri Playing with Turtles, Stampavie; For You, Stampin' Up
Accessories: Swiss Dot CB folder, Oval Nestibilities, Corn seeds and Copic Markers

KL SNS Challenge #24

3-2-1 ... Blast-Off!

I sort of feel like an astronaut today. My boys have their legos out and are building rockets and crashing them into each other. I suppose that they got the idea from me when I was in the creative mood and I kept muttering, "3-2-1? hmmmm..." Each time the legos crash, they look at me to see if I'm going to bust them for throwing toys and then giggle. Technically, they aren't throwing ...

But back to stamping ... Kelly is our hostess at KL SNS and her challenge to us is to use a 3-2-1 recipe to create a fabulous card. That means; 1 image/sentiment, 2 DP for added pizazz, and 3 embellishments. It's actually harder than you would think. Frankly I thought this card was whimpering for a "Here comes Peter Cottontail" or at the very least a "Hippity Hoppity, Easter's on it's Way" but I restrained myself.

This is image is from C.C. Designs, Sweet November line. How stinkin' cute is it?!! All the stamps in this new line are REALLY cute (seriously, go see for yourself!)

So ... do YOU want to be an astronaut and join us in our countdown? Grab your stamps and head on over to KL SNS!!

Feel free to combine any other challenges with your entry. As always you can use any stamps that you like but remember the recipe ... 3-2-1!!

You have until Friday, April 9nd.
at 12 midnight EST to link your entry.

Remember the top 3 cards submitted get the coveted Top 3 blinky for their blog sidebar.

KL SNS Challenge 23 - Boxes

OK, I have to completely honest here ... I don't normally make boxes, bags or any other things; so when I first heard about KL SNS and Kristine's challenge, my first thought was "ugh." But being part of a design team means challenging yourself and growing so I dutifully went to SCS' resource page to find something to do. I found this card purse and immediately fell in love with how cute it was.

Guess what ... this box was really fun to make and came together easily. I've decided to use it for an end of the year gift for my son's teacher (assuming I can wrest it away from him ... he likes it too). The box is the perfect size to put a bag of unpopped popcorn, a card and a gift certificate for Best Buy.

This is Chuck and the Space Sign from High Hopes. How cute are the new stamps from Dustin Pike's line? On the back I used the space ship from the same stamp group.

Now ink up those stamps and join us in this week's challenge!!

While you may use any stamps to participate in the challenges, if you have any of the stamps from KL Stampin N' Scrappin , we'd love to see them! Feel free to combine challenge with your entry.

You have until Friday, April 2nd. at 12 midnight EST to link your entry.

Check out the challenge details on the design team blog for KL Stampin N Scrappin by clicking here!! Come on and join the fun for a chance to win a surprise Easter package this week worth $15-20!!

Reminders: Only a few more days left to use the March code, and if you haven't already -- sign up for the mailing list to get special offers at Kelly's store that aren't always announced here on the blog. :)

KL SNS Challenge 22

Hey-a, Hi-a, Ho-there

It's Saturday so you know what that means ... another Challenge over at KL SNS. This week our challenge was to create a card with sewing and flowers to celebrate National Quilting Day. I wanted to use my new stamp from DRS Designs. This is a new line that Kelly is now stocking at her store. There are 7 designs, with many of them just in time for Easter.

Since I didn't have a subtle shade of DP, I made my own with with shaving cream. My kids were in HEAVEN! I love all the perks of this technique ... your studio smells awesome and actually ends up clean afterward. I don't know if you can see in the picture but I used purple, blue and silver. Sorry about the darkness of the pictures but it is snowing like crazy here and we're kinda lacking in the natural sunlight I normally use.

"But Joanna," you say, " isn't the challenge to use sewing AND FLOWERS?" Yep. And that's why I made card number TWO! I don't know about you but once I step away from a card ... I hate adding to it. I'd rather just start over fresh.


I used the DRS Designs stamp again and challenged myself to make it look different. I think the two card DO look different, what about you? In hindsight I realize that I probably should have made the cross drape white (since HE has already risen on Easter) but I forgot.

So head on over to Kelly's and play. Remember the top three cards win the cool blinky for their blog.

Your deadline is Friday, March 26th at 12 midnight EST.

Stampin N Scrappin with ME!!

Hey all! Here's the Pot O' Gold that we gave Caleb's teacher this morning. After decorating the can, we filled it with pens, post-it notes and gift certificates from Starbucks and Target ... everything you need to bring a smile to a tired teacher's face.

If you want more details, head on over to KL SNS and check out the pictures.

Have a GREAT
St. Patrick's Day

supplies:
High Hopes-St. Patrick's Day Hat
C.C. Designs Sugarplums Party

Mojo Monday on Tuesday AGAIN!

Here's the card that I made for Mojo Monday and the sketch we were to use:


DH's comments were "It's too dark and you didn't do much stamping." Whatever dude.

He has a point but really, there wasn't much ROOM for stamping.

Special thanks to Michelle for her computer expertise otherwise this and many other pictures would have remained locked on my little camera storage hootie forever.

I'm off to enjoy some Spring weather. It's 56 and sunny!

KL SNS Challenge 21

Happy Saturday!

I have to admit that I am thrilled that it's Saturday. I've been living on 5 and 1/2 hours of sleep for three days now and I plan to spend today sleeping, dozing and maybe I'll nap later.

But enough about my lack of sleep ... on to the challenge. This week's hostess is Jacilynn and she gave us a sketch to follow.

You have probably noticed that I left the ribbon off my card. I tried it with ribbon and I just didn't have the correct shade of purple to match my pretty paper. Is there any wonder WHY my ribbon drawer won't close? It's not that I want to buy more ribbon, I need it. :-) Can you tell that ribbon is an obsession of mine?

This image is Bunny Love from High Hopes and it's one of my favorites. I love how versatile it is.

So, in keeping with the whole "bunny" theme. Hop on over to KL SNS and play. Remember the top 3 cards submitted get the Top 3 blinky.

Your deadline to participate is Friday, March 19th at 12 midnight EST.

Challenge 20: Buttons

Happy March Y'all!

March ... can you believe it? This week our challenge is to use Buttons! I am looking forward to Spring and wanted to use the brightest colors I could find.

This is Party Hippo from High Hopes. Isn't she the cutest. She is available at the newly redesigned KL SNS.

Don't forget that your deadline is Friday, March 12th at 12 midnight EST.

The prize? There will be blinky awards for the Top 3 best cards,

Supplies:
All paper: Archivers
Stamps: High Hopes: Party Hippo, phrase: SU
Accesories: Buttons!! Nestibilities, Cuttlebug folder

Mercy's Challenge 63

It's Friday and I am only now posting my card for Mercy's Tuesday morning challenge ... does this tell you how my week has been? Here's the sketch that Mercy posted for Challenge 63:

I needed a baby card. Jacilynn, one of my fellow Design Team members from KL SNS, just had a brand new baby girl. It seemed like a perfect layout for a sweet baby card.

And speaking of babies ... my niece is having contractions. I could be a great aunt by the end of the day (yippee).

Have a great Friday!