Shoe Lovers Delight

This week's Card Positioning sketch intrigued me so I thought I would give it a try.

For some reason, this bright pink Echo Park Dots and Strips DP spoke to me, so I paired it with some equally bright green DP - time to bring out the shades LOL!  The bright colours lead to think of a funky card, so I pulled out this $1.50 shoe stamp I got at Mike's a few years back and blinged it up.

Since I have a few friends with shoe fetishes, I had to add a sparkly heart over the shoe.  Needless to say, one of them will be receiving this card somewhere along the say :)


Yesterday was the last day of school for my kids so summer is officially here.  I told them if I hear the "I'm bored" statement before the first three weeks of summer there will be severer consequences - like helping clean out the basement and the like LOL!  Thankfully our first two weeks are busy with camping and VBS.

With summer also comes more sporadic posting.  Some weeks may be great, some weeks may only be my Inkspirations Challenge post on Fridays.  I'm aiming to do three posts a week when we are in town.  Hopefully, I can be fairly consistent with that goal, but summer is a strange beast and I have a long list of things to do with the kids as well as a list of things that need to get done around the house, so I just thought I'd give you a heads up.

With that being said, come back tomorrow for my sample of this week's Inkspirations challenge :)  Bye for now.



What's In It?
Stamps: Michael's $1.50 Stamp, (Verve) Text Notes

Paper:  Echo Park Dots and Stripes DP, Green, Black, Sparkly Silver Paper
Ink: Green Galore, Black
Accessories: Scalloped Circle and Circle Nesties, Marvy Heart Punch, Bling, Dimensionals

Flowers For A Friend

This is the last Verve sketch for the month of June and for some reason it gave me grief and I'm not totally happy with the outcome.  I'm blaming it on my head cold - at least that is my story and I'm sticking with it.

I found some yummy Kaiser Kraft DP on clearance at an LSS (three sheets for a dollar - score!) and used it as my starting point for this card.  Unfortunately, miost of it is covered up on the card.  Regardless,  I just love it, and if there is still some left next time I pop into that LSS, I'll get a few more sheets.

Everything started out well enough as I followed this great tutorial to make the flower.  Then things came to a grinding halt.  I was tired when I started this card and it showed as the gears (aka: severe lack of creative genes at work!) were grinding pretty hard and there was a lot of  billowing smoke before I got this card done LOL!  Note to self:  don't stamp at night when one is tired!

Thanks for popping in today.  Can't believe tomorrow is the last day of school!  My daughter is off the Cultas Lake Water Slides with her class today and my son is off to the local outdoor swimming pool with his.  Kids are beyond wound up with summer coming and are very much enjoying what they are calling their three day, year end school party ;o)

Off to go create while I still can schedule it in.  Have a great day and thanks for spending part of yours with me :)




What's In It?
Stamps: (Verve) Text Notes, (SU) French Script
Paper: Kaiser Kraft DP,  Real Red, Orange, Rose Romance
Ink:  Black, Creamy Caramel
Accessories:  (SU) Flower Punches and Sizzex Leaf Die, (Verve) Charming Oval and Charming Banner Dies, (PTI) Medium Scalloped Die, Labels 16 Nesties, 1" Sheer Black Ribbon, Buttons, Glue Dots, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Happy Owl

Since I love making round cards I just had to play along with this Cards and Things sketch.    I liked the colours from an older Stamping 411 colour challenge so decided to use them with this card.

Decided to go with an owl where the star is on the sketch, added a branch for him to perch on, embossed his tummy panel with SU's lattice folder, and added an embossed wood grain background to tie things together.  Love this little guy :)

Short and sweet today as I want to get as much stamping in as I can before the kids get out of school on Wednesday LOL! 





What's In It?
Paper:  Real red, Peach Parfait, Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Black
Accessories:  Lacy Circle and Circle Nesties, SU Owl and Bird Punches, SU Lattice Embossing Folder, Tim Holtz Woodgrain Embossing Folder, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

A Happy Mommy Moment

Well, I survived my daughter's Grade 7 graduation ceremony and even walked out with a bit (a bit being the operative word here) of eye liner still on LOL!

The two Grade 7 classes this year are an amazing group of students.  Lots of great athletes, musicians, intellectuals and service oriented individuals, as well as a very caring and motivated group of students.  I'm obviously biased in my comments, but when both teachers and the Principal mentioned the same thing numerous times you know they have made an impression.  In fact, due to the caliber of the graduating students this year, they had multiple recipients for various awards - a great problem to have :)

Needless to say,  I was crying happy tears when my daughter received one of the Citizenship awards.  She naturally loves to help others, was on the school Leadership Team which helped organize community outreach events including:  a book drive, warm clothing drive, Christmas hampers, and a breakfast cereal drive for our sister school which is in a low income area.  They even organized a drive for our local Food Bank.  In addition, she did peer tutoring, was a lunch monitor, helped serve Hot Lunch every week, and volunteered to do many things over the course of the school year.  The icing on the cake was the fact her Grade 4 teacher, who was one of her favorite teachers, presented her with the award (and mommy shed more tears LOL!).

Here are a few pictures of my "baby".

And now the "Bond Girl / Charlie's Angel" LOL!

Love her to bits!!!  Thanks for bearing with me and my proud mommy moment :)

June Papertrey Blog Hop Challenge

Welcome to PTI's July Blog Hop.  This month's hop challenge was to use this inspiration picture.  I loved the ribbons of colour and the baby theme so that is what I went with.

I used a Clean and Simple layout as it had three horizontal bands of colour in the sketch.  This fun polka dotted Echo Park paper was a perfect match as I was able to pull in the colours of the dresses on the hooks and the green giraffe from the colour at the top of the wall.  Needless to say, there are a lot of dots on this card!

The giraffe needed a little something so I added a twine bow to his neck and finished things off by using Dawn's wonderful Signature Greetings baby sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by today.





What's In It?
Stamps:  (SU) Wild About You, PTI Signature Sayings
Paper: Echo Park DP, Kraft
Ink: Green Galore
Accessories: Twine, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #75

First of all, a huge thank you to all of you for you wonderful words of encouragement and congratulations yesterday (((hugs))).  Still a bit star struck about it all :) 

Today will be a day of happy tears....my daughter's Grade 7 grad occurs this morning.  She looks amazing in her grad dress (I'll post some pictures this weekend) and it feels like yesterday that she started Kindergarten at her school.  She is a strong candidate for the citizenship award and it would do wonders for her confidence and affirm her giving and helpful nature  if she got it (and I would be one proud, crying mama LOL!).

It's hard to believe it will be on to high school next year....she isn't big on going to high school as she is shy and introverted, but I'm sure she will do just fine once she is there for a week or two and gets the lay of the land.  My baby is growing up.....

Sorry, I regressed.... Loved the sketch Keesh came up with this week.  So many wonderful possibilities.  I kept things rather simple as I wanted to focus on this fabulous Verve sentiment.  It is such a flexible sentiment. It was the perfect fit for a graduation card to accompany the little necklace and earring set we got her.  Better run as I'm getting sentimental just typing this and my make up is taking a beating before I even get out the door LOL!

The rest of the Design Team has some fabulous cards for your inspiration.

Cindy Kirsty Makeesha Renée Brandi Carrie Helen Ilina Lee-Anne Marisa

Each week Keesh will select a winner and an honorable mention and post their cards on the Inkspirations Challenge blog.  We'd love to see your card posted as a winner.

Thanks for stopping bye today.  I"m off to the school with my box of Kleenex LOL!





What's In It?
Stamps:  (Verve) Kind Words
Paper: Costco DP, Going Grey, Basic Grey, Black
Ink: Black
Accessories: Scalloped Circle and Circle Nesties, Crimper, 5/8" Sheer Black Ribbon, Recollection Roses, Martha Stewart Leaf Punch, Bling, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

A Dream Come True

First and foremost, I have something to share with you that I'm still pinching myself about!!  Yours truly gets to be a Guest Verve Diva in August because I won this month's Verve Diva Dare with this card.!!

I'm still in total shock, though the shock is wearing off a bit and I'm starting to tell myself "beware of what you wish for" LOL!  So many crazy talented Divas on the Verve team and then there is little old me!  Oh my....I'm excited, up for the challenge and a little intimidated all rolled into one.

Okay, think I can breath a bit now LOL!  Though I liked this week's Verve sketch, multiple paneled sketches always make me go "hmmmm".  Some wonderful My Little Shoe Box DP that I picked up at an LSS this week got me going on this one.  Love the colour combo and of course, the flowers ;)   That being said, where there are flowers there are butterflies (at least in my world lol) so I gleefully pulled out my new Verve Flutterby butterfly die and went to work.

In an attempt to change things up a bit, I opted for a kraft coloured sentiment panel.  That, along with very little white space on the card, is messing with my brain LOL!   So me and my messed up brain will be going now ;o)

Have a fabulous day!



What's In It?
Stamps:  (Verve) Proverbs 31:28 Plain Jane

Paper: My Little Shoe Box DP, Basic Grey, Cream Linen, Not Quite Navy, Kraft
Ink: Black
Accessories: (Verve) Flutterby Butterfly Die, Labels 8 Nesties, (PTI) Medium Scallop Die, Crimper, 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Button, Twine, Glue Dot, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Singing Sweet Sunday Sketch

This week's Sweet Sunday Sketch was the perfect layout to make a thank you card for my daughter's piano teacher who I absolutely adore.  She is not only an amazing teacher, but she loves her students dearly, pushes them to their potential in a way that suits their personality and exposes them to music festivals and other wonderful piano experiences such as scale competitions for medals and bringing in an adjudicator to listen and give feedback on each student's piano exam pieces prior to their exams so they can fine tune things that much more.  Sorry for the long, run on sentence!  The fruits of her labour are very evident not only in my daughter's piano playing, but in the playing skills of all her students.  Love working at our church's VBS with her in the summer as I think we have more fun than the kids do!! Shhhhh.....!!!

On to the card!  I don't have a musical note die (note to self: get one!) so the last time I was at one of the scrap booking stores I frequent, I punched out a few on their die cut machine so I would have a stash to use on cards for musical friends and music teachers.

As a bonus, I picked up this musical score embossing folder for a steal last year and it was the perfect background.   A touch of pink made the card a bit more feminine and some pearls and bling glammed it up a bit :).

Then came the hiccup.  When I showed the card to my daughter, she promptly told me no such note exists!   Humph...I tried it without the dot and it just didn't work, so I went with artistic license rather than music etiquette LOL!  My apologies to all the musicians out there.  Can't wait to tell Candace the story behind the card ;-)

Off to help out with my son's class' year end party field trip to the bowling alley and then the park for a picnic lunch and some games.  Thankfully the weather is cooperating - yeah!   Have a great day and beware of erroneous notes LOL!




Challenge:  Your Next Stamp Challenge


What's In It?
Paper: Black, Rose Romance
Accessories:  Scalloped Circle and Circle Nesties, Die Cut Music Note, Musical Embossing Folder, Crimper, Half Perals, Bling, Dimensionals

Mojo Leaves

This week's Mojo Monday sketch was an interesting one.  Fun  layout and the oval shape lends itself to all sorts of options.   I combined it with this last week's ColourQ as I loved the colour combo.  In addition, it was a great excuse to pull out my new Leaf nesties :)

I chose a circle instead of an oval and created a separate ring of white to go on top of the bordering blue panel to add some texture and a fun element to the panel.  Some scoring on the white background panel, and a black button and two other black details to get my rule of three in :)A good masculine card to add to my stash. 

I managed to get out of the gutter cleaning this weekend because we got rain and there was no way hubby was going to let me go up an extension ladder when it was slick.  Needless to say, I wholeheartedly agreed LOL! 

Was totally proud of my daughter for winning a gold medal in the piano scale competition last month and was totally overjoyed to hear her say "that was easy" she she came out of her Grade 2 piano exam!  Hopefully her score will match her comment! 

Crazy busy this week as school winds down, but I'm going to squeeze in as much stamping time as I can between driving kids to activities, helping out and buying teacher's gifts LOL!

Thanks for sharing a bit of your day with me and hope yours is a good one :)





What's In It?
Paper: Bordering Blue, Cajun Craze, Going Grey, Baroque Burgundy
Accessories:  Nesties Leaves, Scalloped Circle and Circle Nesties, Distressed Stripes Embossing Folder, SU Embossing Folder, Scor-Pal, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Button, Twine, Glue Dot, half Pearls, Dimensionals

Early Happy Birthday Son

I have been so busy with school activities that I almost forgot about this months SFYTT.  That being said, I decided to use it to make my son's birthday card. His birthday isn't until August, but I figured I would get it done early so I have it on hand.

Another piece of my Costco DP pack was the starting point of this card.  Pulled the colours from there and used my Label 4 Nesties in lieu of the circle.  I crimped the focal panel for some texture -- it's not striped like it looks in the picture!  Have absolutely no idea how that happened?

I just noticed I messed up on the numbers....there is a definite grain texture to the blue paper I used and one number has it one going horizontally and the other number has it going vertically - ugh!  Thankfully, my typical little boy won't notice this in the least - at least I hope not LOL!

Thanks for visiting today!





What's In It?
Paper: Costco DP, Real Red, Brocade Blue
Accessories:  Sizzex Star Die, Labels 4 Nestie, 1/4" Brocade Blue Grosgrain Ribbon,Crimper, PTI Number Dies, Happy Birthday Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Button, Twine, Glue Dots, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Getting My Mojo Diva On

This week's Mojo Monday sketch is brought to us by Mojo diva Debbie.  I combined the sketch with this month's Get Your Diva On summer themed contest and unintentionally qualified for this week's Friday Mash Up as well :)   I opted to go with the colour combination and added the butterflies as they remind me of summer too (okay, I confess....it was the perfect excuse to use butterfly punches...).

Love this Echo Park polka dotted DP.  Got it in four different colours I liked it so much - yup, feeding my polka dot addiction all the way LOL!  I added some kraft leaves for a bit of contrast and some black pearls for some pop.  Couldn't decide on which colour butterfly to use so I used both LOL!  Just layered the light pink over the rose ones and got some great dimension.  Best of all, I saved  three butterflies from going to the black hole of my extra's pile ;)

Busy day ahead as we noticed a shoot growing out of one of our back gutters the other day when we were playing Frisbee in the back yard - not good!!  We are thinking the starlings have built a nest somewhere on the back roof and plugged one of our drain pipes, which in turn provided a lovely growing area for some air born seed to take root in.  Can you tell we don't look at the gutters in the back very often - oh my!  Hopefully the extension ladder will reach up there.  Hubby is scared of heights so yours truly gets to go up the ladder with the hose to see what can be done about the issue - oh joy!!

After surviving the aforementioned gutter cleaning adventure, it is off to do my daughter's piano activities (exam and recital) for the rest of the day.   Needless to say, I'm looking forward to Sunday afternoon already LOL!  Have a great weekend!




What's In It?
Stamps:  Amuse
Paper: Cool Caribbean, Pretty in Pink, Rose Romance, Kraft, Echo Park DP
Ink: Black
Accessories: SU Sizzex Leaf, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punches, Distressed Stripes Embossing Folder, Scor-Pal, SU Border Punch, (Verve) Charming Oval and Charming Banner Dies, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #74

Absolutely LOVE this colour combo and willl definitely have to use it again.  Such wonderfully deep, rich, colours that make a wonderful statement together.

I think this is my last thank you card so you can all do a happy dance now LOL!  So many wonderful people to thank:  teachers, school secretaries, school Principal, team coaches, piano teacher, Sunday School teachers, the school PAC etc.  Love being able to thank each person with a hand made card for the role they each play in touching the lives of my kids.  As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child :)

I'm still madly in love with this PTI flower die and the Polka Dot Basics II set.  Thus, the polka dotted flowers LOL!  Bonus was the ribbon from Michael's dollar bin that was almost a perfect match - happy sigh...!

The rest of the Design Team has some fabulous cards for your inspiration.

Cindy Kirsty Makeesha Renée Brandi Carrie Helen Ilina Lee-Anne Marisa

Each week Keesh will select a winner and an honorable mention and post their cards on the Inkspirations Challenge blog.  We'd love to see your card posted as a winner.

Busy weekend ahead as today is Sports Day at the school.  I'll be watching for a bit, taking a few pictures, talking to other parents and then helping out at the concession stand for a few hours.  Saturday my daughter has her Grade 2 piano exam and then her year end recital later in the afternoon, and Sunday is our farewell party for our Children's Pastor at the church which involves all the kids, some plays, speeches, food etc.  I'm getting tired just typing about it LOL.  Needless to say, Sunday night will definitely be a low key evening!

Thanks for stopping by today and have a fabulous weekend :)




What's In It?
Stamps:  (Verve) Thankful Accents, PTI Polka Dot Basics II
Paper: Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Basic Grey
Ink: Black, VersaMark
Accessories:  Lacy Circle and Circle Nesties, PTI Flower Blooms II Die, SU Border Punch, Nat Embossing Folder, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, 1" Pink Satin Ribbon, Double Sided Tape, Half Pearls, Bling, Dimensionals

Blue Bird On A Branch

Verve Diva Andrea came up with this fabulous sketch for us to use this week.  I know I'll be using this layout again - no skewed panels and a nice big oval that has endless possibilities :)

I wanted to use SU's bird punch as I recently got it and figured it would be a great fit for the oval.  My Costco DP pile continues to diminishing (yeah!) as this piece of DP provided the launching point for this card.

Just love the rounded corners and scallops along the bottom of this sketch, and I think my little bird is a happy camper sitting in his twig against the embossed background.  The sheer ribbon is actually  on the navy side, but Photoshop didn't think so and turned it into a much lighter colour :(  It matches the navy much better in real life - honest!

After playing around with what to do on the brocade blue background panel, I decided to leave it blank as I wanted the focus on the bird and oval.  Now that I look at it, I'm not totally sold on my decision.  Thinking some French Script in VersaMark may have done the trick.  What do you think? 

I'm on a stamping frenzie this week as school will be out on the 29th and summer stamping is always so unpredictable with summer activities, vacations, kids home, a flexible schedule etc. etc.  Hoping to get a few extra cards made so I can use them as back ups for when I don't get time to stamp this summer.  We'll see how far I get LOL!  Okay, my break is over - back to stamping!





What's In It?
Paper: Costco DP, Brocade Blue, Going Grey, Night of Navy
 Accessories:  Lacy Oval and Oval Nesties, PTI Medium Scallop Die, Distressed Stripes Embossing Folder, SU Bird Punch, Corner Rounder, Crimper, 5/8" Sheer Blue Ribbon, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

The Thank Yous Continue

In the continuation of my thank you card quest, here is another one!  It uses another FTL sketch (love these sketches!) and started off a bit  more CAS but something was missing so I kept adding to it.  Think it is the DP only having two colours and the dominant one being white.

Regardless, I was able to use my new PTI flower die so I was a happy stamper :)  Some pearls zipped things up a bit and I scored the mellow moss background layer because the other ones overpowered the DP.

Note to self:  have a stash of Thank You cards ready before the end of school next year LOL!

 

What's In It?
Stamps: (Verve) Thankful Thoughts
Paper: Mellow Moss, So Saffron, Real Red, DP
Ink: Black
Accessories: PTI Blossom Die, SU Border Punch, Martha Stewart Leaf Punch, Button, Twine, Glue Dot, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Falling for Black and White

Loved this FTL sketch and decided to use it for - you guessed it - another thank you card!  Almost done now - phew!

Found this scrap of Costco DP and went from there.  I just love black and white cards and this one came together quickly by adding a touch of greys - bonus!

A bit of ribbon, a butterfly (sorry, still addicted to this punch...), some half pearls and a touch of bling for that little "zip" and I was a happy stamper :)    It also qualifies for this week's Just Add Ink challenge.

Thanks for visiting and have a fabulous day!





What's In It?
Stamps: Wordsworth
Paper: Costco DP, Going Grey, Basic Grey
Ink: Black
Accessories: Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly and Border Punch, 5/8" White Satin Ribbon, Bling, Half Pearls, Dimensionals