This is it. I promise.

Ok, SCS seems to be having some . . .  ahem . . . issues, so I can't include all of the links to this, but I promise to edit it later to do so.  This is another card for the Featured Stamper challenge from Sunday.  I'll link to Michelle's card when I can get back into the SCS galleries.  For now, here's my card.

  

This was one of those cards that looked completely different in my mind, before I made it.  Hey!  No commenting on that.  I know enough about how scary the inside of my mind is without constant reminders from the peanut gallery.  Yes.  That's you.  

I had intended to stamp the dotted background over some patterned paper to try to mimic what Michelle did with her highly coveted Swiss Dots embossing folder.  Yes.  I highly covet it.  But when I pulled out this paper, in an attempt to make a small, yes, insignificant, dent in my ridiculously large supply of retired patterned paper, the pattern was just too busy for that, so I skipped it.  How's that for a long and confusing sentence?  Anyway, it's nearly midnight now and I have a long day as a classroom volunteer tomorrow, so, tah for now. 

The Deets:  Stamps: Fun & Fast Notes, Small Sayings; Paper: Certainly Celery, Apricot Appeal, Rebecca? DSP, Whisper White, Watercolor; Ink: Apricot Appeal, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Jet Black Stazon; Accessories:  Apricot Grosgrain, Ice Circle Rhinestone Brads.

ETA:  Here's Michelle's Card I CASED.

Challenge combo - would you like fries with that?

The two challenges I promised myself I would finish before I could go to bed were K-dub's color challenge and the Great Swaps Girls' sketch challenge.  For the first time ever . . . drum roll, please . . . I combined two challenges!!  ACK! I know!  Crazy times, people.  So, without further adieu, here's my best effort:  

WAIT!  Hold the presses!  Before I show you *my* work, here's what I was trying to accomplish:  Here's K-dub's inspiration:

Gorgeous, huh? 

Now, here's the GSG sketch:

Fun, huh?  Now, just imagine how fun and gorgeous something could be if you combine the two genius inspirational pieces into one . . . again, the drumroll . . . 

Thank you.  Thank you very much.  *in my best Elvis impersonation voice*  Did I mention, I turned the sketch upside down? On purpose?  I know.  I'm a rebel.  I hope that's not against the rules.  While I may be a rebel, a rule breaker I'm not.  

I had a lot of fun with these two challenges.  I hope you like the results as much as I do.  Be sure to drop me a comment and let me know what you think.  Lie to me if you have to.  

Believe it or not, I have another post for today.  Oh, come on!  It's not that shocking, is it?  Before I skip on over to that one and hit the publish button, here are the deets on the challenge combo card.  Or, maybe I'll even make you wait for the other one until tomorrow.  *evil laugh*

The Deets:  Stamps:  All Holidays, Circle of Friendship; Paper:  Au Chocolate DSP, Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla; Ink: Soft Sky, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Pewter jumbo eyelets, 1/2", 1", 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" circle punches, Wide Chocolate Grosgrain Ribbon. 

Soccer Thanks

 
Here are the cards I promised earlier.  I made one for each of my soccer-playing boys.  Mason's team has red jerseys and Dawson's has blue or white, so I made each card to coordinate, of course!  I think they turned out so cute!  I made the blue one first and after I wrote on it, I wasn't happy with it, so I covered up the word "coach" with the black ribbon.  I think I liked it better without the ribbon, but not enough to do it all over!  I also didn't think about making them *wave* until the second card.  I think it's cute.  Doesn't the second always come out cuter?  The soccer balls are all cut out and popped up on Dimensionals.  Oh, and I made my own grass stamp from some rubber scraps.  My hubby was kind enough to cut me a scrap of wood to mount it to.  The blades of grass were a little big for the size of the little boys, but I still think it turned out cute.  Well, I've gotta run and head out to get everyone to the boys' AWANA awards BBQ tonight.  Oh, and soccer practice before!  Things are never boring around here!  I fully intend to get more stamping done tonight.  K-dub's color challenge is at the top of my list!  Tah~

The Deets:  Stamps:  All In The Family, Family Accessories; Paper: Whisper White, Glorious Green (blue card), Real Red, Basic Black (red card); Ink: Stazon Jet Black, Brilliant Blue, Real Red, Glorious Green (blue card), Garden Green (red card); Accesories: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Black grosgrain ribbon.

SCS Featured Stamper Challenge

I stole a few minutes yesterday to try to participate in a couple of challenges.  I'm determined to do more of this in an attempt to improve my stampin' skillz. *wink*  Truth be told, I've got my little eye on a couple of design teams/swap groups/etc.  Don't tell.  While we're dishing & laying out the whole truth.  I have to also admit that every time I get a comment on my blog - and oh, yes, it's happened a few times now, but just a few - I'm totally shocked!  I really haven't even told anyone about my blog.  I have posted my creations in my SCS gallery and I did have to eventually tell Carrie, since it was her fault I even started bloggin', but I didn't even tell my husband until yesterday.  HA!  That, however, is a different story for a different day. . . 

Ok, enough babble.  On to the goods.  I made this card for the Sunday featured stamper challenge on SCS.  The featured stamper was Michelle - aka *sf9erfan* on Splitcoast.  You can see her gallery here and the card I cased here.  I loved several things about this card - the floral image, all of the layers, the colors, and the ribbon!  I absolutely loved how she tied the ribbon.  Here's my take on it:

Now that my craft room is better organized, and things are more accessible, I'm determined to use my Nestabilities more - oh, AND buy more, but again, the husband.  Anyway, I used those to cut the rectangles.  I also embossed the rectangles with them, but it's hard to see in the picture.  Some of the things I changed - the stamp set and the sentiment, I used the polka dot ribbon instead of plain organdy, and I used a rhinestone brad instead of black.  Oh, and she said she used a spica pen, but I used stardust stickles instead.  It really added a lot to put some bling on there.  It's super ~sparkalay~ IRL.  Michelle also used Rose Red DSP and I used Real Red from the hostess paper pack instead.  

The deets:  Paper:  Real Red, Certainly Celery, Wisper White, Basic Black, Real Red DSP; Ink: Real Red, Certainly Celery; Stamps:  Happy Harmony, Warmest Regards; Accessories:  Dotted Organdy Ribbon, Nestabilities Rectangle Dies (large & small), Fire Round Rhinestone Brad, Stardust Stickles.  

I've also been working on some Thank You cards for my kids' soccer coaches using the All in the Family stamp set.  I have one done and MUST finish the other one today so I can get them both signed by the boys.  I'll be back to post those in a bit.  They're turning out super cute.  

Thanks so much to anyone who stops by!  Tah~

It's True, I'm a Soccer Mom . . .

It's true, I'm a soccer mom.  100%.  I drive a minivan and spend countless hours on an always windy soccer field throughout the Fall and Spring every year.  We're wrapping up soccer season with a bang this weekend and next.  During soccer season, sacrifices must be made.  We get intimate with our hats, gloves, and parkas.  We spend hours in the freezing cold cheering our little soccer men on to victory.  And my stamping time diminishes greatly.

My oldest, Dawson, received the most improved player award this year.  He deserved it.  When he started in the Fall I thought to myself, "He'll never score a goal.  The other kids are just too good."  He proved me wrong.  He's gained so much finesse this season and he's probably scored in at least half of the games.  I really enjoy watching him play.  He's 8.  Here are a couple of pictures of him in action.  

   

My almost 6 year old, Mason, is a soccer phenom.  He's amazing.  Really.  He scores goal after goal after goal in every game until I'm basically embarrassed for the other kids and wish the coach would take him out.  He does, however, ensure victory for his team - single handedly.  I think it's because he and Dawson play each other so much at home - to the death.  Any soccer game in our back yard ALWAYS ends in a fight.  Here are a few pictures of him.  See if you can spot any trends.  I sometimes think he could probably hold his own on Dawson's team!

                 

Luckily he's a much more gracious winner than loser.  He doesn't gloat when he wins, but it is not a pretty picture when he loses.  Especially to Dawson.  Lucky for him, that rarely happens.  

A couple more pictures of my kiddos - including the little guy,  Jordan (we call him Tiny Man or TM for short).  

   

Jordan Dawson

Mason

Thanks for indulging me while I bragged about my kids today.  Thanks, too, to those of you who have stopped by and took the time to leave me a comment!  It's so fun to know someone is reading my new blog!  

I'm going to sneak down to my craft lab now (HA! I love that!  I copied that from Denise - aka Geekgirl. I'll have to ask her if she minds.)  Hopefully I'll have something crafty to share with you later!

Here we go!

Last week I told my friend Carrie that I was afraid to start a blog because I would never have anything to share on it.  Well, here it is, day two and I have TWO projects to share today.  HA! I can hardly believe it myself!  I started off with Kristina Werner's color challenge.  Since she's one of my stamping idols, I figured it was only proper to make the first card on my new blog for one of her challenges.  The colors were Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Sahara Sand, and a touch of Wild Wasabi.  

Aren't those great colors!  I had intended to do KW's last color challenge but I was in the middle of a MAJOR craft room re-do and every craft related thing I owned was in piles in my guest bedroom.  I may still go back and do the last challenge since I had a great idea for it.  In the mean time, since I have most everything back in my craft room, I dumped everything on my table onto the floor and set off to tackle this challenge.  It was fun and I was thrilled with my card!  So, without further rambling, here it is:

Stamps:  Take Three; Paper: Sahara Sand, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Whisper White, Jersey Shore DSP;  Ink: Pumpkin Pie & Garden Green markers;  Accessories: Sherbet Ribbon Originals, Rich Regals Brads

THEN! If that wasn't enough for one day, I also did the featured stamper challenge over at the Great Swaps Girls blog.  The featured stamper for today is Jackie Pedro.  Her blog is one of my favorites and I didn't have any trouble at all finding a fun card to copy.  So, here's her card on the left and my card on the right:

Stamps:  One of a Kind; Paper:  Brilliant Blue, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Jersey Shore DSP; Ink: Brilliant Blue, White Craft; Accessories:  Boho Blossoms Punch, Wild Wasabi striped grosgrain ribbon, bold brights brads, Flower Fusion felt flowers. 

I also took this on as a personal challenge to make a card using Brilliant Blue since Carrie, my then ex-friend (jk, Carrie!), suggested that Brilliant Blue should be retired!  *gasp*  I couldn't believe it!  I LOVE Brilliant Blue!  I'm sure we all have at least one SU! color we'd like to see done away with, but for me it is NOT Brilliant Blue.  So, Carrie, this is for you!

Now that I have these pictures up here, I can see that mine seem much cloudier than Jackie's.  Maybe that's  my next challenge for today - to either figure out how to brighten my pics up in Photoshop or buy a new camera!  HA!  Oh, that AND the enormous mountain of laundry that's waiting for me.  *ugh*  Tah for now!

Hello Blog World

Well, I've done it.  In a total of three (yes, 3) steps, I've created a blog.  Not sure what comes next, but I hope you'll join me as I find out.  This blog will be about me, my family, my faith, and my obsession with anything crafty.  I'm a stay at home mom with three beautiful and rambunctious boys.  My sweetie and I have been married 11 years next week.  I'm a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and I hope to share some fun creations here as often as I can.  So, thanks for coming along for the ride.  Be sure to leave a comment if you've found me.  I'd love to know you stopped by!