Challenge within a Challenge Day!

Boy, it has been a long time since I posted anything. I go in spurts... following my fancy... and it feels like I am back into stamping which is good for my soul. Getting together with one of my best friends who shares a stamping passion got me into doing challenges. I think I have combined the most ever for me into this project. And boy does it remind me when Tim Gunn comes into the workroom and put his hand under his chin when he declares "this could be beautiful or a hot gooey mess."
Here goes:
I used this week's challenge from Get Sketchy #7 and their Bonus Challenge Distressing. I distressed the Basic Grey DP: Infuse "Saturate" and the "thank you" circle from the Stampin' Up! All Holiday Set with the Stampin' Up distressing tool. I sponged all the paper as well to soften everything. Using Basic Grey paper (Infuse) and Chipboard Elements allowed me to participate in their challenge for Week 4: Embossing. I stamped the farm image from Harvest Home with Timber Brown StazOn and then used a combination of colored pencils and crayons to color the image and then blended them with a blender pen. I then did the Cracked Glass technique on the focal image which involved heat embossing with Ranger's UT Clear Embossing Powder. I stepped outside of my box in the Ways to Use it (SCS challenge WT237) with the use of Chipboard. I love the way people use it - I think it adds so much to a card... I have just been afraid to use it, worried it will look like an afterthought rather than integral and thus wasting it for a better card, a better idea. I decided not to overthink it. Lastly, I'm throwing this into the Limited Supplies Challenge (LSC239) for the SOS, mine being So Saffron, Old Olive and Saturate.

Stampin' Up! Stamps: Harvest Home, All Holiday, Canvas, Timeworn Trim

Paper: Stampin' Up! So Saffron, Old Olive, Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, Watercolor paper

Designer Paper: Basic Grey Infuse "Saturate" and "Invest"

Ink: Old Olive, More Mustard, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, StazOn Timber Brown, VersaMark

Chipboard Elements: Basic Grey (corner pieces) and Marcella K (scrolly thing)

Accessories: SU! Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, WC pencils & crayons, Ranger UT Clear Embossing Powder, sponges, exacto knife & cutting mat, distressing tool, pop & glue dots

A New Superpower!

The morphing into motherhood from naive single gal (now I have two hearts that roam outside my body) obviously began during pregnancy. How else does one give birth to something bigger than a loaf of bread and weighs just under a gallon of milk? Then there is the ability of leap tall piles of laundry in a single bound, faster than a runaway shopping cart, to rescue your kid from scaling the kitchen cupboards - yes, I gave birth to Spidey Baby - he'll be friggin' awesome on the climbing walls. Add to that the two lives you live (the Clark Kent - Superman syndrome) where you are Wife and Mother. Maintain the world for everyone in the family (can't you just hear the little mice from Cinderella singing Cinderellie Cinderellie...). Also you must be able to help them find everything. My stepson has called me from the house, where he is... to ask me if I have seen his car keys - you know the ones he used to drive himself to an empty home with. And yes I have found them for him. I amaze my self. No need to thank me.... ...... ...... Still waiting to actually say that to him.
My latest superpower is evolving quickly. I have learned to become Invisible. The other day I woke up earlier than everyone else and I snuck stealthily into the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee that would actually stay warm throughout the entire sippage. I might have even rested my super self instead of tackling my nemesis May Tag. I got the teapot boiling and a cup ready while listening to the local news on TV. I was just waiting for the light to turn green on my espresso machine when my partner in grime stumbled into the kitchen.
He ground his beans and got his pot ready (french press) and used all the water in the tea kettle.

Then he walked away and changed the channel to his current love Hannity.

It was if I wasn't even there!

I looked down at myself - I could still see myself in my rumpled pj's and slippered feet but apparently he could not. I must be Invisible.

This power is occurring in my kids' vicinity as well. Sometimes I feel like I am talking to myself!

I tried to use it last night after my kid barfed up pickles and apple juice all over himself and the kitchen floor but to no avail.

I have yet to master timing for it but when I do....

Something Worth Blogging About!

It has been a while since I got online to write anything. I have been busy, even too busy to stamp. {sob} I took a part time job to earn some cash in these hard times and boy does a job crimp my stamping time. Also, I have been working on getting my little kids their own bedroom. But first I had to convert it from a teenager pit with a penchant for duck tape. Goof-off gets that sticky stuff off the wall, just in case you ever needed to know. Even after I pleaded with her to leave her room as neat as I had been able to get it before she came home from abroad there was still a week's worth of cleaning in there before I could even start to make it a place for my little ones. Well, the paint is on, the bunk bed has been bought and the carpet cleaners are coming tomorrow. The carpet cleaners have forced me to rid my bedroom of all clutter, which is fine because I don't actually like the clutter, it's just that I have never been very good at managing it.
After all is said and done I think I deserve a cupcake and something warm to drink. Have you seen the new release from Elzybells Art Stamps ? OMG these are so stinkin' cute and yummy I have to bite my finger. Powered by caffeine, you know I love anything coffee. She has this cute set called Cool Beans which has a bunch of steaming cups of coffee and charming sayings. I always want to send out cards to friends asking them to coffee. Then there is this other larger set called Tea for Two which has mugs, and steams and whipping and marshmallows and more wonderful little sayings, some for your love and others for friends and even one appropriate for a gift. I would love to have that set to make little thinking of you treats to send out with birthday cards. Then there is a set with Elzybells wonderful character/caricature surrounded by all things yummy and desserty called Just Desserts. This little girl reminds me of my daughter with her curly hair and smiling face. Easter is coming and she is featuring an Easter Egg set called Eggstravaganza with great variety of patterns and decorations for making the perfect Easter basket card or place card for your Sunday feast.
There is still more! I don't know about you but I AM all things cupcake. My daughter will be having her 4th birthday next month and I am throwing a cupcake theme birthday party for her. It will be her first one with friends. We'll play a version of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" with candles on the cupcakes, along with a couple of other games and decorate cupcakes for her "cake." I even bought cute little cupcake lip glosses as party favors. So how cute would the set Hey Cupcake be for invitations and thank yous? Sprinkles! Frosting piles! Cherries! "Topped with love and sweet wishes." Isn't that the most adorable edible saying ever? There are some other single stamps with funny sayings on them as well, my favorite being: "I can resist anything but TEMPATION!"
All this chatting about yummy things has made me hungry!

Heart's Content

This was created for Mojo Monday #69. I think I have also combined it with VLVJan03 which is to add pink - I say think but I cleared out my cookies from my computer and erased my log in name & password for Splitcoast therefor I am barred from entering the relevant pages until Splitcoast gets back to work on Monday. :D

Paper: Bella Rose DP, Pink Pirouette & Chocolate Chip

Stamps: Many Happy Returns & Friendship Blooms (VersaMarked into the upper left corner).

Ink: VersaMark, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red

Acccessories: Soft Subtles buttons, Whisper White & Pretty in Pink Taffeta Ribbon, SU! On Board Basics, SU! Cutter Kit: distressing tool, SU! Cutting Mat & Craft Knife, Mat Pack & piercing tool, Zots, MonoAqua, snail glue

Bee Mine

This was created for a Splitcoast Stampers Limited Supply Challenge #203 for a Non-Cheesy Valentine's Day Card. The idea is to make a card easily replicated 30 times. I deviated a little bit by adding the Mellow Moss ribbon - the flower just didn't look right floating in space, folding the card to make it a 3" x 3" (was supposed to be a face only) and by embellishing a little bit with the pens. It looked too plain without the Markie's Mom touches.

All supplies are Stampin' Up!

Paper: Real Red, Confetti White, Pretty in Pink, Summer Picnic DP

Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8" & 1 1/4" Circle Punches, Black & Mellow Moss Gingham Ribbons, Vintage Black Brad, White Gel Pen, Black and Real Red Markers, and Mat Pack

Christmas Thank You Cards

I loved to see what Kittie747 has posted over at Splitcoast Stampers. She is an inspiration to me and challenges my card making abilities. She created this card which I used as my base for my Christmas Thank You notes. She submitted it for the Sketch Challenge #91.

Stamps: Flaky Friends, Petal Pushers, and Canvas

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Confetti White, and Old Olive

Designer Paper: Basic Grey "Wassail" Laurel Leaves and Stampin' Up Bella Rose

Ink: StazOn Timber Brown, Old Olive, More Mustard, Craft White, Bashful Blush, and Almost Amethyst

Markers: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive

Accessories: Riding Hood Red ribbon, Yellow Stickles, pop dots, sponge

Technique: sponging, masking

KWerner Design Blog Color Inspiration #38

I have been purging old magazines but saving interesting articles and found one for tiling floors in Martha Stewart Living from September 1999. She had a pattern for gingham, which I love. Kristina's Color Inspiration this week was perfect for creating the gingham colors. I created the gingham with my 1/4" square punch. I laid them out on a strip of Rose Red and created the pattern with the Whisper White and Pretty in Pink, leaving the Rose Red as open space.



Stamp Set: Heartfelt Thanks
Paper: Rose Red, Pretty In Pink, Whisper White, and Pumpkin Pie
Ink: Rose Red, Pretty In Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black
Markers:Certainly Celery and Old Olive
Gingham Ribbon: Pretty In Pink.
Accessories: 1/4" square punch, pop dots