VC Rocks June Blog Hop

I'm back with this month's VC Rocks Blog Hop. If you're just starting here at my blog, click on the link to head to the beginning of the hop on the VC Rock home page.

This time, our theme is 'Fun With The New Catalogue.' For those who are unaware of us, VC Rocks is a Yahoo! group that consists of Stampin' Up fans... it started as being basically for demonstrators only, and it's now open to customers, too. We're active in the summer, celebrating the start of the new catalogue year. Usually, we have anywhere from 3 to 5 blog hops over the summer season.

June was the final month for the Stamper's 10 group I in which I participate. As soon as I saw the sneaks of the cards we were making I knew I was going to tweak the one Laura, my demo, designed using the Sea of Textures bundle. I must give her special thanks; when our group met Monday, she forgot to bring the dies for this set. She was totally willing to run home and get them. We all told her there was no need. Many of us, including me, ordered the set that night. It didn't hit me until Wednesday that I would need the dies in order to finish my card for the hop, and she loaned them so I could get this card finished.

Because the card we made is a fun fold, I have a few extra pictures this time. I'm thinking of doing a 'Make & Take' for the group to explain the card a bit more. Tonight, I"m late getting this post up because I was at a work event, and I'm exhausted. One more week and another school year will be complete.

 Ok... enough chatter.. here are the pictures of my card!

Card Details - all products Stampin' Up

Stamps: Sea of Textures

Cardstock: Traquil Tide, Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Fresh Fig, Whisper White

DSP: Traquil Textures

Inks: Fresh Fig, Crumb Cake, Tranquil Tide, Soft Seafoam, Calypso Coral

Other: Under The Sea Framelits, Stampin Dimensionals, Tombow glue

HIMCR Challenge #353

I am back with another card for a challenge. I have been working on the never ending process of sorting out my stash, and I needed a break, so I went through my 'unfinished cards' box & found one that would fit for a challenge today.

HIMCR #353 - Masculine / Father's Day

I was going to put this one in for our VC Rocks Virtual Stamp Day, but I realized it didn't really fit any of the criteria. The weather has gotten marginally cooler so I'm hoping that will motivate me to play some more tomorrow. It's been really warm, and the pollen has been driving me insane. I hate allergy season.

This card uses a fun fold a friend taught me. I just die cut the label largest label framelit & then the one the next size smaller (I think.. it may have been third one down... I admit I don't recall.). Just some strong adhesive at the back to secure the backs of the flaps. It's really easy to know where to put the adhesive because you just score the die cut about 3/4 of an inch in and use that smaller part under the inside panel... between  the vanilla panel & the Early Espresso one.

As you can see I went full on with the collage stamping on the inside panel... I added another panel, the same size, to the back with no stamping, so I had a place to write a message. I stamped the main ship image on a 3x4 piece of cardstock so I had lots of extra space. That way I could just keep tearing until I got the look I wanted. Then I inked the edges & added some sponging to both image panels.

Note.. Don't try to tear first or cut the panel to small. Trust me one that one. ;)

Card Details - All Products Stampin' Up

Stamps: The Open Sea
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Soft Suede
Ink: Early Espresso
Other: Framelits

As You See It Challenge

It feels good to be getting back into the groove. As promised, I'm keeping up with the 'monochromatic' theme this week. Today, I've got two cards to share. They actually both exactly the same, except for the colour scheme. I chose to post them today because they fit with the latest challenge from the As You See it blog, #174.

Here are my cards: 

I made these on one of our cardmaking afternoons with my very talented friend Angela. She found the fun fold & showed us now to make it. If I remember correctly, she may well even have prepped the cardstock for us. What was borrowed was the stamp set & the markers. I used to have a few Stampin' Up markers, until I took a Tombow marker class and fell in love. 

The set I used is called Birthday Blooms. It's a Stampin' Up set I never purchased which is retiring as of the end of May. Now that I have so many friends who are also Stampin' Up users, we talk about who likes what, and we confer before we order. Certainly, there are times where we'll all decide we need to have a set because we suspect we'll reach for it enough to warrant just having our own, but often we will find that one of us will really like something a great deal more than the others in the group. This set falls into that category. It's pretty, and I enjoyed colouring the flower. But I'm not particularly enamored with the font they chose for the sentiments, so that took it off the 'must have' list for me. 

Of the two card, the one using Tempting Turquoise is my favorite. The blending worked better. I couldn't get the Rose Red and the pink colour (I don't actually remember what pink I used) to blend smoothly. The Turquoise and the Pacific Point looks more seamless to me in the blend. 

Card Details - All Products Stampin' Up

Stamps: Birthday Blooms

Cardstock: Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Rich Razzleberry

Ink: Basic Black Archival ink

Markers: Tempting Turquoise, Pacific Point, Rich Razzleberry, Pink Pirouette*

*I'm unsure about the lighter pink colour; I'm not a big fan of pink & I don't really own any so I don't necessarily recognize it. It almost looks too dark to be Pink Pirouette. But I don't know. 

VC Rocks Fun With One Color Blog Hop

Well hello!

I cannot believe it's been over a year since I've posted to my blog. Our Yahoo! group VC Rocks has started up again for the season, and we're starting the month of May with a blog hop. The theme this time is Fun With One Color.

VC Rocks is a group of SU stampers who do all sorts of fun activities for each summer. You can learn more about us at the website.

I've got two cards to share with you today. I want to get back to posting at least 3 times a week, so I'll be back again at least twice this week with more cards that fit the theme of today's post.

The first card I am sharing use Lemon Lime Twist. It's by far my favorite of the 2017-2019 In Colors. In fact, I'm very sad that when Stampin' Up announced their upcoming color family revamp, they didn't move this color into the core palette. I get why they didn't - it's sticking around for another year & that would leave the In Colors short one for a year - but I can't help it. I love this color. I don't want to lose it. I also really love this stamp set. The funny thing is I was unsure I'd use it when I first saw it. The basic design for this card came from my friend Laura B, who is an SU demo. She hosts a stamper's group at my place once a month.  

I apologize for the fact that the color is off; I'm not quite sure why. I do know I need to get a better light set up for photographing my card, but in this case I think it's more than that. 

The next card also uses one of the returning In Colors - Berry Burst. It's another one I made in on a card night. I admit I'm still not in love with this set. It does work really well here on this clean and simple 'Hello' card, though.

I'm the last stop on this month's hop. If you're starting here, head over to Robin's blog - she's the first person on the list.  We love comments so please go through and comment on all the participants' posts.

Or, if you've completed the hop, head over to VC Rocks and  leave a comment there, too!

Card details - All products Stampin' Up!

Happy Birthday Gorgeous

Stamps: Beautiful You
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Lemon Lime Twist
Ink: Basic Black, Lemon Lime Twist
DSP: In Color Pack

Hello

Stamps: Climbing Orchid
Dies: Orchid Builder Framelits
Cardstock:  Berry Burst, Whisper White
Ink: Berry Burst, Chocolate Chip

Paper Players 332

I am getting this challenge in under the wire!

I can't figure out where January went. Life just got really busy. And then the last week of January/beginning of February, I ended up with a lovely bout of cellulitis in my foot that I'm still fighting. I'm not very good at using my iPad to blog, so I couldn't really get on here, as I was under strict orders from the doctor to stay in bed and keep my foot elevated unless I absolutely had to go somewhere. We even ended up missing the Canadian Women's National Team game against Mexico. I was pretty crushed.

I have more I could share - and I will - but now I must get this card posted before the deadline. Blogger was giving me trouble this morning and the page to write my post wouldn't load. Finally got it working after I ran my CCleaner to get rid of all the temporary internet files & crap that I think were slowing things down.

The challenge is to make a card with the sentiment as your focal point. There are two other challenges I was going to use it for, but tomorrow I will post a few other cards I've finished that I like better for those ones.

I love this font, and I love how big the sentiment is. I haven't gotten the set yet - I was crafting with friends on Tuesday night - but it has definitely grown on me. I'm hoping it actually makes next year's catalogue, because between the glimmer paper & the medallion set, I'm not sure I'll be able to get it before SAB ends. 

It's hard to tell here, but the darker sentiment layer isn't black - it's embossed in gold. If/when I make this card again, I will remember to stamp off before I do the background. You can see a spot where I didn't, and it's just too dark.

Check out the challenge here!

Card Details - All Products Stampin' Up

Stamps: So Very Much

Cardstock: Mint Macaron, Very Vanilla

Ink: Mint Macaron, Versamark

Other: Gold embossing powder, punches

Tired Tuesday...

Still not sleeping well... not sure what that's about at this point.

I had a wonderful day of hanging out a home in sweats, though. Tuesday is laundry day & I love to stay  home and relax as much as possible. I had a fun Skype conversation with my favorite 3 year old today (my dear, sweet niece). Got to see my new nephew, too. We didn't Skype for long because something odd was happening with the connection. I could see them, but they couldn't see me. So frustrating!

Here's today's card. Another masculine birthday card. I made this one at a 2015 Stamp-A-Stack. It was designed by Susan Easter, who was my first Stampin Up demo. I love to go to Stamp A Stack classes. Sometimes I'l tweak the designs & sometimes I won't. This time, I didn't, beyond maybe altering the colours a bit... specifically, I think I switched the colour of the coral & the fish. But I am not sure, to be honest.

Bonus: I own this stamp set & I can remember all the card details!

Card Count: 4/365

Card Details - All Products Stampin Up

Stamps: By The Tide
Ink: Lost Lagoon, Real Red, Always Artichoke, Early Espresso
Cardstock: Lost Lagoon, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Manic Monday

I have been spending an inordinate amount of time on Youtube & Pintrest of late. I think I'm obsessed. I see a lot of people are using Facebook Live. I'm not as big a fan of that, somehow. That said - if you're a Tim Holtz fan, he's doing a week of sneaks. Today was stamps & there some great ones. Luckily for my wallet, he's staggering the release over 3 months. Even better, I only like about 6 of the 18 he's releasing...and it so happened to work out so it was two in each of the 3 months. I love it when that happens!

Although I've gotten off to a late start, I want to try to post a card a day. Now, not every card will be new. Some will be ones I've forgotten to post from ages ago. I'll try to remember to note that in the post. On the Card A Day Challenge blog, which is a blog that gives a daily prompt to inspire crafters to keep up with cardmaking. Right now they're also including monthly prompts. For January, the idea was to use the same set for a week. Well, I'm not really in the mood for that right now, so instead, I'm going to feature a company or theme each week. Since yesterday's card was from Stampin' Up, I'll focus on SU cards this week. And I'll do my best to also focus on birthday cards.

Today I give you two cards, both using retired sets. I made them in our Stamper's 10 card club at least 2 or 3 years ago... I know that because the demo who led that group no longer lives here. I can't remember the names of these sets so if you know, please share in the comments!

Card count 3/365

Card Details
All Products Stampin' Up

Filligree Birthday Card
Stamps:
Cardstock Very Vanilla, Not Quite Navy, Early Espresso
Ink: Early Espresso
Other: striped ribbon, twine

Nature card
Stamps: French Foliage (background)
Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip
Ink: Always Artichoke

Happy New Year!

Wow.. I'm late with a New Years' greeting this year.

It's been a busy time. I'm still recovering from that STUPID cold that's been going around; I'm one of the lucky one who got the long version of it. Plus my new little nephew was born, and the little guy had a bit of a rough go of it the first few weeks. All will be well, though.

It's time for the yearly goals and the my word for the year. Now, I know I've posted a word for the year in the past, but as hard as I've tried to find those past posts, I can't. I decided it doesn't matter, since ultimately I knew the word I was choosing for this year was different that past years. And really, even if it was the same as the one from a few years ago, who cares? Are the New Years Resolutions police going to come & arrest me? I think not!

So my word is Hope. We had a wonderful Advent series at our church this year where we focused on four words, Hope, Peace, Joy  and Love. Hope was the theme the week I spoke. I was very moved by the opportunity to not only share more about the way God's been working in me, but also to be able to light the Advent candle. I don't like to be too pushy about faith issues, so if you're interested in reading or listening, say so in the comments & I'll provide you with a link.

I have some crafty goals for the year:

-Finish 4 gift albums that need to be done

-Sort out my pages that are complete but not yet in albums

-Blog regularly. I have no excuse; I make a lot of cards - I just forget to post them. I have about 30 already photographed & ready to be posted.

-Whittle down my stash & be more intentional in my purchases. I'm already seeing progress here.

-Continue to get & stay organized

Other goals

-Read 12 books; in theory can likely read more but 1/month is a start, given how little reading I've done lately.

-Be more intentional in connecting with friends

-Be consistent in my Bible study / prayer time... I truly believe it helps me keep my ears & heart open tot the Holy Spirit.

-Be more intentional in caring for my health

Well that was long... I think it's time to post one of the cards I made ages ago & didn't get around to posting. This one was made for my sweet niece's 3rd birthday. I actually made it for her in the summer, when me & my crafty friends got together to play with the Stampin' Up  2016-2018 In Colors. I still haven't purchased any of the inks because I'm still debating which ones I'd actually use once they're retired.

Card Count 1/365

Card Details - All products Stampin' Up
Cardstock: Whisper White
Ink: Flirty Flamingo, Emerald Envy, Dapper Denim, Sweet Sugarplum, Peekaboo Peach, Basic Black
Stamps: Papillon Potpourri, Over The Rainbow

SIP 76 - Embossing

Holy moly... another one of my extended breaks from blogging. I can't believe so much time has past. I have definitely been doing a lot of crafting. It's been a great stress relief through a long, arduous fall work session. The problem has been organizing myself to get things posted here. I've eve got a number of cards photographed.

My life has not been terrible this fall... just busy. We're happily awaiting the birth brother & sister in law's second child, a boy, due any day. His big sister is getting pretty excited & she's happy that her grandma on her mom's side is visiting to help get ready for the baby, and staying to the end of the year to help post-birth.  Our folks will go out in January or so.

I started these cards a while ago & put the finishing touches on them today. They're from a stamp a stack I attended not long ago. We made 24 cards. My friend Joy normally goes to these things with me, but she couldn't make it this time, so we split the cost & divided up the cards. 

On to today's cards.... check out the challenge at Stamp Ink Paper!

Card Details - All Products Stampin Up

Merry and Bright card

Stamps: Cookie Cutter Christmas, Stitched With Cheer (sentiment)

Cardstock: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler

DSP: Candy Cane Lane

Other: Bow Builder punch

Christmas Day Card

Stamps: Cup of Cheer

Cardstock: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler

DSP: Presents and Pinecones

Other: Circle framelits, Dazzling Details glitter 

VC Rocks July Blog Hop - Cruisin' with Fun Folds

Woo hoo! It's blog hop time!

I am actually just getting this posted under the wire. It's been a ridiculously busy week. My brother & his family are visiting. We celebrated my parents' 50th wedding anniversary yesterday. They haven't gotten a card from me yet because their wedding was actually in August. We just celebrated early because my brother & sister in law are teachers & they need to be back at work on August 25th, so it was easier to do it in July.

Between visiting with my niece, the party yesterday, and the party today for my cousin, who turned 18 this month, and who graduated from high school June.

The cards I have for today's hop aren't related to any of those events, though. Instead, I've got a new baby card I'll be using for my cousin & his fiancee, and a joy fold card that has no sentiment. I'll be turning it into a sympathy card, because sadly, I need a few.

As I'm running out of time to link up to the Hop, I will stop here. Will try to post again later this week.

Check out the rest of the hoppers at VC Rocks.

VC Rocks June Blog Hop

Today we are Cruisin' with Flowers over at VC Rocks. Yup, we were asked to make a project that features flowers in some way. I had initially planned to share a really cool card my friend Angela taught us how to make using Lovely As A Tree and the reflection technique. Then I remembered that I hadn't yet shared this card:

We made it not long ago and I finally got the finishing touches complete, as well as managed to photograph it. I love box cards. They look complicated, but the basic structure is actually relatively simply. The trick is to make sure that the items you have coming out of your box are still love enough that they don't go above the highest point of the card when it's standing up. You don't want to go outside the boundaries or it won't fit in an envelope.

I don't own any of the Botanical Bloooms suite. I have SO many flowers that I couldn't justify it. I still can't justify the stamps. But the dies are growing on me. I have samples of the paper from a share we did.

The butterfly is cut out of white scrap, then sponged with Cajun Craze & Daffodil Delight.

Now please hop back to the VC Rocks main page and check out what the other participants have created.

VC Rocks is back...

And it's blog hop time!

The blog hops this year will all have 'Cruisin' in the title. The first one is called, "Cruisin' For Special Occasions." As our blog hop leader, Robin, noted, the reason many folks go on a cruise is to celebrate something important.

I have only been on one cruise; the trip was a gift from my mother, to celebrate my graduation from university. My dad didn't go with us, because he really isn't big on travelling. It was one of those, 'Go on a trip in lieu of throwing a party' things. Really, I think Mom just wanted to go on a cruise. And I am glad she did. We did the round trip seven day Vancouver to Alaska voyage and I loved pretty much all of it.

I had a hard time deciding what to do for this hop. The one ocassion we all tend to celebrate is birthdays, and I wanted to step outside my box a bit. So instead, I'll show you a few graduation cards. That is rather appropos today, as I know that in the U.S. it grad time for many high school students. Our students attend until the end of June, but it is prom season. My niece's (well technically cousin) prom is tomorrow (Saturday) night & I am so looking forward to seeing her & her boyfriend all decked out. We're going down to the waterfront to do family photos. Please pray the rain holds off....

I found this idea of the clean & simple design on a blog last year. Although there are only two here, I made about a dozen, but some used dsp that wasn't Stampin' UP. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the white SU craft ink stamped.  Although I love the colours of the Rich Razzleberry card the most, I didn't actually cut the paper correctly on that card so I don't like the layout as much as the others. 

Now that budget time is over at the school district, I expect to have more free time. I have a whole bunch of cards that are already made that I'm looking forward to sharing. I went to a crop a week or so ago & I had a fantastic time.

Hop on over to VC Rocks to see the rest of our Hoppers' creations!

Card Details - All products Stampin Up

Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Crushed Curry, Regal Rose, Pacific Point
Stamp set: Teeny Tiny Wishes
DSP: Various retired SU papers
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, White Craft

  

CAS challenges

Wow.. I'm on a bit of a roll with the posting of late. Let's see how well I do at keeping it up after Spring Break.

The remainder of last week was nice. On Friday we had a games night at church, which was a great deal of fun. Saturday I went to Crafty Capers to do a Make & Take in the morning, then spent the afternoon at a friend's 50th birthday party. We all went for Chinese food, because that's her favorite. It was a fun afternoon. Then on Sunday we celebrated my cousin's 40th birthday.

Given the plethora of birthdays of late, I had to choose a birthday card for Addicted to CAS: 

I haven`t made a waterfall card in ages. I forgot how much fun they are. And they`re really not that complicated. Clean & simple doesn`t have to be boring! I chose this card for this particular challenge because I think these particular flowers do look very delicate. And the mechanism itself definitely is. 

The other challenge card I have is an Easel Card for The Paper Players:

I decided to make this one into a generic thinking of you card. Those are always good to have on hand. I love easel cards; they look great. And it`s a chance to do another fancy fold that really isn`t very complicated.  

Card Details - All Products Stampin` Up

The Card Concept 51

Wow! Two posts from me in one week!

I am really enjoying the beginning of our two week Spring Break. I'm plowing through old emails that I didn't deal with at the time I received them just because I was so busy. I'm talking about the recipes & card blogs I follow. Yes, I know I could cut down the number & delete really old ones, but here is where my hoarder side kicks in. I can't just delete without a quick look. What if I miss something? There could be a PERFECT recipe or a gorgeous sketch or card sample I'd never find again! Oh, the things I do to justify my electronic clutter.

I am loving not going out. I haven't driven anywhere since my Sunday night book group.  I'm slowly eating better & beginning to have some success at upping my water intake. So life is good!

Today's card is an inspiration challenge from

My stamps are still a little too disorganized to do an Easter card. Instead, I was inspired by the colours, pink & brown as well as the idea of the designs on the egg. The card I'm showing you today uses the bleaching technique to create the design on the border. The die cut butterfly is stamped with a big background stamp. 

I can't find my notes on the card details; this card is one I ha all the stamping down for a while ago & I took it from my stash to finish up for the challenge. I still have a decent stash of half finished cards. I'm getting through them, though! 

For this challenge, I went out of my comfort zone. At the Card Concept, you have to put your card in one of their categories: Clean & Simple, Clean & Layered, Shabby Chic/Vintage, Clean & Graphic, Freestyle Collage, Classy & Elegant. My cards tend to be clean & layered, or clean & simple. I almost NEVER have trouble deciding what category to put them in. But this time I'm stuck. This card isn't clean, per se, but it's not too collage-y either. I'm going to classify it as:

Freestyle Collage, defined as 

• unrelated elements in a collection
• can be done in any style

Check out The Card Concept - Challenge 51 Naturally Pink to read about the other styles, see samples, and play along! 

Thank You On Pi Day

I can see I'm not doing as well with posting weekly as I'd hoped to. :) 

Life is rolling along here. I've been inspired to start my yearly spring cleaning. Every year I have a friend who comes over &  helps me to purge my scrapbook/cardmaking supplies. I have reached a point where I'm frustrated enough with the mess that I'm starting without her. There is so much I want to go. Magazines I know I won't read. Paper I know I won't use. It's time to seriously downsize the stash. 

I've gotten the inspiration for that thinking as a result of a group in which I just participated. It was a study based on a book called Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. If you're uncomfortable with Christianity, it may not be great for you, unless you can look past that & focus on the techniques he's discussing as a means of achieving broader emotional health. It talks about self-care, and part of that, for me, is having a workable space. 

I'm also excited because it's starting to feel like spring, and that\, I hope, will mean healthier eating. I always, always struggle in the winter. I'm committed to really trying to create some good habits this spring/summer that I can carry over into the fall & winter. 

Today's card is for two challenges.

Crazy4Challenges C4C327 - feature circles and/or pies

Global Design Project 027 - Thank You

Apparently, March 14th is referred to as Pi Day.. 3.14 :) I never think about it because, quite frankly, as soon as I was finished school and didn't have to think about math, I didn't. LOL. It was my LEAST favorite subject in school. 

I didn't have any pie related stamps, so I went with a circle.

Card Details - All Products Stampin' Up

Stamps: By The Tide

Cardstock: Whisper White, Pool Party, Soft Suede

Ink: Early Espresso, Mint Macaron, Pool Party, Calypso Coral 

Addicted to CAS #81 - Bloom

Happy Valentine's Day.

I am not actually a big fan of this particular holiday. It's never really appealed to  me. Or maybe it did, as a kid. But I have definitely gotten cynical about it as I've aged.

It's been a really uneventful couple of weeks. I attended a crop on Friday, and a cardmaking thing yesterday. We had our SU group in early February, too. Work continues to go relatively well.

I have a quick card share for a challenge today. I'm actually going to post two cards, because all though I think the first one is a little more CAS, it is a complete CASE. I made it at Crafty Capers a while ago and finally finished putting it together recently. I could have made it more my own by adding some bling, in retrospect. But alas, the card has already been sent; I needed a quick sympathy card for a colleague recently. Sadly, I'll be needing another one this week, as I just saw on Facebook another acquaintance of mine passed away. I hate cancer.

I don't have the product details for this card. I forgot to write down which company makes that flower, the sentiment and that punch. If you'd like me to find out, please mention it in the comments. I definitely have to ask about the punch, as I love it.

The second card is one where while some CASEing took place, it wasn't an exact replica of the original. Made this one at my friend Angela's place. Everyone coloured their flowers differently and chose a different colour scheme. I have always loved purple, so it was an easy choice for me. The colouring is actually done using SU Blender pens. Made it into a birthday card because I knew a friend had a birthday coming up.

Check out the rest of the challenge entries at Addicted to CAS.
Card details

Birthday Card - All Products Stampin Up

Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant
Paper: Neutrals paper stack
Stamps: Birthday Blooms
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Garden Green, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant

My 250th post!

I swear, when I started blogging, I didn't really think that I'd make it to my 250th post. But 4 or 5 years later, here I am.

In some ways, it's taken me a lot longer reach this milestone than I'd expected or hoped. Life sometimes just gets busy. Other times, my motivation to craft is just not there. I have found that the times, like now, when I'm in an active blog group are ones when I'm most active. It helps knowing that there is a group of people who will pop over to your blog and comment on  your cards. I mention that because I hope that not only will you comment on my cards, but you'll also take a look at the blogs listed on my sidebar and give my cyber friends some love!

There really isn't much going on right now, so nothing else to share. I'm in a book/study group at church, looking at a book called Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, and I'm really enjoying it. We're gearing up for budget season on the school board. And I'm managing to keep up with my hockey pools this year. So life is good.

Here are my cards:

I've been spending a lot of my card making time working on my stash of card kits and this one has been there for a long time. I love the way the different label dies look together. And the 'Wish Big' stamp is actually punched out of the old SU ornament punch. The big dot embossing folder has really grown on me, too. 

CCEE1604 - Chocolate Cake Day

The toughest thing about this challenge was choosing which card to post for it. I make a lot of birthday cards that involve cake images. Why? Because I love cake. Birthdays are all about the cake and the presents, when you think about it. LOL. 

Make My Monday - Newest/Favorite Stamp

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes 

Love these darn birds! What more can I say? 

Card Details:

Wish Big - All Products Stampin Up

Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip, Pool Party, Very Vanilla

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Stamp: I can't remember - it's retired.. will try to find the set name

Other: Embossing folder, framelits

Happy Birthday - All Products Stampin Up

Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes

Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Marina Mist, Cherry Cobbler, Pink Pirouette
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip

Paper: Unsure... 

Other: Cupcake Builder punch, oval punch, scallop oval punch, border punch, dots embossing folder

Bird Card

Stamps: Bird Crazy, Dyane Reavley verse

Cardstock: Bazzill White

Ink: Stazon Black, Memento Black

Other: Tombow markers, Sizzix dies 

Those Crazy Birds!

Well, it happened. A while ago, I fell in love with the Bird Crazy stamps from Tim Holtz. I finally got to play with them recently. I did a little class at our local stamp store, and, as usual, I tried to put my own spin on the cards.

I'm entering the following challenges:

Casology - Clear

I wanted to be different here, and so I used the rain/water/puddles as something that's clear. Even though puddles can be murky, that's not from the water... that's the dirt on the ground. The water itself is clear!

CCEE - Hats

I just love this guy. His nose is perfect. I'm really loving the Crazy Things add on stamp set; they really give the birds extra personality. I also did a second hat card, but I'm having trouble uploading it, so I'll post it on its own, tomorrow.

Addicted To Stamps & More - Make Your Mark
Seize The Birthday - Clean and Simple
Stamp Ink Paper - Birthday

This one was so much fun to colour!

 All the colouring on these cards were done with my Tombos & a water brush.

A few challenges

Well, the rush of Christmas is over. It was a wonderful two weeks. I got to spend some time with family and friends. Got caught up on some email that had been sitting around... blogs  I follow, which have various things I like to pin (either a card idea or a recipe, usually). And I saw the latest Star Wars movie. It was fantastic. So much better than the last series.

I made 3 cards this week. I love going to my friend Angela's... she always gives us great ideas. And yet she puts out a nice range of stuff so that we can change whatever we want. My first card is a great example of that.

She made this card using the new balloon animal set from Stampin' Up. As much as her card was cute - and she had a lot of different samples of balloon animals to choose from (my friend did a fish, one person did a penguin, one did a giraffe, and so on) - I just wasn't feeling it. I have just never been all that enamored by balloon animals, and looking at the set, I just didn't trust that I'd have success with it. So I went in a completely different direction and played with the Sprinkles of Life set. 

I'm entering it in the following challenge:
Casology - Week 179 Simple

The next card I have is also for a challenge. 

Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes

I don't think I'm used to blending Stampin' Up inks anymore since I fell in love with Distress Inks. The top half of my rainbow isn't as well blended as I'd like. 

My last card is also for a challenge. This blog is a new one for me; I found it by accident through someone else I follow.

The Male Room - Anything Goes 

I love this stamp set. I don't think I'm ultimately going to buy it, though. Ang owns it, and there are too many sentiments I won't use. I've ordered the embossing folder. I have other masculine sets that will work really well with it.

Card Details - All products Stampin Up

Ice Cream Card

Cardstock: Mint Macaron, Whisper White

Ink: Mint Macaron, Crushed Curry. Sahara Sand

DSP: It's My Party
Other: Punches

Plane Card

Cardstock: Whisper White, Pacific Point

Stamps: Sky's The Limit

Ink: Crushed Curry, Cherry Cobbler, Cajun Craze, Blackberry Bliss, Marina Mist, Memento Black

Globe Card

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Ink: Lost Lagoon, Crumb Cake

Stamps: Going Global

Other: World Traveler Embossing Folder, Circle Dies

VC Rocks Holiday Blog Hop & a challenge card

Although we shut down VC Rocks at the end of the summer each year, we always open it back up again in December to just check in with each other, wish each other holiday greetings, and share projects we've been working on. This year we have a blog hop for you, too. I honestly don't remember if we did one last year. 

I had a busy final week of school, and I'm looking forward to the two week break. There are two gifts I still need to go and buy tomorrow. My plan was to bake my famous Peanut Butter Blossom cookies, but I'm not sure I've got the time or the energy. Along with shopping, I still have wrapping to finish. Today I took some time out from everything and went to see the Peanuts movie again. I rarely go to movies twice in the theatre, but it was a chance to spend time with a good friend, who invited me to tag along with her and the daughter of a mutual friend of ours. It was a lovely way to spend a cold, grey day. 

I admittedly messed up the way I photographed these two cards. My plan was to take the shot with both in in the frame, to save time, then crop it into two individual shots. Of course, the cards are two close together an that didn't work. I'm entering the one on the left, with the poinsetta paper & the Cherry Cobbler/Garden Green colour combo, in the current Color Throwdown. 

I'm not sure how I managed to do such a terrible job of photographing this card. I thought I'd checked it, but apparently, I didn't. There's no sentiment on it because a friend was over & asked me if she could take a Christmas card from my stash, and she said she'd put one on. We're both stampers/cardmakers - she's just been really busy & realized she was short a card.

Hop on over to VC Rocks to see what the other Rockers have contributed to the Hop!

Card Details - All products Stampin Up