Scrappin' Saturday :)

Good Morning! Well, earlier this week I was talking about doing Scrappin' Saturdays so I would get at least one layout a week completed. Well, today is the beginning, but I have to say that I cheated a little bit. I didn't just finish this layout, it's been done for a while, but I figured if I didn't start today, I surely wouldn't start next week either, you see, I'm what you would call a procrastinator. So, for today, I'm using a layout I completed earlier this year.

This layout is of our youngest grandson, Tyler. He is such a doll and I can't wait to see him, they are coming up in November :)

This is an 8X8 layout and I really have enjoyed working with this size. Usually I work with 12X12 layouts, but this size is really fun. I print my photos in wallet size so they don't overwhelm the page and I can still get more than one on a page. I used Cosmo Cricket papers, a punch that punches that little envelope on the right side and a cuttlebug die to cut all the little hearts that go on the inside of that. The font is Quickutz Fiesta. The only other thing I added was orange ribbon. It was simple, but with those papers, it had to be :)

Okay, this means I have to finish at least one layout this week, I do have many layout ideas floating around in my head, does that count???

Our quote for the day: "Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same. "
— Flavia Weedn

We are off to watch some volleyball and then who knows..... Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

A Sketch Challenge - completed :)

Good Morning! It's a BEAUTIFUL day here is Iowa, I have the windows open and the cool breeze is coming in. Thank goodness, yesterday was hot as could be and the air wasn't moving at all! So I will just enjoy this coolness for as long as it will stay :)



Today's card is based on a sketch challenge from Amy Rysavy. Every Friday she posts a sketch and everyone is welcome to participate. This card happens to be from last week's sketch, I've had the sketch on my studio table all week and I just finished it last night, whew! Amy has another great one for today, but I'll link you to last week's first.

I started with a bazzill basics cardstock base, then added Cloud9Design dp from the Sunrise Smoothie collection (both pieces). My stamps are from Stamping Bella and I colored the image with copics then added a gem in the center of the flower. The ribbon is from Offray. This was a fun sketch. Amy is really good at creating them. This week's sketch is posted on her blog now. I can't wait to do this one as well.

Today's quote of the day: "Adversity is another way to measure the greatness of individuals. I never had a crisis that didn't make me stronger." - Lou Holtz

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out Amy's sketches and play along :)

Coffee anyone?

Good Morning!! I'm writing this as I drink my coffee....how about you?

Well you know the ice cream cards that I made with the McDonald's gift cards in them for my grandsons? Well, they got them and immediately used them :) But their Mom jokingly said, "Where's mine?" So, of course that got me to thinking about this cute little coffee set I have from My Favorite Things, so my step-daughters both are getting coffee cards with Starbucks gift cards in them. I loved making these. I also love to make cards for them because they like colors that aren't always colors that I would choose, they like more muted colors so it's fun to make cards that I think reflect their personalities. Anyway, deets about this card: cardstock base is from prism, polka dotted paper is from Basic Grey the Archaic line, the MFT set is "Hot Stuff" the sentiment is from Hero Arts Sparkly Clear "Coffee" set, the ribbon is from Martha Stewart. I colored the images with Copic markers and used some stardust glitter pen too.

Our quote for the day: "To love abundantly is to live abundantly, and to love forever is to live forever. " — Henry Drummond

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a fabulous day. Now I'm off to go have a massage :)

All That Scraps Wednesday Challenge

Good Morning! Today is All That Scraps Wednesday Challenge and as you see above the challenge is to make a scented card. There are many ways to do this. At All That Scraps you can purchase these really cool scents that are in bottles like nail polish and all you have to do is 'paint' them around the card or image you want to smell. That's what I used on my card, it smells like bananas :) You can find them here. If you go to the post about the challenge on the ATS message board you can also find some other ways to make scented cards. I love using this though because it makes my studio smell like banana pudding - YUM!!!

I started this card with prism cardstock and added some chatterbox dp and some blue cardstock that I embossed with my cuttlebug folder. I used "Monkey Love" CC Designs set along with the bananas and banana sentiments that go with it. I colored in Copics and used some Spica glitter on the banana peels although you can't tell that in the picture. Then I added ribbon and dew drops. Fun and it smells good too! :)

Our quote for the day: "Everyone's life is under someone's control - it might as well be under your own so that you can direct your destiny." - Harry Tucker

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

We interupt the Halloween cards postings for.......

play time with a new cuttlebug die and embossing folder......(whoops, did I say that out loud?) I meant for a note of thanks! :)

I went into Hobby Lobby yesterday because I hadn't been in there in a long time and they had Copic markers on sale and I needed an orange. Don't get too excited, they don't have a great selection of Copics, but if you're looking for just a few to try before you actually make the investment, it's a good thing :) Anyway, I was walking by the scrapbooking stuff as I always do and I saw that they had just a couple of the new releases by cuttlebug. None of the new holiday things, but they did have this with gratitude set that jumped into my shopping basket. They also had paper 50% off so I bought this little 8X8 pad by the Paper Studio. It's really cute and girly and glittery. I came home and made this. I added the ribbon by American Crafts and the gems by Hero Arts. It was fun and easy and I didn't stamp a thing on this card.

Tomorrow will bring us back to our regularly scheduled programming, unless something new finds itself at my house again :)

Our quote for the day: "Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it." — Yves Saint Laurent

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Halloween is in the air.....

Okay, maybe FALL is in the air.....but I'm having so much fun making Halloween cards :) This one could possibly be considered "Loving an unloved stamp" because this is the first time it has seen ink. I bought it last year, not during Halloween season just because I loved it so much, but I had to wait (for a VERY long time :) to use it. It's by Rubber Soul and I was looking at it online and it just yelled to me, " Please buy us, you love us!!" - so I did. :)

The base of this card is prism black and I used KI Memories patterned papers, the orange is Haunted Sentiment, the green is Haunted Small Dotty, and the purple is Haunted Pin Dot. I stamped with my versafine black and colored with Copics. I added glitter to the moon and sponged the blue sky in. I added photo corners and the gems from Mark Richards. I think the ribbon is from May Arts, but I'm out of it and will have to get some more because I love it! Oh, the Happy Halloween stamp is from Studio G.

Maybe I will move on to some fall cards......but then maybe not because CC Designs is releasing some Halloween stamps in September and you will NOT be disappointed. Remember to post some creations in the gallery at All That Scraps to be eligible to be chosen for the guest designer.

Our quote for the day: "Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important. " — Janet Lane

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Another Halloween card and a new product for me :)

Good Morning! I actually stamped for a pretty long time last night. It was fun!! I'm having a thought about needing to get back into more scrapbooking because my kid's book are really falling behind so I'm thinking about doing a Scrap Page Saturday. Maybe that will hold me accountable for a least one page a week! It's going to be a trial thing, but today doesn't count :)

This is one of the cards I made last night! Yesterday I bought some Bazzill Stitches templates and although they aren't a new product they are new to me. At first I didn't think I would use them, but the more I thought about it, the more fun they sounded, so I caved and bought some. The orange flourish at the bottom of the card is what I made with it. I used regular DMC embroidery floss because I have a TON of it from cross-stitching. The templates were very easy to use and fun. I added beads to my stitches and just did backstitching on it. I started with black prism paper for the card base, the purple dot is from KI Memories, the stamp is from Stampendous "Max & Pumpkins". I colored with prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits and added glitter to the pumpkin faces. The gems are from Mark Richards and are smooth on the outside, not the normal faceted gems. Another fun card to make :)

Our quote for the day: "Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction". -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
This is one of my favorite quotes! I used it in the scrapbook I made for my niece when she got married.

Thanks for stopping by and remember to jump on over to the All That Scraps Gallery and post some of your creations to win a Guest Designer Spot.

All That Scraps Guest Designer :)

Do you want to be a Guest Designer working with the latest stamps from C.C. Designs?
What do you have to do? Participate in challenges and post links to your work. Upload your projects to the Gallery.

We are not doing a call for the guest spot, the designer will be chosen by Amy and Christine via participants in the challenge/gallery uploads, etc.

We will have our official first Guest Designer in October - he/she will receive all the stamps being released that month.
Good luck! :o)

How exciting would that be??? We would LOVE to see what you design for the ATS Challenges and Christine has some AWESOME new stamps coming our way :)


Now, for today's card:

Another gatefold card, I can't help it, they're so much fun! I bought some K&Co sparkly die-cuts (the headstones) and I don't usually buy things like that, but they were so cute! So then the creativity had to begin. I knew the headstones were going to be on the inside of the card so I had in my head that I wanted skeletons on the front. Well, quickutz has a skeleton die that I didn't own, but I was going out that night and I was just going to buy it. Wouldn't you know, they didn't have it!!!! So thanks to my friend Teresa, (Hi Teresa :), who let me borrow her die, the quickutz skeleton made it to the front of my card, along with the spider that she brought with the skeleton, and the ghosts on the inside.

The paper on the front is from Scrapworks. The cardstock on the inside is Bazzill, I tore the grass for the graveyard and then used my grass stamp from my sweet Sugarplum Scenery set from CC Designs on the bottom. The Happy Halloween and the spider stamp on the inside are both from Studio G. Now I have to go on a hunt for all these dies that I borrowed from Teresa because they were FUN!

Our quote for the day: "We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open. " — Jawaharlal Nehru

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Image Swapping

Good Morning! Well, my kids went off to their first day of school this morning. My son is a Junior and my daughter is a Freshman. Where has the time gone??? We had fun this morning over breakfast and now I just hope they have a great day! Me??? I just might stamp all day although I do have some ironing I SHOULD do :)

This card was made with an image that a friend sent to me, thanks Harriet :) I love Fluffles, but I only have a couple of their stamps so Harriet sent me some stamped images to use. This is one of them. Image swapping is a great way to try a new stamp company or add to your collection without buying EVERY stamp you fall in love with. Have you ever bought a stamp and then realized it wasn't exactly what you thought it was? With image swapping you might be able to find that out before actually purchasing the stamp. Anyway, this is the first time I had swapped images and I think it's pretty cool!

Onto the card. It's a 5" X 5" card. I wish I could tell you who made the patterned paper, but it was my last little piece of it and I had already used the part with the manufacturer, sorry! I colored my image with prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits, and I used the quickutz 12" flower border to make the flowers in the corners, then I added dew drops to the insides of them. The image is cut with a Marvy scallop punch and gems added to the scallops as well as the flower centers. "Hello You" is a hero arts stamp and then I added pop dots to the image and added the ribbon under it. That's it :)

Our quote for the day: "Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them." - W. Clement Stone

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

ATS Challenge Wednesday

Good Morning! It's Challenge Wednesday from All That Scraps! This week's challenge was the sketch from Amy Rysavy! She is so good at creating sketches that are fun to play with! I used the Glam Girlz set - Shari to be exact! I paper pieced her outfit with the same line of paper that I made the card with - SEI's BeBop. I colored the rest of Shari with prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits and added stardust glitter pen and a gem for her beautiful ring :) The blue paper she is mounted on is Bazzill Bling just to give a little more sparkle to her :) I used Making Memories slotted punch set to make the half moon tabs and then threaded some eyelash fiber through them and tied a knot. The flower is from imaginisce. Yet another fun one!

Play along with us! You can post your creation in the Wednesday challenge gallery on ATS. We would love to see what you come up with.

Our quote of the day: "Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it. " — Maya Angelou

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!

PS - Cliff updated his blog again with a beautiful picture of the church that my mom grew up in.

This End Up :)

Oh my gosh, is he not the cutest thing??? This is one of my recently acquired stamps from High Hopes stamps. You know sometimes I just feel this way, actually more often than I'd like to admit :) But lately the weather has been beautiful here, almost fall like and things are going well! I still LOVE this little guy though :) For this card I stamped the ostrich in Versafine sepia and colored him with prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits. He's mounted on DCWV cardstock, and then on Basic Grey recess paper. I distressed everything a little bit with my Heidi Swapp pac woman distresser :) I did sponge in blue around the ostrich but you really can't see that very well unless you click on the picture and enlarge it. The ribbon is from May Arts and the arrows are from American Crafts.

My hubby had some technical difficulties with his blog the first time so he has started again. You can see it here Cliff Fincher Photography. He passion is photography and he is having so much fun learning about it and seeing the world in a whole new way. It's really cool!

Okay, I think that's it for today, remember tomorrow is All That Scraps Design Team Challenge Wednesday so come back to see what our challenge is for this week :)

Also Christine has the holiday cuttlebug embossing folders and ProvoCraft is not making any more of these so once they're gone, they're gone.

Our quote for the day: "In dreams and in love there are no impossibilities. " — Janos Arany

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day!

Award Time :)

I recently received an award from one of the sweetest blog readers, but you probably already know that because she's got an amazing blog that you probably already read. I also received this same award at the end of July from another amazing blogger who I have actually met IRL and she is just as sweet as can be! But back in July, I was being a bad blogger and didn't actually do anything with the award. So today, I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do. My awards came from Christi and Lynette.

The rules of this award are slightly different from the usual, as in this one is not so much for creativity and inspiration...it's a blog friend thing. How fun!

1. Only 5 people are to be nominated.

2. 4 out of 5 have to be dedicated followers of your blog.

3. 1 has to be new or recently new to your blog and live in another part of the world.

4. You must link back to whomever gave you the award.

The five people I am going to nominate are: Jen, Lesa, Christina, Katie, and my friend recently new to my blog is Tori.

I had a really hard time choosing, because I have some really awesome blogs that I read. You can check them out on my sidebar.

Thanks Lynette and Christi for giving me this award. I appreciate it!

Our quote of the day: "Believe in yourself and there will come a day when others will have no choice but to believe with you." - Cynthia Kersey

Have a fabulous day and I'm off to leave some comments :)

Ice Cream Anyone???

Good Morning! Sorry about these last two posts being so close together in time. Be sure you scroll down to see the one below this one if you haven't already. I used some stamps I've never used before, cute ones!! :)

This card has been in my mind for a while now and I finally am getting them made!! Woo Hoo!!! I'm making cards with McDonald's gift cards in them for my 2 grandsons and my great nephew, wow, great nephew makes me sound really old, but I was only 9 when his Mom was born so that makes me feel a little better :) I want them to go get ice cream from us because they all live down south where it is REALLY hot right now. Sissy if you're reading this, please don't tell Jonas, it's a surprise :)

On to the card, I used CC Designs "Sweet Treats" set. (I LOVE this set!!) I also used paper from the Elsie collection by KI Memories, Bazzill Bling which I embossed with the cuttlebug embossing folder. If you've never used these, in my opinion they are one of the most economical tools you can have. The large embossing folders are $4.99 and they make such an impact on your cards. I don't even have a cuttlebug, I use mine in my old red sizzix machine with the converter on it. It works perfectly :) Sorry about that side track, I just really love some of my tools and that is definitely one of my favorites! I also used dew drops, ribbon, a slot corner punch to make the gift card holder and little stampendous glitter stickers for the cherry on the inside ice cream cone.

I'm so excited to share these with you as I've been seeing them in my head for a while. Now I need to go finish them :)

Our quote for the day: "Lack - of money is no obstacle. Lack of an idea is an obstacle." - Ken Hakuta

Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy your day!

High Hopes Stamps

I have been admiring these stamps for a long time, but I just recently ordered some. They are very cute and I love the sentiments that go along with them. For this card I used "Possum Pals" with Pink Martini dp and Bazzill Bling shimmer paper that I embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder. Than I added the sentiment, prima flowers, a dew drop and some ribbon. Oh, I colored the image with prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits and added some glitter pens to add some bling. My husband asked which one he was and I responded, "the one not talking of course" :) Fun images to play with!

Our quote for the day: "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. " — Scott Adams

Have a wonderful evening and thanks so much for stopping by!

A Halloween card.....

Good Morning! I'm so excited about this card. It wasn't very hard to make, but I was just playing around and ended up with something that I love. That's a great feeling to me :) I got this Northwoods stamp at Archiver's - I saw it and knew immediately that it was going home with me :) I started with kiwi green shimmer paper from Paper Company, then I add a layer of Making Memories designer paper. I stamped the pumpkin in Stazon black onto a layer of acetate and let it dry. On the back side of that, I sponged orange Stazon onto the pumpkin. After that all dried I put the acetate on top of the dp and held everything together with 4 black brads. That's it!! But I love how it turned out and I certainly don't say that about all of my cards!

After this one, I bought red and green Stazon so I can do some Christmas cards with this technique too :)

I've been having lots of fun in my studio, so much fun that my laundry is piling up :( I will have to take a break soon and get some of the needed stuff done. That's okay though, I even like doing laundry.......now mopping I can certainly do without!

On another note: All That Scraps is giving away a $5 gift certificate. You can go over to Renee's blog at Stamping for Sanity to check that out and find out what you have to do to win. You can also go to the ATS Blog to see a great project that Cyndi has done using one of the new sets!

Our quote for the day: "Remember we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand." - Anonymous

I hope you have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

I think I'm getting Addicted to Challenges :)

Truly I think I am. They are such a good starting point for me. Sometimes I just choose a particular stamp or embellishment I want to use, but then again that would be a kind of challenge too wouldn't it? If you haven't tried any challenges let me encourage you to do so. It makes you step out of the "normal" way you create and gets you to learn new things.....and it's SO much fun!! This card I made yesterday for the sketch challenge at Splitcoaststampers. You can see the challenge here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=372892. Okay, here is my card:

I used Fancy Pants paper from the celebrate line, Bazzill bling (blue) and Bazzill basics (yellow)Hero Arts flower stamp, Colorbox chalk ink, Prima flowers, dew drops, hero arts gems, a cuttlebug die (the tag), some ribbon, and the thanks stamp from Rubber Stampede (I've had this stamp for a REALLY long time, I think I should get to consider this a "love an unloved stamp" post too :)

It really is fun to have a starting point and see what you can make it into, so again if you've never done a challenge, give it a try!

Our quote for the day: "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. " — Robert F. Kennedy

Have a fabulous day and thanks so much for stopping by!

ATS Wednesday Challenge

Good Morning! It's Wednesday and that means another All That Scraps Wednesday Challenge. This week's challenge was to make a suspension card. I really wasn't sure what that was at first, but the tutorial is here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/suspension_card/ . See how the spinning part has a blue bird on one side and a red bird on the other? It was so much fun to make, now I'm thinking of one with snowflakes on the spinning part. :)

For this one I used a craft card base, Bazzill cardstock, "Olivia's Birdies" CC Designs set, prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits, Prima flowers, dew drops, may arts ribbon and pop dots.

These newly release stamps sets are so much fun. If you haven't seen them yet, go here: http://www.allthatscraps.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=650_720.

I'm working on some Halloween cards and some new thank you cards, hopefully I'll have some new cards to share after today :)

Our quote of the day: "I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time. " — Anna Freud

Also, my husband has just started a blog about his photography. He is really developing his skills and I'm excited about his blog. If you want to take a peek, you can see it here: http://cfincherphotography.blogspot.com/.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!!

CC Designs Stamps are now Available :)

Here are two more cards made with the just released CC Designs stamps. These stamps are so much fun to play with and they work together so perfectly. This top one uses "Bear Hugs" and "Sugarplum Sentiment Set" and the one below uses "Olivia's Birdies" and "Sugarplum Sentiment Set". Jump on over to All That Scraps and look at the sets in their entirety. http://www.allthatscraps.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=650_720

Our All That Scraps Challenge is tomorrow, so guess what I'll be doing today :) It's a fun one so be sure to stop by tomorrow and see what we've been working on.

Our quote for the day: "The great use for life is to spend it for something that will outlast it." - William James

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a fabulous day!

Another Sneak Peek

Good Morning! Another sneak peek of the CC Designs stamp sets that will be released tonight! This one uses the bear from "Bear Hugs" and the sentiment from "Sugarplum Sentiment Set"

This folding card was a new attempt for me and I still want to play with it a little bit to get it to a regular card size, but it was still fun! I started with light blue cardstock and then added the Making Memories paper. You can't tell from here, but the paper has some of the stars cut out so the blue stars that you see are actually the cardstock showing through, very fun paper. I used copics to color bear and white souffle pen to do his detail work. Nestabilities cut my scalloped rectangles the I added the ribbon and the sentiment. Easy as can be. Oh, I almost forgot. The Score-pal is perfect for cards like this because you don't have to move your paper. It lets you score more than one line without having to re-measure. I LOVE my score-pal - http://www.allthatscraps.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=189&products_id=6115&zenid=3373c68508ff74ee525f15dab6e10c63

Remember to join us for the release party, tonight at 8:00 est. We'll see you then :)

Our quote for the day: "The goal in marriage is not to think alike, but to think TOGETHER. " - Robert C. Dodds

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!

Another Sneak Peek

Good Morning! Another sneak peek for All That Scraps new CC Designs stamps. This one features the Sugarplum Sentiment Set. 31 sentiments and some images to go with them too!! The all needed sentiments like Happy Birthday and Thank You and With Sympathy, but fun ones too like this one! And they are in different fonts depending on the mood of the sentiment too. This is definitely a "must have" set.

Remember the release is Monday, August 11th. Join us for the release party at 8:00pm eastern time. You can also go to the All That Scraps blog to see more sneak peeks : http://www.atsblog.typepad.com/.

Our quote for the day: "Modesty is the gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be aware of it." - Oliver Herford

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Sneak Peeks

Good Morning! We are back from West Virginia and I'm only 1 day behind on the sneak peeks from All That Scraps. :) Alot has happened in the last week, but I will share the cards I've made with the new CC Designs stamps first because they are soooooooo cute!!!

The release will be Monday, August 11th, so make plans to join us for the release party!

This set is called Bear Hugs and it has 2 bears, 2 bees and 4 sentiments! They are so much fun to play with and to color! The sentiment I used on this card is from Inkadinkado. I needed something big for this card. The flower I used is from another set releasing this month. It's called Sugarplum Scenery Set and I've already has lots of fun with that set too! My next post will have more of that set in it :)

This is a Joy fold card and it's the first one I have ever made, but it won't be the last. It was alot of fun to make and I love all the folds in it!

You can see more of the sneak peeks from the design team and have a chance to win the new stamps here : http://www.atsblog.typepad.com/.

Our quote for the day: "He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away. " — Raymond Hull

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!