Just a quick post to share a couple of new catalog "CASE's."

*(here is where I wish I could put a footnote, but blogger doesn't have that option.... "CASE", for those of you who don't know, means "copy and share everything" or, if you're a glass-is-half-empty kinda person, "copy and steal everything." Basically, it means you took someone else's basic design and used it to make your own card - either actually copying all the elements, colors, etc..., or just using a whole lot of it. Now, in my time in the digi-scrappin' world, we used to call it "lifting." As in, here's my layout... I "scraplifted" (<-- funny little word, huh?) from so-and-so. I kinda like the whole "lift" thing better, but I guess it sounds wierd to say "card-lifted"....) *end footnote*






This is the very first card I made with my new catty stuff. As soon as I saw the card on page 19 of the catalog, I knew I had to have the Sidekick Sayings hostess set, and I had to make that card! Supereasy design and I think it's easily adaptable to all kinds of cards. This particular one was for my dear father, who recently took on a little consulting work after enjoying the retired life for a couple of years. I wanted something simple and somewhat "masculine" (or how 'bout, "not girly"), and this did the trick!

Card Credits: Everything from Stampin' Up! Cardstock - Kraft, Bayou Blue, Whisper White; Designer Series Paper - Fall Flowers; Ink - Bayou Blue, Wild Wasabi, Stamp - Sidekick Sayings (hostess set), Extras - Photo corner from On Board Blossoms & Basics, Soft Sky double-stitched ribbon, aquapainter, dimensionals, sanding block.














I was having so much fun with the Sidekick Sayings set that I had to make another card, and really loved the sweet and simple layout on page 107 of the catty.

Now this layout was tricky! I thought it looked so easy, but gosh darnit, getting those little rectangles cut to the right size was a challenge to say the least, and I'm not sure I got it all quite right... ah, well, it looks pretty close! Actually, this picture is a little odd... the card was turned at a wierd angle and it looks a little wonky, but you get the idea.

And how excited was I to discover that Martha Stewart's Bakers' Twine comes in... GROOVY GUAVA! Yes, it's true! I had grabbed a multi-pack of the twine last time I was in Michaels, 'cause I love that stuff.... and when I was digging around in the "twine" area of my ribbon box, lo and behold, there it was! Too cool!

Card Credits: Everything Stampin' Up! (except bakers' twine) - Cardstock - Sahara Sand, Bayou Blue, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Whisper White; Ink - Staz-on Timber Brown, Groovy Guava, Old Olive; Extras - Martha Stewart Bakers' Twine, Stampin' Up! rhinestone brad, dimensionals.



Have (another) happy Monday!

Okay, I know my usual sense of humor leaks through in my posts (okay, at least I hope it does... otherwise you might think I'm just wierd...), but I'm going to warn you that I'm feeling a little sappy about this one....

This past Saturday morning, Cade and I had one of those rare excursions where it was just me and him off on a little adventure: to the park, of course! (where else would you take a little monkey?).

It was a brilliant, beautiful morning - 70+ degrees, sunny and breezy (or, according to Cade every so often "too cold, mommy!" "to winny!" - that definitely got the "whatever" glance from Mommy; it was just perfect and I let him know that in no uncertain terms...)

Anyway, to the park we go. And, can you believe it? We were the only ones there!



After recovering from the initial shock that he had the whole place to himself (and mommy was most certainly not going over the "wobberly bridge"), he had a grand time. Running up and down and all over doing a continuous loop (his modus operandi) between the stairs, the "wobberly bridge" and the slide. Over. and over. and over.



It was so sweet to watch him laughing and jabbering and singing to himself as he climbed and ran like a wild man.

And then it hit me.

He doesn't need me. He really doesn't need me anymore. No more hovering at the edge of the landing, ready to catch should he tumble over the edge. No more waiting at the bottom of the slide to help him down. No more hand-holding up the stairs. No more boosts on the bum to get up the climber...

whoa! what happened?

He can't.

No.

He can't be growing up, can he?

Okay, okay. Enough already.

I did enjoy sitting on the bench peacefully by myself, feeling the cool breeze and hearing the echoes of his laughter among the surrounding trees.

And watching the old men playing bocci ball. That was pretty cool.

One of the things I really love about our area is the mix of people. Whenever we go to the park, we are sure to hear at least 2 other languages being spoken by old and young alike. And it's so neat to watch the boys play alongside anyone without a care as to whether they can actually communicate. It's kind of fun to watch them work it out. Laughing together. Taking turns at the slide. Smiling. Well, I guess they do communicate, huh?

Anyway, these old men had out their lawnchairs and their water bottles and were playing bocci ball like it was the Greek Olympics. I'm not sure if they were Greek or Italian; I could plainly tell that they were not speaking English, but couldn't make out what language it was from that far away. So they're throwing the balls, and measuring with their feet and their hands, and yelling at each other constantly, in the way that only good friends can do.

It was great.

Then Cade and I sauntered over to the little "farm" inside the park. All the animals were busily munching away at breakfast, but they would scoot closer to the fence as we came by. Saying "hi" in their sweet little animal ways.

Here's a real sweetie we visited:

And this one was such a stinky little cutie. Kept shoving his nose through the fence. I was a little afraid that Cade would lick him on the nose, 'cause he's had this wierd licking thing lately (comes with being two-and-a-half, I guess), but we made it away safely with no pig juice on the tongue.

Now this old girl really made my morning. As soon as we approached, she stopped grazing, picked up the pace and headed straight toward us.

I was happily snapping away with the camera and saying excitedly to Cade, "Look, buddy, she's going to come right over. Right next to us. Isn't she sweet? Maybe she'll let you pet her on the head! Look, Cade. .... Cade?"

Desperate whine coming from the lower right.

"Aw, Cade!"

He had his head stuck between the slats in the fence.

And I mean stuck. You know how it is - how in the world do they get the noggin' in there, when they clearly do not have enough room to pull it out? He started to panic a little as the pony stuck it's nose right next to his red little cheeks. And, I'll admit, I was a little worried, too. Not so much about the stuck head. I figured we'd squeeze it out eventually, but I do know that ponies have sharp teeth. And what with Cade's (by now louder) half-cries and panicky squeals, I was afraid the pony would startle and give him a kick or a nibble.

Luckily, though, Miss Pony was having none of that raucous, and made her way to graze elsewhere. Meanwhile, I got Cade to sort of slide over to an area where the space looked a little wider, pulled up a little on the rickety fence slat, and he managed to squeeze his little blonde peanut through with only a minor scratch.

That pretty much ended our trip to the farm.

So back to the playground we went.

Man, he's getting so big, isn't he....?

I cannot count the ways.... (okay, maybe I could, but that would be pretty boring, and would ruin the cliche)

I am so very, very in love with this year's In Colors (have I said that before...?)

Groovy Guava is so.... groovy.

Soft Sky is so .... soft.

Wild Wasabi is so... wild.

River Rock is so .... river?


And the delicious double stitched ribbon... oh, be still my beating heart! And who can forget the fabulous new chipboard! So easy to add a delightful accent...

okay, stop me, I'm sounding like a really lame infomercial now....

Anyway . . .

Here's one of my first cards I've made with the new catalog stuff. Isn't that birdie just the cutest thing you ever have seen? Part of me is chiding myself for spending $30 on a stamp set just for this lil' cutie. Okay, okay, I know I'll use the rest, but honestly, this is the image that took the cake for me. (well, that and Beate's fabulous cards she was making with this set - see this card, and this one, and this one. . . oh, you enabler, you...)

First I rolled the new Doodle Jumbo Wheel (love it!) on the card front with Groovy Guava ink. Stamped the birdie with Timber Brown Staz-on onto Naturals White cardstock and colored with my In Color classic inks and aquapainter. Glued the image onto the chipboard piece from Blossom and Basics, attached one of the super-fun sparkly new brads (thanks to my fabulouso Crop-a-dile) and sanded the edges for a polished look. The Soft Sky panel was pierced and stamped with a sentiment from the So Many Sayings hostess set. Added the ribbon, glued on the chipboard and done! It was actually really quick and easy... a card I will definitely make more of!

Happy Monday (groan), everyone...!

Card Credits: Everything Stampin' Up! Cardstock - Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, Naturals White; Ink - Groovy Guava, Staz-on Timber Brown, Soft Sky; Stamps - Fun & Fast Notes, So Many Sayings (hostess), Doodle Jumbo Wheel; Accessories - Rhinestone Brad (fire circles), River Rock double-stitched ribbon, Blossoms & Basics Chipboard.

Lookie here what I gots! A Rockin' lil' picture for the blog post! Simone, over at Daily Dose of Spazz, nominated me for a Rockin' Girl Blogger after she was nominated by another blogger... and didn't that just make my day! (BTW - you've got to check out her blog... seriously funny stuff re: life and such and awesome cards and scrapbook pages).

So, I've gotta share 5 blogs with you that I read daily - actually, with my Bloglines reader, it's a heck of a lot more than that - check out my links on the left, and you'll see what I mean.

So here goes - Y'all consider yourself nominated, too, 'k?:

1. Erika over at Erika Designs - FABULOUS CARD MAKER! Gotta check her out.
2. Elena at The Stampin' Shac - A brand-spankin' new member of the A Muse design team! Her cards are A-Muse-a-licious!
3. Sarah at Sarah and the Stampstars - she is one busy lady! great cards, info, craft stuff and fun insights into her life and family... love it!
4. Kristina at kwernerdesignblog - What can I say other than her work really takes my breath away. Really. really.
5. Cambria at Stamp a Little Love, Baby! - Fabulous stamper, awesome tutorials, and the most SUPER-FUN personality, ever!

Check these ladies out, they truely do ROCK!

One more thing to share with you...

Last night was class one of a series of "techniques" classes I am holding. Everyone I know is a beginning stamper, so this class focused on what you can do with just good old stamps, ink and paper - that's right... no ribbon, no doodads, no nothin'!



First, we talked about using layers and dimension to create extra interest on a card.

I had so much fun designing this card, and I really love how it turned out.

Card Credits: (everything Stampin' Up!) - River Rock, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla cardstock, River Rock, Purely Pomegranate Classic Ink.


The second card we made was CASED from my upline who CASED it from SCS, so I decided not to post it... but it was a super-fun Pick-a-Petal, easy peasy, uber-cute card!




Thanks for tuning in!

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I'm so up for it.

That's right. Coolest mom evah!

Let's just say that if you are four years old and feeling really crappy, you want me around.

Why am I feeling so very cool right now? Because I actually made Quinn happy - that's right, Mr. "I'm-sick-and-bored-and-I-don't-want-to-watch-any-more-T.V.-or-read-a-book-and-I-don't-like-you-right-now,-mommy!-cranky-pants" himself! By about 4:00 this afternoon we were sick of each other and sick of watching cartoons and sick of reading and certainly not going to take another nap, so I decided it was time to go sit outside and get some fresh air. Quinn and I sat outside by the blueberry bushes and I was doing some weeding when he discovered that the little space between the two bushes made a perfect little sitting spot.

Then he decided it would make a perfect hideout.

Only trouble was that he had no idea how to cover up all the spaces between the branches and leaves....

Which is where I come in.

(sorry for the blurry pictures)

So he's on his way to recovery! Whoo hoo!

Thanks to me.

Mother of the Year.

Epilogue: While I would have loved to re-take the pictures so that they weren't so blurry, I'm sorry to report that the blueberry bush/tree branch "hut" is no more. Quinn was very excited to show Cade when he got home. And Cade was very excited about the tree hut. And, well, if you know Cade, you'll understand that the delicately balanced branches and leaves just could not withstand the ensuing hullabaloo. Quinn took it well, though, with my promises that it could be rebuilt... we'll see... I'm still scrubbing pine sap off my knuckles and knees....

Well, I'm home today with Mr. Quinn, who's got some nasty little virus, poor thing. Ah well, we decided that when life gives you lemons, you must stamp!

Actually, he wanted to watch his Peter Rabbit DVD (by the way, have you read the Beatrix Potter stories lately? They're a classic, don't get me wrong, but man, you won't find any kids books like those nowadays. Definitely no life-affirming touchy-feely stuff there. Just some good old-fashioned death, violence and naughtiness softened by the polite elegance of English-esque tastefulness and subtle humor....).


So I decided to stamp! This is for today's color challenge over at SCS - to use Bordering Blue, Mellow Moss, Not Quite Navy and (optional) Always Artichoke.

I was so excited that I had an idea for the card right away that I got to it... and then realized that I forgot to include Not Quite Navy. So I guess I failed this challenge... oh well. I still like how it turned out!

Card Credits: Everything from Stampin' Up! Cardstock - Bordering Blue, Mellow Moss, Naturals Ivory; Ink - Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke (marker), Bordering Blue (marker); Stamps - Garden Silhouettes (hostess), Small Script (retired), Hodgepodge Hardware, Stampin' Dimensionals, Always Artichoke Ribbon, Circle Punch

P.S. If you're looking for the blog candy, it's the post right before this one! ;)