You Rock

On Monday I got my box with new Papertrey Ink goodies in it. Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to stamp. We didn’t end up going to the Aquarium because the boys spent the entire weekend fighting and we weren’t going to make the trip and spend that amount of money to have them fight the entire time. Instead we ran some errands that needed to be completed, and I made arrangements to have Bandit evaluated for boarding this summer while we go to Disney. Yesterday was spent driving to and from the boarding facility. He passed his tests with flying colors and I think he’s really going to like it there. It’s a cage free environment and he’ll get to play with other boarders and dogs that go there for doggy day care as well. So I finally got to ink up some of my new stuff this morning. I used Grunge Me and Boy Basics Rock On for this card. The sketch is Fall to Layout 137.

The remainder of this week is going to involve cleaning for Colin’s birthday/1st Communion Party this weekend and hopefully we’ll have an end to this never ceasing rain so I can cut the grass again. I feel like we live in a tropical rain forest, but without the warm humid weather. Just exactly where is spring?

Easter Daisy Cookies

I posted a few days ago that I was going to attempt to make some Daisy cookies, like the ones I saw over at Sweetopia. I think they turned out perfectly! But since I’ve been baking and decorating cookies for 3 days I don’t have any new papercraft project to share with you. I hope this sweet treat will make up for it. I wish all of you that celebrate Easter a very happy Easter weekend! I’ll be back with a new card next week, probably Tuesday. I think Monday we are going to the Shedd Aquarium to see the Jellies.

Jenn

Happy Easter Chick

On Saturday it was cold and rainy for almost the entire day. I had finished Colin’s Critter Thanks cards (see Monday) and Evan had been asking to make Easter cards with the Chick and Egg from the Create a Critter cartridge for the Cricut. I got everything lined up and ready to cut and then called Evan to help. He said he’d be there and about an hour later I was finishing up these cards on my own. I guess he decided that Colin’s birthday party video game present was more exciting than following through with the cards.  I cut the chicks and egg shapes at 3″ in size and I wish I had made them smaller, but I am all about not wasting so I made due with what I had.  I thought the eggs needed a little Easter pizzazz so I stamped them with the Modern Basics stamp set from Papertrey Ink.  The sentiment on the flag is from Easter Blossoms from Stampin’ Up!

Today has been a busy day. Evan had an Easter party and then I thought it would be fun to recreate these cookies. I had the dough made and rolled and then noticed Bandit galloping through our muddy garden. We got about 2 1/4 inches of rain in 2 days. So I left him outside until the last batch of cookies were baked and on the cooling racks and then gave him a shampoo and blow dry. He seemed to love the entire experience and I’m not really loving that my entire house smells like wet dog right now. I think I’ll relax for a bit before I have to pick Colin up at school so that he can go help with a project at church for a Cub Scout patch, and then we need to grab something super quick for dinner before he has to head to his Religious Education class. I’m tired just thinking about all of it.

I hope your day has been less hectic than mine. If the cookies turn out well I’ll share a photo of those with you later this week. Tomorrow Evan and I plan to decorate the cookies and make the daisies to go on top of them. Friday we’ll put them all together.

Jenn

Linen Poppies

I was inspired by the tutorial last week on SCS to make a card with a Faux Fabric image. I started with Baja Breeze and stamped my Poppy image from the retired hostess stamp set Oh So Lovely in Basic Gray ink and then quickly heat embossed it with crystal clear embossing powder. After repeatedly stamping and embossing I used a paintbrush with bleach to bleach out the area inside of the flowers and then watercolored them in with Poppy Parade and Always Artichoke ink. After that was done I ran it though the Big Shot with the Lattice embossing folder and then distressed the edges of the cardstock.

The base is River Rock and has a strip of Pink Pirouette that was embossed with the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder and then paper pierced with the mat pack. I then sewed on some ribbon and added a PTI Vintage Spring button with Linen Thread.  The main image was attached with dimensionals.

Today I went to make sure the frames I ordered were indeed the ones I wanted. I then was able to get measured or my lenses in my  new reading glasses. I haven’t worn glasses since before Colin was born so I’m sure they will take some getting used to.

Yesterday I updated my blog and got around to adding an avatar photo. If you are viewing this in google reader you may want to pop over and see the changes. I have to say it is so much easier to change the template on a wordpress hosted site than my old self hosted one. Yea for that!

It’s super rainy here so I’m off to check out new blog posts and hopefully stamp a bit.

Jenn

Stamps: Oh So Lovely

Paper: River Rock, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze

Ink: Basic Gray, Poppy Parade, Always Artichoke

Accessories: Elegant Bouquet and Lattice Embossing Folders, mat pack, Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon, PTI Vintage Sping button, linen thread, AquaPainter, Paint Brush, bleach, dimensionals

Techniques: faux fabric, watercoloring

Critter Thanks

We survived having 4 boys over for pizza, cake and Wii games on Friday night and Colin was thrilled with his new iPod Touch. I think he started something among his friends now because they all want one. On Saturday morning he picked Roger to go along on his Jesus Day Retreat so I stayed home with Evan and got started on his Thank You notes for his birthday. I had mentioned that I got myself a Cricut Expression for my birthday and I had a chance to play with it. I used Create a Critter for the little worm on these notes. He is cut from Certainly Celery and Tangerine Tango. The Cherry Cobbler is die cut from the same cartridge and then I used a Texturz Impression plate to add the large Polka Dots to it.  I’ve been having lots of fun adding texture and playing with it instead of just reaching for some dsp lately. The background is made from Certainly Celery that was embossed with the Lattice Embossing Folder. The Tangerine Tango strip was run through my crimper and then the Crumb Cake base was stamped with the retired Polka Dot background stamp from Stampin’ Up!. The sentiment is from Trendy Trees. The color combo for this card came from the ColourQ challenge 80.

On Friday I went down to the Regional Superintendents Office and started the process of getting my Sub Authorization. So this morning I had to go get finger printed. I haven’t had to do this in 10 years and it’s all computerized now. The next step is to get a work physical and a TB test. I have those set up at the beginning of May. I then have to take all of the paperwork back to the Superintendents Office and I should be set. I just have to go to the main office for the School District and fill out some paperwork and I’ll be all set to go back to work this fall. I haven’t worked in 8 years, so this will be a whole new experience balancing the kids, home and a work schedule. At least I have the summer to transition into it.

Stamps: Trendy Trees, Polka Dot Background

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Tangerine Tango, Certainly Celery

Ink: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Cricut, Create a Critter cartridge, lattice embossing folder, polka dot texturz plate, Big Shot, crimper, dazzling diamonds, googly eyes, dimensionals, 2 way glue pen

*Now for a bit of squeamish information about my day – if you want you can stop reading here as it involves a grizzly tale of hunter vs. prey*

Colin, Evan and I were headed out of the door so that Colin could meet the bus and I could drive Evan to school. His friend comes running and yelling for him to hurry down to the bus stop. Colin is down there for 5 seconds before he starts running back home to let me know that there is a dead bunny down there. The kids are all hovered over it so I went to tell Colin not to touch it since rabbit blood can be full of diseases. I thought it may have gotten hit by a car and was in the street or on the lawn, but it was up in a landscaping bed, and it was obviously eaten. My bet is that the neighborhood coyote caught it and got scared off while eating it. Colin turns to me and says, I called you because I thought you could do something about it. So after dropping Evan off at school I got out a garbage bag and shovel and disposed of the carcass. Luckily, it is garbage day and our garbage had not yet been picked up. Hopefully Colin will be happy that I did something about it.

It’s a Birthday Day!

The next few weeks are going to be crazy and I’m not going to even say that I can post every day. This week has been busy enough, because we are preparing for a Birthday celebration tonight!  Colin is going to be 8 at exactly 2:20 this afternoon and is welcoming 4 of his friends over for pizza, cake and Wii games tonight. I’ve been busy running around getting the cake, party favors etc., all while dealing with Evan who is on his 2nd round of antibiotics for a sinus infection. He’s not contagious, but he isn’t getting better.

I also took the time to complete an online application yesterday to become a substitute teacher for the elementary school district here in town. I figured I’d hear back by the start of the next school year. I didn’t know how long the process would take. They called me back already this morning and the ball is rolling on the few things I have to get done before I can be added to the list of available teachers. That was much faster than I thought, and they asked me if I could start for the summer session. That is going to require some thinking because then I’d need to line up daycare.

So since this post is so random I picked a random birthday card to repost. I made this one a while ago using Inspired by Nature and it was a favorite of mine.

Have a good weekend. It’s supposed to be cold and rainy, so maybe, just maybe I’ll get to stamp something to carry me into next week.

Soft Summery Thanks

This card is a combination of the Color Challenge on SCS and the Get Sketchy #81 sketch challenge. I pulled out Soft Summer, an old favorite that hasn’t seen ink in a while. I stamped it on watercolor paper and used re-inkers to color it in.

Evan and I are heading out to plant lettuce in the garden. I read a sign in WalMart today that says that for every $1 you spend in seeds you get about $20 worth of produce according to a Better Homes and Gardens survey. I sure hope that’s true. We also started our Bell Pepper seeds and Heirloom Tomatoes in a little greenhouse kit.

Have a fantastic Tuesday.

Jenn

Stamps: Soft Summer

Paper: So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Lap of Luxury dsp, watercolor paper

Ink: Soft Suede, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Pretty in Pink

Accessories: Circle Scissors, Big Shot, Lattice embossing folder, half pearls, AquaPainter, dimensionals.

Techniques: watercoloring

 

Bright Baby Congrats

It’s been a few days since I’ve been able to stamp anything. Last week I had company on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon and had an eye dr. appointment on Friday. I can’t stamp when my eyes are dilated and I got to leave with a prescription for glasses – I must be getting old! Then on Saturday we had an Easter Egg hunt in the YMCA pool for the kids and then we assembled our raised garden bed and unassembled our trampoline to make room for the garden beds. The weekend weather was way too nice to stay inside. But it’s cold again and it was time to be creative.

I combined Fall to Layout 135 with the CAS Inspiration challenge on SCS today. I was fun to create a bright baby card. I normally go for pastels and traditional colors so this pushed me out of my comfort zone.  I combined Nursery Necessities and the Nursery Numbers wheel from Stampin’ Up! with the It’s Official stamp set from Papertrey Ink for the sentiment.

I hope you are having a fabulous Monday!

Jenn

Stamps: Nursery Necessities, Nursery Numbers wheel (Stampin’ Up!), It’s Official (Papertrey Ink)

Paper: Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White

Ink: Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie

Accessories: sewing machine, dimensionals, large star punch, Creative Memories Curvy Cutter, half pearl

 

Wii Party Invitations

In just under 2 weeks, Colin is going to be 8! We gave him the option this year of having a birthday party with all of his friends, or having a smaller party and getting a bigger gift. He chose the small party and the big gift. He decided he wanted to invite 3 or 4 of his friends to come over for pizza and cake and then play Wii games. I had no idea what I was going to do for his birthday party invitations and then I came across this template.  I simply printed it onto Whisper White card stock, cut and scored and then attached the invitation information to the bottom nunchuck style.

I met Colin at the bus on Monday afternoon so that he could give the invitations to two of the kids who get off at his bus stop. All of the kids were asking why I was standing down there with Wii Remotes. They invitations were a big hit!

Jenn

Paper: Whisper White, Pacific Point

Accessories: 1/4″ grosgrain ribbon, sticky strip

 

Easter Egg Wishes

As soon as I saw FTL134, I knew I wanted to incorporate the Easter Egg image from Easter Blossoms. I picked a few colors from the Subtles color family that I felt were pastel and would work well with this theme and got to stamping. I ended up using Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Baja Breeze, Marina Mist, So Saffron and Perfect Plum. I stamped them on Whisper White card stock and cut them out. I then mounted them with dimensionals on Naturals White that I had added score lines to. That was matted on Pink Pirouette and then onto Baja Breeze. I added the All Holidays sentiment on a Baja Breeze banner in Marina Mist ink and then dressed up the eggs with half pearls.

Today has been a crazy day of running around. I took Evan to school, volunteered in the school library, ran a few errands and then picked up Evan. I’m going to be leaving soon to take him to the Dr. because I think he’s getting a sinus infection. It seems to be going around his classroom.

Tomorrow I have Colin’s birthday party invitations to share with you. He was thrilled with how they turned out.

Jenn

Stamps: Easter Blossoms, All Holidays

Paper: Marina Mist, Pink Pirouette, Naturals White, Whisper White

Ink: Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Baja Breeze, Marina Mist, So Saffron, Perfect Plum

Accessories: dimensionals, half pearls