I feel the love...

Tonight I wanted to share some of the cards that I have received for my Aunt. It looks like your prayers and warm thoughts are working, because my Aunt was taken off all of the machines today and was wide awake! Everyone was pleasantly surprised by this recent turn of events. Tomorrow she is going to be transferred to the Kessler Institute where her physical therapy and rehabilitation can begin! This is the same place where Christopher Reeve went after his accident. She's been there twice before and is looking forward to making progress and gaining her strength back again.

Here are some of the beautiful cards for Joan

The photograph on this card was actually taken by the gal who made the card! Amazing isn't it?!

This beauty was made by Sankari. She even sent a care package along for me and my kids! Such an amazing lady - you can check out her blog here

"Sankari's Sunshine Corner"
Thank you so much ladies! Your cards are beautiful and will be loved by my Aunt!
Big hugs,

Mass production

My son celebrated his 7th birthday today and he's had a great time opening all of the presents that he's received in the mail this week. He's gotten so many little goodies from his friends in Taekwondo class and from school.

I'm one of those mothers who's really big on thank you cards. I've taught my kids to appreciate the kindness of others and to be grateful when someone spends the time to pick out a special gift for them. In anticipation of his big day, I came up with a quick and simple thank you card for him to give to all of his friends. I used the cute penguin images from Imaginice and paired them with my favorite flourish stamp by Inkadinkado.

My goal was to make the flourish stamp look like a wave, so I stamped it out in Blue Bayou and covered it with waterfall blue Stickles. After those dried, I stamped the surfboard from SU's "Do The Hula" onto a scrap of patterned paper. I colored the penguins in with my Sakura glaze pens and added a sentiment from SU's "Much Appreciated".

This is the card he'll be sending out to all of the girls. And this is the card he'll be sending out to all of the boys.
Here's a close up of the swim trunks colored with the Sakura Glaze Pens. These things are great!
We had a loooong day at Six Flags today, so I'm off to soak my tired little feet. I will be sharing some of the cards I've received for my Aunt tomorrow. Thank you all so much. It means the world to me!

Hugs,

Fresh cuts preview

I'm sure most of you have seen these little notecards called "Fresh Cuts Notes". They measure 4 x 4 and are made of that smooth Whisper White paper that we all know and love.

Each notecard comes with the flower image perforated on the top layer. That way you can either leave it on or pop it out.

A friend of mine hosts a monthly stamp / swap club and this is one of the projects that we made last month.


For this quick card, I popped out the flower image and sponged around the borders with Only Orange. I used the large flower punch layered with some of my favorite felt flowers and an "ice" rhinestone brad. The rest of the card and envelope were decorated with the coordinating stamp set.

I ordered two cases of the new SU catalog and they shipped out yesterday!! I can't wait to get my hot little hands on them! My sister-in-law have a "new catty tradition". On the night that the catalogs are delivered, I put two in a bag without looking at them (sooooo hard to do!). Then we meet up at Starbucks after the kids are in bed, order our favorite drinks and oooohhh and ahhhhh for the next hour! I know - we're dorks...

Birthday Tortoise

Got lots more e-mails today regarding this post. Thank you, thank you , thank you. I just love how the stamping community can rally together when it counts! There's still time if you want to join in!

I picked up this cute tortoise image by Inkadinkado months ago and finally had a reason to ink it up. Not that I didn't have a "reason" when I bought it....ehem...okay I didn't! But it was too cute to pass up - so there!

My doctor, who is a fellow "scramper" in her spare time recently adopted a tortoise from a rescue. She'd been on the waiting list for 5 years and finally got THE call. She now has a tortoise living in her backyard named Austin. Every time I go to the doctor, I'm entertained with stories about how Austin has eaten every blackberry on the bush and has purple lips, or how he likes to lay in his play pool with arms and legs totally spread out enjoying total relaxation.

I thought it would be fun to make an all-occasion set of tortoise cards for her. This was the first one that I came up with. I'm still using up this paper I won in a raffle last year. The presents and party hat are from the Lily set by Pink Cat Studio.

Thanks for stopping by. I have some SUPER exciting news to share with you later this week!!

CARD DETAILS:

PATTERNED PAPER BY DOODLEBUG

CARDSTOCK BY STAMPIN UP (PUMPKIN PIE, BLUE BAYOU)

STAMPS BY INKADINKADO, PINK CAT STUDIOS & HERO ARTS

BLING BY DOODLEBUG

INK BY STAMPIN UP (BASIC BLACK, PIXIE PINK, WILD WASABI)

Cyber hugs and blue hair gel...

First of all, I'd like to thank each and every one of you who reached out to me after my last post regarding my Aunt. Your kind words and support brought me to tears today. I wish I could personally give each one of you a big hug and a thank you in person.

Consider yourself all {{{{cyber-hugged}}}}!

After an emotional weekend, I decided to work with an image that required some coloring. I always find coloring to be sooooo therapeutic.

Here's what I came up with. Don't you just love it when your brain and your hands are working together and you make exactly what you were thinking of?!

I've been wanting to make a gel card for a while now and Lauren's sketch gave me the inspiration that I needed! I decided to make it a "gel pocket" with a tag that pulls out.

Here's what the tag looks like.
This is the result of my therapeutic coloring session.
And these are the Copics that I used.

Want to make a gel card of your own?? You know you do!

All you have to do is fill up a clear envelope with a little bit of hair gel. (I used light blue) Make sure your envelope is completely sealed - use some red sticky strip if needed.

Attach your gel filled envelope to the back of your opening with red sticky strip.
I decided to add foam dimensionals to the back of mine so I could make it a pocket.
Attach to card base and voila!
Hope this mini tutorial was helpful and another big THANK YOU to those of you who have taken the time to reach out to me and send a card for my Aunt.
Hugs

CARD DETAILS:

Stamps - Magenta, Stampin Up

Cardstock - Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue, Taken with Teal

Ink - Pixie Pink, Marvelous Magenta, Wild Wasabi, Basic Black

Misc. - Copics, mini clear envelope, ribbon

I need your good vibes and your cards....

This blog entry is on the personal side, which I don't usually do, but I just received a phone call from my Aunt in New Jersey. Her twin sister, who I'm very close to was taken to the hospital on Wednesday. My Aunt has suffered from Multiple Sclerosis for many many years and has been going downhill fast for the last couple of years.

On Wednesday evening, she suffered a seizure that lasted 20 minutes. She stopped breathing, turned blue and her body temperature went down to 90 degrees. The ambulance had to stop before they got to the ER so they could resuscitate her.

I'm having a really hard time dealing with this because I live 3,000 miles away and feel so helpless and useless at a time like this. I'm hoping to be able to fly out soon and give her a hug in person, but until then, I need your help.

She loves to get cards in the mail - who doesn't? Support from others makes her feel strong and gives her the will to fight. I would LOVE to send her a big box of beautiful cards with well wishes for her recovery. Is anyone out there interested in donating a card?

Here's some info about my Aunt Joan...

• She LOVES the color purple - not lavender, but dark purple. Her wonderful husband painted the shutters on their house purple just for her!
• She has her eyebrow pierced and looks awesome with it! How many 49 year olds do you know who can pull that off?!
• She and her husbands family run a greenhouse business. They have the most beautiful tulips and amaryllis that you've ever seen. Here's a link to their website - Holland Acres.
• She's an animal lover. Currently residing at her home are two Great Pyrenees, at least one bearded dragon and two cats.
• It will probably be several months before she's able to go home.

If you've read this far, thank you. If you're interested in sending a card for Joan, please leave a comment here with your e-mail address and I'll reply asap.

Hugs,

Fool your family Friday!

What the heck am I talking about? Click here.

I made tacos for dinner last night, which is always a hit in my house, but this time I added a secret ingredient.....

Tacos

• 1 pound lean ground beef or turkey
• 1 can crushed tomatoes, with juice
• 1/2 cup carrot puree*
• 1 taco seasoning packet
• 1 package taco shells
• 1/2 cup shredded reduced fat cheese

1. Brown meat in a pan
2. Stir in tomatoes w/juice, carrot puree and seasoning mix
3. Simmer for about 10 minutes
4. Fill taco shells with meat and sprinkle with cheese. Bake in oven for 5 minutes at 325 degrees or until cheese is melted.
5. Add favorite toppings and serve.

My family was totally fooled by this recipe. My son HATES carrots, so this recipe was for him. He had three tacos! Enough said.

*To puree the carrots, I just use a bag of pre-washed and peeled baby carrots, steam them for 10 minutes and stick them in the food processor. This makes enough for several 1/2 cup servings which I freeze for future recipes. The carrots added to this recipe are a great source of beta carotene, which is great for your child's eyes and skin. They also contain a good amount of insoluble fiber.

Have a super weekend! I'll be back on Monday.

A gift bag and some blog love

The kids and I were stuck at home all day waiting for a phone call - that never came. We got bored and decided to make a gift bag to go with this card.

I totally stink when it comes to wrapping gifts. By the time I make the perfect card and pick out the perfect gift, I just want to wrap it up and get it done with already! Terrible, I know.


The kidlets and I are heading to a birthday party tomorrow and the gift has been sitting on my dining room table, unwrapped, for a week. We all sat down together this afternoon and here's what we came up with.

My son definitely wanted to use the Cricut, so I let him make Emily's name with the "George" font cartridge.
I used the same Whipper Snapper koala stamp, but instead of white fun flock on his belly, I used white liquid applique.
And of course we put Stickles on the balloons and party hat.

We even stamped birthday sentiments on the tissue paper! I'm happy with the way it turned out and best of all, the kids LOVED it. My son said that he'll have the prettiest present at the party and that was all I needed to hear. I vow to take as much time and effort into wrapping my presents, as I do in picking them out.

These are the Copics that I used

Oh and I got some blog love from my buddy Tiffany over at "My Crafty World" ! Thanks Tiffany you totally made my day! Go check out her blog if you have a chance because she's got some cute samples of her swaps that she's getting ready for SU convention!

Thanks for stopping by. I'll be back later today with another "fool your family" recipe.
Hugs,

Color Inspiration Challenge #17

Kristina posted her color challenge for the week.

As soon as I saw the color palette, I thought of my grandmother and was instantly inspired to make a card with flowers.

Here's my entry

Definitely not my usual style, but it's starting to grow on me. Would you believe that I made this card with 4 kids in the next room?! I bribed them with the opportunity to help me make cookies if they could keep themselves occupied for 15 minutes so I could have MY play time! A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do...

CARD RECIPE:

STAMPS: TIME WELL SPENT, FRENCH SCRIPT BACKGROUND

PAPER: SAGE SHADOW, ROSE RED, REGAL ROSE, WHISPER WHITE

INK: VERSAMARK, REGAL ROSE, CRAFT WHITE

MISC: WHITE EYELETS, SU RUB ONS, GINGHAM RIBBON, BUTTONS, SU SCALLOP BORDER PUNCH, CIRCLE PUNCH

My favorite kind of card

I've decided that right now, my favorite kind of card to make is a birthday card for a kiddo. Anything goes! Ribbon, lots of color, glitter - the more the better!

We're going to a birthday party this weekend for a sweetheart who is turning six. I chose the little party koala from Whipper Snapper for my main image. Isn't he just the cutest? And what self-respecting koala would go to a birthday party without a little fun flock on his belly?! I know I certainly wouldn't.

I decided to have my party koala standing in a pile of presents, because let's face it folks, when you're six, it's all about the presents! Even at 31, it's all about the presents! For the presents and gift bags, I stamped out the images from my Lily set by Pink Cat Studio a bunch of times and colored them in with my Copics.

I embellished with some cute ribbon that my daughter discovered in the $1 bin at Mike's and some yummy sugar coated brads by Doodlebug. Kind of hard to tell from the picture, but I used my black Sakura glaze pen to give his nose a little shine.


Here are the copics that I used for the main image.
Thanks for stopping by,

Oh how I'll miss you Bali Breeze....

The uber-talented gals over at 2 Sketches 4 You posted this sketch yesterday. I just recently discovered their fun blog and this was my first time to play along. This was my take on the sketch

Can you believe that there is no ribbon or Copics used on this card?! Gasp! Pretty unusual for me! Bet you didn't know I could do that!

Since my favorite SU paper (Bali Breeze) is retiring, I thought I would let it be the main focus of my card. I kept it clean and simple this time and just embellished with ONE bling in the center of the flower and a white gel pen on the border. Can anyone out there recommend a good white pen? I can't get a smooth flow out of my Uni-Ball Signo to save my life - so frustrating.

Card Recipe

Cardstock: Basic Black

Patterned Paper: Bali Breeze

Stamp by Kolette Hall: $1 at Mike's

Misc: Heidi Swapp bling, Cotton Candy Stickles, white gel pen

Hearts were made with the "George" font on my Cricut