"Ewe" Are Special and so is this news from Hambo!

Hey kids!
For todays card, I used "Party Sheep" and a matching sentiment from Hambo.
Aren't these gals just ADORABLE?!I tried to keep this card a little more masculine than my usual style. I'm not sure HOW masculine a card can be with four big ol' fluffy sheep on it, but I did my best! I used SU's Sage Shadow and Chocolate Chip cardstock and paired it up with some yummy polka dot paper by BasicGrey.

Instead of coloring in my lovely little sheep, I smothered them with "Lily White" Doodlebug Sugar Coating.

So....have you heard the latest from Hambo?

They now have exclusive digital images! You can check them all out right here.
Never used a digital image before? The fun thing about digital images is that you can re-size and flip the images with your computer! So many possibilities!! Want to try one for FREE?

Click here and play with this one!
Happy Stampin!

May Class Sneak Peek!

On the first Sunday of each month I teach a Stampin Up class at my home. I come up with three projects each month and promise to give the gals a sneak peek at two of them. This month we'll be making three cards with a floral / nature theme.
Here's the first one.... This one has a black base paired with Vanilla cardstock and patterned paper from the "Urban Oasis" collection. The main image, from 5th Avenue Floral, is stamped with Kiwi Kiss ink and the sentiment (which I love), is layered on top with black ink.

To balance the card, I used my 1" circle punch on the same patterned paper and folded part of it over the back. Then I poked two holes with my piercer and added a couple of black brads.

I've been using my Scallop Border Punch ALOT lately, so I wanted to change things up a bit for this card. To make the border on the left, I used my Round Tab Punch.
Here's how...
First, I took a piece of Vanilla cardstock cut to 4 1/4" x 1" and drew a line 1/8" in from the right side.

Starting from the center, I matched up the top of my punch to the line.

Then just repeat, lining up the bottom edges to each other.


Here's the second card we'll be making...

I just love this color combo of Elegant Eggplant, Kiwi Kiss and Pacific Point.
Yum-O!

For this one, we'll be using "Trendy Trees" and a Stamp-A-Majig to get everything lined up.

Here's how I did the main panel...

I took a piece of Pacific Point cardstock cut to 3 1/2" x 4 1/4" and used a border punch on the short side. Then I scored it at 1" up from the border and at another 1/8" up from the first score mark. These two score lines will create a little pocket for me to tuck my main image into.

Side view...

Hope you found my mini tutorials helpful.
I'll be back tomorrow with a little Hambo creation for "ewe"!
Hugs,

I'm Published!

Wow! My very first publication!
Can you believe it?!
I'm officially a published stamper now - yahoo! CardMaker Magazine did an article about using beads on cards for their May issue.
This was my submission that is featured on pages 80-81!
I used images from Rubbernecker and a sentiment from Stampin Up.
I covered the ice cubes with tiny clear microbeads. Okay....just one more picture!

Just wanted to share - thanks for putting up with me!
Hugs,

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long

Are you ready for another Christmas sketch from the fabulous Maria Bell?
Here's what she gave us to play with this week...

And here's what I came up with...I used SU's "All in the Family" to make a card from the whole family!
Yep....that's us.
Actually, my 7 year old is almost as tall as me now, but I stamped the card, so I get to be tall!

The striped patterned paper is from the "Dasher" line by BasicGrey. I matched it up with some Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery to go for a non-traditional color scheme.

Hope you're inspired to play along with the rest of us crazy gals trying to get our Christmas cards DONE! I've already got 25 done in the last month and am looking forward to a stress-free December!

Be sure to check out the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog to play along and to see what the rest of the team came up with this week.

"My Time" to color...

Lauren has made lots of fun changes to Saturdays!
You can read all about it here.

Today she's got a color challenge for us...Here's what I came up with...
I decided to use black for the base so all of the yummy colors would really *pop*.
The grey and blue patterned papers are from SU's "Urban Oasis" collection and the sentiment is from their "Fifth Avenue Floral" set.

While I was laying out my design, I realized that I didn't have any Saffron cardstock - yikes!
Here's how I made some....

I grabbed a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock, my brayer and a So Saffron ink pad.
Roll, roll, roll.....
Voila!
Saffron cardstock!

Thanks for stopping by today.
I hope you're inspired to play along with us!

Be sure to check out what the rest of the creative team came up with:
Dawn Easton
Kendra Wisenbaker
Maria Levine
Tamara Harder

Have a super weekend!
I'm off to Disneyland!!
Hugs,

Fool Your Family Friday!

Welcome to Fool Your Family Friday!

Todays recipe is...
LASAGNA

Here's what you'll need to get started:
nonstick cooking spray
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground turkey or sirloin
1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream

1/2 cup sweet potato puree
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

24 oz. jar of spaghetti sauce
1 cup low fat cottage cheese

1 large egg white

1/2 cup cauliflower puree
1 (8 oz) box no-boil lasagna noodles
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese


1. Preheat oven to 350. Coat an 8 x 12 baking dish with cooking spray.

2. For the meat filling, coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the oil. Add the turkey or beef, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook stirring occasionally, until the meat is no longer pink. 4-5 minutes.

3. Sprinkle in the flour and garlic. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Off of the heat, stir in the sour cream, sweet potato puree and 1/4 cup of the Parmesan; set aside.

4. In a separate bowl combine spaghetti sauce and remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan.

5. In a blender, combine cottage cheese, egg white and cauliflower puree until smooth; set aside.

6. To assemble the lasagna, spread 1 cup of the spaghetti sauce over the bottom of the baking dish. Then layer noodles and meat mixture. Cover with another layer of noodles and cottage cheese mixture. Continue to alternate layers and spoon remaining spaghetti sauce over the top. Sprinkle with mozzarella.

7. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake until the cheese has melted and the noodles are cooked through, about 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 10 minutes longer, or until the top is bubble and browned.


I'll be back tomorrow with a BRAND NEW type of challenge from Lauren!
Hugs,

A Simple Birthday

Here's a birthday card that literally came together in 5 minutes - don't you just love that?!

I really love the colors on this. I matched up some My Mind's Eye patterned paper with Riding Hood Red cardstock.

This card is for a 23 year old, so I wanted to keep it fun, but still grown up enough for her. For the "fun" part, I used this cute sentiment from "Alphabet Soup" by Stampin Up. For the "grown up" part, I decided to embellish with some satin ribbon and turquoise jewels.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll be back tomorrow with a new recipe to Fool Your Family!

Tulips and a RAK

Here's a quick one that I put together for a special someone who's in the tulip business. I used patterned paper from a retired collection by SU called Bali Breeze and Cameo Coral as an accent color. The "Terrific Tulips" are stamped out with Certainly Celery and Apricot Appeal. To finish it off, I decided to add a few butterflies that I punched out with my Martha Stewart butterfly punch.

And check this out!
My friend Gloria sent me this "RAK" the other day. Isn't it GORGEOUS?!

(BTW - RAK means Randon Act of Kindness)

She used the Geisha Anya image and a double happiness symbol. It's been a very emotional week in my house and she sent me this to cheer me up. Thanks Gloria - you totally made my day!
Hugs,

A Twisted Hanna and a sketch

I saw Amy's sketch this week and couldn't pass it up...I decided to flip the sketch 90 degrees to the right and this is what I came up with...One of my Aunts who rides a motorcycle could use a little giggle, so I'll be popping this in the mail today. The motorcycle image is by Hanna Stamps and the funny sentiment is from the "Twisted" set by My Favorite Things.

The base is Elegant Eggplant and the patterned paper behind it is by Bo Bunny. For the ribbon accent, I used a double sided purple / lavender satin ribbon.
The image was colored in with my Copic markers and then I added a few background elements from the same set of stamps. I used a sponge with Creamy Caramel & Soft Sky inks to finish the background.

Since I was working off of a sketch today, I've also got a Christmas card to share with you.

This one uses an adorable image by Rachelle Anne Miller called "Skating". The polka dot patterned paper is by Scenic Route and the stripes are by BasicGrey. The sentiment is from a retired SU set called "Like it a Latte", which I seem to use alot on winter cards. Since this is a Christmas card, I decided to use my red velvet ribbon.

To finish it off, I added some Doodlebug Sugar Coating to the ice to make it super sparkly.

Have a super Tuesday!
Hugs,

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long!

Are you ready for some Christmas stampin?
It's challenge day over on the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Blog!
Here's the sketch for today...Here's what I came up with...
For this one, I used Baha Breeze for the base and some retired patterned paper from SU's "Ski Slope" collection. I accented with some Kiwi scalloped circles and the reindeer image from "Winter Post". The sentiment is by Inkadinkado.

So.....are you feeling inspired yet?
We'd LOVE for you to hop on over to the challenge blog and play along with us!
You can also check out what the rest of the Challenge Divas did while your there!

Hugs,

Saturday Sketch Time!

Hey kids! The weekend is finally here and you know what that means....a new sketch from my talented buddy Lauren! Lauren has decided to "spice" it up a bit with the whole Saturday Sketch thing. If you have any feedback or suggestions, check out her blog and let her know! She's also looking for a few more members to add to the sketch team!! So get out your stamps and get busy!

Here's the sketch for this week... Here's what I came up with...
My sweet friend just gave me this Rock Star Anya stamp and I had to ink it up right away. The patterned paper is from the Urban Oasis collection by SU and I versamarked some stars on it from "Just Jawing" - kind of hard to see them in the photo.

I don't have a star punch (yet), so I cut them out with my Cricut and added a little bling to the center of each one. The sentiment is by Hambo and goes PERFECTLY with this image - don't ya think?

And what little rocker chick would be complete without black glitter boots and a matching headband?! I used my Doodlebug Sugar Coating for that.


Here's the Christmas card that I came up with using the same sketch...

For this one, I grabbed some patterned paper from SU's retired "Ski Slope" collection and matched it up with some Pink Pirouette and Basic Black. Do you recognize the pink bling on this card and remember where it came from?
*insert evil grin here*

This little cutie is from SU's retired "Polar Pals" set and her poofy jacket was just BEGGING for some fun flock.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and be sure to check out what the rest of the sketch team came up with:
Dawn Easton
Kendra Wisenbaker
Kim Gasper
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
Maria Levine
Tamara Harder

Until next time,

Hugs