More Hambo for ya...

Still having fun with my Hambo goodies! Make sure you hop over there if you have a chance!

With school just around the corner, I decided to go with a teacher theme for today's card.
For the apples, I punched out a 1 3/8" circle of SU's Cameo Coral, cut out a small notch from the top and sponged over the whole thing with Real Red ink. Then I just cut the stems and leaves from scraps.

Easy Peasy!
I had my monthly class yesterday, so tomorrow I will start sharing pics of the projects. I meant to do it last week, but there just weren't enough hours in the day!

Thanks for stopping by - Hugs...

Saturday Sketch Time!

It's Saturday and that means it's time for another sketch from Lauren !I have to admit, this sketch was a little tricky for me. I decided to flip the sketch on it's side and that's when inspiration hit me. I just love this "Pattern of Friendship" set by Stampin Up and snatched it up from a mini catalog a couple of years ago. The main image is pretty big, so I "upgraded" to a 5 x 7 card - a first for me.

I paper pieced the dresses with some scraps and used SU's Round Tab Punch to create a spool of thread.
Kind of looks like a spool of thread right??


I hope this has inspired you to play along! Don't forget to check out what the rest of Lauren's sketch team did.

Lauren

Alicia

Dawn

Kim

Kirsten

Kristy

Maria

Tamara

I'll be back on Monday with another guest designer project using my Hambo goodies. Thanks for checking in!

Fool your family Friday!

A favorite snack in our house is apple slices and peanut butter. 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup fat free cream cheese

6 Tablespoons chocolate syrup

1/4 cup carrot puree*

1/2 teaspoon salt

Stir all ingredients together and use as a dip for fruit slices.

*For the carrot puree, I just buy a bag of pre-washed and peeled baby carrots, steam them and puree them in my mini food processor.

Quick post today - we're on our way to the hospital to check in my husband for shoulder surgery. I'll be back tomorrow with Lauren's sketch!

Hugs,

Color Inspiration Challenge #18

Just when I thought I was all done playing for the day, I spotted Kristina's color challenge. Now what self respecting stamper would pass that up?!

Here's what I came up with
I used the Sticky Cuts Letters from Stampin Up - LOVE THEM! I see lots of glitter in my future!

I'll be back tomorrow with a recipe to fool your family.

Guest Designer Project #2

I'm having lots of fun playing with my new Hambo goodies! Today I reached for the stack of books - which I LOVE! Such a versatile little image. This could be used for teachers, a gift card holder for Borders, a name tag for your library bag... Hmmm....or a bookmark perhaps?
This interactive little card was a lot of fun to make. I thought it only fitting that the wise owl image be paired up with the stack of books.

For the main image in the card, I stamped out several images of the books, colored them in with Copics and cut them out. For the bookmark, I used my Stamp-a-Majig to line up two of the images so they looked like one giant stack. Then I used a thick dimensional to have the owl sitting on top of the stack.

I used the horizontal slit punch by Stampin Up to create the opening for the bookmark to slide into.
This owl is SO cute. He reminds me of the one from Winnie the Pooh.

Hope you're all having a great week. I'll be back tomorrow.
Hugs,

I feel like a rockstar!

What a super month I've had and we're only 6 days into it! First, Lauren Meader asked me to be on her sketch challenge team!

Then Monica over at Hambo Stamps just asked me to be her guest designer for August!

And last night I got a phone call from Kelly, the owner of Green Tangerines telling me that I was one of the winners of the scrapbook layout contest they had last month! I am now officially a member of the Green Tangerines Design Team - wahoo! I'll be creating samples, kits, etc for the store.

I'm so thankful for all of these opportunities to work with these amazing and talented people!


It seems like forever since I've shared a card with you. I got all of my Hambo design team goodies in the mail this afternoon and couldn't wait to start inking those babies up! For this card I used the owl image and sentiment.

The owl image was stamped onto SU Whisper White and colored in with Copic markers. The polka dot and diamond patterned papers are from Sassafrasslass.

I decided to make the owl a "Mommy", so I stamped out a couple images on Poly shrink plastic, colored them in and baked them in the oven until they shrunk. Voila! Two owl babies! Now, every Mommy needs to be soft and cuddly, so she's got nice thick coating of white Fun Flock all over her belly.

Thanks for stopping by today. I need to take pictures of my class projects so I can share them with you. Until tomorrow...
Hugs,

Paper Chase Goodies

Just a quick post today to share some of my favorite goodies that I got on the bus tour this weekend. (I think my body is still recovering) Did I mention that everyone on the bus tour got 20% off of EVERYTHING at EVERY store?! Doodlebug sugar coating and crushed velvet flock!
YUMMY! I am now the proud owner of some "My Favorite Things" stamps!! I found three sets that I've had my eye on - "By the Seashore", "Going Places" and "Meet Me at the Cafe". I also found the "Oliver & Friends" owl set by Sassafras. And yes....I squealed out loud when I grabbed the last two sitting on the shelf for my sister-in-law and I!!

Oh, and don't forget that cute little bee over there. It's a new release from Memory Box and is actually a penguin dressed up as a bee - too cute to pass up!! I'm thinking he'll have some yellow crushed velvet flock on him before the day is over...

Today I'm busy prepping for my class I'm having this weekend. I'll be back tomorrow to share one of the class projects I came up with.

Holy Scrap Batman!

What do you get when you put 52 hardcore scrappers on a bus for two days and hit 15 scrapbook stores?

A sizzlin summer paper chase!


I just got home from a whirlwind weekend courtesy of my local scrapbook store! Wow! What a crazy and fun two days we had!

Along the way, we.....

Found some interesting places...
This place was a combination scrapbook store and nail salon!

Made new friends...
This is the bus driver's dog, Casino. Such a cutie.
Cropped all night in our hotel room...
Drank LOTS of Starbucks!!!
And found a new favorite out of town scrapbook / stamp store in Berkeley! This place was amazing and the owner and staff were great. My sister-in-law and I were in scramper heaven! It's called Scrapbook Territory and you have to go check it out if you're in the area. That's it for me today. I'm going to recover and play with my kiddos. I'll be back tomorrow to share some of the goodies I got.

Exciting news!!

The one and only Lauren Meader has handpicked eight gals to be her Saturday Sketch Challenge Team and I am one of them!! Can you believe it?!

Funny thing is, there are two gals in the group whose blogs I have been stalking for the last year - but let's just keep that between us. I am totally flattered to even be in the same category with them!

Each week Lauren will forward her sketch to the team so we can have a few days to play with it. On Saturday, we'll all post our samples.

Here is the first sketch...

My son, who just celebrated his birthday, wants to be an astronaut when he grows up. This sketch was perfect for his birthday card.

I used Old Olive for the card base and some great patterned paper from the Metropolis collection by Scenic Route. I cut out the shapes and numbers with my Cricut machine and decided to go with a silhouette style for the 5,4,3,2,1 countdown. I wanted the numbers to kind of blend in so they wouldn't be the focus of the card.

For the main image, I used the rocket from SU's "Pun Fun" set and a sentiment by The Cat's Pajamas.

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the team did!

Tamara Harder

Maria Levine

Dawn Easton

Kirsten Dubosque

Kristy Vernon

Kim Gasper

Alicia Weimen

Fool your family Friday!

Try to fool your family with this yummy recipe this weekend. Macaroni and Cheese

1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni

Nonstick cooking spray

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 Tablespoon flour

1/2 cup nonfat milk

1/2 cup butternut squash puree*

1 1/2 cups shredded reduced-fat cheese

4 ounces of reduced or non-fat cream cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the macaroni and cook according to package directions. Drain.

While the macaroni cooks, coat a large saucepan with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Add oil and flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture resembles a thick paste but has not browned.

Add milk and cook, stirring every now and then, until the mixture begins to thicken. Add butternut squash puree, shredded cheese, cream cheese and seasonings. Stir until smooth. Stir in cooked macaroni and serve.

*I bought my butternut squash precut and washed at Trader Joes. All I had to do was steam it for 12 minutes and puree it. There was enough for me to use 1/2 cup for this recipe and freeze three more 1/2 cup servings in sandwich bags.

"This is a great source of calcium: one portion provides a full serving - the equivalent of one cup of milk. And because it uses low fat cheese, kids get all that great calcium without the saturated fat of the traditional recipe."

Thanks for popping by today. Check back tonight at midnight (California time) for a big announcement!