Cards & Photos to prove what a busy month it's been!

This has been the busiest month ever! My daughter's 18th Birthday.

We had a HUGE party at Monte Verde park with about 75 kids, a DJ and a Taco Man... and celebrated with her best friend HALEIGH, who's 18th birthday was the day after Emily's.
Here's the CARD I made her for her birthday....




Her starring role as "Belle" in Beauty and the Beast at Lakewood High School! The thrill of a lifetime!








Fun events at church.



Mother's Day! Choosing/ deciding on a college for Emily for the fall (Azusa Pacific was the choice) Prom Dress shopping and preparation for summer... whew! Was all that in the past month! Yes!

Here are some cards and photos to prove it!






Mike's Birthday Card (using Taylored Expressions).

TECC70

A fun layout for Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #70! Uses one of my standby favorite sets: All About U and one of the newer sets from saleabration. Colors are Bashful Blue and Celery. Twine is from PaperTreyInk.

A couple of challenge cards

Emily was away this weekend on a Carnival Cruise with her choir group (Madrigals) to Catalina (supposedly to Mexico, but that didn't happen!) so I had a very quiet house... TOO QUIET actually... but at least I was able to squeeze in a little stamping time. Here are two challenge cards: The Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge card and the "Sketch for You To Try" card.

Here is TECC69:

The base of the card is "Lovely Lilac" followed by a layer of Green Galore, and then the FUN paper from DCWV called "Nana's Kids." It's already covered with sparkle and texture, so it really packs a punch! This is for a couple at church who is expecting their first baby, and they don't know the sex of the baby yet, so I was going for "gender neutral." The buggy is colored with an SU marker, then highlighted with a glaze pen, some Tiny Twinkles from the Taylored Expressions store, & some blue star buttons. The green dotted ribbon adds some finishing fun!

The next card is for "A Sketch for You To Try" from iheart2stamp.com. This is the first time I've posted to this sketch, so I'm so happy that I had some extra time this weekend to play along. The "trick" was to do something unique with the right hand edge of the card, so I decided to use pearls along that edge and make this into a wedding card. I also used by brand new background stamp from StampinUp! called "Bella Toile." The BG is stamped once on white paper and once on Pink Pirouette paper, and then the layers are "matched up" and adhered on top of each other. The cake stamp is from "Fun and Fast Notes." (SU!) one of my favorite sets. There are also mini pearls on the scalloped oval punch (marvy), some glitter pen and stickles on the cake image, and a stick on flower (I think I got it at Big Lots.)

Hope you all had a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend! (even if it didn't include a Carnival Cruise!)

Chocolate Sky!!!

Wouldn't that be awesome? (Remember the song, "If all the snowflakes were Hershey Bars and Milkshakes?") This is for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge, TECC68. Here's the original post so you can see the sketch first hand. It's a great sketch, and fun to work with. I love this beautiful loopy flower stamp from Stampendous, and thought it would be perfect for the circle image in the sketch. The paper used is Chocolate Chip, Vanilla, Soft Sky, and Baja Breeze. The chocolate layer is clear embossed using chocolate chip craft ink (SU!) and the Filigree Background Stamp (retired SU). Several layers are pierced and the scalloped Baja Breeze layer is made with a corner rounder.

Fabulous Riding Rood Friend! TECC65

Another Cupcake Challenge from Taylored Expessions (TECC65) using Riding Hood Red, and Pink Pirouette. What are we gonna do when those colors retire in a few short months? I love them paired with the Bella Rose paper. This card also used the "Friendly Words" jumbo wheel, and the new set "Oval All" and scalloped oval punch. There is a double layer of the scallop border, the one underneath is "Riding Hood Red" and the one on top with the "Friendly Words" wheel using R.H.R. ink. The final touches: Pink Pirouette ribbon, and some paper piercing in the corners. Thanks for another fabulous sketch Taylor! This week was so full of birthday celebrations, preparation for our children's choir musical at church (which happens next Sunday, May 3, which I direct), and a potluck dinner for single moms, that I wasn't sure I was going to be able to squeeze in some stamping time or not..... Yeah for stamping! A weekend without stamping is never a good weekend! I just wish the weekend could be longer, don't you???

A Word From Romans 12

This is my card for this week's Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge. This is a great layout for so many images. I had this sheet of flowers already water colored with the set "In Full Bloom" (on Very Vanilla paper... which turns out YUMMY!) The colors used are Saffron, Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, and Vanilla cardstock (SU!) and Regal Rose DP. The flowers and bees are outlined in glaze pen, the edges of the Bible Verse are distressed with the edge of my scissors, and then a piece of Saffron ribbon is attached with a silver swirl clip. This is such a simple, yet profound verse of Scripture. I've had my share of hardships and afflictions in life, but nothing compared to many other friends I know. And obviously nothing compared to the people Paul was writing this letter to when he penned these words through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But this verse gives such basic instructions... by JOYFUL in hope, PATIENT in affliction, and FAITHFUL in prayer. If we did those 3 simple things each day, I think our lives would be transormed! :)

Happy Easter!

I needed to make a few Easter Card yesterday, so I was happy to see Taylor's quick, easy, and simple layout featured this week on Taylored Expressions. This is Cupcake Challenge #63. Where has the time gone??? The image is from a RAK I received from Joy and Daisy at eclecticPaperie. I think it's from Stampendous. Isn't that the sweetest little bunny? The DP (from DCWV) provided the inspiration for all the colors I used: Certain Celery, Bashful Blue, Regal Rose, and Lovely Lilac. The blue twill is from Taylor's store, and the coloring is done mostly with markers, and a little bit of aquapainters. The buttons are from my big stash of buttons. I also added a little bit of Sakura Glaze pen to the flowers and Stardust pen to the border around the image.

We're on our way to our Youth Pastor's wedding this afternoon which is being held at the Japanese Gardens at Long Beach State. I'll be back later to share the wedding card I made for he and his bride. In the meantime, have a wonderful Easter weekend! He Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed!!!!!

Pomegranate Wish

This is probably the quickest easiest card I've ever made... or at least in a very long time. It helps when you are provide with the sketch, (Thanks to Taylor and her weekly Cupcake Sketch Challenge!) and helps even more when you are using a little bit (or a lot) of designer paper. I've had this beautiful "Making Memories" paper, called "Maddi Paisley" for a very long time because I'm always drawn to peaches and corals... I loved the fact that it looked so great with Purly Pomegranate (an 08 in-color from SU!), plus it looked like it was MADE to go with Groovy Guava. The "Whimsey" wheel is wheeled with Groovy Guava ink onto the G.G. layer, and then the designer paper is mounted onto P.P. squares. Isn't that yummy?

The butterfly from "Garden Whimsey" is stamped twice, cut out once with a coluzzle, and then just the butterfly is cut out with scissors and mounted on top of the first butterfly with the wings bent up just a tiny little bit. I also tried something new for the scallops around the butterfly circle. I refuse to buy "nestabilities" and other big "wish list" items until I'm out of debt for a large expense I had to make last year, so I keep playing around with things I already have to get the same look. This is the corner rounder punch used to go all the way around the pomegranate layer to get the scalloped look. A little time consuming, and not "perfect" but hey, it's a handmade one of a kind piece of art, right???

Final details: Star Dust Stickles, white brads, "Small Script" stamp in the corner, paper pierceing "swirly thing" in the upper right hand corner (I drew it on a piece of paper and then pierced on top of that as my pattern onto the Groovy Guava layer), and glaze pen on the butterfly antaenna.

Here's one more card that doesn't need much explanation... just that is uses DCWV "Nana's Kids" Paper that I am in love with!

Boatloads of Love

I've been having a lot of fun with "Boatloads of Love" the past few days. I started out with the smaller (one boat) image and then when I went to put it on the card, I wanted to use the sentiment "I'm pulling for you." to send to my friend Mike who just lost his job after 10+ years at Disneyland, and I realized that that sentiment didn't make much sense with just the one boat, so I started over with the 2 boats hooked together. That obviously led to a much bigger card/ layout so that card grew to a full size 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 size card (1 piece of cardstock folded in half.

The one image card turned into Taylor's Cupcake Sketch: TECC61, (www.tayloredexpressions.blogspot.com) using Real Red and Bordering Blue and Bordering Blue designer paper from the Saleabration Set. The main image is stamped with black craft ink and embossed with black embossing powder (both cards) which made coloring so much easier and makes it really POP when you see it. This card is also part of the Stamp Simply #80 challenge "Let's Forget the Rules" http://notimetostamp.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ Take a close look and you'll notice: white gel pen dots around the red cardstock, white gel pen doodles on the scalloped circle punch, black faux stitching on the main image, crystal effects on the water and the life preservers, silver pen on the anchor, and a stipe of white ribbon to add to the "nautical" look. I love that bordering blue color. I don't use it nearly enough and I love the way it looks with red and white!

The larger card uses Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, and More Mustard Cardstock, East Coast Prep designer paper. The "I'm pulling for you" sentiment is punched out with the circle punch, and mounted on the round tab punch on the side of the stamped image. There is also paper piercing around the turquoise layer, silver brads in the corners, and some red and turquoise ribbon. The main image has crystal effects on the water and life savers on the side of the boat, some silver pen on the anchor, paper piecing on the heart inside the 2nd boat and the puffs of smoke coming out of the smokestack are double stamped and mounted on tiny little pieces of dimentionals. I don't think I've ever worked so long on 2 cards as I did these, but I had so much FUN!

(Basic) Grey Whale

It was fun to get out this set for use in Taylor's Challenge this week (TECC60)... Pun Fun from SU! Whale was stamped in black staz-on, then water colored. The papers are "Two Scoops" from Basic Grey, and the cardstock is Wild Wasabi, Bordering Blue, and Not Quite Navy. Marvy punches are used for the focal image, some dark gray ribbon, some blue-ish gray brads, and a few small hole punches around the scalloped image. Love these colors together, don't you! Thanks for stopping by. I'm headed off to my nephew's 4th Birthday party this afternoon. ROAR! I'll be back tomorrow to share a dinosaur card I made for him for his "Roar... Josh is turning four party!"

Thanks a Latte!

I love making coffee cards and sending them to my many friends who LOVE their coffee or tea. So when I sat down late last night to look for some images to play with for Taylor's sketch this week, these coffee cups from My Favorite Things just practically stamped themselves! I used watercolor paper, brown stazon, and an aquapainter and ink from the stamp pad lids of: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, and Pixie Pink.

The Designer Paper is "Sweet Always" from SU! and the twill ribbon is from TayloredExpressions store. I've also added some "Queen & Co." brads in the corners. Here's a closer view to show the watercoloring. Thanks Taylor for a super fun sketch! I'm hoping to find a little more time this weekend to make another one... I have some ladybugs just waiting to come out and play!

Cupcake Challenge Card

Just a quick post to show the card I made this weekend for the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge Card (#41) I found this "Me and My Big Ideas" paper at the big Joanne's in Buena Park and new it would make some FUN birthday cards! The rick rack is from a big stash I actually bought from "Oriental Trading!" Imagine That!

The main image is stamped on Shimmer White with black craft ink (SU) and embossed with detail clear, then colored with stampin up markers. The cardstock is Pixie Pink and Ballet Blue, with purple brads in the corners. There is also crystal accents on the cherries. I think that's about it! Happy Monday. Hope you all have a great week.

TECC37 Challenge Card

I couldn't wait to share this week's submission for Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge. I was leafing through one of the new scrapbook magazines this past week, and there was a section of a bunch of cute cards that had interesting "openings." I decided to give it a try with this week's sketch. You can see the original sketch at http://www.tayloredexpressions.blogspot.com/

My card has 2 circles on the bottom half, opening downwards, and the bird circle and twill ribbon circle open upward, with a piece of velcro holding the whole thing shut. Cardstock is Green Galore, Gable Green, and Regal Rose. Stamp set is Pun Fun and Itty Bitty Basics, and DP is Basic Gray and Making Memories. The "Celebrate" sentiment is from a $1.00 clear acrylic stamp from WalMart. The twill is all from Taylored Expressions. I love each one of those colors, and I was so happy when they all matched so well with that Basic Gray paper. The bird is outlined with the Stardust pen, and finally, there is some pink FUN FLOCK on the bird wings and tail, purchased from EclecticPaperie!