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???

Happy Birthday Sweet Emily

Yesterday was my daughter Emily's 17th Birthday! For those of you who know Emily, you know what a delight she is. She is beautiful both inside and out, she is helpful, kind, passionate about life, music, theater, dance, math :) Spanish, coffee, Chipotle, Jesus, her friends, her friends, and her friends! I had a blast planning some special surprises for her birthday, and loved making her this card. She LOVES the beach, just learned to surf over spring break, has a teal and beach "theme" in her bedroom, so I loved how all this came together. (Starting with the scrapbook sticker from Tall Mouse.) The base of the card is a full sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 "Lovely Lilac", then layered with Tempting Turquoise, and Whisper White. The blue hawaiin paper is called "Aloha Chic" from Star Fish & Dreams. The Happy Birthday sticker is from "Me & My Big Ideas" and it is layered on top of an oval cut from Yo Yo Yellow, and then layered on Lovely Lilac. This is the first time I've tried putting gems all around an oval scallop like this, but I've seen Taylor and Jami do it all the time, so I had to try it.

Not fun! I tried both self stick jewels and tiny taylor twinkles, but not having really good tweezers made it quite a challenge! Three flowers were stamped with the flower from "Do The Hula" (retired SU!) using Lovely Lilac, Tempting Turquoise, and Cool Caribbean Ink, cut out and mounted with dimentionals, and highlighted with a stardust pen. Some bright turquoise ribbon adds the finishing touch!

Here are a few more birthday pictures... I surprised her at school at lunch time with pizza for her and her friends and some giant balloons. She was pretty surprised at the balloons, and because she got to carry them around with her the rest of the afternoon at school, she said everyone wished her a happy birthday for the rest of the day, even people she didn't know! Bonus happiness!

This picture needs a tiny bit of explanation. No, she doesn't still play with dolls, but next week, she is starring as "Sharpay" in High School Musical at her school, Lakewood High School. (May 1,2,7,9 if you're interested!) So my little neice Grace, who is 4 years old, thought Emily should have a SHARPAY DOLL, complete with a singing microphone. Of course, I agree! That's my mom next to Emily last night at PF Changs, where we had a very yummy dinner before rushing over to Disneyland for a quick visit. It was a full, and very fun day. Happy Birthday Sweet Em! You are an amazing young lady, and I couldn't be more proud to be your mom!

Two "Challenging Cards"

Since Emily was on Spring Break this past week, I took a few days off myself, and in between driving her to her friends' houses, or shopping for "Sharpay" outfits for her upcoming show "High School Musical," and some major house cleaning (I guess you'd call it reorganizing) I was actually able to do some "Splitcoast Challenges!" I haven't been able to do those in a long time!

The first one was the color challenge.... CC214.... Bordering Blue, So Saffron, and Pink Piriouette). When I laid all 3 colors out on my desk, they made me think "Baby Card."

The background of the card is stamped with the dots and daisy background stamp, using pink pirouette ink. The scallop is made with the fiskars "Threading Water" border punch, and the saffron layer is scalloped on the edge with scalloped scissors, and then "poked" with a paper piercer. The giraffe is stamped double and popped up with tiny pieces of foam tape, and tied around "her" neck with pink gingham. Three little buttons from my huge collection of buttons and some saffron grossgrain ribbon add the finishing touches.

Deets: Cardstock (all SU!) Pink Pirouette, So Saffron, Bordering Blue, Whisper White, Threading Water Punch and scalloped scissors (Fiskars), Buttons, floss (DMC) Saffron Grossgrain Ribbon (SU!) Paper Piercer, Dimentionals, Pink Gingham Ribbon.

The next challenge was the "Sketch Challenge" (SC224)

This was a little difficult because I couldn't find a large/ tall image that would fit the layout exactly, so I turned it on its side. The 2 stripes in the layout are "mimicked" with the saffron layer covered with the black ribbon layer. Black and Saffron are great together, don't you agree? The bird is a RUB-ON! Cool, huh! It's a little hard to photograph though.
The deets: Black and Saffron Cardstock (SU), Saffron Designer Paper, BasicGrey Periphery Rub-ons, Ticket Corner punch, black micron pen, dimentionals, silver heart charm, black organdy ribbon, saffron colored yarn.

When did these kids become grownups?

Here is the picture I took of Stephen and Emily
right before we left for church last Sunday (Easter/ April 12). What is amazing is that less than a year ago, Emily was about 6 inches taller than Stephen. For those of you who have known Stephen his whole life, or at least most of it, can attest to the fact that he has drastically changed in appearance! Stephen had to leave to go back to Indiana right after church on Sunday, so we didn't have a very traditional day (didn't do a lunch or anything... in fact, Stephen and I ate California Pizza Kitchen at the airport and Emily at Pick Up Stix with her girlfriend Sharday!)

Church was amazing and glorious, our choir and orchestra was phenominal, Brent presented the gospel so powerfully, and it was so great to be in church with my kids and my mom. I hated to see Stephen leave again, but summer will be here before we know it and he'll be back again! :)

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!

Lovin Me Some Baja Breeze

Baja Breeze (from SU!) is such a peaceful, warm, relaxing color... and since I can't go to Baja in person, I'll just have to stick to using it on my cards! Cardstock is Baja Breeze and Basic Gray. This flower stamp is from Stampendous; and it is water colored with an aquapainter using Baja Breeze stamp pad. The circles are cut with a coluzzle, and the scalloped edge around the flower image and the oval image at the bottom are cut by hand with scalloped fiskars scissons. The thank you image (rub on) and the designer paper are both from the SU "Hand Drawn Bundle." And for the finishing touches: 2 prima flowers, a rhinestone brad, some basic gray ribbon (from Fabric Barn) some paper piercing around the edge of the cirlce image, and some Taylor's Tiny Twinkles in the middle of the flower. (Click here for a link to Taylor's Store.) Thanks for stopping by today for a look. My son just arrived this morning for his Spring Break visit, so I'm looking forward to hanging out with him this week (not to mention a few days off work!) I'm sure I'll get some stamping in somehow! Have a great weekend!

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!

Cards for Kristin

A few weeks ago, our very sweet, wonderful, talented pastor's wife, and friend, Kristin, took some amazing photos of my daughter Emily for her headshots she needed for an audition. Here is a link to Kristin's blog and the post with Emily's pictures. (Look for the Feb. 22 and the Feb. 24 posts... several amazing pictures of Emily in both posts) http://kristineldridge.com/blog/?p=1043

I've been wanting to do something extra special for Kristin, so I decided to make her a set of notecards that she can hopefully use when corresponding with her clients. There are 6 cards and even though they all use Wild Wasabi and Not Quite Navy Cardstock, along with Porcelain Prints Designer Series Paper, they are each individually unique. Each card also uses the monogram from "Just Right Stampers."

Now I just need to go out and find some ivory colored envelopes before packaging up the whole set so I can give them to her on Sunday. I'll be back tomorrow to share some fun cards I made with "Boatloads of Love." I've had a bad sore throat for a few days, and have missed a lot of work, but I sure have enjoyed my stamping time!

Here's What Happens

.... when you combine a sore throat, a few sick days home from work, and a big box of brand new supplies from Stamp Club (I'm in Jami's once a month Stamp Club and it was my turn to earn the hostess rewards... can you say SCORE!?!?) All that equals a bunch of new cards!

Here's what I've been working on..

Card #1: from the Level 3 Hostess set called "Hand Drawn Bundle" which comes with adorable paper, 4 stamps, and 2 huge sheets of rub-ons. I love it! Super easy to create! I think this would be something good to pack when you're going on a trip and want to take some stamping fun with you, since the paper and stamps and rubons already match. Just throw in a few stamp pads and some Riding Hood Red and Baja Breeze and White cardstock, and you've got yourself a party!.

Card #2 also uses Riding Hood Red cardstock and the Designer Paper: "Bella Rose." Another new toy I got in my order was the Jumbo Wheel called "Friendly Words." Isn't it cool? The little Thank You stamp is a single stamp from page 208 of the caty, which you can actually get for FREE right now if you spend $40 from the new occassions mini. I used my Marvy Square Scalloped punch, and since I didn't have multiple sizes of this punch, I just layered the Kiwi square's underneath the Riding Hood Red Square.

Card #3 uses a set I've been craving for a long time: Garden Whimsey. The card is CASED from a card we did at Jami's Club last year and I've been hanging on to it ever since. Here's Jami's original: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/648273?cat=500&ppuser=5896&perpage=96

Mine uses Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, and Wild Wasabi paper as well as some More Mustard Ink, and East Coast Prep Paper (retired) and Wild Wasabi striped ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by.... time to go back and dig a little deeper in that magical box. Stop back tomorrow for a look at a beautiful set of cards I made for a wonderful friend. Have a great day!

Elegant Wedding Shower

My friends at work and I are giving a bridal shower next week for our Youth Pastor's Bride-to-be, Lauren. We're going with a red rose theme... elegant and classic. Here are the invitations and the wedding dress favors.

The invitations are made with SU Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, and vellum, as well as the rose paper from "The Paper Factory." The scalloped trim is made from a pearlized shimmery paper from Michaels, punched with the Martha Stewart lace punch. The beautiful red swirly ribbon is from the TayloredExpressions store! I love it... it adds just the elegance I was looking for. The Bible verse, I Corinthians 13 is from the SU set, "Elegant Inspirations." This is a pocket card and the actual invitation was printed on regular white cardstock, front and back, and then the corners were rounded with the corner rounder, with a black sheer ribbon on the top, attached through a round 1" circle folded over the top.

The wedding dress favors are also from Taylor's store... they come flat, and I found them quite easy to stamp on and fold up. I used some swirly stamps I believe I got at Michael's, with Real Red ink and more of the swirly red ribbon. Inside the dresses are a few pieces of Dove Chocolate. Then I folded in the side and attached them together with a dimentional. I'll be sure to post some photos in a few days of the shower, so you can see the whole thing all put together. My friend Michelle is doing the flower centerpieces, so it's going to be gorgeous!

(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!"

Treasure Box

From the tutorial that Jenn Balcer and Lynn in St. Louis posted on Splitcoast a few weeks ago. The only problem I had was getting the piece of cardstock to feed through my printer, but other than that, it was pretty easy. The DP is from Die Cuts with a View and the stamped image is "Merci" from Stampin Up! The twill ribbon is from TayloredExpressions. It's super easy. Try it! The butterfly is cut out, bent a little bit and glued on with sticky strip. The butterfly, heart and flower also have lots of "stickles" on them, as well as a row of stickle dots around the front scalloped piece. I wanted to pick up on the sparkle patterns in the DP.

Here is the link for the pattern and instructions, by "Lynn in St. Louis" on Splitcoast. http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=419606

A Little Punchy!

Here's something simple but fun for you today. A card made with almost all PUNCHES.... Circle punches of several sizes, scalloped circle punch, and oval punch. The "Just Because" sentiment is from"My Favorite Things." I love the fonts they use on their stamps! The background on the Gable Green layer is a wheel stamp called "Kindness." Youa could totally change up the feel of this card by using soft pastels, all black and white, etc. A fun card for kids to make too! Happy St. Patricks Day... watch out for all that green beer!

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!

It's Classic!

For a special guy's birthday, and for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge. (TECC57)

Check out http://www.tayloredexpressions.blogspot.com/ for the original challenge and instructions.

This card uses "River Rock" "Cranberry Crisp" and "Mellow Moss" cardstock. The image (can't remember the stamp set, I borrowed it from Jami a long time ago and stamped a bunch of images and saved them) is stamped with black craft ink and embossed. Then water colored with an aquapainter. There is also crystal effects on the windshield of the car, and silver pen on the bumper and hubcaps. The designer paper is from Chatterbox.
A few more details: buttons, stitching on the sewing machine, ticket corner punch and the "Happy Birthday" sentiment from All Holidays Stamp Set (SU!)
The inside of the card says.... "Timeless.... Ageless.... Classic... all the things you are, and all the things I love about you! Happy Birthday!"

Rub ons are so much fun!

Here are a few cards I made with some fun rub ons I got from Joy and Daisey at eclecticPaperie!

This first one is Rose Red and Coral paper from SU, accented with black of course, and Raspberry Twist DP.

The 2nd one is a unique combination of Pomegranite and Caribbean and Chocolate paper!

Enjoy these new cards!

Here are a few cards from recent days.

The 2 blue cards use the new SU set "Puns from the Past," the first set in the new caty that I just "had to have!"

Friendship and Cheesecake... Life Is Good!

This past Saturday I had lunch with 3 friends from High School. That may not sound very unusual to most people, but it is for me. We've been out of high school 32 years, and for the past 29 of those years, I have not kept up with any of the 3 ladies that I had lunch with. But the Lord reconnected us and I'm so glad He did. We had a class reunion 2 years ago, but 2 of these gals, Isabel and Laura weren't able to come, so I haven't seen them in a long time. I don't think I've seen Laura since High School, or maybe the 10 year reunion. Isn't is amazing that you can live relatively close to someone and not see them for that many years? We met at Cheesecake Factory in Brea because it was fairly central for all 4 of us... Rancho Cucamongo, Irvine, Norwalk, and me in Lakewood. Great food, yummy cheesecake, and wonderful laughter, tears, and a sweet time of reflecting on all God has done and is doing in our lives. My hope is that God continues to allow me to reconnect with the people from my past in order to be an encouragement to them, as they are to me.

From left to right that's me, Laura (Calderon) Isabel (Pina) and Cyndy (Porraz). 50 (or close to it for some of us!) and fabulous, don't you think???!!!!!