A Happy 4th Blog Candy WINNER...

I had so much fun reading everyone's memories of 4th of July and what it means to you.  Thank you for participating!  It really is a fun holiday!  And thank you to everyone who shared this giveaway for others to enjoy.

My very expensive random program (dh picking out of a hat...) chose JenMarie!  Congratulations! Please email me you snail mail and I will be sure to get that out to you tomorrow!! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Remember the show Wings?

We are having a great time in Cape Cod and enjoying the cool weather.  It has been so hot in TX that this change of weather is welcoming. The trip here was interesting as we got caught up in some bad weather and were stuck in Boston for 4 hours.  From Boston, we were to take a puddle jumper plane to the Cape and it cannot fly during poor weather.  When I say puddle jumper, I really mean it!! It is an 8 seater Cessna plane where they have to ask your weight prior to flying so they know how to distribute it within the cabin.  It is probably the one time you cannot get offended when asked what your weight is to a stranger!  The luggage gets placed in the wings and front of the plane.  Do you remember the show "Wings?"  It is like that!  LOL!! You are waiting in a little terminal and walking outside to get on the plane. The weather was starting to clear up and the pilot, who thankfully is very experienced, decided it was safe enough to take the 25 minute flight.  The boys were really excited for both getting on the little airplane and to get out of the Boston Airport, while dh and I were a little nervous.  DH is already a nervous flier where as I am not. (Unless there is terrible turbulence) We taxi to the runway swallowed between two large airplanes and take off.  It was a beautiful sight to see all of Boston at a birds eye view!  As we leave the Boston Harbour area, we get over the Atlantic/Cape Cod Bay and it starts to rain and get a little rough.  The wind was strong enough to make the plane fly to the side a little!  EEK! DH and I were white knuckled and as I look back behind us to the boys, they were passed out sleeping!! The turbulence and sideways flying didn't phase them a bit!  Once again, thankfully, it was a short flight and my mind went to ease when I saw the beautiful cloudy view of Cape Cod and the little runway at the end of the Cape where we were to land.  Of course my camera was packed in my suitcase so I don't have a picture to post, but when we leave next week, I will be sure to take one! 

 I thought I would share a couple of pictures I took yesterday while at the beach with the boys during low tide.  We come every year here

 and it is amazing that I can take different pictures of the same area every year!  

This is a picture of the shore line looking to the East End of the town.

This is the Pilgrims Monument commemorating the first landfall of the Pilgrims.  You can see by the little landing how low the tide is and how far out I was taking the picture from the bay.

This is just a black and white photo I took of a cute little sailboat anchored in the bay.  

Thanks for looking and reading my crazy fight story!  I'll be back to post the winner of my blog candy!

Let's Reminisce...

Hi all!! I am getting ready to head out tomorrow very early for our vacation to Cape Cod.  I will be back in a week, but plan to post while I am away.  I am trying to pack a few things to stamp, but is hard to do when you don't know what you would make!  

 In the meantime, how about we take a little trip down memory lane... 4th of July memory lane to be exact!  I have some goodies to give away and all you have to do is leave me a comment of your fondest memory of 4th of July. Spread the news and have the person who stopped by leave their comment and mention your name at the end of it.  You will get an extra entry!  My dh will pick a random winner on Friday and I will mail you your goodies from the Cape!! (Yes, I am packing it in my suitcase!)

So, what's in the pail you ask??  Here is what you get:

~ A cute little pail that is a candle holder

~ A kitchen towel with fireworks

~ Some Studio G Stamps for 4th of July

~ 3 Yds of this darling ribbon

~ Rhinstones

~ A patriotic bag with some star brads, clear dew drops and some americana wood embellishments.

Thanks for looking and I look forward to seeing what you all have to say about this fun holiday!! Have a great week!

I'VE BEEN TAGGED!

Well... I have been tagged by my friend Judy, aka stampingqueenJAR.  Thanks Judy for tagging me! I am to answer these questions and tag 7 people in return.  My gosh! I am so new that I think if I tag random blogs I visit, they will probably block me as the crazy girl!! But I will take that chance!! LOL!!  Look out random people!!!

I will start off this week with a little more information about me...

1.  The link is above...

2. a) I have a memory like an elephant.  I store useless information in my brain not by choice.  I read or see things and it just somehow sticks.  Years from now, I will probably remember what I saw or read and repeat it.  My dh and sister get a kick out of it and call it the "Rolodex File."  My dh swears I probably remember being born but don't want to admit it!!  (I really don't by the way...)  I remember so much from my childhood from as far back as about 3 years old.  

b) I was born in Indonesia, my mother is Indonesian, and my father was British.  (He has since passed) I am a British citizen as well as an American. 

c) I am a self learner. I dislike taking classes to learn something new or to learn a new program.  Don't get me wrong, some things need a class to take when it requires hands on, but for things that don't necessarily require the hands on, I will take it upon my self to learn.  I can spend hours (on and off) learning something.  I just find it interesting...

d) I love to sing and dance.  As I mentioned in my bio, I do enjoy those two things in addition to my beadn&stampn.  I spent many years doing professional theatre prior to getting married and having kids.  I miss the stage and lights, but my family now takes the spotlight.

e) I have a luggage fetish.... yup! You read right... a luggage fetish!!  I love luggage!! Luckily, I have enough willpower to not purchase a lot, but I enjoy looking and purchasing it when it comes time for it.

f) This is probably not new to some of you, but I am a military wife to an Army officer.  We move often, but I like it.  It allows us to see new places and new cities, but it isn't always in the places we would have chosen. Sometimes, it can be in the middle of no where! But the friends you meet and the friendships you keep are priceless.  I am blessed to have a wonderful dh and beautiful twin boys!

g) I spent 13 years in the Food and Beverage industry. I have worked for some of the largest and hottest restaurants concepts known worldwide, to include casinos and hotels.  I left the industry before my children were born as a GM/Food & Beverage Director for a large hotel and restaurant concept.

4. The people I am tagging are:  Cammie, Dawn, Angela R., Laura, Debi, and I will follow the trend of Judy... all of you readers who are kind enough to visit and leave comments on my blog. CONSIDER YOURSELF TAGGED!!! Please leave me a comment so I can visit your blog and add you to my "roll."  

I hope you enjoyed getting to know me better!

A scoop of the good life...

This card I made for the MFT sketch challenge.  I am finally getting around to uploading it just in time for this weeks challenge to be posted! But it's done and I hope you enjoy it!  I used MFT's new release called Here's the Scoop.  For the main image, I masked the scoop of ice cream to add the cone and colored it all in using Copic and Prismacolor markers.  I added some stickles to the top for some shimmer.  The dp is Basic Grey's new line called Cupcake.  

Materials used: Regal Rose, Brocade Blue, Very Vanilla, Ruby Red, Barely banana, button, twine, stickles, corner rounder, word window punch, Creamy Caramel, Summer Sun

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This card was made for both Friday's Limited Supply challenge and for my little group that I am part of.  Stacy sent us all a bunch of House Mouse images and some supplies. We were to follow her instructions with each image and create something.   This one was called Wine and Dine.  We were to create the base to be anything related to that.  Friday's challenge on SCS was to make a shaped card.  I think this fits both!  I made my template by hand and then punched out 1" circles to layer over each other to make the grapes. I sponged each circle in Perfect Plum for some depth.  The image I cut out and laid it on top of the grapes.  I added some dew drops to the center of the prima flower and used some dimensionals to pop it up.  It was so much fun making this card and doing something different. 

Materials Used: Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Creamy Caramel, Very Vanilla, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, circle punch, Primas, Dew Drops, House Mouse

Thanks so much for taking a peek!! I hope you have a fabulous Sunday!!

A little Kansas City to share

I had mentioned before that I would share a little bit of my recent trip to Kansas City.  It was a wonderful week of spending time as a family and enjoying another part of our country.  Below are 5 pictures I thought I would share:

This is the World War I Museum. It is a beautiful museum and you can't beat the view you get when you are at the top...

This is the view when at the top... a perfect day without a cloud in the sky!

This is the view when at the bottom looking up.  I just love how this one turned out with the sun shining just behind it...

For our last day in Kansas City, my dh and I decided to treat the kids to a stay at the Great Wolf Lodge.  It is a hotel geared for children with 8 water slides inside, 5 pools, hot tubs, mini gold, pool outside, etc.  It even has a huge bucket that tips every few minutes dumping thousands of gallons of water on you! It was so much fun!  These pictures are of the indoor water slide area while the bucket was about to dump..

Here are two little happy travelers-Austin and Tyler... I just love their brotherly love...

Thanks for taking a look and I hope you enjoyed them! My next post will have some projects! Have a great day!

What's Up Cupcake? It's a Birthday!

I finally got to sneak in some stamping time in- between our long list of to- do's before we pack up and head out for vacation next week... AND prepare for the household packers upon our return!  I have two cards to share with you.  Today is dh's birthday and I created this card for him using my MFT stamp set called What's up Cupcake?  I came home from Kansas City to these new stamps and I just HAD to play!! Plus I also ordered the other new release called Here's the Scoop which I hope to make something today with it. Unfortunately, MFT is currently sold out of both sets, but will soon have them back in stock.  Keep checking back... these are great for summer and/or birthdays!! Who doesn't like ice cream and cupcakes??  For this card, I utilized Yo Yo Yellow for the base and  the dp is another new item I have had and not used called Cupcake by Basic Grey.  I colored in the cupcake base with Copics, and added some Yellow Spica pen to the sprinkles for added color and sparkle.  The main image is on dimensional's which I edged in More Mustard. I used my Paper Studio faux stitching stamps for the center and some new metallic self-adhesive dots on either side.  The bottom of the dp I cut using my Creative Memories decorative scissors. I cut out the dp using the Word Window punch in order to stamp the sentiment on the orange cs behind.  Thanks for looking and hope you have a sweet day!!

Materials Used: Yo Yo Yellow, Only Orange, Real Red, Cupcake by Basic Grey, MFT, dimensionals, WW Punch, Coluzzle, Copics, Copic Spica-Yellow,  Paper Studio, White gel pen, decorative scissors, metallic dots, Palette Noir

This card was made for yesterday's and today's challenge on SCS. The color challenge was to use Soft Sky, Basic Black, and Kraft.  Such beautiful colors together!  The sketch challenge you can find here.  I combined them both and pulled out my What's Up Cupcake set from MFT. It is just so cute and fun!  I kept it all pretty simple as this sketch seems to pull it that way. (for me at least!)  I stamped the main image on Very Vanilla CS and the sentiment on Kraft.  I colored it in using Copics and added the clear Copic Spica pen on the sprinkles.  I added some clear dew drop which I added some Dazzling Diamonds to the top for a hint of sparkle.  Thanks for taking a peek!! Have a great day!!

Materials Used:  Soft Sky, Basic Black, Kraft, Very Vanilla, Brilliance Graphite, Dew drops, Copics, Copic spica-clear, MFT

Blog Candy Picture

Hi everyone!! We are back from our Kansas City trip! After being able to peek out from under all the things we brought back from my dh's apartment and laundry, I am able to breathe and make my promised post... The Blog Candy photo!!  Below is what Angela R. won!! Congratulations!! Included is some glitter rub-on's, Daisy D Rub on tape, American Crafts Ribbon, Ribbon FX, an owl stamp, Cuttlebug embossing folders, and a 6" needle craft template.  You are probably thinking, what the heck is this needle craft template?  Well, it is my favorite size in being able to make perfect circle piercings on a card.  Gina K. is offering different shapes and smaller sizes on her website along with an explanation and tutorial on her blog.  Check it out!!  (you can also purchase these at your local craft store...)   Hope you enjoy these goodies Angela!!  I will have another post of some great shots from our trip! I normally don't do that, but I just have to on this one!! : )  Have a great day!

We Have A Winner!!

We have a winner for the Blog Candy!!  Thank you all for the kind comments! I look forward to many more months of sharing with you all what inspires me!  I used a very sophisticated program to choose the name... my dh picked out of a hat!!  And would Angela R. come on down!!   Congratulations Angela and when I return,  I will be sure to post a picture of all the goodies!  

BLOG CANDY!!

Today marks my one month Blogaversary and I thought it would be nice to give some candy away!!  I apologize that I do not have a picture to show as I have packed it for my trip! BUT... I will post one upon my return.  The lucky winner will receive some nice goodies that include American Craft ribbon, embellishments, stamps, and other fun stuff!! All you have to do is leave a comment and a random choice will be drawn on Wednesday!  Pass the word along and it could allow for you to enter twice!! If someone you know signs up for my newsletter, you will get two entries... just be sure your friend mentions your name in the comment. In addition, if already receive my newsletter, you are automatically entered twice!! Happy Commenting!!

Finally Finished!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend!  This is a short post as I have been busy getting ready to head to dh's graduation in Kansas this week.  He is has completed a required course with the Army which has kept him away from the boys and I for this last year.  He is finally done and now we will be back as a family... just in time to move!  With that said, this week my posts will be sporadic and I will have no new creations share.  I am sure I will have no problem picking right back up next weekend with some new projects!   

I do have one card to share that I made for dh's graduation and Carolyn's (Cammie) dh who also just graduated from his residency.  

I saw this Gruffie stamp a while back and when I saw it again recently, I couldn't help think once again how this would be cute for graduation.  No more studying!!   I used my coluzzle to cut out the center and pop up the other two circles within.  I then sponged the edges and a little within- added brads and used my Karen Foster snap stamps to create the sentiment.  I colored the main image with my Koh-I-Noor colored pencils and baby oil for blending.  Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek!! Have a great coming week!

Materials used: Gruffie by Stampabilities, Basic Black, Me and my big ideas dp, brads, Brilliance Graphite Black, Koh-I-Noor pencils, baby oil, Coluzzle, white cs, cream cs, sponge, Creamy Caramel, close to cocoa.

Thinking of Coffee!

I was able to squeeze in two cards today as I didn't have a big schedule for once.  The is card was made for our groups' challenge for someone on the Need a Lift forum on SCS.  This is for Sandy and her family. Sandy is a stamper who lives in FL. Florida has had some nasty brush fires and Sandy's home was one of three that burned.  She and her family are safe and just trying to figure things out.  I hope this card will brighten her day.  Our challenge was to use a sketch on Holly's (Toy) blog.  While making this card, I realized that it could qualify for another addition to Sharon's (notimetostamp) challenge. I decided to brush off the dust of some El Cheapo stamps that I have... we all have them! $1 Studio G stamps.  This one, however is quite nice and decorative.  These inexpensive stamps work fine with dye inks but much better and clearer with craft or pigment type inks.  They are fun to play with and at least you never have to worry if any get ruined or damaged! Thanks for looking!

Materials used: Basic Black, white, Blush Blossom, unknown dp, scallop punch, circle punch, blush blossom ink, Brillance Graphite Black, stickles, brads, word window punch

This card is one of my favorites to make.  3x3!  Just so quick and easy to whip up.  I made this for the MFT Ambassador challenge.  The challenge was to make a 3x3 card with a matching envelope.  I used my favorite Tea Time set along with some new dp that I picked up.  In case you don't know, I {heart} coffee!! I am not human in the morning without it!  I think I just may bleed coffee, but my dh says I bleed green instead... (Army)  The main image was colored with Copics and Prismamarkers while I then paper pieced her dress.  I added some ribbon and a few staples and I was done. Hope you have a wonderful coffee/tea break sometime today!! Thanks for looking!!

Materials used: MFT, Flair designs dp, Chocolate Chip cs, Me and my big ideas dp, Kraft cs, ribbon, staples, slit punch

**Don't forget!! Share the news.. Blog candy this weekend to celebrate my one month Blogaversary!**

 

Can ya dig it? I have some exciting news!

Well, I have some exciting news to share... The last two days have been a whirlwind for me as we have sold our house and getting ready to head to North Carolina!  It is bittersweet as we love our home here in Texas and the area we live in, but we know that we have to go where the military sends us.  We are hoping to have some great neighbors at our new home as we do here. We will certainly miss the evening gatherings we sometimes have outside while the kids are playing.  Starting 6 July, I will a lot of my things packed up and won't be able to create until we settle into our new home 2 weeks later. So probably by the end of July will I have some new items to share.  In the meantime, I will continue to post and then after 6 July it may be sporadic until the end of the month.

However, I do have two cards to share with you.  The first one is for yesterday's sketch challenge I love to do.  This card was made using MFT's Can ya dig it? set.  Such a great set!  I always have a hard time choosing what image I want to use.  There is just so many fun images! 

This is a 4.5"x4.5" card utilizing My Minds Eye dp and the ribbon slide I seem to like making.  Also used is my new Daisy Bucket ribbon which you can also find at MFT.  This pattern is called Poolside.  It seems to match well with Purely Pomegranate and Cool Caribbean.  Fun colors! What is so cool about this ribbon is that is made of cotton, but feels like paper! You can shred it, stamp on it, curl it, distress it, what you you can think of!! It is just neat to use.  I tore some thin strips off and "threaded" through my button and then curled it.  For the image, I first masked the wheelbarrow to add the items in it. I then used my new Koh-I-Noor colored pencils which you can find at Gina K or your local art store.  These colors blend like butta!!  They seem to produce a deeper hue than the Prismacolor pencils, but I won't be replacing mine anytime soon! Prisma's offer a larger range of colors, but the Koh-I-Noors is a wonderful starter set or just an addition to your Prisma family.  

Oh! And these pencils are woodless, so be careful to not drop them-not that you can't just sharpen the broken and use it.  That would work just fine as well.   Thanks for looking!

Materials Used:

Purely Pomegranate , Very Vanilla, Cool Caribbean,  My Minds Eye dp, Daisy Bucket Ribbon, Scallop punch, button

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The second card here I made for Sharon's (notimetostamp) weekend challenge.  The challenge was to use black and white and a color.  Such elegance when using black and white, but then you add a pop of color and it is just gorgeous!! For this card, I used my Cuttlebug and Swiss Dots for the top portion and stamped the Positive Flourishes bg stamp, from Flourishes for the bottom.  I then used a damask stamp from Stampabilities for the center and some beautiful ribbon I have been hoarding!  You can't tell in the picture, but it is a bunched sheer with a soft velvet in the center. Now, for the sparkle, I used my new-and-lovin' it Pearlescence palette set from MFT.  I can't seem to stop using them!  I dotted each dot with some white pearlescence and added some gunmetal grey to the damask.  This was a pretty simple card and probably could fall in to the 10-20 minute category.  Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek!

Materials used:

Black, white, Pale Plum, Flourishes, Damask, Cuttlebug and Swiss Dots EF, ribbon, ticket punch

**Stay tuned and share the news... Blog Candy this weekend!!  **

A story and finally a creation!

Sorry it has been a quiet weekend.  It didn't start off the way I would have liked, but it ended up having a good outcome.  Saturday morning, one of my sons got up early... really early.  I am very blessed to have children who like to sleep, but for some reason, my eyelids that day set off a buzzer to Twin A alerting him that I was awake as well.  I awoke at the crack of dawn refreshed from not having one single child in my bed by morning! I decided to just enjoy the peace and quiet in my  bed and contemplating whether to get up and make coffee. That is when the buzzer went off and my thoughts interrupted... So, after hearing my son, I decided to get up and make that coffee.  I am not a morning person by any means until I have had a few sips of my morning coffee.  That is all I had taken when my son decided he wanted to show me in excitement on the computer screen something he knew from school.  Arm goes out... I see coffee cup teeter... some coffee spilling on keyboard.... The end.  Yup!  Now, he didn't spill my entire cup of coffee on the keyboard, but enough to fry it completely.  It was not even 8AM yet...  I just sigh and realize that it was going to be a long day.  And it was... BUT! I have a new keyboard that I LOVE and it is only a 1/4" thick and quiet as a mouse!! (I have an Apple, so if you have seen these keyboards, you know what I am talking about!)  I hope you all had a better start of the weekend than I!    

I did not get a chance to participate in todays challenge on SCS, but I did finally make my FIL's birthday card.  He is an avid fisherman and loves to take my boys fishing, so I decided to make a card using Fishy Friends of the big and small fish.  Because I have twins, I masked over one small fish to create the second kissing fish.  I also got to play with my new Pearlescence by Yasutomo. Think of Twinkling H2O's in a palette form. Talk about the bargain of the century!! I jumped on this bandwagon as soon as Kim from MFT posted them in her store.  I believe she is currently out of stock, but should be getting more in.  21 colors for only $5.95!! I am all about a good bargain!  Anyway, I LOVE them and the sparkle it gives!  You cannot tell by this picture, but they give excellent sparkle, translucency, and deeper color if you so choose.  As soon as MFT get more in stock, head on over and pick some up!  I don't think you will be disappointed, but if you are, at least you didn't spend a fortune to find out you don't like it! : )  So for this card, I colored the stamped images with my Prismacolor markers and went over it with different color pearlescence.  I then used my Cuttlebug for the background bubbles and went over that with the pearlescence.  It is a very shimmery card, but not too sparkly for a man.  I added some ribbon, a sentiment and corners using my square punches, and I was done.  I think he will like this... but then again, it has fish and something to do with my sons.  He will love it!!  Thanks for letting chew your ear today and taking a peek at todays creation! 

Materials used:

Yo Yo Yellow, scrap orange, Tempting Turqouise, white, Prismamarkers, Pearlescence, Cuttlebug, Bubble ef, Palette Noir, Waterbrush, brads, square punch, circle punch, Fishy Friends,  A little birthday cheer, ribbon