Jelly Stars

Jelly Stars

This is my best “fancy” cookie recipe. Everyone loves these… of course that means they are a pain in the butt to make. I only make them at Christmas but I usually make 4 or 5 batches. Last year I made 8 batches. Never again! The recipe was in Good Housekeeping about 15 years ago. Thank goodness I wrote it down because I have never run across it again.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 ¼ cup sugar
2 eggs (separated)
2 tsp vanilla (real!!)
3 cups flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup raspberry jam (I always use Knott’s)

Beat the butter with 1 cup of sugar until blended. Increase speed to high and beat for 3 minutes. Add yolks and vanilla. Gradually add flour, baking powder, and salt. Shape the dough into two balls, wrap in plastic and chill at least one hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough out between 2 sheets of waxed paper. Do not add flour. You must use the wax paper. Cut out cookies (I use star cutters). You need to sizes of cutters. Cut out 2 big cookies and then use the small cutter to cut out the middle of the second cookie. This will give you a top and a bottom. Brush cookies with beaten egg white (I have been known to skip this when crunched for time.) and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 10 to 12 minutes… they should not really brown. You want them pale. When they are cool spread the bottom cookies with jam and top with the cut out cookie.

Christmas Card

I made this as part of a Christmas card set. I am trying to use up some Making Memories patterned paper that I picked up last year on clearance. I am famous for buying lots of stuff I don’t need. I really do love this patterned paper though.
Stuff: Rustic snowflake stamps by PTI. PTI cardstock in kraft and pure poppy. White ink by versamagic. Ribbon from American Crafts. Unknown jewels.

Happy Fall

I have been busily working on Fall cards and Christmas cards. Its finally cold enough that I feel in the mood to work on those things. I have a hard time thinking fall when its 90 outside!
Stuff: PTI stamps: Out on a Limb Additions, Take a Bough, Limitless Labels. PTI cardstock: vintage vanilla, PTI ribbon: dark chocolate satin. Dew drops ink: gold, pumpkin spice, coffee, copper

Meme- Q&A

I was tagged by Beverly for a little Q&A. You should check out her blog, lots of crafty goodness plus she is working on her own store!

Now, here are the rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share seven facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Ok, seven facts about me:

1. I was born and raised in California.
2. I have had the same best friend since I was 3 years old.
3. I am easily grossed out by a bloody nose. (I have never had one! TG!)
4. I like to make stuff. (Gee bet that was hard to guess).
5. I bake like nobody's business. My specialty is cookies.
6. I have had many a science experiment go bad!
7. My feet are huge... size 9.5!!! And I am only 5'3"

I am taking the easy way out and tagging no one. But if you want to play, let me know I would love to come read about you!

Merry and Bright

I have been working on Christmas cards and Halloween boxes. My craft desk looks like a bomb went off. This card uses a set called Merry and Bright from PTI. I love the little christmas trees, so many different ways to stamp them out. The base of the card is Pure Poppy cardstock and the patterned paper is by Memory Makers. Its old, at least last year. I have an addiction... I continually buy paper, I cant seem to stop. I think I have enough to make a 100 scrapbooks, dozens of cards and still have some left over.

Spin Class Nearly Killed Me

Decided that I would return to spin class today, I went back to the gym yesterday. Its always so hard to go back after missing a week and being sick. So today I think I will just go in at 8am and get it done with. I have never been to this particular class because in the summer I was never up early enough and then once school started I was kind of going in the afternoon or at the 9am class. So anyway I manage to drop off my kids and get myself down to the gym by 8am. I walk into class and who do I see but the hardest instructor every!!!! She subbed once for my regular afternoon girl and I thought I was going to die. So here I am, second day back, first spin class back, still cant breathe through my frickin nose... and here is this chick that is all muscle- the I look good-I am tough- I am going to kick your butt muscle. Of course she is smiling as she talks about what an awesome tough ride its going to be, she is just going to work us over! Oh I was afraid. Totally terrified. Felt my feet heading for the door but somehow I managed to coerce them on to the bike. It was so hard! Hard to breathe, hard to make my muscles move, and of course my butt hurt because I hadnt been on the bike in a week. Well I am here writing this so obviously I survived, but I am telling you just barely! I dont think I will be hitting the 8am class again anytime soon!

Give Thanks

I am not much of a Thanksgiving card maker but I thought that Out on a Limb, by PTI, just lent itself to Thanksgiving. This is such a versatile set, especially if you have the add on. Well worth the money, this one is. I made several of these cards and I am proud to say they are going to some deployed soldiers. All supplies by PTI, except for the ribbon-its from Michaels, and the ink on the leaves- dew drops brilliance ink.
Thanks for stopping by- have a great Monday!

Finally On the Road to Recovery!

I am finally feeling better! Gosh, this was a nasty cold. I hadn't felt that awful in quite sometime. I made this card right before I got sick. I used PTI's Take a Bough. It was released last Christmas. I just love this set, so versatile! The branch also comes in handy for my Wise Owl set! Anyway back to the card, all PTI materials. I made the ornaments look glossy with Ranger Industries' Glossy Accents. The hardest part is waiting for it to dry!

Chicken Soup

Me and my big bowl of Chicken soup (campbell's - I am in no shape to cook) are curled up here trying to muster the strength to finish up some school work. Not happening. Still feel completely horrid but slightly less horrid than yesterday. So another early night for me and hopefully sometime tomorrow I will put some new pretty stuff up on the blog. I have lots of stuff waiting to be photographed...

Sick

Here it is Monday night, still no pictures. Sorry about that. I feel awful. Just as soon as I can get my kids in bed I am going to bed as well. I feel horrible! I did go to the gym on Sunday, but not spin class.... I did 35 minutes of weights and another 25 minutes of cardio. I was feeling so sluggish, well now I know it was this cold coming on. UGH! Hope it goes away quick. My nose is like a leaky faucet.

Exercise

The gym is calling my name and I am trying to hide here on the couch in my pjs with my laptop. I need to go but I dont want to! My last appearance there was on Friday. When I walked into the spin room I saw the instructor who is the most difficult. Normally she teaches the am Monday and Wednesday class, which I haven't been to since school started back up. I have mentioned her before. She can kick some ass. Her entire body is muscle, not an ounce of fat on this girl. Its pretty muscle too, not bulging body builder muscle, just firm-I can kick your ass and look hot while doing it- muscle. Truth be told the second I saw her I wanted to turn and run upstairs to my friend the elliptical machine. But I didnt want to look like a quitter, plus she knows my name and probably would have demanded to know where I was going. I am not afraid to admit that she scares me a little! So I made it through, but when I was done my legs felt like jello and my heart was about to thump out of my chest. But I lived and now here we are at Sunday and I need to go back. The next spin class is at noon, its 9am now. I should go.... I need to go.... I will be back to let you know how big of a wimp I was later.

Open Letter

Sorry but I have to get this off my chest before I can move on with my day.

Dear Teacher,

Clearly you dont want to be here. I know someone is paying you to be here. This isn't a come on your free time type of deal. All of you are receiving money, which obviously isn't being well spent training you, they should have gotten someone with a work ethic. Yes, I know its a Saturday. Yes, I understand you are tired. This does not give you the right to talk while we are trying to teach. This does not give you the right to clean your purse out at the table, disturbing your work group and completely ignoring the person presenting. This does not give you the right to file your nails as we teach. Maybe your mother never taught you that these things are rude, however since you work in a classroom environment I would think that maybe you should know better. I really wouldn't care if you listened or learned while you are here except for the fact that you are occupying a spot that many other teachers would have liked to have. You also were so disruptive that people across the room were glaring at you, and yet you continued on, oblivious to everyone but yourself and your cell phone. Perhaps this program isn't for you. Perhaps you should drop out and let someone else have your spot. Clearly you are not here to learn or stretch yourself in any way. Next time stay home and make us all a little happier.

*** And now back to your regularly scheduled craft blog*** I will have some christmas cards up tomorrow! Need daylight to take some decent pictures.

Its PTI Blog Hop Time (I am LATE!)

I had bigger plans for this one! This is a scrap piece of pine board that I painted white with craft acrylic. I painted the sky a very light blue. I stamped the snowmen in palette black noir and then colored them with my copic markers... which worked surprisingly well on top of the white paint. I hand printed the saying but clearly spaced it wrong. UGH there was no way to fix it, I was contemplating a bow in that area.... still dont know. My original plan was to (actually I will still do this) attach a wire with ribbons to hang this on a wall. It still looks unfinished to me so I will work on it a bit, I think its salvageable.

This card I love. I used boards and beams and home for the holidays. If you get this set you had better like to color. and cut. Fortunately I do. So I colored it up with my copics and cut out all the little pieces. I had a lot of fun with it. A little stickles for added sparkle.

I knew I should have taken care of this before work! UGH! So here it is, way late and with bad lighting on the pictures. Hope you enjoy. (If you dont know what blog hop is hop on over to PTI and find out!)

All supplies by PTI except for the paint, copics, and stickles.

Hero Arts Sitting in the PTI Tree

I just love this card! Is that wrong to say about my own stuff? LOL! Anyway the tree branch is from PTI's Take a Bough. Its an amazing set. Definitely worth the money for that one! The little bird and bird house and snowflakes are from Hero Arts. I just love these little animals. The cardstock is PTI. The ink is palette and I colored with copics. I must say I am in love with my copic markers, to think I only started with five, I have close to 50 now. I cant even let myself think of what I spent on them!

The Boy

The Boy: Mom am I a hunk?
Me: What?
The Boy: Mom am I a hunk?
Me (snickering): Whats a hunk?
The Boy: Its like way better than handsome!
Me: Where did you here this
The Boy: sister... she watches Drake and Josh
Me: ahhh... it all becomes clear, yes son your are a hunk.

Hero Arts Meet PTI

I made this card with rustic branches stamps from PTI and the cute little bird from Hero Arts. I hand drew the bow. Everything is colored up with copics and on PTI cardstock. I am so spoiled by their cardstock I can hardly stand to use anything else!

More Cute Stamps

Another card using Hero Arts stamps.
Supplies: PTI cardstock: aqua mist, white, pure poppy. Ink: palette noir, dewdrops moonbeam white, copic markers

The Cutest Stamps Eva!

And omg, they aren't even PTI! Now you all have probably figured out that I love me some PTI, but these little guys are from Hero Arts and they are so freaking cute!

Supplies and such: Stamps: Hero Arts Cardstock: PTI select white, pure poppy, and aqua mist Ink: palette noir, moonbeam white (dewdrop) Ribbon: PTI aqua mist Copics.
I hand drew the tree, ornaments and snow. The star on top is from the PTI take a bough set. I have several more I made with these stamps I will post the rest of the week. Have a great day!

Rustic Branches

This card was made with the fabulous Pine's Rustic Branches set. To think that I almost didnt purchase this set! Its awesome and so versatile, it can be Christmasy or springy or even fall like. Love it!
Supplies: PTI rustic branches, kraft cardstock, pure poppy ribbon. copics, versamark ink, palette ink, and white embossing powder

**** In Non Crafting News*****
I started seeing kids in the science/computer lab today. Oh it is so much fun to teach science. Today we had a little fun with dry ice! The fourth graders had fun with rulers, static, and styrofoam beads. So much fun stuff.

After work I made the dreaded trek to the gym. Another day, another spin class.... this guy who instructs this class is crazy hard! And its like the harder it gets the happier he is. I think he thrives on sweat and pain. I thought I might pass out, I ended up taking off after 45 minutes because my blood sugar once again started to crash. UGH! I think I might have to start bringing juice instead of water, of course this just adds back the calories I am trying to rid myself of! Oh and it would probably help if I quit eating candy. So tomorrow is another day, hoping I will do better.

I am so sorry....

its been a week since I managed to post anything! I had a long week at work and then a wonderful trip to Napa with my very best friend. So its been busy, busy around here. I made this card with PTI's guidelines stamps, snowflake serenade stamps. I used my copics to color. Dew drop ink (gold) and palette ink (black). This was a time consuming card. Definitely not one you would want to mass produce.

True Strength is Delicate

This card is made with the Remember set from Papertrey Ink. I stamped the image with palette noir and mounted it on pure poppy. I colored it with my copics and then wrapped some pure poppy ribbon around it and stamped the sentiment onto it. All ribbon and paper from PTI. I have no clue where I got those pearls.

They Massacred My Show!

This my friend, is a a tragedy! This show, these people, are so NOT the original. I would be ok with change, I wasn't expecting a carbon copy but this was down right awful! Awful writing, awful acting, awful directing. Not a thing I liked about it. Not one! I had invited two friends over for the premiere. Both friends are women, in their 30's like me, and both were big fans of the original show. We got some wine, some appetizers and we settled in with high hopes. Those hopes were dashed to ribbons in the first five minutes and it got worse from there! One of my friends actually left because she said sleep was just more important than a show this stupid! When I got to work today there were others who had watched. I could not find a single person who liked it. I did find a couple of luke warm reviews on the net. One person even said the girl who plays Niomi was a good actress! What?! She is the one we thought was the worst! I do know they will have three less viewers next week.

Happy First Day of School

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is my first day back at work. I usually bring in a little something for all the teachers. We work in an area where the teachers dont receive much in the way of gifts, etc. Especially not the way the teachers receive gifts where my kids go to school. I always like to bring in a little something to help kick the year off right. I saw this idea somewhere else... I am not sure where and I apologize for not linking you to the original idea. These little guys open up like match books and hold a square of Ghiradelli chocolate. YUM! All supplies are Papertrey Ink with the exception of the copics I used to color the owl. The stamp set is Wise Owl by Alli Miles (who left me a comment the other day, and it was all I could do not to swoon. LOL).

New Card

This card is going to a teacher friend, hence the apples. I made this using PTI's fabulous set wise owl. I freehanded the apple tree branch. PTI cardstock, dew drops, and some copic markers round out the supplies. Its the first time I have ever watermarked a project and I realized I probably should have either a listed the stamp image copyright PTI or I should have said designed by Michele. In any case, not fixing it now but you all know that owl came from PTI and Alli Miles specifically. Working on a new watermark as I type.

My Life of Leisure is Coming to an End

So there has been a distinct lack of posts this week. I blame this on the fact that my husband refuses to be a CEO, lawyer, or Prince. If he would just do one of those things I might have enough money to abandon my career and become a full time lady of leisure. Unfortunately the man wants to follow his heart and not a giant string of dollar bills, not to mention he wasnt born the son of a queen... so I guess I cant really blame that on him, can I? So in an effort to keep myself in stamps, ink, and more paper than my local scrapbook store stocks, I will be returning to work on Tuesday. I think I have mentioned before that I teach, specifically I teach science to grade school kids. Its a good gig... way better than teaching first or second grade, which is what I did previously. Insanely better than selling knives, which was one of my first jobs. This year, due to lack of funding, I had my hours cut so I will only be working 4 days a week. That gives me one extra day to get the house clean. Oh who am I kidding? It gives me and extra day to play with my paper and stamps.

It's Blog Hop Time!

It is time for Papertrey ink's monthly blog hop. This month's challenge was to alter a CD case. I honestly wasnt going to participate because I could not think of a thing to do! Then today, about 45 minutes ago, I came up with this! Behold, the CD case mini first aid kit. Perfect for a teacher's desk, student locker, stroller, or car glove box! I used PTI white cardstock. I stamped the Wise Owl with PTI chocolate ink and poppy ink. I colored my owl with my copic markers. I drew in the little first aid kit and colored it with prismas and copics. Finally I punched the tag out and hand wrote the title. The background paper is from Marcella by K. I got it on clearance at Target.

Camping

or how I was tortured this weekend!
So we went camping this weekend. And I dont mean camping in a motorhome or camping at a place with a pool and showers. I mean camping with pit toilets, no hot water, no showers! Just dirt, hard ground, bugs, and smelly out houses. Wow, I make it sound appealing dont I?
Now I am not some city girl with no experience getting dirty. I was a camp counselor for 5 years. I went camping with the family when I was little. I am not a total novice. However I find, as I grow older, that I like a bed. I like a hot shower, I really like clean hair. I do not like bugs, especially in my sleeping quarters. I like indoor plumbing, I do not like bathrooms where you cant flush! But I am a good sport and the hubs, he likes to camp. So I go, on occasion, although I do complain a bit.

It was pretty tolerable back in the early years, when we were first married. Of course I was all of 22 back then as well. Now I have two children to bring with me. They are 5 and 8. They love dirt. They love no baths. The are all for dirty hair, bugs, and sleeping on the ground. They do NOT like the pit toilets, so there is that we have in common. My boy pretty much rolled in the dirt the entire time we were there. My girl relished in the fact I didnt make her comb her hair or wash her face. When I bathed them tonight, the water was black. I had to scrub the tub after each bath!

There was one highlight to this weekend camping trip and its name was: Wine. Ah yes wine, I think I had a bottle. Or maybe two. Its amazing what good wine can do. I forgot the dirt, I forgot the bears, I forgot the fact I had to sleep on a half inflated air matteress (are there any other kind?) with my husband, trussed up in a sleeping bag and dirty sweats. Yes, the wine turned it all into a nice fuzzy glow. I actually went to sleep in my dirty clothes with scuzzy teeth and I didnt even care! (Way more information than you needed right?) So this leads me to my recommendations...

* if you can avoid camping in a tent, DO!
* if you can choose your vacation, go for a real bed!
* look for campgrounds with showers!
* avoid camping with small dirty people, or try to stick them in their own tent!
* if all else fails, drink copious amounts of wine! You can delay the pain until the next morning!
HAPPY CAMPING!!

Flowers

I made this the other day when I was playing around with my prismas. It uses the floral frenzy set from PTI. Thats a super set with lots of possibilities... and to think I almost didnt buy it! I do have a bit of an addiction when it comes to stamps from PTI, hard to believe I only started stamping last November when I see the vast quantity of stamps before me!

Tooting My Own Horn....

I WON!!!! I won guest star stamper over at Papertrey Ink. I can't even tell you the amount of excitement I felt about this! First I screamed, then I jumped up and down, then I screamed some more! In anycase there were so many awesome enteries.... you should take a look at the GSS submission gallery, so much inspiration. You can see all the winners and honorable mentions here.

Butterfly Kisses

Happy Wednesday Internets! Today I give you a card I made using butterfly kisses and guidelines. I stamped the guidelines with versamagic cloud white on PTI Kraft paper. I then used butterfly kisses and Aqua Mist to make the butterflies. The only thing I dont like about this card is the sentiment... I dont know it just doesnt look right, stamped where it is. But enough work went into this card that I didnt toss it.

Something Crafty for You...

This is another color on black card. I stamped flowers from PTI's floral frenzy set in versamagic cloud white and then I colored on the white with prismas. I went over some of the flowers with glossy accents so they really pop off the page. The ribbon is from my stash and the epoxy element was made with stamps, prismas and glossy accents and then cut out with my new fiskars finger tip knife. (That thing ROCKS!)

Why Do They Call It a Slumber Party? No One Is Sleeping

I am currently writing you from hell, little girl hell to be exact. I am hosting my first slumber party as a mom. Sigh. I remember the slumber parties of my youth with such fondness. You know a bunch of friends, snuggled down in sleeping bags, telling ghost stories, playing light as a feather stiff as board, eating cake, having pancakes for breakfast. Such a wonderful, carefree time. So much fun to be had. I have another memory too- its the memory of my mother saying NO!! everytime I asked to have a slumber party. At the time I thought she was mean, really mean, the meanest mother ever. Now I see she was smart, really smart, the smartest mother ever!

My dd is 8 today. She begged for a sleepover, she pleaded, she told me I would be the best mom ever. She promised she would keep it small, she promised they would be asleep early. I listened. I am stupid. I currently have 6 little girls in my living room watching Enchanted (which is a great flick, as far as kid flicks go). I think watching may be over stating it. I mean the movie is on, but no one is paying it any attention. Currently they are all getting crushed ice out of the freezer. Why? Probably because I finally told them no more "juice" and soda. (The sugar is oozing out of every pore.) So they getting ice, spilling it on the floor, crunching it, putting it down their pajamas, screaming (nothing is worse than little girl screaming.). Its nearly ten! I am so tired. They are not going to be sleeping anytime soon. The energy level is so high the room is buzzing.

Did I mention the boy? Ah yes, my boy. He is in there with six girls. They are torturing each other. He is bugging them, torturing them really. Of course they are egging him on. I have threaten him with bed repeatedly. This could go on all night. It probably will. Did I mention I am tired? This party started at 4. We painted ceramic figures, we crafted cards, we played games, we ate pizza, we ate cake, we opened presents, we played in the fort, we drug out every toy in the house. It has been non stop since 4. They leave at 10:30 am. I should have made it 5 am.

Did I mention my husband thought this would be the perfect night to pull some overtime? yeah he did. Convenient. So here I sit with all my little slumber party memories turned inside out. Just as it is with nearly every thing else, slumber parties are oh so much better if you are a kid. It loses quite a bit when you are on the mom side of things. So now its back to the living room to referee the ice fight going on during the Enchanted viewing.

Color on Black

This is something I just learned, you take white pigment ink and stamp on a dark background. Next you take out your prismas and color on the white ink. So easy and pretty!

Happy Birthday to my first born!!! Baby girl is 8!! I feel old.

Gym... continued

OMG I was just reading my stat counter page and I saw someone found my blog by searching, "girl with six pack abs". Bhhaaahhaaaa!!!! Sorry sweetie, you wont find that here! (Ever!)

BTW: went to the gym, nearly was killed by the girl with the six pack abs, skipped core because I had the beginnings of an "insulin headache", the precursor the previously mentioned Steel Magnolias moment.

The Gym

I hate exercise. I mean hate. I dislike it immensely. I do not like sports. I do not like to watch them, I do not like to play them. I hate them all with an equal passion. I suck at them. I have two left feet who do not listen to me. I dance like Elaine on Seinfeld. I am completely uncoordinated, I trip and fall even at the ripe old age of 35. Seriously when it comes to things of a sporting nature I am severely screwed up.
Unfortunately for me I also possess a fat gene. (Actually I suspect I have many many fat genes.) Lets just say my ancestors were never going to starve to death. I put on weight by looking at food. I think chocolate bar and I am rewarded with my fat cells swelling. I actually put the chocolate in my mouth, I have instant poundage. Because of this stupid fat gene (or genes) it becomes necessary for me to exercise. If I dont I will end up being one of those people so fat they cant leave their bed and the next thing I know the Discovery channel will be making a documentary of my life.
On top of the fat gene I also have type 1 diabetes. I wear an insulin pump. This helps make exercise slightly more difficult. If I exercise too much or too long my blood sugar bottoms out and I have a my own personal Steel Magnolias moment. ( You know the one, where Julia Roberts freaks out and they have to pour orange juice down her? yeah, been there and done that.)
Ok so now I have two strikes against me uncoordinated, nonsports like and freaks out easily. But yet I drag myself to the gym. 4 times a week is my standard. I need to go 7 times a week. Seriously, my doctor said so. But I average 4. Rarely less, lots of times more. My standard is spin class. (Indoor cycling to music) If you have never been to Spin let me tell you it is hard. Some classes harder than others. My usual class (I go 3x a week to spin) is taught by a lovely girl, who is thin and fit and toned, with six pack abs. She looks awesome in spandex. She looks awesome sweaty. (I however resemble a large sow.) She has scary arm muscles, I know she can kick my ass and probably my husband's too. The other class I frequent (also spin) is taught by another lovely thin girl with six pack abs but her arms are a bit on the wimpy side. I am not afraid of her. I think I could squash her. LOL.
So my point? What was my point? Ah yes, today is spin day. With the first girl, the one who can kick some ass. 45 minutes of spinning and then 15 minutes of core work. Core work? Whats that you say? Core work is designed to make you hurt for the next few days. It involves lots of crunches, push ups, crazy leg lifts, these scary things called gliders, balance work. (Did I mention I have no sense of balance, I cannot stand on one foot for any length of time!) So on spin days like today I tend to have conversations with myself. They go like this:
Me: Gotta go change for the gym. gotta get the kids ready.
Self: You dont want to go there. She will kill you today. She is probably going to have race day.
Me: Eh, I can do it, I have been doing it for a year now.
Self: Yeah a year of all this work, have you lost any weight?
Me: Well no, but you keep convincing me to eat ice cream and cookies
Self: Well we deserve a treat.
Me: All this work, nothing to show for it
Self: Well we could just quit
Me; No because then the Discovery channel will be calling.
Self: All right fine, go get dressed but you will be sorry in an hour when you finish your tenth push up. You will wish you had listened then.
Me: Yeah I know.

Coloring

I love to color, be it coloring books and crayolas with my kid or fancy markers with my stamps. I already own prismas and watercolor pencils, pastels and paints from art class college days. However I decided to take the plunge into fancy markers and buy some copics. I tell ya, I was so giddy picking those things out. I have a pottery barn dreams and a walmart budget so I currently own 6 copic markers. LOL. Anyway I used those six to color this card. The stamps are from the Guidelines set by PTI. Cardstock and linen vellum also by PTI. I have no clue where that ribbon came from, thats what happens when you are a supply hoarder! Hope you enjoy.

Coloring Solid Stamps

The other day I ran across a tutorial done by Jennifer Mcguire on coloring solid stamps. It looked intriguing so I decided to give it a try. Here are the results.

So what do you think? I used Dewent water color pencils. I have primas and like those too... but they were buried and my derwents were sitting right there.

Random Stuff

Couple of scrappy pages I managed to crank out the other night. Mostly MM product... cant remember all of it, some has been in my stash forever. Time to actually use some of that product! I took out my alpha stickers the other night to reorganize them and I was embarrassed by the sheer number that I have! YIKES!

In other non crafting news we are finally painting the clubhouse. Pics to follow. I let two 8 year olds (my daughter and her friend) and my son (he is 5) go to town with the painting. YIKES! On one hand they did alot of the work, on the other hand there is lots of cleaning and umm... fixing...smoothing... touch ups to be done. All the trim still needs to be painted and the actual walls need to be touched up, some quite a bit. They chose yellow... its called baby duckling. And green trim, English garden. I think it will look pretty good. Hopefully will have it done by the end of the week.

Scrappy Pages

Well finally I put down the ink pad long enough to scrap some pictures. I am so so far behind in my scrapbooking but really I dont care anymore, what gets put in the album, gets put in the album. I can't spend my life worrying about what isnt getting done. Also I no longer go in any order at all, I just scrap what I feel like. So heres a few I did last night.
Recipe: MM patterned paper (boho Chic), Heidi Grace Cardstock (green) Bazzill (purple) MM ribbons, Doodlebug and American Traditions letter stickers.

I Have No Title

I made this card for the Casual Midweek Challenge (CMC) over at Papertrey Ink. Its based on a sketch by Mary K. If you pop on over to the forum you can see for yourself. My favorite part about this card is all the ribbon. Its ribbon I have had for an age too...so I cant even tell you who made it. The stamps are Papertrey ink. The Ink is Dewdrops chalk ink.

I finally scrapbooked tonight for the first time in AGES. Before discovering Papertrey Ink and their lovely stamps, I was strictly a scrapbooker who made an occasional card if I didnt have time to go to the store. Now I am stamp and card obsessed! So it was nice to get a few pictures put in my kids' book. Hopefully I will get a few more done this week, if my kids cooperate I will photograph and upload the SB pages tomorrow.

Simple Little Card

I like this just for the simplicity of it. The hardest part was embossing those squares in a straight line, after that it was easy peasey. The star is from the wise owl pti stamp set. This ink is plum pudding, as is the ribbon both by PTI. The sentiment is from the the hey there cupcake set by stampendous.

Drama... The Award Winning Variety

So yesterday The Boy got his Kindergarten shots. OMG. There is not a font
big enough to convey his screaming. I always thought The Girl was my
drama queen. I remember her K shots vividly. She had been watching
Dora sees the Dr or some such crap...so she was saying...shots are
healthy shots are good, I love shots. Anyway after they stuck her
the first time she screamed like someone was tearing off her arms.
It was extremely embarrassing. I always thought that would be the
worst. Nope.... today The Boy topped her easily. I had to physically
restrain him, which was not easy. He screamed and screamed and
screamed some more. Sometimes it was just the screeching, someones
killing me scream and the rest of the time he was screaming (and I
mean loud enough to be heard in the next state) OH GOD!!!!! IT
HURTS!!!!! OH GOD!!!! YOU ARE KILLING ME!!!!!! YOU ARE KILLING
ME!!!!!! OH GOD, SAVE ME GOD!!!! It would have been hysterical if
it had been anyone elses kid. Not only that but where was all the God stuff
coming from?I am so so so glad its over with. He
did not stop the screeching until we had been out of the office, in
the car and driving for like 5 minutes. I felt like giving him an
academy award for his performance!

Owl In the Moonlight

I love this card! Is that wrong to say about my own creation? Anyhow once again I am using lots of PTI... this is their wise owl stamp set, out on a limb stamp set, ribbon, some ink, and cardstock. The white ink is by versamark. I also used lots of crystal stickles.

Quilt Inspired...complete with faux sewing

I got the idea for this card after reading this post by Michelle Wooderson and seeing the very pretty quilt card she made. I had a lot of left over gypsy paper from Basic Grey so I decided to chop it all up and make something pretty. I dont sew on paper... I barely sew on material (think Halloween costumes and the occaisonal button) so I decided to use my MSE faux stitches stamps. I bought them over a year ago, I am ashamed to say today was the first day they saw ink! I also used the new spellbinders ribbon labels (picked those up at overstock.com), papertrey ink mixed messages, basic grey chipboard, PTI ribbon, and chocolate ink. I think those buttons are doodlebug but I have had them forever and a day so I really dont know.

An Award

I got an award. (BTW I had gotten a few others, and then never picked them up and played... so if I did that to you I am sorry! My only defense is that sometimes my life gets out of control. Anyway if any of you I give awards too dont want them or forget about them its A-OK. I totally understand!!) I got this award from Eileen. You can find her here. She has a great blog, its full of scrappy goodness! I am suppose to play along and name 7 other people to receive the award. So here is who I pick:

Katie at MyPaperHaven. Katie rocks, she is uber talented and she updates her blog almost daily.

Claire at Waltzingmouse makes. Claire is awesome, she has the coolest papercrafts. And she is a fellow PTI addict.

Beverly at Precious Scraps. Bev is so nice! She is also an amazing paper crafter!

Mrs. K- She is completely hilarious and a really good writer.

TKW- Another super funny fabulous writer.

Lynn at Stamperosity. Lynn is so nice and super talented too. I love her cards.

Melony at Pulleytimes8. She has six kids and is still sane. I admire that!!

Supposedly there are some strings attached to this award. Something like pick 7 people to give the award too and post them and link them on your blog. Post your award in your sidebar...etc. If you dont do it you get 7 years bad luck.... oh wait no not that, that was from the chainletter I got yesterday. LOL!

Hope you are having a fantastic weekend... I will be back tomorrow with a new card or a picture of my kids... yes my life is that exciting... dont hate! :)

It's Blog Hop Time!

Its blog hop time! Go here for all the details! This month's challenge was to work vellum. Lucky for me I got my PTI order in time to use some of their beautiful new vellum. I am using the Linen Vellum on these cards.



My idea for this card was to stamp two scenes that would compliment each other when they are both viewed through the vellum. This vellum (Papertrey Ink Linen cardstock vellum) was a little thick for this technique. You can see through it but just barely and no way could I get a picture of it, trust me I tried! However I really do like this card and this vellum. Its very pretty and it takes ink wonderfully. Here I am using birds of a feather stamps in combination with Out on a Limb stamps.

You can really see the weight of the vellum here! It makes a wonderful card base. I just love the look of this card and of course its using my new favorite set, Wise Owl.

Owl Card

This is from the Casual Midweek Challenge (CMW) over at Papertrey Ink. You can find it in the forum there if you want to play. I used mostly PTI products, spring moss cardstock, sweet blush twill, spring moss, chocolate, and sweet blush inks. I colored the owls (wise owl stampset) with tombow markers.

Non-Stamping Card

Rare that I make a card without stamping these days. I picked up these metal letters at Marshall's of all places. They are by WeR Memory Keepers. Cardstock is PTI, Ribbon is too. Ran the cardstock through my cuttlebug.

Hummingbird Part 2

Another hummingbird card, different color scheme this time. Stamps are PTI, cardstock and ribbon to. Some PTI ink and some dewdrop chalk ink.

TOTALLY UNRELATED: Remember a few blog posts back when I was talking about exercise and my little conversation with Self? Well Self and I had another conversation today.

ME: omg!!! my whole body feels like it went through a blender.
SELF: I told you not to stay for the toning portion of the spin class.
ME: omg I cant move, not. at. all.
SELF: yeah thats what happens when you do insane numbers of push ups after a grueling spin class. I told you to get up and leave.
ME: i think today might be a good day to skip the gym
SELF: for once you are thinking clearly.

Hummingbird

First I want to say thanks so much for all the happy birthday wishes for my kiddo!
I have a new card for you... all PTI except for some ink.. I have chalk ink going on in addition to some PTI palette ink. I also used a bit of stickles, because really whats a card without stickles? Stamps are from Out on a Limb and Birds of a Feather

As a side note... I read this yesterday... I found it hilarious, lots of cursing...which I find funny but just a warning for those of you who dont. If you dont have the time for the click its about killing ants and being an assassin vs. a serial killer. Well this evening I was a serial killer.... I must have taken out 1000 of those little suckers. Man, I hate ants.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

My baby turned 5 today! I can't believe it....just yesterday he was brand new.