Chocolate & Celery & T-Ball...Oh My!

Finally...back to doing some splitcoast challenges!! This had to be a quick one to get it in before Kyle's t-ball game tonight. The challenge was to use chocolate chip, cameo coral, certainly celery, and the fourth color of tempting turquoise.

When I decided to use Zoofari I immediately thought of the mesh cuttlebug folder. It reminded me of rhino skin- not that I've ever seen rhino skin close up, but it's what I perceive rhino skin looks like. Anyway, I digress. The rhino is watercolored and cut out. The sentiment is from the new Hugs & Wishes set. I also used the small ice rhinestone brad to attach the ribbon piece. I still thought it needed a little something so I added a small triangle to the back of the coral panel, folded it over, and attached it with a vintage brad. To finish it off I sponged a little going gray under the rhino for shadowing.

Stamps: Zoofari, Hugs & Wishes, Card Stock: Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise, Watercolor; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Going Gray, Timber Brown Staz On; Accessories: Cuttlebug Mesh Folder, Ice Square Brad, Celery Grosgrain Ribbon, Tag Punch, Vintage Brad, WWC, Aquapainter, Tag Corner Punch

And, to share a highlight from tonight...here's a picture from Kyle's game. We were so proud of him. In t-ball the kids get a chance to hit three pitches, and then, if needed, they go to the tee. Kyle hit a pitch on his first two at-bats, only needing the tee on his third, and that was after fouling a pitch three times.

In this picture he hit the first pitch into the grass out of the infield. He was so excited. We were happy to be able to share it with both sets of grandparents who made the drive to see the game tonight. WAY TO GO KYLE!!!

Lovin' Baroque Motifs

Wonderful Mr. Brown delivered my Fall/Winter Collection preview order today. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get it all mounted and stamp until 10:00 tonight. But, here it is! I am loving this set. I think it has SO much potential. I wish I could have gotten a picture in natural light to show the colors better.

I stamped the large image in Chocolate Chip and River Rock (LOVE that new color!!) on River Rock card stock. It's mounted on Brocade Background designer series paper and then on chocolate chip. The corner of the river rock and the chocolate strip are pierced with the paper piercer. The sentiment is from the new Hugs & Wishes set, and I love that it's in Scriptina...just like my watermark! The hodgepodge piece is in aged copper.

Kyle was very excited about Zoofari. He helped mount the set. I'm sure you'll be able to see some of his creations here soon!

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Hugs & Wishes; Card Stock: Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Baroque Background DSP; Ink: Chocolate Chip, River Rock; Accessories: Aged Copper Hodgepodge Hardware, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, Crafters Tool Kit; Technique: Paper Piercing

Bright Doodles

I didn't make this card camping this weekend, but it's one I haven't posted yet. I was trying to step out of the box a bit and use some bright colors. I find that I never use Bold Brights.

For this one I used Double Line Doodles that I got at Regionals last fall. It will be in the new Fall/Winter Collection catalog. I heart in the center is cut out and mounted on a dimensional. I used the round tab punch from the mini to create the funky design around the main image. All the coloring is done with markers. The tempting turquoise scalloped looking border was made by punching a lot of 1/2" circles and mounting them to the back.

Stamps: Double Line Doodles; Card Stock: Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Whisper White; Ink: Basic Black; Accessories: Markers, Dimensionals, Round Tab Punch, Turquoise Grosgrain Ribbon, 1/2" Circle Punch.

Here's a pic of Scott and I taken when we got back from the wedding reception last night before we put our comfy campin' clothes back on. I thought it turned out pretty well, being that the camera was on the self timer sitting in the crook of the tree at our site! But, we did decide to bypass s'mores and head to Cold Stone Creamery instead!

My Limited Supply Wedding Card

Yea!! Wireless internet at our campground! We got up here about 8:00 last night. Looks like a neat campground, wish we had more time to spend here. We found an awesome Japanese steakhouse for dinner last night...kind of a pre-anniversary celebration as ours is the 13th. Dinner was incredible! This is the wedding card I made when we got back from dinner with the VERY few supplies I had with me. Luckily I remembered I had a cuttlebug background in my laptop case. Why was it there? I have no idea!

This was super quick. I used markers on the image from Happy Harmony and my stamp-a-ma-jig (of course!) to place the sentiment . The white organdy ribbon was just to set it off a bit. I like the way it turned out.

Stamps: Happy Harmony, All Year Cheer; Card Stock: Whisper White, Blush Blossom; Ink: Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Blush Blossom and Old Olive markers, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, White Organdy Ribbon, Cuttlebug Divine Swirl Folder

Happy Birthday Chef

This will be a quick entry, but as promised, here's another card. This was a really quick birthday card that I've made quite a few of. It's hard to see in the image, but i used the whole side of a quartered sponge to create a hazy background around the chef. This made his coat seem even brighter. The image was colored in with markers and I used the silver zig painty on the tray to give it some shine.

We're camping again this weekend for an out of town wedding. I'm making a card tonight for the wedding. If I have internet access I'll post it here. If not, it'll be a day or two.

Stamps: Viola; Card Stock: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White; Ink: Basic Black; Accessories: Markers, Sponge, Red Gingham Ribbon, 1/8" Circle Punch, Zig Painty.

Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!

I am almost embarrassed to update this, since it's been SO long. Things have been exceptionally busy in my world, but I have vowed to get this blog up and running again. I apologize to those of you who have been checking in and finding the same old-same old.

We bought a camper in Mid-May and have been gone every weekend since. It's been great fun, but I do need to get stamping more. This past weekend I worked on swaps for Convention while we were camping. I have 50 nearly done from one sitting! That re-energized my stampin' gene. I cleaned up my space last night (was still a mess after our fundraiser prep work, if you can believe that), and I'm ready to go!

I finally ordered Pocket Fun about two months ago because I had wanted it, and Kyle convinced me that I needed it. Wouldn't you know it's now on the retired list. Oh well, at least I can share this card with you. I really like this one. It looks much better in real life. I masked the flowers into the pocket, and then water colored the whole thing with my WWC. The pocket was a myriad of blues, trying to achieve a worn look. The final pocket image is mounted with dimensionals.

I promise I'll be back tomorrow. I hope you'll be back too!

Stamps: Pocket Fun, Aida Cloth; Card Stock: Chocolate Chip, Barely Banana, Watercolor Paper, Spring Flowers DSP; Ink: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Black Staz On; Accessories: WWC, Aquapainter, Earth Elements Brads, Apricot Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals; Techniques: Masking, Watercoloring

Successful Fundraiser

Devene and I held a fundraiser last weekend to support the Oakland Animal Fund. We were able to donate $175 to the organization. We had a lot of fun and it seemed to be well received. We're planning to do another one in the fall. When I'm able to get some pictures, I'll post the projects we did. These are a few of the pics we took that day. Even Brenda's dog, Kira, thought it was fun!

Sorry I've been a bad blogger! Things have been really hectic trying to get ready for the fundraiser, fitting in some letterboxing with the nice weather, and getting ready for the end of the school year. Kyle starts t-ball this weekend, so it may not get any easier!