A Riding Hood Red Flower

Hey all! Ibuprofen and Vicodin have gotten me through the day, and I even made a card! Wow! I am however, indeed, ready fro bed. Which is a crime for me to go to bed before midnight, but in light of everything I think I shall head for bed after this post.

I made this here card for a little Sketchy Thursday, over at Eat, Sleep, Stamp, which I have to say has quickly become one of my favorite little places to check out from day to day. Tracy does such fun and cute things! A very talented lady, I must say.

So I made this little diddy, but will have to wait to post it to her site, since Mr. Linky was no where to be found and I have not heard back from her yet. Hope y'all enjoy!

Stampin' & Vicodin

So I have not been well today....the root canal actually went well. It totally helped that the Endodontist was a total hottie! Hee Hee! But I have been out of it ever since, (yea for vicodin)... kinda a waste of a day....I couldn't even stamp, which is probably for the better, but it might have been humorous, though, to see what I would have made while totally looped up! Ha! I'm hoping that while Sam is at Pre-School tomorrow morning, I might get a little somethin' stamped before the Teddy Bear Picnic for Kindergarten with Dylan!

Anyway, here is a little card I did back a couple weeks ago for the Verve Release challenge....I never got around to posting it because it just wasn't one of my favs! But good thing I saved it for a rainy (drugged up) day like today!

Some Floral Mojo!

Hey, so life has been crazy....this thing with my tooth has seriously been consuming me, but after tomorrow's ROOT CANAL, (Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhh!!!) they tell me that everything will be better. I hope so! So here is the card I did for mojo monday. I absolutely love this 'Urban Garden' DSP from SU, and these blues are one of my favorites as well. I'm gonna have to keep this short, for as I am typing this, Sam has ripped off one of the pearl accents from one of my pouches and is seeing how far he can bounce it across the room. He must be stopped.

So the colors I used here were, kiwi kiss, basic gray, whisper white, baja breeze, blue bayou, I used circle punches, and the flower is from Impress, and the sentiment is SU, although I forget which set....it's been one of those stamps that has found somewhat of a permanent home on my table....never having been put away after some card class or something!

Think some good thoughts for me and my root canal tomorrow, and hopefully everything will go great and I will be back here posting in no time....perhaps I'll get my TCP challenge done tonight, so I will at least have something to post tomorrow along with an update on MR. Tooth!

Happy for you, Happy for me, cuz this one is so much Cuter!

OH MY! I don't think I've been this crazy in a while....I did my card for Kristina's Color Inspiration last night and posted it, thinking I was pretty happy with it. For those of you who are familiar with her color challenges, this one was the big 5 - oh! And because of the huge milestone, she was awarding prizes and only allowing one entry per person. Well, I came up with a cuter card today.....what d'ya do? I'm almost contemplating emailing her and asking if she would mind removing my first entry so I can enter this card.

I sat down today to make my card for Jen's SFYYT, and since I had so much fun using the colors from Kristina's color challenge, I decided to use those as well. And I am so happy with how this card turned out, much better than the other one, at least for the sake of competition! We'll see where it goes from here....I'll keep y'all posted!

This card uses Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, Marigold Morning, Summer Sun, and Kiwi Kiss ink as well as card stock, also a little bit of the Pink Flaming DSP. I usedthe Eastern Blooms and Organic Outlines stamp sets, both SU! Ribbon from my taylored expressions KI, and of course one of those yummy chocolate corduroy buttons! Y'all know I couldn't resist throwing one of these in!

But then I realized as I'm typing out all the colors I used, that I added an extra color and would be disqualified with this card....so I guess I should leave well enough alone!

Hip Hip Hooray! Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration #50!

I have been waiting all week for this! And this evening I have been like a little kid at Disneyland! I can't believe that Kristina is on color inspiration #50! Yay for her! I have to give her total kudos, because without her, I don't know if I would be here right now....well, I would be here, but it was her color challenges that pushed me to really 'get myself out there' and have this stamping blog, and it is one of the best things I have ever done. So, Kristina, if you ever get to reading this, THANK YOU! You have been an inspiration to me more than you know!

And how exciting was this challenge! I loved it! The stamp sets I used were Organic Outlines and Eastern Blooms, both SU! The sentiment is from Verve, and I just had to use it, because that's what this challenge made me want to do! The butterfly punch is from Martha, and is glittered with some sparkle from my Taylored Expressions key ingredients kit (are y'all tired of hearing me mention this?) and it is sitting on one of my favorite new embellies, the Corduroy Buttons, in Chocolate, of course! The patterned paper is SU 'Pink Flamingo' and all other card stock is SU as well. The ribbon is Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon. Ink and paper colors are: Riding Hood Red, Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun, Whisper White.

So here's to 50! I can only hope there will be another 50 more!

Polka Dot Cupcake!

I wasn't plannin' on stampin' at all tonight, even though I had this week's TECC sitting on my table, just waiting for me....then I got all stressy and decided that the best way to beat stress is to either stamp or drink, and since I don't do the latter, stamping was my answer! And here is what came of it! I really love this card. Not all of my cards can I say that I love, but this one will go into that spot in my heart! And what a better way to end an evening than with something that makes you happy....now I can go up and fold baseball uniforms for games tomarrow, and watch a little WEEDS, (yay!), and relax!

All paper & ribbon used here is from my April Taylored Expressions Key Ingredients, although I did just realize there is a little Certainly Celery CS as well. The flowers are prima, and the cupcake image and 'happy birthday' are SU (one of my favorite cupcakes of all time, I might add....I'm still inkin' it up after many years) and the 'cupcake' sentiment is from Impress! Hope y'all are having a great start to your weekend!

A little eat, sleep, stamp challenge!

So, the pain killers have done me in- I went to bed at 6:45 last night! And for those of you who know me, you know how terribly insane that truly is! But hey, I'm sort of functioning now, and I have a little card here for a challenge, over at Eat, Sleep, Stamp, that I have never played before! Kinda fun, and funny too, because I swear that's all I have been doing since my tooth thing on Tuesday! Yesterday I even took Sam to preschool in my pajamas! Shhh! Don't tell anyone! Again, I used all things from my Taylored Expressions key ingredients kit, except for the stamps. The image is Stamping Bella, and the sentiment is Verve. Happy Friday.....hope y'all have a great start to your weekend!

So Tardy with My Monday Mojo

So I sat down and did the Mojo Monday sketch! I think I really need to try and do these on Monday.....how embarassing, it's Thursday afternoon! Well, I've been having fun playing with my Taylored Expressions Key Ingredients, and so decided to do my mojo card using them....see, that's why I waited....if I did this card on Monday, I wouldn't have had this fun stuff to use! I knew I had a reason somewhere....ha! All the paper & ribbon are from my key ingredients kit....the image and sentiment is SU, and the glittered flowers are die cut from my SU baskets and blooms die.

Polka Dot Pouch!

Happy Thursday! I am going to try to get through today without drugs....I had a filling come out over the weekend, and went in to have it filled on Tuesday, and found out there was a bit more going on, and that 'bit' more going on was quite close to my nerve....so I've been doped up on narcotics for two days now, barely functioning, but the pain seems to be lessening which hopefully means that the nerve is repairing itself and I won't need a root canal. Yuck!

But enough about my issues...I was excited yesterday, albeit not as pumped as I would have been without the drugs, because I got my Taylored Expressions key ingredients kit! And here is what I have done with it so far. The patterned paper this month is SOOOO cute! Right up my alley with the polka dots and cute little flowers. I decided to make a smaller version of the little pouch I am doing for my class May 15.

The key ingredients challenge was for anything but an A2 card, so I believe this absolutely fits that!

Super Fun Card Set & Matching DSP Pouch Class in May!

So I got inspired by attending the SU Regionals, and so I have decided to hold a type of class that I haven't done in a couple of years. Its going to be super fun, and included in the class fee, is a stamp set that you will get to keep, as well as an entire package of Designer Series Paper! I love these classes, and I know that a lot of you do to, because its so much fun to use products that get you inspired that you can then take home and re-create! How fun is that!

For this class, we will be using the 'Best Wishes and More' stamp set, along with the 'Washington Apple' DSP. So fun, so exciting, and SO SPRING! At the class we will be making 8 unique cards and a little pouch that will hold them all, along with envelopes! This project is perfect for this time of year when you are in need of all those 'Thank You' gifts!

The image is of one of the pouches using a different paper....although I don't think it's as cute as the ones we will make out of the Washington Apple DSP.

The class is Friday night, May 15, from 7-9pm. You must pre-register and prepay for this class! Please contact me (akcreations@netzero.net) if you need more info, or would like to register! There are 10 spots available. The fee for the class is $45 which includes the stamp set and set of paper that you get to keep as well as all other supplies needed to make the 8 cards that go in the pouch!

If you would like to bring a friend who has never stamped with me before, I am offering a discount on the class fee for both of you. You both will be able to attend the class for $40 each! What a deal!

Jen's SFYTT - Taylored Expressions Style

Okay.....I think I'm back....two posts in one night....I must be...Yay! As soon as I finished my last post, got off the phone with my neighbor, I went straight to work on this sketch that Jen posted here on Saturday! Thanks, Jen, I have so much fun with your sketches! And I finally got 'er done! I had so much fun with this! I used some paper (Bloom & Grow) I picked up about a month ago at one of my local favorite scrap stores....but haven't used it yet! And I had a great time playing with all my SU inks, mixing and creating awesome 'new' colors and going to town with my blender pen.....in my attemps to match the flowers (Taylored Expressions) to this super cute paper! Would love to say more, but my bed is calling me....actually the second season of WEEDS is calling me.....have ya seen it yet? A bit racy, not a show for the easily offended, but I haven't laughed this hard at a show in a long while! See y'all tomarrow hopefully with my Mojo Monday card.....on Tuesday, once again!

Is it Monday, Really?

Wow! I can't believe it's Monday night already.....and I haven't posted since Friday! Sam turned 4 and we were carried away with birthday festivities, and then Saturday was taken up by Stampin' UP Regionals, which were great, but by Saturday night I completely shut down! And there have been so many projects and things that I want to make, but my time has just been disapearing on me. And its not going to slow down anytime soon! That coupled with the BEAUTIFUL weather today, and I just couldn't get myself to be inside......So today's card is one that I did late last week for the Verve Release Challenge....Hope you enjoy it!

A little more Verve!

So I was quite happy to finish all four cards last night for the Verve 2009 April Release Challenges....I hope something great happens.....what I wouldn't love to win me some stamps right about now! This card was for the color challenge portion....and it also happened to be one that I did not use my Verve stamps with....which was not required, but when doing challenges for certain companies, I always try to use their stamps! The flowers are from Impress, and the Bird, of course is SU! The sketch called for soft yellow (I used So Saffrom), Soft Blue (I chose Soft Sky), and Soft Brown (What better than Close to Cocoa!)....some Cuttlebug Swiss dots embossing, Soft Sky DSP, a bit of Velour Cocoa Ribbon, and those Yummy Corduroy Buttons that I can't get enough of....oh yeah, and some baubles on the flowers! Well, today is Sam's 4th Birthday, we're going out to dinner with my in-laws, and I have SU regionals here in Seattle tomarrow, which I still have to make all my swap cards for.....so much for getting to bed early tonight!

BTW, stay posted if ya like those Corduroy Buttons....I will be having a Button Club coming in the next week or so....so you can try 'em out in all the fabulous colors they come in without having to break the bank!

I got my Verve on.....Flower style!

Hey all- Happy Morning! The sun is shinning, and it is a glorious day! Just right for a 4 year old's birthday party....don't ya think! I'm going to have a boatload of 3 & 4 year olds running around here in about a little over an hour....but hey, there's always time to post, right? Right! Here is one of the card that I am doing for the Verve April Release Challenge! What fun this is....also with the chance to win some Verve goodies.....perhaps I'll be one of the lucky ones this time around. Anyway, this card uses some of my favorite flowers from verve, along with some patterned paper from Bloom & Grow (yes its new, and yes I broke my rule....but admitting it is the first step, right? Hope ya enjoy! More cards from the Verve challenge to come......

A Little Taylored Expressions Love....

So excited, because now I have some Taylored Expressions stamps to play with.....and here is the first card I did with them! I can't wait to play around some more with them, so y'all will probably see some more with these in the near future! I did this card for the Friday cupcake challenge....what? It's not still Friday? Seriously, I don't know how time escapes me! But, for what it's worth....here she is!

A little Butterfy Mojo Monday Card and some Screaming Deals!

Well, I have to say, that I amazed myself! I actually got all the challenges I wanted to do, done last night....I thought I would still be working on them for days to come! The sketch for Mojo Monday was tough for me for some reason.....it was kinda out of my comfort zone, a bit different from what I am usually accustomed to doing with a design of a card. And I'm getting better at getting back into my Stampin' UP mode....everything on this card is SU, (Which can be purchased through my SU website!) except for the sentiment which is Verve. And I am happy with how it turned out....so yay!

Stamps: Sentiment: Verve, Image: Essence of love

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Old Olive, Kiwi Kiss, Urban Garden DSP

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Basic Black

Accessories: Old Olive 5/8 Grosgrain Ribbon

APRIL DEALS FROM AMANDA & STAMPIN' UP!

FROM STAMPIN' UP:

From April 1-30 when you make an online purchase through my website, you will receive a FREE copy of the Idea Book & Catalog, which is packed with thousands of card ideas as well as other projects. The catalog will be mailed to you with your order!

Also April 1-30, when you purchase $40 in products from the Mini Catalog Host a Workshop totaling $150 or more(if your own order totals $150, its the same as hosting a party), you'll get one item from the "Under $10 Page" (p. 208 in the Idea Book & Catalog) FREE!

NOW FOR THE DEALS YOU'LL ONLY RECEIVE FROM ME, WHICH ARE ON TOP OF THE PROMOTIONS FROM STAMPIN' UP!

For every online purchase you make through my website during the month of April, I will send you a gift certificate for $5, good on any future stamping purchase with me! Gift certificates will be mailed separately from your order!

And....for every purchase you make during the month of April, online or not, you will be entered into a drawing for a NEW STAMP SET! I will be giving away 5 new, unmounted sets from the current catalog, so there will be 5 winners! Drawing will be held May 1st, and if you are not local, I will mail your stamp set to you!

Please feel free to email me with any questions you have! Please put 'stampin' up specails' in the subject line, so your email gets to me!

Slowly Getting my challenges done!

So, today has been a really slow day...including the Mojo Monday sketch....I had three challenges/sketches to work on today....by now I wanted to be done with all three, but considering how cold and rainy it is outside, and all I have wanted to do is to lay in my warm snuggly bed all day, I guess I'm happy to have finished one of them.....but I did manage to finish washing all the dishes from hosting Easter Dinner last night! I loved the latest color challenge that Kristina put out on her site, and so I did this card in those colors....the design being from Jen delMuro's SFYTT....her card was so cute and springy.....I wanted to do something along those lines....but these colors have just stuck with me....perhaps now, after making two cards with them, I will have sucessfully purged them from my system.....but they may show up again at a future card class, so look out!

Oh, Monday!

I can't believe I haven't posted since late Thursday night! Or was it Friday? I can't even remember....how sad! Ha! Well, here is a little card that I have had sitting around on my desk, all elements ready to go, I just had to get her all colored up! Which I proceeded to do last night while watching Weeds in bed! I think my husband freaked out a bit when I brought up stamp pads and markers into the bedroom! 'Are you seriously going to craft in here?' were his exact words......and yes I did! I started this card cuz I wanted to use up some of my loads of patterned paper...I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

Stamps: Stamping Bella, Verve

Paper: cranberry crisp, old olive, sahara sand, whisper white

Ink: basic black, bravo burgandy, old olive, chocolate chip, certainly celery, groovy guava, blush blossom, soft sky, regal rose

Accessories: prima flowers, SU ribbon

Here We Go Again...KW Color Inspiration #49

OH MY HOLY SNAP! I can't believe I made Kristina Werner's top 10! Wait......I mean I totally believe that I did....(show nothing but confidence, right?) I am so honored and so humbled, y'all have no idea. I just want to scream for joy....and to think I've been dreaming about this moment since I was a little girl....well actually just since about a year ago when I happened on Kristina's site...I can't believe I waited so long to play, I love it so! I just got finished with the new color inspiration.....and this one was super fun too! I pulled out my Fabulous Flowers Set (SU), which I haven't used in a really long time.....threw in some DSP I had hangin' about, and used my new D'vine Swirls Cuttlebug embossing cartridge, and here's what I got! Hope y'all like it!

Stamps: Fabulous Flowers, Warm Words

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss, Urban Garden DSP

Inks: Basic Black, Rose Red, Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point

Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, D'vine Swirls embossing cartridge, scallop punch, kiwi kiss double sided satin ribbon, pommegranite baubles

The Card That Kept Me Up All Night!

So here's the card that kept me up all night....well just until about 3:30 am. I had made it a bit differently than you see here....and I just loathed it! I went to bed and just couldn't get the horribleness out of my mind, so I got up and came down to stamp and fix it so that I could sleep, and this was the result! I'm teaching card class tonight....so I've gotta prep!

My Monday Mojo Found Me Tuesday NIght!

Oh my....well finally here at the end of the day....my Monday Mojo found me...actually my kiddos just found the Dukes of Hazard (the original 1970's series)...so I found a little time for myself...alteast enough to squeek out this card....Here's my card for Mojo Monday! This sketch was so much fun....I hope I did it justice! I know I've said it before, but I am just in love with this Stampin' UP DSP 'Pink Flamingo'....love it, love it, love it! Last night I was thinking colors, and wanted to make a card using red, turquoise, and summer sun/marigold....and then I sat down to do this challenge, popped out this paper, and low and behold.....look what colors I ended up with!

I did although as I was capturing this card with my camera, realize that I need to quit being lazy and break out my 'bad boy' Cannon EOS 10D.....and then all of you could ehjoy much better pictures of my creations so excuse the close up picture, but I wanted to show the little "bling" that's in the middle of each of the little flowers on the branch....these little exciting rhinestones I got over at Tayored Expressions....and I still have yet to produce a perfect lighting situation as well, so if any of y'all have any suggestions.....I would love to hear 'em!

Stamps: Eastern blooms; sentiment: Verve

Paper: Pink Flamingo DSP, whisper white, basic blace, real red, tempting turquoise

Ink: basic black, real red, tempting turquoise, summer sun

Accessories: black 1/4 grosgrain ribbon, dazzling diamonds glitter, real red buttons, and the little 'mini' rhinestones from Taylored Expressions

TCP "Poppy" Tuesday!

Wow! Spring break is killin' me! It's actually not so bad, but by about 11:45 last night, I realized I hadn't stamped at all! I didn't even do the Mojo Monday challenge, which I have yet to do....perhaps I'll get some time this afternoon after soccer and a costco run! But I did happen to see this little color challenge from the gals over at The Cat's Pajamas....I think I be needin' some of their stamps.....the sassy cats are too cute! Anyway, these bright colors together totally intimidated me, but hey, that's where true growth happens, right? When you're forced out of what comes easy to you? So this is what I came up with....I've been wanting to use this 'Poppy' stamp from Stamping Bella, and this morning it practically jumped into my hands....I think it worked perfect for this card....except for that stamp and the polka dot ribbon, everything else is a la Stampin' UP! I'm loving this new DSP Pink Flamingo! It's so exciting! Just about any piece of it would have worked for this color challenge....it was tough to choose!

Sassy Shoppin' Bella - love this girl!

So you know you're addicted to stamping and papercrafting when you dream in stamps.....the other night I had this dream that I had these unmounted stamps and I could NOT for the life of me find an acrylic block big enought for 'em.....so what is that supposed to mean? Anyway, another sunny warm day here....I think I'll have the kiddos go out and pulll weeds. Here's a card I did over the weekend...using one of my new Bellas.....I just can't get enough of these sassy girls! They are so much fun. I pulled out some of my OLD, and I mean old paper...but I think it fits. Don't ya love her glittery purse? And of course I had to throw in a little of my new favorite color....and give her a teal bag. We'll see if I get around to the Mojo Monday challenge today, it's already noon, and even though it's spring break, we still have baseball practice today!

A Sunny SFYTT

OH MY GOODNESS! The sun is out and you can actually be outside with short sleeves the thermometer says 75 in the sun....it's probably a cruel trick by mother nature, but heck, I'll take this anyday! I hope it stays like this for the remainder of the week for spring break so the kiddos can play outside and I can stamp! Yay! Anyway, with the weather being so nice, I had to use this stamp set for Jen del Muro's SFYTT. I actually saw this stamp used by her a while back, and just had to throw it onto my last order from Stamping Bella! And what a perfect day to use it....and now that I'm done with my card, I can now go out and enjoy the beautiful day....perhaps I'll plant a few of the things I picked up at costco last week! Colors are all new IN COLORS from stampin up, and I have to say I love them just as much as when they first came out! And the sentiment is from Verve....and isn't it so true? The earth does laugh in flowers and some of them are beginning to show up in my yard!

Mojo Monday Birthday Style!

Here's the card I did for Mojo Monday.....only six days later! For some reason, this one certainly was a challenge for me. But I completed the task, and am happy with the result. Did ya notice the bling on the cake? Couldn't resist! So here's to the second post of the day! Now I'm ready to sit down in front of a little TV and relax!

KW Color Challenge #48

Aahhhh.....there's nothin' like waking up in the morning and stamping.....wish I could start every day out like this! I went over to Kristina's site hoping to see the results of CC #47, and what to my wonering stampin' heart should appear....but color challenge #48. And I LOVE these colors! So fun I just had to play! And to think I was questioning whether or not I would get any stamping in this weekend. So here's my interpretation of the color challenge....the card design is a little adaptation from a sketch I did a couple of weeks ago...those of you who follow my blog might see some similarities! It seems like I have been veering away from Stampin' Up products in a lot of my recent posts, which is CRAZY, because I absolutely love all their products, and that's not just because I'm a demonstrator.....but this here card uses ALL stampin' UP product, exclusively....well, except for the cuttlebug swiss dots embossing cartridge, and the little bling on the butterfly....did y'all notice that? Had to add it! Anyway, the corduroy buttons are fast becoming one of my new favs....aren't they fun? And this stamp set is now available in the new Occasions Mini Catalog....so you can bop on over to my Stampin' Up site and order everything to make this card! How exciting is that. Happy Saturday....the sun is shining here....almost didn't recognize it for what it was.....much better than the snow that was on the ground yesterday morning!

Yay, Friday! TECC 62

So this week has been CRAZY to say the least....so much that I can't even get into it. And I couldn't believe that I haven't posted in a few days, either....neither have I been creative, so when I saw the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge, I HAD to go for it! And here is what I came up with.....using some of the new patterned paper I got last week-so much for my goal of using up everything I had before acquiring anymore....what's a stamp-a-holic mama to do? So here's to a great weekend with nothing planned.....I wonder if I'll get any stamping time in.......