It's back to work!

And nothing to be excited about, ugh. But here's a cutie I whipped up for my nieces birthday we celebrated yesterday. It was a fun party! We couldn't have asked for better weather and company! So even though it's back to work I still had a great vacation!


I love these lambs from Elzybells. They are stamped on kraft and colored with Prisma pencils and OMS. I added funm flock to their bodies and heads and finally opened my Flowersoft and used it for the grass. This is really so much prettier irl! The adorable floral paper is from DCVW Nana's Nursery for girls.

We also celebrated my hubby's great nieces 3rd birthday-yes, his nephews daughter. Wow, all the family together yesterday was awesome! Anyway, I love Hello Kitty, so whether she does or not, her entire gift, card, and wrap was that theme. I made this simple card using my Sizzix die. The sentiment is from SU!


Happy Monday!

The bug got me and it's time for another Color Throwdown

I was brought down by a stomach bug and out of commission for a few days. I didn't get much rest unfortunately though as I was nursing two sick kids while I was sick myself, so I think I need to have a work from home day and send the kid off to school so I can fully recouperate!

It's Color Throwdown 47 and since I'm hosting I couldn't let anyone down...so the trooper that I am, I gritted my teeth through the pain and got my card done. Okay, it wasn't that bad! This weeks colors, Cameo Coral, Tempting Turquoise, and Kiwi Kiss (or any lime) was inspired by this lovely Crate Paper I found in my stash.

This adorable teddy bear is from Elzybells. I colored it with Prismas and oms and dotted the flowers with some Stickles. The flowers are from Prima and the coral matches the Cameo Coral exactly! The ribbon is Aqua Mist from PTI and was a lovely match as well. Both patterned papers are from Crate Paper and the tan is the flip side of the striped paper.

Here's a close up where you can see some of the sparkle.
Please join us this week as you have a chance to be chosen as our featured stamper and ultimately as a Guest Designer. Check out the Throwdown blog for details. Make sure you visit all the great team members below! Please use keyword CTD47 when you upload to a public gallery-and have fun!!!

LeAnne Pugliesi - Wee Inklings

Barbara Anders - Paper Pursuits

Broni Holcomb - Splashes of Watercolor

Tammy Hershberger - Stamp Happy

Cathy Indelicato - Crafty Thoughts

Ewe are one in a million

I ordered a couple of clear sets from Elzybells a few weeks ago and finally opened one up. I love these little sheep! This one is from the From Me to You set.

Stamped on Neenah Solar Crest White Ultra Smooth in Memento Ink and colored with Prismas pencils and oms. I thought this little cutie needed some soft color. I flocked her up too with some white flocking...you can see it better in the photo below.

I am so glad that my sewing machine is behaving...I will probably be doing a lot of stitching for a while! The pretty harlequin paper is from the K& Co Small Wonders Girl paper pad by Brenda Walton. The pink panel is a piece of Prism cardstock. I inked up the edges of the panels with Brushed Cordouroy Distress ink. The flowers I made with the Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch and layered them and added a Kaiser flat backed pearl in pink. The sentiment panel, which is the flip side of the harlequin paper, also sports some pearls. I think this would make a very cute baby girl or little girl card.

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Be back again Wednesday with the Color Throwdown!

More Easter Cards

I have these adorable Elzybells images I bought last year and I had to pull them out and give them some love again this Easter.


This image is colored with Copics and sprinkled with sparkle in the form of a Sakura stardust pen. It's not easy getting into those tiny spaces! The adorable double sided paper is from Imaginisce. The floral background pattern and green is one double sided sheet and the blue floral is a another one.


Isn't this paper cute? Yeah, I have no idea whose it is. I have more paper than one person should be allowed. I never keep track of the designer or manufacturer....I am bad that way. The sentiment is from a Studio G dollar set from Michaels.

This last one I was going for white on white then changed my mind. The background is a huge stamp from CHF. I love plaid but went very plain on this and just used one color, Versa Magic in Tea Leaves. And then stamped it crooked. Oh well, it happens. Still cute though! Over look the bow....remember how perfect is was in this post? Just keep remember that one, yeah.

Time for my cough medicine and bed! I am so ready for dreamland! I hope everyone has a happy Thursday!

Oh baby Bella and check out the new Elzybells!

Now all I need is for someone to be expecting a baby girl and then I can use this card! I bought this adorable Stamping Bella image so long ago but had yet to use it until today. Oh, BTW, pay no attention to the wonky stitching. It is in no way creative or a happy accident. It really is bad! I haven't figured out how to turn corners when I use the zig zag stitch resulting in bald corners and not so straight lines. Don't worry, I covered the worst of it behind the sentiment :) !!


The entire image is paper pieced and the face and star popped up. It is colored with Prisma pencils and oms and I added Shimmerz to the star for a little sparkle. What? You don't see it? What a surprise! The cardstock is a piece of scalloped paper I bought from my LSS, Scrappers Playground, and the patterned paper is from K and Co. Berry Sweet. The ribbon is from PTI and it is a perfect match to the paper, what luck?! The sentiment from a Heidi Grace clear set is cut out with a Nestie and sponged with the die still in place. And lastly I used a Ranger Inkssentials opaque white pen on the tiny flowers on the bundle.

Cute cute cute! Now, who's having a girl? Anyone?

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Elzybells released their new images today and they are super cute! Wouldn't you like a triple layer cupcake with a cherry on top? Who wouldn't?!!! I love how you can build your images on so many new sets and the new Just Desserts is Just Wonderful!! Get on over to the site and check them out!

Okay, just one more Elzybells and some mud

I have yet more Easter Elzybells stamps that I have not even inked up yet but this might be the last one for a while. Maybe. Anyway, the letters on this image are much smaller than the SPRING one so there was no way these were going to get cut out! I colored with Copics, of course, and added some sparkle with my Sakura stardust pen. The center panel is sponged with Robins Egg Versa Magic. The paper is once again For Peeps Sake from Imaginisce, the green being the flipside of one of the pieces. The ribbon is probably from Michaels. The ladybug is from another sheet of paper from the same line. I just used my 1" circle punch and sponged the edges with Brilliance Pearlescent Orchid and popped it up a bit. The patterned paper has texture and sparkle to it already so I didn't add anything else. The base card is from DCWV.


Just wanna give a shout out to my LSS Your Happy Place! You can check them out online. Thanks Vikki and Terry for leaving such nice comments on my blog! Will see you guys tonight!


And now for the mud. My 2 year old, Sean, was "helping" daddy wash his truck. What he was really doing was jumping in the mud puddle that formed at the end of the driveway while DH was doing the truck washing. I laughed so hard when I saw his face...I said, stay right there, mommy needs to get the camera. He was a very good poser! I have several but I think this one is my favorite. My SIL said in some of the pictures he looks likes a soldier from Saving Private Ryan, ready to do battle! I had to share...I think he's so cute! My 4 year too...but I didn't get any pictures of him that day. Some other time...because I know you are dying to see him, lol!




And thank you too to everyone who has posted such nice comments about my photography! I finally signed up for webhosting and have a domain name, so now I just have to figure out how to create the darned thing. I am using MS Frontpage which should be easy, but somedays I am seriously technically challenged. Especially when I hear "mommy" and "he hit me!" every 15 seconds.

Wait, one more thing! Do you know what an Uncrustable is? Those frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that are round about the size of a donut? Well, my kids like to eat them frozen. Less messy for me I say! So, Sean takes his into the livingroom to watch tv and next thing I know he's grabbing my hand pulling me shouting "oh no, stuck!" What...? "My sammich stuck"! Where....? Oh God.... "In there"! Okay, so you all know where he's pointing right? Yep, the VCR. I thought that only happened on TV...are you kidding me?! Well all I can say is that it was a blessing in disguise that the sandwich was frozen because I was able to pull out the VCR and tip it forward and bang it out. It promptly hit the floor where Sean proceeded to retrieve and eat it.


Whew, fun day.

Another new Elzybells

I love this stamp...the image is so cute with that tiny bird! I guess I forgot how small the images were and it was no picnic cutting out each letter to paper piece SPRING. But it wasn't so bad that I wouldn't do it again! I think it's just adorable! The image is colored with Copics and the base card and ribbon are from Papertrey. The patterned paper is again For Peep Sakes from Imaginisce. The brads are from Making Memories. I sponged around the main panel and added some Stickles in the corners. I probably threw some Sakura on there too but you can't tell...so I could be fibbin'. You know Easter is a week away and I haven't even mailed any of my cards yet! Yikes, I'd better finish up this weekend! Have a great one everybody!!

Elzybells Spring Collection

I love the new Elzybells stamps for spring and Easter. I was surprised to find a thread where people complained and were disappointed that there were no girls in the new line and didn't like the new images at all. I mean the girls are cute, and I have several, but these chicks and bugs and flowers are adorable! Not to mention that a bunch of the girls were just released a month earlier. Anyway...this image fit perfect inside of the egg punch from McGill. I borrowed it from a friend and she told me it was discontinued...which is very disappointing! I haven't looked for it yet myself but I'll give it a go any way. So I stamped the image in Palette Noir and then punched it out so I could make sure it was perfectly fitted inside the egg. I love how the curve of the daisy stem mimics the shape of the egg. I colored it with Copics and sponged a little purple hydrangea Versa Magic around it. The yellow patterned paper is the flipside of one of the gorgeous Imaginisce For Peeps Sake pages and the strip with the chicks on it is from Creative Imaginations. It's a 12x12 sheet with a row of beautiful tulips at the bottom and some blue and polka dots rows as well. The flowers are Primas layered together with a Doodlebug sugared brad in the center. The ribbon is from Michaels. The base card is Die Cuts with a View and the sentiment Printworks. I went over the sentiment with the Sakura star dust pen but didn't really like it after that. It's okay...but I wasn't starting over! Anyway, I will post another Elzy in the morning and if I haven't heard from my blog candy winner by then I will draw another name. Good for all of you that posted and check everyday, huh? Am I being too impatient? I hate waiting, so fair warning and good luck! Goodnight everyone!

Peeps in a Jar

This is not a new thing but when I came across it here I thought it was so cute and would make great gifts for my boys daycare teachers. Little did I know that getting these squishy bunnies into the jar was going to be such a pain! What I mess I made! I actually had to empty the first jar twice and remake it to get everything to fit in. Some of the peeps are grotesquely staring out through the glass...some with crumbs on them, some with M&M's burrowed into their fleshy casings. Now doesn't that sound appetizing? I think I cursed making the first one...nope, I'm sure I cursed.
Anyway, I found these plain "craft" mason jars at A.C. Moore which I thought would be perfect to showcase the ingredients better than the traditional ones. Same exact shape, just smooth glass without any raised writing. I really enjoyed making the decorations for the lids. I used an adorable egg stamp from Elzybells and stamped it once onto Papertrey white cardstock and again on design paper from Imaginisce. I colored in the white image with copics and cut and pieced the eggshell from the dp and popped it up. Before I did the piecing I used a white scallop circle punch around each image to fit on top of the lid. I pierced each scallop and sponged a coordinating ink around the edges. I made 6 of these in different colors. Then I made the tag using my rectangle Nestabilities die and stamped the sentiment on it from the Papertrey Just Hatched stamp set. I realized that I needed to add the recipe to the jar also so I might re-do the tag and make it into a card instead and have the recipe printed inside. And after making these adorable little egg chicks there was no way I wasn't getting those peeps inside the jar...ugly or not! Okay, maybe I will just eat the ugly ones. Oh that sounds bad...I'd better stop now.

Here are some close ups:

I believe I added a little sparkle too with my Sakura Star Dust and Spica pens. It's hard to capture that in these photos. And here's where I found the recipe if anyone is interested:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123558