Holiday Hip Hop!!!

Good Hip-Hopping Morning!!! Lots of gorgeous new releases to share from Unity Stamp Company with you. They are releasing 5 new singles today! Each and every one of them is gorgeous and so my style! LOVE that!

I hope that you have come here from AJ's gorgeous blog. If not, you need to get your hop started right by heading over to Angela's Unity blog and see what the details for the day are. I hear that there is some fun stuff happening today so you don't want to miss it.

For this first card, I swiped Amber's gorgeous sketch that she created for the Monday Challenge gals (AJ, Amber, Maren, Brooke, and Jen Buck.) I was inspired by a shirt that Kat was wearing for my color scheme (hint: if you think that this little deer is cute, you are going to LOVE Unity's November kit! ;o)

I colored my stamped images with watercolor pencils. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten the tutorial that I owe you on those...maybe I will manage to get that up by tomorrow for you.

I then added bits of white glitter to add some of that holiday sparkle.

{totally off-topic: the other day Amy was over here stamping and created the cutest little cupcake card using one of Amber's other sketches. When I started this card, I was totally going to lift her card because I LOVED the papers she used and everything, but that is the way that my Creative Muse works...she has her own agenda! LOL! But if you get a chance, go check out Amy's card...it will definitely inspire you...esp. her detailed paper-piecing on those cupcakes...WOW!}

Supplies Used:
*Unity Stamp Company US-535A Stocking of Elegance (new release)
*Unity Stamp Company US-534A Tree of Elegance (new release)
*prisma glitter
*Bazzill Cardstock
*Jet Black StazOn
*Watercolor pencils
*glue pen
*Martha Stewart border punch
*Marvy Uchida Oval scallop punch
*white brads

Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Company US-533A Trinity Trio
*prisma glitter
*glue pen
*Bazzill Cardstock
*Martha Stewart border punch
*ribbon from Hobby Lobby
*American Crafts brads
*watercolor pencils

Now you need to hop on over to Sarah's gorgeous blog....

Chilly days....

Is it getting colder where you are? I am not sure that I am quite ready for this cold weather yet. *yikes!*

I have been a bit quieter than normal because my Mom is in town so we are having lots of fun girl time. Today is shopping day! :o)

Just a quick share for you today. I challenged myself to do some cards using a kit from Unity that hasn't seen a whole lot of ink, Vintage Accents, and did some fast easy cards with it. The stamps in this kit have a lot of versatility esp. when it comes to creating more masculine cards.

I used the Basic Grey Offbeat papers for all of these cards. For this one, I colored the flower with water-based marker and simply used the paper design to dictate the design of the card. Very simple...

For this card, I wanted to feature the cute little birds that were in the papers so I cut them out and mounted them to one of the stamped squares. For further detail on the square, I added the little sunburst details to the sides and added the brads. Again, super-simple and quick!

This card was probably the most in-depth of all the cards that I created in this grouping. That being said though, this still probably only has a difficulty level of 2 on a scale of 1-5 (1 being easy, 5 being hard) so we still aren't talking about more than about 20 minutes to create. I used white StazOn to stamp onto the Kraft paper and create the background design. The fleur-de-lis is cut out and pop-dotted onto the square.

Supplies used:

*Unity stamp Co. Vintage Accents

*Basic Grey Offbeat

*Martha Stewart twill ribbon

*eyelet trim

*MM mini alpha stickers

*white StazOn

*Bazzill Kraft

*brown inkpad

Everything, but the kitchen sink...

Okay, you all are used to my very busy, overly laden scrapbook layouts, but my cardmaking usually runs a bit more clean-lined. Well, that is not the case with today's card that I am sharing. Somehow, it ended up with quite a bit happening on it. LOL!

Unity Stamp Company is the sponsor this week over at CPS (card positioning system.) If you have never been by this blog and are a cardmaker, then you are missing out. Tami Mayberry is the creativity behind this wonderful sketch site and I have been a fan for a LONG time!!!

You can find this weeks sketch #88: HERE. I turned it on it's side and ended up with this...

Like I said, there is a lot going on in this card design.

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Company Oct. KOM, Thinking about the Good Times

*Prima Peaches 6x6 papers

*Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder (on the brown cardstock layer)

*watercolor pencils

*Memories brown inkpad

*Marvy Uchida scallop circle punches

*Webster's Pages trims

*pop-dots

I hope that you will find time to play along with the sketch over at CPS this week!!!

Weekend Tradition...The Pillow Fort

With Ben gone this week, she is going to miss their weekend tradition...making the pillow fort. He is the bedmaker in the house and on the weekends Kat goes in to help and ends up getting buried under the pillows. I swear it is absolutely her favorite time of the week.

The journaling says:"Ben is the official bedmaker and on the weekends, this means that Kat gets to be buried in the Pillow Fort."

Can you tell that I am totally in love with this new Wassail line from Basic Grey?

Supplies used:

*Basic Grey Wassail papers

*Unity Stamp Co. Scalloped Journal Single

*Unity STamp Co. July Kit (the swirly journaling block at the bottom)

*Scenic Route chipboard

*Jenni Bowlin Bingo card

*American Crafts alpha stickers

*Martha Stewart border punch

*Lil Davis ribbon

*Bazzill Kraft

I hope that you have lots of fun plans for the weekend and that it includes a little bit of creative time too!

Fabulous Friday...

Going along with the "blog every day this week" theme, here is today's post. There is lots going on in our little world here today (a lot for us, that is.)

1. Ben is still out of town and we are ready for him to come home. Miss that guy, but we still have another week until he is home.

2. Kat just brought me a bowl of pretend food so that I could take some bites...that is just one of the cutest things.

3. At 7:15 this morning, we were at WalMart buying 2 dozen chocolate covered donuts for Spanish class because it is the last day of the quarter. Jacob was sure that he was going to be the hero of the day and I am pretty sure that he is correct.

4. I am VERY proud of the fact that I did not buy a single chocolate covered donut for Kat or I although they looked and smelled super-scrumptious!

5. I wasn't sure if I would be able to maintain our 4:00 workout routine without Ben here to drag me out of bed, but I am very happy to say that I have.

6. Jacob has a birthday party to go to tonight...a girls birthday party...big news for an 8th grade boy!

6. b) When Jacob started this school somehow all the kids got in their head that his name was Jeffrey and Jacob didn't correct them so when he got the invitation, it is made out to Jeffrey with Jacob in parenthesis.

7. My mom's coming for a visit next week which means that I REALLY need to get off the computer and tackle my long list of things that I need to get done before she gets here.

8. I can hear Kat in the other room right now saying Daddy...she misses him. It's so cute though...she says it "Da Daden"...you would swear that she is Swedish.

9. On my list of things to do today is go to the post office because I STILL have not mailed out my niece, Mia's birthday present yet. *oops*

And on that note, here is my art-share for today...

This is Mia's birthday card which I swear I am actually going to mail today! It is based upon a sketch that Amber posted on Monday.
supplies used:

*Unity Cuter than Most stamp kit

*Imaginisce papers

*Cuttlebug Swiss Dot

*Prima flowers

*MM brads

*watercolor pencils
And for those of you that asked, I will be putting a tutorial on watercolor pencils together soon...hopefully this weekend, and yes, Mom...you definitely can get the tutorial in person! :o)

Ho-ho-Ho Hip-Hop!!!

Good morning, Hip-Hoppers!!!

Are you getting in the mood for Christmas yet? This week's {and many of the coming weeks') new releases from Unity Stamp Company will definitely help you with your Christmas crafting. I am in love with these stamps!!!

You know the hip-hop drill by now, right? If you haven't been on the hop and come here from Niki's blog then you need to get this hip-hop started right and head on over to Angela's Unity blog and start from there.

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Both my cards today feature some of the new Christmas stamps designed by Lynn Warner. All four of these designs that are being released today are nothing less than gorgeous. The fabulous thing about them is that the design of them makes for a very fun and easy card to make which is key for your Christmas cards!!!

Supplies used: *Unity Stamp Co US-527A Christmas List , *Tinkering Ink Finery, *Unity Stamp Co Birds of a Feather (sentiment), *Basic Grey Wassail papers, *Fiskars Threading Water border punch, *ribbon, *cardstock, *Memories brown inkpad

Supplies used: *Unity Stamp Co US-530A Jesus is the Reason, *Tinkering Ink Finery, *Basic Grey Wassail papers, *Fiskars Threading Water border punch, *Memories brown inkpad, *ribbon, *cardstock

Now you need to hop on over to Brooke's Hip-Hopping blog and see what gorgeousness she has been creating this week.

Offer up a prayer...

I don't know Stephanie.

I have been a fan of her scrapbooking for a long time and a follower of her blog ever since her husband, Jimmy, deployed to Afghanistan.

They have 2 gorgeous little girls and last night her husband and his company were featured on NBC. She has the video on her blog and it's heartwrenching to look at this through the eyes of a spouse sitting at home worrying.

Say a prayer today and tomorrow and every day after that for these guys that are out there doing this every day for you so that you can sit at home and worry about the status of your 401k...perspective is a good thing... Stephanie Howell's blog.

Happy Wednesday!!!

hmmm, what to share today? I have a pile of stuff just waiting to go on the blog so I am trying to spread it all out for those days when I am feeling not-so-creative. Although I am hoping that my muse continues on her merry way in my craft room....Christmas is coming and lots of creating is needed.

Have you started thinking about Christmas yet? I am really going to try to do lots of my own gift-creating this year, but that means that I seriously need to get started on it all! My to-do list is getting longer and longer!

Okay, so how about another layout today...

These photos were taken one morning right after we had gotten up. Kat was so cute walking around in her pj's with Flopsy tucked under her arm that I just had to get the camera out. Then Ben started playing with her to get her to smile and she really started hamming it up. These are the perfect little moments in life, you know?

I used the August kit of the month, Remember Happiness, on this layout. You may not realize this, but Angela has re-released all the kits of the month. They are at a higher price than the kit members got them, but for those of you that missed them the first time around, you don't want to miss them again. I love these kits!

Again, I used watercolor pencils to color all these images. Have you noticed I use those a LOT lately? I was thinking about doing a tutorial on them if you have never used them before...anyone interested?

Supplies Used:

*Unity Stamp Co. August Kit of the month

*Imaginisce papers

*MM shaped paper

*watercolor pencils

*American Crafts glitter thickers

*Marvy Uchida scallop punches

*old dictionary paper

*MM brads

*eyelet trim

*Bazzill cardstock

Fun News...

Hi, everyone!!! I have some fun news to share today...a couple of weeks ago while blog-hopping, I came across a really awesome sketch site, Creatively Yours. They just happened to also be doing a Guest DT search for November so I decided to try out. To tryout for the spot, you had to create two cards using this sketch by Noella. I love the sketches on this site as they have all those little details that I just love and my two cards are some of my favorite cards that I have ever made.

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Here is the first:

Card 1- I've Been Thinking...

supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Company Oct. Kit- Thinking about the Good Times
*watercolor pencils
*Fancy Pants paper
*Rhonna Farrer paper
*Foofala paper
*old dictionary paper
*Marvy Uchida scallop circle punch
*Prima flowers
*Making Memories flowers and medium brads
*ribbon
*corner rounder

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And the second:

Card 2- Became a Butterfly

supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Company August kit, Remember Happiness (butterflies)
*Unity Stamp Company Becoming Butterfly (quote)
*Unity Stamp Company Everlasting Romance (swirl in corner)
*Basic Grey paper
*K&Company die cut paper
*7gypsies paper (navy)
*eyelet
*watercolor pencils
*glitter
*corner rounder

Luckily, I have made it to the second round of this contest. Now, myself and 8 other finalists will receive a layout sketch and have a go at that to see if we can become one of the 2 guest designers. And a shout-out to the very talented Jacquie who is also a finalist and Unity gal...it would be awesome if we were the ones that got the 2 spots.Wish us luck....

So Cute, It's Scary

I have a layout to share with you (and several more over the next couple of days...I had a scrappy weekend.) This layout features some of the photos of Kat that I took when Amy was here on Thursday.

I used sketch #2 from Inspired Blueprints for the overall layout of my page.

Supplies used:

*MME paper
*Paper Salon paper
*Martha Stewart border punch
*Heartwarming Vintage images
*Scenic Route Chipboard
*Unity Stamp Co. Cuter than Most
*Unity Stamp Co. Tis Near Halloween
*Unity Stamp Co. Growing in Unity (swirl)
*Prima flowers (orange)
*MM flowers (black&white)
*eyelet trim
*marvy uchida scallop circle punch

I'm Behind!!!

I have needed to blog every day since Thursday and here it is {late} Sunday afternoon and I am overwhelmed with everything that I need to share, so instead of one huge, long overwhelming post, I am going to spread it all out. I promise you that this week there will be a blog post everyday just because I have that much to share with you right now...




But first things first:

H a P p Y B i R t H D a Y, M i A !!!

I hope that you have had a fabulous third birthday!! You should be getting your birthday present from your Aunt Christi and fam sometime this week.

{because I am running a bit behind in real life too, but it is bought..just not wrapped and prettied and at the post office.}

It is now 5 hours later from when I started this post. argh! I cannot get my act together this week and get organized...LOL! Well, Mia won't see this, but she can't read anyway so it was the thought that counts, right? I did talk to her on the phone...

So back to life from Thursday...My friend Amy (caffinatedcropper) came over to play with me Thursday. We always have so much fun...I just hope that the AirForce decides to let her stay here for a long time so that I don't lose my stamping bud. I was showing her Kat's Halloween costume and ended up with the perfect photo opportunity and I managed to sneak some photos of her too.

Yes, she is absolutely just as funny and fun in real life as she is on her blog and you can see that in this photo...and she always brings bagels from Panera so what's not to like. *wink*

Kat adores her and for those of you that have been following my blog for long...you know that that just doesn't happen. Kat is NOT big on new people, but she took instantly to Amy and loves it when she is around(we are just keeping the fact that Amy is a nurse hidden from her.)

I love this photo. I don't remember what Amy did to get her so tickled, but that look is priceless.

So not only did I have a fabulously fun day Thursday playing with Amy, but then on Friday I got happy-mail in the form of an anonymous "Boo", but I am pretty sure that someone who looks like Amy whose name starts with an "A" and ends with a "y" may just be responsible. Look at that awesome Twilight bookmark! I have it sitting here by my computer and I think that it has just inspired me to read the books all again. And look at that sweet little card with all the Boo Crew! So much fun to get happy mail!

Thank you, Amy!!!

Okay, I know that all the text on this post is totally screwed up, but if I am going to get up and work out in the morning, I have got to get to bed. Sorry about that! I will be back tomorrow with a layout to share.

Hip-Hop! Gotta Shop!!!

HUGE Hip-HOP news today...

EVERYTHING at Unity is 25% off...

TODAY ONLY!!!

If you have come here from Anne-Marie's blog, then you are about half-way through the hop. If you haven't come from there, then you need to get on over to Angela's Unity blog and get this hop started off right.

I don't have a whole lot to share today (the guys had a 4-day weekend, then Kat got sick so I haven't had a whole lot of creative time,) but what I do have, is a fun new release just in time for Christmas cards.

Take a look at this sweet little angel. Isn't she darling? On both of these cards, I colored her with watercolor pencils and then highlighted her wings with glitter.

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Company New Release Luke 2:14 Glorious Angel

*Memory Box Winterberry papers

*Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder

*Bazzill Scallop cardstock

*Martha Stewart border punch

*corner rounder

*American Crafts ribbon

*Heidi Grace brads

*Fiskars Threading Water punch

*StazOn Timber Brown

*glitter

This card is based on this week's SCS challenge sketch, SC198. I just turned the sketch on its side.

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. New Release Luke 2:14 Glorious Angel

*Memory Box Sprout papers

*Cuttlebug Swiss dot embossing folder

*MM metal embellishment and ribbon

*watercolor pencils

*Jet Black StazOn

*Melissa Frances glitter

Now hop on over to Natalie's blog and don't forget to come join us in the SplitcoastStamper forums for more fun, chat, games, and giveaways!!!