Paper Makeup Moody Girls....

I am in love with Paper Makeup Stamps new Moody Girls line and they are awesome to sit and color while watching TV so I had a bit of a play with mine over the weekend while I watched some good holiday movies...

The PMS challenge for the weekend was to create a holiday or Christmas card and I have been wondering what this Moody for Fall would look like done up in frosty/snowy colors....

I think that she turned out really fun...a bit like a Snow Angel or Snow Queen...

Supplies used:

*Paper Makeup Stamps Moody for Fall

*Unity Stamp Co. Tea Time Toile

*Unity Stamp Co. Giving it all Meaning

*Hampton Art Stamps sentiment

*watercolor pencils

*glue pen

*ultrafine prisma glitter

*MM ribbon, snowflake, and pins

*****

For this second card, I decided to play a bit with last week's CPS sketch (#143) and some old supplies since purple is such an "it" color right now. Everything here is from a DCWV stack that I have had for about 5 years. I still adore this color scheme though and will be sad when this stack is gone.

Supplies used:

*Paper Makeup Stamps Moody for Fun

*DCWV stack

*shipping tag

*watercolor pencils

*ribbon

*button

*Fiskars border punch

Happy Monday everyone!!!

Weekend heading into December...

As we head into December this week, I thought that I would do a bit of renewing of my resolutions/goals. It's real easy to get swept away by this month and I want to make sure that I keep my eye on what I hope to accomplish over the next several months...

*stay on budget

*buy nothing for *me*- (the exception to this is the Unity collage kit and store kit, and I am allowed to buy 2 new books this month--believe me when I say that is VERY limiting for me)

*create everyday

*write everyday

*workout 5 days a week (I have not worked out regularly in about 6 weeks...I HAVE got to get back on track!)

*eat healthy and responsibly!!!

Hopefully, by throwing these out there that I will be more accountable for actually accomplishing these goals in December!!!

And now for a card share...

This is one of the new Unity releases that will be available at CHA. These girls are so cute and they have been designed so that they are easy to paper-piece. I love that!

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Girl of the Moment

*K&Company Flea Market line

*Bazzill scallop cardstock

*Nestabilities Labels diecut

*watercolor pencils

*Pallette Burnt Umber inkpad

*ribbon

Black Friday Fun (#59) and FWF!!

Good morning and welcome to all my Friends with Flair peeps!

How many of you were up and out shopping EARLY this morning?!?!

I know that Sherry and Jimmi were out and getting those bargains early (they were FB'ing as they shopped,) but I was enjoying the comfort of my bed emailing dh with the Blackberry {it's the closest thing to pillow talk that I get.} ;o)

Today's Friday Fun Challenge (#59) is to honor the fine tradition that is Black Friday.

Today the challenge is to create a project using mainly

black and white with just a touch of accent color...

I just got in this fabulous incentive kit, Love Bug, from Unity and had to get it inky. Did you see that you get this kit FREE when you sign up for the kit of the month this month?!? As if the kom wasn't a good enough deal already (which it TOTALLY is!!) I just love this kit and hope to do some paper piecing with it this weekend....

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Love Bug

*Scenic Route Laurel paper collection

*Pink Paislee Sweet Shoppe scallop paper

*watercolor pencils

*corner rounder

*brads

*Pallette Noir Black inkpad

Be sure to check out the other Friday Fun Girls blogs for more inspiration.

Jimmi

Sherry

Kimme

Sara

We would love for you to play with us- just use keyword FFC59 when uploading to your SCS gallery.

Happy Thanksgiving for this Unity Thursday!!!

{this is post #2 for today.

if you are looking for my Limelight sketch challenge post,

it is located below this one. }

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

I hope that your day is filled with lots of fun, family, and tons of good food!

But it's not a Thursday without a bit of Unity fun, so we are still doing a little blog hop for those of you looking for a bit of respite from the cooking and football!

My first project is a card using one of those fab girls from the kit of the month. I love these girls, but I wanted them to be a bit more versatile so I cut them apart so that I could use them separately.

Isn't this phrase brilliant?!? I love how Angela did this kit so that you could add the different words in between the two phrases...so perfect!!!

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Simply Magical

*Nestabilities Labels and scallop ovals diecuts

*watercolor pencils

*K&Company Wild Raspberry paper collection

*Pallette Noir Black inkpad

*Sharpie white poster pen

******

This second project is the packaging for one of Ben's gifts. It's a small flat tin that I picked up at Archiver's off their $1.99 spot and is about a 5x7 size. I used the frame out of this month's kom and added his name in it. That frame is perfect for gift tags this month!!! I can't tell you anymore about this one as Ben has been known to lurk around here (I totally got busted on the Christmas tree last week. ;o) )

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. KOM- Simply Magical

*Unity Stamp Co. Frame this Alpha

*Cosmo Cricket Jolly By Golly paper collection

*Martha Stewart seam binding

*gardening string

*button

*corner rounder

*Pallette Burnt Umber inkpad

*tin

Don't forget, Unity has an amazing Black Friday sale going on!!!

I have NEVER seen prices this amazing so you don't want to miss out on it!!! HERE!

Limelight Papercrafts Sketch for Thanksgiving!

{this is post #1 of 2 for today}

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

Welcome to this week's edition of the Limelight Papercrafts Sketch and Product Challenge. We are EXTREMELY lucky to have one of my favorite paper-crafters joining us this week, Dawn McVey, who created our sketch for this week!

The Deets:

**Use the sketch above and try to incorporate your favorite patterned paper!!

**Key word for SCS upload is LLPC035.

**Post a comment with a link to your card on the Limelight Papercrafts Blog on the challenge post by Sunday, November 29, at midnight (or before winner is drawn Monday a.m.).

**PRIZE ~ One lucky winner will receive a 6x6 Basic Grey Wisteria Paper Pad!

I loved the versatility of this sketch and was inspired to use it a couple of different times, but the orientation of my main stamped images required me to turn the sketch onto its side, which I think looks just as gorgeous as the original sketch...

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Wonderful You

*Pink Paislee Mistletoe&Co- North Pole

*Pink Paislee Mistletoe&Co- Naughty or Nice

*buttons

*corner rounder

*Pallette Black Noir inkpad

*lace trim

*********

*Unity Stamp Co. Plant a Tree

*Basic Grey Bittersweet Brads

*K&Company Flea Market paper

*watercolor pencils

*Pallette burnt umber inkpad

*watercolor pencils

*gingham ribbon

Be sure to check out what the rest of the Limelight team has done with this challenge:

Limelight Papercrafts Blog- Mandy

Caffeinated Cropper- Amy

Dahlhouse Designs- Lisa

My Little Creative Escape- Lisa

Ryann Marin Designs- Ryann

Taylor-Made by JenMarie- JenMarie

And our November Guest- Kerry

And don't forget that Limelight Papercrafts

has the entire store on sale 15% off.

Simply use the code TURKEY at the checkout.

A couple of other challenge cards...

Today I have a couple of other cards to share that I did for the Queen Kat Designs challenges from last week. This first one was for a color challenge. It's another very simple card, but I really love it. I think that it's because I love this stamped image so much!! I am a sucker for fairies!!!

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Magical Things- Nov kom

*Basic Grey paper collection

*flat back pearls

*Prima flower

*Marvy Uchida scallop oval punch

*glue pen

*ultra fine glitter

*Silver Fox Smooch

*******

And another card that I created for one of the Queen Kat Designs Birthday challenges. Unfortunately, I don't own any QKD stamps *yet* so I had to make do with what I had. This challenge was to CASE one of the QKD cards from their gallery and I chose to CASE this card from meredith.winston... HERE

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Margarita Moments (new release available at CHA)

*K&Company paper

*Fiskars border punch

*misc ribbons

*misc. buttons

*Marvy Uchida circle punches

*Pallette Noir Black inkpad

*prisma glitter

*glue pen

Hello...

It is THUNDERING here in Illinois this morning. What is up with that? This feels like spring-time weather. In fact, the house behind ours had some of their siding ripped off today with the winds (that house is less than a year old!?!?) But I guess that I can be VERY thankful that it's just rain and wind today and not snow and ice...

Like I mentioned in Sunday's blog post, I just received a fun little package from Limelight papercrafts. Included in it were these fun October Afternoon rub-ons. I don't use rub-ons very often and I have no idea why not because they are super-fun and easy to use!

Supplies used:

*October Afternoon Cherry Hill rub-ons

*October Afternoon Cherry Hill 8x8 paper pad

*Unity Stamp Co. Nov store kit- Believe in Fairytales

*Fiskars border punch

*red gingham ribbon

*corner rounder

And the best news...

Limelight Papercrafts has the entire store on sale this week...

15% off

just use the code TURKEY when checking out.

So is everyone deep in prep-work for Thanksgiving? The three of us are going to the club on base to eat Thanksgiving dinner so it will be a completely stress-free day for me. BUT I have started plans for Christmas dinner already...

Challenges from the weekend...

You all know that I love challenges and lately the net has been full of them! I LOVE THAT! This is a card that I created to fulfill two such challenges... Queen Kat Designs Birthday challenge sketch and Paper Makeup Stamps Color Challenge for the weekend.

This card was super easy and quick to put together....just straight stamping. I think that with all the design to the papers that coloring the coffee cup would have been distracting from the overall design of the card...and bonus: it's faster this way! ;o)

Supplies used:

*QKD sketch

*Paper Makeup Stamps Caffeine Trip

*K&Company Amy Butler paper collection

*Marvy Uchida oval punches

*Colorbox navy inkpad

*scallop deco scissors

*ribbon

Limelight Papercrafts Fun...

Last week, I received a fun little package from Limelight Papercrafts which contained some of the new Smooch product. I have never used this stuff before, but it is so much fun. The applicator looks a lot like a nail polish applicator, but it has a fine tip foam point for some serious control for detail work.

For my card, I set about just using the metalic to accent the details of the stamps and card design. Since, I used just simple colored cardstock on the entire card, I think that the metallic accents really help to make the card pop. I LOVE this product and can definitely see that I am going to need some of the other colors!

Supplies used:

*Silver Fox Smooch

*Unity Stamp Co. Nov Store KOM- Believe in Fairytales (there are 4 stamps used on this card)

*Nestabilities Scallop Oval Die

*MM velvet ribbon and buckle

*Take Note Die Cut

*Black inkpad

*CTMH Lavendar inkpad

And the good news is that the Smooch is on sale this weekend, as well as some really fun other items. Go check out the Limelight site for all the fun details!

*All TaDa Rubber Stamps 30% off!

*Smooch Accent Ink 15% off!

*All Stampendous Rubber Stamps Buy 2 Get 1 FREE! (Free stamp of equal or lesser value.)

*All Unity Stamps Buy 2 and Choose a Single for FREE!

Let's have some Friday Fun (#FFC58) with Tags!!!

This is post #2 of 2 for today.

If you are looking for the PMS blog-hop, then you are looking for the post before this one (down below this one.)

It's time for another edition of the Friday Fun Challenge!

This week's challenge was to create gift tags, card enclosures, or some version of a mini card for gifts. I decided to have some fun playing with tags.

And yes, I do have my tree up already.

Just don't tell my DH since I am not supposed to do it until after Thanksgiving...shhhhhh! ;o)

I did three different tags using the same basic supplies. A background stamp from Unity stamped in black on the tag. Bits from the stripey paper from the Making Memories Christmas line. And a focal stamp from the Bitty Christmas Tags kit.

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Giving it all Meaning

*Unity Stamp Co. Bitty Christmas Tags

*Making Memories paper & ribbon

*Marvy Uchida punches

*Pallette Noir Black inkpad

*watercolor pencils

*shipping tag

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Harmonious Sprig

*Unity Stamp Co. Bitty Christmas Tags

*Making Memories paper

*Marvy Uchida punches

*Pallette Noir Black inkpad

*watercolor pencils

*shipping tag

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Grainy Background

*Unity Stamp Co. Bitty Christmas Tags

*Making Memories paper

*Nestabilities Labels 3

*Pallette Noir Black inkpad

*watercolor pencils

*shipping tag

Be sure to check out the other Friday Fun Girls blogs for more inspiration.

Jimmi

Sherry

Kimme

Sara

We would love for you to play with us- just use keyword FFC58 when uploading to your SCS gallery.

Playing along with the PMS Bloghop...

Hi, and welcome to my blog.

This is blog post #1 of 2 going on here today as I am participating in a couple of blog hops.

This first one is for Paper Makeup Stamps!

If you have just stumbled onto this post, head on over to Katie's blog post for the proper start of the blog-hop. You don't want to miss a single stop of inspiration!

And now for my card...

I can't get enough of the PMS Moody's. This one is Moody for Coffee (which is soooo me!)

I put the card together using this week's MojoMonday sketch (#113) as inspiration.

Supplies used:

*Paper Makeup Stamps Moody for Coffee

*Cosmo Cricket Jolly By Golly paper collection

*Nestabilities Labels 3

*Martha Stewart seam tape

*Pallette Noir Black inkpad

*watercolor pencils

Now you need to hop on over to...

***Michelle's Blog***

Unity Thursday!

Welcome to another edition of Unity Thursdays!!

Be sure to check out Angela's Unity blog for all the amazing Unity Special Sales for today!

For today's post, I pulled out this month's Scrapbooking/Collage Collection, Capture Life.

This is a photo that my mom took of the family on Kat's second birthday. We don't get the chance to have many photos taken with all 4 of us in them, so I love that I have this.

Everything on the layout except for the metal pieces and glitter chipboard (which are both from Making Memories) is from this kit. I love the mix of papers with this kit... It's a group of aged romantic pieces and a group of modern fun pieces that I never would have put together, but they totally work and are such fun to use all together!

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Scrapbooking/Collage Collection, Capture Life

*Making Memories Metal Embellishments & Glitter Chipboard

*Fiskars border punch

*Pallette Burnt Umber inkpad

Let's Talk Books...

I know the blog has been quiet this week. I was having a bit of difficulty earlier in the week with my creative muse (she hates it when my stamp room is messy, but a good clean-up and she was back to her old self.)

I have been creating, but it isn't anything that I can share yet so I thought that I would do a blog post about what I have been reading lately.

I have a confession...my latest obsession is amazon.com. Once you buy a book there, the site starts to build a recommendation list for you. I LOVE THAT although my budget really does not...lol!

When Ben is gone, books are my refuge. I read when I go to bed and to escape the challenges of being a "temporary" single parent. I thought that you might enjoy some of the books that I can recommend...

Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts

I know that I am in the minority, but even though I read TONS of chick lit, I have never really read Nora Roberts. This book is the second of four of the Bride Quartet. It's a series about a group of four friends that run a wedding consulting business out of the family home (i.e. mansion) of one of the girls. The first was about the photographer. This second one is about the floral designer.

I LOVE these books! The setting of the business is gorgeous and if a book can have good ambience (which I definitely think that they can,) this series is perfect! So elegant and gorgeous with well-written storylines and characters. I highly recommend this series (although the final 2 books have not been released yet.) They definitely provide a soothing, beautiful escape from the everyday life.

*******

The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz

This is a book that I discovered by using the amazon.com recommendations list. I am about halfway through it and am thoroughly enjoying it. It's filled with short stories and recipes from a chef that has transplanted his life to Paris. A lot of the book deals with the difficulties/challenges with dealing with Parisian/French customs that are so different from our own and is always told with a sense of humor while at the same time, schooling you on how to act in Paris/France. Having been to the country a couple of times, I love it! The stories are highly entertaining and I am looking forward to trying some of the French recipes! It's a great book to carry around and read 15-20 minutes at a time (while waiting for teens in parking lots, etc.)

********

Scrapbookers All-in-One Memory Logbook by Kristen Rutten

I saw mention of this book on a blog and had to go check it out. I bought it totally blind, not sure if it would be a good purchase or not. I don't think that I am going to be disappointed. It's a 390 page planner for 2010 that incorporates scrapbooking into your life planning. The link above is for a bound issue, but you can buy the spiral bound from Kristen's website. The book includes weekly challenges along with alternative ideas working off the original challenge, spaces to create sketches/idea brainstorming, as well as journaling prompts throughout the book. It is also a life-planner with a good -sized space for planning your daily life throughout the year. Kristen has a design team and a well-done website to provide added inspiration as you go throughout the year. I think that it is going to be an amazing asset to my scrapbooking for 2010.

*******

The next two books are my latest inspirational obsessions. I carry them with me everywhere!

Let me preface my review of the next two books by saying that I am a book/magazine junkie. I buy LOTS of them, but because I have been crafting for 15+ years, I usually feel pretty good if I can only find a handful of ideas that I find truly inspirational. For me to find things inspirational, they have to incorporate design using a different style or a different use for the same items that we all use, but just have that extra pizzazz.

A Card a Day by the Papercrafts Team

BOTH of these books are amazing!!! Quite honestly, there are probably only a handful of ideas in each that I DON'T find inspiring. There is just so much beauty and eye-candy in each. I literally carry them around with me all day long and am CONSTANTLY finding new ideas/inspiration each and every time that I look through them.

52 More Scrapbooking Challenges by Elizabeth Kartchner

I hope that you are having a good week!!!

Now go pick up a new good book today...you deserve the special treat for yourself!

Lazy Sunday...

Around here, we are all in pj's...

watching some football (the Rams were so close)...

watching some racing...

doing some stamping...

Just generally having a lazy Sunday.

I have a couple of cards to share that I made earlier in the week. These cards were heavily inspired by this card by Dawn McVey... HERE (and obviously I am not the only one who liked it since it has been removed for publication.)

I really like how these turned out. Simple, but with a lot of visual punch.

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Giving it all Meaning

*Unity Stamp Co. Believe in Fairytales

*InkyAntics Thanks

*Scenic Route patterned paper

*October Afternoon patterned paper

*button

*jute twine

*Fiskars border punch

*Bazzill Kraft cardstock

*CTMH Desert Sand inkpad

*Pallette Burnt Umber inkpad

*Marvy Uchida scallop square punch

*Unity Stamp Co. Giving it all Meaning

*Unity Stamp Co. Believe in Fairytales

*Paper Makeup Stamps sentiment

*October Afternoon paper collection

*Fiskars border punch

*Bazzill Kraft cardstock

*CTMH Desert Sand inkpad

*Pallette Burnt Umber inkpad

*Marvy Uchida scallop square punch

*button

*jute twine

I hope that you are having a fun lazy weekend!

We're doing the Hop---a Store Kit Hop!

I know that I say it every month, but...

OMG! LOOK AT HOW CUTE THIS KIT IS!!!

Every single image is pure perfection!!!

This is the new November Store KOM, Believe in Fairytales.

This month, this is most definitely my go-to kit.

There is something in here that will work for every single occasion.

My first project to share with you today is this card. I know that we have a lot of owls, but there is just something about these two that pull at my heart strings. And have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE silhouette stamps...makes for such easy, quick stamping.

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Believe in Fairytales

*Cosmo Cricket Earth Love

*Pallette Burnt Umber inkpad

*ribbon

*Marvy Uchida punches

********

For my second project, I chose to do a layout.

This layout was created using a PageMaps sketch. The photo is from Jacob's first football gameday.

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Believe in Fairytales

*BasicGrey paper collection

*CTMH Pansy Purple inkpad

*American Crafts alphabet stickers

*May Arts velvet rickrack

*Bazzill Kraft cardstock

Be sure to go check out what the rest of the DT did with these fabulous stamps. You can use the links on my sidebar or Angela will have them all linked up on the Unity blog.

AND don't forget...

UNITY has 30% off the ENTIRE STORE this weekend!!!

sale code: SALE30