Day Out at the Park...

It does not matter how slowly you go

so long as you do not stop.

~Confucius

This weekend was gorgeous here so we decided to spend one afternoon out at the park. Shortly after we got there, my memory card on my camera was full and my battery was low so I felt like I didn't get to take that many photos although when I got home, I had over 60 so I guess that I did okay. Here are a few of the better/more fun ones...

This was one of the first photos that I took when we got there. You would think from the looks on the kids' faces that we had just arrived at the Dentist's office, not the park. LOL! Kat was really ready for a nap (although it was too late in the day for her to take one and Jacob has just spent too many of his 13 years hamming it up for the sake of my photography.)

Jacob's attitude about my photography quickly improved though, because right before this photo he knocked over my coffee cup with the football so he was trying to make up for the fact that my beloved coffee was soaking into the ground and not my bloodstream...LOL!

This is the view of Kat as she was watching her big brother hanging off the side of the caboose trying to figure out how she was going to do it. She is going to be my little adventurer...

We were at a little town park in the town that Jacob goes to school...in fact, this park is right across from his school and it's just beautiful. It has tons of huge trees, lots of open spaces, and an old railroad depot that they have kept up really nicely...including this great caboose.

The guys played football....

While Kat and I played on the swings.

Kat loves to be in the middle of everything esp. if it involves any food or drinks, and she is always willing to help. Jacob has quickly learned to hide the fact that he is eating if he wants to eat all of his snack by himself.

This park had all the classic playground equipment. How long has it been since you have seen a merry-go-round in a playground. These 3 had a blast on this one...I just kept screaming at them not to let go of her so that she didn't go sailing off of it.

Ben quickly discovered that slides don't work when you weigh 165 lbs...It was more of a scooch than a slide. LOL! It was a really fun day out at the park.

An easy one...

Yesterday afternoon, when it came time to sit down and create, I wanted to do just that...CREATE just for fun. So I pulled out a sketch from Triple the Sketch and found a photo that would work and just started to play. This is the best kind of creating! And it gives me something fun to share on a gorgeous Saturday morning!

This layout is based on Sketch #28 from Triple the Sketch. The photo is from a couple of weeks ago.

This week on the Pink Persimmon website, Kerry LynnYeary had a great tutorial on how to make these fun little paper medalions so I had to give it a try.

There is an eclectic mix of product on here:
*Unity Stamp Co. Mix Up of cuteness (simply adorable, cutie pie, and owl)
*Basic Grey paper
*Pink Paisley paper and alphabet stickers
*Bazzill scallop cardstock
*MME paper
*Paper Salon paper
*Marvy Uchida scallop punches
*Zig Writer


I hope that you are having a beautiful weekend wherever you are and that you are enjoying it! We are off to the park this afternoon...

Sweet & Sinister Hip-Hop!!!

The title of this post was totally stolen from ArtsyMama from her Sweet & Sinister swaps, but it was perfect for today's Unity Stamp Co. hip-hop. I have a bit of Sweet AND a bit of Sinister (but the fun kind...it's actually a bit sweet too) to share with you today.

But first things first, if you haven't come here from Patter's blog, then you need to do this hip-hop properly and start off at Angela's Unity blog (because that is where you really find out all the fun stuff for the day...like bargains and new stuff) and then follow the hop across the DT blogs until you find the chance for the final blog candy.


For my artwork today, first I am going to share the sinister. This is a fun little gift to give someone (or everyone) for Halloween. I love these new stamps from Unity because all you have to do is stamp them in a single color and you are done. Super-fast and easy (like fast enough that you could do this for everyone on your block in just a couple of hours), but still really darn cute!!! For this set, I used the Unlucky 13 kit.

Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Unlucky 13 kit

*Scenic Route paper kit

*ribbon from Hobby Lobby
*Black StazOn
*black brads
*black cardstock
*tin
*candycorn

For the tin, I simply stamped one of the diecuts from the Scenic Route kit and tied a bow around the tin. It would be very easy to do this for a group though, using a stamp (like maybe these) to create the diecut look.

This is a small card...like 3 1/2 x 6 1/2...just big enough to send well-wishes for the holidays. The design of it is based upon this week's SCS sketch, SC197.

Now for the Sweet...a pink, girly layout of Kat.

Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Je t`Aime kit
*Unity Stamp Co. Butterfly Beauty kit ("beauty" on brown&white tag)
*Unity Stamp Co. Birds of a Feather kit (bird, swirls on butterflies, and "sweet" on pink scallop tag)
*Unity Stamp Co. Sept KOM (white flower pots on pink tag)
*Unity Stamp Co. Little Labels 1 kit (flower on little green circle tag)
*Unity Stamp Co. Scalloped Journal single (pink journaling tag on bottom right of layout)
*Cloud 9 paper and chipboard embellishments
*Martha Stewart tags & butterfly punch
*Basic Grey paper (title and journaling block)
*Prima flowers
*American Crafts glitter alpha thickers
*Marvy Uchida Scallop oval punch
*Little Yellow bicycle die cut paper (green)

If you have been following my blog at all, you know that I like to put a lot of embellishment on my layouts and this one is no exception, but this is why I love stamping....I have all these great little stamps that work for embellishment on a layout so that I don't necessarily have to journal on my layout. I get my feelings across with the embellishments.

Now to finish up your blog hop, you need to hop on over to Wendy's blog to see what she's cooked up for you this week.

And don't forget to come join us in the SplitcoastStamper forums for the fun, games, chat, and don't forget all the giveaways!!!

Finally joining in...

The Unity Customers/Fans have a Wednesday challenge to preclude Hip Hop Thursdays. Every single week, I have planned on joining in their challenge and we are now at week 7 and I finally got one done. Jess issued this week's challenge (click on this link to see what everyone else has created) which was to create a card that was not the standard A2 size.

After 2 days of work on it(I was given a head's up about what the challenge would be,) I finally came up with this...

This card measures about 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 and I used a ton of different stamps on it: So&So Loves You single, The Boo Crew kit (little frank & sentiment), and Unlucky 13 kit (the moon in among the trees of So&So.) This is all colored using watercolor pencils. I tried to make it look like night without losing the details...I am thinking that I should have gone a tad darker. I masked the trees so that Icould stamp that moon among them.

Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. So&So Loves You
*Unity Stamp Co. Boo Crew kit
*Unity STamp Co. Unlucky 13 kit
*bazzill cardstocks
*Cuttlebug embossing folder
*StazON Jet black
*embroidery floss

In Hip-Hop news, the fun just keeps coming...Angela just announced that New Customers get a FREE So & So Loves with their first order over $15.00 ALL DAY THURSDAY!!!

Lagging behind...

Even if you are on the right track,

you will get run over if you just sit there.

~Will Rogers

I promised you a blog post today, didn't I? It's a typical Monday around here and I am having a difficult time getting motivated, but that is changing right now...I have coffee brewing and that always helps!

But anyway, back to the cards from the weekend's cardmaking... I still have a couple more to share.

This card was one that I made for a sketch challenge that AJ posted onto SCS. I turned the sketch for my card and used all Unity stamps on it...Tea Time Toile is the background, the frame is from the Sept Kit of the Month, the Life and swirl are from the Oct Kit of the month.
Supplies used:
*Unity TeaTime Toile background
*Unity Sept Kom
*Unity Oct Kom
*Fancy Pants paper (the pink)
*ribbon
*MM bitty alpha letter stickers

This second card was for a challenge to simply use a tree stamp on a card from SCS. More embossing from my new Cuttlebug and the tree challenge seemed perfect for this embossing with the birds. All the stamps are from Unity Stamp Co's Sept Kit of the Month. The trees were stamped with WhiteStazOn and then I added a bit of blue glitter to the leaves on the trees.
Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Sept kit
*Bazzill Cardstock
*Cuttlebug Embossing Folder
*Martha Stewart border punch
*corner rounder
*brads
*glitter
*White and Black StazOn

And take a look at the fabulous details about this week's HipHop that Angela just announced!!! It's going to be another fun week with tons of giveaways and incentives so clear your schedules now and tell all your friends that HIP-HOP Thursday is coming on strong!!!

HIP HOP HOORAY!

Join us THURSDAY for a chance to WIN THESE PRIZES!

Fun games, challenges, etc will get you FREE UNITY when you join the fun!

Chat, make new FRIENDS and HAVE A BLAST!
TIMES ARE APPROXIMATE and CENTRAL TIME!

$300.00 worth of STAMPS to be GIVEN AWAY!

MORNING!

10:00-Wish Stick Single
10:30-So & So Loves SingleBe the Change SingleShine Single - UNITY SCS CHALLENGE THREAD
11:00 & Wednesday Challenge Girls Prize-TWO Blossom SingleFanciful Dots - UNITY SCS CHALLENGE THREAD

AFTERNOON!
12:00-Forever FriendsSentiments o' Simple - UNITY SCS CHALLENGE THREAD
12:30-Little Monsters
1:00-Whimsical BirthdayDaisy Daze - UNITY SCS CHALLENGE THREAD
1:30-Joyous Snowfall from SNOWFLAKE JOY
2:00 & an extra PRIZE for A CHALLENGE????-TWO Lovin from the Oven
2:30-Spread your Wings from It's Spring!
3:00-Loopy Queen from Queen for a Day!
3:30-Angels Among Us from LIVE LAUGH LOVE
4:00-Cupful of Steam from Magnificent Moment
4:30-A Handle

EVENING!

5:00 & Extra Prize for a CHALLENGE-TWO Grandma's Apron Background
5:30-Royal Chandelier
6:00-Paisley Deco
6:30-Dragon Fly Playmate
7:00-Dainty Daisy
7:30-Gratitude = Joy
8:00 & Extra Random Prize-TWO Lilly Pad Playland
8:30-Tab of Fun from Fun Night Out
9:00-Underlined Grace from Lifetime of Inspiration
9:30-FREEDOM Sentiment from BIKER ALLEY - Great for cards for the troops!
10:00-Argyle Heart from TWO people in love
10:30-Worn Gratitude from Lifetime of Inspiration
11:00 & Random Prize-TWO Single Autum AcornSomething Within - UNITY SCS CHALLENGE THREAD

...and if you have JOINED US FOR HIP HOP in the PAST...you know the Unity BOYS always think they need to throw in some more treats!
We will be releasing TWO NEW UNITY KITS & 2 NEW SINGLES into the FANTABULOUS line of UNITY STAMPS!

Bring your Friends - every single NEW PERSON that PLACES THEIR FIRST ORDER on HIP HOP DAY over $30.00 gets a FREE SINGLE of their CHOICE!

The Day After...

Well yesterday was a blast...all the way around. But first, I know you all want to know who won my blog candy. I had a very cute little assistant to help me with the drawing...

And she pulled out....

arlsmom aka Lynda said...
Happy WCMD to you Christi!
5:18 PM

Congratulations, Lynda!!! Email me (snowchris_01@yahoo.com) your shipping info and I will pass it onto Unity so that they can get your stamp out to you.

I don't know if you noticed it in Friday's post, but I was pretty happy about all my swiss dotty paper that I created when Amy was here with her Cuttlebug. I showed it to DH all spread out and my photo of it. He noticed my pretty dots on my card that I loaded yesterday morning (after I proudly pointed them out.) I honestly was just really happy about them.

So yesterday afternoon DH came home with this...

He said that anything that made me that happy should be a tool that I own. Can you believe that?!?! OMG...what a guy and let me tell you, he had no idea what it even was. He went to Archivers asking for the thing that made the pressed dots. The wonderful lady there told him that they had a tool that did something similar, but what he wanted was the Cuttlebug and that he could get it across the street at Hobby Lobby...talk about customer service...WOW!!! (BTW, DH has already said that I get a gift card from there for Christmas because their customer service was so great...Yippee!!!) So, can you see the glare off my grin from where you are sitting?? I am so darn excited!!!

And now for the cards...with yesterday being World Cardmaking Day, I actually made cards...4 of them, in fact. I am only gonna share a couple of them today and then I will share the others tomorrow.

All of the cards were done for various SplitCoastStamper challenges. This first one was to CASE (lift) a card by SherryLc05. Here is the link to the card of hers that I lifted. And here is my card:

Supplies used:

*Unity STamp Co. Love Builds a Home

*Sassafras Lass papers

*Fresh Paint paper from Target (patterned teal)

*6x12 Scalloped Bazzill

*ribbon

*watercolor pencils

*StazOn Jet Black

*Martha Stewart border punch

*corner rounder

The challenge f0r this second card was to create a flower from nested circles. I still had all the papers out from the earlier card so I just used them again for this. Notice the gorgeously embossed section in the center thanks to my new Cuttlebug! ;o)

Supplies used:

*Unity Stamp Co. Greatest of Friends

*Unity Stamp Co. Floral Fantastical
*Sassafras Lass papers

*Fresh Paint papers

*Cuttlebug Embossing folder

*Various punches

*Watercolor pencils

*StazOn Jet Black inkpad

*CTMH Breeze inkpad

*cardstock

*old dictionary paper

I hope you are all having a fun weekend!!!

Happy World Card-Making Day Everyone!!!

Good morning!!! I know that there are tons of events happening on the web today in honor of World CardMaking Day so thank you for taking the time to drop by my little corner of the web. I have a couple of cards to share using the stamp that Unity Stamp Co. is giving away through my blog, Worn Inspiration from the Lifetime of Inspiration kit...

All you have to do to have a chance to win this gorgeous stamp is leave a comment here and tomorrow morning, I will draw a random winner. If you don't have a blog, be sure to leave your full name and email (or if you don't want to leave your email, just make sure to check back to see if you won!)

To show you how beautiful this stamp is, I used it on a couple of very simple cards along with the new sentiments from AJ's new kit, Simply Said, that was designed specifically for today. I adore this kit...great sentiments that are different from other ones that you see all the time and are perfect to use on the outside or the inside of so many cards.

Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Worn Inspiration stamp
*Unity Stamp Co. Simply Said kit (inside sentiment)
*K&Co. papers
*Martha Stewart ribbon
*Marvy Uchida Oval punches

In addition to the giveaways on the DT blogs (yes, there are more so go find all the dt blog-candy and comment!!!), there are also a couple of other promotions that Unity is doing. The first has to do with the World CardMaking Day challenges on the Splitcoast Forum. There are going to be a total of seven of them.

If you complete them all using Unity stamps, that makes you eligible to

win three Unity Stamp Kits...

Sentiments O' Simple, Simply Said, Something Within, and {b} Handle!!!

Here is the thread that will post links to all of the challenges when they are posted...WCMD Master Thread on SCS.

Supplies used:*Unity Stamp Co. Worn Inspiration, *Unity Stamp Co. Simply Said, *Bazzill Cardstock, *American Crafts paper (black & white), *Cuttlebug Swiss Dot Embossing Folder, *Marvy Uchida Oval punches, *Fiskars Threading Water border punch, *eyelet trim, *black inkpad

Unity is also sponsoring a card drive for the troops. Here are the details that I copied from AJ's post about it:

World Card Making Day is HERE!!!!

Do you like discounted stamps????

along with the normal fun and games we always have.....

We will be having a CARDS for TROOPS drive.

Here are the basics:We would love to collect an insane amount of cards to send off to the troops before the holiday's hit.We will be collecting cards {with envelopes} through October 20th. Stamp as many cards as you can and have them postmarked NO LATER than October 20th. {address provided below}

What's in it for you??? {Besides helping those who protect and serve us?}

The person who sends off THE most cards and envelopes will be awarded a one time

50% off shopping spree at Unity.

(discount does not include handles)

I have heard that *glitter free* cards are best- let's make it easier on them and not use glitter please.

send to:

Unity Stamp Company
100 W. Central Avenue - New London, MN 56273

Now don't forget to leave a comment and have fun playing in all the cardmaking festivities today!!!

Little Tidbits...

I have several little things to share with you today...

1. Some Swiss Dot Love...

Amy came over for several hours yesterday to craft. She crafted and was so much fun, I used her beautiful cuttlebug to create these little beauties...aren't they lovely...

2. Have you been Boo'ed yet? We plan on boo'ing a couple of neighbors tonight. My boo bags aren't quite complete, but I am not sure if I will have decent photography light at that time so I thought I would show you them in progress. The triangles are some more bookmarks like I showed at hip-hop last week.

3. Did you know that tomorrow is World Cardmaking Day? There are going to be activities, games, challenges, and giveaways all over the net in honor of it and Unity Stamp Co. will be getting in on the fun too. I will be giving away this stamp as blog candy here tomorrow and most the other DT members will have giveaways and inspiration too so be sure to stop by tomorrow!!! My post should be up by around 9:00 am CST.

Hip-Hop, October Rock!!!

Yippee! I love Thursdays!!!

Welcome to another installment of

Unity Stamp Company's Hip-Hop Thursday!!!

We start off the fun and festivities with a DT blog-hop so if you didn't come here from Amber's Utterly Fabulous blog, then you need to head over to the starting point, Angela's Unity blog to get the details about all the fun {and bargains} for the day and where the blog hop goes from there.

Don't forget once you get to the end that you have a chance for blog-candy if you leave a comment. Then come join us in the Splitcoaststampers Unity forum where there will be fun and giveaways all day long!

We have started a new month and that means fun new happenings at Unity Stamp Company. One of the most anticipated of these happenings is the release of Unity's new monthly stamp kit. This month does not disappoint...I LOVE THIS KIT called Thinking about the Good Times!!!

So you know that I have to show you some artwork with this today! My first project is a simple card using 4 of the stamps from the kit (the swirl, pumpkins, owls, and Good Times sentiment.) First I stamped the pumpkins using White StazOn onto the kraft card base. I stamped the swirl onto a Making Memories Halloween Tag and then added just a touch of orange glitter to the tips. The owl branch was colored using watercolor pencils and then again a bit of orange glitter was added to them.

Supplies used: *Unity Stamp Co. October Kit of the Month, Thinking about the Good Times *Scenic Route paper *Bazzill Kraft paper *White and Black StazOn *Fiskars Threading Water border punch *Making Memories Halloween tags *corner rounder *watercolor pencils *orange glitter

For my second project, I have a layout to share. We bought our pumpkins this week and by coincidence, Kat was dressed up in her fun Halloween shirt from Target, so I just had to take some photos. The stamps used from the Sept kit are the polkadot ribbon (blue to the left of the photo), the owls, the butterfly, the bird (doesn't that look like the partridge from the Partridge family? I start singing their theme song every time I look at that stamp), and the pumpkins.

The design of this layout is based on a sketch from a brand-new sketch blog called, Inspired Blueprints. I think that this is going to be a good blog to keep an eye on for inspiration...I am already impressed with what they are doing!

Yesterday, I got my latest stamp order in (fun stuff, I got all the new Halloween stamps so am hoping to have some fun Halloween projects to share soon) and in it was a stamp, Scalloped Journal, that I had really debated about ordering because I didn't think that it was going to be big enough. I should know better than that by now with Unity's Wood Cassette Mounted stamps...LOL!

You will notice that the scissors in the photo here are the full-sized version of the Fiskars so that gives you a good idea of just how big this stamp really is. I had posted about it on the Unity forum and it was requested that I use it on a project for today. You will notice that it is on this layout! ;o)

Supplies used: *Unity Stamp Co Sept Kit, Thinking about the Good Times, *Unity Stamp Co. Scalloped Journal, *Unity Stamp Co. Worn Grid, *papers from MME, Daisy D's, Basic Grey, Bazzill, *StazOn Black inkpad, *watercolor pencils, *Marvy Uchida scallop punch, *Pink Paislee alpha stickers, *Fiskars Threading Water border punch

My final project for today is a masculine card. I could see this working for a guy's birthday. This card features one of the new phrases from the new stamp kit designed by AJ, Simply Said. To give you an idea of the sizes on these stamp, this card is a 5x7.

This card is a combination of a couple of challenges from Splitcoast, CC186 (color scheme) and SC196 (card sketch.)

supplies used: *Unity Stamp Co. Old Skool Ride, *Unity Stamp Co. Sign of the Times, *Unity Stamp Co. Simply Said, *DCWV papers, *White StazOn, *Martha Stewart brown twill ribbon, *copper brads

Now head on over to our NEW GUEST DT MEMBER, Anne-Marie's incredible blog...you all are going to be blown away by her scrapbooking if you have never seen it before...she's INCREDIBLY talented and she is your next stop on the HOP!!!