3, 2, 1....Blast Off!

Made it to Wednesday...half way through...woohoo!!!  I finally pulled out all of my soon-to-be retired stamp sets (50+!!!) and am trying really hard to use them as much as I can before they are gone for good.  This is always a bitter sweet time of year in the world of Stampin' Up!  Saying good-bye to some favorites, but oh-so-super-excited for new stuff :-D

One of my favorite kiddo stamp sets is Blast Off.  I have used this set many times for birthday cards and I am a little sad to see it go.  This may be one I have to keep...

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Real Red, Midnight Muse, Whisper White

Ink ~ Real Red, Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Pumpkin Pie

Stamp Set ~ Blast Off

Other Supplies ~ Rhinestone Basic Jewels, 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" Circle Punches

 

In addition to using some of the retiring stamp sets, I'm also trying to use up some paper and ink that will be retiring too...sigh...why can't they all just stay?!?!?

 

Happy Wednesday and Happy Stamping!



My Roxy Girl

Happy Tuesday friends!  We made it through Monday...whew!  Tuesday has become one of my favorite days of the week because it means NEW MDS downloads...yippee :-D  You can check out the new goodies HERE.

 

Last week there was a super cute Paw Parade Kit that I just had to have!  Lots of fun DSP, stamps and embellishments in this kit.  While we were gone on our trip, our awesome house sitter sent me a picture of my sweet Roxy girl at the park and I could not wait to create a page!

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Paw Parade DSP, Baked Brown Sugar

Stamp Sets ~ Paw Parade

Embellishments ~ Paw Parade Embellishments, Gold Sequins (recolored), Silver Bakers Twine, Festive Blooms, Washi Delightful Digital Tape, Delicate Adornments Scallop Lace

 

Roxy reminds me, almost daily, just how naughty puppies can be, but she has become the best dog for our family.  She is awesome with our boys and is my VERY protective running buddy! 

 

Thanks for stopping by again today!

 

Happy Stamping!

 

 



Masculine {Anniversary} Monday

Happy {Masculine} Monday!  I am being shoved face first back into reality after an amazing week away...be kind to me Monday!

 

I don't know about you, but masculine cards are sometimes the hardest for me to come up with!  The crew over at Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration has a great selection of masculine cards for you today...be sure to check them all out!

 

I made this card for my hubby for our 10 year anniversary...awwww :-)  Not super masculine, but it works.  And he liked it, so that's what really counts, right?

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Etcetera, Night of Navy Core'dinations, Silver Foil Paper

Ink ~ Crumb Cake, Night of Navy

Stamp Sets ~ Off the Grid, Perfect Pennants, Peachy Keen, Express Yourself, Wedding Words (MDS)

Other Supplies ~ Small Heart Punch, 1" Circle Punch, Candy Dots (embossed with Pewter Embossing Powder), Essentials Wooden Elements, Ampersand Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

 

Thanks for stopping by today..I hope I've INKspired you to CREATE today!

 

Happy Stamping!

 

 

 



Born to be Beach Bums ~ Monday Montage



Hello and welcome back to another Monday Montage Blog Hop!  This group of ten talented stampers have some fabulous projects to share with you this week, so be sure to hop all the way through so you don't miss anything!

{SIGH}...back to reality. 

My family got home LATE last night after flying back home from our amazing trip to Florida.  I am totally missing the warm sun and days spent at the beach or poolside...I wanna go back!  And let me tell you...the 3 hour time change is kicking my booty today.  {YAWN}  As much as I wanted to get into my craft room and play with paper and ink, I just had way too many things to do to get all caught back up at home.  But, this doesn't mean I didn't have time to create!  MDS to the rescue, once again!  Each night while we were gone, I created a page from our activities that day...love, love, LOVE MDS for this very reason :-)

I'm pretty sure all 3 of my boys were born to be beach bums...they spent ALL day in the water or playing in the sand.  I could get used to that life in a hurry...just need my hubby to find a job in a warm, sunny city!

 

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ High Tide

Stamps ~ Hello Sailor, Game Day Starburst, Anchors Away Waves, Fifty Nifty

Embellishments ~ Ahoy, Matey Corner Swirl

Fonts ~ Organic Fruit, A Gentle Touch

 

Now it's time to hop on over to Cathy's creation for today...you're sure to love it!  Or if you prefer to hop backwards, you can head on back to Amy's project...she inspires me each and every week!  Either way, just make sure you make the whole loop and don't miss any of us.  And don't forget to leave us some love on our blogs...we love hearing from you!

 

  Thanks for hopping along with us today!

 

Happy Stamping!

 





Soakin' up the Sun

Hi friends...happy Thursday!  I'm here to share a little more MDS fun with you!  We are still enjoying our vacation in warm, sunny Florida and I'm LOVING it!  I'm pretty sure my family is going to have to drag me away from here kicking and screaming...I don't wanna go back to the rainy weather at home!  But I'm not going to think about that...I'm going to soak up as much sun as I can and hopefully bring some home with me.

 

We have a pool at the house we are staying in and we have used it every single day...for hours!  I could easily spend every afternoon relaxing by the pool :-) :-)

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Pool Party, Love This DSP

Ink ~ Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight

Stamp Sets ~ Decorative Overlays-swirl stripe, Paradise Found

Other Supplies ~ Circle Punches

 

Those of you who know me well, know that I don't travel without taking half of my craft room with me.  Usually we travel by car on vacations and I can pack up all of my supplies, but where we flew this time, space was limited, so I just brought my laptop.  Creating in MDS has kept me plenty busy and satisfied all of my crafting needs :-)

 

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

Happy Stamping and MDSing!

 

Sweet Baby Spencer

Today over at Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration we are CASEing projects from the catalog(s).  I fell in love with the baby announcement in the 2014 Occasions Catalog, and was so excited to show my friend Stacee, who was soon expecting her sweet baby Spencer.  She too fell in love with it and asked if I would help her make the announcements, which I happily agreed to do. 

Stacee took on the task of punching out 70 of the adorable little owls...you go girl!  With a little help from MDS, I printed out Baby Spencer's info and the "Sweet Baby" sentiment...love me some MDS!  Once all of the pieces were cut out, Stacee put them all together and they turned out so stinkin' ca-YOOT!!!  But not as cute as that adorable baby of hers :-)

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Baked Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana, Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White

Ink ~ Baked Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana

Stamp Set ~ Baby We've Grown (MDS)

Other Supplies ~ Owl Punch, Small Heart Punch, Scallops Embossing Folder, Pistachio Pudding Ruffled Stretch Trim

 

Be sure to head on over and check out the rest of the CASE'ed creations from the design team and let us INKspire you to CREATE today!

 

Happy Stamping!



Making Our Way Across the Map

Good morning friends and welcome to a new Hand Stamped Sentiments sketch challenge!

Being that my family just traveled clear across the US for a fun family vacation in Florida, I had to pull out the World Map stamp :-)  I had a lot of fun ripping, distressing, crumpling, smearing and sponging this card!

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Island Indigo, Early Espresso, Whisper White

Ink ~ Early Espresso, Island Indigo, Old Olive, Pool Party

Stamp Sets ~ World Map, Hello Sailor, Happy Congratulations, Off the Grid

Other Supplies ~ Burlap Ribbon, Distressing Tool, Circle Punches

 

We are off to explore more of Florida and enjoy all of the beautiful sunshine!

 

Be sure to check out the rest of the awesome design team creations and don't forget to play along!

 

Happy Stamping!

 

 

 

 



Bloomin' Beautiful Spring



PINspiration

What did we EVER do before Pinterest?!?!  I can waste hours of my day scrolling through all of the pins...HOURS!  But what a great invention, especially for those of us who love to CREATE!  If I ever get in a slump and can't figure out what to stamp, I turn to Pinterest for some inspiration. 

I've been looking at this butterfly card, by Lime Doodle Design, for a few weeks and loved the CAS look.  The velum butterfly gives her card such a pretty look and I just had to CASE her design.

 

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Whisper White, Velum

Ink ~ Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Wisteria Wonder, Jet Black StazOn

Stamp Sets ~ Papillion Potpourri, Simply Sketched

Other Supplies ~ Butterfly Punch

 

Sometimes it is very difficult for me to create a CAS card, but when I force myself to put the embellishments away, I'm always happy with the end result.  Sometimes the simplest card can make the biggest statement!

 

Be sure to check out the other PINspiring creations from the ladies over at Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration.

 

Happy Stamping!



Hello Butterflies

Happy Monday friends!  I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!  And I hope you found a little time to stamp!  I know this time of year, as the weather starts to get nicer, I want to spend more and more time outside.  But, I always make time for stamping...it helps me keep my sanity!

 

It's the second Monday of the month, so that means it's time for a new sketch challenge over at Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration.

 

Once again, I pulled out my Silhouette and cut out this fun "Hello" sentiment...I'm really starting to love this tool!

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Whisper White, Calypso Coral, Fresh Prints DSP, Velum

Ink ~ Calypso Coral

Stamp Sets ~ Oh Hello (chevron), March Paper Pumpkin (polka dots)

Other Supplies ~ Butterfly Punches, Rhinestone Basics, Silhouette e-cutter

 

I've got a busy day ahead of me, so I'm keeping this short and sweet! 

 

Hope you all have a marvelous Monday!!

 

Happy Stamping!

 



Hybrid Hello ~ Monday Montage



Hello and welcome to our Monday Montage Blog Hop!  This group of ten talented stampers have some fabulous projects to share with you this week, so be sure to hop all the way through so you don't miss anything!

I've been trying to use MDS and my e-cutter a bit more...I will admit, I was a bit intimated by all of it at first, but the more I play, the more I love it!   My creation today is a hybrid card.  I stamped the images, but the "Hello" sentiment was imported from MDS to my Silhouette and cut...LOVE!

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Perfect Plum, Whisper White, Gold Foil

Stamp Sets ~ Happy Watercolor, Simple Stems, Beautiful Today (MDS)

Ink ~ Metallic Gold, Whisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant

Other Supplies ~ Itty Bitty Punch Pack (circle), Gold Sequin Trim, Silhouette Cameo e-cutter, MDS

 

This didn't turn out quite as I had pictured in my head (how often does that happen to you?!??!), but I still kind of like it :-)  It certainly is fun to be able to add some different elements to your projects when you break out the MDS and e-cutter!  To those of you who are afraid to take the leap, don't be!  Jump in and have some fun!

 

Now it's time to hop on over to Cathy's creation for today...you're sure to love it!  Or if you prefer to hop backwards, you can head on back to Amy's project...she inspires me each and every week!  Either way, just make sure you make the whole loop and don't miss any of us.  And don't forget to leave us some love on our blogs...we love hearing from you!

 

  Thanks for hopping along with us today!

 

Happy Stamping!

 





Celebrating 10 Years

Happy Friday friends!  We made it to the weekend again...yippee!!!  We've got another busy weekend in store, with an even busier week ahead of us.  But there is a light at the end of the tunnel...next week at this time we'll be on our way to {hopefully} sunny and warm Florida for vacation!  I am sooooo ready!  I am looking forward to some down time with my family...no crazy schedules to keep up with, no work and just having fun!  And I'm really hoping my hubby and I can sneak in a little date night while we are away too...we have a reason to celebrate!

 

Yesterday my hubby and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary.  It's crazy how fast these years have gone by...bitter sweet for sure!  In honor of our milestone, I put together a pretty MDS page using one of my favorite pictures from our wedding...

This page was created based on this weeks Simply My Digital Studio {Facebook} Challenge...One Photo, Three Ways.  I simply changed the coloring of each photo and I love how it turned out!

 

MDS Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Smokey Slate

Stamps ~ Decorative Overlays (flowers)

Other Supplies ~ Burlap Ribbon, Crochet Trim, Pearls

 

Happy Friday to all of you!  Here's to a fantastic weekend!

 

Happy Stamping!

 

 



Zoo Baby Birthday ~ Stylin' Stampin' Squad

Good morning and welcome to April's edition of the Stylin' Stampin' Squad Blog Hop!  This month our hop is FULL of fun children's creations.  From baby shower invites to fun birthday gifts and cards (and soooo much more!), you are sure to smile as you hop along!

 

As you hop along, please be sure to comment and show some love on every blog! We are always excited to hear from our followers! You should have just left stop number FIVE on the Stylin' Stampin' Squad Blog Hop - Cynthia of Ink-A-Doodle Creations. If so, you are in the right spot. If a link doesn't work or you get off track, you will find the full blog hop lineup below.

 

A sweet little boy just celebrated his 1st birthday last week and I was so excited to make him a fun card and gift bag for his special day.  Pop-up books and cards were always a favorite of mine when I was little, so I decided to try a pop-up card of my own.  But rather than the pop-up being on the inside, I made it on the outside. 

 

I created a coordinating gift tag to go on the gift bag...

And used one of the awesome bags from the March Paper Pumpkin kit to attach the tag to!

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Marina Mist, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Gumball Green, Whisper White, Polka Dot Parade DSP

Ink ~ Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black

Stamp Sets ~ Zoo Babies, Four You, ABC-123 Sketched Alphabet & Numbers, March Paper Pumpkin

Other Supplies ~ March Paper Pumpkin Kit, 1" Circle Punch, Whisper White Bakers Twine, Real Red and Marina Mist 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon

 

Now it's time to hop on over to Jennifer with Happy 2 Scrap 4 Life!

 

Blog Hop Participant List:

1. Dawn S. of Dawn's Creative Chalet
2. Erica B. of Stamping Starlette
3. Shellie G. of Craft Smashup
4. Kathy P. of Katrina P's Creative Corner
5. Cynthia R. of Ink-A-Doodle Creations
6. Bree R. of Craft-Somnia
7. Jennifer C. of Happy 2 Scrap 4 Life
8. Donna S. of Organized Chaos
9. Darcy J. of DJ's Stampin' Place
10. Tonya B. of Stampin' with Tonya
11. Diana E. of Stampin' Fun with Diana
12. Pam S. of Stampin' in the Sun
13. Kim R. of Stamping with Kim
14. Rose C. of Stampin' with Rose
15. Darla R. & Nancy K. of Stampin' with Darla and Sisters

 

Easter Bunny Humor

The ladies over at Stylin' Stampin' INKspiraiton are getting ready for Easter and have some very creative and INKspiring projects to share with you today.  Be sure to check them all out!

 

Now, I hope I don't offend any of you with my card today...but when you live in a house FULL of boys, humorous cards like this just happen :-)

 

My eight year old twins have been cracking up over this ever since they saw it sitting on my desk...I'm going to have to make a few versions of this so they can each have one for Easter!

 

Now, you might be wondering where these funny bunnies and grass came from.  Both are MDS downloads that I sent on over to my Silhouette and cut out.  Love that little machine!  The grass is from the Grass Punch and the bunnies are from the Littlest Additions Stampbrush Set.  I'm telling you...the possibilities are endless when you have MDS and an e-cutter!

 

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Island Indigo, Gumball Green, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Watercolor Wonder DSP

Ink ~ Island Indigo (sentiment made in MDS and printed out)

Other Supplies ~ Decorative Dots Embossing Folder, Argyle Embossing Folder, Small Oval Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, 1-1/4" Scallop Circle Punch, Word Bubble Framelits, Silhouette Cameo e-cutter

 

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

Happy Stamping!



Happy Congratulations Birthday ~ HSS183

Happy Tuesday friends! 
It's time for a bright and fun color challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments!

Can you guess where my inspiration came for my new blog header?  I LOVE these colors and the Happy Congratulations stamp set is just plain FUN!  I created a festive shaker frame with the polaroid framelit...who doesn't love a shaker card?!?!

supplies Used:

Paper ~ Coastal Cabana, Whisper White, Crushed Curry, Gumball Green, Festive Prints DSP, Window Sheet

Ink ~ Coastal Cabana, Gunball Green, Crushed Curry, Jet Black StazOn, White Stampin' Chalk Marker

Stamp Sets ~ Happy Congratulations, Gorgeous Grunge, Four You

Other Supplies ~ On Film Framelits, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Owl Punch, Whisper White Bakers Twine, Silver Glass Stampin' Glitter

 

Now head on over to check out the rest of the creations from the design team and don't forget to play along!

 

Happy Stamping!



Mosaic Mother

Happy Monday!!!  It's time for a new color challenge over at Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration and we've got a pretty one for you this month!

 

My first thought was to pull out one of my MANY flower stamp sets, but I forced myself to think of something besides flowers.  After playing around a bit, I finally settled on Mosaic Madness...another one I haven't played with in a while.

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Very Vanilla, Wisteria Wonder

Ink ~ Wister Wonder, Gumball Green

Stamp Sets ~ Mosaic Madness, My Mother

Other Supplies ~ Mosaic Punch, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Basic Pearls

 

Be sure to head on over to SSInk to see all of the beautiful creations from our design team and don't forget to play along!  We love to see what we inspire YOU to create!

 

Happy Stamping!



Hey Good Lookin'

Whatcha got cookin'?  Sorry, that song always pops into my head every time I hear those words!

I'm cooking up more MDS creations these days thanks to the amazing MDS Adventure club put on by the fabulous Kimberly Van Diepen and Heather Summers.  They are the queens of MDS and are sharing their wealth of digital knowledge with those of us who joined the group.  Heather gave us fun sketch and challenge to work with this weekend, so while my kiddos watched a movie last night, I snuggled up with them (and my laptop) and created another fun page for our family year book.

The challenge included using a stamp for the page title, layering your photos and creating your own overlay, along with this sketch:

MDS Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Smoky Slate

Stamps ~ Beautiful Today Polka Dots (ovelay), Game Day Splatter, Love This Arrows, Splatter 1, Occasional Tags - Hey Good Lookin'

Embellishments ~ Finest Simplicity, White Simple Stitches Circle

 

I added some fun little eyeballs to the O's since Aidan just got new glasses...he loves this page 8-)

 

Enjoy your Sunday!

 

Happy Stamping!



Bike Track Birthday

Happy Saturday friends!  I've been on the run (literally) since 4AM...I'm ready for a nap!  But we've still got a lot of day left, which includes my nephews birthday party at the bike track. All 3 of my boys are so excited and can hardly wait for 2PM to get here!

I needed a quick and easy card to create while my youngest nap, so I pulled out my e-cutter, downloaded and cut out the fun Extreme Dirt Bike stamp, added a few splashes of grunge and...

...good enough for an 8 year old, right?!?!?  My twins thought it was cool, so I guess I did alright :-)

 

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Whisper White

Ink ~ Smoky Slate, Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Jet Black StazOn

Stamp Sets ~ Lemonade Stand*, Extreme Dirt Bike*, Off the Grid, Gorgeous Grunge, Clockworks

Other Supplies ~ Distressing Tool, Silhouette Cameo e-cutter

*MDS

 

As much as I want to stay here and play more with my stamps and MDS, I must keep moving and get a few more things done before we head out to the bike track.

 

Hope you all have a great weekend!

 

Happy Stamping!

 



Hello, Lovely {Friday}

And....here we are at Friday again.  Lovely, lovely Friday...HELLO!  It's a rainy Friday in my neck of the woods, but it is supposed to clear up later this afternoon and make way for some sunshine tomorrow!  That makes me happy :-)

I've been pulling out some of my old favorite's lately and Hello, Lovely is one of them.  I love using this stamp set with the Etcetera DSP...they just work well together!

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Night of Navy, Etcetera DSP

Ink ~ Night of Navy, Calypso Coral, Jet Black StazOn

Stamp Sets ~ Hello Lovely, Dictionary

Other Supplies ~ Natural Chevron Ribbon, Very Vintage Designer Buttons, Gold Sequin Trim, Boho Blossoms Punch, Mini Silver Brads, Linen Thread

 

Thanks for stopping by today!  I'm off to prepare for my Stamp Club tonight...my favorite time of the month!

 

Happy Stamping!



My Ombre Life

Happy Thursday!  Some of the talented design team members over at Stylin' Stamin' INKspiration have some fun cards to share with you today using the Ombre Technique.  Be sure to check all of the awesome variations! 

 

 

Some days I feel like I live in an ombre life...a colorful life that all kind of blends together with each passing day...and I love every single moment of it!

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Coastal Cabana, Whisper White, Silver Foil, Watercolor Paper

Ink ~ Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Pool Party, Soft Sky, Smoky Slate, Illuminate Glimmer Watermark, Jet Black StazOn

Stamp Sets ~ Geometrical, Feel Goods

Other Supplies ~ Candy Dots, Aqua Painter

 

Stamping all of those circles was fun and I managed to do it with out pulling out my Stamp-a-ma-jig...not too bad, huh?  I love these colors together...so calming and peaceful.  Makes me feel like I'm at the beach...ahhhh!!!

 

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope I've INKspired you to CREATE something fabulous today!

 

Happy Stamping!

 

 

 

 



Shocker Student

Happy Wednesday friends!  Here we are, half way through the week again...yippee!!

I've been playing around more and more in MDS thanks to some amazing help from Kimberly and Heather ...the Queens of MDS!  I have found a new love and am so happy to finally be able to put all of my pictures into an album...digitally, of course!

On Monday, one of my twins earned Student of the Month at his school..proud momma moment for sure!  He was very excited and was actually happy {not embarrassed} to see me at school when he received his award.  I wasn't able to get a good picture of him at school, but we did get one at home.  Using this weeks sketch from the Simply My Digital Studio group on Faceboook, I was able to quickly create a fun page in honor of Hunter's big day!

MDS Supplies:

Paper ~ Gumball Green, Watercolor Wonder, Whisper White, Smoky Slate

Stamps ~ Chevron Overlay, Chevron Grunge, Crazy Mixed Up Love, Ink Splatter

Embellishments ~ Essentials Wooden Elements

Font ~ Sketch Me

 

Now that I am having so much fun creating in MDS, I find myself taking more pictures and am discovering I really need a new camera...hoping I can convince my hubby that this is a good idea! 

 

Happy Stamping...umm...MDS'ing!