The Early Bird gets the worm

This is so true in so many ways in my life!  I am an early morning riser, up before the sun and getting things done.  Today is no different...I'm up and at 'em, getting ready to "Leave the City Behind" and conquer the Helvatia Half Marathon!  This will be my 4th half marathon, but my first one since I had my last son, almost 2 years ago.  I'm excited, nervous, nauseous....but most of all this Early Bird is ready to run!!!

What else does being an Early Bird do for you?!?!?  Well this weekend if you are one of the first 50 people to register for the Inky Fingers Club 2013 Summer Session Special, you get the Early Bird Discount of $19.95.  What is the Inky Fingers Club 2013 Summer Session you ask?  Well, it's a group of AWESOME Guest Designers who will provide you with over 50 Exclusive Designs including 14 Daily Tutorials with step by step instructions using all NEW Stampin' Up! Products.  There will be daily challenges with prizes, including original artwork from the Guest Designers.  How cool is that?!?!?  So don't wait!  Register this weekend and get your Early Bird Discount!  Be sure to let me know when you register...you could win more prizes!  Send me an email at brrenwick@charter.net

Before I head out the door and get ready to tackle 13.1 miles, I'll leave you with a card...

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Coastal Cabana, Modern Medley

Ink ~ Coastal Cabana, Jet Black StazOn

Stamp Sets ~ Swallowtail, Papillion Potpourri

Other Supplies ~ Black and Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Butterfly Punch, Dazzling Details

 

Now go on and catch that worm!!!!

 

Happy Stamping!!

A bad case of Craft-somnia...

The man in brown delivered my box of new goodies late yesterday afternoon, but I no chance to play with anything because we had a wedding to go to.  I was bummed, but knew it would work out that way, so that helped ease the pain ;)  And the wedding was beautiful and my hubby did a great job officiating, so giving up my stamping time was well worth it!  I did get all of my stuff put away when I got home last night, but was too tired to get things out to start any new projects, so I just finished up a card that was waiting for some of the new Ruffled Stretch Trim, which I LOVE!  Well, I should have just stayed up and stamped anyway because I woke up numerous times last night with ideas spinning through my head.  I finally gave up about 4 AM and got up to go for a run with full intentions of having a good hour to stamp before the rest of the gang needed to get up.  Weeeellll...that didn't happen.  I logged into my work system only to find out there were some (more) problems, so I spent my time fixing some of the problems so I could at least accomplish some of my work today.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that IT can fix the rest of the issues today so I can wrap up my week on a good note.

So, instead of having something brand new to share with you, I have the card that I finished up last night with the new ribbon.  The stamps are from one of the new hostess sets that I got with my pre-order, so it is still technically new...

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Crumb Cake, Crisp Cantaloupe

Ink ~ Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, VersaMark

Stamp Set ~ Simply Sketched

Other Supplies ~ White Embossing Powder, Pistachio Pudding Ruffled Stretch Trim, Linen Thread, Very Vintage Designer Buttons

Here's to hoping I can find some stamping time tonight!  It's hard to concentrate on work when I know I have a ton of new things just calling my name!!!

Happy Stamping!

Wednesday Wedding Muse

Happy Wednesday!!!  This will be a quick post this morning...busy day ahead of me!  Our friend Antonio is getting married tonight and my hubby will be officiating his wedding.  It's going to be beautiful today...perfect day for a wedding!

This week's Muse card by Laurie Willison is so pretty!

It gave me the perfect inspiration for a clean and simple, yet elegant wedding card.

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Basic Black, Coastal Cabana, Whisper White

Ink ~ Jet Black StazOn, Coastal Cabana

Stamp Sets ~ Happy Day, Love & Laughter

Other Supplies ~ 1 1/4" Scallop Circle Punch, Rhinestones (colored with black Sharpie) Simply Scoring Tool

This card came together really fast but is so pretty.  I LOVE the new Coastal Cabana In Color, especially with black.

Off to take on the rest of the day!  Looking forward to a fun evening with some great people!

Happy Stamping!

Seriously, I REALLY love you

What a Monday!  The IT department did a system upgrade over the weekend at work and thing were...CRAZY today!  All I can say is that I'm happy that I don't work in IT and I am VERY grateful to those who do!

I started on this card early this morning before work with hopes of completing it during my lunch hour, but my lunch hour didn't really happen today.  Oh well...gave me a good excuse to come down to my craft room and un-wind :)

I saw this weeks Retro Sketches sketch and knew right away that I wanted to use some of my This and That Epic Day paper and stickers.  Add the Dude You're Welcome stamp set along with the "Seriously" stamp from April's Paper Pumpkin and you end up with a Seriously Epic card!

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Pool Party Core'dinations, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, This and That Epic Day DSP

Ink ~ Crumb Cake, Gumball Green

Stamp Sets ~ Dude You're Welcome, April Paper Pumpkin, Really Good Greetings

Other Supplies ~ Cute Clips, Small Heart, Chevron Embossing Folder, This and That Epic Day Stickers

Yep, pretty sure this DSP is still my favorite!  But that could all change once I get my hands on the new DSP I just ordered from the new catty! 

Hope you all had a better day than I did and have an even better day tomorrow!

Happy Stamping!

Home Run Weekend!

Happy Sunday friends...I hope you are all having a great weekend!  My family has had an amazing weekend...a home run weekend for sure!  My twins ended their baseball season on a high note...they had a great game yesterday :D I always love to see how much their skills improve with each season.  They are super excited to be able to participate in a baseball academy this summer too.  Our day of baseball continued in to last night with the Battle of the Badges Charity Baseball game.  Our local Fire Department and Police Department went head to head in an awesome game!  Tickets were sold out and the stands were FULL...a sight to see for sure!  Those who were rooting for the FD came dressed in red while those supporting the PD came dressed in blue.  All I can say is that it was a sea of RED...GO Fire Department!  Sadly, the FD lost, but it was a well played game and between the two departments over $18K was raised for two local charities.  I am so proud of my hubby for all he did for this event and for playing a great game!

Our family proudly showed our FD support!

Since we had such a fun, baseball-filled day yesterday, I decided to continue on with the baseball theme today and joined the latest Friday Mashup Challenge.  This week's challenge was to create a clean and simple card using the colors of your favorite baseball team.  Living in WA state, of course my favorite team is the Seattle Mariners and I love their team colors.  I needed to get a card made for an upcoming wedding and these colors happen to be pretty darn close to the wedding colors...how perfect!

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Smokey Slate, Whisper White

Ink ~ Bermuda Bay, Smokey Slate, Night of Navy

Stamp Sets ~ Mosaic Madness, Love & Laughter

Other Supplies ~ Modern Label Punch, Itty Bitty Shapes, Mosaic Punch, Basic Rhinestones

This card is a CASE from a card I saw a few weeks ago on Stampin' Connection, but I can not remember who made it.  So, if this happens to look like your card...thank you for the inspiration!

This was a fun challenge!  If you haven't joined in the Friday Mashup fun yet, do it today!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and Happy Stamping!