Color Chef Challenge

Here's my card for Kelly Jo's Color Chef Challenge.

I used my Posh Impressions duet stamp for this card. It's simple, but I think it turned out nice :)

Best Wedding Entrance

Traveler's Inspiration Challenge

Here's my card for Traveler's Inspiration Challenge.

I don't usually upload the photo from the challenges, but for this one it seemed like a good idea so you could see exactly where I was going with this. When I saw the photo, I instantly thought of this huge intricate stamp I have. I don't use it much and I realize it isn't at all the same kind of doorway, but I just had to use it.





After the 6th stamping, I finally got an image that wasn't smudged. I looked on the bright side, I had a lot of test images to color :) On the card, you have to look at it with the idea that the sun is coming in from the left side.....so that's why there is all that shading. Also, the door isn't as light on the one side as it looks in the photo.

So that's what I came up with. Maybe not all that interesting by itself, but when you see what I was going for....maybe a little more interesting :)

computer geeks

I'm not a geek. There has been some debate about this at work, but trust me, I'm not.

Anyway.

Now the people I work with....95% of them are total geeks. There is one guy in particular who is a mega geek! I have no idea how he managed to get a wife. Honestly, he is that annoying. In the last few months he has been coming to visit squeaky keyboard guy in the cube behind me on a pretty regular basis. I cringe every time he shows up. First, he talks unbelievably loud. Second, the things he talks about are incredibly annoying/boring. Come to think of it, squeaky keyboard guy has a wife, too. I'm perplexed.

Anyway.

Here are some examples of the loooonng conversations they have had that I have had to endure:

Godzilla ~ good guy or bad guy?
Getting a rat out of your house.
Dogs ~ there are basically 3 things they do.
An incredibly long discussion about "the bay area" vs. "San Francisco area"....which to call it.
Spiders (8 legs) vs. "bugs" (6 legs)....and then there is Spider Man. *sighs*
Street addresses. I'm serious. They had a discussion about street addresses.

The list goes on and on. And Greg can confirm how loud this guy is because he called during of the the discussions. And earphones don't work. This has got to be some kind of penance for something I've done.

Curtain Call Color Challenge 1

Here is my card for Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenge.

I had 2 or 3 different ideas for these colors but as soon as I found this navy patterned paper with the sail boats on it, I changed my mind. I think it makes a good card for a man. Cards for men are always the most challenging for me because I don't have a lot of stamps that lend themselves to a more masculine layout.



Plus, I always finishing off my cards with ribbon and masculine cards don't always lend themselves to having that. So there's no ribbon and no "fluff" and I think it still turned out ok :) Hope you like it!

Color Chef Challenge

Here's my card for Kelly Jo's Color Chef Challenge.

I punched what seems like 100 yellow dots and glued them down. The rest of the card came together really quick. I cut the onesie and the "sweet pea" using my Cricut. I added the stitch marks and glued it all down. It needed something so I cut the edge of the card off and punched more dots in pink and used them to create a scalloped edge. Oh, and I stamped the heart of the onesie. That was it! Hope you like it :)

Jewelry Color Inspiration Challenge 46

Here's my card for Stacey's Jewelry Color Inspiration Challenge.

I used my Cricut to cut out the puppy using the Paper Pups cartridge. I love that cartridge. Such cute stuff. I cut him out of kraft card stock because that was the closest I had to the carmel color. I also had to guess on the blue color. It looks like teal on my computer and somehow I don't think that's right. So I used a denim color for the blues.



When I was done it still didn't look done. So I added the red ink to the edges in a freestyle kind of way and embossed it. Then used a blue pencil to shade the edges of the conversation box. Then it was done. Hope you like it!

Traveler's Inspiration Challenge

Here's my card for Traveler's Inspiration Challenge.

I had bigger plans for this card but it just wasn't meant to be. I sat down last night at my craft desk and instantly started to perspire. It had to be 100 degrees in there. And since it was 85 degrees outside, it is possible it was very close to 100 degrees in my little room. I had all kinds of ideas for the card, but the heat forced me to do the minimum.



I cut the sun shape out using my Cricut and then used a VeraMark pen to draw on the face and around the edges. Then I used my new heat and stick powder on top of that. I sprinkled fire opal glitter on and hit it again with the heat gun to make the glitter stick - it worked! I have used glitter with regular glue and it works, but you have to be careful about touching the glittery parts because it can come off pretty easily. The heat and stick powder is much better....the glitter is really on there and you really have to scrape to get it off. I also used a background stamp on the card base and used blue and yellow glitter on that.



After all the heat and sticking I had to call it done and go lay in front of a fan. We don't have AC so we fans are our best friends these days.

Hope you like the card!

Tired

I have been sooo tired lately. When I get home all I can do is eat and then I lay down and....zzzzzz. I fall asleep in just minutes. Back in January I told my doctor about this and she had me get a blood test to check my iron levels. They were low so she had me start taking iron pills. I think maybe I should start taking them again. Last night Greg had a softball game and when he got home, he came in the bedroom and said "I'm home". I didn't answer so he said it again but still nothing. He came over to my side of the bed, probably to see if I was dead, and I finally woke up. This is very unusual because I am a light sleeper and just coming in the back door from the garage would normally be enough to wake me up :-/

I take comfort in knowing I am not the only tired one. Yesterday afternoon I was at my desk working and I could hear this noise but I was only half listening so I ignored it. Then a few minutes later it got louder. I rolled back in my chair and looked into the cube across from me and the guy was hunched forward with his forehead on his desk snoring. I was stunned. He had to have been like that for a while because his screen saver was on and you usually have to be idle for a while for those to come on. And the position he was in made my back and neck hurt to look at him. It's almost as if his head dropped forward as he fell asleep and the he slowing just went forward from there until his forehead reached the desk. I rolled back up to my desk and turned my iTunes on and just kept working. I didn't notice when he woke up, but I did see him leave and go home. He looked like a zombie.

They could be working us to death here.

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 12

Here's my card for Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge.



What do you think? When I first made it I wasn't sure about it. However, the more I look at it, the more I like it :) I used my Parlez vous Francais stamp set from SU and my Merci stamp from Paper Source - they work perfect together! The pink card base has a pearlescent sheen to it which I thought really fit in with the theme of the card. For one of the dark red accents, I added a bow to the poodles collar. Bow tying is not my strong point, so I was happy this one turned out well. Hope you like it!

Color Chef Challenge 14

Here's my card for Kelly Jo's Color Chef Challenge.

Before making cards, I never put colors like this together. I'm still not sure I'd wear these 3 colors, but on a card they do turn out nice. The background paper is yet another sheet from my American Crafts paper collection. The pattern was actually light blue and not turquoise. I used a turquoise pencil to color in the pattern and, voilà, instant color match to the turquoise paper. It was very relaxing to sit and color in that pattern....reminded me of coloring books and crayons. Anyway, I added the orange butterflies and flowers. They were too plain so they got a tiny bit of turquoise glitter. The orange ribbon finished it off. Hope you like it!

This is my reject card for Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge.

My husband wasn't impressed with it, so I made another one to see if I could do better.



We were split on this one because of the ribbon. I think it looks ok and he thinks - well, let's just say it got the crinkle eyebrow so that's never a good thing :)

Color Inspiration Challenge #56

Here's my card for Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge.



I used my new American Crafts paper for this card because it has all but one of the colors for the challenge. The letters are from a set that got opened and I don't know what brand they are. The little flowers are actually card confetti that I popped with dimensionals and added a green center to. The green satin ribbon finished it off. Hope you like it!

Jewelry Color Inspiration Challenge 45

Here's my card for Stacey's Jewelry Color Inspiration Challenge.



I used my dot stamp on the red background with VersaMark ink and then embossed it with clear powder. The flowers and "be happy" stamps are from my new "Darling Dots" set. Love it. I added some dots around the edge of the white card stock because it was a bit too plain.



It was an easy card to make until I got to the part where I had to cut the "be happy" sentiment out. Sometimes I'm really good at cutting around things and having it look perfect....and sometimes not. Today was not a perfect day. I thought about doing it again, but it's about 85 degrees so I have a little less patience ;) Going to sit in front of a fan now. Hope you like the card!

Summer Hangovers

With summer usually comes a party, or two, and chances are there will be alcohol involved. Here are some tips from beauty expert Eva Scrivo on how to balance your drinking.

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1. Consume one glass of water for every alcoholic beverage.

2. Eat a high protein and high fat snack before bed time (yes, I said "high fat," it's not a typo). I like natural peanut butter on whole grain toast.

3. Also before bed, take a B vitamin supplement which tends to get depleted when consuming alcohol.

4. The next morning drink a glass of coconut water which contains potassium and electrolites to help the body rehydrate. Also apply a hydrating mask to your face.

5. Mid-day a fresh vegetable juice is a great pick-me-up.

Traveler's Inspiration Challenge 2

Here's my card for Traveler's Inspiration Challenge.

It's simple but I think it turned out pretty.



The colors in the inspiration photo are blue and sandy earth tones so I thought the color of this flower patterned paper would work well on a deep blue card base. You can check out the link above to see the inspiration photo on Travelingmama's site. I used matching ribbon and ink. That's really it. No frills but you don't always have to have bling and fluff to get a pretty card. I hope you like it :)

Color Chef Challenge 13

Here's my card for Kelly Jo's Color Chef Challenge.

This is my Abby card. Abby is my cat. The stamp I used reminds me of her because she is long and skinny with a long tail just like that cat. As I was getting all my supplies together to make the card.....wouldn't you know....my real live inspiration wanted to be the center of my attention. She jumped up on my desk and made herself comfortable. I just had to post a few pictures of her :)






And here is my card. I cut the scalloped circle with my Cricut and added the center circle in white with the printed "kitty" vellum over it. I stamped the kitty image and cut it out. The body is glued down but I left the tail loose so it pops off the card. I added ribbon and a button. Hope you like it!

Jewelry Color Inspiration Challenge 44

Here's my card for Stacey's Jewelry Color Inspiration Challenge.




This is my first card using my "Branch Out" stamp set and I love the set as much as I thought I would. I can't wait to make cherry blossom trees with it! This challenge used earth tones and they all came together well. The "Warmest Wishes" stamps is pretty old and it was in a set but I don't have the name of it on the clam case. I found the ribbon in the graduated colors and it was sheer luck that it matched the challenge so well. Hope you like it!

Traveler's Inspiration Challenge 1

Here's my card for Traveler's Inspiration Challenge.

You have to check out the gorgeous photo she has as the inspiration piece. After seeing that, I just had to make a card with those colors. I got out some old paper that I have had forever and love but never used it. It was perfect for this. So cheery! I cut a small round piece of vellum and stamped "hello" with my A Muse stamp and used my white gel pen to mark dots around the edge. I wanted it to pop off the card a bit and a foam dot would show through, so I just rolled a piece of clear acetate and glued it to the card and then to the vellum. Worked out pretty well, it hardly shows through.

Hope you like it!

Spaghetti Worth Making

1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed (mild or hot)
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce
2 cups water
3 teaspoons basil
2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4-1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon fresh coarse ground black pepper
1/4 cup red wine
1 lb spaghetti
parmesan cheese

1. In large, heavy stockpot, brown sausage & ground beef, breaking up as you stir.
2. Add onions and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until onions are softened.
3. Add garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce and water.
4. Add basil, parsley, brown sugar, salt, crushed red pepper, and black pepper.
5. Stir well and barely bring to a boil.
6. Stir in red wine.
7. Simmer on low, stirring frequently for at least an hour or up to *2 hours.
8. Cook spaghetti according to package directions.
9. Spoon sauce over drained spaghetti noodles and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

*If you go over an hour, keep an eye on it so it does not burn

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 11

Here's my card for Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge.
I wasn't sure about these colors but I kept an open mind and this is what I came up with. I thought bright colors like this would be good for a get well card.



The bottle is stamped in gray and the hearts and label are in black. I cut a piece of acetate as an overlay to give it the look of glass. I stamped the image again and cut out the get well label and glued it on the acetate. It's hard to see the glass illusion....I tried to get the acetate to reflect so it would be more noticeable but I just could not get it to photograph well :-/ The red buttons finish it off.

Speaking of buttons, I got these plus some others at Walmart for .67 cents. I don't know why I don't shop there more often for card making supplies. They also sell spools of ribbon for under $2. I go to Michael's when I don't have a color I need and some of their ribbon is $4. I know $4 isn't that much money, but if you are buying ink and paper, too, it can add up fast.

Jewelry Color Inspiration Challenge 43

Here's my card for Stacey's Jewelry Color Inspiration Challenge.

My niece is expecting so I made this card for her. The colors seemed perfect for a baby card. I used my Cricut "New Arrival" cartridge for this one...it's a great cartridge if any of you have been thinking of getting it. The congratulations stamp is one from a Hero Arts set I have and I used a Martha Stewart ink called bamboo. The camera didn't pick it up very well but it is a very close match to the stroller.


Hope you like it!

Color Chef Challenge 12

Here's my card for Kelly Jo's Color Chef Challenge.

The colors are red white & blue so I just had to do a patriotic card. In the past 4th of July cards have been hard for me to conceptualize because I was stuck on the idea of a flag being the focal point. This time, however, I knew I wanted to have the torn paper flower rather than a flag and it all come together.
I've had that little red, white & blue button forever and I finally had the perfect project for it. I'm pleased with how it turned out :) I was thinking it would be a nice card for a woman who is in the military, don't you think?

Hope you like it!