Jason Ketchum

Jay just got back yesterday from a trip back to Kansas. His grandfather passed away one week ago today. He lived a very good life, but no matter how many years we have had our loved ones with us, it's still very difficult to let go of them. We could not afford for all of us to fly out, but felt it was important for Jay to go, especially to support his mom. She has had so much loss and takes such good care of everyone else, we knew there was no question that Jay needed to be with her, and the rest of the family. This was the first time any of us have been able to see Jason (Jay's brother Eric and his wife Mindy's son) since he started walking and talking. Unfortunately, the little guy was sooooooooooooo sick that he wasn't himself, but at least he and Jay got to interract together. Auntie Shannon, the family photographer wasn't there, but Jay did get a couple of recent photos. He looks so much like a combination of his parents! I don't think he looks more like one than the other at all. I can't wait to get to see him and play with him. He's growing up way too fast (don't they all!)

Kristina Werner Color Inspiration #47

I really like the Kristina's color combination this week. The colors are putting me in the mood for Spring! I didn't have any So Saffron or Tangerine Tango cardstock, but I did have this mellow yellow cardstock (I am not sure of the brand) that was pretty close, so I went ahead and cheated just a tad. All stamps are from Unity KOTM and I used my blender pens with SU ink for the coloring. The silver dots are Michael's brand. They came in a string all linked together and I just cut them out to separate them.

Love Blooms

I don't do a lot of black and white cards, but after doing Kristina's challenge last week, I realized how much I enjoyed working with subdued colors and the challenge that it presents. I set out to make a black, white, and gray card tonight, but did end up using some red paper (I couldn't help it). Unfortunately, there is a glare in the photograph so you can't tell, but the strips are actually Going Gray and not white. I embossed the tree from Unity with silver embossing powder and used some stickles on the sentimate image because it's such a fun font that I wanted to jazz it up a little bit.

Happy Thoughts

After 14+ months of losing at Bunco, I FINALLY won on Thursday night! I cannot tell you how thrilled I was. I always enjoy playing because I play with a group of super fun, super sweet women and we always laugh and have an absolute blast, but I was getting a bit of a complex after such a long losing streak. I actually got the most Bunco's (5) and got 3 in one round!!!! I won the jackpot of $50 and spent a little bit of my winnings at Michael's yesterday. Jay and I were shopping for house stuff (not very exciting stuff, just items to fix what is broken) and were at Osh and were done looking at items I know anything about and were on to things like electrical wire, which I have absolutely no clue about, so I asked if he wouldn't mind if I wandered over to Michael's while he finished up. Michael's is in the same shopping center, so I walked over and found that they have tons of new product. They had a huge selection of gorgeous new patterned paper from Basic Grey and We Are Memory Keepers and lots of Tim Holz products (don't you just love Tim's grunge goodies) and these adorable Color Box acrylic stickers. The pack I got had frogs and butterflies and flowers and skunks and this adorable little porcupine. I think they are just too cute! Anyway, I made this card last night using my new goodies and wanted to share. It is definitely a happy card.

I Ain't Missing You at All

I made this card the other night, for no particular reason. Actually, I really wanted to use my new To the Nines DSP from SU but I didn't really use much of it in the end. When I first finished the card I was just not happy with it. I wasn't even going to upload it to SCS or to the blog because it just didn't do much for me. Then, Friday night I decided to add the faux stitching and the button with the Scrapper's floss and now I really like it. It is so amazing what those little touches can add. Oh, and although I didn't use much of the DSP, it is absolutely gorgeous and I will be using a LOT more of it!

Jen's Sketch Challenge 03/21/09

Time for another one of Jen Del Muro's sketch challenges. I got a little creative (with her permission) on the star embellishment and used my SU flower punch in DSP and Chocolate Chip CS and offset them a little bit and then added a button with some Scrapper's Floss. I have been so hooked on Baja Breeze with Chocolate Chip lately! I just got some new DSP from SU from the Sale-A-Bration catalog, so I promise I will be trying some new colors very soon.

Jen Del Muro's SFYTT 03/13/09

Last weekend was really hectic, so I didn't get a chance to participate in Jen's sketch challenge. Jay was working on Saturday and Kendall and I spent the entire day with friends and it was wonderful! Staci met us at the T.O. mall for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and some shopping and then we went over to Kim & Ron's for a visit and a wonderful dinner and then we went over to Nancy and Brian's for a visit before heading back home. Sunday I had to work, which was

no ideal, but I rarely have to work on the weekend's, so I didn't mind it too much.

This week's challenge was fun for me. I actually challenged myself even further by using a small SU! note card, so I had very little surface area to fit all of the layers in. I was also challenged to find an image small enough to not overwhelm the card. I am pretty happy with the results. I finally got some Scrapper's Floss and I love the way it enhances the buttons and makes them even more fun and interesting.

Enjoy!

Kristina Werner Color Inspiration #45

This week, Kristina's challenge was to make a monochromatic card using Basic Black, Basic Gray and Whisper White. I don't have any Basic Gray cardstock, but I had this really beautiful gray damask patterned paper from Little Yellow Bicycle. I got it around Valentine's Day and have been anxious to use it ever since!

I decided to emboss my images onto the black paper to make them stand out. I have not really made a lot of designs using black paper, but I really enjoy the contrast that it gives, so I think I will be trying to do more with black in the future. I always find myself reaching for the Chocolate Chip, but maybe thanks to Kristina I will venture out a little bit more and start reaching for the Basic Black!

Enjoy...

Kristina Werner Color Inspiration #44

This week Kristina chose some of my favorite colors for her Color Inspiration challenge. The colors are , Chocolate Chip, Pink Piriouette, Close to Cocoa, and Whisper White. I love brown andblue and brown and pink together. I didn't think I had any patterned paper that had this color combination, but I found this addorable SU DSP when I was ruffling through my brown paper drawer. I love the polka dots! The stamp is from Unity's February KOTM. I stamped the image in Chocolate Chip and then used my blender pen with the Pink Pirouette ink on the flower, the table top, and the table stand. I added the pearls to make it extra pretty. I am going to give this card to my friend Emily for her birthday this week. She's a girly-girl and I think she will love it.