Jen's Sketch Challenge 04-10-10

Hi Everyone!

Sorry for the long pause between posts. I have been spending a lot of time creating and enjoying family time and spending less time updating my blog. Sometimes the pressure of having to post everything takes away the joy of the actual moment. First of all, I made 3 mini albums for Mother's Day (I will post the others here soon) and making lots of cards in between. Additionally, my Dad & Val were here for a fantastic one week visit where we were on the go constantly, but had a wonderful time and then Nicole was here for a month so we spent lots of family time.

At last, things have slowed down a bit and I feel like I can get caught up on everything else that got neglected.

So, to start off, here's a card from Jen's April 10 SKFYTT. I made this card back in April, just didn't get around to posting it until now.

I made this card for my sister-in-law for her birthday. She is absolutely amazing (love you Lisa!) and was fortunate enough to be able to give it to a mutual friend to be hand delivered. Not quite the same as delivering it myself, but I'll take what I can get ;).

Supplies

Cardstock - Stampin' Up!, Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper - Papertrey Ink

Stamps - Unity, Verve Stamps

Ink - Stampin' Up!, Papertrey Ink

Embossing Folder - Cuttlebug

Ribbon - Papertrey Ink

Button - Papertrey Ink

Scrapper's Floss - Karen Foster

Mother's Day Mini Album

I made my second mini album as a gift for Valerie for Mother's Day. I think I am now hooked on mini albums! I made one for my mom also (will upload that one soon) and am having such a blast making them. Most of the supplies for this album were from the Ambrosia collection from Basic Grey. It's an older collection, but is still available at Two Peas. The album is a blackboard album from Cosmo Cricket that I won in a blog candy giveaway on Jennifer McGuire's blog. All photos are edited using Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0.

Supplies
Patterned Paper, Sticker Border, Button - Basic Grey
Alphabet Stickers - American Crafts
Cardstock - Stampin' Up!
Scrapper's Floss - Karen Foster
Key - K&Co.
Fibers - Unknown
Supplies
Patterned Paper, Button - Basic Grey
Cardstock, Ink - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Unity
Flower - Kaiser Crafts
Supplies
Patterned Paper, Stickers, Buttons - Basic Grey
Stamp - Stampin' Up!
Ink - Papertrey Ink.
Ribbon - Bo Bunny
Supplies
Patterned Paper, Stickers, Button - Basic Grey
Cardstock, Ink - Stampin' Up!
Stamp - Unity
Flower - Kaiser Crafts
Epoxy Stick - Cloud 9
Scrapper's Floss - Karen Foster
Supplies
Patterned Paper, Sticker Border - Basic Grey
Cardstock, Ink - Stampin' Up!
Stamp - Fancy Pants Designs. Stampin' Up! (Sentiment)
Gemstones - Mark Richards
Butterfly Punch - Martha Stewart
Patterned Paper, Stickers - Basic Grey
Cardstock, Stamp, Embossing Powder - Stampin' Up!
Chipboard Frame - Maya Road
Black Paint - Claudine Hellmuth

Patterned Paper, Sticker, Button - Basic Grey
Cardstock, Ink, Eyelet, Ribbon - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Unity, Fancy Pants Designs
Epoxy Sticker - Cloud 9
Tag - Paper Reflections
Gelpen - Uniball Signo

Supplies
Patterned Paper, Stickers, Button - Basic Grey

Stamp - Hero Arts

Cardstock, Ink - Stampin' Up!

Flower - Kaiser Crafts

Scrapper's Floss - Karen Foster

Supplies

Patterned Paper, Sticker Border, Stickers, Button - Basic Grey

Stamp - Unity

Cardstock, Ink - Stampin' Up!

Supplies

Patterned Paper, Stickers, Letter Stickers - Basic Grey

Cardstock - Stampin' Up!

Large Scalloped Die - Sizzix

Gemstones - Mark Richards

Supplies - Patterned Paper, Stickers - Basic Grey

Cardstock - Stampin' Up!

Epoxy Sticker - Cloud 9

Supplies

Patterned Paper, Journaling Block, Buttons - Basic Grey

Flowers - Kaiser Crafts

Black Pen - Zig

Jen's Sketch Challenge 05-01-10

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I've been so silent lately. I've been spending lots of time papercrafting and less time blogging. I know I am very far behind (as usual) so I'm not even going to attempt to get caught up, but I do intend to resume posting again.

For this post, I am sharing a card that I made for Jen's Sketch Challenge last Saturday. I also made the card to coordinate with a mini album that I made for my step mom for Mother's Day. She's actually on a plane on her way here right now, so I know she won't see this post before the "big" day!

I'll share the card first, then I'll share the mini album in the next post.

Enjoy! And, go and give Jen some love on her blog. She provides the most wonderful sketches and I just love playing along with everyone!

Supplies

Patterned Paper - Basic Grey, Ambrosia Collection

Stamps - Unity, Stampin' Up!

Ink - Stampin' Up!

Fibers - Creative Imaginations (Trim), Karen Foster (Scrapper's Floss)

Flower - Kaiser Craft

Button - Basic Grey

Sticker - Basic Grey

Jen's Sketch Challenge 03-20-10

As usual, I'm a little late on Jen's sketch challenges. We just finished The Thorn (www.thethorn.net) and will have a lot more free time. Free time means doing laundry before midnight, cooking dinner for my family, and creating, yea!!!!

I will upload photos and provide some details from The Thorn. It was an amazing experience!

Anyway, here's my take on the sketch. I made a card for Jay's birthday from Kendall. I wanted to do a masculine card (which is never easy for me) and had some fun using stamps I'd never inked before. I love going through my existing stash to find stamps to use. Don't get me wrong, I love getting new supplies, but I think I tend to be even more creative when I go through "old" supplies and either re-use them, or use them for the first time. This is especially true with stamp sets. I'll buy a set because I love one or two stamps in it and the others don't get any love. I often think about hosting a challenge on this blog (and include some blog candy) where everyone takes a pledge to not buy any new supplies for a set period of time and only use what you have. It would be fun to see what we can all come up with out of our existing stashes.....sounds intriguing.

Anyway, enjoy!

Supplies

Cardstock - SU!, Bazzil Basics

Patterned Paper - Unknown (purchased at Costco over a year ago)

Stamps - Unity (Large frame), American Crafts (Small frame, sentiment)

Ink - SU!
Ribbon - Basic Grey

Clip - Ranger

And They're Off!

After 3 long years, Kendall finally got her braces off on Wednesday. I think she was most excited about eating popcorn again and being able to floss and brush her teeth without metal obstacles.

We are so proud of the way she has handled this long process. She has made sacrafices and complained very little. She's handled the responsibility well (very few extra trips to the orthodontist due to wires breaking) and has been extremely patient.

Yesterday she had her first bowl of popcorn in 3 years and I know she is looking forward to having movie popcorn (her favorite again.) She's chewing gum and blowing bubbles and as you can see in the photo below, smiling naturally with her beautiful glow again.

Congratulations Kendall, you have a gorgeous smile!

You're So Thoughtful

My wonderful boss gave all of the ladies in the office a gift certificate for spa treatment. I am extremely excited to go and get my facial on Wednesday night!

It's not only his generosity that makes my boss so great - it's his character, integrity, gift of leadership, and vision. I am so blessed to work for someone so wonderful.

I made this simple card to give to he and his wife as a thank you for all that they do for their employees. They don't have to - they give because they want to and that makes it all the more meaningful.

Supplies

Patterned Paper - Making Memories, Unknown

Cardstock - Stampin' Up!

Stamps - Unity (Background Stamp, Bird on Limb), Hero Arts (Sentiment)

Ink - Stampin' Up!

Ribbon - Basic Grey

Button - Unknown

Scrapper's Floss

Jen's Sketch Challenge 03-13-10

After taking last week off (although I still might do a card and play catch-up), I sat down this afternoon to make a project for Jen's fabulous sketch challenge.

All of her challenges are worth doing. She is incredibly creative, and so generous to post a challenge every Saturday! I haven't had much time lately to sit down and create because our schedules have been so hectic, but I was happy to sit down this afternoon for a while and pop in a chick flick and make a couple of cards. There is something so therapeutic about working with paper and being creative.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Supplies

Patterned Paper - Papertrey Ink

Cardstock - Papertrey Ink, Stampin' Up!

Ink - Papertrey Ink, Stampin' Up!

Embossing Powder - Stampendous

Stamps - Verve Stamps (Circle Frame), Unity (Flower), Hero Arts (Sentiment, Dragonfly)

Uniball Signo Gelpen