Miraclulous Friday!

Hello Hello! Thank you all for coming to my blog. Have you seen how many comments I've gotten on my blog candy? WOW!!! Each and every comment brings a smile to my face so I thank YOU for stopping by and saying Hi! Today I have a little something different to show you. It's a card without a TGF image on it! *gasp* I know! lol! I was sent a little thank you from Tuesday Morning Sketches for advertising about their new blog a while back and I finally made use of the goodies. Melissa sent me a great piece of DP, ribbons, buttons, a wonderful stamped sentiment, and the cutest little Pixie image! This is a Swiss Pixie named Gretel from CC Designs: I have seen this stamp on All That Scraps and I want it! But I'm on a spending fast when it comes to my stamping hobby; at least until I use more of my new goodies, sell off some of my old stuff, and pay off a credit card. Anyway, I loved coloring her with my copics and I don't know what ink or paper she was stamped with/on, but it was WONDERFUL with my copics. I wish I knew what it was so I could get myself some! What do you think of the card? I came up with the sketch myself because I wanted Gretel to be lounging on the sentiment block. Here is a picture of the card from an angle so you can see the dimension:

I just realized that I forgot to draw a shadow underneath Gretel. I'll have to do that! I hope you all liked my post for today and that I'll hear from you again soon! I'll be back on Sunday with a couple pics. And just to keep you in the loop: The Greeting Farm is having a Farm Fresh Friday challenge and Club Anya is having a "I wanna be just like..." challenge. Go check them out! I've already finished my submissions and you'll see them next week! OH, and both TGF and CA are having DT calls... yup, I applied! heehee!

Thanks for stopping by and Be Blessed.

SOA ROCKS!

Hey there Friends! Do you see how close we are to reaching our SECOND goal for Stamp Out Alzheimer's??? Less than $500 away! Amazing! I am so happy that so many people have participated in this event. And to think it went from a handful of stampers last year, to a whole community of stampers this year is Great! I haven't heard from any of you as to whether or not you have been participating. If you've joined the SOA site, have you done any of the challenges to win any of the prizes? There are SO many prizes to be had, both from the challenges and the daily giveaways! And there is free stuff too! I plan on using one of the freebie templates today to make a cupcake box. Hopefully I will find the time.
On a different subject, I have two cards to show you that I made for some challenges with TGF stamps. First up is the card I made for the Case of the Curious Card Challenge on Splendid Stamping with the Greeting Farm blog: This card came together quickly, once I got the image colored. I wanted the colors to be a little "off" and not to realistic (for me anyway). And the embellishments were fun to make. I colored a SU! crocheted flower to make it greyer and sewed a little button in the center. Then I threaded some little Prima flowers with (uh, what's that stuff called?) knitting floss or something? Anyways, after those, I punched out a heart for above the crochet flower. Also,I cut a design out of patterened paper for the scalloped edge behind the image. Here is a totally different style of card for another TGF challenge:

This summery mermaid card was for the "I wanna be like..." Ohio Mary challenge on the Club Anya Blog. Ohio Mary's card was bright and summery so I used those colors as well. Mermaid Anya has been stamped and waiting for a card, so I finally colored her in an "orangey" color palette for this card. I didn't win either of the challenges, but that doesn't bother me much since I love participating in TGF events! Speaking of which, Marie is having anothe design team call right now for The Greeting Farm. This time around she threw in a twist to use Orange or Yellow on the cards! I am definitely going to be trying out the for team. One of these days I WILL make a DT, hopefully Marie's!

Until next post, be blessed.

A couple pics and a trip to the ER

Hello again! I've got quite the chatter bug lately with all these posts, don't I? Some of you know that I applied to be on the design team for The Greeting Farm. I didn't make it, this time, but I'm going to try again in a couple months. I love that company and their images, and I have so much fun using their products. You may have already seen some of these, but here are the projects I submitted in my application for the Design Team.
Heaven Sent Unicorn frame: Birthday Wishes Dorothy Anya:

For You Anya and Ian:

Brotherly Love:

Note: the rest of this post is not stamping related, so if you don't want to read it, just skip down and leave me a comment, k? ;)

Well, living in a different country has its ups and downs. I love experiencing the different culture and seeing all the historical aspects to the country, but there are some things about living here that I just wish were more "American". Sunday night, the whole family decided we needed to go shopping on base at the Base Exchange. Our shopping trip was cut short because we had to take our Angel baby to the ER. While we were shopping at the BX, Angel was standing in the basket of the cart and flipped right out of it! She reached for something on a shelf, and did a complete flip out of the cart, onto the floor, and landed flat on her back. (let me get sidetracked here and say that I was RIGHT there. I was standing with my hands on the cart handle and Angel is just barely tall enough to have the top of her belly touch the top of the cart basket. Needless to say, she will never stand in the cart again. OK, back to the story.) She didn't land on her head, but her head did bump a little when she landed. Because the fall was more than Angel's height, the nurse advice line advised us to take her to the ER for a checkup just in case. She acted a little out of it for about 10 minutes, but she was crying and in shock. Then, 15 minutes afterward, she was fine, playing and laughing with the boys. She didn't pass out, or throw up, or get dizzy or have problems focusing her eyes, so I knew she didn't have a concussion. But we took her anyway. It was a scary place! The hospital in Pordenone that we use for emergencies and anything our base clinic can not do is so freaking old! I went into the ER area (straight out of a horror movie! There were disoriented people milling about, burnt out light bulbs, tons of people in huge wheelchairs just sitting around, and no one spoke English!) and they sent me to the pediatrics floor because that is where they see kids for emergencies (unless the kid is bleeding to death or has a gash across their face or has a limb hanging off, then they see them right away at the ER). So, I found my way to the correct building (after almost walking into an Intensive Care Unit-oops!), went in, took a tiny, rickety, old elevator to the 5th floor (the floor shook indepentantly from the walls, I was afraid we weren't going to make it all the way up!), and found the Pediatric area. There was no sign in desk, so I wandered up and down the hall about three times trying to figure out where to check in. I finally had to snag a nurse running through the hall and tell her what happened. She didn't speak very good English and told me to wait right where I was. She said "Wait." I said in the waiting room? She said "QUA!" as she pointed to the spot on the floor where I was standing. I figured that meant to wait right where I was. So, I waited in the middle of the dimly lit, old, funky colored hallway until they led me into a room to fill out paperwork. I did that, they tried to put it into the computer (about SIX times) then gave up and wrote out a manual admittance paper. During that time an interpretor was sent to help me out. That was a bit of a relief, but she was in a bit of a "mood" and really just stood around the whole time. THEN, we finally went into a exam room (pepto pink painted walls, with chipping chunks of paint). Of course, then it was time for a shift change for the ONE doctor that was working there. Well I finally saw a doctor (who happened to be fluent in English, even though they had sent me an interpretor to help out-figures) and after a quick 5 minute look-over, they told me Angel was fine (DUH!). Just told me to watch her for the next 24 hours to make sure she doesn't show any signs of a concussion. Well, that was quite the experience. At least we've been through it and know what to expect for next time because with my 3kids, I know there will be a next time.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog post for today. I hope to hear from you all, and any scary/wierd ER experiences you've all had.

Until next post, be blessed!

Bear with me

There are a lot of photos in this post! First off, I have to ask all my faithful blog readers to forgive me for the lack of posts this weekend. It's been a whirl-wind weekend here! Saturday was Ashton's 5th birthday party, and today is Ashton's and my Abuelita's actual birthday (and my brother in law, James' birthday too!). A quick update for any readers who don't know; my three kiddos and I live here in Hawaii with my Mom (Nana) and Stepdad (GrandpaBob). My Mom's Mom (Abuelita) also lives with us. So, all together there are 7 people living in this house; Four Generations! It's pretty cool, but we are always busy! LOL! Since we had a such a busy weekend, I didnt get a chance until now to post.
Well, here is a project that I made a little while ago for one of my very best friends who recently had her fourth beautiful red-headed baby boy.It's a flip album. I got the directions from Jessica Fick. You can check out her blog HERE. If you email her she can email you the directions for making this album. The cover has some stamps from All Night Media that just worked perfect. Now, these pictures are probably a bit confusing, but they are in order if you were to open the book page by page. I kept it pretty simple without much embellishment because I didn't want to detract from the adorable pictures, or any of the journaling that my friend may add in the journaling blocks. I love the paper that I found at my LSS. It wasn't too "baby boyish" and it had some great blues in it. I used a couple of the adorable animal images from Melanie Muenchinger's stamp sets by paper piecing them into the book. (Have I mentioned how much I LOVE M.M.'s stamps? Check them out at Gina K. Designs. I would love to be Gina K. Designs guest designer one day!)They gave just enough embellishment on this section of the book without being overwhelming. Please ignow all the stuff in the background! It was hard to get a picture of the book open this far without having all the background stuff showing! See the 3 center panels? They each open up for another page.I only had a few pictures, so I didn't fill in all the photo mats. And isn't my friend adorable with her big baby belly? Her name is Melanie too, not to be confused with the stamp designer! LOL! And here are all her boys together! She is quite outnumbered in her house being the only female with 5 guys to take care of. And just so you don't need to ask, YES, they are all natural red-heads! LOL! I love you Mel and I'm glad you enjoyed the little gift. I can't wait to meet your little gift in November!
Thank you, dear blog readers, for stopping in once again to read my blabbering. And if you've actually read all the way to the end of this, THANK YOU AGAIN! lol! I hope you all have a very blessed week, and stop by again soon. I have a couple more projects to post including some "tee" cards and birthday cards for my big 5 year old (one made by Andrew!).
Until next post, be blessed.

There is no motivation.

Sorry folks. The motivation meter is dangerously low. I've got tons to do, but no motivation to do it. I have paid the bills, changed the diapers, gotten the kids up and out to school, but not much else is getting accomplished. I barely had the gumption to do this post. (I just wanted to use that word-gumption).So... here's a couple of cards I did back when the motivation was present. I was in a "Swap-less" Swap where we sent and received supplies and made something with them. These are the supplies I received from none-other than Joanne Basile herself! Joanne is somewhat of a celebrity in my book as she's known for her papercrafting artistry far and wide. The swap was actually hosted by Joanne! We had to use Gina K. stamps for our projects and these papers were perfectly bright and cheery to use Melanie Muenchinger's animal images with. I already had this frog colored and he fit perfectly with this paper. He's hopping and this paper has the "bouncy" looking design on it! And I think those flowers look kinda like waterlilies so it all coordinates (at least I think so). Also, for the froggy card and this next one, I used a sketch from Erika Martin for the July release party. My favorite part of this next card is the 3 red ribbons going across the bottom. I don't know why I like that, I just do. Probably because it was something different for me, and I thought it up all on my own... dunno. And then, I decided I needed to let the zebra do a little dancing on this yummy paper so I made this card. This one used a sketch for the July Release party too. This sketch was given by Julie Koerber. I loved all the rounded edges because it made the buttons work perfectly.

Well, the kids started school last week, and this week Ashton gets to go to full days since the "orientation" phase is over. But I'll post about that tomorrow. I really need to go make a bday card for my Grandpa! His birthday is Friday so the card needs to go postal today to get there before next week. It's gonna be late regardless, but you will get it Grandpa! Promise!

Until next post, be blessed and thanks so much for stopping by!

Miss you Super Star!

I always seem to make regular A2 sized cards, but every once in awhile I get an urge to make a different size. With the round card challenge the other day, that got me trying other sizes. Here are two square cards I've made. The first one uses a sketch that I submitted for a challenge on Jen's blog. She is a local girl who has a great blog and does the RAK groups that I'm in. This was for her first challenge. She currently has a second one going on but it ends today and I don't think I'll have time to get it completed. I love this image from Rupa Shevde's first stamp set that she designed for Gina K. Designs. It actually has another chair for the other side of the table but since I sent this to a coffee-loving friend of mine that I dearly miss, I left the other chair off. You can't tell but I outlines the image with a Sakura Glitter pen to give it shimmer. The DCWV pattern paper has glitter on it as well. The other DPs are from Daisy Bucket Designs. I love that they are reversible that way I know that they all coordinate! Next up is the other square card I made. This one was for a sketch challenge at the last Gina K. Designs release party. I used more designer paper that is two-sided for easy coordination, only this is from Stampin' Up! and it's called Summer Picnic. When I found out it was going to be retired, I had to get a pack to play with. I really love all the bright colors and the animals from Melanie Muenchinger's stamp sets all look so great with the bright colors! I kept it pretty simple with the layers and just added some self adhesive rhinestones for some sparkle.
Well, if you've gotten a little tired of all the Gina K. Designs stuff on my blog, I'm sorry... There's going to be more! GKD is having a design team call and I'm trying out for it! This time around we are to blog as if we are on the DT already. Normally, stamp companies will have you submit some of your best work to them and they will choose that way, but GKD is doing something different and I love it! You can read all the details HERE. I better get going now, only have an hour before we leave for church and I don't wanna be late! Happy Sunday everyone and have a VERY blessed day today!