Sunday, April 29, 2012

IMG_5786-1
It's Sunday....time for another Christmas Card Challenge!
This week, it's all about punches!
I kept my card pretty simple with the image from Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps (Christmas Tree Ruby). The punch is from Martha Stewart.
Please visit the CCC blog for more details and inspiration! Remember that it's nearing May...time flies by so get your Holiday cards in order! :)
Have a gorgeous day!

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Steampunk Precious.

IMG_4941-1
Good Saturday morning, everyone!
I'm hoping that my dear bloggy friend, Sheena, has received this birthday card already. If not, sorry to ruin the surprise, my friend!
I know that Sheena likes Steampunk, and so I used my Tiddly Inks image of Precious. Now, I am totally enamored by Steampunk -- if you don't know what that is, go to Wikipedia. I first heard / saw about it when Tori Spelling planned a Steampunk wedding. It was really very cool!
I used Deconstructed Sketch 45. It was a pretty old sketch, but I'm so glad it's still open today! :)
And lastly, I am sorry this post is so short. With this new blogger format, I'm having trouble uploading pics so I'm going to have to talk about the award I received another time. Boo!
Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Thank You Board

IMG_5127-1
Hello, folks!
Aaahhhh, I'm back from vacay! Do you sometimes feel that you need a vacation from a vacation? I'm kinda feeling that at this moment. Not that I'm complaining about it...just making an observation.
I'll be sharing some pics soon. The fam and I decided to go to Disneyland last minute! It was a lot of fun! :) What a great way to celebrate my birthday!
And now, I'm back to blogland, ready to share some projects with ya. Today, I'll be posting what I created for the upcoming Nurses' Week (first week of May). This year, it was my responsibility to create a Thank You Board. The staff is encouraged to write thank you notes to fellow nurses to show support, boost morale, and create a positive environment right in time for National Nurses' Week.
IMG_5128-1
I, fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it ;)), had enough TGF stamps to stamp an image for each staff member. I based it on their hair, personality, or likes. It's all done in good fun, but I am hoping no one gets offended or even jealous. I checked with my assistant manager just to make sure and she gave it a go. I mean, how could you not like these lovely/handsome characters? I just love them!
I'm also entering this for the challenge at Farm Fresh Friday's No Coloring. It would've taken me FOREVER if I had colored each one, so I just stamped with black Memento Ink, and used some 'vintage' Basic Grey papers.
Here's a look with the title board. Forgot to take a pic of the little post-its I cut out...maybe I'll take a pic of the completed product once it's hung at work.
IMG_5129-1
Hugs,

Sunday, April 22, 2012

CCC 21

IMG_5098

Happy Sunday!

For this week at Christmas Card Challenge, the goal is make a card with two stamps, three design papers, a ribbon, and some buttons.

The stamp is from Some Odd Girls' Deer Mae with Pressies. The sentiment stamp is from TGF's Xmas Sweeties. The design papers are all from Crate Paper. The ribbon, button, and sequin are from my stash.

Remember that you have till Saturday night to play along! Just visit the CCC blog for more details!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Birthdays, schmerdays.

I have a birthday coming up.



source


At first, I didn't want to post how old I'd be turning. 35. I certainly don't feel old but saying the age or even writing it makes me cringe. I guess I'm not considered that young anymore. I wanted to write something witty here about turning 35. Even come up with pictures, or even a card! I did find lots of posts even though I don't think of it as a major milestone like turning 30 or 40.

Loved Alice's post about knowing herself and feeling that the best years are yet to come.

Matt had a great post on turning 35 in a social media-crazed world.

Christ Hardwick, a comedian, states "Thirty-five is the age where you have to check a whole different box on surveys." I felt the same way! I'm now under the age bracket 35-50! Aaaack!

Anyway, I know of the lists of "30 things to do before I turn 31." I never started one of those last year but thought I'd write up all the things I did in the last year. But who am I kidding, I got up to # 15, he he! Maybe I'll do one for next year. In the meantime, here are 35 of my favorites. I do like making lists! :)




1. Haagan daas salted caramel truffle ice cream.
2. Frilly headpieces.
3. Chevron designs.
4. The color orange. And pink. And green. And purple. And teal.
5. LV cross body purses.
6. My Vitamix blender.
7. Hello Kitty.
8. Hula/ Tahitian.
9. My cheekbones.
10. Themed parties.
11. Canon cameras and lenses.
12. Max Studio.
13. Draw Something.
14. Catshy crafts felt flowers.
15. iPhone.
16. Reality shows and musical shows.
17. The sound of my kids' laughter.
18. Traveling.
19. Trying out a new restaurant.
20. Going to the movies.
21. Jason Mraz.
22. Disney.
23. Hawaii.
24. My mom's cooking.
25. My tot's words and funny sentences.
26. My baby's gummy smile.
27. A-days.
28. Sansrival cake.
29. My hubby's cleanliness.
30. Stamps and scrapbooking.
31. Petunia picklebottom.
32. Photo apps - especially instagram.
33. Bikram.
34. Feminine tops.
35. Long eye-lashes.


Anyway, this old fart gotta go out and celebrate. I'd love to see if you and I had a few things in common!

Here's to turning the big 3-5!




Love,

Thursday, April 19, 2012

CR + GM



To my Babe,

It's been four years since we got married. Time just flew by and I still get tears of joy when I think about that day. Marriage hasn't always been easy -- we bickered often, especially after having kids. I think that's pretty normal for new parents, and making up is always fun :). You are my best friend, my soul mate, my lover, my shoulder, and my backbone. You are a wonderful hubby and an amazing father. I love you very much. And thank you for making me laugh daily. And doing the dishes. And the laundry. :)



(Ha ha! Didn't mean to make you all jealous with those last details, LOL!).

Here's a card I made for my DH. It features our vows on the sentiment (at least the first part).

IMG_5109

The main image is from PWCO, which is now closed :(. Used lots of American Crafts -- brads, DPs, and washi tape! Sorry, not quite sure what brand the quote stamp is from.

IMG_5110

Have a wonderful day!

Monday, April 16, 2012

National Secretary's Day

Hi everyone!

Did you all know that April 25th is National Secretary's Day?

I used to be the chair of a recognition/ retention committee at work, so it was my job to know about all the holidays. :). It sure was a fun and terrific time!

Thought I'd post early to let y'all know. Make sure you tell that special receptionist 'thank you!'

I'm trying something different and editing my pics through Picasa so pardon me if the pics are a tad small.



Our medical secretary is Heaven sent! ;) Wryn - Close to my Heart was the perfect stamp for her!



My fave part of the card are the sewn-in sequins!

Hope you all have a wonderful day! Oh, and I've got an announcement...

There's a Design Team Call for Christmas Card Challenges. Click on my link for more details! I'm telling you, it's the best way to get those Holiday cards finished!

TTYL!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

CCC # 20.

What's up, peeps?!

Happy Sunday!

And happy Christmas Card Challenge Day (at least for me!)!

Join me and the rest of the DT this week as we make our Holiday cards with....



Wanted to do something different so I opted for a "lollipop" pattern inside the snowflakes! I used Oliver from TGF's OA Fuzzy Wuzzy.

IMG_5093

Remember that the only rule is to create a new Holiday or Winter card! For more info, please visit the CCC blog. Happy crafting!

Hugs!

Friday, April 13, 2012

Mini-Albums with my Fave Scrapbookers!

IMG_5077

Hi everyone!

As promised, here are the rest of the pics of the mini albums taught by Kelly Purkey and Amy Tan's workshop. If you want to see the rest and more of the class, please head on over to the post before this one.

I didn't have time to edit the rest of the pics so pardon the darkness and size of them. As you can see from the first one, I still don't have the watermark thing figured out in FlickR's new Aviary editing tool. I swear I didn't mean to brand that pic with an obnoxious-sized mark of my name right in the center.

Amy's is above and we used her new line from American Crafts, Sketchbook with some cool water colors. Kelly's below is done with lots of misting and masking and we used Studio Calico. LOVE both!







It was really nice how they signed my albums :). I would totally recommend taking classes from them!




Love,

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Scrapping with my Favorite Celebrities!

The other day, I had the privilege of taking classes from these two:

IMG_4972

I know, right??

You must be like, "SHUT UP!" or "No Way!"

But it is true!

My Local Scrapbook Store (LSS) Our Paper Place hosted a workshop led by the wonderful Kelly Purkey and Amy Tangerine.

They just happen to be my most favorite scrappers!!! I stalk, errr, read their blogs all the time! Love KP's graphic style and honesty. I am inspired by Amy's free/ easy-going art and openness!

IMG_4969

When we were introducing ourselves to the class, I said that when I first started in the craft, I had wished there were more of these two lovelies out there. I was young, single, had lots of friends and went on lots of outings. But I always longed to find connection with the famous scrapbookers. They were Caucasian and always scrapped about families and kids. Don't get me wrong, there's totally nothing wrong with that and I could still relate. But when you're in your teens/ early twenties and you're trying to find yourself, well... let's just say something was missing for me when I looked at magazines or blogs. For a long time, I had scrapped about my friends, my dreams, even about clothes! :)

So, along came these two young Asian women and I am really digging their work! Of course, now I'm no longer in my twenties and am married with two kids. But I still love to scrap about my BFFs, my designer purses, and food at restaurants (LOL!). And that's what I love about this hobby! There's such a wide range of products and styles and celebrities!

Anyway, enough yapping....

IMG_5089

IMG_5088
IMG_5091

The first and third lay-outs were taught by Amy. The second one was from Kelly. Pardon the watermarks -- I'm not quite used to FlickR's Aviary (bye bye Picnik, I'm so sad!). I thought I put them at the bottom. And the third one doesn't have pics on it yet. Do you spy the TGF stamp I used? :)

I'll be blogging about the mini-albums we did tomorrow!

Cheers!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

CCC # 19

First of all, Happy Easter everyone! We have church, Easter eggs, and lots of food and family fun on the agenda!

Second, it's Sunday so that means another Christmas Card Challenge! For Week 19, the (optional) challenge is:



For some reason, I only saw 'flower' and not 'flower soft' or 'flocking.' Here's what I came up with :).


IMG_4952

Used the oh-so-cute Fuzzy Wuzzy Amelia from TGF. Hope you visit the CCC blog for more information and inspiration. Challenges end the following Saturday at 10:45 CST.

Toot-a-loo!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Seeing Green, Yellow, and STARS!

Blogger is a bit crazy tonight...

I think it knows I'm trying to blog in less than 10 minutes (I'm a slow blogger), and it purposely did not upload my pics all at once! Hee hee!

Thought I'd do a non-crafty post today and just talk about the latest happs.




Haven't been doing well with my One Little Word (as discussed in this post here). But I thought juicing was a start! And you know, I am quite loving the mixture of kale/ spinach/ bananas/ and whatever fruit we have in the fridge. Add a can of coconut juice (only 80 cals/ 20 gms carbs) to offset the bitterness, and it really is yummy! And I feel so refreshed, more energetic, and healthier! Found these mason jars at Target...they are adorable! I even want to put scrapbooking supplies in them!



Here's my tater tot sporting one of his Spring-time jackets :). We've had a lot of visitors on our neck of the woods, and he's been enjoying lots of play time with cousins and second cousins! We're hosting an Easter egg-hunting fam-bam thing on Sunday, and I'm so excited that he gets to do this for the first time!



Staring contest with my little chunky monkey! He's learning to pull himself up so this Mommy's a bit nervous. He's also making crawling motions. Awww, they grow up so fast! But at the same time, I'm revelling in each milestone moment! Can't believe he's already 9 months! Three months more and he'll no longer be a baby! Still no teeth but I totally adore that wide, gummy smile of his!



Lastly, I am thoroughly enjoying Draw Something on my iPhone. Google Reader's got some competition with my time. But it really is so much fun! I'm even thinking of getting a stylus so my drawings get better. I know, total NERD, right? :)

Happy Easter weekend! I'm so excited to be STAR STRUCK later today!!! But that's a-whole-nother story! teehee! (such a tease!)

Monday, April 2, 2012

Sometimes, all a girl needs to do is strut her stuff!

IMG_4944

Hi everyone,

It's my first time playing with the adorable Milk Coffee stamps, and I wanted to join in on the fun with their challenge blog as well! I colored up Michelle Takes a Walk with my Copics -- isn't she the sweetest?

The challenge is to Throw On Those Flowers. I used some old KI Memories flowers (from 5 years ago!), and a floral design paper from American Craft's Backyard Buzz. All the fun embellies and ribbons were given to me by Peggy. (Thank you, P!)

IMG_4947

Doesn't this card just instantly lift up your mood? It did mine when I was coloring Michelle and putting it together! :)

Kisses!