Peak-A-Boo Pocket Cumpleanos Card

Do you have a teenage son? If you do or ever have, you may know how complicated life with one can be. My 15 yr old son was invited to a birthday party awhile back and I was excited to hear that the boy who invited him was in his Spanish class. Why, you might ask? Well, I have this Spanish stamp set called Flores Ilamativas (Spanish version of Wow Flowers) that I have been dieing to use! When I mentioned this to my son, he rolled his eyes and said "You don't have to do that!" (meaning, DON'T... YOU'RE GOING TO EMBARRASS ME!) I kept pushing, as most teenage boys' moms do... and said, "No, really, I'd like to!" He said, "Why do you HAVE to use a Spanish stamp?!?!?!?!?!!!!!????!! He's not Spanish!" See, it's not that he didn't want me to make a card for his friend, he just didn't want it to be... different. Well, I was determined to use the Spanish stamp set... so I said I'd make a card and he could either use it or not... I DIDN'T CARE! (yes, I used that attitude... and YES, I REALLY DID CARE) Well, here it is (sorry for the blurry pictures):

I tried to make it as simple and non... different as I could. But I couldn't help but do a little peak-a-boo window with the circle stamp. And, since he would be giving the boy cash, I figured a little pocket out of the Scallop Envelope Die would be perfect! I cut away the scalloped flap, of course... that would have been too girly.

Here's a close up view:

When I proudly presented the card to my son, he exclaimed "Why did you HAVE to make it with a Spanish stamp??!!?!?!?!?!!!" Other words were exchanged and I stormed off WITH my card! Well, right before we were to leave for the party, my son came to me and asked where the card was and said that he could probably use it. I told him where he could find it (no, not there) and off we went to the party. Of course, I couldn't make eye contact with him as he walked up to the house or get out of the car to meet the kid's parents or anything... but he used MY CARD!!! :)

After the party, I did ask him what the kid (and his parents) thought of the card and I got the "I dunno." sigh...

Hope you're happy stampin!

National Scrapbook Month: Layouts #2 & #3

I will admit that I am a chronological scrapbooker by nature. I like things in order. However, with being so far behind on my scrapbooks, it's hard to get excited about what happened several years ago. To help me get over this hump, I've decided to jump outside of my "comfort zone" and... gasp! Scrapbook out of order! Another thing that has caused a road block with my scrapbooking is the fact that I have what seems like a thousand pictures from our summer 2006 trip. I think I've already completed 8 or 10 pages and I'm guessing I have at least that many (if not more) left to do.

The pages I'm going to share with you today are still from a year or so ago... but there were just enough pictures of each occasion to complete one page layouts.

I have to say that it was sort of liberating! If you have found yourself at a road block with your scrapbooks, consider stepping outside your box to find motivation and inspiration to get your scrappin' groove back.

Happy Scrappin & Stampin!

Leftover Scraps = Paper Weaving

With all I had going on last week, I waited until the night before my hubby's birthday to make his card. My craft desk was overflowing with scraps from various projects I've done over the last few days... well, maybe more like months. It's called creative chaos! Among the layers of scraps, I found some leftover strips from a pack of Walk in the Park designer paper. On one side they were floral and sort of girly, but flipping them over I found funky designs that would be perfect for a guy's card. I also found some strips of Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze card stock... so the weaving began!

You may wonder what a fru-fru umbrella drink has to do with my hubby. Well, this was the closest thing I had to a margarita stamp. You see, it's been a year long quest of his to make the perfect margarita. Coincidence or not, this quest started soon after our move to Texas. Yes, Tex-Mex and Margaritas go hand in hand. If you need a little proof, here's a picture my hubby "secretly" took yesterday (with MY new camera, I might add) of all the ingredients he has so carefully gathered:

I have to admit, of all the margaritas I've sampled over the last year, the one he made yesterday has to be the best so far!

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MAY SPECIAL

Don't forget about the Buy 3, Get 1 FREE special on Designer Series Paper and Textured Card Stock--feel free to mix and match! Shop online or give me a call... but don't wait, this sale ends on May 31.

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Happy Stampin!

Mission "Emboss"ible Projects

Here are a couple of projects we made at the Mission "Emboss"ible classes I held last week.

The chipboard heart was embossed several times. First it was inked with Rose Red craft ink, sprinkled with Iridescent Ice embossing powder and heat set. Then Versamark Ink was applied and it was embossed with clear embossing powder (at least twice), to create a smooth look. A tip for heat embossing small items, attach it temporarily to a scrap piece of cardboard to use as a handle to keep your hands at a safe distance from the heat tool.

Here's a closer look:

The rose from the Fifth Avenue Floral set was stamped onto Shimmery White card stock using Basic Black craft ink and embossed with clear powder. The technique for adding the color is called Reinker Spread and was demoed at a Stampin' Up! regional seminar by Connie Ingram. It involves 3 colors of reinkers, an aqua painter, and spray bottle of water. You really need to see this one in person to appreciate how shimmery and gorgeous the colors are!

You may have also noticed that I used the Manhattan Flower Textured Impressions Die on the Kiwi Kiss background.

MY SCRAPBOOKING GOAL UPDATE: I don't want to make excuses for not having a layout to share with you from this last week... but... things came up. My sweet hubby's birthday is today and I spent several days making him a hat (while he wasn't looking). After seeing this hat and recalling that we live in Texas, you may wonder "What the...?"

Well, he's been watching Out of the Wild: Alaska on The Discovery Channel and he was inspired! LOL! Actually, we are also going on a trip to Alaska this summer and he felt he just HAD to have a flap hat! So I dug through my yarn stash and knit him one! I certainly hope the temps aren't cold enough for him to really need it while we're there. Although, I think it brings out the blue in his eyes. Love ya, Hon! :)

Back to my excuses... err, I mean non-excuses for not having a layout to share with you... I was also busy making 4 dry erase message boards for my son's Sunday School teachers:

AND, my calendar was also full of social events, a vet appointment and classes. I did "scrapbook" in the technical sense of the word when I prepped for a class that I have coming up on Monday--making a paper sack mini album. Unfortunately, I can't share a picture of that project since it will be a gift (in the near future) for a special someone who reads my blog. :)

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I promise, I will be Happy Scrappin' in the coming week... I hope you will be too!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope you're having a wonderful Mother's Day! I couldn't wait to share my Mother's Day gift with y'all! My family gave me a NEW CAMERA!!!!! If you care for the specifics, it's a Sony Cybershot DSC-H20. It replaces the camera I've been using that was a manufacturer's replacement to a camera that broke... which in turn has started the slow decline in workability (yes, it's breaking too). Who wants a camera that gets stuck in video mode when you mostly take still photos? Anyway... I LOVE MY NEW CAMERA! I haven't taken any pictures of craft projects--yet--so I thought I'd share some of my favorite pictures that I've taken so far:

Punkin: Oh, he looks so sweet now, but that's because he's wore out from meowing at all hours of the night/early morning... at least this morning, he was doing it outside and not right outside our bedroom door. :)


Lily... a good dog!


A flower growing in my back yard. The hummingbirds love these flowers! Don't ask me what they're called... all I know is that they are pretty! We live in military housing and the one thing I love about our house is that it came with gorgeous flowering plants/bushes growing in the back yard. They appear to be very hearty plants, considering we've lived here for about a year now and they are still alive. :)

I did take pictures of my family, but some of them would rather I didn't post them for all to see. So, I will work on scrapbooking them and will share the completed pages with you... eventually.

Happy Stampin!

National Scrapbook Month: Layout #1

We're coming to end of the first week of May and I bet you were wondering if I've finished my first scrapbook layout... well, I HAVE!!!!! Take a look:

These are my sister, Keely's kids... yes, ALL 7 OF THEM! Aren't they adorable?! I'm so behind with my albums that the baby (who was 3 months old in the picture) is now 3 YEARS OLD!

The scrappin' kit I used is called Crew Kids-Boy (retired)... which is ironic, considering that there's only one boy out of the whole bunch... yes, Sam is a lucky guy to have 6 sisters, don't you think? :)

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Here's a close-up of the title...

Do you recognize the alphabet set I used? It's a sneak peek from the not-yet-released 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog called Jumble Alphabet. Check out the flyer to see all of the 52 letters (2 of each). It's available only during May for you to order (115199/$35.16) at 20% off! After that, you'll have to wait until the new catalog is released on July 1 and pay full price. In case you were wondering, I used a couple other alphabet sets on this layout: Calendar Alphabet & Short Order Numbers.

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I sort of got lucky with the wave along both pages. I started off with two pieces of 12x12 Wild Wasabi (retired) card stock and positioned the pictures how I thought they looked best on the pages. Then I took the lined paper and thought "Hey, wouldn't it be nice if I could use this one piece on both pages?" The way the pictures were, it didn't take much for that to work. I drew a light pencil line and cut it out. Then the fun began! I punched circles and "randomly" placed them so that no 2 touching were the same... size/color/etc. After I was happy with the "random" look, I used Tombo Mono Multi adhesive to adhered them to just the lined paper. The pictures are tucked behind the wave, so I attached those in place before the I glued down the wavy layer.

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Hope this inspires you to get working on your albums... it is National Scrapbook Month, afterall!

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Happy Stampin & Scrappin! :)

Embossed Vellum: Manhattan Flower Card

Here's another reason the Big Shot is a GOOD THING!

This is the 3rd card we made at the Just Cards Class I held a couple weeks ago. Believe it or not, it was the easiest of all the cards. The Manhattan Flower Textured Impressions Die made the gorgeous embossed roses on the card stock vellum, which was then simply attached to the Elegant Eggplant colored card stock base using a couple glue dots. The textured impressions die is designed so that you can also insert the base of a standard sized (4-1/4 x 5-1/2) vertical card, run it through the Big Shot and viola! you have an embossed card!

I am expecting "Mr. Brown" (the UPS guy, who's name is really Carlos) to deliver the coordinating Manhattan Flower stamp set this afternoon... along with some other fun stampin' goodies. So be on the lookout for more samples to come soon!

MY PERSONAL GOAL & MAY CHALLENGE
If you didn't receive my stampin' newsletter and already hear, I want to share my personal goal for the month of May--which happens to be National Scrapbook Month! It has been awhile since I have done any scrapbooking and I am getting WAY BEHIND on my family albums. So my goal is to complete at least one scrapbook layout each week. In turn, I will also be posting some of these pages here on my blog. I'm hoping the fact that I have said this goal "out loud" and have promised y'all I'd share them with you, that it will motivate me to follow through and get scrappin'! If you'd like to join me with my scrappin' goal... or some other goal that you've set for yourself this month, feel free to share! I'd love to know that I'm not alone. :)

Happy Stampin' & Scrappin'!