Monster Attack!!

Happy Friday everyone!  Are you happy it’s the weekend?  I sure am and I cannot wait till Monday…why Monday…wellllll let me tell you.  We have central A/C in our house and its split into 2 units…one unit for bottom 2 floors and one for top floor.  Well my craft room is on 2nd floor next to Alexa’s bedroom (separated by a bathroom) and neither room is getting air…and its 100 degrees here in VA with 80% humidity…ACK!  We have fans running but its so stuffy and hot that sweat was dripping down my legs while I was working…disgusting and hard to work in…and oh-so-not purty.  Course the A/C man can’t come till Monday, but of course cuz’ I’m soooo sure there are a ton of other sweaty, not nice-hormonal women working in un-air conditioned rooms…NOT…so SHOOT ME…so me and Alexa have to suffer for the next few days.  But its only those 2 rooms, the other bedrooms and baths are cool and nice…very odd…and I’m sure this is gonna cost us mucho $$$$ KWIM..ugh!  So I will try to spend as much time NOT in my craft room this weekend and this is coming from someone that likes HOT weather..but the humidity and stuffiness is too much for me.  And I’m not at menopausal age yet…god help me when that happens huh? I mean you woulda thought I was quite hormonal today…bright red face, dripping sweat and YELLING at anyone or thing that got in my way LOL!  I was like a blown-up, sweaty version of Cruella DeVille I tell ya…not a pretty site I will assure you!  And where would my hubby be?  Yeah he’s in NC till tomorrow night…so he’s missed my yelling and cussing and sweating…I’m sure he’s chuckling to himself that he’s not here.  Yeah NO…cuz I spam texted him to let him know of my displeasure…just to mess with him and make him feel some pain too…yeah that’s how nasty I was today hahahaha.  I like to share BOTH my joy and my pain…and I DID!

Other quick newsie for you today---I’m the featured artist at the Scrapbook News & Review (SNR) magazine/site HERE!  I’m so honored to be featured and hope everyone likes the article and project pics I have sent in.  If you don’t know what the site/magazine is…go check it out..a huge community of crafters, resources and articles all on-line for everyone to enjoy, you can get a subscription HERE.

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Got Monsters & Goth Fun!!

SCACD Release

Today SCACD releases fun and fresh stamps from the Susana Loves Stamps Collections!!! We start off with the Oddly Sweet Curiosities Set which harbors the cutest little Curiosities with matching sentiments. These are Fab and definitely year around fun!!! The second Set are four wonderful little ladies that make up The Little Sassy Crew. Check 'em out- they are the gals that have a sweetness and attitude factor that are off the charts!!! We are also introducing a fun little set of Mixed Media houses called M’s Place that makes them a must have for those that love cute in their Mixed Media. Hope you HOP ALONG with us all today!

So today is the NEWEST SCACD RELEASE…some awesomely, fun-tastic and cute stamps coming out today.  I’ve used two today on this card…the monster stamps (and sentiments) are called the Oddly Sweet Curiosities Sets #1 & #2 and this one is called “Monster Chill” (from set #1).  I love these cute lil’ monsters…great for all ages and boys and girls.  I had to go with some fun, bright colors….this image/sentiment will surely bring a smile to the recipient.  In the background I also used some fun houses from the NEW set from Susana Loves Stamps “M’s Place”..cute & whimsical houses and landscapes that can be used for multiple occasion/projects.

Our International friends can get these at Quixotic Paperie!!

I'm entering this into the following challenges: 
365 Cards (sparkle & shine)
Charisma Cards (anything goes) 
Papercraft Star (embossing) 
Try It On Tuesday (anything goes)
 

I used some scrap papers from an older Basic Grey paper pad (love me that zebra print) and I embossed the green paper with a fun print.  That lil monster got colored with Copics (YG25,YG67,YG20,YG03 / RV10,RV14,RV17) and I feathered the colors together and also dotted it on to give some fun texture to the skin.  Then I added a very thick coat of Diamond Glaze for shine.  The sentiment comes with the stamp & then I added some fun button accents to finish it off.

For the next project I used the new collection called “Little Sassy Crew” and this cutie is “Little Stargazer”.  I had to give her some fun hot-pink hair…she’s sassy yes?  Instead of a card I made a fun lil’ note pad that could be given as a gift to someone special & sassy!  Again I used scrap papers and kept the colors bright and fun.  The notepads I buy from PTI and then just create simple cardstock covers that I then decorate.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Belli Challenges (anything but a card) 

Sarah Hurley Challenge (texture/layers) 

 

She got colored with Copics (same as above with the additions of B18,B21/E11,E00)  and then I added Diamond Glaze to her boots and eyes…stickles to some accents for fun sparkle.  The sentiment is from PTI too and then I matted my image with SBs shapes.  I love this fun color combo!

I’m the last person on this hop today…thanks for stopping by and if you need to start the blog hop from the beginning go to the STORE BLOG HERE or hop backwards by going to Jenny Rohr’s Blog Here!

Got a Bookworm??

Howdy friends and Happy Day/Evening to you all!  I am home from vacation and slowly playing catch up as usual…we got in late on Tuesday night.  We had a blast in Orlando but boy-o those vacations take a beating on your body…walking miles and miles and up till all hours LOL.  We had lots of laughs and fun though even though Tropical storm Debby tried to waylay us   But we only had one day of really bad weather and torrential rains so we just did indoor fun stuff…we went to Walmart (cuz there is ALWAYS a Walmart no matter where you go LOL) and bought a board game and played that while we ate at Chevy’s and then continued the game in our room that evening before seeing a movie (we saw “That’s My Boy”..I don’t recommend it…very crude and not that funny…at least we didn’t think so).  We played the boardgame LOGO and it’s a blast…hubby won first round and I won second round…we had some good laughs at that one!  That’s what is most important to me…all the fun, quality moments we have together as a family…that’s where the memories come from and what you remember years from now and I’m happy to have lots of those moments with my kids and hubby.

We made it to Universal Studios for one day and spent the other day at Universal Islands of Adventure.  Alexa was super excited to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter…cuz she is a HUGE Harry Potter freak!!  It was a pretty cool place and we rode all the rides there even though we had to wait in line for 60 mins for the ride in the castle in the heat…oyyy.  Then we get on and it stops halfway thru…the ride stops, the 3-D video stops for about 3 mins…then it carries on but nothing worked.  So when it was time to get off…this mama was like UMMMM NO WAY…we didn’t wait in line for 60 mins to get HALF a ride because of your issues…so we are gonna go again.  They didn’t argue with me…bwahahahhaha…hubby was like “oh boy there she goes”….but seriously, I wanted to ride the WHOLE ride.  And man-oh-man I hate people that push, shove and try to cut….I do not appreciate that behavior nor will I put up with it.  I may be somewhat small but I live LARGE and I rule my space…don’t touch me or come into my space or my family’s space unless I’ve invited you or your gonna get it.  I’ve had big men try to cut me off and no way Jose…not gonna happen.  James just laughs cuz he feels sorry for the OTHER people cuz he knows I’m gonna break bad and I do…but really…I respect others until you disrespect me and DO NOT PUSH CHILDREN…ugh its disgusting.  Everyone is gonna get a turn so chill out!  Geesh!  ‘Nuff said!  And yep we rode all the coasters…I am a roller coaster freak and thankfully all my family is too so that is always a good time.  We did have a good rain shower one day at Universal for about an hour…but I was prepared with umbrellas and ponchos but we still got pretty wet but took that time to see some inside things.  Then our last day we spent it at Disney’s Magic Kingdom (the kids chose that park) and we were there from 12 pm till 12 am….YEAH THAT’s TWELVE HOURS PEOPLE…do you feel me? I had to pull out the super-mom-mother-load-energy-storage-tank for that day…I was so tired I fell asleep in my seat at the Mickey’s Philhar-magic show LOL.  But it was a great day, lots of fun and now I’m trying to recover while working and catching up hee hee!


Slideshow of Park Pics:

Slideshow of the Castle at Magic Kingdom in stages:

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Are you a Bookworm too??

I love, love to read…always have and always will.  I read between 3-6 books a week…I’m a total book (and music) addict…its my crack LOL!  And with my Kindle I read even more, I love having access to my books 3 secs after ordering them (I have a Kindle for outside reading, a Kindle Fire for travel and my iPad for reading at home…yes I have a problem LOL)!  That is why last year I started my online book club called BookEndz…its open to everyone to join and we read a book a month then have a fun cyber party/chat to talk about it and give away some prizes.  During the summer we are reading TWO books each month…one a more serious read and one a fun, lite read.  You are NEVER required to read the books to attend the parties or join the group…its just fun and the gals are all great, so if you love to read come join us ok!  This past month we were reading “Story of a Beautiful Girl” by Rachel Simon as our main selection and the 2nd book is “Sweetgrass” by Mary Alice Monroe. 

I'm entering this cute Bookworm into the following challenges:

Fab 'n' Funky Challenges (cute & girly) 

Make It Monday Challenge (anything goes) 

Scrapbook Sisters (anything goes) 

Craft-room Challenge (friendship) 

Partytime Tuesdays (anything goes) 

Bunny Zoe's Crafts Challenge (girls) 

Daisy Doodles Creative Challenge (anything goes/digi) 

Incy Wincy Designs (anything goes)

So this card was made in honor of my book club…I don’t wear glasses but I loved the image…reminded me of all of us book-lovers. The digi image is by Saturated Canary and she’s called “What the Librarian Reads”!  The papers are all by Kaisercraft "Vintage Timeless" (now 10% off)  because I loved the vintage bookish feeling they had…reminds me of the antique books I collect and I loveeee the smell of old books, see told you I’m an addict !!  I distressed all the papers with my fave Zutter Distress machine and inked the edges.  The sentiment is by PTI and its one of my fave sayings ever!  Good friends and good books just go together…at least in my book hahahaha!  The flower die-cut accents were made with a Marianne Designs die that I used on some Scrabble-letter paper and inked the edges and put around my main image.

She got colored with Copics:  E49,E44,E43,E42,E41,E40 / R20,R11 / E11,E00 / E25,Y21,E50,E31.  I used the dotted method to create a soft background with my markers (and added W00 & W1 to the mix) and then dotted a bit with Stickles as well for sparkle.  Diamond glaze was used on her glasses, a book, the mug and the pen for shine.  Then I used my Ranger Inkssentials Blending tool (one of my utmost fave tools) to add some soft ink around the edges of the image…I call it faux-airbrushing that’s cheaper and easier LOL!

That’s it from me today…I’ll see you back here on Friday with a NEW release from SCACD!  Have a good one!

Fun in the FL Sun!

Hi my friends!  Forgive me for not posting---I am on vacation thru next Wed with my family in Florida.  We are enjoying Sea World, Universal Studios, Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the Disney Magic Kingdom while we are here!  I am not really allowed to do much work on family vacations...for good reason...but my family will throw a temper fit if I go over my "allowed 1 hour" each evening to do work and check in LOL!  Hence my lack of postings!  But I promise to get back to it all late next week for ya...so don't worry!

CMC Challenge---- the new challenge will go up tomorrow night (Friday) HERE by midnight...the theme is BIG HAIR'ed images...and you can use any alcohol marker, Distress Inks or colored pencils on your images.  Everyone is welcome to join in and check out the DTs awesome projects while you're there too!

Some pics from our day at Sea World below...Alexa has wanted to be a marine biologist/animal psychologist since she was 4...so this is her FAVORITE park.  We had a great time and the coasters are awesome....ride Manta if you get a chance, you lay down and go head first...it feels un-natural I'm not gonna lie to ya LOL.  We went twice in the front row and to go down a big hill or up a loopety-loop head first is freakish hahahaha but super fun!

Tomorrow we are off to Universal Studios and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  Alexa is a HUGE Harry Potter fan so I may have to control her a bit LOL!  Riley has finally decided that he loves roller coasters so he's anxious to go on them all this time...last time he sat out LOL!

the Manta rollercoaster

Alexa petting the rays

 having lunch with the sharks..that's hubby!

Sea Turtles

 me & the kids at Shamu stadium

SHAMU!!!

That's all for me now....have a great week!

How Now Brown Cow….!!!?

Hey Y’all & Happy Thursday!  LOL…oh I have so much fun coming up with blog titles…they make me laugh.  Yeah it doesn’t take much to make me laugh…as my daughter tells me that I’m a BIG DORK regularly, but I’m a-ok with that KWIM!  This is why I mainly only watching comedies and action type movies…I don’t like to cry or be scared to death…I mean what’s the point?  I’ve had death in my life, I’ve been very sick and have had friends/family that were very or are sick, I’ve been very scared at certain points/times in my life….I don’t need to relive or rehash any of that stuff or give myself worse nightmares then I already have.  Seriously I do not get my “noodles” by watching scary stuff or crying buckets of tears…real life is hard enough me thinks so I prefer to be entertained and laugh when I watch a show.  I like to laugh, I like to be happy….so shoot me…like I said who wants to be down in the dumps watching a sad movie….NOT ME LOL!  So you won’t catch me in any of those type of movies…I haven’t seen a horror movie since I was in my early 20’s.  And then it was only under duress hahahaha.  I was a huge scaredy cat long ago…I’m not as much anymore but I do think I’m cautious.  I look behind a shower curtain when I enter a bathroom…just in case…you never know who or what may be lurking there…and I don’t want to be sittin’ on the toilette finding out if you get my drift (thank goodness my shower is all glass heehee). 

And yes I check under my bed at night when I enter my bedroom…my bed sits up high so a whole freakin’ army of psychos could be hiding out under there!!  I have certain “security” items within arms reach of my bed while I’m sleeping…hey with the way my family sleeps soundly I will be the only person hearing noises and protecting all of us….I’m just sayin’!  And yes my cats sometimes set off our security alarm and YES my hubby has slept thru it..oy vey…I’ve had to slap him silly to wake him up and then DEMANDED that he go check the house, closets and doors…yes, yes I really do!  I have to have total darkness when I sleep too cuz if I see weird shadows dancing around it freaks me out…and don’t get me started on the lovely ghost I have that likes to taunt me.  Last time I talked about it I had ghost busters emailing me and wanting to come visit for an exorcism LMAO!  But I am able to stay in the house by myself, I’m not scared at night and I do travel mostly by myself…so I have overcome a lot of my “issues” truuuust me!  But I have taught Alexa to be cautious too…you have to these days cuz as a woman you just never know.  Park in well-lit areas, check under car and have keys ready upon approach, be aware of your surroundings and odd things…this one I’m on 24/7 especially when I travel.  I always ask for 2 hotel keys and say my hubby is checking in later, if there is a man on my elevator I choose a diffferent floor then get back on after he’s gone and go to my floor.  And I always park a chair in front of my hotel door before I go to sleep…yeah I hear y’all laughing…but I’m ok with it…you have to watch out for yourself out there, trust me I’ve seen some crazy stuff so I know what goes on.  And I’ll end with this…cuz I know it will make Pat & Tina laugh…..”I do know how to kill a 300 lb man in 3 secs flat…yes I do” and that is very true…so do NOT cross me…hahahahaha!

(our border patrol doggie Baylee..she runs up and down fence barking (oy) to keep out evil groundhogs, fox, and bunnies from eating my garden…she’s grrrrrr-eat LOL!)

NewsBitz:

-The CMC Challenge is on-going and its open to everyone to join in…our current challenge is “BABIES” and you can use any makers or pencils on your images.  When you enter a challenge you also get entered for the $50 Oozak monthly gift certificate along with the current challenge prize…so hop on over & join in!!

-Also check out some of the NEW GROUPS at the CMC Classroom – we have a Mixed-Media group, a Smashbook/Scrapbook group, a Tutorials/Techniques Group, our cyber book club BookEndz and a Recipe Group!  Anyone is welcome to join!

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How-About-Now-Brown-Cow??

Today I’m sharing a card that will go down as one of my faves…why you ask?  Well I have a slight obsession with cows, roosters & penguins LOL!  I have a few of each…now I don’t go overboard with hundreds but I do have some in my house in different places.  And how can you not resist this cute cow from Magnolia-licious called “Little Miss Muu Muu”…awwwww she’s adorable huh? (makes me want to go vegan again…well…almost…lol…but let’s pretend she’s a dairy cow ok)  I like to think of this card as country feminine fun

I’m entering this into the following challenges:

Nutcrafters (spots or stripes) 

Paper Pretties (summer theme)

The Sisterhood of Crafters (circles)

TOMIC (anything goes)

Craft Room Challenge (4 legged friends) 

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge (birthdays)

So I used two stamps from Magnolia-licious “Little Miss Muu Muu” and “Barbed Wire Fence” background. (you can get both in mini-version together HERE)  I masked my cow and stamped over with the fence to create a pretty scene.  I’m not a big mask-er…I prefer to cut my images out for dimension but I wasn’t about to cut that tail and flower bouquet out KWIM LOL!  The papers are from a bunch of collections and all scraps (Prima & MME me thinks) that I then distressed and inked.  The swirls are a Magnolia Doohickey die that I also inked a bit.  I layered some Wild Orchid Craft flowers to replicate the cow’s bouquet and the hearts were done with my SBs dies..the yellow heat was embossed and inked too and then topped with a button & twine.  The sentiment says “Herd it was your Birthday” hee hee….get it….herd it? hahaha love it and its from PTI’s new set “Farm Fresh”..I stamped it on kraft cardstock and then inked it and curled it a bit banner style.

This Miss Muu Muu got colored up with Copics:  E49,E44,E43,E41 / R11 / V04,V000/ YR23,Y11/ and lots of greens LOL.  I added Diamond Glaze to her hooves and horns…Stickles to the flowers and grass for sparkle.

That’s all for me and Miss Muu Muu today LOL…hope you have a fabulous one!  See ya later gators!

A Sick Day!

Happy Monday everyone!  Hope you had a beautiful weekend and enjoyed some summertime fun!  We worked in the yard mostly and did those outside chores that never seem to end.  Funny thing about my neighborhood….you hardly ever see any women out doing yardwork…seriously they are few & far between here…which I find hilarious.  Most people have landscape services and we did have lawn-mowers ourselves but James wasn’t “happy” with them cuz’ he’s pretty particular.  So he now mows it, I do the trimming and we work on the shrubs and flowerbeds together.  I trim the roses (no job for sissies LOL..take a gander at my hands & legs currently) and other bushes, plant the veggie garden and do most of the weeding and watering.  He’s my “big labor” man and digs all the holes and hauls stuff for me   I don’t mind working in the yard…I find it a bit meditative like coloring…and yeah its hot out but I always like a job well done myself KWIM plus it’s a chance to soak up the yummy, warm sun.  Then we always finish off our day with a glass of wine, something sweet while sitting out on the patio.  We’ve put in our TV out in the cabana so we can watch TV or movies out there this season as well…I was kinda against it but now that its out there we spend more time out there with the teens.  And fresh air is always GREAT air!

(us tucked in under cabana watching "Chopped" LOL)

This week is a busy week but laid back…its my kids first week off from school…I both say that with happiness and DREAD..dum dum dum LOL.  I love ‘em but they can tend to drive me nuts after a bit…wanting things, wanting to go places, making noise in my quiet house and making messes.  So yes when August rolls around I am ready for them to GOOOOOO back to school.  Riley starts weight-lifting for football next week 4x a week so that will keep him busy.  And Alexa is working for me at least 10-15 hours a week putting my craftroom in order…she did all my paper & cardstock, my flowers and my ribbon so far.  But her biggest job is going thru all my stamps, creating a database of them and then organizing them by company and theme in pretty boxes I bought.  I have over 4000 stamps or more so it’s a HUGE job, one that I don’t have time for and she loves to organize and she’s getting paid for it…so hopefully by end of summer my craftroom will be so organized that I can find anything I need in 1.2 seconds instead of 30 mins LOL!

If you have some cool storage ideas tell me what they are.  And share them and get ideas yourself over at “Talkin’ With Tina”…a chat forum at CMC with my crazy pal Tina!  I’ve also started some other fun groups including a “Food/Recipe Group” and “Tutorials/Techniques Group” that will be a library of fun tutorials by your peers.  Everyone is welcome to join in as always!

NewsBitz:

-I’m teaching before CHA in Chicago this July…so if you’d like to have some FUN with me and spend the day coloring and learning techniques..hop on over to www.cmcroad.com to find more details!  Cuz’ I’d love to see you!

-Summer Sale is still ongoing thru August 24th at the CMC Classroom….all the classes are on sale…so if you have been wanting to take some, now is the time to stock up LOL!

-7 Kids College Fund has the CUTEST new stamps up for grabs from Stampavie (Penny Johnson & Ann Cresci) AND the NEW Tim Holtz “Summer Distress Inks”.

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Havin’ A Sick Day??

So today I have used a new digi stamp image from “Milk and Coffee”…they have the cutest images and you must check them out.  I found them on Etsy when I was stumbling around there buying things I didn’t need LOL!  I loved them and was happy to ask them to sponsor CMC for our Challenge Group in August.  This one is called “Charlotte is a Nurse” and she’s perfect for a get-well card.  I made this one for my friend who is going thru some difficult, medical stuff over the next few weeks.  So I’m making her something each week along with a small gift to cheer her up a bit along the way!

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Corrosive Challenges (punches & dies) 

Crafty Ann's Challenge (for a girl) 

Inspire Me Friday's (anything goes) 

Pixie Dust Studio Challenge (patterned papers) 

Sassy Studio Designs (use something wet)

 Isn’t she the cutest lil’ nurse ever?  My papers are from My Minds Eye from their Valentine Collection…but hey these patterns and colors work anytime of the year in my mind (hehehehehe get it…”my mind” bwahahaha..I know I’m a big dork).  The middle border was made with one of my MS border punches.  The doily shapes are from a Spellbinders die set..  I distressed all the papers with my fave Zutter Distress machine.  The sentiment is from a newer set from PTI.

She got colored with Copics:  C5,C3,C1,C00 / E35,E31,E50 / R24,R22,R20 / E11,E00.  Then I added a nice coat of stardust Stickles to her nurse uniform and hat, Diamond Glaze on her boots and medicine bottles.  And as I’m typing this I see one of my red pearls got moved over a bit…gonna have to fix that LOL..I hate it when that happens don’t you?

Hope that this brought a smile to your day/evening & hope it brings a smile to my friend’s face as well   Have a great one!

PS...I typed this while watching "The Lake House" movie with Alexa....never seen it before but it was really good & I love Sandra Bullock!

Before & Afters!

Happy Thursday everyone!  Hope your week has been grrrr---eat! I’ve had a pretty good week although my son did graduate from 8th grade the other night. Yeah, Yeah I know its just middle school…but he’s my baby..sniff sniff…and now both of my kids will be in High School.  Alexa will be a junior and Riley a freshman…it seems like the young-elementary years draaaaag on LOL and then they hit 7th grade and pooooof time suddenly starts flying by.  I wake up one morning and realize I have a 16 year old daughter who can drive and date and is 2 years from college.  And a 6’3 foot son who wears a size 14 shoe and has a deeeeep voice like a bear and can pick me up….its like I’m living in a parallel universe.  Do you feel me? LOL  Seriously you hear others talk about it but when the kids are young and you’re running in a thousand different directions and crazy busy it seems like they’ll never wipe their own bums or feed themselves or drive themselves to sports practices KWIM LOL!  And then the POOOOFFFF time-flies-by-quickly-thingy happens and you find yourself wondering where all the time went.  It constantly makes myself overthink…am I a good mom?  Do we spend enough quality time together? Do the kids have the right values?  Am I raising them to be good citizens and people who have compassion, kindness and empathy?  OMGosh my mind goes crazy sometimes….errrr ok….well all the time    So I told them this summer we are having “HUMAN BEINGS 101 CAMP” here at home LOL….they will learn how to run the washing machine and how to handle their clothes properly…how to cook and make basic meals and grocery shop for produce & such…basic cleaning concepts (oyyy)…and the usual life/sex/relationship/charity/friends talks that I like to fit in when I have their undivided attention hee hee (they sooo love those).  I’m hoping that at least 50% of what I say gets in their brains somewhere.  Soooo if I’m feeling this way NOW…when Alexa graduates high school in 2 years and heads to college…prepare yourselves…I will be a nutty-over-the-top-emotional-mess of a person…but it is my RIGHT as a mom yes? LOL…I’m gonna prepare my own self too cuz I may need duct tape or drugs to make it thru all of this….oyyyyy!

                   

 Me and Riley at graduation (yes I have on heels lol) and the other pic is of Riley and his friend Ethan..they've been friends since 3rd grade...can't believe how big they are..sniff sniff!

Ok so I will do a post over the weekend with stories of NY, Montreal, the OutLawz Retreat and the Zac Brown Band concert…so stay tuned for that hahahahaha!

NewsBitz:

-I’ll be at CHA teaching if you’d like to take my Copic Coloring class in Chicago with me in July…the details are up at www.cmcroad.com along with a few other locations.

-I’m on vacation June 16th thru June 28th with my family…I will be posting and checking in but it will be a bit sllllooooower as I pack in the quality time with my family and take time off to just “be”!

-For those that don’t know, Marti and I turned our magazine (Through the Craftroom Door) over to our friend Colleen Holmes..she is the new owner and doing a fab job!  So if you want to check out the NEW magazine head over to the site HERE to see what’s up…the new issue is stupendous!!

-SCACD has all the NEW Gorjuss Girl stamps in stock...they are fantastically cute & fun to color!

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Before & After

Today I’m sharing my project I made for the current June Magnolia-licious Challenge hosted by Mindy Baxter.  She’s challenged us to create projects that have some type of “water” in them so I pulled out this oldie-but-goodie Magnolia stamp called “Tilda in Spring Rain” (its out of stock currently but find the mini-version here).  This was one of my fave Tildas a few years ago and I still adore her…it was fun to pull her out again and color her up!  You can find all the challenge details on the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog if you want to join in and see the rest of the DT’s water projects…they are fabulo-so!

**Have you seen the NEW Freedom Liberty Tilda & Accessory Stamps yet?  Go check them out, they are one-of-a-kind and I've added them to my collection!! ** 

I'm entering this into the following fab challenges:

Crafting for All Seasons (many layers) 

Fresh Brewed Designs (pop it) 

Midweek Magnolias (anything goes)

Celebrate the Occasion (thinking of u/flower) 

Make It Monday (anything goes) 

                       
 

(this one was made over 3.5 yrs ago)

So I thought it would be fun to pull out my very first card I made with this cute Tilda (the red one on the right)…I made that over 3 years ago in my fave colors of red.  It was always a favorite of mine so I have it on a shelf in my studio.  And I always think its fun to pull out older work and see how we’ve grown and progressed KWIM.  I used some scrap papers on my blue project and then PTI cardstock.  The circle elements are Spellbinders along with the leafy swirls “Bella Rose” by Heartfelt Designs for Spellbinders.  I thought it would be fun to top each of my flower elements off with buttons and the cloud is a PTI die that I inked/stickled and added a sentiment from PTI’s “Scattered Showers” stamp set.

She’s colored with Copics: B99,B97,B95,B93,B91 / E11,E00,R11 /YR23,E31,E50,E35 /C3,C1.  I added Diamond Glaze to her boots and umbrella handle.  Stickles on the rain, her pocket, around the cloud and on umbrella trim for lots of fun sparkles.

That’s all for me today…I have a bunch of random chores I want to get done and mostly involves cleaning my closet and Alexa’s dressers and Riley’s closet LOL.  I’m sure I’ll have bags of stuff ready for Goodwill and for the trashbin.  Have a great one!

Simply Fabulous!

The Design Team for Gina K. Designs welcomes you to another fabulous Inspiration Blog Hop!!! Gina and the Design Team will inspire you with many beautiful ideas! And as you hop through their blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a grab bag of deeply etched, pre-cut Gina K. Designs stamps! To see the full list of winners check the Big News forum at Stamp TV a couple of days after the hops!!

**Gina K Stamps are NOW available in both CLEAR & RUBBER!**

Today the Gina K DT is showcasing 3 new stamp sets for you and this one combines 2 of them!  I used both the StampTV set “Hello Sunshine” AND “Birthday Greetings” on this project.  The Birthday Greetings is a fabulous set to have and I adore each sentiment especially this one!  I created the background paper with the StampTV set.  I stamped the flowers with cream ink and the leaf stamp image with dark green ink onto my lite green cardstock randomly.  I love the monochromatic colors of this card, fresh and elegant!  The darker green cardstock has a slight pattern to it like linen which I left alone.  Some cream ribbon and a bow with my Bow Easy finished it off.

I stamped the sentiment from “Birthday Greetings” in dark green ink and then stamped the flowers from the StampTV set over it with cream ink and then added pearls to the centers of the flowers.  Pretty and simply elegant and super easy to do!

The second card I made is a CAS-one-layer-card…do NOT faint…I know you are in shock but YES I did create a one layer card LOL!  I liked the images from this Free With Three set “Life’s A Beach” (buy any 3 stamps sets from Gina K and get this one for free)---they are very graphic so I went with a simply-graphic card!  I stamped the sand pail onto my kraft cardstock, then paper pieced parts of the sand pail with patterned paper.  I shaded the paper with my Copics before pasting it on.  I used my Sharpie White Poster Pen for the white accents..I love white on kraft cuz’ it POPS!  I stamped the sentiment with white ink and added Stickles to it and then put some black pearls underneath.  I scored my kraft cs with my Scor-Pal for 3 raised score lines…then cut 2 thin strips of pattern paper and added them in between…with a line of Stickles in between.  The black lines were drawn with my black Spica and and then added white dots with my Sharpie.  So yes its CAS but I added lots of tiny details LOL!  I have to say I quite like it

Ok now you need to hop along and see what the rest of the DT has created for you today…its sure to be fabulous!

• Gina K
• AJ Otto
• Carolina Buchting
• Carolyn King
• Cathy Tidwell
• Deb Felts
• Emily Giovanni
• Giovana Smith
• Jimmi Mayo
• Lee Murphy
• Lori McAree
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Michelle Woerner
• Sharon Harnist
• Suzanne Dean (that’s me..thanks)
• Tami Mayberry
• Theresa Momber
• Tina Gilliland
• Vicki Dutcher

Some Good Stuffs…!!

Happy Monday to you all!  I have some Gina K release posts today and tomorrow and then I will be back with some travel stories and picture for you later in the week ok!  Have a goodie!

The Design Team for Gina K. Designs welcomes you to another fabulous Inspiration Blog Hop!!! Gina and the Design Team will inspire you with many beautiful ideas! And as you hop through their blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a grab bag of deeply etched, pre-cut Gina K. Designs stamps! To see the full list of winners check the Big News forum at Stamp TV a couple of days after the hops!!

 **Gina K Stamps now come in rubber or CLEAR so you can choose either when buying!**

This first card uses the fin-tastic (yep couldn’t help meself) set “Under the Sea” illustrated by Theresa Momber.  If you love fish and/or sea life then this is a MUST-HAVE set that works for all occasions and for gals & guys!  I like that this card can be used for just about anyone.  The blue wave paper is from the Gina K paper pack “Pool Side" and then I embossed the yellow cs with a CB D'Vine Swirls emboss folder.  The frilly scrolls reminded me of waves a bit and they were done with a Memory Box die and then stickled up for sparkle.  A few Bella Baubles in blue finish it off.

I love Angel Fish…we used to have an aquarium that was my husbands…but I got SICK of having to clean it cuz’ no one else did so we got rid of it.  Hubby wants another but I say NOOOO cuz I end up taking care of this stuff…ugh and me no likey cleaning tanks LOL.  But I like to LOOK at pretty fish   I colored this angel fish (reminds me of Dorie in "Finding Nemo" talking whale heehee) in blues and yellow Copics after looking them up on Google LOL…but they come in other colors too.  The seaweed was colored with Copics as well and then I added a coat of Crystal Lacquer to make the fish shiny and some Stickles around the water for more shimmer.

The second card uses the new set “Enjoy the Journey” illustrated by Rupa Shevde which has some awesome images and sentiments in fun fonts!  I used scrap papers for this card…man I love that since my scrap box is overflowing LOL!  I like the pop of hot pink with the vintage krafty brown colors.  The tag & envie is by 7Gypsies and I stamped the image on it then added shading, the sentiment and paper piecings.  The swirls are a Magnolia Doohickey die.  Bow easy on the bow and a pearl to top it all off.

I used the luggage image but paper-pieced them and then shaded the paper with Copics a bit.  Then I added some Crystal Lacquer to the handles of the luggage as well.

Ok hope you liked these projects today and now you need to continue hopping for more inspiration from the fab ladies below!! 

• Gina K
• Theresa Momber  Illustrator- Under The Sea
• AJ Otto
• Cathy Tidwell
• Deb Felts
• Emily Giovanni
• Giovana Smith
• Jimmi Mayo
• Lee Murphy
• Lori McAree
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Suzanne Dean (that’s me..thanks so much)
• Tina Gilliland
• Vicki Dutcher