16 Candles...

Loved that movie (what an 80s classic!)

Ah to be sweet 16 again... for me, that was ages ago! But we did have a blast celebrating a very close family friend's sweet 16 last night. She's basically the youngest of our generation of kids in our close-knit extended family. It was a wonderful evening - the theme was Oscar Night (lots of glitz and glamour) and the color scheme was black and red. Everyone looked great all dressed up - especially all of her friends. Oh how time has flown...I remember when she was born - heck i remember when her mom was still single. Her mom tells me that she even baby-sat me when I was still an infant.

This was the card that I made to hold her gift. I went with a card that I hope a 16 year old would like - sparkly and nothing too kid-ish. I chose to use a rose for the main image, because I knew from talking to her mom that she was going to have a traditional rose dance. 16 special guys in her life...cousins, family friends - like my brother (who represented our family... each take turns coming up to her to hand her a rose for a quick twirl on the dance floor. The last guy was of course, her father. It was so sweet.

Stamps: SU In Full Bloom (so fun to pull out this oldie!), Big Deal Numbers and So Very (the word "Sweet"), CS: PTI Stamper's Select White; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Other: Prismas and Gamsol and Stickles

Swirly and Circly Birthday

Quick post for the day... this is birthday card that went out in the mail just yesterday morning for my cousin who is just 6 weeks older than me. He's a guy, so I'm hoping this has an adult-guy feel to it {hopefully!?}.

So I got the card out in time, but it is still probably going to be one day late... {sigh} You'd think that someone who likes to make cards would at least get them to the recipients in a timely fashion. But at least I sent it out and even BEFORE the actual birthday - sadly that is improvement. ;) I REALLY have to work on this. {Ask me if I made the card yet for the SIL's birthday which is TOMORROW!} Maybe I should get some kind of a more organized system. I am fabulous about this kind of stuff using Outlook for everything - but it hasn't really made its way over to my cardmaking. I might have to try and set up a tickler system at home. I'm sure that if I google it on SCS, someone will have a fabulous idea for me. No doubt a papercrafter has already come up with something...

Played with an SU set that might have been a hostess set from last year? I can never remember when sets come out... most of the time I get my stuff later than everyone else does anyway (I'm always so behind the times in everything it seems). In any case the image and sentiment come from the same set. I mimic'd the swirly circles by cutting out an imperfect circle in SU Pacific Point CS and topping it off with a button. Tried to tie it all together... Hope he likes it when he finally gets it - it is going coast to coast to sunny Cali!

Stamps: SU Birthday Whimsy; Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze (can't seem to put these 2 colors down!), Pacific Point, PTI Stamper's Select White, Scenic Route PP; Ink: SU Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point; Other: Dimensionals, Nestibilities, button, twine, paper piercer

Oh Baby {Blue}!

Hope that you had a great rest of your weekend. We had another snowy day today, but not enough to stay home from work (oh well). I've started to work on my kids' Valentines - I have a ton to make this year - my kids have multiple "classes" since they are in school for the full-day, including after school programs. I'm just about done with my littlest guy's cards, so I will be sure to share when I am.

In the meanwhile, here is a baby card I made with another Elzybells image - how adorable is this bear holding his duckie under a blanket??!! Love him. And guess what, if you visit again, you'll see that I made a girl version (seriously...don't be shocked). I had fun paper piecing the blanket (it was perfect for that) and the rest of the card, as always, came together pretty easily. Into my card stash it goes... now all I need is for a friend or family member to have a baby LOL!

And speaking of Elzybells - I was actually showcased this past weekend on the Elzybells blog. Mind you, it's not like I was picked or anything - Elizabeth (of Elzybells stamping fame) showcases any cards she receives during the week. And in an effort to get out there more with my cards, I sent a couple to her (she writes on her blogs that she welcomes e-mails of cards using her images so she can see them-which I think is really great of her), but not knowing that she would actually put them on my blog. In any case, I thought it was a fun thing to see my name on someone else's blog...

Stamps: Elzybells and Inky Antics (sentiment); CS: Baja Breeze, Chatterbox (another scrap - I used both sides too), PTI Stampers Select White; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Other: PTI Spring Moss ribbon, twine (maybe SU?), dimensionals, prismas and gamsol, paper snips, SU scallop edge punch, Nesties (both circles and the tag)

Basketball Baller

It is a cold Saturday and we are spending the day in the house playing Wii. I love when we all play together and especially love that our littlest guy who is 3 1/2 can join the fun too (instead of just holding a control and thinking that he is playing!). Right now we are playing Super Mario Party 8 and I'm only in 2nd place. :P My oldest guy is definitely getting better in leaps and bounds. He's almost 9 and there are already a few games where I can't beat him. I'm going to have to work on my Wii skills. LOL.

The only time today that we have ventured out on this cold day has been for basketball practice for my middle guy. He has basketball every Saturday morning at 8:30. It's his first year playing (our recreation program starts in kindergarten for basketball) and I am his team's coach. I'm so excited and having a blast with it. The kids are so fun, so cute and try so hard. We're still working on basic skills and it is really amazing to see their progress each week. I think that today was our best practice yet. We had a couple kids who haven't been able to reach the basket (it's set at 6 ft, instead of the standard 10 ft, I think) make a basket and kids who were afraid of catching the ball, be able to complete our passing drills. You would have thought we won the championship! We don't play actual games yet either (to focus on the skills), but do we have contests, and my team has done pretty well at that.

So I thought a basketball card would be fun to make today. This is for one of my oldest's guys' very good friends who is having a birthday party next week. He is also on the same basketball team with my son, so I guess that this card is actually doubly appropriate! :) I used Copics to color this one. I've been slowly collecting them from eP - I love the look of Copics. It's fun to alternate with Prismas and Gamsol for the different looks.

Stay warm. (No running outside for me today!)

Stamps: IA (love their sporty kid stamps - they get so much use in my house... the kids love stamping with them too); Paper: Wild Wasabi, Tangerine Tango and Barely Banana; Other: Thread (still working on those corners), Dimensionals and Copics

I am on a roll, YEAH!

2 posts 2 days in a row, and 3 in the last 4 days! I am on a roll. I have to take advantage and jump on these opportunities when I can, because I always have such a fun time and plus, you never know with my schedule if I am going to have another free night soon. Although I think that I should for the next few days, at least. The kids were off from school for a snow day (it really wasn't snowy, imo - they should have been in school!) and I only went in for a shorter day. Even home before dinner - which was wonderful.

So, one more Elzybells card, which I made tonight (I tend to use the same stamps over a period of time, it seems...) - this one was for both the sketch and color challenge this week on SCS. I went back to this fresh flower cart. There is so much you can do with this image and for so many occasions. This one is a thank you card. I used stickles for the daisy's petals - sparkly! :) And I even sewed on this one (but obviously my sewing needs serious work!) I really don't know how to do corners - I kept getting stuck as to how to turn the panel to keep going, while maintaining a straight line and not ripping the paper to shreds all at the same time. I really should dig up the "how to sew" book I bought ages ago with the sewing machine, when I was deluded enough to think I was going to learn how to sew and make fun and funky things...seriously - what was I thinking?

K- off to bed. Nite.

Build Me Up, {my Buttercup}...

Love that song - LOL!

I need to build my card stash up for the new year, so it goes without saying that I need to make boy birthday cards (yes, I guess technically saying something goes without saying and then saying it is kinda silly, but oh well). I really do need to make all kinds of cards,But it is always easier for me to default to my go-to and most needed I guess. I've been trying to be better about having cards on hand so I don't have to rush in the 15 minutes before we leave to make one. I hardly have any left, because I actually donated basically all the cards I had on hand over the Christmas holiday, believe it or not. I had never donated cards before - up until now it was all for my use (or for my mom who I sometimes make them for if she needs one).

Our church was asking for donations to make personal bags for a women's home in the area and the items listed include shampoo, conditioner, lotions etc and the last thing listed was cards for all occasions. Lately given everything going on in the economy, I've been much more aware of community service and charity. I've just been trying to be more aware in general because we all know it is so easy to get caught up in our own lives (and I can barely keep up with that sometimes!). This past holiday, we donated items that weren't necessarily the most glamorous things, but were a necessity and necessary to help someone maintain their dignity. We donated diapers and formula to a charity that was helping military families that were in need, and I made up 5 bags for the women's shelter. It's the least we could do. So hopefully my cards (and all the other stuff) will help someone out, even if it saves them a 15 minute trip to the store!

Anyway, I love this little guy who's doing the yo-yo. This image totally reminds me of my oldest guy. He ALWAYS wears his hat backwards - and he wears hats a lot. I can hardly ever get him to wear it facing straight, except for when he's playing baseball (and that's only because the coach tells all the boys to do so). So I colored his hair black like my son's and pretty much used the scrap piece of PP to determine the colors. What you see on the card is basically all that I had left of this whole piece of paper.

Stamps: Elzybells; Paper: Scenic Route (PP), SU Kiwi Kiss (can't get enough of this color), Tempting Turquoise, PTI Stamper's Select, Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Other: Prismas & Gamsol, SU Tab Punch, twine, dimensionals and button

Getting Caught Up in the New Year

Whew! Amazing how quickly time flies when you are not paying attention to your blog - LOL.

I have to thank my stamping bud, Jennifer, for checking in with me. It was just the reminder I needed since has been ages since I had last posted. Once that time of the year and the holidays get started, it seems like in a blink they are done, but obviously LOTS has gone on in between. Between work and the holiday-infused home life (which was so much FUN), I did get a bunch of stamping and scrapping in, but (obviously) no blogging. I've also been running (yep, as in exercising) more. I had actually been running for a bunch of months now, but much better (as in consistent!) since August or so. I ran yesterday and got through a 5K without stopping, so I was soooo excited. I didn't even realize how far I had run until I clocked it with the car this morning. I just added an extra loop through a different part of my neighborhood and it ended up being another 1 mile.

Anyway, I just wanted to get back in the blogging swing of things to post a couple of cards that I made recently. Both use stamps from Elzybells, which I got for the first time ever sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas (they were running a free shipping promotion, so of course I couldn't resist). I had seen all the wonderful cards Paula makes with them and had to give them a whirl. They have such fun images. I bought a bunch of other images and made some cards, so I will have to post them in the future too. I colored both images with Prismas and gamsol (prismas are still experiencing their resurgence even after the holidays). The leaves that I used for the background in the second card is from Cornish Heritage Farms.

Hope that you had a great holiday and that 2009 is off to an AWESOME start.