HappiLeighScrappin challenge - embossing

I have exciting news!  I have been accepted onto the Design Team at HappiLeighScrappin!!  I can't tell you how happy I am, and how honored to be a HappiSister.  The team is very talented and I'm grateful for this opportunity.

The challenge this week is embossing.  Dry embossing, heat embossing, embossing with a stencil or creating your own designs.  The card I made is:

And a side view showing the popped up layer:

I used Leigh's Birthday Cake stamp which comes with the sentiment plus a second image of a whole page of candles, to put on the inside of the card  with another sentiment saying these were the candles that wouldn't fit on the cake!  LOL!  The image is colored a pale pink with pink roses, green leaves and a blue/grey for the pearly dots on the icing.  After coloring the flames I added some Stickles for sparkle.

I dry embossed a piece of white cardstock, then brayered pink shimmery Archival Brilliance ink onto the debossed side.  I then popped the cake layer over the cardstock.

The challenge can be found here, you should go look at the cards made by the HappiSisters, and make one yourself!  Join us... it's fun and you could win some great digis!!

My nephew's birthday

We are celebrating my nephew Mason's birthday later this afternoon, so a card was called for!  Boy cards are HARD because I always want to bling them up... but boys and bling don't necessarily mix.  Mason is turning 15 and starting drivers-ed next week, so cars were the theme requested by my husband.  Here's what I came up with:

And the inside:

I am pretty happy with it, probably because I DID use some bling and glitter!  LOL!  The Happy Birthday sign and the Superstar stamps came from Unity Stamps Retro Road Trip pack, the car is by Crafty Secrets, the Clear Art Stamp line.  I got the pointing finger in the Clear Stamp Thanks set by American Crafts.  The sign got the Perfect Pearls treatment and the car got all kinds of beefing up!  I used copics for the red, and a silver metallic marker by American Crafts for the chrome.  I had clear gem brads with silver bezels that were PERFECT for the headlights, and I used Stickles lightly on the windshield, turnsignals, hood and grill ornaments.  YAY!  Glitter on a boy card and it FITS!  =D 
Also, the car is popped up. I'm tellling you because, <insert can't-see-it-in-the-photo rant here>.

Have a great rest-of-the weekend!

June ATC swap!

Sunday is the day for the ATC swap at my LSS.  It's so much fun, but a lot of work too.  Once a month is perfect for this activity!  This is only my 4th time attending, and each time is more fun than the last.  This month is going to be especially fun because Starla is going too!  Her first time, I hope she likes it!

The theme this month is "She was named for a flower." So I would like to introduce you to Daisy:

The image is a rubber stamp from Stamping Bella. I found the lace at JoAnn Fabric and colored the center with a Copic.  Daisy is colored with Copics, and a little Stickles on her head.  (Wouldn't we ALL look better with a little glitter in our hair?)  She's popped up but I'm not going to whine about how you can't tell from the photos anymore.   =D   The pp is from K&Company, I got it on sale at Michael's.  I added some bling in the upper corners, because I love bling!

I just love the expression on her face, in fact... I call her Oops-a-Daisy!  Doesn't she look like she's kind of embarrassed about something?  LOL!

Can't wait to see the other ATC's on Sunday!

A floral challenge!

Y'all KNOW how much I love flowers, and if you DON'T know... you should.  =D   So, it just so happens Leigh at the HappiLeighScrappin challenge blog is having a challenge about flowers!  I had to do it... and here it is:

The digi is Leigh's Welcome Flower Pot, and it is one of my favorite stamps.  Don't you just love that chubby bee?   I colored the image with Copics, added some Stickles, ribbon, punched flowers, Perfect Pearls, fabulous patterned paper, and shimmery metallic paper for the card base, and WALLA!  A lovely card!  Just like magic!  =D

The challenge can be found here.

My first challenge in a while

It's been a while since I have had the time and motivation, simultaneously, to do a challenge.  I'm really rusty!  LOL! 

AnitaBeStampin is having a layering challenge and I had to give it a shot.  The only thing I'm not happy about is that the picture doesn't show all the popped up papers!  The layer that has the digi, the beautiful Ariana, is popped, as is the green flower in the lower left corner.  Okay, I'm done pouting now...  here's the card:

she's being entered in this challenge.
Hope you like her!

BAD blogger...

BAD!  I'm a bad blogger for letting almost a MONTH go by without a post.  (You can't see it, but I'm shaking my finger at myself in a "tut-tut" manner.)  I am in total awe of those who can blog daily on top of a regular job and life. 

This month saw computer problems (boo), then a new laptop (yay!) which turned out to be not-so-great, so I returned it (boo again).  I finally decided to get a large monitor (26"!) to hook up to my netbook since this little thing has been so great.  Got the monitor hooked up today.  When/if I do decide to get a new laptop the new monitor will be repurposed as a TV.

Next month (June 20th) I'm having carpal tunnel surgery on my right wrist and will be off of work for 2 weeks to recover.  I'll either be blogging like crazy, out of boredom, or not at all because I can't type.  I wonder if I can get Jim to do my typing?  =)

This card has rattling around in my brain for weeks, today I finally had a chance to get it out and on paper!  The inspiration for the card is the song "Getting to Know You" from The King and I.  It's such a lovely song, and a great sentiment.  So, in honor of new friends and old, here it is:

The teacup and it's decorations are from a file called Hot Cocoa and More, the swirls in the corners are from What Matters Most.  Both files are by the lovely and talented Ileana Russell.  Her designs can be found here.  The text is from my Silhouette, using the pen holder created by Amy Chomas. She has them for the Silhouette and the Cricut.  I used a grey Copics marker to fill in the text.  Then I used Perfect Pearls mist on the steam and the corner decorations.  I took the picture from an angle so you could see the shimmer.

Do you like it?  Should I have dressed it up more?

I'm headed to my recliner to enjoy the rest of my Memorial Day. 

Oooo, that reminded me.  A lady named Beth, that Starla and I met at Archivers once and have been trying to coordinate schedules to meet up again, texted me this afternoon to thank me for my service.  It made me cry!  So sweet.  Thank you, Beth!

Mother's Day is upon us,

and I was almost caught unprepared!  Getting through a computer crash (we gave my laptop last rites a couple of weeks ago) is never easy.  Luckily I had my little netbook to tide me over until I could replace my laptop, which we did yesterday.  YAY!  Anyway, I have two moms to make cards for, mine and Jim's.  Here's the card I made today, which will be going to my mother-in-law tomorrow:

 The flower is a cutfile I have for my Silhouette.  I pieced the inside of the flower and backed the dots with bright pink for contrasts.  The crystals in the upper right corner were added at the last minute because I HAD to have some bling!

I was trying to decide what card to make for my mother when I remembered this card I made in February:

It's PERFECT for my mother!  I know some of you will be SHOCKED (okay, not really), but I was quite the tomboy growing up.  This image could have been me!  So, Mom gets a wonderful card (one of my very favorites), and I get to be DONE!  Win-win!

Last Sunday was ATC swap day.  The theme was May Baskets, however we wanted to interpret that.  May means spring to me, warmth (finally), sun, and flowers.  I completely love this stamp and was happy to have a reason to use it!  The balloon, mouse, and basket were colored with color pencils and Gamsol, for the flowers I used color pencils on some and Spica glitter markers on others.  By the time I finished the 20th card I was ready to NOT color any more itty bitty flowers! I punched out the sun, wrote the sentiment in Spica and used my glitter gel pen to give the sun's rays some sparkle.  The background paper is blue with clouds and the main image is pop-dotted to give the ATC some depth.

As far as the jewelry goes, my friend ended up buying 3 of the 5 sets.  I still have the Kyanite and Turquoise sets which will be put up for sale.

Whew!  Time to get some iced tea and relax.