Mother's Day Brunch

We had mom over this morning for brunch. Paul made waffles and we topped them with cherries or blueberries and Cool Whip. I made Grandma Brown's bread pudding recipe to surprise mom. It needed a little more sugar, but it seemed to be good otherwise. I'm not a big fan of bread pudding myself, as I have to pick around the raisins, but Paul and mom seemed to like it.

I hope all you moms out there had a wonderful day!

Watercolor Happiness

Here are the last of the Mother's Day cards I made for mom's craft show. I would have liked to have made more, but it's just not going to happen. I had to hurry tonight to get the insides done because I need to get them all over to mom tomorrow night. I used the same image for all of these but different colors. I love this set (Summer By The Sea)...perfect for watercolor. They're painted using Stampin' Up ink pads and a water brush. I'm way too tired to list the details for all these, so if you have any questions, feel free to comment or send me an email.

Sorry for my lack of posting in the last week or so. I don't see it getting any better in the immediate future. Things have been crazy busy...and I do mean CRAZY....at work. We are so overloaded that it's not even funny. Actually...all we can do is laugh about it, so I guess it is funny. I worked all last week plus Saturday and will be doing the same this week. I feel like my boss and I are the only ones in the entire state working any overtime right now. Don't get me wrong...I'm thankful for the extra hours. I will be when I get my paycheck anyway. I'm thankful to have a job period, but I have been exhausted when I get home. It has been taking a toll on my eyes and my hands/wrists/elbows. My boss is starting to have shoulder pain. If the two of us fall apart, I don't know what they're going to do. Seriously. The sad thing is that we are busting our butts now in an attempt to keep up (which is impossible) only to have it all taken away from us down the road with the implementation of the electronic health record. Well, maybe not all taken away, but who knows. We're hanging on to a tiny shred of hope that a few of us will still be needed. "They" make promises, but you know how that is.

We need to start playing the lottery.

I am so much looking forward to our trip to Door County in a couple of weeks. It will be so nice to get away for the weekend. Please keep your fingers crossed for good weather for us! I'm going to try really hard not to feel guilty for taking a Friday off in the midst of stacks of work.

Mojo Monday - Look...No Pink!

I did it...I actually made a Mother's Day card without using any pink! I really wanted to reach for that pink, though. You would think after all the pink cards I made this weekend, I would be burnt out on pink.

For this card I used the Mojo Monday sketch.



My mojo was majorly enhanced by the package waiting for me when I got home from work. It was my goodie box from Stampin' Up for being on their survey panel! Yea! This is just about the coolest thing ever! I used some of the supplies to make the above card!

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Details:
Card 1:
Stamp: Playful Petals (SU), Happy Mother's Day (Hero Arts)
Ink: Palatte Noir; markers - So Saffron (SU)
Paper: Patterned - Tea Party (SU); Cardstock - So Saffron, Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue (SU).
Accessories: Gems, So Saffron polytwill ribbon (SU), pop dots.

Am I Stuck On Pink, Or What?

Here are three more Mother's Day cards I have done to put with mom's jewelry in her show next month. I must have it in my mind somewhere that all Mother's Day cards should be pink. I seriously should hide all my pinks and start using some other colors.


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Details:
Card 1:
Stamp: Blossoms Abound (SU), Happy Mother's Day (Paper Inspirations)
Ink: Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose, Close To Cocoa, Wild Wasabi (SU)
Paper: Patterned - CTMH; Cardstock - Pretty In Pink and Regal Rose (SU).
Accessories: None.
Card 2:
Stamp: Digital Images by Fred She Said, Happy Mother's Day (Paper Inspirations)
Ink: Blush Rose (Colorbox).
Paper: Patterned - Digital paper by Fred She Said; Cardstock - Regal Rose (SU).
Accessories: Fruit Punch Stickles
Card 3:
Stamp: Butterfly (TAC), Wind Beneath My Wings (word art ...my own design).
Ink: Versamark
Paper: Patterned - Basic Gray; Cardstock - Pretty In Pink and Regal Rose (SU).
Accessories: Butterfly punch (Fiskars), ribbon, gold embossing powder.

Trying for Simple

I'm trying to come up with a simple design that I can make multiples of for mom's show. I'm not too sure about this one. Boy, do I need better lighting in here...or I need to stick to taking my pictures in the daylight.

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Stamp: Hand of Friendship (Stampendous), Happy Mother's Day (Paper Inspiration)
Ink: Palette Noir; Lovely Lilac (SU); markers - Almost Amethyst , Gable Green, and Certainly Celery (SU).
Paper: Patterned plus green and dark purple solid - CTMH; Cardstock - Almost Amethyst (SU).
Accessories: Marvy Mega circle and Giga scalloped circle punches

Mother's Day Mayhem

The "mayhem" part would be the top of my desk. If you could only see it. I can't even see the surface. Okay, here's the deal...mom is going to be putting her jewelry in a craft show at the Women's Club the day before Mother's Day. She asked me to make a dozen or so cards to put with her jewelry. This is against my better judgment because of my belief that getting paid for something totally sucks every last bit of fun out of whatever it is you're doing. I'm trying to tell myself, "But why not get paid doing what you enjoy?" Anyhow, since mom asked, I'm going to give it a try. So...happy Mother's Day. LOL. This is for you, mom.

For these cards I decided to go with Lauren's (My Time) Saturday Sketch. Lo and behold she had three sketches to choose from this week. Perfect! Since I'm trying to reach my quota of Mother's Day cards, I decided to try my hand at all three.




In the details below, some of the information on the different papers is unknown, as I'm really trying to use up my scraps.
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Details:
Card 1:
Stamp: Hand of Friendship (Stampendous)
Ink: Palette Noir; markers - Pretty In Pink, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke(SU), Cool Gray and Skin White (Copic).
Paper: Patterned - unknown (sorry!!); Cardstock - Pretty In Pink and Close To Cocoa (SU).
Accessories: Marvy Mega circle and Giga scalloped circle punches, dew drops, flowers, gem.
Card 2:
Stamp: Hand of Friendship (Stampendous)
Ink: Palette Noir; markers - Pretty In Pink, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana(SU).
Paper: Patterned - Text Prints (DCWV); Cardstock - Pretty In Pink (SU), green is unknown (sorry!).
Accessories: Fiskars scalloped punch, butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), gems.
Card 3:
Stamp: Elegant Script (CTMH), , Werdz (Biblical Impressions)
Ink: Blush Rose (Colorbox).
Paper: Patterned - Basic Gray; Cardstock - Sahara Sand (SU), red is unknown (sorry!).
Accessories: Butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), gems.

Better Put On Your Sunglasses!

'Cause this is a bright one! I must make a point to find myself an orange marker that's not so bright. After ending up with such a bright orange, I felt I had to go with some brighter colors for the rest of the card. Is it too much?? Well, it is almost Easter after all, and if there is one time of year when you can get away with all these colors, I guess this is it. For this card I used Lauren's weekly sketch challenge.

Instead of using the two small squares I changed it up and put the flower and the butterfly, still using two things in that spot.

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Details:
Stamp: Flowers For You (Whipper Snapper)
Ink: Palette Noir; markers - Lemon Yellow and Tangerine (Impress), Pretty In Pink and Almost Amethyst (SU), black (Zig), Cool Gray (Copic).
Paper: Patterned - Butterflies from The Spring Matstack (DCWV) Cardstock - Rose Red, Regal Rose, and Whisper White (SU).
Accessories: Butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), scallop punch (Fiskars), flowers, ribbon

Another Color Challenge

I'm telling you...I'm getting so inspired by the color challenges. This one is by Kristina Werner of kwernerdesign.com. I admire her color challenges every week, but this is the first time I've played along. I was on a roll, so I couldn't help myself. Here are the colors...



These colors were difficult for me too, and here's why...I don't like Kiwi Kiss. To me it's like puke green. Sorry. (That sounds a little Simonish, doesn't it (i.e. American Idol)...just add the British accent and the matter-of-fact tone that tells you he doesn't really mean it. Sorry.) Anyway, moving on...I had a hard time finding anything in my collection that even came close to this color. If it would have been Certainly Celery...no problem (we all know I love that color). I also don't have Baja Breeze, so I had to settle for Cool Carribean. Here's my card...I'll just leave it at that.

The outside says, "A wise man once said..." The inside says, "Follow your dreams, except the one where you're at work in your underwear."

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Details:
Stamp: It's a $1 stamp I found somewhere...I have no idea where or the company name. Sorry.
Ink: Palette Noir; markers - Chocolate Chip, Only Orange, Always Artichoke (SU), Cool Gray (Copic).
Paper: Patterned - Daisies (Sandylion), Cardstock - Chocolate (CTMH), Cool Carribean and Whisper White (SU).
Accessories: Fiskars border punch.

Raspberry Suite Challenge Week 3

Emphasis on the word "challenge." Five colors this week. These colors were difficult for me, but I loved it! I was inspired...so much so that I did another color challenge which I'll post tomorrow.

Here are the colors we had to work with. Beautiful colors but, wow...I had a hard time putting them together.

After going through all my papers and going back and forth on what to use, this is what I settled on. It was actually finding the right "berry" color that got me...that and fitting pink in there somewhere!

Well, that's it for me for today. We're spending the day working around the house on projects that we've been putting off for too long....fixing a pipe, fixing a toilet, putting up shelves, etc. I was hoping to get an earlier start, but Paul is still sleeping. At about 12:30 a.m., the power went out on our whole block followed by a loud bang somewhere. We still have no idea what it was, but Paul couldn't sleep until the power came back on, which I think was about 2:30 a.m. I fell asleep, but when the power comes back on, our security system makes this loud screeching noise, so that woke me up. And then Paul has to come upstairs and announce that the power is back on. Yeah...I think I figured that one out. Anyway, I'm going to be nice and let him sleep for a little while before making him get up and work.

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Details:
Stamp: Hand of Friendship (Stampendous)
Ink: Palette Noir; markers - Tutti Frutti, Pure Red, and black (Zig), Always Artichoke (SU), Cool Gray and Skin White (Copic).
Paper: Patterned - 1st layer Kraft Designer Paper (SU), 2nd layer Bittersweet Vanilla Fudge (Basic Gray), 3rd layer red (KMA); vanilla and coral (unknown).
Accessories: Fiskars daisy punch, Cricut (flowers...thanks mom!), red square brad.

Friends and Flowers

Here's another card made a couple of weekends ago using the Wednesday sketch challenge on SCS from a couple weeks ago (#220). The stamp is from TAC. I think it's called Oopsie Daisy. I like the way this turned out. I think it's 'cause I like the colors.

Color Challenge

Today was a super lazy day for both of us. We really didn't feel like doing much of anything. I had a busy week at work and a busy day yesterday, so it was nice to just chill out. I did manage to churn out this card between my magazine reading and napping. I've really enjoyed looking at all the color challenges that are out there lately. It's amazing how a group of people can take the same four colors (or however many) and make cards that are so completely different. I guess that's why I like the sketch challenges too. Anyway, I just found this challenge today and decided to play along. Here are this week's colors...

Celery is quickly becoming one of my favorite colors. Here's my card...


Did I ever tell you that back at the end of last year I was accepted onto the Stampin' Up! Survey Panel?? I don't think I mentioned that. Once a week I take a survey about Stampin' Up! products and after three months and completing at least 80% of the surveys I receive a goodie box from Stampin' Up. How cool is that?! Anyway, last month I received a box from them containing the Eastern Blooms stamp set, a Certainly Celery stamp pad, and a package of rub-ons! This is the first time I've used the stamp set.
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Details:
Stamps: SU! Eastern Blooms and Sincere Salutations
Paper: Cardstock: SU! Close to Cocoa and Whisper White; Patterned: Cloud 9 Designs (green) and Bo Bunny.
Ink: CTMH Chocolate, Impress marker #10 Teal

A Bird's-Eye View

Just another bird card from last weekend.

That pink flower is NOT that bright in reality. It's more like a fuchsia color, but it looks florescent here. Makes me think of when I used to buy florescent tempera paint and make posters and then hang them in my room and turn on a black light. Now that was cool.

A Little Birdie Told Me

Ahhhhhh. Spring is finally officially here! We have had a couple of really nice weekends. On my way home one of the days last week, I saw a robin hopping down the sidewalk. Nothing says spring like "when the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin' along!"

Speaking of birds, I bought a new stamp set this past weekend. I found this set for 50% off at Archiver's. I'm on a bird kick now. I came home and dug out all my bird stamps. I really don't have that many. Gonna have to to do something about that.

As You Wish

This card was done for a challenge using the "The Princess Bride" as inspiration. The Princess Bride is an oft-quoted 1987 movie based on a 1973 novel. It's a tale of both true love and adventure. It's been a while since I have seen the movie, but for some reason some of the lines just stick with you. "As you wish" is a big one. One of Paul's favorites is, "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. " My inspiration didn't come from any of the quotes, but rather from a character's name. The main characters are Westley and Buttercup.

Actually, this is something I say to Abby quite often. When she comes walking into the room I'll say, "What's up, Buttercup?" I'm really surprised the poor dog even knows her real name. "Let's go, Pinocchio," is another one she hears all the time. I'm weird...I know.

Monochromatic

I did this one for a challenge to make a monochromatic (one color) card. I went through my scrap pile and decided to go with purple. The strip of cardstock across the middle is actually the same color all the way across, but because it's the "bling" kind, the light bounced off of it a different way for the photo and so it looks like two different colors.

New...Or Not So New

This card was made for a challenge using new things. With the exception of the ink and cardstock, the card was supposed to be made with something you just acquired within the last two months or something you have been hoarding and never used before.


Guilty as charged. See that background paper? I posted about it a long time ago. I just love it. It's so pretty. I paid $1.99 for it (yes, for one piece of 12x12 paper) and never used it because I didn't want to cut it. Stupid, I know. I thought this would be a good challenge to take the plunge and use it...otherwise it would sit there forever. The main image is actually a sticker. I found this (on a whole matching sheet) in the clearance section at Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago for like $1.29 or something. I bought the ribbon at Hobby Lobby at the same time. You can't get any easier than this.

Now what am I going to do with it? I don't want to send it to anyone 'cause I really like it! Maybe I'll frame it. How weird is that?

Bittersweet Love

This was for a challenge using a stamp set that you don't really like. One that you either keep wondering why you bought or that you find hard to use.

This is a set from CTMH called "Groovy." The only thing I stamped on here was the "groovy," because ironically I had this paper that perfectly matches the flowers from the set. I must have been in some kind of time warp when I bought this set. Far out, man.

Be My Valentine

I only made two Valentines this year, one for Jessica, Paul's 11-year-old cousin (I send her one through the mail every year) and one for Paul. In all honesty, I made Paul's at about 6 p.m. Saturday night after he gave me one. We usually don't exchange cards, but he surprised me with one this year. I wasn't prepared for that! That'll teach me. Always be prepared.

Jessica's

Paul's

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Credits:

Both images from edupics.
Giraffe - F.D. Decker

Simple Saturday

It sure was nice out today with a record-breaking high of 52 degrees. This has been such a horrible winter that I'm seeing today as a glimmer of hope from the Devil himself trying to lift me out of my winter doldrums only so I can come crashing down again when it snows on Wednesday. This is just too weird for February.

We actually stayed in today. Paul's not feeling good. It's something with his throat. While he was taking a nap I stepped out into the back yard with Abby to breathe a little fresh air. Of course, when we came back in I had to clean the kitchen floor of the mud that she tracked in. Woof!

I wish there was such a thing as "smellinet" so you could smell the aroma of the huge pot roast that I put in the slow cooker this morning. I think it's driving Abby insane. She keeps just keeps staring at me. We're going to have a lot of leftovers off of this baby 'cause we bought it at Sam's Club. I'm envisioning BBQ sandwiches...beef & noodles.... and who knows what else. Yum-o!

Here's a peek at the final outcome...

Another Winter's Butterfly

I love this set. It's the swirliness (is that even word?) of the snowflakes. This card is a lot more blingy in real life. I couldn't capture that on film for some reason. I stamped the flakes with Versamark on white glossy cardstock and then brayered over that with my "Big and Juicy" pad (hydrangia). All the die cuts are Cuttlebug. The layout was last Wednesday's weekly card sketch on SCS.