Find Joy

It feels so good to create again! I don't think I have used my stamps in over 3 weeks...I was going through withdrawal!!! I decided to start out easy and do a Splitcoast challenge to get my creative juices running. I did the Color Challenge for this week. The colors were Cool Caribbean, Certainly Celery, and Elegant Eggplant. I used the set Polka Dots & Paisley (You can purchase it starting Thursday from the Spring Mini).

1. punch out 3-1 1/4" white circles and 3-1 3/8" Eggplant circles
2. Cut a 4" x 4" Certainly Celery layer, a 4 1/8" x 4 1/8" Eggplant layer (punch layer with ticket corner punch)
3. Cut a 4 1/4" x 8 1/2" Cool Caribbean piece for the card base
4. stamp flowers randomly on white circles
5. Use SU! Elegant Eggplant Marker to ink "find" and stamp on one circle. Clean off stamp, then ink "joy" and stamp on a different circle.
6. stamp polka dot stamp on top 1/3 of Certainly Celery layer. Stamp paisley stamp and flower outline randomly on bottom 2/3 of layer.
7. Ink "In the little things" and stamp on bottom right hand corner of Certainly Celery layer.
8. Glue layers together.

Bad blogger

I am so sorry I have been a bad blogger lately. I promised pics of projects while I was on vacation, but to tell you the truth we didn't get much done! My mom and I were working on scrapbook pages to fit into 12 x 12 frames to put on her wall in her craft room. She had 12 frames, we only finished 2 of them and I never had time to take pictures. I plan on digiscrapping a few for her and she will work on some so maybe I will be able to get a picture of the whole wall when it is finished...that probably won't be for a while though!

I plan to get creative and work on a few cards today. But I will leave you with this picture of my niece. This is the look she had on her face for most of the time I was around. I don't think I got a single picture of her smiling the whole time I was in town. It really is her "trying to figure things out look," not a dirty look. And I can't be too upset because I know I had that exact same look when I was a kid. I even had a college professor yell at me once because I was trying to figure out what she was saying and she thought I was giving her a dirty look ;)

Let it SNOW!

Vacation has been fun so far. We are stuck doing inside things today because it is really cold and it is snowing and blowing and the roads are slippery. Yesterday it got up to 29 degrees for about an hour and so I was outside playing around in the snow (got to check snowball fight off my to do list ;) ) After I came inside and ate lunch I realized that I didn't have my cell phone with me. (Can you see where this is going???) I looked in the car, I looked all over the house, I looked around outside. No phone. I even used my dad's cell to call myself in each of those places to see if it would ring. I was going to just forget about it, but we thought it might be out in the snow and we were supposed to get 6-12 inches last night and we knew if it snowed more we would never find the phone. So my wonderful brother (who drove over even though I didn't ask him to) and my kind mom went outside with me in the dark with flashlights. We got on our hands and knees and went through the snow in the front yard. I didn't think it could be out there...I mean what kind of a dork drops her phone in the snow and doesn't notice?!?!? But after only a little while of looking my mom let out a sound of triumph and held up my cold, snowy phone. We laughed later because the first thing I said when she found it and held it up was, "is that mine???" Um no she just took hers out of her pocket to look at it ;)
Luckily it had gotten really cold out right after we were outside so the snow didn't all melt into my phone. It still works!

I'm Leeeaaavvvviiinnnggggg on a jetplane....don't know when I'll be back again.....(sorry I couldn't resist ;) ) You are lucky you really can't hear my signing voice, I have been singing that song around my house all day! I am going to visit family in the midwest tomorrow. I AM leaving on a jet plane, but I do know when I am getting back again ;) I am really excited about seeing my family, including my 1 year old niece, but I am SO not excited about the weather I will be entering. It was mid 80's here this week....in the midwest it was 1 degree (and that is before wind chill) I think it might have actually dipped into the negatives, but I am not sure of exact numbers. Today my brother said it got up to a warm 14 degrees! brrrrrrrrr!
I am hoping it snows when I am there so I can at least enjoy beautiful white snow...and build a snowman, take my niece on a sled, have a snowball fight or two.......yes that is what I will think of on the plane tomorrow. Not the bitter cold misery I will be feeling, but the fun of snow mixed with family. ;)

My mom and I are planning on stamping when I am home and they have a nice digital camera so I will get to upload and share still. And of course I will have to share a pic or two of the fun I will have!

I like U a latte

I love the Like it a Latte set from the winter mini. I don't really drink coffee, but I do drink hot chocolate and I love punny coffee sayings! The set goes great with the Loves me designer paper. I got inspiration for this card from a card by my friend Val (11valerie11) and I just added my own touches.
I stamped the coffee mug in Cool Caribbean, then outlined the lines of the cup with Tempting Turquoise. The hearts were stamped with Regal Rose. The steam was embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. I used my ticket corner punch to punch the corners of the image paper and the Close to Cocoa layer.
For the sentiment I inked only the I Like...a latte (the stamps says "I like it a latte") I then used the U from an alphabet set (can't remember the name right now)
The last thing I did was cut out XOXO from another piece of the paper and pop it up.

Quote for today: "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death" Romans 8:1-2 (NIV)

Give thanks and JulieHRR

This is one of those cards that scans a little blah, but is crisp and cute in real life. I used the designer paper from the Just Delightful Simply Scrappin' kit and the Happy Harmony stamp set on this card. Both of these you can get for free during Sell-A-Bration. (Hurry if you are planning on ordering, Sell-A-Bration only lasts until February 26!)

I inked the flower image with Apricot Appeal and Always Artichoke Stampin' Up markers. The sentiment was stamped with Artichoke and then I used my NEW 1 1/4" circle punch to punch it out. I used the 1 3/8" punch to make the Artichoke layer. I love my new circle punches and I can't believe I waited this long to order them...they are a "must have" item! I glued the layers using a SU! glue stick. After I glued the designer paper onto the card I roughed the edges and corners up with my fingernail.







I also wanted to share another picture from CHA. This is a picture of Julie Ebersole (JulieHRR) and me at dinner one night. If you haven't seen Julie's blog check it out. She is a very talented stamper/crafter! And her personality is just as fun and crazy in person as it is on her blog!