Masking Technique

I am back with another card using my favorite love stamp! I seriously think it's just the cutest thing! I CASED this card from Robin Feicht (Stamping Country). I loved how she created the moon using the masking technique and it is perfect for this sentiment.

To create the big, bright moon, you will need to take a scratch piece of paper and cut a circle out of it. I used my circle framelits (the 2 3/8 in. circle). Item # 130911

This creates a mask for you to lay over your card and stamp.

I used the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set (Item #130517) to stamp inside the circle. Once you've created your moon, lay the cut out circle over the moon and sponge around in with a few different colors to create the sky. When you remove the circle, you now have a cool looking moon! Cool, right?

For the gray moon, I did the same thing on my last card here. I used the Chalk Talk Framelits (Item #129983) to cut out the sentiment. And I love this sentiment!

Supplies used:

Paper: Night of Navy, Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Smoky Slate (little moon)

Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge, Love You to the Moon

Ink: Night of Navy, Island Indigo, Basic Gray, Real Red, Crushed Curry

Tools: Circle Framelits, Chalk Talk Framelits, Small Heart Punch

Pretties: Basic Jewel Rhinestones, Stickles (non SU), Red Ribbon (non SU)

*All of these Stampin' Up! supplies can purchased anytime in my Online Store!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. I have lots of plans this weekend. Last night I went to see "Lone Survivor". Let me tell you...if you go, bring lots of tissue! What a tear jerker. Gets you right to the core from the very beginning. Awesome movie. In fact, I am going again on Wednesday with my Hunny. He is still at work so I want to go with him when he gets home. I am anxious to see his reaction. It is different for the guys who have been there-I can't imagine. I love our troops...

Tonight I get to meet Molly Ringwald! Yep! I am going to her concert here in town and afterwards, I get to help her with her CD signing! So cool! I have watched all her 80's movies forever! I can't wait. Come back soon and I'll tell you how it goes.

Thanks for stopping by!

To the Moon and Back!

Hope everyone had an awesome weekend! We pretty much hung out at the house, except for yesterday. My little guys wanted to go on a "date" with me so we went to CiCi's for some pizza (I know-not so real, huh?) But I couldn't resist the buffalo chicken pizza calling my name! It was delish.

After eating, we went to the park to feed the ducks and let the boys run off some energy. Got some ice cream and came back home for jammies and a movie! It was nice. I love those boys to the moon and back!

Speaking of moons! This image is the reason I bought this stamp set. I think it is the cutest! After I finished the card, I realized that smokey slate would've probably made a better moon, but oh well. I like it anyways. I stamped the moon a second time on basic gray cardstock, cut it out and glued it over the original image. Added some white gel pen and stickles. I colored the sentiment with my Stamp-n-Write markers. Punched a small heart and added a candy dot. Love those little things! The gray, textured layer was created using an embossing folder that will be available during Sale-A-Bration. (starting January 26th)

(Love You to the Moon - Item # 133143)

Supplies Used:

Paper: Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Real Red, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer 

Stamps: Love You to the Moon

Ink: Basic Black

Markers: Real Red, Tangerine Tango, Bermuda Bay

Pretties: Candy Dots, White Bakers Twine, Stickles (non SU), White Gel Pen

All of these SU supplies can be purchased in my Online Store!

What do you think? I think it makes a great masculine valentine-maybe I'll give it to my Hunny!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Valentines

I stumbled upon a goldmine of card making videos recently! A fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator, Connie Stewart, does a series called "Flash Cards". Have you ever heard of them? Wow! If not, you should go to You Tube and search "Connie Stewart Flash Cards" or "Connie Stewart Flash Cards 2.0". She shows a zillion ways to make cards using only two little pieces of cardstock and your card base. So clever! I would've never thought of some of her ideas. 

I cased a few of her cards last night! The card above being one of them. The sentiment is from a retired stamp set. The little hearts are from a new stamp set called "Language of Love". I love it! And those little hearts are easily cut out using the small heart punch. The big, scalloped heart is using a stamp from the "Hearts of Flutter" set and I punched the center heart using the matching framelits.

I have enjoyed watching the Flash Card series. It really gets you to try things that you wouldn't normally think of. I definitely recommend watching them for yourself! 

Supplies Used:

Paper: Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Real Red

Stamps: Hearts a Flutter, Language of Love, Wacky Wishes (retired)

Ink: Real Red

Tools: Small Heart Punch, Hearts a Flutter framelits

Pretties: Rhinestone

To shop for any of these products, shop my online store anytime!

I love making Valentines cards! I don't know why-I guess it's the hearts! 

I hope you are having a great weekend! I know I am enjoying watching all the good movies they have been showing on TV and stamping! My littles are out of school on Monday so we get a long weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Congrats!

I finally got to sit and play with my new goodies! We had a busy weekend, that included going to a Stampin' Up! open house. Leadership was in Houston this year and, lucky for me, I live about 45 minutes from Houston so my sweet Hunny took a me and a friend. He was such a sport-he walked around and carried my stuff and he even carved his own stamp at the 'Undefined' booth!

Here is a cute pic I snapped of him! He was so focused! He ended up carving his company's logo...

This was his first taste of a Stampin' Up! event. I want him to see convention!

So, this was interesting....

I played a game to win a free stamp set...and I ended up getting 5! I guess they were feeling really generous. I got the "Language of Love" (Item #133074) stamp set-too cool! Well, I got five actually! I also picked up the Everyday Occasions kit (Item #134797) while I was there. I got to see all the new products and play around with a few things.

For this card, I used the "Happy Congratulations" stamp set, which is one of my favorites in the spring catalog. I added some gold sequins for sparkle-Stampin' Up! sells some but I just buy the bags at craft stores for super cheap. This is a really quick and simple card!

Supplies used for this card:

Stamp Set: Happy Congratulations

Paper: Crumb Cake, Real Red, Whisper White

Designer Paper: Fresh Prints

Ink: Basic Black, Coastal Cabana, Real Red

Pretties: Gold Sequins (Non SU) 

To order any of these products, visit my online store to shop anytime!

Thank you for stopping by.

Create with Connie and Mary - Color Challenge CCMC284

I haven't participated in a challenge in a long time. So I went searching for a challenge to get my mojo going! After all the chaos of the holidays, it's sometimes hard to sit down and get creative! I came across this challenge yesterday and I loved the colors!

 

What do you think? I am thinking 80's!

I had so much fun with these colors! Great way to move out of the holiday colors (don't get me wrong, I LOVE the holidays) but it is time to move on. I used the Hello, Lovely stamp set and to get those images on the bottom straight, I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig! (Item #101049) That tool is a must have! 

Supplies Used for this Card:

Stamp Sets: Hello, Lovely (Item #130243)

Paper: Basic Black (Item #121045) Bermuda Bay (Item #131197) Strawberry Slush (Item #131295)

Whisper White (Item #100730)

Ink: Bermuda Bay (Item #131171) Strawberry Slush (Item #131178) Basic Black (Item #126980)

Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig (Item #101049) Itty Bitty Punch (Item #118309)

Pretties: Rhinestone Basic Jewels (Item #119246)

Check out the new Occasions Mini Catalog!

Simple Thank You

I wanted to share this super quick thank you card with you. I think several of these would make a sweet, little gift for someone. I have been using this Gorgeous Grunge stamp set a lot lately. 

Supplies used on this card:

Stamp Sets: Gorgeous Grunge (#130517) Papillon Potpourri (#123759) Express Yourself (Hostess)

Paper: Crumb Cake (#120953) Whisper White (#100730)

Ink: Strawberry Slush (#131178) Pistachio Pudding (#131177) Coastal Cabana (#131175) 

Basic Gray (#126981)

Tools: Bitty Butterfly Punch (#129406)

Pretties: Rhinestone Basic Jewels (#119246)

Click here to order these supplies!

Welcome 2014...Happy New Year!

New year...new blog...first post!

My oh my! What a year it has been...I feel like I have just come to a sudden stop after a wild roller coaster ride! I have never been more ready for a new year, a fresh start. How about you?

2013 has really been a year of ups and downs. No doubt, there were plenty of blessings though. I am pretty sure the last 6 months have aged me..eh..10 years? If you read my other blog (stamperbythesea.blogspot.com) then you know I took on a full time job for the first time in about 8 years this past summer. I started the end of May and I just left that job a couple of weeks ago. THAT was an experience! Lets just say, having a husband that works out of town and three VERY active boys...I took on more than I could handle. I tried to hang in as long as I could and it was very stressful.  Very stressful. I didn't want to leave because I really love the ladies I worked with but my home life was hanging on by a thread. I finally had to make a change...for my family and my sanity.

I hardly had time for anything, much less stamping and other things I enjoy so much. It was absolute chaos. During all that, we were also looking for a new home. I don't even want to re-live that experience! We still have yet to find a home-matter of fact-we don't even know for sure anymore where exactly we want our home to be. So...our search continues. BUT I will NOT let it consume my every thought like I was doing. Talk about draining! 

I can't tell you how happy I am to be back home. Things are so much more calm. My kids love it - I have already seen such a change in their behavior. I have spent lots of time in my stamp room! I want to spend more time stamping - it is my therapy..seriously. And the cool thing is-my kids like to spend time in my stamp room with me! Matter of fact, my youngest is sitting on my lap as I type.

I am glad I went to work and had that experience. I used to always wonder if being at home was what I should be doing. Was I contributing enough? Should I be working since all my boys were in school now?Now I know without a single doubt! I am right where I need to be.

I am determined this year is going to be better. I know I probably said that last year but, seriously, I will not let things get to me like I have been. I will let things go. I admit, I'm a worry wort. I like to be in control. I am going to try real hard to "roll with the flow" (or is it "row"?). I need to let things go so they don't control me (because I can clearly see when looking back - I was never in control). I just want to enjoy each day, thoroughly. I want to focus on my family and myself. Enough putting my energy into things that don't matter.

I also really want to make my family's health a huge priority. Like , for instance, getting rid of all processed food and replace it with real, wholesome food only. This is a HUGE goal because, as you know, fast food and Wal-Mart are quite the convenience. I am totally spoiled. But it is time for a change - I am ready to feel better. I have been reading a lot about the health benefits of eating real food (not that it's shocking that pumping ourselves full of chemicals and synthetic hormones is bad for us...go figure!) and I am really excited to get my family on that path. I've already tossed the chemical filled products in our house and that has been great! That was my first step. Now I know changing our eating habits is going to be a  bit more challenging. I have been following 100 Days of Real Food, which is a fantastic website if you are interested. She helps you shop for whole foods on a budget and even has meal plans. I am looking forward to the challenge. 

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are as excited as I am to start the new year! What do you think of my new blog? I decided to start fresh here to. My old blog name was too close to another demo's blog name and I wanted something of my own. How much more of  "my own" can I get than my name? Pretty simple, huh? Just how I want this year to be. I hope you will visit me often here at my new spot. If you read my old blog, drop me a comment and let me know you found me! Also, go "like" my facebook page to as I will be sharing daily over there.

Here is to a new year! Bring it on 2014 - I am ready! This is going to be a great year. Enjoy and many blessings to everyone. Stay safe!