A Family Reunion Welcome

I'm Back!
Here is a card I stamped to welcome family members to this years' family reunion. These cards were placed in these cool backpack bags we had for all of the adults and the bigger kids. I t was cute seeing so many people sporting their bags. My daughter is sporting the one on the right and my brother's son is sporting his on the left.


Well, it has been awhile.Somehow when summer approaches I am under the illusion that I will somehow miraculously have more time for crafting and blogging. WRONG! Just because I am not working outside the home for 10 summer weeks doesn't mean more free time. My kids and I have been more busier than ever! First we began with a 2-week themed summer camp for my 2 middle ones (dinosaur camp and clay and pottery camp), leaving the youngest one of all staying at home for camp Mommy time. This included trips to the park/playground, Philadelphia Zoo, Please Touch Museum, swimming, biking, and other little fun stuff. They loved these two weeks but these weeks exhausted me. I could bore you with the rest, I won't. Just know each day left me more tired than the rest. I resolved to leave today for minimal effort...no swim club, beach or anything today. We will just BE today.

Amidst all of this fun, my sister and I have been working on our family reunion. So during camp time I was also busy preparing and finalizing things. I stamped welcome cards to put in the reunion bags that housed all of the information for the weekend. I wanted to include something hand stamped to show our appreciation for them joining us for the family reunion. Usually we travel to Ohio, but this year they traveled to us.

For the card I used:
Stamp set: Warm Words
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Gray and retired Urban Garden designer series paper
Ink: Basic Gray

A Rainy Day Wedding

I made this wedding card for a colleague of my husbands who was getting married. A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I had the pleasure of attending their wedding. It was one of the most beautiful wedding ceremonies I've witnessed. This wedding was held outdoors in between rain showers. The couple took everything in stride and I think this added to the beauty of the day. When the sun came out it shone beautifully with the clearest blue skies. Within a half hour the rain was back finding the bride and groom under a trellis continuing on as if the sun wasn't covered with grey clouds. In the end it did clear up but it really didn't matter. Everyone was having fun. The reception was under a tent and the food was delicious! One of the best things about a rainy outdoor wedding is the absence of mosquitos.

I enjoyed making this card but don't look too close, I really need to invest in a larger die cut oval. Come to think of it, I just might own one. I believe it is still in its' plastic shrink wrap. I must investigate this asap.

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: Basic Gray, Whisper White, pretty in pink
ink: Pretty in pink
Stamp set: Upsy Daisy and Hugs & Wishes
Accessories: Gray striped ribbon (SU! District, Ribbon Originals)

Well, thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!
Have a great day!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! We have been spending a relaxing day here in my household. The kids were so excited to share their Father's Day school crafts with their dad. They were also equally excited to wrap the store bought gifts for their day. I stamped four different Father's Day cards and then let them choose which one would be for their dad, grandfathers, and uncle. This too was a highlight for them. They are so easy to please!

To create todays' cards I pulled out some of my retired patterned paper from Stampin' Up! I am trying to put to good use my overflowing stock of product. I thought these colors were perfect for making manly cards. I'll post them all, let me know which you think they chose. I'll reveal the actual card tomorrow.


Card #1 features Chocolate chip, Bashful Blue, and Very Vanilla cardstock along with Spring Showers designer series paper with All Year Cheer stamp set, corduroy buttons, twill tape, natural twine, and linen thread.




















Card #2 also features Chocolate chip and Very Vanilla cardstock along with Spring Showers designer series paper with Dad's Day stamp set, hodge podge hardware, and twill tape. This card was so much fun, I used my 3/4" square punch to punch out tons of squares. Then I adhered them onto Very vanilla cardstock and then used my Big Shot with my top note die for the design on the front of the card.

















Card #3 continues to feature Chocolate chip, Bashful Blue, and Very Vanilla cardstock along with Spring Showers designer series paper with All Year Cheer stamp set, twill tape, corduroy buttons, and linen thread.




















Card #4 also continues to feature Chocolate chip and Very Vanilla cardstock along with Spring Showers designer series paper with All Year Cheer stamp set, twill tape, corduroy buttons, and linen thread.


















Enjoy the rest of your day with Dad! We are off to have a happy ending!
Also known as ice cream.

Well, thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something

KWerner Color Inspiraton 55

I decided to give Kristina Werner's color challenge a go today. I've looked frequently at all of the adorable cards created by so many creative people with my own intentions to do it too! Well, finally I got the opportunity to join in the fun. My daughter needed a birthday card today for a boy from school. I thought the color challenge would be perfect to get me started without having to come up with my own color combination.











For this card, I used All In The Family, Let's Party, and Hugs and Wishes Stampin' Up! stamp sets. For the first time ever, I tried some stitching on my card. I usually try to keep my cards quick and simple but I thought I would add a little bit extra to my card. I stitched it by hand using linen thread and a needle. I think I'm gonna like this new look. Additionally, I've just started getting into the habit of using my Stampamajig to line up images for my cards. I've always been a bit hesitant to use it but now I quickly reach for it to get everything exactly where I want it. It is now one of my essential stamping tools. I used it for the little boy on the card front. I had LOTS of fun with this challenge. I think I'll have to try this again next week.


Do check out the other entries here.

Thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!

It's Juneteenth!

Today marks the anniversary of two special events that a profound effect on making me the person I am me today. One happened long before my birth and the other happened 30 plus years since my birth.

June 19th is also known as Juneteenth. Juneteenth (June 19th), marks the anniversary of the date the slaves found out they were free. On June 19, 1865 (2years after Lincoln's Emanicipation Proclomation in 1963), The news finally reached the slaves to inform them that they were free. This is a very important and relevant date for me. With this date in my heart, my now husband and I planned our wedding on this very same date.



So, in short on June 19, 1999 I married the man of my dreams! I love and appreciate him more today than I did 10 years ago. He calms me. He's my rock and my constant source of support. Today, we celebrate our 10th anniversary while also keeping in mind the important historical relevance and context of this particular date. My husband and I celebrate this important day while also teaching our children the history of our culture.

For our anniversary, my husband and I have a tradition of returning to the place of our first date, the most amazing restaurant. When we went for our first date it was a BYOB store front restaurant. Today it's an upscale, valet parking, much needed reservation type of restaurant. I am salivating just thinking about my meal. Yum! Yum!




Last Day of School and Teacher Gifts
I finished my school year yesterday. YEAH ME!!! Today marks the last day of school for my children. Last night while my husband got the boys ready for bed, my daughter and I baked chocolate chip cookies their teachers as a thank you. We used my favorite orange companion. My kitchenAid mixer. It's real my favorite color...orange! (I usually claim green and brown. I like those too, but my first favorite color ever in life, was orange and now I am embracing it once again:-)I love this thing! It was a special gift to myself:-) Go Orange!



















We bagged some up in cello bags and attached a cute little note card. Inside the note card, I wrote "Thanks for making me a smart little cookie!" After the cookies were baked and I tucked my daughter in to bed, I sat down with a retired simply scrappin' kit and created cards to go along with the bags of cookies. Here they are. This morning my kids decorated white Stampin' Up! gift bags by adhering stickers all over them. I neglected to get a picture of them this morning but I am posting sample stickers of what they used this morning.
















































Now I am off to get everything in order for tonight. (Facial, Hair all the fun stuff of being a woman)

Well, thanks for stopping by... now go stamp something!

A Really Good Friend

Last weekend I was inspired to create a card for Trish, a good friend of mine. I think oh her often and decided to let her know. Before marriage and kids we had lots of time for each other. Lately our busy lives have kept us apart while email has held us together. She's the kind of friend that knows that even though she may not hear from me and me from her for awhile the bond of our friendship remains unbroken.

I decided to pull out my patterned papers, and my klutz book to trace a nice outfit for Trish's card. My friend Trish is always stylin' so I felt this would be the appropriate touch for her card. I also pulled out some retired rub-ons. I have so many of these and seldom use them. The final touch was adding the tag. I wanted to include each of the colors and patterned paper on the tag to complete the look!
She received it yesterday and emailed me this morning to let me know that it arrived and that she liked it. I am so glad she liked it!






















Well, thanks for stopping by ... now go stamp something!

Another Tassel

Over the weekend the daughter of a friend of mine graduated from high school. Here is my latest card using my favorite Tassel Time stamp set. Her colors were gold and blue. I found an old card that I stamped long ago and decided to try out the layout again. For this I tried the crayon resist technique and I feel pretty good about the way it turned out. This was one of the first techniques I learned when I was a new stamper. Sometimes it is good to go back and start again from your roots to experience that stamping magic again. She opened her gifts after we left so I didn't get to see her face. I hope she liked it!

Well, thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!