Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Dream Big



I created this card for Bellarific Friday earlier this month,  but it is beyond me why I failed to post it!

I really like this Heritage Tree image with it's swirly design and decided it needed to really POP from the paper. Thus, my clean and simple image. 

You can find DREAM BIG at Impression Obsession

Never sell yourself short

Make your goals big enough that they require a good effort

They'll be so much more meaningful when you get to the top of that tree you have your sights on!


Happy Stamping~

Monday, July 29, 2013

Dare to get Dirty 2013!



Do you Dare to get Dirty?

If you a Member of the Fan Club at Splitcoaststampers, you can join the Dirty Dozen and the Dirty Dozen Alumni for a FABULOUS week of challenges!

They have some super prizes for random player/winners.

How fun is that!




I created my card for my good friend Jeanne S's challenge

I am using Uptown Girl Audrey Loves her Makeup from Stamping Bella

I coloured her with my Touch Markers

and I used Shades of Gray Designer Paper from The Paper Loft



If you get the chance to play along in the Dirty Challenges, we'd love to have you!!!!


Friday, July 26, 2013

It's Bellarific Friday!!!!



This weeks challenge was a Sketch. A BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL Sketch!!!!

I have had Belinda and Bernadette Bench Buddies in my stamping cache for quite awhile, but hadn't taken the opportunity to ink it up~~~ LOVED colouring this one with my Touch Markers and have even given you a colour map to see which one's i've used!


This weeks challenge is an Inspiration Challenge


Be sure to head on over to BlogaBella to check out the great creations from Da Sistahood!!!!

Happy Stamping!

Hoppin' One last day with Impression Obsession





Leaving you with one last chilly selection for today's hop!!!!

I LOVE the sweet snowman images that Mitra is releasing now and this one especially!!!!!

How cute is this image??


I coloured the image with my Touch Markers

Colours used

CG1,3
PB76,183
YR33,23

I added a snowy embellishment using the Snowflake Die Set


You've probably arrived from Lauras Blog

I am the last stop on the hop~

The Caboose at the end of the great train

If you want to do it all again, or you landed here randomly, please Head over to the Impression Obsession Blog where the Hop will commence!!!!

Be sure to leave comments to win some $$$ toward some of these great great stamps and dies!

You'll be seeing a LOT more of the New images here in the near future!


Happy Stamping and Good Luck!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Impression Obsession CHA Release Hop Day 4-Brrrrrrr



Need to cool down? Here's a Cool Winter Card that might make you a little Chilly!!!!

Hope you've been enjoying the hop this week!

There's been beaucoup de Eye Candy eh??

I've been playing with Sentiments again.

This Sentiment is Dear to my Heart. I LOVE this song

I used to sing it to my babies when I was expecting!!!

Naturally I had to keep the card Brown Paper Coloured, So I based it with Kraft Cardstock and used the fun Cover a Card Nordic Background to give it a little more dimension.

I ground the sentiment on the fun Mitten Die

and the sentiment is called



If you've been hopping, you've arrived from Laura's Blog

and if you haven't, my blog is the final stop on the hop!

Soooo Head on over to Impression Obsession to Begin

Be sure to leave a comment on each blog as there will be a draw every day for stamping bucks!!!

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Hoppin' With Impression Obsession Day 3! Spooky



Good Morning!!!

The Impression Obsession Design Team is hopping again today to showcase some of the fabulous new images that are now available on the Impression Obsession Blog

If you're already on the hop, you will have arrived from Kittie's Blog!

I am the last spot on the hop, so if you're here, you are all done!!!

If you haven't started, please be sure to head on over to the Impression Obsession Blog to begin as well as to get all the rules regarding the daily giveaways! 

I can feel a chill in the air

In autumn, it's a nice feeling! Sweater Weather, my favourite!!!!

I created this spooky Halloween Scene with this fun new stamp from Gary Robertson


I coloured the Tree in with my Touch Markers!

The little Sleepy Hollow Sentiment is perfect for this image I think

and of course I thought this scene needed a gate, so I used the Fence Die

Although I'm enjoying the warm weather, I do look forward to the crisp days of September, October and November. Bring on Fall, but let me enjoy a touch more of the summer

See you tomorrow with another peek!!




Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Impression Obsession New Release Blog Hop-Day Two! Bless this House



Welcome Back!

Hope you enjoyed yesterday's Blog Hop

We have some more Impression Obsession Goodness for you today!

You've probably arrived from Laura's Blog

Here is the Blog List 

Vicki Garrett- You are here



Today I'm sharing Barnwood Birdhouse

I really like the look of this stamp and teamed it up with some Patterned Paper that picks up the blue in the image. I topped it off with this sweet Bless this House Sentiment

Make sure to leave comments on each and every blog as there will be drawings for IO cash EVERY DAY!!! For all the participation deets, head over to the IO Blog

Good Luck!

Monday, July 22, 2013

There's no place like home




This weekend, I was treated to the MOST AMAZING Production!

The Wizard of Oz

The show was beyond my expectations. The Visuals were incredible, the company wonderful and with new songs and some additional comedic lines, thoroughly enjoyable!!!



I created this Journal Page in honour of my wonderful weekend!!!

Using two of my favourite stamps from Stamping Bella

and

I used the Sponge and Spritz Technique to make the background!




Here we are in front of the Theater





The inside of the Theatre was Stunning!

Wizard of Oz has been a long time favourite Movie of mine

I clearly remember the feeling I experienced the first time that the door of the little farmhouse opened up into Munchkin Land. Ohhhh the visual experience of the Brilliant colours and that Yellow Brick Road.
I had to watch it year after year.

As I grew older, I grew to understand and appreciate the Themes in the Movie

It seems that we are always searching for those qualities that we think that are personally barren; courage, empathy, the ability to emote, intelligence. Often we seek to fulfill these desires externally, through others and sadly through materialistic means.

What shines through in the Wizard of Oz, is that we really don't lack these attributes. If you look deep within yourself they're there. Perhaps they need to be developed, but they are there.

The grass is not always greener on the other side, there really is No Place Like Home. It's not about the roof over your head, it's not about the comfort level of your bed. Home is a state of comfort, peace, love and trust. Keep looking within and you will truly find

There is No Place Like Home.


I'll leave you with a couple of shots from our walk home






and the Kick A** Socks that my Sweetheart Surprised with.




Don't they ROCK???


IO New Release Blog Hop Week!




Just a little note... I prematurely pushed the Publish Button and EEEEP~ The Hop doesn't start until tomorrow, Monday July 22nd.

Seeing that it was a little on the chilly side here today (not really, but cool in comparison to the last few weeks) I thought a wintery card would be welcome!

The Impression Obsession team is showcasing some new images being introduced this week at CHA! You can visit the I.O. Blog each day this week for links to the previews. Be sure to leave a comment on each designer's posts throughout the week for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate daily from Impression Obsession!!!




and I'm the last stop on the hop!

If you haven't hopped yet, it's best to start at the

Impression Obsession Blog and get all the rules and deets for the challenge

My card tonight is mainly Sentimental

That is, I paired this awesome sentiment with some cool papers from MME Christmas Collection

The name of the sentiment is 


All I can say, is that I'll be making a few Christmas Cards with this fun stamp

I Lurve it!!!!

Come back tomorrow to see more new cool stuff!

Happy Stamping



Friday, July 19, 2013

Bellarific Friday! Make it Christmasy!





Holy Mackerel! Is it Friday already? The weeks are just flying by!

I've been on training at work for the last three weeks and oh boy....longgggg days!
By the time I got home each night, I was exhausted!!!

I did get a little time to stamp this week though and especially to create this sweet card for the Christmas Challenge. Snowmen are my favourite winter image, Christmas or otherwise and I had to pull this fellow out and work with him for the challenge! He is absolutely Scrumptious!!! Scrumpdillyumptious in fact!!!! He's Frostier!

I had some cool paper kicking around from WR Memory Makers 

Coloured him with my Touch Markers

Here's the Map!!!




Make sure you head on over to Blogabella to see all the fabulous Sistahood Creations

I know they will be Delicious!!!!

Next week is a sketch and you can see it there as well 

Send your Entry to Em and you could be the winner of a Gift Certificate!
Happy Stamping!


Thursday, July 18, 2013

Bellarific Friday-Button Button!!




SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!! I am SO grooving on this chicklet!!!!

The challenge for this week was to use buttons on your project. I intended to use lots and lots of buttons, but decided just to use one on her sweet School Bag

Oh my my!!! I can't get over Mimi's Scrumptiousness!!!!!

Head on over to Blogabella to see the DT and Sistahs sweet creations and of course to check out the sketch for next week!

Hope you have an AMAZING weekend!

MWAH!!!



Pack your bags, we're off to the Apple Orchard! IO stamps Challenge



This week for our Travel/Vacation Challenge, I'm off to the Apple Orchard
Just about every September, I love to take a Sunday drive and pick Apples!!!

I LOVE this new image from Impression Obsession that will soon be released!!!!

I combined Prism Pencils (Apples and Leaves) with Touch Markers (Basket and branches) to colour this pretty image. I created a background with the Gingham Cover a Card Stamp, which is one of my go to stamps for backgrounds!

Here are the rules and the Details for the Challenge

Use all IO dies/stamps in your post. 
The focal point of the card must be IO stamp(s) or die(s).   Card shape templates are allowed.  If you have a question please email me.
Taking part in other challenges is allowed if our company is listed first.
Ending time is this challenge will be the following Wednesday, July 24, at 10 p.m. EST.
Use the Inlinkz thumbnail format on the blog post today
The drawing is for a $25 Gift Certificate, for use in our on-line store, picked by Random.org.
The players are notified of the winner by email the night it ends.
The winner's name will be posted with the DT Thursday post on July 25.
All entries are posted in the Customer Card Gallery under Card Galleries at the top of the page, with a link back to your blog/gallery post.


Head on over to the IO Blog to link to today's Players!

 A little more exciting news!

We have a New Designer on the Team!

Welcome Ellen Taylor!

Ellen is Super Talented and I'm sure you will be simply awed by her creations!!!




Happy Stamping!

Friday, July 12, 2013

Bellarific Friday



Oh my gosh! I can't believe that it's Friday already. The summer is flying by and I've barely had a minute to post!!!! This weeks challenge was a sketch! I think this one is fabby!!!

I was running out of Birthday Cards, so I thought I'd better build up my stash again

What better an image for a Birthday Card than Ramona and her Cake!
How cute is she?

I hope to get a little more organized in the next couple of weeks so that you'll see some more regular posts. Im looking forward to next week's challenge, which is Christmas in July!!!!

Maybe making a cool card will help me to beat the heat!

Make sure you hop on over to Blogabella to see all the creations and get the scoop on how to enter your Christmasy Creation!


Thursday, July 4, 2013

Shakin' it up with Impression Obsession!!



Today, we're Shakin' it up over at Impression Obsession and showcasing these fabulous  Shaker Pouches.  They make designing Shaker cards super easy and especially because there are also dies to match! The dies come in Circles and Squares

For the main image of my card , I used this sweet summer stamp called  Max. Super cute eh?

I coloured up Max with my Touch Markers

Here's the markers I used

Skin: R131, R139, RP7
Shorts: F144, GY47
Fins and Goggles: B63, B67
Hair: Br93, BR97
Starfish: R135,R28

I also used a couple of different stamps to create my background

Cover a Card Seashell and around the Die Cut Circle, Grunge Star

I set the sentiment on a Tag Die Cut from the Flags Die Cut Set and finished the card off with a pair of Sunglasses.  I filled my shaker with Flower Soft Ultrafine Sand and Tied the Twine into a jiggity jag kinda knot!!!

I had a lot of fun making this card....makes me reminisce to my early stamping days. BOY was I GREEN.....i'd prefer to say I was green, so you won't ask me if I fell off the Turnip Truck or perhaps if I was a few bricks short of a load... several fries short of a happy meal? Here's the Story

I had just joined Stampin' Up! and was excited to be part of a Demonstrators Community. A lady on the newsgroup was hosting a technique swap. There were ALL sorts of techniques that we could choose from, most of which I had no idea what they were about. It was a BIG hop.. I'm thinking 25 to 30 cards, maybe more. Hmmmm this is starting to sound like the BIG FISH THAT GOT AWAY....nope, I fished myself in, hook, line and sinker!!! Anyway I had one of my favourite snowmen stamp sets and decided it would be pretty cool to make Shaker Cards.....HELLO???? 25 SHAKER CARDS..... OR 30....ohhhh it might as well have been 130!!! This of course was in the day before we had die cuts and such. I had one of those Coluzzle Things that you could cut frames

So I decided to create a frame with a snowman on the lower left hand side. Not only did I have to use the Coluzzle to cut out the middle of each panel, I couldn't go around quickly, because I had to cut around the snowman....yep, fussy cutting. What in the world did I get myself into??

Well let me tell you this part. I got myself into forming a relationship that is dear to my heart. The Swap Hostess happened to be my BFF Jacqui, whom i'd never met at that point. She lives over four hours away,  so you might be wondering how this happened.

After spending painstaking hours embossing, colouring, cutting, foam taping, inserting beads, having the little buggers stick to the side of the foam, I conquered. I was SO proud of these cards and off to the Post Office I dashed, thinking I was the Cats Ass!!!  Well the due date for the swaps passed and I got an email from Jacqui....

"Your cards did not arrive, did you send them?" 

WHAT

ACK

CHOKE

FAINT!!!

I sent them Jacqui! (Thinking to myself that I sure hope after ALL that, she doesn't think i'm a flaker).

I was crappin' a brick for sure for about another several days before they actually arrived.

Anyway, couple of lessons learned:

 Know what you're doing before you DIVE in

Don't ever volunteer to make Shaker Cards in Bulk

Get a Tracking number for your swap cards!

Soooo I took a look on Splitcoast to see if I posted the original card but no go

I do know that Jacqui has saved it all these years and I think if I hadn't have called her to profess that I wasn't a flaker, we wouldn't have the amazing friendship we have today.

Love you much Jax!

Okay, back to business

For some reason I have a difficult time copying links to this blog with my MAC

SO please forgive me

I am going to post the link for the Impression Obsession Blog and if you would kindly take a jaunt over there, Shirley has most graciously posted all the links for you


Here's who is playing today, so you are also welcome to follow the links on my sidebar!!



Jeanne
Daniela
Dina
Kittie
Laura
Jenny
Vicki

Happy Stamping!

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Happy BIrthday Dad!





Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Dad is celebrating his 78th Birthday today!

It's great to see you up and moving again. It's fitting that I used fixafella for his Birthday Card. He is still working at 78 years of age and I've never seen someone with such a work ethic. He was also the patient parent when I was growing up and I learned a lot from him.



Here he is with his Sidekick Sydney!

Love you much!


Supplies

Stamps: Fixafella from Stamping Bella
Designer Paper: The Paper Loft
Markers: Touch Twin Markers

and 

The Colour Map