Lots To Do Challenge -- friendship

Here is my submission for the Lots to Do Challenge this week. The theme this week is "friendship". The butterfly was stamped and colored with marker. Then I added stickles and a crackle medium.

Babysitting is great

So here's a snapshot of how I spend my days...I'm babysitting (I use that term loosely....they're 11 and 13) two boys and we have the best time. What other job pays you to act like a weirdo?

SBS 18 challenge -- barnyard

The challenge from SBS 18 this week is "barnyard". I have to preface the pictures by saying that I've never spent so much time on a card that looks like I scribbled it in just a few minutes. There are no stamps or anything on the card. Everything is drawn by hand. When I drew the hay bales inside the barn I was not happy with them so I added the twine. Did it help? I have no idea. It's hard to tell by the picture but the pig's nose is a little pink button.

Cute Card Thursday challenge -- things that grow

This week's challenge at Cute Card Thursday is "things that grow". I originally thought about making a card with a little family and a brand new baby...families grow.... but then I realized that I really don't have the crafting supplies for that. Then I thought about animals growing and changing. Technically, I guess this is a metamorphosis, but he gets bigger so cut me some slack! haha

Thank God It's Friday Challenge -- slide frames

This week's challenge on TGIF is to use slide frames. I (thank goodness) had a slide frame for the cuddlebug machine. I wanted to make a card for a friend who just got an apartment. I looked through some old pictures and found ones of her and our friends. What do you think?

Dieses week' s-Herausforderung auf TGIF ist, Diarahmen zu benutzen. I (danken Sie Güte), hatten einen Diarahmen für die cuddlebug Maschine. Ich wollte eine Karte für einen Freund bilden, der gerade eine Wohnung erhielt. Ich schaute durch einige alte Abbildungen und fand eine von ihr und von unseren Freunden. Was denken Sie?

4 x 4 Friday Challenge -- the beach

This week's challenge from 4 x 4 Friday is to make a beach card. Mine is made with white cardstock... I chalked the sun and water freehand. Then I used some tacky glue and put gold seed beads down as sand. Once that dried, I put a layer of Elmer's glue over the top to keep the beads on. The beach umbrella stamp is from Cat's Craft Cupboard. They are attached with pop dots.

Scrap Everything Challenge -- invitations

Here's my submission for the Scrap Everything challenge. The challenge is to make a card, treat bag or invitation for a party. I used Basic Grey paper (I think). There are ten ivory brads down the side... I just laced brown and pink gingham through the holes. The nest is made of some random threads from an embellishment kit. The owl stamp is from a set that we found at AC Moore.

A better pic of Slim

This is slim swimming in the pool. Notice his hugegantic legs and really long feet. His torso is also really long and slender.

Compare him to Mr. Freckles here...short and chubby. Just like his mommy. haha

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Some favorite pictures from this week

I haven't been posting much this week because it was the end of summer school and I was tutoring and babysitting as well. Here are some of my faves...

This is the plant I got from one of the students at summer school. It's lavender and FABULOUS! Isn't it a thoughtful gift?

This is the new waterfall that I bought for the frog tank. ChaCha was trying it out.

This picture is totally not clear but it's of my new fire-bellied toad, Slim. This frog has super long legs and a long, slim body.

My sister colored my hair today. I was taking pictures of myself while she did it. By the way, it's called getting your hair "colored", not "dyed". I was corrected repeatedly.

Mom got her hair dyed too. It looked funny and I made it even funnier by adding the rubber ducky.

A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge -- sketch

The challenge at A Spoon Full of Sugar is to follow a designated sketch. This is my first attempt at something like this. Here's the sketch:


And here's what I came up with:

Created by Hand -- skinny and orange challenge

The current challenge from Created by Hand is to make a skinny card (3 x 5") that is orange. I thought of doing an orange card...with oranges! Just to make it extra cool, the ink I used is orange scented! I inked the edges on everything but the actual orange slices to give it a bit more depth. It's pretty basic, but I like it!

Some pics of the animals

I only made one card today. What a bum I am. I did go give platelets at the Blood Bank though.

Here are some fun pictures of my animals.

Funky Fairy Challenge -- Stitching

Here is my card for the stitching challenge on the Funky Fairy blog. We've had the stitching stamp set for years and I think this is the first time I've ever used it. What do you think?

Funky Fairy's Challenge -- Get Well Soon card

Check out this Get Well card I made for the Funky Fairy's Challenge! Doesn't it just make you want to get sick so I can send it to you? Just kidding. I like to pretend that I invented this cardmaking technique but I bet it's been done before. I stamp an image twice-- one stays black and white and I cut random pieces out of the other, color them, and layer it onto the card. It is a really neat effect and saves me from having to color for hours on end. The scan job is terrible (seems to be the trend today) so you can't tell very well that there is about a 1/4" white border around the whole card.

As usual, I used some liquid glass on the card. The ice cube needed to look shiny!

Just for the record, I know the coolest place to get House Mouse stamps at the best prices. The man's name is Dick and he has a fabulous website. Even if you don't order much, he sends the funniest newsletters EVER.

A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge -- "one for the girls"

The Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge this week is to make a girly card. The scan of these cards didn't come out really great but I got lazy so I didn't re-do them. The whole outer edge is inked with Iris Staz-on ink. The flower girls are from Close to My Heart.

In honor of the girly challenge....here are a few of my favorite girls (and Wickee. He's a boy but we like him anyway)

Myself, Amy, Wickee (the imposter), and Jess

Marci and I looking fabulous at banquet

Theme Thursday -- Hearts

The theme on Theme Thursday is hearts. I thought this would just be a pain to do since hearts are so frilly but I managed to have a random brainstorm that turned out pretty well. What do you think?

Cute Card Thursday and Arty Girlz Challenges

So is it cheating to use the same cards for two challenges? I guess you don't need to answer because that's what I did and now you're stuck looking at the same cards for two different things. The Cute Card Thursday challenge is to create cards with just animals on them. Arty Girlz is looking for cards for men. I did a few animal cards and they aren't super girly, so they're manly enough to send to my guy friends!

As a super MEGA bonus, my mom did a boy card too!

Let us know what you think!

Just got this iguana stamp a few days ago at AC Moore. Totally love it! I have my own reptiles in the house so he got a hold of my heart! My cousin's birthday is in August and he works with reptiles for a living so I thought he'd like this. I drew the tree myself with marker and colored it in with chalks. The artificial leaves are another purchase from QVC.

I'm still not sure if I like this card or hate it. I went for the barbershop kinda look. I used liquid glass on the mirror portion. You can see it a bit better if you click the picture and enlarge it. Liquid glass is great to use on tons of stamping projects. I love the effect it gives. I have no idea who this card will go to.

TA-DA! Here's my mom's boy card. She just got this martini stamp (along with a beach-themed one) from Cat's Craft Cupboard. LOVE IT!

Stamp Something Challenge -- "the sweetest thing"

The Stamp Something challenge this week is "The sweetest thing". Mom just got some new stamps from Cat's Craft Cupboard. This slice of cake was one of them. I used red embossing powder for the heart and the cherry on the cake. A bronze embossing powder was used for the edges of the cake. What do you think?

Another novel down.... Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

I just finished reading the book Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. At Jess' bachelorette party it came up in conversation about book clubs. The novel follows the life of a man who loses his family and runs off with the circus. The author does an amazing job of really painting beautiful pictures of what he sees and does. Beware though, there are a few very sexual scenes. I wouldn't suggest this for the youngins!

What's next on the literary plate? The Memory Keeper's Daughter and The Glass Castle.

SBS18 Challenge -- "how does your garden grow?"

Here's my submission for this week's challenge on the SBS18 blog. I just got the paper pack, Whoops a Daisy, from Close to My Heart and this is the first thing I made with it. This was a two-day project because I used all the glitter, Stickles, and liquid glass on the flowers. What do you think?

Thank God It's Friday Challenge -- Quotations

Here is my submission for the Thank God It's Friday stamp challenge, "quotations". I just bought this cat stamp at AC Moore a few days ago. About a month ago I got the chair stamp in the $1 bin there too. I've been getting into using louder background and texture papers too. My mom just ordered a huge pack of assorted b & t from QVC (and I'm stealing it for all my projects!) What do you think?

I tried translating this...hopefully it doesn't say anything weird (Blame Babelfish if it does!)

Ist hier meine Unterordnung für den dankengott It' Stempelherausforderung s-Freitag, " quotations". Vor ich gerade kaufte diesen Katzestempel an Wechselstrom Moore einigen Tagen. Vor einem ungefähr Monat kam ich den Stuhlstempel im Sortierfach $1 dorthin auch. Ich habe in die Anwendung des lauteren Hintergrundes gekommen und Papiere auch masere. Meine Mamma bestellte gerade einen sehr großen Satz sortiertes b & t von QVC (und ich stiehlt es für alle meine Projekte!) Was denken Sie?

Hibiscus

Take a look at the hibiscus from the back yard. They are all blooming and looking fabulous!

Some Sculpey creations!

I took some pictures of some of the Sculpey stuff I've made.

The picture of the little sushi pieces was inspired by my Aunt (we share a love of sushi). I made her a set of sushi charms and put them on a charm bracelet for her for Christmas.

The other charms are for necklaces. My favorite is the Purple People Eater (are you singing the song in your head?)

Created by Hand Challenge -- Envelopes

I apologize in advance for the pictures...the computer with the scanner is in the shop.

I think this challenge was the toughest one yet... Created by Hand's challenge this week is to create something with the theme of "envelopes". I used a picture of a family friend's baby, Logan Palmer. It's a 6 x 6" card using Close to My Heart heavenly blue paper. I hand-drew the envelopes. The stork stamp is from Stampin' Up. It's embellished with liquid glass. All of the edges were inked with lilac mist (Close to My Heart). I found the little stars in a box in the cupboard...not a clue where they came from!