Papertrey October Blog Hop Challenge

I'm SOOOO excited to get to participate again! I've only managed to actually participate a couple of other times. I LOVE this snowman stamp, so I am happy for any chance I have to use it :)

But, the first thing I decided I wanted to do for this card was the pattern paper I stamped. I started out with the sweet blush and stamped it with Tsukineko Opera Pink. Then I randomly stamped the snowflakes (well,  not really randomly, I actually thought about where to stampe each one, but you know what I mean :)) Then I heat embossed them with white sparkly embossing powder. For the snowman, I stamped him in versmark too, but I embossed him with ultra-thick white embossing powder. Then I stamped his face and arms with timber brown stazon.

The brackets are from 7 gypsies and I have had them in my stash for awhile lol.  I stitched some Bo Bunny double dot cardstock pieces on the sides to finish it off.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you are enjoying the Papertrey blog hop :)

how about a layout?!

I know :) You really might not think it from what I usually share here on the blog, but I am very much a scrapbooker...at least as much as I am a cardmaker.So I thought I would share a layout instead today. These photos are from a couple years ago(!) But I just love them :)

These are just pictures I took of Leah and Rhys being silly. What I love is how you can see just how much they *do* love each other :) When Rhys walked by when I was making this layout and saw these pictures, he said "that's when Leah still liked me"....I thought that was so sad though! Really of course, they get along the same, but Leah is a little more shy about gving him hugs and kisses than she was then. Rhys I think still likes them, even though he's a boy :) I really like these papers. They are from a K& Co Valentine's paper pad, but I thought they were perfect. I don't know if you can see it very well, but I stitched all along the wavy line. I didn't have a scallop border that skinny, so I actually cut a Quickutz "bead" border and then cut it in half. It was a little tricky to get it cut evenly though.

I finished off with this cute tab die from Quickutz and some Fancy Pants felt. I love adding stitching to my felt shapes :) Oh, and can you see that I stamped a music background on the peach-y piece? Just something to keep it from being too flat :)

Thanks for stopping in! Are you ready for a new week to start?! I *think* I am. :)

tired...

phew. That was a really long day. A good day, but long. It was a little tougher looking around the "thrift shop" with Miss Emma on my hip. I did manage to find a stroller that she would stay in for a little while. I got a whole bunch of clothes for the kids this year and next. It's great to be able to get decent American clothes for them all there instead of trying to find some half way decent Japanese kids' clothes that aren't way overpriced :)  I spent the whole day today doing laundry though. I was so glad it was nice day so that they all actually dried.

Ok. I'll be honest. I *love* how this card came out. heehee :) Everything just came together like I pictured, and that really doesn't happen all the time.

I used Hero Arts layering paper for the base and stamped it with a music background in Worn Lipstick distress ink. Then I stamped the flourish in Walnut stain distress ink. I used my favorite butterfly stamp again and colored it with my copics. I also colored the white pearls with my copics so they would match. I love this Quickutz label too. I like how it is a little more "pointy" than the Spellbinders Labels 8 (which I do still like too :)) I stamped the scripty text in Old paper distress ink. Both the music and script backgrounds are from Cornish Heritage Farms. The sentiment is from the same set as the butterfly."Birthday" is really on top of "girl" in the stamp, so covered the Birthday with tape and only inked girl first. Then I stamped birthday by covering girl with tape when I inked up the stamp and taking it off when I stamped on the card. I'm often scared to stamp my sentiment on the actual card for fear that I will ruin a perfect card with a silly mistake. So most times I end up attaching my sentiment seperately. But I decided to be brave for this one--heehee :) Glad I did :)

Thanks for stopping by!! I hope you're having a fun and restful weekend! I still have some clean laundry put away :) At least its already folded though!

a little organizing...

I didn't really get to make anything again today. But, I didn't really mind. I actually spent the afternoon reorganizing my scrapping/stamping area :) It was originally inspired  by my new Unity stamps. I wanted to find the ideal way to store them. Then that led to wanting to make everything cuter. And to have the things I use the most, the most accessable. It ended up taking pretty much all afternoon. That includes alot of time just thinking about what I should do, and of course taking time whenever Miss Emma wanted :) I think I like the end result though! I'll have to use it for a few days thought to make sure I like the new placement of things. I moved all my distress inks so I could to them much more easily. I realized those are the ones I reach for first. It can be fun getting all your goodies organized and looking pretty :)heehee :)

I made this card last week. I wanted to try to use stamps that I kind of have trouble with or don't use very often. And that would be this watering can. I'm glad I used it though, I think it turned out cute. I stamped the text background on top after I had stamped the flowers and watering can. Then stitched it onto some blue Hero Arts layering paper. I used Simply Chartreuse for the base. I used Wild Honey Distress ink for the watering can and I think it matches the Summer Sunrise ribbon pretty nicely. I think I want to find distress inks that coordinate with all my PTI colors :) If you know of some good equivalents, please let me know!

Thanks for popping in! All the kids are in bed early tonight because we are getting up early to go to the English library and a "thrift shop" they have at my old high school. They are all excited. Last time Levi and Rhys were able to find some batman toys, so they are hoping for some more great finds :) I hope to join everyone else in going to bed early too if I can. I hope you have *super* day!!

my first unity

I did get to play with ny new Unity stamps some more :) Happy sigh. This is a really simple card, but I love how it came out.

I used my new background stamp first, and then inked the edges. Such a fun grid pattern. Then I stamped the flower and sentiment (I was going to link to the flower set, but it seems to be out of stock-sorry!). Finished off with some stitching. Having so much fun with these. I can't wait to make some more cards heehee :)

Ok, I have to put Miss Emma to bed, but I wanted to share some Unity fun :) Hope you have a fabulous day!!

Happy mail :)

Well, just another day of costume making and studies. Made Levi's boots and "stabbies" for his gloves. Because, of course, Batman has "stabbies" his gloves :) Lots of everyday stuff....but I also got some happy mail! I *love* happy mail. A little bit of this:

and this:

This was my first every order from Unity. I was super excited anyway when  I was waiting for them to get here.But wow :) I think I'm in trouble. I {heart} all of them. They are all so cute. And they stamp SO well. I got to do just a little bit of playing with them. The backgrounds are great. And do you see those cute sofas?! I'm pretty sure I'll be ordering from them again quite soon. Oh, and they have great overseas shipping too. Which is a big deal to me.

Ok, I'm off to bed. Hope to have some Unity cards to share tomorrow :) Tomio's work finally calmed down a little after today, so he won't be having to bring any home for the next few weeks anyway. yay :)

A new week.

Sometimes I'm amazed at the difference in the amount of stuff I can get done on somedays compared to others. I mean, they do all have the same number of hours...But for some reason, some days I'll get SO much accomplished and still have time to sit and relax, while other days I'll barely get the basics done just before I get to bed....Why is that?!!? I'm not sure at the moment, but I'm trying to figure it out so I can have more of the days where I get everything done...:) Oh, but I DO know that whether I actually do get everything done or not, it is very important to get in some crafty time. Otherwise, I can be sure the next day I won't be quite as...chipper :) (you know what they say about a happy Mama....)

Lots of different stamp sets on today's card. I started by stamping the base with Polkadot basics 2. Then I stamped some flourishes it in Fresh snow ink. I also used the same flourish on the label and some more background stamps. I don't think you can tell in this view, but I stamped a big Damask on the chocolate circle. The butterflies are from Butterfly dreams (of course :))  I stitched around the edges with my machine before I adhered it to the card base. There was so much going on already that I didn't add a sentiment on this one.

Thanks for stopping by! Is your week starting of well? Mine't not bad :), and I hope to just make it better and better :)