a unity card :)

I was working on layout today, and I discovered a few things.
1) Choosing which pattern papers to use takes just about as long as everything else put together
2)There are about 62 different shades of pink, 38 of which I own in some form, and none of which match the color pink in my photos
3)The time you get your 1 year old down for her nap and sit at your desk, is the time your caring husband will offer to help you do that_____ you've been asking for, so you'll just have to stand up again

4) When you finally DO choose said pattern papers, you'll end up not using the ones you like best, just in case you find the *perfect* layout for them later

I suppose these could all just apply to me, but I'm pretty sure they are universal :) So I haven't finished my layout yet, but I do have a "Unity" card to share. I just LOVE these stamps!!

So many of my current favorites on this card :) I started with a Hero Arts layering paper in Carnation, which is just the perfect shade to use Spun Sugar distress ink on. So that is what I stamped the woodgrain background in. This is my favorite PTI background stamp by the way, because it is definitely the easiest to use, and hardest to mess up :) After I cut out the Quickutz label, I stamped it with Damask Designs in Old Paper distress ink. I inked the edges too. Then I stamped this adorable Unity chair and cut it  out. After that I decided it should have a pattern to it, and I stamped this on top. I stamped the lamp on Hibiscus burst cardstock and paper pieced it on. I also used a Stamp-a-ma-jig to get the placement of the my sentiment and the lampstand just right. That's really handy little tool :) I think I'm going to be using it alot more. I finished off with some machine stitching down the side of the label before adhering it to the base.

Thanks so much for popping in!! It has suddenly gotten quite cold here, so I'm off to dig out everyone's heavier coats. I did already get everyone's clothes switched from summer-y to winter-y, so I'm not too far behind :) Have a wonderful. crafty day :)

too soon!

Ok I suddenly realized just how soon everything is!! lol :) Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas...seriously, all of them are just around the corner. Aahh! But really that's a happy "aahh" :) I love all the wonderful things that we have around the end of the year. Lots and lots of fun. We actually put up our tree and decorations around the beginning of November(!), and I LOVE that. LOVE having Christmas decorations up. And as an added bonus, we are rearraning our living room this year before we put up the decorations. I suppose that might not be something fun for everyone, but I always loved rearranging furniture and changing things up. Kind of feels like you moved to a new house lol. (Tomio and I both seem to like changing around where we live, since we are now living in our 4th house since we've been married....) Anyway, I'm excited.

Sorry I don't have a card today, I was actually looking through my layouts seeing which ones I have shared, and I couldn't remember about lots of them. How sad is that?! Trying to come up with a system that helps me remember which ones I've shared and not. (any ideas? :)) But when I was looking through my files, I saw these super cute pictures of Levi from his 4th birthday, so I thought I should share those :)

Seriously, could he be any cuter?! (yes, I'm a big Friends fan. have all the dvds heehee)

 This is Tomio's garage, byt the way. You can cool "Mini car", but his motorcycle is behind it. I don't know if you can tell, but in the back on the right you can kind of see the coke fridge I may mentioned a few times :)

Alright, off for a day of  school...well, teaching, not attending. Thankfully :) Hope you are having a super fun week so far! Thanks for stopping in!

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!!