Two Dirty Challenges!

Well, it's late now, and I'm just now getting back to the computer. I was out running errands today (if you call the stamp store and scrapbook store errands), then some family arrived from out of town, so here it is, 11:30. Sorry about that!

Anyway, I made these two cards on Tuesday night. We were getting ready for bed, and I was really itching to participate in some of the challenges this year. I didn't do any last year. So, I made both of these cards in a matter of 30 minutes or so (because I was supposed to be on my way to bed), which for me is super fast. Normally, I'm a very slow stamper.

The first card is for Christine's watercolor challenge (and technically, it counts for Julie's challenge to make a card using a plain white base). I had this great stamp, which I don't know the name of and can't find out right now because my niece and nephew are sleeping on our futon, which is in our family room basement, which houses my craft space. So, there won't actually be complete recipes for any of these cards. But, if you have questions, just let me know and I'll get back to you. Anyway, here's a fun, quick little card. One stamp, some watercoloring, and some ribbon. That's it!

{In Paris recipe}
Stamps: Rubber Romance Ink: Adirondak Pitch Black, various SU! dye inks for watercoloring
Paper: PTI White
Accessories: aqua painter, black gingham ribbon

This next card is for Julie's white base card challenge, but it didn't originally start that way. It actually started as a card for Jody's ribbon challenge where you had to pick a yummy ribbon and use that as the starting place for your card. Well, I had some really cute ribbon that's been in my stash for over a year. I should have taken a picture of it. That ribbon decided my three color choices for this card. In the end, however, the ribbon just didn't work on the card. It was too bold for the white card base. Maybe I'll get inspired to try that one again. Anyway, here's the card.
{You're Amazing recipe}
Stamps: Verve Visual's Thankful Blossoms
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip
Paper: PTI White, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: brads

Sometime tomorrow, I'll sneak away from the fam and post the next Punch Class card and maybe another challenge card if I get time to create.

Punch Class Card #3

So, as I was photographing this card, I realized I made the card with very vanilla cardstock and stamped a whisper white envelope. Oops! I saw a card on Stamper's Showcase (SU!'s idea gallery for demos) similar to this by Stacia Sloma. I kept her color palette, changed the embellishments, and changed the layout ever so slightly. It's amazing what a few punched and stamped shapes can do, isn't it? Hey, I think this card qualifies for Michelle's challenge over at Splitcoast. It's Dare to Get Dirty week there where the Dirty Dozen (Splitcoast's design team), past and present, offer up challenges to Fan Club members. Score! {Time to Celebrate recipe}
Stamps: Background Basics, Celebrate Everything
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Versamark
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Bayou Blue, Sahara Sand
Accessories: circle and star punches, eyelets, SU! markers for envelope

I'll be back later today with a simple card I made late last night for two more of this week's Dare to Get Dirty Challenges.

Punch Class Card #2

This is another card for Saturday's Punch Class. We will use punches to make a baby onesie card. The genius idea for a onesie card started with Lauren Meader, stamping goddess extraordinaire. Isn't this just like the cutest idea ever? Class members will get to choose the colors for their onesie card. The onesies cards below were cased from Tara Kieninger (tkieninger on SCS). You can see some more of her fabulous work on her blog. {Onesie recipes}

Stamps: Polka Dot background, Nursery Necessities

Ink: Barely Banana, Pixie Pink, Ballet Blue, White Craft

Paper: Conqueror White, Barely Banana, Pixie Pink, Ballet Blue, Whisper White

Accessories: 1 3/8 circle punch, scallop punch, star punch, eyelets, brads, crop-a-dile

Thanks for stopping by! More to come tomorrow!

Punch Class Card #1

Each day this week, I will be sharing a card that we will be making at Punch Class on Saturday morning. We will be making five cards altogther. We will also be making a punch template that will help know which punches work with different stamp sets, and attendees will get a handout showing some fun, creative ways to use their punches.

I had a lot of help with the ideas for this class from many of my virtual stamping friends and online galleries. This first card I cased from Becky Carafa's adorable card. I used a couple different flower centers, but other than that, this is all Becky. I loved the colors she used and everything. I'd been wanting to try making some of these flowers, so when I saw Becky's card and that it also uses the spiral punch, I knew it would be perfect for this class. You can see Becky's original card here.

{Birthday Hugs & Wishes recipe}
Stamps: Polka Dot Background, Birthday Hugs & Wishes
Ink: Basic Black, White Craft, Pumpkin Pie (envelope only)
Paper: Rose Red, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red DSP
Accessories: black gingham ribbon, scallop punch, spiral punch, circle punch, jumbo eyelet, rhinestone brad, clear button, build-a-brad


Thank for visiting, and be sure to come back every day this week to see the other cards for Punch Class.

New In Colors

If you haven't had a chance to see Stampin' Up!'s new In Colors that will be available in August, here they are! I made this card last weekend when I got my order of preview stuff. I wanted to do something that would show off all six new colors. From the bottom left is Tangerine Tango, going up is Pacific Point, then Riding Hood Red. Moving to the right is Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze. In the bottom right corner is Pink Pirouette. The stamp set, Wow Flowers, is also new and will be available in August too. I used SCS Sketch Challenge 182 for the layout. I stamped the main images in Versamark and embossed them with white embossing powder. Thank you is stamped in black craft ink and clear embossed. {Thank You recipe}
Stamps: Wow Flowers
Ink: Versamark, Black Craft
Paper: Conqueror White, Basic Black, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Barely Banana, Pirouette Pink, Lovely Lilac, Pixie Pink
Accessories: white embossing powder, black embossing powder, circle punches, scallop punch, Three For You flower punch, black brad, basic black and pixie pink markers for the envelope

If you want a better look at the new In Colors, Dawn Olchefske has a great color comparison that you can see here.

On a completely non-stamping note (unless you count the stamping I did while watching TV), are there any other Firefly/Serenity fans out there? My husband and I spent two days this week completely immersed in the DVD of this prematurely canceled show called Firefly that apparently developed some cult following (the good kind - and no wonder). They made a movie, Serenity, a few years after the show was over. We really enjoyed it! In fact, we just watched the movie again. It's a really different kind of show, hard to explain. It's a western sci-fi, which let's face it, sounds terrible. But it's really, really good! It has characters that really grow on you and clever dialogue. It's written by the same guy (Joss Whedon) who did Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. I didn't watch either of those shows when they were on, not much into vampires, but guess what just arrived from our Netflix cue? That's right, Buffy! We've been told that if we liked Firefly, we'll love Buffy. So, Buffy it is (and if my husband has his way, Angel will be next).

On the subject of vampires, any Stephanie Meyer fans out there? I've read the first two books in Stephanie Meyer's series. I need to read the third book because the fourth book is coming out in August. Now, again, not much of a vampire fan, and these books are actually young adult/teen books that I heard about in some random Splitcoast forum last year. Tried 'em out! Pleasantly surprised! Quick, easy reads, clearly written for a younger audience, but wonderful mind candy.

Now here I've blabbered on too long. It's way past my bedtime, so off I go!

Happy Cupcake Day, Jamie!

I am just SO bad at mailing out cards on time (I did get my GSG swaps in the mail today though). No, that's putting it nicely, I'm just SO bad at mailing cards at all. It's Jamie Sears' birthday today, and I hear she got some Copic markers! Woo hoo! Happy Birthday, Jamie! Here's your card. I promise to mail it soon.
This layout is based on a sketch by Mary J0 Price-Williams (Technostamper). You can find her sketch here.

{Cupcake Birthday recipe}
Stamps: Hero Arts Clear Cupcakes
Ink: Palette Noir, Regal Rose
Paper: Conqueror White, Whisper White, Regal Rose, Die Cuts with a View
Accessories: Copic markers, Sky ribbon from Sherbet Originals, Stardust Stickle, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder

Siberian Iris

Look at what I got in the mail yesterday! It's my first RAK (random act of kindness card)! Denise (peanutbee) sent me this gorgeous card. It's so pretty and sparkly in real life! She also sent me some iris images from the Siberian Iris stamp set by Flourishes that I was coveting, especially after seeing this card and this card that she had made with it.

So, today, I simply HAD to sit down and create something with one of these images. They were just begging to be played with! I have to say, I'm in love with this flower image. Luckily, Denise sent me several, including some on watercolor paper (she thinks of everything), so I still have several to play with. Thanks, Denise! These are so awesome! I hope you like my first card with this image.

{Sincere Thanks recipe}
Stamps: Siberian Iris by Flourishes, sentiment by A Muse
Ink: Unknown Black, Chocolate Chip
Paper: Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Crate Paper
Accessories: Copic markers, 5/8' chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon, nestabilities

Recipe Box Class

This weekend was the first of two Recipe Box Classes using the Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper and the Tart & Tangy stamp set from the Occasions Mini. I knew I wanted to offer this as a summer class and that the products would be unavailable in July and August, so I just did some preplanning and preordering.

The class included either a small or large sized tin, six recipe (or card) dividers, seven cards, the Summer Picnic paper, and the Tart & Tangy stamp set (optional).

I took the photos before I added ribbon to my tin and sentiments to my cards. I plan to put some ribbon around the black handle of the recipe tin. The cards are all sentiment free, so people could use them as a blank set of cards or personalize them. I put out several sentiment sets and a container of random sentiments for class members to choose from.

Their final products turned out great! I can't wait for the next class.

Here's the tin, unembellished. The tin title choices were "Favorite Recipes," "Wonderful Recipes," or "Cards." The recipe divider cards were made with the From the Kitchen stamp set. I thought they turned out so cute!
I saw that there is a new Spellbinders Apron die cut available. As soon as I saw it, I thought it would be fun to create an apron card to go with this recipe tin, especially if it were being used as a gift. I used my Coluzzle to cut out the sides of the card in the shape of an apron. I saw another apron card on Splitcoast where someone had used the jumbo eyelets to attache the ribbon. I thought that was clever and used that idea here.

Edited to Add: This card does NOT use the apron diecut from Spellbinders. That's just what inspired the idea of an apron card. If you want to purchase the Spellbinders Apron die cut, you can buy it HERE. Sorry for the confusion!Here are the cards we made. I realized that I really prefer cards with sentiments, so I'll probably go back and add sentiments once my other class is over (that's not until late in August).





This was such a fun class. I think everyone enjoyed making their projects. I think these would make great gifts. One gal was even going to a wedding shower with a recipe/cooking theme the next day. How convenient is that?

{Recipe Box & Cards recipe}
Stamps: Tart & Tangy, From the Kitchen, Wonderful Favorites, Pure & Simple Alphabet Lower

Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue, Basic Black

Paper: Real Red, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Kraft, Conqueror White (card bases), Summer Picnic DSP

Accessories: SU! markers, jumbo eyelets, circle punches, scallop circle punch, 1/4" red grosgrain ribbon, 5/8" old olive ribbon, chocolate chip twill ribbon, kraft taffeta ribbon, scallop scissors (obviously made before the AWESOME *new* SU! scalloped edge punch), tins from Provo craft, Coluzzle, red brads, paper piercer

To run the class more smoothly, I created a handout with cutting instructions (everyone had to cut their own patterned paper) and photos. It's probably not much use to most of you now, since you can't offer this class anymore (unless you're all stocked up on Summer Picnic paper), but if you'd like the handout, just email me (kkgasper@comcast.net), and I'd be happy to send it to you (it's a Word doc).

Email Subscriptions and an Award

Good news! I can now accept email subscriptions. Just sign up by entering your email address on the sidebar of the blog where it says "Email Subscriptions" and you will receive email updates when I post.

I really want to thank everyone who has been visiting my blog. I love getting the comments and according to my counter, I have about 100 people per day visiting lately. I would love to hear from all of you blog stalkers...I know you're out there!

I recently received this award from Debbie at Heartfelt Stamping. Debbie's from the UK! Do you hear that? Someone from the UK reads my blog and gave me an award!!! That is so cool! And, of course, you know how we feel about the Brits in this household. Love 'em! Thanks, Debbie! You made my day!


The rules for this award are:
1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you've nominated.

Here are my nominations:
1. Ashley at Design With Ink
2. Jenn at Kiyomi Krafts
3. Dawn at My Favorite Things
4. Mary at Stampin' Pretty
5. Joanne at Just A Little Something
6. Kazan at Nunu Toolies
7. My best friend, Krista, at Five-Speckled Eggs, because let's face it, the commentary her three year-old contributes to the blogging world is nothing less than brilliant, and that in itself deserves an award.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

July Technique Class

These are the cards we made last night at Technique Class. I was so glad Stampin' Up! didn't retire Lovely as a Tree, so I bought it. This card uses the Reflection/Mirror Image Technique and the Thumping Technique. The trees were colored with SU! markers in Old Olive and Chocolate Chip. The tree brances were thumped with Always Artichoke and Garden Green. I think this technique would work so nicely for a fall card using reds, oranges, and yellows. {For You recipe}
Stamps: Lovely As A Tree, All Holidays
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Soft Sky
Paper: River Rock, Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, Whisper White, retired SU! designer paper
Accessories: Brass Hodgepodge Hardware, Soft Sky double-stitched ribbon, acetate, markers, sponges

Just recently, I also ordered the Seaside stamp set, thinking it would be good for a summer workshop or class. Of course, it's now on the dormant list. At least I was able to use it before we forget all about it. The technique for this card was dry embossing stamped images on vellum cardstock. I stamped the shells on vellum cardstock and let them dry. Then I turned them face down on a mouse pad and used a stylus to emboss the main lines of the shells as well as the inside area. The finished result are shells with texture and shape adhered with pop-up glue dots. {Seashell Birthday recipe}
Stamps: Seaside, Cheesecloth, Sincere Salutations
Ink: White Craft, Bashful Blue, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa
Paper: Conqueror White, Bashful Blue, Creamy Caramel, Whisper White, Vellum Cardstock
Accessories: Kraft Taffeta ribbon, Cuttlebug embossing folder (swirls), blue brads

Saturday is the Recipe Box Class featuring Summer Picnic DSP and Tart & Tangy. I'll post pictures this weekend.

Dogtor's Orders

I made this card for Kim Muhl at PaperTastic Creations. She tripped over her parents' dog. Luckily, she and the dog survived, but now Kim has to have surgery for a fracture in her foot. You'll be glad to know that the dog felt terrible and tried to make amends with enthusiastic licking! I thought this card was appropriate. She's probably received it by now, and if not, I think she's staying with her parents and is on dial-up, so this won't give anything away.

I love this little dog set by My Favorite Things (MFT) called Friends Furever. This is the first time I've used it. I based this card on Jen Del Muro's Sketch For You to Try from a few weeks back. Little paw prints line the bottom of the inside of the card.
{Dogtor's Orders recipe}

Stamps: Friends Furever by MFT, Dogtor's Orders by The Cat's Pajamas, I Love My Dog by Hero Arts

Ink: Palette Noir

Paper: PTI White, Whisper White, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Barely Banana, unknown patterned paper

Accessories: 5/8" red grosgrain ribbon, vintage brass brad, Copic markers

Speaking of dogs, I just love mine! Here's a picture of the three of them from when we first adopted Georgia. Addy is on the left. She's our current CCI service dog in training who goes back in August (ouch!). Tanith is in the middle. She was the third CCI dog we raised, and she was released from the program while in advanced training. Yep, she just decided the working life wasn't for her and went on to be our spoiled family pet. On the far right is our little one, Georgia, recently adopted from a local shelter. You can read more about that here. She's doing pretty well. Okay, she's a bit of a pain...picked up some bad habits from her previous owners (which is perfectly understandable as they had their hands full with two preschoolers). Mainly she jumps, "Hey, what's that on the counter? Something there for me? Sure smells good" or "Oh, hello! I'm so happy to meet/see you!" She also steals, "Ooooh, these socks are lying right here on the floor. They must be for me. I can just take them and run." She chews inappropriately too, "Hmmm, what can I find in this garbage can? Look at this pretty white paper all crumbled up in a ball. I'll just take it into the living room and tear it into little bits. Uh, oh, mom's here! I wonder why she's looking at me like that?" And every now and then, she still potties in the house, "Playing is so much fun! Uh-oh! I really have to go potty. Where are those two big people? I really gotta go....Oops!" But, she's awfully cute, and we just love her!

Maybe a Cupcake Will Help?

This card is for Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration #14. I was really inspired to use these colors, but when I sat down to work, nothing much came out. I'm not much good when it comes to color challenges. Starting with colors is much harder for me. I prefer starting with sketches. Anyway, here's my card. Not my favorite, but it's simple, quick, and done! I love the sentiment. Now, I just need someone to have a bad day so I can give it to them!!!! {Cupcake? recipe}
Stamps: Inkadinkadoo (Amy Smyth Made It)
Ink: Ruby Red
Paper: Basic Gray, Ruby Red, Whisper White
Accessories: Rustic Retreat Ruby ribbon, SU! markers in Ruby Red and Going Gray, Stickles

Happy Birthday, Charmaine!

Another birthday to celebrate today for a fellow Great Swaps Girl! Happy birthday, Charmaine! I hope you have a great day today! Card's in the mail, but until then, this will have to do.The layout for this card is my version of this week's Sketch Challenge #183 over at Splitcoaststampers. I just rotated the sketch upside down, 180 degrees, and voila!

{Bicycle Birthday recipe}

Stamps: Great Impressions, sentiment by A Muse

Ink: Basic Black

Paper: PTI White, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Crate Paper

Accessories: SU! markers in Pumpkin Pie and Tempting Turquoise, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, SU! District Originals ribbon, Copic markers

Happy Birthday to Denise and Happy 4th of July to Everyone!

Happy Birthday, Denise! I made this card just for you. Unfortunately, this is as close to on time as I get with cards (and if I publish this post in the next few minutes, it will still be July 4 according to Pacific Standard Time). You see, I have that stamper's disease where I make cards but never get around to actually sending them. I have really good intentions to put this in the mail first thing tomorrow morning though! I hope you had a great birthday and a happy 4th of July too. Oh, and see, in your honor, I've done the inside of the card too!
{Celebrate recipe}

Stamps: Just Celebrate

Ink: Basic Black

Paper: Conquerer White, Whisper White, Blue Bayou, Western Sky DSP

Accessories: Miscellaneous flowers, American Crafts and miscellaneous brads, Stardust Stickles, Copic markers

This layout is based on this Sketch for You to Try by Jen Del Muro.

If you have time, you should drop by Denise's blog to wish her a happy birthday! Thanks for looking! Happy 4th of July!

July Inspiration Class

This month we will celebrate Christmas in July. Our featured stamp set for July's Inspiration class is The Snowflake Spot, which will sadly be retiring in August. I'd forgotten how much I love this stamp set until I started working with it again. I used a lot of inspiration and CASEd some ideas from SCS. Here's the set of cards we will make at class. {Red Cheers recipe}
Inspired by this card by Momscrzr on SCS
Stamps: The Snowflake Spot
Ink: Encore Silver, Real Red
Paper: PTI White, Real Red
Accessories: Clear embossing powder, Snowflake Cuttlebug folder, 5/8" red grosgrain ribbon{Gold Cheers recipe}
Inspired by this card by Annette Polsky on SCS
Stamps: The Snowflake Spot
Ink: Encore Gold, Versamark, Bravo Burgandy
Paper: PTI White, Bravo Burgandy, Brushed Gold
Accessories: Clear embossing powder, gold thread
{Ornament Joy recipe}
Inspired by this card by Kristina Werner
Stamps: The Snowflake Spot
Ink: Real Red Craft, Old Olive Craft, Brocade Blue Craft, Versamark, Basic Black
Paper: Kraft
Accessories: Stamp-a-ma-jig {Snowflake Wreath recipe}
Inspired by this card by suzstamps on SCS
Stamps: The Snowflake Spot, Little Pieces
Ink: Mellow Moss, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Real Red
Paper: PTI White, Real Red, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Red satin ribbon (I might go back and add brads to the red flowers...){Soft Sky Cheers recipe}
Stamps: The Snowflake Spot
Ink: Soft Sky, Sage Shadow
Paper: Soft Sky, Sage Shadow, Certainly Celery, Wntergreen DSP (I think that's the name???)
Accessories: Soft Sky double-stitched ribbon, celery brads, nestibilities, corner rounder

{Blue Joy recipe}
Completely CASEd this card by Danielle Lounds, except I added the IRI embossing powder Stamps: The Snowflake Spot
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue, Versamark
Paper: Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White
Accessories: Iridescent Ice embossing powder, White embossing powder, White taffeta ribbon, circle punches, slot punch, rhinestone brad, silver brad

School Picture Frame

Apparently, I've still got school on the brain. This clipboard is actually a picture frame. You can put pictures behind the glass. I used some old scraps of patterned paper and a bunch of premade embellishments and added my last name to the name plate. I thought maybe I'd display this on my desk with my class photos each year. Too lazy to post the supplies now. Maybe later.

Oh, Summer Where Art Thou???

Did I mention that I'm really ready for that month of uninterrupted summer vacation? After school got out on Monday, I spent three days taking a teacher class. Totally worth it, but that means three things: 1) I haven't stamped this week, 2) I haven't cleaned up and checked out of my classroom, and 3) I haven't officially started my vacation yet!

With that, here's a card that I made awhile ago but haven't shared here yet. I was playing with some of the new toys that came out with the 2008 Spring/Summer book. Build-a-Brads actually came out in the fall, but they weren't available during most of that time (quality control issues). I have to say that I LOVE them! I hope they stick around for the new IB&C. I also love the Flower Fusion felt flowers. I would love to see SU! bring more of those in different colors. {Beautiful Thing recipe}
Stamps: A Beautiful Thing
Ink: Old Olive, Pink Passion, Tempting Turquoise
Paper: PTI white, Bali Breeze DSP
Accessories: Build-a-Brad, Flower Fusion, 5/8" Olive grosgrain ribbon

Tonight we're headed to an Earth, Wind, and Fire concert at a winery. It's a great venue for a concert. Everyone just plops up their beach/lawn chairs and hangs out drinking wine. I personally don't benefit from the wine part (not a wine drinker), but I love the relaxing way to enjoy a concert. Also not so crazy about the Earth, Wind, and Fire part either. That's all Keith (my hubby). Don't get me wrong, I like the music. We've been to see one of their shows before, and we actually had a lot of fun. Once would have been good enough for me.

I guess I shouldn't complain too much. Guess who he's making me go see in September! The Backstreet Boys! That's right, you read it correctly. His love of boybands, although preferred, is not limited to the UK variety!

An award and a tag!

While I was away, LeAnne from Wee Inklings gave me another Arte y Pico Award. Thanks, LeAnne!

Here are the rules for the award:

1. You pick five blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone. Remember to leave the person a comment or email to let them know they received the award.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and the link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4. Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

So here are my five picks this time:

1. Pam Smerker at Paper Askew Studio

2. Silke Ledlow at My Life

3. Denise Marzeck at The Paper Landscaper

4. Cindy Lawrence at One Happy Stamper

5. Dawn Easton at TreasureOiler Designz

I also just got TAGGED by the super-talented, and new SCS Dirty Girl and fellow Great Swaps Girl, Denise Marzeck, whose work I simply LOVE (note the aforementioned award pick)!

Here are 7 random facts about me:

1. Thanks to my husband, I can now truly say (and I can't believe I'm saying this publicly) that I enjoy listening to "boy band" music, particularly those of the UK variety.

2. And since I'm fessin' up, I should probably also admit that I'm a closet fan of the TV shows The Bachelor and The Bachelorette (yes, I'm embarrassed, please don't tell...)

3. I'm afraid of left-hand turns and spiders.

4. I let our dogs sleep on the bed when my husband's out of town (yep, that's a secret too and a no-no in our house...but in my defense, he doesn't go away very often - we're talking maybe once a year).

5. I grew up in Arizona (hate the heat, always have).

6. Sometimes, I randomly quote movies, songs, and television shows.

7. My husband and I are volunteer puppy raisers for Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) and are currently raising our fifth puppy (due to turn-in this August...sigh, sniffle, frown).

Now it's my turn to tag seven bloggers!

1. Lynn at The Queen's Scene

2. LeAnne at Wee Inklings

3. Monique at Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust

4. Beth at Freckled and Fun

5. Julia at Create With Me

6. Nancy at iStamp

7. Pam at Paper Askew Studio

Okay, for some unknown reason, my post keeps squishing all the text together, making it rather difficult to ready. Cathy Zielske would not be please with the type all close together. It needs space to make it pleasing to the eye and easy to read. Well, no such luck today.

I'm done trying... My solution? Bold, underline, and italicize! Sorry, folks!

School's Out!

Every year, I love my students, and this year has not been an exception. I love them! That said, I've never been so happy and ready for summer break!!!! It's been a long year! Phew! I made it. Barely. But I made it! Yay, summer!

I was desperate to stamp after being gone and then busy with report cards, so last night I decided to make some quick cards to give to a few of my fellow teachers. I chose this new Karen Lockhart image, which I think is just adorable. It says summer to me! The coloring though is a bit time consuming on this one though. Not sure what I was thinking. I needed FAST! Stayed up way too late, but at least I finally stamped!!!{Summer Days recipe}
Stamps: Karen Lockhart
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Real Red, Whisper White
Accessories: SU! Markers, silver brads, stardust stickles

I missed all of you, my stamping and blogging friends! Glad to be back. I have some upcoming Stampin' Up! classes that I need to prepare for, so hopefully I'll have some cute projects to post in the next couple of weeks.

More Sparkle

Things will be quiet on my blog for the next couple of weeks. I am leaving town tomorrow after school to go score part of our state's writing assessment for fourth grade, then I still have two days of school to finish up with the kiddos. I will be quite busy getting everything wrapped up, which means no time to stamp! I don't even think I'll have Internet access when I'm gone, so I'll have to come back and catch up with all you stamping bloggers out there! What will I do without my daily fix?????

On to the card...I made this for one of Lauren's Saturday Sketches. It's a funky pop-up, pull-out type of card. I really like this card I made with all the sparkles, so I continued that theme here. This time instead of using dazzling diamonds, I used Iridescent Ice embossing powder. It was time consuming because I had to stamp over each flower with Versamark, but the technique itself was very simple. I also tried to use bright colors that I don't normally use!

This is a view of the card standing up:
Here's a side view where you can see the folded flap and the pop-up flower:
This is the card laying flat, so you can see what it would look like if someone pulled the flap down:
And here's a close-up to see all the SPARKLE!!!
{Birthday recipe}
Stamps: Ginormous Flowers, It's Your Birthday, Short & Sweet, Hugs & Wishes
Ink: Pixie Pink, Tempting Turqoise, Lovely Lilac, Green Galore, Basic Black, Versamark
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories: Rhinestone brads, Iridescent Ice embossing powder

Okay, kids, I'm outta here! "Don't forget me when I'm gone...my heart would break!" (name that tune...)