Destination Imagination and some Unity projects

On Thursday all 4 of my kids tried out for Destination Imagination (DI) at their school.  Ashley and Trevor are in the Rising Star age level and performed a poem the three of us worked on together about DI.  Alicia and Tyler are at the regular DI level and performed a skit about recycling that they wrote themselves. 

Ashley and Trevor made a Rising Star team and I am their co-coach.  I've never coached a DI team before so I'm not sure what I'm in for, but I know we will have a fun time (and I know quite a few of the coaches from last year, so I'm sure they will help me along the way).  

Now the older two, Alicia and Tyler, won't find out until Friday the 12th if they made a team or not.....that is such a long wait for me that I can't even begin to imagine how it feels to them!  Alicia was on a team last year that placed 1st in Regionals and 3rd at State, and would be absolutely heartbroken if she didn't make it on a team this year.  She was sad when DI was over for the year and has been counting the days until she could do this again.  Tyler has not been on a team before, but after watching his sisters last year, he had his heart set on this and I know he would be really hurt if he didn't make a team.  I do believe that they both have something special to offer and hope the judges saw that as well.  So now it's a waiting game and all I can do is hope and pray that they both make it!


Last month I finally got my first Unity Stamps.  They have been on my wish list for quite some time, but I'm sure you know how it is....a wish list a mile long with papers, stamps, embossing folders, nesties, punches, embellishments and more, but unfortunately no money tree to go along with it.  But, waiting turned out to be a good thing for me because I picked up on some awesome "Deals of the Day".

Here are a few of the fall themed cards I did:

This card is one of my favorites ~ and although not a fall card, I did incorporate fall colors.  I used one of the sayings in "The Artist in You" set:

This one is a mini card using the "Trick or Treat Peeps" Set:

These two use the "Harvest of Memories" set:

Note:  This is my attempt at a one layer card (I still don't like doing these!)

This one uses the 12/09 KOTM:

I have oh, about 18 more cards to get up yet....sooner or later they will be here ;)

Have a great day!

Happy Halloween!

Wow...long time no post.  I can't believe how fast this month has gone by.  Yesterday the kids went trick-or-treating and the weather was fantastic!  We had a rummage sale the 21st - 23rd at my Brother's house, so I spent a lot of time getting ready for that in addition to all the other running around we had to do for the kids.  I went on two field trips this month ~ to the Pumpkin farm with Trevor's class and then to a Quarry and park with Tyler's class ~ love being able to do this with them.  I helped out in Trevor's class when they made silly hats and also helped out at my kids' class parties this month.  The school had their annual Fall Fest, and we all had a great time there.  I was lucky to be the winning bidder on a framed picture of all the kids/teachers in the school (they are outside forming an A B for the school name) ~ since it is the last year all 4 of my kids will be there, I thought it was a good picture to have.  I also did quite a bit of card making...I completed all 23 of Unity's World Card Making Day challenges, but just haven't gotten around to sharing them yet, but I will be soon.

Now onto fall....I wanted to get two cards done today for Amy R's challenge because she is giving away a fabulous prize...an ATG gun!  So far, I have only managed to do one since I had to help Ashley make a Santa puppet for her book report....which basically means I had to make a puppet ;) and I've been helping the kids prepare for their D.I. tryouts.
 

I used CC Designs images along with one of Amy's sentiments from the Autumn Sentiments set.  I picked up this paper last year from my LSS for fall projects but never got around to using it until now.  Since the image panel is so large, I just added a few buttons along with some bakers twine and then to add a little bit of interest paper pierced some sections. 

Have a great day!
 

This is Hot Stuff....

Very early this morning I entered one notebook in The Greeting Farm's Altered Notebook Contest which happened to show my Girls Rock altered notebook as a sample ~ that was definitely a nice surprise. Well, I thought I may have a better chance of winning if I did another notebook as well (good thing I got my Scor-Tape in the mail yesterday), so I got to work and came up with this one:
I really love how this one turned out! In case you haven't noticed, I even pulled out my hoarded 12x12 designer paper from The Greeting Farm. I used two different sets....In the Spotlight and Roll Call.

Both the inside front and back covers have pockets on the page.
Here is the inside cover:
And the back inside cover:
And finally the back cover:
I would also like to enter the following challenges:
Catch the Bug - "Anything Goes"
The Sweet Stop - "Sketch"
Stamp Scrap & Doodle - "Anything Goes"
Aly's Sunday Challenge - "At least 2 DP and at least 2 buttons"
Cowgirls - "Anything Goes"
Stamptacular - "Layer it On"
Crafty Cardmakers - "No square cards" - can make anything as long as it isnt' square
PollyCraft - "Gotta Go Digi" - digi paper and digi sentiment
Peachy Keen -"October as inspiration" - I used colors that remind me of the fall
For Fun - "Use something you bought and haven't used" - TGF stamps, TGF paper, Basic Grey Butons, Composition Notebook
Nutty Nutshells - "Use stripes"
Penny's - "Circles"
Southern Girls - "4 layers of Patterned Paper"
Charisma Cardz - "Autumn Colors"
Crafty Sentiments - "Autumn Colors"
Moving Along with the Times - "Anything But a Card"
Inky Impressions - "Anything Goes"
Stampin for the Weekend - "Use the colors of autumn to inspire you"
Color Me Copic - "Coloring Clothes with Copics"

Have a great day!

Recipe ~ all items SU unless indicated
Stamps: In The Spotlight, Roll Call (The Greeting Farm)
Ink/Coloring: Memento Tuxedo Black; Colorbox Chalk Ink (Bisque & Blush Rose); Copics (E00, E01, E11, R20, E28, Y32, E31, E33, E04, E07, E08, E09, YG63, YG67)
Paper: Natural's Ivory; Gina K Luxury White; DP - The Greeting Farm
Embellishments: Stitched Ribbon and Grosgrain Ribbon; Flowers (Prima); Buttons (Basic Grey); Linen Thread
Tools: Border Punch (EK Success); Composition Notebook

High Hopes Challenge

Just a quick posting to get this entered into High Hopes sketch challenge this week. I'll be back later to update this.....

I'm Kickin' it Old Skool

.......with The Greeting Farm that is.  The challenge was to use an older stamp/set (June/July 2009 and prior).  I had many ideas for this challenge, but haven't gotten around to any of them as I ended up really sick this week.  I think I have bronchitis, which doesn't appear to be going away anytime soon, so in between coughing constantly, chills from the fever and all over body aches, I have been really dragging.  Unfortunately that means I haven't been in the craft room this week either, well until today....I just had to get in there for awhile and make something.     

Instead of using an image as a focal point I used a saying from the now retired "Butterfly Wishes" set and added a couple punched butterflies to it.  To carry on the butterfly theme I added a panel of larger punched butterflies.  The papers are from My Minds Eye and have been stitched on the background edges.  I used two different Martha Stewart butterfly punches as well as a SU scallop border punch.  

I would also like to enter this card in the following challenges:
Fab n' Funky - "Quote Me Happy" - use a longer quote
Gingersnap - GC70 Spicy Supply "Punches"
AiFactory - "Anything Goes" 
Charisma Cardz - "Anything Goes"
Crafty Sentiments - "Use Your Scraps" - all the DP used was scraps I pulled out of my drawer
Crafty Catz - "Stitching"
Allsorts - "Use at least 3 punches"
Sweet Stampin Challenge - "Stitching"
Ooh La La Creations - ""Sentiment" - use sentiment as your focal point
Tuesday Taggers - "It Takes All Sorts" - anything 
Sponsored by



Ok, time for me to get back into bed....I ache all over again.


Have a great day :)


    

Happy Birthday ♥Alicia♥

Today was my oldest daughter Alicia's birthday...wow, I can't believe she is already 11 years old.  She is smart, talented and growing into such a wonderful young lady and I am proud to be her mom ♥ I love you sweetheart!  Tonight we celebrated her birthday with the family ~ us and then my parents and my brother.  On the kids birthday's we let them pick whatever they want for dinner and Alicia's choice was Cousins Subs ~ I have to say that I love their subs and their Broccoli Cheese soup (not to mention that I didn't have to do any cooking) so I was happy.  After dinner we had some delicious cake from our favorite baker (marble with buttercream frosting) and then it was time for the presents.  OK now for the card....

Yesterday I had Alicia pick out a few of her favorite images and I went with the Tuesday Creeper for her card~ my first time using the Creepers and boy are they fun!  The paper I used is actually digital paper from Tiddly Inks (and this was my first time using digi paper as well).  I stamped a large flourish stamp on the right side of the heart paper in gray and then colored over it with a Spica clear pen.  The edges of the cardstock and her "eyeshadow" were also colored with the same Spica pen ~ it took awhile to color the cardstock, but the shimmer it has in real life made it worth it.  The bottom has three layers of scalloped tulle and then a silver organdy ribbon along with a trio of pearls.  On the image panel, I used the distressed stripes folder, sanded it and then sponged it with gray.  The sentiment was computer generated and I then colored it with R21, T0, T1 and 0 to mimic the heart paper colors.  As a final touch I added one of my precious rhinestone swirls ~ I have a few of these, but because they really are not cheap, I hate to use them unless I know the card will be cherished and I know in this case I have nothing to worry about ~ she absolutely loved it! :)

Here is a close up showing the shimmer a little better:

I hope to head into the craft room again this week, but I am swamped with appointments and Girl Scout events through Sunday.  And here I thought once the kids were back in school I'd have all kinds of free time.....maybe next week.

Since I have to post while it is still her Birthday, I will come back and update the challenges I want to enter this card into.

OK...after a bit of picking and choosing (to remain at 10 total challenges), I am entering the following:
Nutty Nutshells - "Pretty in Pink" 
Southern Girls - "Anything Goes" 
Stamp and Create - "Pearls and Gems" 
One Stop Craft Challenge - "Fashion Throughout the Years" 
Aly's Sunday Challenge - "Sparkle and Glitter"
Club Anya and Friends - Case this card:  My notes...In place of the musical notes I stamped the flourish stamp on my paper.  The rhinestone swirl replaces the butterfly, the sentiment replaces the circle with the 8, the ribbon "bow" replaces the flower and the scalloped layers of tulle replace the torn paper layers

Pear Tree Designs - "Pink"
Our Daily Bread - "Make Your Creations Sparkle"
Scrap Creations - "Gotta Go Digi" - digi paper and digi sentiment 
Paper Sundaes - Minimum of 3 embellishments - Organdy, Tulle, Rhinestones, Pearls 


Have a great day! 




Recipe  ~ all items SU unless indicated
Stamps:  Tuesday Creeper (The Greeting Farm); Baroque Motifs  
Ink/Coloring:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Going Gray; Copics (E00, E01, E11, R20, E33, E35, E37, E57, E77, E79, T0, T1, T2, T3, T5, R21); Atyou Spica Clear
Paper:  Basic Gray, Going Gray, Pink Pirouette; Gina K Luxury White; DP - Tiddly Inks digi paper (Light Pink Grungy Heart)
Embellishments:   Organdy Ribbon (Silver); Pearls (Kaiser); Rhinestones (Michael's); Rhinestone Swirl (WalMart); Stickles (Stardust and Fruit Punch); Tulle  
Tools:  Key Tag Punch; Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (Distressed Stripes); Sanding Block

I've Been Spotted by Claudia & Co (and a new card too)

I was thrilled to get the email telling me that I had been spotted and they wanted to showcase my cards on their blog.  What an honor ~ thanks Claudia & Company!  Here are the two cards that they spotted: 

Both of these feature Ella Puddle Jumper.

But I had to make another card as well, so here it is.....

I couldn't leave the boys out, so I pulled out Davey Puddle Jumper and made a Back to School card for my youngest son Trevor.  For this card I followed the sketch over at Die Cuts R Us.

Surprisingly the layout is very similar to the previous card.  I used paper from the Summer Dream collection and instead of adding ribbon or another pattern paper across the center, I used plain cardstock punched with a border punch and then embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.  When I saw that ruler folder in the store I thought it would be perfect for school themed projects and just had to have it.  I changed the direction of the circles (well buttons in my case) and put them across the bottom instead of up the side (hope that's ok).  I came across these buttons going through some of my older supplies (the stuff I bought when I was "collecting" a few years ago) and the color was perfect for this paper.  They came pre-threaded and as a bonus already had adhesive on the back ~ how easy was that!?!  The little note he is holding says "Have FUN in 1st grade ♥ Mom" 

I know, I know, a "Back to School card" when the kids started last week....Well what can I say, they are a bit late this year.  As you can tell from my lack of posts last month, I didn't have a lot of time to spend in the Craft room, so while the intention was there, the time to do so just wasn't.   But, since I make them for my kids every year, better late than never!

I would also like to enter this last card in the following challenges:

Digi Doodles - "Write Me a Message" - use a sentiment
Pixie Challenge - "Back to School"
Stamp Something - "Something Cute"
Fussy & Fancy Friday - "Back to School"
Our Daily Bread -"Forgotten embellishments" - buttons, brads or eyelets
Simple Doodles - "Back to School"
Allsorts - "New Beginnings"
Secret Crafter - "Clean and Simple"
Cowgirl's - "Anything Goes"
I Did It Creations - "Beige and Blue and one other color (Red)"
Crafty Cardmakers - "Clean and Simple"
Incy Wincy - "Celebrate"
Little Paper Shop - "Clean and Simple"
The Pink Elephant - "Back to School"
Creative Card Crew - "Back to School"
Scrap Creations - "A Children's Themed Card"


Thanks again to Claudia and Company for showcasing my work today!
 


Recipe For Puddle Jumper Davey ~ all items SU unless indicated
Stamps:  Puddle Jumper Davey (Claudia & Co); Note paper stamp - Studio G  
Ink/Coloring:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Copics (E00, E01, E11, R20, E31, E33, Y28, E51, E53, E57. E59, B32, B34, R05, R08); Bliss Blue; Crumb Cake Marker
Paper:  Bliss Blue; Naturals (Ivory); Gina K Luxury White; DP - DCWV (Summer Dream)
Embellishments:   Buttons (Stickopotamus) 
Tools:  Martha Stewart Border Punch; Cuttlebug Embossing Folder