My Favorite Things

Fun With Minis...

Today's little cards are SO much fun to make and you can whip up some of these sweet little 3x3's in a snap!  They're perfect for tucking in with a little gift or for leaving someone a happy little hello and they can be recreated in a million different color combos!  I love this combo though -- ripe avocado, raspberry fizz & summer sunrise -- all from Papertrey Ink!  Plus, you can mix and match all sorts of stamps and you can use up scraps that you've got laying around your desk.  Just on these 3 little cards, I used Heart Prints, Journaling Lines, Background Basics: Retro, Guide Lines Two & Mega Mixed Messages, but you could use whatever stamps you have on hand.

There's a chill in the air here today.....my hands have been cold pretty much all day, except while they were holding on to the two cups of swiss chocolate almond coffee I had!  Mmmm.....now there's a fabulous aroma!  

It's Tuesday, so at our house that means Dancing With the Stars and American Idol!  Fun tv night!  Might have to pop some popcorn too.....old school.  We have an air popper!  :)

See ya!

{3x3 Mini Cards Supplies}
Paper: ripe avocado, summer sunrise, bitty dot basics
Stamps: Journaling Lines, Background Basics: Retro, Heart Prints,  Guide Lines Two, Mega Mixed Messages
Ink: ripe avocado, summer sunrise, raspberry fizz, versamark
Other: ripe avocado saddle stitch ribbon, summer sunrise topnotch twill, raspberry fizz luxe satin ribbon, new leaf vintage buttons, Hero Arts gemstones, hemp twine, SU! scallop edge punch

Just Catchin' Up a Bit...

Hi-ya Peeps!  Ok, so I couldn't just let you guys have all the fun with my first color challenge!  I decided to go ahead and make a card to share with you even if it is a week late - ha!  I was just a taaaaad preoccupied last week with a little thing called hubby's knee surgery and even though I intended to make a card all along, I completely forgot the day I posted the "In the Spotlight" post!  Heehee.  Sooooo..... I decided to catch up with you just a bit so here's the card I came up with.  Lots of my favorites on this card.  Love the colors, love the sentiment (Friends 'Til the End), love the polka dots (Polka Dot Basics) and love the flower image on the tag (Guide Lines Two).  Plus, I used my Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder and the flower was made using the Sizzix Flower #11 die with my Big Shot.  I cut out the tag with my Cricut Expression and the Tags, Bags, Boxes & More cartridge.

We're resting a bit this evening while watching Dancing With the Stars.  Bart went back to work with me today (we work at the same place - handy, huh?) :) and we also went to his first physical therapy evaluation today.  He got in a good workout and has done his home exercises as well so now he's got it propped and iced again.  He's looking at a couple more weeks of physical therapy but the great news is he's not needing any pain pills and the physical therapist said he's much further along than most people would be at this point.  I'm very proud of him and he's making great progress.  PTL!

Don't forget -- you have till Wed. to get your cards in for this week's color challenge!  

Hope you all have a great night!

Toodle-loo!

{Genuine Friend supplies}

Paper: PTI raspberry fizz, dark chocolate, stamper's select white; SU! pumpkin pie, so saffron

Stamps: Polka Dot Basics, Friends 'Til the End, Guide Lines Two

Ink: PTI raspberry fizz, dark chocolate; SU! so saffron

Other: fresh snow classic grosgrain ribbon, basic grey button, hemp twine, Cuttlebug swiss dot embossing folder, EK Success dotted scallop punch, Sizzix Flower #11 die, Cricut Expression/Tags, Bags, Boxes & More cartridge

Winner - Papertrey Goodies!

And the Papertrey Goodies go tooooo.........

Good luck with the surgery! My M-in-L had the same surgery and recovered nicely! All the best, and thanks for the chance to win.

Blair

Posted by: Blair M. | March 26, 2009 at 07:35 AM

Congrats, Blair!!  Please email me with your mailing address and I'll get your goodies out in the mail to you!  Thanks again to each of you that left comments!

Have a goodie!

Kristina's Color Inspo. #47

Hi All....

I finally got some time back in the studio today and boy, did it feel good!  I cranked out a few cards that I'll be sharing with you soon, but for today I thought I'd show you the card I made for Kristina's latest color challenge.  (Thanks, Kristina!!)  I stamped the large image from Damask Designs and cut it out, and then I added a few gemstones to it.  There are also some Polka Dot Basics on here and the sentiment is from Friends 'Til the End.

Hope you're having fantastic Sunday.  We're just taking it easy here (and loving it!).  I'll be back soon to post the winner of the Papertrey Goodies Giveaway so check back.  

Toodles!

{Sending Hugs supplies}

Paper: PTI dark chocolate, stamper's select white; SU! tangerine tango, so saffron

Stamps: PTI Damask Designs, Polka Dot Basics, Friends 'Til the End

Ink: PTI dark chocolate; SU! so saffron

Other: Archivers-pompom trim (by the yard), PTI dark chocolate swiss dot satin ribbon, Crystal Stickers gemstones, pinking shears, Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 2

Ok, so here we go with Color Challenge #2!  Whoohoo!  This week's photo is again from Pottery Barn Teen -- don't you just love those colors??  This is the blue/green version of their Tropical Punch quilt from last week's color challenge!

One thing I thought I'd do to help you out going forward, is to actually tell you on the challenge graphic, what the colors are rather than just showing them to you.  I realized that because every computer moniter is calibrated differently, some of you couldn't tell if that was supposed to be dark brown or black in the first challenge.  So I'll try to give you a general color description to go by, but that way you can still use whatever brand of card stock you have on hand.

Mister Linky definitely made things more convenient so that's how you can submit your links from now on.  Don't leave them in the comments section but feel free to leave me a comment after you've posted your link in Mister Linky.  You know I love hearing from you!

Also, be sure that the link you're posting is the direct link to your card!  Please don't leave your blog's url, but rather, the link to your specific post that shows us your card. 

Feel free to use the graphic I've created above, however you DON'T want to copy and paste the image!  Just SAVE the image to your computer and then upload the image to your blog post, as though it is a photo from your own computer.  Make sense?

Don't have a blog but still want to participate??  Don't worry!  You don't have to have a blog!  You are more than welcome to upload your card to an online gallery of your choice (i.e. www.splitcoaststampers.com, www.papertreyink.com,  www.twopeasinabucket.com, etc.) and then use the url for your photo in your gallery as the link that you post in Mister Linky.

You have until Wed., April 1 at 4pm CST to get your links submitted!

Have fun, Peeps!!  I can't wait to see your creations!

P.S.  For those of you that might be wondering about my surgery patient, he's doing SO well.  Granted, he's not too happy about not being able to get up and do all the things he's used to doing, but thankfully there's lots of basketball on TV this weekend to keep him entertained!  {smile}  We've also been watching movies, watching it snow like crazy outside and just hanging out all day.  I'm not being very productive this weekend but it feels so good to just spend time with Bartley & Riley (dog) and not worry about 'getting stuff done'.  Thank you again, so much, for your prayers.  I can't tell you how much we appreciate them.  We go back on Monday for his first physical therapy evaluation and starting tonight, he can start attempting to put some weight on his leg.  For now, we're keeping his knee iced and elevated.

Smooches!

In the Spotlight - Week 1

OK, so it seems that the Raspberry Suite color challenge was a hit!!  ;)  Oh my WORD.....you girls have blown me away!  There were so many amazing entries (over 150!) -- It was soooooo hard to narrow it down to just 10!  Like REALLY hard!  LOL!  Some of them made me GIDDY, they were so fabulous!  And I love that so many of you stepped out of your comfort zones, whether it was by using "5 WHOLE COLORS" (hee!) or by using "such bright colors" or whatever it was.  That's the whole point of these challenges....to get us to think outside the box and to try new things which just helps us to grow in this craft of ours.  I hope that with each challenge, you'll be inspired to try something new and that you'll have fun with it while you're at it!  So 'Well Done' to each and every one of you that participated.  You made me proud!

That being said, I've decided to make the Raspberry Suite Color Challenge a regular feature here at the blog-o!  How could I not, after such a fabulous response to this first challenge?!  So many of you seemed very excited about it so that makes it totally fun for me!  I hope you'll bear with me though, as I figure out what works best, schedule wise.  I still have stamp design work, design team work and magazine work that I'll be juggling besides just life stuff in general (including a day job!) so I'm not sure yet how often I'll do the challenges.  Every single week may be tough to keep up with but we'll see how much I can do.  Papertrey release weeks are often extra busy, especially the months when I have new stamp sets coming out in my Raspberry Suite stamp line, so color challenges may be tough on those weeks.  I also doubt I'll post the challenges on the same day every week so be sure and check in regularly if you don't want to miss one.  It will likely fluctuate each week depending on what else is going on so please hang in there with me while I figure out what's gonna work best.  There's definitely some time involved in creating the graphics and picking the winners and such, but what fun it is, too!  ;)

Ok, so after all that, check out who's In the Spotlight this week....

A. Tessa Wise
B. Anthonette
C. Kelly Rasmussen
D. Laura Bassen
E. Suzy
F. Jen
G. Angie Tieman
H. Ange Kelly
I. Melissa Bickford
J. Anya S.

Click on each person's name to see their blog post about their cards.  There are some great ones here.....you're sure to be inspired!  Thanks again to those of you that played along.  I'm already working on the next challenge so stay tuned!  I'll post it as soon as I can.....maybe even tomorrow!

P.S.  How about that Guest Blogger that popped in here yesterday?!!  That man is full of surprises!  LOL!  And then to get me to go look at my own blog (so I'd see his post), the big sneak-o asked me how many comments we'd gotten for the blog candy so far.  I was like, "I don't know....I haven't checked lately."  (Cause hello....I was gone this evening and I just got home....geez.  Ha!)  But he asked me two or three times and finally I opened up the blog to check (so he'd stop asking me!  Hahaha!) and there was his sweet post.  Sigh.  I TOLD ya he was a dear!!  ;)

Special guest THANKS!

OK, my sweet wife is busy at a previous commitment tonight, so I'm literally sneaking onto her blog without her knowledge. (SHHHHHH!!) Anyway, she told me what an outpouring of support there was for us today related to my surgery (though I REALLY know she bribed your comments with that nifty giveaway today.... ; )  I just wanted to express my sincere thanks for your kind wishes & prayerful thoughts. Everything went as well as it could have today (except for Dawn having to be anxious about the situation). It is so gratifying to know that Dawn has such a wonderful group of blogreaders & Google-followers who are so supportive & would take the time to express themselves as you all have. I'm overwhelmed myself & my dear wife is so blessed to be in relationship with you through this wonderful communication tool. Our prayers are with you & that God will meet you at your point of need in His perfect timing, as He has for us. Have a great weekend---we are due 1-2 inches of surprise snow on Saturday, so it couldn't be a better time to rest & recuperate. (BTW,for those of you who may be concerned about it, I should be well enough & soon enough that Dawn will NOT have to mow anytime soon!!!)............Bart 

Let's Do a Giveaway!

Hi Peeps!

My handsome husband is having surgery on his knee this morning.  He's got a tear in the cartilage that he's basically just been living with (and running on while reffing) for quite some time now so we've decided to get it taken care of now that basketball season is over.  We have a little bit of time before our vacation and before basketball camps start up in the summer, so we figured this would be the best time for his surgery.  It's arthroscopic and they anticipate that he'll be good as new in no time but he'll be on crutches for this weekend and he'll have a bit of physical therapy to do, to get back up and running.  (no pun intended!  HEE!)

In case you want to follow along with our progress today, I'll be posting Twitter updates (tweets!).  You can follow along HERE or you can just check in here at the blog-o for updates - they're over in the right hand side-bar.

Since we're off to the surgical center later this morning and I have no idea what to expect once I get him home (we have no surgery experience, here!), I doubt I'll spend any time in the studio today, so I thought this seemed like a great day for a giveaway! 

What's up for grabs:

*Raspberry Fizz Mix patterned paper pack
*Dark Chocolate ribbon collection (4 spools, 5 yds each)
*New Leaf vintage button pack

(Prize package of Papertrey goodies is valued at $25!)

How to enter:
Just leave a comment on this post to be entered to win!  You can tell me your surgery experiences or how much you've wanted those buttons since the day you first laid eyes on them.  Or you could just say hi -- you know how I love it when you chat with me.  :)  You'll be entertaining me today........thank goodness for my iPhone!  Haha!

You have until Saturday, March 28 at 10pm CST to leave your comment!

Have a great day, All!  (and pray for my hubby, if you think of it)  :)

For Sale

 

$50 + shipping (paypal only)

Cricut Jukebox (retail $89.99)
Brand new, in box, still factory sealed from manufacturer

Please email me if you're interested.  (email link in left sidebar)

Sweet & Simple Tuesday.

Hi All.....

First off, can I just say that I am so excited that so many of you have decided to play along in my first Raspberry Suite Color Challenge!!  I'm having so much fun seeing what you've all come up with!  I think picking my faves is going to be harder than I anticipated!  ;)  You still have until tomorrow (Wed.) at noon CST to play along if you haven't done so yet.

For today, I needed to make a sympathy card for an older gentleman so I kept it very simple and used several neutral colors with some green.  Also, I tied a knot rather than a bow to make it a bit more manly and I used my Heidi Swapp edge distressor to rough up one edge of the New Leaf card stock to make it even a bit more masculine.  The flower images are from Stampin' Up!'s Pocket Silhouettes stamp set and the sentiment is Papertrey's Mega Mixed Messages.  

This card would be so easy to recreate and you could even switch out the green for just about any other color while still using the kraft, dark chocolate & vintage cream.....can't you just see this card with red, pink, purple, blue or orange in place of the green??

All right......we stayed up WAY too late last night (and by we, I mostly mean me) ;) ....so we're off to try and catch up on some sleep tonight.

Sleep tight, Crew!

{With Sympathy supplies}

Paper: kraft, vintage cream, dark chocolate, new leaf

Stamps: SU! Pocket Silhouettes, Mega Mixed Messages

Ink: new leaf, vintage cream

Other: new leaf topnotch twill ribbon, super jumbo scalloped square punch