My wonderful birthday RAKs

My birthday was back in July, but I've been so consumed with my Navy hubby returning home on August 1st....I haven't stamped in forever, I feel like I've neglected all my wonderful rubber. I think ... finally, things are coming back to a normal routine and I hope to get a bit inky this week if at all possible.

For now, I wanted to share with you all, the wonderful cards that I received from friends on SCS. One is even from one of the lovely gals in the Ocean's 11 blogger group.

This one is beautiful and from 'marinemom01' over at SCS

What a lovely pocket card from 'Brad's Mom' over at SCS

This one makes me want to take out my crimper and make lovely note cards. This one is from 'Mad Muffin' over at SCS.

And last but certainly not lease is the one from fellow Ocean's 11....Adventures from the Monkey Hut....she did a wonderful job with this card. Love the butterflies. Dying to know if they were Jollees or if she somehow made them. So very pretty!

I had a wonderful birthday...even the card from my Mom was butterflies, it must've been the year of the butterfly! So lovely, I felt so loved. Thank you all so much for thinking of me.

Praying for you

I don't make these cards too often, but since I had out my Thoughts and Prayers set I made a few to tide me over :) I even sent one off to my mom, I'm always thinking about her.

Made use of some buttons, I don't do that too often. But, lately they've been calling out to me. And the eyelet border punch was a perfect touch for this card. Softly sponged the edges and tied some ribbon.

Set: Thoughts and Prayers
Accessories: Porcelain Prints DP, Blue Bayou and Whisper White cardstocks, sponge, eyelet border punch, blue bayou ribbon, white organdy, and buttons.

Always be remembered

My wonderful aunt passed away recently. This is the card that I sent off
to my uncle. They are a very dear couple and she will be greatly missed.

I am loving this set, as it's new to me :) Getting lots of use out of it already. Sponged over the tree to give it that spring/summer look. It's been embossed and the sponging goes over it very easily.

Pretty basic card, yet I really love it.

Set: Thoughts and Prayers
Accessories: Porcelain Prints DP, Wild Wasabi, River Rock and Whisper White cardstock. River Rock ribbon, EP, Oval Punches, paper piercing and brads.

Happy Father's Day Honey

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband!
He's a great father and step-dad and we all love him so much.

He is a getting a new grill for Father's Day this year
and this card certainly will be received as a BTUtiful thing!
He'll be in our back yard with all the birds flying around for sure!

And always thinking of my own father who went home to be with our Heavenly Father. He was a wonderful father to us. I love and miss you Dad. Thinking of you today and always.

Set: King of the Grill
Accessories: Maine Blueberry DP, Old Olive, Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue and Whisper White cardstocks, CB Folder, Punch, Old Olive Ribbon, Jolee

A friend makes it easy

I missed my good friends birthday, so after all this time passed I felt I just wanted to get a card off to her anyway, so here it is:

I love these pinks and greens together, so pretty! I used markers to color the image so that I could use two colors. I embossed the sentiment. Layered the ribbons and used the CuttleBug for the background.

Set: Thoughts and Prayers
Accessories: Porcelain Prints DP, Wild Wasabi and Whisper White cardstocks. Pink Pirouette and Regal Rose ribbons, SS Brads and SU buttons.

What a blessing

My lovely daughter is 15 today.
Again...where does the time go? She's such a lovely lady.
I'm so very proud of the woman she is becoming.
She is talented, kind, funny, smart, thoughtful, caring...the
list goes on and on.
I am so very proud that she is mine and so very blessed that
God gave her to me.

I've been wanting this set for so long, and I've seen so many wonderful
cards made with it. I raised the flowers to make them stand out and even
added crystal effects to the cap. And I used new colors!!!! How fun!

Also, I took out my trusty brayer to make the background, goodness I love
that tool!!

Thanks for coming by!

Set: Inspired by Nature, Hugs & Wishes
Accessories: Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz, Not Quite Navy & Whisper White cardstocks, Old Olive ribbon (really close to the pear), Scallop edge punch, Crystal Effects, brads, brayer.

Comfort

I've had the need for a couple of sympathy cards lately. This is one of the ones I made. I just love this set. The tree can be used for so many things.

I used my new Smooch Spritz on this card, it's going to take a bit to get used to it. Sometimes it comes out a lot other times a little, I need to figure out the strength in my finger :) I sponged some blue into the sky and green for grass, just to add a little something more.

I pulled out my Copper paper that I haven't used in forever and found some eyelets that matched. I think they go great with the Spritz!

Set: Thoughts & Prayers
Accessories: Porcelain Prints DP, Wile Wasabi, Brushed Copper & Whisper White cardstocks. Blue Bayou ribbon and Copper cord. EP.

Here we go...again

More fun with my grilling guy!
He really is a lot of fun to color. And I always find
that I need more masculine cards, so I went to town.

I found these brads that I believe I got from GinaK
a while back and never used. I have more product that
seems to hide on me amongst all that wonderful stamping
stuff....and once in a while it surfaces.

Set: King of the Grill
Accessories: Western Sky DP, Ruby Red, Sky Blue, River Rock and Whisper White cardstock, Blue Bayou Ribbon, Hardware Brads, Circle Cutter, Oval Punch, Large Oval Punch

King of the Grill

As promised, here is another of my fun guy.
He's out playing on the grill and a big ol' dragon fly
is trying to steal his steak!

I used the crimper to add some texture to the
background, and it seemed masculine. Almost like
the texture on the grill itself.

Striped are better suited for a man's card then flowers,
huh? But, on the last one, I figured that they were at
least not pink, HA!

Set: King of the Grill
Accessories: Treehouse DP, True Thyme, More Mustard, Buckaroo Blue & Whisper White cardstocks, Cranberry Crisp Ribbon, So Saffron Ribbon, Ticket Corner Punch, Button

One of a few...

I've been playing with a new set from the Summer Mini.
I think he's kinda cute :)
My hubby is getting a new grill this summer and this set
will suit him :)

I pulled out some designer papers that didn't look
completely feminine, it's so hard to make masculine
cards.

I used some retired HodgePodge to add some heartiness
to the card. I also used my old cloud stencil for the sky. That is not something that should ever have retired.
There will be more of these to come :)

Set:King of the Grill
Accessories: Razzleberry Lemonade DP, Whisper White, Crushed Curry & Pumpkin Pie cardstocks, Oval Punch, Crushed Curr Ribbon, Pumpkin Pie Ribbon, Pewter HP, Circle Cutter

Time flies when you are having fun!

My little guy turned 18 months today!
One and a half, I can't believe it!
Time sure does fly when you are having fun!
And that is exactly what I'm having with this one.
He's such a joy...full of hugs and smiles.
He's so smart and funny!
I'm so blessed that my Lord gave this bundle to me.

This was taken in April, his first time at the beach this year.
He just loved walking on the sand and feeling it in his fingers.
It's going to be a fun summer! I love the beach.

And this is him in the back yard. He has a love
for water, so a water table was perfect for him.
Splash away my son!

And with 18 months comes curiosity! He found the
water/ice machine on the fridge. And I found a good use
for the extra rubber that comes on a set! I put three pieces
together and stuffed them under the levers. I don't use
them and we dont have a switch to turn it off, so these are
a great fix! Well...that is until he figures out how to pull
them out, lol.

Thanks for visiting today! Have a great night!

Greatest Gift

I think family is such a great gift.

I sent this card to my sister-in-law for her birthday this month. Every birthday should be special for everyone. Another year blessed!

Holding the card in my hand that buckle didn't look so overpowering, but now in the picture it does. I love purples and greens together. I had been wanting the Upsy Daisy set so that I could do the background like I did here....now I get to do it with this set instead :)

Set: Of the Earth (SU)
Accessories: Perfect Plum, Certainly Celery and Whisper White cardstocks, inks & markers, cutter kit, Certainly Celery twill, Eggplant Grosgrain, Circle cutter, HodgePodge.

What?

Hi friends!

It's been so long since I've visited all of you.

Life has been really busy with hubby's deployment, my teen's school activities and of course the extra time that I get to spend daily with my toddler. I wouldn't give up that time for anything.

So, inking it up has gone on the sidebar for a while...and now it seems things are settling in and I feel like getting inky again ;) I think some of Stampin' UP's changes have even inspired me to get back to it. Lots of things coming up for the July catalog....and new colors always get me in the mood!

Anyway, to get the ball rolling, I have this card that I sent to my hubby for Easter. It's very very past Easter, but it's still a cute card. You'll have to forgive me, I didn't write down what I used and it's been so long I don't have all the info...but I'll tell you what I remember. I've seen this joke around the net for years and then when this stamp came out it was all over SCS as well. He got a kick out of it.

I used a Martha Stewart grass punch, a Stampendous egg punch and the talking bubbles I created on the computer. The bunny is "Chocolate Bunny" from Stampin' UP! which I embossed to make it shine like a real chocolate bunny, YUM!

And I used the scallop circle punch from SU to take a 'bite' out of one bunny's bum and the other bunny's ears. That was mighty tastey ;)

I hope you are all having a wonderful spring! Here in VA the weather has been just magnificent this week. We've been outside daily, soaking in those rays!

Also, I want to thank my blogger group on SCS "Oceans 11" for not giving up on me!

For someone special

With my hubby deployed, we have been sending him out care packages, and what's more exciting then to receive a package with a little love in it?

Of course this was his Valentine/February package, so instead of me making a card, I got my little guy (who is 15 months old today!) to work his magic....ok, I helped :)

Do you know how hard it is to get a one year old to hold his hand flat to make a print? It's crazy. These took a few attempts but I'm happy with the prints we got. I used the Heart to Heart punch...perfect! And I found a large heart on line that I printed onto Whisper White so that I could write inside it.

Inside the card I attached a couple pics of our little guy, so that Daddy would have them to place near his computer on the ship.

We've been busy around here....and even a bit sick. My teen has the tummy flu, I've had a chest cold....baby is teething, we achieved our first molar this past month. So much getting in the way of my ink and rubber. Enjoy your weekend and thank you for coming by!

Our Birthentine

I was hoping to get this posted yesterday, but I guess the day got away from me....anywho....

Happy Birthentine's Day to my Mom! She's a Valentine baby, so she's always our Valentine.

She really enjoyed this card...maybe it was the chocolate ;)

It was fun to make. However, if you want to do the treat cup anywhere but an edge, be prepared to do some cutting with your knife. I ended up punching out the heart from my Full Heart punch and then tracing it and cutting it...so that I could have it where I wanted it. Where there's a will....

I used Rose Red, Certainly Celery and Whisper White for this card. And the sentiment was just from Word and printed on cardstock. The grass is a Martha punch and I used the Sweetheart set from SU.

Thanks for taking a peek today! Have a great day!

Fabulous Bella

What a week...still stampin' and everything! I love this!

I pulled out a stack of images I received in an image swap and found this one. I have never done a Bella card, she's kinda cool. She's like Barbie, she can do anything.

This gal seems a bit country with her flower pot, so I decided that I would bling her up just a bit. I added the rhinestones and a bit of Iridescent Ice on her lashes, dress hem and shoes. Just enough to feel pretty as she goes to her friends house to present her with these flowers. What a fabulous friend she is.

Set: Bella, Oval All
Accessories: Perfect Plum, Regal Rose and white cardstocks, Slumber Party DP, Various inks with Aqua Painter, Iridescent Ice, rhinestones, Eyelet Edge Punch, Regal Rose & Eggplant Ribbons, Large & XL Oval Punches, sponge