Tuesday, April 28, 2009

TSG Sneak Peek Day 3

So it's the final day of the There She Goes Sneak Peek Blog Hop and I think this just might be my favorite set of this release! If you're following the Blog Hop from the beginning, you should have arrived from Holly's blog. If not, head on back to Jessica's blog and start at the beginning so you can leave all of the Trendsetters some lovin'!!

There are so many adorable images in the Happy Day set and I've already made 5 (yes, FIVE) projects with this set!! But today I'm only sharing one of them! You'll have to stay tuned later this week for the other projects!! Here's a look at my Spring-y Paper-pieced card:


I started with a Kraft base (yes, I know...you really aren't surprised about that are you?) and added some Delicate Dots DP from SU (Sale-a-bration freebie). I stamped the image on several different pieces of DP and paper pieced the individual elements of the super fun landscape image - I just LOVE how this turned out!!! It was A LOT of cutting with my hobby knife, but the end result was so worth it! :-)

I added a sentiment from the same Happy Day set, some Certainly Celery twill ribbon, and a few buttons tied with hemp twine (more of my usual) to finish it off. So what do you think?

Ready to see some more Happy Day creations? Hop on over to Jessie's blog for some more fabulous eye candy!!

And here's a master list of all the Trendsetters' blogs:
Jessica
Angela
Becky
Christi
Faith
Holly
Jessie
Joanne
Jodi
Julie
Maki
Silke

Want a chance to win this set? Comment on all of the Trendsetter's Blogs on their She's A Lady sneak peek post, go back to Jessica's blog and add your name to the Mister Linky. You do not have to have a blog to play along, you can also use the URL of your favorite online craft gallery!

Ok, that's it for me tonight! I'll be back later today with another fun project, some non-crafty stuff to share and some SUPER exciting crafty news (if you want a hint on the news, check out THIS).

Mahalo for stopping by!

Monday, April 27, 2009

TSG Sneak Peek Day 2

Well, here we are - it's Day #2 of the There She Goes Sneak Peek Blog Hop and today the girls are showing projects using the new set A-Z and 123. This set is soooo versatile and I can see it becoming one of my most-used stamp sets for everyday gifts and personalized projects!

If you made your way to my blog from the fabulous Holly's blog, you're on the right track! If not, head on back to Jessica's blog and start at the beginning - you don't want to miss any of the amazing projects with this set!!

For my project, I created this cute little personalized notecard gift set for my Grandma Joan. She loves sending handwritten notes to all of her old lady friends and gets a kick out of telling them her granddaughter MADE the card she's sending them, so I know she'll love this set!! I used the "J" stamp and one of the circles from the new set to create a little monogram tag for each of the cards. I also pulled out my old TSG set - Thinking of You and used my SU markers to ink up the flowers and stamp along the bottom of the main image panel to match the old SU DP I used.

I used Lauren Meader's Captured Card Case Template to create the matching box, resizing it a bit to hold 3.5 x 5 inch notecards. The box base and some of the card accents are made out of Real Red CS and I added some Real Red ribbon as well. I used my circle nestabilities to cut out the mat for the monogram and some silver cording to attach it to the ribbon.

Here's a look at the open gift box with the notecards inside. They fit PERFECTLY and it's such a cute little gift set! I used the same Real Red color combo for half of the cards and Pumpkin Pie for the other half. I think it turned out great and this is a quick and easy personalized gift I can see myself recreating many times in the future!!


Ready to see some more A-Z and 123 creations? Hop on over to Jessie's blog for some more fabulous eye candy!!

And here's a master list of all the Trendsetters' blogs:
Jessica
Angela
Becky
Christi
Faith
Holly
Jessie
Joanne
Jodi
Julie
Maki
Silke

Want a chance to win this set? Comment on all of the Trendsetter's Blogs on their She's A Lady sneak peek post, go back to Jessica's blog and add your name to the Mister Linky. You do not have to have a blog to play along, you can also use the URL of your favorite online craft gallery!

I'll be back tomorrow with the final TSG Sneak Peek before Friday's Release! Mahalo for stopping by!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Exciting News and a Sneak Peek

So, in case you didn't see it on Jessica's blog the other day, I'm the May Guest Trendsetter for There She Goes stamps!! I'm so excited about this!! And guess what today is!?!? That's right! It's Day 1 of the Sneak Peeks for TSG's May Release! I have to say that I think this release just might be my favorite TSG release so far!!

So welcome to the TSG Sneak Peek Blog Hop!! You should have arrived from the fabulous Holly's blog. If not, head on back to Jessica's blog and start over! The girls have some pretty AWESOME creations to show off today using the new She's a Lady set. There are so many fun images in this set that you can mix and match - I used a total of FOUR images on my card:


I based my color scheme on the piece of DP from Stampin' Up's Hawaii Papaya line, which I've had laying around UNOPENED for just about FOREVER! I thought it was perfect for this particular stamp. I accented the main color of Old Olive with some Chocolate Chip and So Saffron. The image was stamped in Momento Rich Cocoa and colored with Copics before matting and popping up on dimensionals. The sentiment (which is just one of MANY in this set) is popped up on yet MORE dimensionals - giving the card lots of depth. A simple strip of Old Olive CS and some So Saffron ribbon and brads completed the 5.25-inch square card. What do you think?

Ready to see some more She's a Lady creations? Hop on over to Jessie's blog for some more fabulous eye candy!!

And here's a master list of all the Trendsetters' blogs:
Jessica
Angela
Becky
Christi
Faith
Holly
Jessie
Joanne
Jodi
Julie
Maki
Silke

Want a chance to win this set? Comment on all of the Trendsetter's Blogs on their She's A Lady sneak peek post, go back to Jessica's blog and add your name to the Mister Linky. You do not have to have a blog to play along, you can also use the URL of your favorite online craft gallery!

My Time to Color Challenge 01

I'm super excited about the new and improved structure of Lauren's My Time Challenges and couldn't wait to play along in her first Color Challenge!! She picked some awesome colors:

I finally got my new Scattered Showers stamp set inky, which is Dawn McVey's latest release. Oh, and how excited am I that Joel and I have dinner plans tomorrow night with Dawn and her hubby while they're on Maui during their Hawaiian cruise! Should be fun times! Anyway, here's my card:


Stamps: Scattered Showers, Polka Dot Basics (PTI)
Paper: Bashful Blue DP, So Saffron CS (SU); Pure Poppy, Smokey Shadow CS (PTI); White Pure Luxury CS (GinaK)
Ink: Pure Poppy, Smokey Shadow, Fresh Snow (PTI); Versafine Black Onyx (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Circles Nesties (Spellbinders); So Saffron Ribbon, dimensionals (SU); Blue & Red buttons (Basic Grey); Black Button (PTI); hemp twine.

That's it for now folks! I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing weekend!

Mahalo for stopping by!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

PTI Blog Hop


This is my first time participating in a Papertrey Ink Blog Hop, but when I saw that the challenge was to create a project with one of Lauren Meader's My Timeless Templates, I knew I had to participate!! If you're a regular blog reader you know I'm a sucker for all things gift-y!


Remember the card I made for Aunty Joyce earlier this week using Lauren's Saturday Sketch #30? Well, I also created this adorable gift set to go with it using Lauren's From the Desk Of template. I once again used PTI's Teacher's Apple stamp set along with Kraft & Chocolate Chip CS and A Walk in the Park DP (SU) paired with Pure Poppy Bitty Dot Basics. I love this color combo together with this stamp set!!

Inside Aunty's Joyce's Desktop Organizer is a little bunch of pencils wrapped with ribbon and embellished with a red button, an altered post-it note pad, a 4x6 covered notepad and matching pen, an altered jumbo binder clip, and a little mint tin filled with stickers she can use on student's artwork and projects. I made the stickers by stamping various apples onto Avery label paper and punching out with a circle punch. I also made several "A+" stickers by stamping the "A" from PTI's Fresh Alphabet along with the "I" stamped both vertically and horizontally to create the "+"....yeah, I'm pretty clever like that!! ha!

Here's a closer look at some of the individual items inside the desktop organizer:
So what do you think? Be sure to head on over to the Papertrey Forum and check out the links to all the other Blog Hop participants!!!

ETA: HERE is a link to an old tutorial I wrote for the Post-It note cover. I know there are lots like it out there, but thought I would share.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Mother's Day - Verve Style

I thought I'd share a few more of my Mother's Day Verve Creations from the latest release, since the holiday is sneaking up on all of us super fast!!! With these projects, my cards at least are all done and my Mom's gift (a gift certificate for a Lomi Lomi Massage at the Spa Grande at the Grande Wailea) is ready. I still have my MIL, Grandma and Joel's Oma to prepare gifts for, but they're all pretty easy....any handmade gift that somehow incorporates a photo of their favorite little 2-yr-old and they're pretty darn happy!!

So if you have a Mom or a Grandma or a Sister or just a good friend that you need to create a Mother's Day card or a simple "Just Because" card for, Verve's new Because of You set pretty much has you covered!! And if you really want some versatility, throw in the Mother's Day Plain Jane and Wishful Elegance. Want to make sure you've covered ALL your bases? go for the Mother's Day Collection (the entire new release...currently on sale for only $46 through April 30...and it's a STEAL!!!) and you'll be set for card-making for all of the women in your life! Here are a few of my New Release samples:

Stamps: Because of You (Verve)
Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip CS; A Walk in the Park DP (SU)
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Chocolate Chip ribbon, Baja Breeze corduroy button (SU); hemp twine


Stamps: Mother's Day Plain Jane (Verve)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White CS (SU); Craft Faire DP (American Crafts)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU); Copic Marker for flower
Accessories: Old Olive Ribbon, pink button (SU)

Sorry for the poor quality photo on this one...I really struggled with the lighting for some reason...

Stamps: Because of You (Verve)
Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip CS; Sweet Slumber DP (SU)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU); Fresh Snow (PTI)
Accessories: Trio of Tags nestie; Chocolate Chip ribbon (SU); hemp twine

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Sweet Friend

OK, if you haven't already checked out Kelleigh Ratzlaff's hybrid templates at the Digichick, STOP reading this blog entry and go to her store right now and see for yourself how totally AWESOME they are!!! And don't worry if you're not digi-savvy....Kelleigh has started including lines-only files with just about all of her templates - meaning you can print them out on the back of your cardstock or patterned paper - like I did for this adorable little project....

Seriously. Isn't that the cutest thing EVER!?!? Those little strawberries were so fun and easy to put together!! I just printed out the fruit part on the back of some Riding Hood Red DP and the stem part on the back of some Kiwi Kiss DP, cut them out and put together with some hemp twine according to the directions. I made a quick little card to match, creating the "Sweet Friend" sentiment out of a couple of the Mega Mixed Messages stamps from PTI. Such a "sweet" little gift!!

For Aunty Joyce

My 2-yr-old son Dean and I attend a free toddler program at Pomaikai Elementary school (the school he will eventually attend as a student here in Kahului) called Families for R.E.A.L. If you live in Hawaii and you have a child age 0-5 yrs old, you really should look into this program. It has been a great resource for Joel and I as first-time parents and a wonderful learning and social development opportunity for Dean. The Spring Session will be ending in late May and I wanted to make a thank you card for Dean's "teacher", Aunty Joyce.

Lauren's Saturday Sketch #30 combined with PTI's Teacher's Apple were perfect for the card and I'll create a matching gift set of some sort in the next few weeks.

Stamps: Teacher's Apple (PTI)
Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip CS; A Walk in the Park DP (SU); Pure Poppy Bitty Dots DP (PTI)
Ink: Pure Poppy (PTI); Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss (SU)
Accessories: Ribbon, dimensionals (SU); Trio of Tags nesties (Spellbinders); button (Basic Grey); hemp twine

I'll be back in a few hours with another SUPER sweet "fruity" project that you definitely do NOT want to miss!!!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Earthy Sketch for You To Try

In honor of Earth Day, which is tomorrow, I picked out some of my favorite "earthy" colors and my new favorite tree stamp from There She Goes' Branching Out paired with a sentiment from Thinking of You to create my card for Jen's Sketch For You To Try this week. It was a quick and easy card, but I'm really happy with how it turned out!!

Stamps: Branching Out, Thinking of You (TSG)
Paper: Textured Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, So Saffron DP, Hawaii Papaya DP (SU); damask DP is an old print from SEI
Ink: Momento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Chocolate Chip twill Ribbon, oval punch and scalloped oval punch, button latte, dimensionals (SU); oval nesties; hemp twine; copic markers.

So what are you doing to celebrate Earth Day? Wednesday is one of my non-work days, so the little man and I are planning on going on a waterfall hike in the morning before naptime. After naptime Joel is planning to come home a little early from work and we're going to plant a Plumeria tree in our backyard before heading to Kihei for a picnic dinner on the beach for sunset. So lots of fun outdoor nature time!! My idea of a perfect day in paradise!! Lucky we live Maui!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Houndstooth Notecard Set

How about another Verve New Release project? This is one of my favorite projects I've created so far with this new release....
I made this cute little gift box/bag thingie out of Basic Black CS, cutting the handle with a long rectangle nestabilities die. The Houndstooth papers on the project are printed digi papers from the NEW Houndstooth Paper Pack by Libby Weifenbach (Sweet Shoppe Designs). Aren't they yummy!?!? They (along with ALL of Libby's papers) print up soooo nicely!! The notecards (3.5 x 5 inch size) are very simple - I wanted to use a large piece of the houndstooth paper, so really all they needed was a piece of True Black ribbon (PTI) and the Sunshine Plain Jane stamped at the top. I love how they turned out!! I also used a scrap piece of houndstooth to wrap the inside of a RSVP pen to include with the gift. Here's a closer look at the gift box / bag:


I decorated the front of my gift box/bag with a few hand-cut stamped flowers from the new Wishful Elegance set, tied a piece of Old Olive ribbon to the handle, and added the Birthday Wishes sentiment. I plan on giving this set to one of my coworkers (who happens to be a good friend of mine) who will be celebrating her birthday later this week. She's actually technically the Physical Therapy Supervisor and I watched her watching a Supervisor's training podcast once where they were talking about giving positive feedback to employees. The totally cheesy lady actually suggested mailing a personal, handwritten note to someone telling them what a "bright ray of sunshine they've been in the workplace". We both started cracking up laughing at the same time. I regularly tease her about that and demand to know where my handwritten note is telling me what a bright ray of sunshine I am. So even though I know she's going to love this gift, it's also kind of a bit of an inside joke!

Amy's Friday Sketch #57

Yep, I had a pretty productive weekend! Even with my boys having the sickies (ewww) I still managed to get several challenge cards done....it felt sooo good!! My BSFF (Best Stamping FF...ha! I'm so funny!!) Sarah came over on Saturday and we made a cute little project I'll be sharing with you later this week and got a few other things accomplished as well. She brought her new Purple Cows paper cutter, which convinced me I needed one (I was in the market for a new paper cutter anyway) and Joel surprised me by running to Costco while he was out grabbing us lunch and running a few other errands!!! - Even though he was very sly about it. He came in with a Purple Cows box and I got all excited....I had a sneaking suspicion he might pick me up one. I said "ooooh, what's that?" and ran over and picked up an EMPTY box. Turns out it was just the box Sarah had brought hers in. I hung my head, Joel said "sorry babe" and I went back to stamping. About 10 minutes later, Joel comes into my craft space with a Purple Cows box and sets it down on my table. I jumped up and squealed "I KNEW it! I knew you got me one!" and again, picked up Sarah's empty box. I was so pissed. I called him a jerk and told him that wasn't cool at all. Finally, 10 minutes later he brought in a 2nd Purple Cows box (this time it actually had a paper cutter in it)!! Sarah got a good laugh out of the whole thing. I have a feeling our loving interactions provide her hours of entertainment!!!

Anyway, I'm VERY happy with my new super-bargain paper cutter (like $35 at Costco compared to $85 at our local Ben Frankline store!!!! AWESOME deal!!).

Ok, ok....on to the card. I finally had a chance to particpate in Amy's Friday Sketch challenge and pulled out one of my favorite There She Goes sets for this one - Special Delivery. I colored the image with Copics (I still pretty much suck at Copic coloring). I'm not sure why my grass looks so much like crap here - it doesn't look that bad in real life, but it did NOT photograph well. You'll just have to trust me on that. And as for the glittery frosting on those cupcakes....let me just say that I had a near-disaster with the stickles, but was able to rescue the card!!! whew! So here ya go:


Stamps: Special Delivery (TSG)
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Kraft, Chocolate Chip CS (SU); Pure Luxury white CS (GinaK); Best Ever Simply Scrappin' Kit (SU)
Ink: Momento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Copic Markers; Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Folder; Stickles; Chocolate Chip Ribbon, scallop border punch (SU)

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Taylor's Cupcake Sketch #64

I finally played along again this weekend in Taylor's Cupcake Sketch Challenge. It was a fun sketch, even though I'm not crazy about how my card turned out. I'm seriously lacking in the MoJo department today!! I think I might have used it all up for last week's Verve Release!! Anyway, have you heard of Taylor's Key Ingredients Subscription? She has 3 and 6-month terms and offers some pretty sweet incentives - like 10% off and free shipping additional purchases for subscribers for a few days before your kit ships. I signed up and my new kit arrived last week. I decided to pull it out and play with some of the papers and ribbons (and of course my new stamp set, Fresh Flowers). I colored the flowers with my Prismacolor pencils and blended with OMS. I prefer this coloring method over Copics when I want a nice soft look (I have yet to perfect the "nice soft look" with Copics!!). Anyway, here's the card:


Stamps: Fresh Flowers (SASI)
Paper: Taylor's April Key Ingredients, Whisper White CS (SU)
Ink: Momento Rich Coca (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, OMS, blending stump; ribbon (April KI)

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Scrappy Sunday

Happy Sunday!! I've totally been slacking about posting my Scrappy Sunday sketches and layouts on my blog, so I've decided to start trying to make a point to that again each week. In case you have no idea what I'm talking about....each week I host a Scrapbook Sketch Challenge over on Papercraft Planet - the Scrappy Sunday Challenge. All forms of scrapbooking - traditional, digi and hybrid - are welcome. It's lots of fun, so if you're a scrapper - come join us!!!

This week's sketch is based on a digital template in the Room for Photos #2 kit designed by the uber-talented Sya of Sya's Blueprints. If you're a digi scrapper, be sure to stop by Sya's store at ScrapMatters - she has TONS of amazing templates and some really cute digi kits available!

This week's sketch has room for lots of photos, but don't feel like you have to use that many - feel free to get creative with those blocks of space (fill with printed or coordinating papers, journaling squares, large embellishments, etc), just keep the basic layout the same!

If you play along this week, be sure to upload to the PCP gallery with the tag sb041909 (all lower case) so we can find your layout!

Here's this week's sketch: And here's my Sample using Deerest Spring by Dani Mogstad & Kristin Cronin-Barrow; Rainforest Revelry by Misty Cato; Extra Large Painted Chippy Alpha by Libby Weifenbach; and font is DJB Poppyseed by Darcy Baldwin (all available at Sweet Shoppe Designs): (you should be able to click on the photo to enlarge to read the journaling if you're interested).I hope you'll all come play along!!! You never know when one of the amazing PCP sponsors is going to surprise one of our participants with a treat!!!

Viva La Verve April Week #4

Have you been playing along with the Viva La Verve challenges over on Splitcoast this month? It's another awesome chance for you to win some Verve goodness!!

If you're new to the Viva La Verve challenges, here are the details: Complete each weekly sketch (uploaded every Friday in the Verve Forum on SCS) with the twist (an extra requirement for your sketch card) and have all of that month's sketch cards uploaded by midnight EST on April 30th. Participants will be eligible to win the next month's Verve Release for FREE!! Even if you don't get the sketches done until the last day of the month, you still qualify!!

This week's sketch twist was to create your own DP with stamps!! Soooo easy with Verve!! (Especially because I had the new Wishful Elegance handy!! ha!). Here's my card:


Stamps: Wishful Elegance (Verve)
Paper: Textured Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, Kraft, Whisper White CS (SU)
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia (Tsukineko); Versamark
Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder; White Satin Ribbon, large silver brads, dimensionals (SU).

That medallion background stamp looks sooooo yummy stamped and embossed with clear EP!! Give it a try when you get your new Verve Stamps!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Today's the Day!! - Verve Release Party


Party will be HERE in the Verve forum at SCS....hope you can make it!!!

And in case you missed it on the Verve Blog, here's a little Mother's Day project I created with the new Because of You set....Head on over to this post on the Verve Blog for details.

I'll be sharing this and about 10 other projects using the new stamps sets at the party tonight!! I've seen the creations the other divas have made too and believe me, there will be TONS of inspiration floating around the party!!! You don't want to miss it!!

Here's a close-up of my card so you can get a closer look at that beautiful flower cluster stamp!!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Verve-y SFYTT

OK, I know I promised to be back with a few Easter posts last weekend and I haven't blogged since Friday! I'm so sorry!! We had a little minor family emergency over the weekend that involved taking my grandmother to the Emergency Room. She fell at the beach, injuring her back. Now, as a physical therapist I was able to help her out A LOT, but with an acute injury like that in a 78-yr-old woman...when it's not improving it's always best to go get it checked out and get some good anti-inflammatories in the system. So that's what we did. Well, within just a few hours of adding some drugs to her PT program, her back pain was pretty much gone. Unfortunately she had a very interesting reaction to the pain meds they gave her - basically she started going crazy!!! She was hallucinating and just not at all coherant. Now normally she's a very young 78-yr-old - active, her mind is still young, she babysits my 2-yr-old quite often, etc. But within 12 hours of taking the pain meds (of which she only took 1 dose) she was telling me that she was seeing "graffiti" and "those kids from Home Improvement, but they're upside down". She had a good sense of humor about it and we laughed quite a bit over the next several days as we monitored her mental status (which gradually improved as the meds got out of her system). I told her there were a lot of people that paid good money to get that effect from drugs and she should just sit back and enjoy it!! She got frustrated several times because she couldn't just "fast forward" through those darn Home Improvement kids. It was pretty amusing once we figured out she wasn't going off the deep end and would be find within a few days! But just to be safe, I forced her to stay with us for a few nights (I didn't want to get a phone call in the middle of the night from the police that she was running up and down the street naked or something!!). Finally today she seems pretty much back to normal and her back is much better, so I let her go home and things we were all able to get back to our regular routine!!! It all definitely made for a memorable weekend!!!

Anyway, I'm sure you're not here to read about my weird family drama, so I'll get on with it. One of the Easter projects I had intended to share with you over the weekend was this little number.

I created the card based on Jen's Sketch For You to Try from last Saturday and then decided to make a cute little Easter treat holder to match using Kelleigh Ratzlaff's Icicle / Carrot Box Template Set.

Stamps: Grateful Elegance (Verve)
Paper: Hawaii Papaya DP; Very Vanilla, Tangerine Tango, Chocolate Chip CS (SU)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU)
Accessories: Very Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware, Stampin' Dimensionals (SU)


Well, that's it for me tonight! I hope your holiday weekend (if you celebrate Easter) was less exciting than mine!! Be sure to head on over to the Verve Blog to check out the Sneak Peeks going on this week and for details on several different ways you can win some Verve Goodies this week!!!

Oh, and don't forget the Verve Release Party is Friday night at 9 pm EST!!! Hope to see you all there!!! Trust me, you don't want to miss these sets - they're AMAZING!!!

Friday, April 10, 2009

Tagged by Di...NSR

NSR (Non-Stamping / Scrapbooking Related) post Warning....

Earlier this week, my fellow PCP Super Nova, Diana, tagged me. So here are the rules:

•Open your photo folder on your computer
•Open the 6th folder of photos
•Select the 6th picture
•Post the picture on your blog with a description
•Invite six friends to join the challenge
•Link your six friends to your blog post

I'm way late with this post, but I was actually dreading opening up that 6th folder in "My Pictures"! I knew it was from about 2004-2005, when I was living the sort-of-single life here on Maui while Joel was finishing up his college wrestling career and that little thing called a degree back in Oklahoma. Those were the days that most of the pics of me probably show me in a skimpy bikini on the beach with a drink in my hand, or surfing, or .... the point is I love you guys, but I don't really want to go broadcasting my bikini-clad butt all over blogland!!! Now don't get me wrong, that was before I got that wild hair up my @$$ and decided to ruin my smokin' hot bod by getting knocked up shortly after getting married, but still....I think I'll keep my bikini pics to myself for now. Lucky for me, the first 20-30 pics in that 6th folder are all of Joel in his wrestling glory!!!

So here's my 6th pic in my 6th folder:That's my sexy husband, Joel, in his senior year wrestling for the Oklahoma Sooners. Joel's the one on top. This photo is significant for a few reasons....first, we spent that year apart and it was the hardest year EVER. Joel and I met at OU, in the wrestling room. I was in my final years of Physical Therapy school and working as an athletic trainer for the OU Athletic Department and had been assigned to the wrestling team. Joel was one of my super hot (slightly younger - he was actually a redshirt freshman when we met) athletes. Anyway, we became very good friends first and eventually started dating. We were able to keep our relationship a secret from most of the team and the athletic department until the last few weeks of wrestling season his Sophomore year (fraternizing with the athletes was somewhat frowned upon for the athletic trainers!! ha!). We stayed together and eventually moved into a cute little house together near campus in Norman. After I graduated from PT school, I worked for a year for an outpatient clinic in Norman before travelling to Maui to visit my brother. At that time, Joel was in his Junior year at OU. While on Maui, I stopped by the clinic where I had done one of my 8-week clinical rotations my last year of PT school and surprisingly was offered a job. If you've never been to Maui, it's kind of a small island and specialized jobs like PTs don't come around that often. I decided to take the job. I knew it meant at least a year of a long-distance relationship with Joel, but we decided that we were strong enough to do it. And besides, what better test for a relationship than that? If we could survive a year apart (me being on a tropical paradise of an island surrounded by surfers and lifeguards, Joel being a Senior in college and a hot jock at a Division I school), we could probably survive just about anything!! It was tough, but we did it!! Joel wrapped up his final year of wrestling, graduated in May and moved to Maui a few weeks later!! We were married on the beach in Makena 6 months after that!

So, all of that big long story to say that I love these pics. These were from his Senior Year - the year I had to watch his wrestling matches on the internet or ESPN from thousands of miles away (ya know, when ESPN randomly decides to broadcast a REAL sport like wrestling in place of something like the International Women's Ping Pong Championship or a Celebrity Poker Tournament or Bowling for crying out loud!). And because I think these are such great shots (they were taken by the OU media guide photographer...I'm probably in violation of some copyright here or something...oh well), I thought I'd share a few more action shots with you....
I like that one because Joel's opponent is beet red, almost purple....a nice shade of Lovely Lilac, moving towards Elegant Eggplant, wouldn't ya say? Seriously, wrestlers are the toughest guys I know. And I know my athletes. As an Athletic Trainer at OU I worked with them all - football, baseball, basketball, etc - and NOBODY works as hard or puts their bodies through the crap that the wrestlers do. There's NO WAY I could ever be a wrestler....I'm way too big of a wimp (and cutting weight??? NO THANK YOU!)....all it would take is one person to jab their thumb into the meaty part of my arm like that and I'd scream "uncle" and drop!!!And that blue foam strapped to his headgear with athletic tape (that you can see in the first 2 pics)? Joel had recently re-injured the cartilage in his right ear, which is EXTREMELY painful. Have you ever had an outer ear infection? Ya know how it hurts to even touch your ear when you have one of those? Multiply that times like 10 and you've got the pain of some fresh cauliflower ear!!! I can hear Coach Spates now asking him if he's hurt or injured and Joel saying he's just hurt, he can still wrestle. Then Coach telling the trainer (which was me in the early years) to get him some Vagisil so he could get over his case of Vaginitis and get back on the mat....basically coach's way of telling the guys to stop being a p*$$y and get back on the mat (yeah, real classy, huh?). But Joel sports the one-sided cauliflower ear with pride these days!!! And I know I've heard him ask his high school boys (he coaches high school wrestling now) if they're hurt or injured....I just hope to god he doesn't EVER tell them to break out the Vagisil!!!

So there you have it folks....probably more than you bargained for today!!! Thanks for humoring me!! As for tagging more people....I always hate coming up with people to tag and I think I've already seen this one on just about everyone's blog. So if you haven't already played along, consider yourself tagged!!! :-)

I'll be back tomorrow with a few last-minute Easter projects to share!!!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #3

Dawn posted another great Color Challenge last weekend and when I first saw it I thought I was going to really struggle with this one!!Then yesterday as I was browsing through the Going Going Gone retirement sale over at Sweet Shoppe Designs I came across a digital kit using that exact color scheme!! Butterfly Kisses by Eva Kipler and Jan Hosford is 50% off right now too!! Cha-ching!! I downloaded the kit, printed out a few digi papers and whipped up this little number using PTI's Mega Mixed Messages stamp set and some Kraft CS....soooo simple! I added some Stampin' Up ribbon and Basic Grey buttons for embellishment.I thought, well hell, while I've got the kit open in Photoshop and I have this adorable photo of my friend Heidi's daughter Sam just screaming to be scrapped....I might as well make a digi layout while I'm at it. This photo of Sam is so stinkin' cute that I really wanted to keep it the focus of attention, so I kept the layout VERY simple with almost no embellishments. One of Sya's digi templates from Stripped #4 and a photo overlay from All Worn Out by Penny Springmann made that easy!! I removed a layer and rotated the template, then had my page done in under 10 minutes!!!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Kristina Werner CI #48

I'm headed out the door to work, but if I didn't post this now I wouldn't make the deadline. So here ya go! Super simple, but I love how it turned out!! And for the first time in a loooong time, I created an All Stampin' Up card! (sorry for the crappy photos, but it's raining and I have REALLY bad lighting this morning!)

I loved the colors Kristina chose for her Color Inspiration challenge this week - Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss & Whisper White.


For my card, I went with a textured Chocolate Chip base, added a vertical strip of Kiwi Kiss DP (from the Walk In The Park line) matted on Whisper White offset to the left & popped up on dimensionals. A couple strips of folded Baja Breeze ribbon were tucked under the vertical layer. I stamped the frame and sentiment from Great Friend in Fresh Snow ink (PTI...ok, I lied, it wasn't ALL Stampin' Up!!) on textured Baja Breeze CS that had been cut out with my new Matchbox Bigz XL die. I used the same die to cut out a matching piece of chipboard and attached my stamped sentiment/frame to the chipboard for some added depth....and VOILA!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Special Delivery

Just a super quick post tonight to share this cute little baby project using Verve's new Practically Perfect stamp set. Have you had a chance to check out the Super Novas' Inspiration Gallery this month over at Papercraft Planet? Each month, the PCP Super Novas create a gallery with a different theme and this month it's all about Mothers and Babies!! Stop by and give the girls some lovin'!!

Special Delivery Hanging Keepsake:


Stamps: Practically Perfect (Verve)
Paper: Kraft, Very Vanilla, Night of Navy CS (SU); DP from Scenic Route
Ink: Vintage Cream (PTI); Night of Navy (SU)
Accessories: Album Page from Bracket Chipboard Album, buttons (Basic Grey); Circle & Rectangle nestabilities; sewing machine; hemp twine; Jumbo eyelets, ribbon (SU); Adorable Baby Photo.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Baby Contest Winner

Another winner!! 12 of you guessed which baby was me....#3....I used random.org to choose a winner

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

7 

Timestamp: 2009-04-05 20:22:56 UTC

The 7th correct guess was ENJOLI!! Enjoli, e-mail me your mailing address and which Sale-a-bration set you'd like me to send you and I'll get it in the mail right away! let me know if you need to see pics of the available sets.

Thanks so much for playing along! There's still time to get in your guesses at Papercraft Planet and if you'd like to guess again, we've all given little hints (like this post for example is a pretty big hint)....so head on over now and get in your guess on ALL of the Super Nova baby pics!!

I'll be back a little later today with a couple of baby-themed projects to share with you....

Friday, April 3, 2009

Blogoversary Winner

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who participated in my first Blogoversary challenge and in helping make this fundraising effort for the Alzheimer's Association a huge success! I've been receiving cards in the mail every day this week and I love it!! Many of you have been sending packages of several cards and I appreciate this so much!

Ok, ok...on to the announcement....I used random.org to choose a winner for the Blog Candy giveaway and here's what they came up with:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

43 

Timestamp: 2009-04-04 08:22:02 UTC

So, that means hanksmom is the winner!!! I have to admit to feeling a little giddy when I came back to my blog to look to see who #43 was! Hanksmom, or Leslie as I know her, fellow Hawaii resident (she lives on Oahu) is my good friend Sarah's Mom. She is such an amazing lady and so deserving of this big pile of goodies!! I finally met Les in person in February when her and Sarah came over to play stamps. I've actually been meaning to post these pics for awhile now, so what better time to share them than now? Here's a pic of me, Sarah and Leslie at "Maui Craft Day '09" - when I met Leslie for the first time (Maui Craft Day '09 was really just the 3 of us getting together at my house to stamp one friday....but one day MCD will be a huge annual event held at the Kahului Community Center or Lahaina Civic Center and crafters will travel from all over the world just to craft with us...ha!).

Congrats Leslie!! Thank you for playing along, thank you for letting go of your daughter so she could move to Maui where I could meet her and gain an amazing new stamping friend, thank you for just being so awesome!!! :-) E-mail me your mailing address and I'll get you your coupon codes and mail you your goodies!!

For those of you who might have missed the chance to play along for the blog candy, you can still contribute to the cause by mailing me your cards to be included in the charity auction that will kick off my Stampin' Out Alzheimer's event in May. You can read more details about my plans and find the address to send your cards HERE.

I was deeply touched by the kind words of encouragement many of you left and not surprised at how many of you also are dealing with the heartache of watching a loved one's memories, personality and independence be slowly stolen by this difficult illness. I wanted to share with you a couple of websites that have been helpful to us, especially my Mom, as we learn to cope with my father's condition and plan for the future. KnowItAlz is a single source for the caregivers and loved ones with an emphasis on the lighter side of living with Alzheimer’s Disease. DxJunction is a fairly new site that is growing quickly. You can get and provide help to other patients and caregivers with a variety of diagnoses. It's very much like an online support group. My Mom especially has found this site to be extremely helpful. And of course, there's a wealth of information at the Alzheimer's Association website. Also, if any of you have a loved one with this disease and feel overwhelmed or need to talk, please don't hesitate to contact me. I know firsthand how beneficial it is just to be able to vent to someone who understands what you are feeling and dealing with.

Thank you again to ALL of you. I really can't find the words to express my gratitude to all of you for your help in this. It means so much to me that all of you would take the time and effort to help me with this endeavor that is so important to me. Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Paper Craft Planet Baby Contest!!!

ETA: To spice things up a bit, I've decided to give away a Stampin' Up Sale-A-Bration set (your choice) to one random person who guesses me correctly and posts it here in the comments section of this blog post!! Everyone who gets me right will go into a drawing and Deadline is 11:59 pm central time Saturday, April 4 and I'll select the random winner on Sunday. So...what do you think? Am I one of these babies? Which one?

Every month, the PCP Super Novas pull together a huge album full of inspiration based on a theme. Last month, the album was "Spring into Spring". This month, to get ready for Mother's Day, our theme is "Mother & Child". What better way to kick off a new month than with a contest? No foolin', we're having a Guess the Baby contest! Are you ready?

Match the baby with the Super Nova! Not just that... but you'll also have to guess who is missing! Yikes. Hard, I know. If you get them all right, you're entered to win this awesome new stamp set Mom & Me from Clear & Simple Stamps AND a $100 Amazon gift certificate to buy whatever other goodies you want! Clear & Simple Stamps is also giving all PCP members a $1 off using code: PCP409!

To enter, check out our forum post on Paper Craft Planet -- add a comment with your guesses! We'll select one winner at random on Sunday, April 5th.

Pictures:

1. 1

2. 2

3. 3

4. 4

5. 5

6. 6

7. 71

8. 8

9. 9

10. 10

11. 11

12. 12

13. Who is missing?

Super Novas: The greatest design team in the Solar System:

  1. Adela Rossol

  2. Melanie Muechinger

  3. Lynn Mercurio

  4. Kim Burmeister

  5. Wendy Price

  6. Jen Tapler

  7. Tammy Hershberger

  8. Diana Gibbs

  9. Erika Martin

  10. Lori Tecler

  11. Jessica Fick

  12. Sankari Wegman

  13. Susanna Boyd


Good luck! We'll hold the drawing on Sunday, April 5th.

Reminder: Don't forget to enter my Blogoversary Challenge benefiting the Alzheimer's Association for a chance to win over $250 in Blog Candy!!! More details HERE. Deadline to enter is Friday, April 3 at 11:59 pm central time