My Weekend In Pictures

Hello! I don't expect most of you will want to read all of my lengthy ramblings, but I was in the mood to verbalize. I hope you enjoy the pictures at least.

I love the trail right by my house for walking. On Friday, Josh went with me and Buster on our walk. So I had a chance to take a few pictures. Long before we even hop into the car to head for the Montour Trail, Buster's already excited. The only time I wear tennis shoes is for working in the yard or going on a walk. So, when the tennis shoes go on, Buster starts running around the house. He'll go stare at his leash, then run over and stare at me. Back to leash. Run in a few circles. Etc, etc, etc. You get the idea. He loves his walks. It makes me feel bad when I'm planning to work in the yard, because he thinks he's getting a walk then too.

There are several access points to the trail, with parking. The closest one is only a couple of minutes away. But I prefer driving a few more minutes so that we can walk the prettier (and more shaded) part of the trail. That's what these pictures show.

Buster is such a creature of habit. There's this little creek that comes down the hillside and forms a small pool, before running under the trail. It's pretty close to the point where we turn around and head back to the car. Every single time, Buster stops for a drink on the way back, although never on the way out.

At one point, we walk past the most gorgeous horse farm. It's acres of white fencing set over rolling hills. My photography really doesn't do it justice.

Saturday: Jimmy Buffett



The Key Lime Martinis. Mmmmm. And my goofy husband, Josh.


Having fun with the girls. I love my girlfriends. Sometimes a silly afternoon is just the thing to keep my sanity. That's me in the pink. Besides the key lime martinis, we also had crab legs (my fave), brandy slush (oh my word, that was good!), Greek pasta salad, and some Croatian hamburger/ sausage kind of thing (also delish). I ate better at a tailgate party than I had all month.

I plan on another walk today, then some "carding" time. So I should have actual stamping to show you later. Thanks for stopping by peeps.

Blogger Bingo, Finally

Have you checked out Julee's Blogger Bingo? I am having so much fun with it. I'm just getting around to making a card for the first sketch challenge though, and she already has a new sketch out.

I started this card with Julee's sketch and knowing that I wanted to use brown to go with my Crate Words rub-ons. They've been sitting here for too long. I just had to give them a try. If you've never used rub-ons, these were quite easy. Just rub each individual letter until it slightly changes color. This shows it has adhered to your card stock instead of still being stuck to the window sheet it comes on. Next time I'll plan to use the rub-on on colored card stock. It has a white shadow effect that got lost here.

The horizontal paper is one side of a piece by My Mind's Eye: Bohemia Blossom "Angel" Small Damask/Pink. The back is the textured pink on which I stamped Rhonna Farrer Swirls. The sentiment is on a Stampin' Up oval punch, layered on chocolate chip, which I then trimmed using ProvoCraft scalloped scissors. I colored the flower with Versamagic dew drop inks and a blender pen.

I Used:
Stamps: Stampin' Up! Sassy Stems
Ink: timber brown stazon, versamagic pink petunia, malted mauve, sahara sand, sage, tea leaves, gingerbread
Paper: SU! vanilla, close to cocoa, chocolate chip, Papertrey white, My Mind's Eye Bohemia
Other: crate words, prima, Lasting Impressions brad, crate words, SU! large oval punch, provocraft scalloped scissors

Thanks for stopping by. I took some pics from my weekend. I'll try to post a few. The whole picture process is so time consuming for me right now, with learning how to use Photoshop. Today I found a button though that says something like "Save for web". WooHoo! It saves it at the right size and everything. I'll probably never find it again, but at least I know it's there.

Doodles on Doodles

Hi All. Today's the Jimmy Buffet concert. We start tailgating around two or three o'clock, I think. Get this, we're doing CRAB LEGS at a tailgating party. I'm so excited. Last year I took a blender and made strawberry and/or mango margaritas. This year my friend's making Key Lime martinis. Sounds good. I've got my brightly colored shirt and my lei. I'm ready! P.S.: I don't even like Jimmy Buffet that much. It's just such a fun time.

Here's a card for your viewing pleasure (at least I hope so). The pink and yellow flowers were colored with a blender pen and versamagic dewdrop inks. The blue-ish flower was sitting on my desk and I decided it would work as well. It had been colored with Almost Amethyst classic ink and an aquapainter. The flowered flower (hehe) is cut from DCWV Posies glitter print. It was looking washed out, so I started adding black accents: brads, mini brads, black layer, ribbon, and doodles with my Zig Millenium pen. Primas are Petite Flamingo, a small, very easy to work with size. I used some circle punches and a sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Faux Ribbon set.

I Used:
Stamps: Doodle This, PTI Faux Ribbon
Ink: Certainly Celery, almost amethyst, versafine black, versamagic pink grapefruit, mango madness, persimmon
Paper: whisper white, papertrey white, basic black, almost amethyst, DCWV
Other: circle punches, vintage brads, Queen & Co. mini brads, petite primas, 1/8th hole punch, dashes dots and bows ribbon, zig millenium marker

Did you notice my watermark? I just loaded my new Photoshop Elements 5.0 yesterday. I foresee a long and difficult learning curve. But I did manage to get my photo from my camera to my computer, edit it, and add the watermark (HUGE THANK YOU to Stampin' Kub for his watermark tutorial). I hope the picture is the right size. For all I know, it may be too small to see, or so large it's taking up all of my online storage space. I'll figure it out...someday.

Flowers in Circles

I hope you're enjoying your Friday today. Josh (my husband) managed to arrange no work for today, so we're going to enjoy the day. We're planning on playing tennis, taking our dog for a walk, doing a little yard work. Then I'm going to *try* to get him to take me shopping. I find shopping alone kind of boring.

Today's card uses Stampin' Up!'s Big Blooms. My first card with this set, even though the mini catalog will soon be retiring. I used my two circle punches to layer the big circles. The 1/2" circle punch was used for the flower centers. I used a Stamp-a-ma-jig to extend the middle flower's stem and repeatedly stamped the stem off the edge of the paper for the grass. The designer papers are from the Palette o Prints pack.

I Used:
Stamps: Big Blooms, Papertrey Paper Tray
Ink: Versafine Black, SU! certainly celery, rose red, cool caribbean
Paper: Cool Caribbean, Rose Red, Palette o Prints, Papertrey White
Other: SU! black grosgrain, vintage brads, primas

Way Out of My Box

The June 2oth challenge is up on Caardvark's. It's called crop circles. This is the challenge for which I was a Guest Designer. Be sure to check it out and enter a card. The prize is awesome. The challenge is to use circles as your focus. I love the look, but this was a major challenge for me. Every time I try to use circles, I end up scrapping the project.

This is one of the cards I made for the challenge, and it is *way* out of the box for me. Not only did I use circles, and plenty of 'em :), but I also tried a style that was a bit of a push for me. It's a little more bold and modern. The large bird is by Rhonna Farrer (a JoAnn's $ stamp). The smaller birds are from Hero Arts Decorative Birds set. All of the circles were done with 1/2", 1", and 1-3/8" circle punches. I colored the birds with Stampin' Up! markers in, get this, YoYo Yellow, Brilliant Blue, Real Red, and Glorious Green. Other than the red, I never use these colors. The brads are by making memories and the ribbon is all Stampin' Up! I wasn't sure how much I love the card, but it's growing on me. And I'm ridiculously proud for pushing myself to try something new.

By the way, the inspiration for this card came to like this: I wake up one morning with these little birdies on the brain and The Partridge Family theme song in my head. HA!

The Goods:
Stamps: Rhonna Farrer bird, Hero Arts Decorative Birds
Ink: Black Versafine, markers: glorious green, real red, brilliant blue, yoyo yellow
Paper: Papertrey White, basic black, glorious green, real red, brilliant blue, yoyo yellow
Other: circle punches, SU! grosgrain ribbons, Making Memories brads

So, all day yesterday (literally from about 9 am to 4 pm) I installed Windows Vista on my desktop. Internet works fine, but no sound. It seems my sound card isn't compatible and there is not yet an updated driver to download. Bummer. I reinstall Windows XP. All is well. Everything's working. I'm downloading all the updates, reinstalling my security program. WHAM!!! The internet goes. For no reason. It still works on my laptop. I can not get it to work on my desktop. And I am not very computer savy. Today I'll be on the phone with my ISP seeing if they can help. So frustrating! At least the laptop still has internet. Be thankful for small favors.

Thanks for stopping by. See ya.

Pretend Stamping Friends (PSF's)

So, do you have people in the virtual stamping world that you feel like you "know"? Maybe you don't even have any contact with them in the sense of emails, PM's, etc. I follow Julia Stainton's blog, Belle Papier, regularly. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't even recognize my name, except maybe as somebody who comments on her blog occassionally. Well, she posted a couple of days ago that her mother has passed away after a lengthy illness. So, I made this sympathy card for her. Now I feel kind of silly, because I don't actually know her at all. I think I'll still send it if she's listed in the RAK group at Splitcoast. It's always good to know you've touched someone's life and she's concerned for you.

I started with the large swirl from Carte Postale. First, on vanilla card stock, I stamped in pale plum, then slightly up and left, I stamped again with Versamagic Jumbo Java and clear embossed. The medallion was stamped twice. I used the entire certainly celery piece and only the circle punched portion of the perfect plum piece. Two small holes punched in the center allowed me bring the knotted ribbon down through and around the card. The medallion's layered on chocolate chip and attached with dimensionals. The designer papers are from Stampin' Up!'s Enchante pack. The faux stitching is done with a chocolate chip marker and the green designer paper is covered in swirls done in Irridescent Ice Embossing Powder.

I used:
Stamps: Carte Postale, Close As A Memory
Ink: versamark, versamagic jumbo java, su! pale plum, perfect plum, certainly celery, choc chip
Paper: pale plum, choc chip, vanilla, Enchante
Other: Irridescent Ice and clear EP, dashes dots and checks green ribbon, unknow brown organdy ribbon, circle punch, Lasting Impressions brads, dimensionals

By the way, I really like the dimensionals I just picked up at Target's Dollar Spot. They're not too thick like the one's I buy at Michael's. Thanks so much for stopping by. It's much appreciated.

RAK Thank Yous

I feel so special! I got a few RAK's this week. What fun to open your mailbox and have a hand made card smiling out at you.

This first card is from Deb, The Crafty Turtle. You can find her at Life Out of the Shell. This darling card is made of the the MOST wonderful color combo! It just made me smile.



This beauty is from Christine (photobug) at It's My Life. Be sure to check out her blog to see more cute cards like this. Don't you just love how she colored all those flowers in the dress? LOVE it!
And, oh my gosh, look at all those gorgeous layers, even designer papers in this card by AJ (willosmama). I recognize the layout from a recent sketch challenge over at Splitcoast. Check out her blog, The Willow Garden. You'll be happy to find more great work like this.

Ladies, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! It's so refreshing to belong to an online community where people are willing to do kind things for virtual strangers. Your lovely cards are so appreciated. Now, I have to get on the ball and send out a few RAK's too. After all, I have a couple boxes (shoe box sized) of cards just sitting around waiting for some love.