Today's card is the first in a set of four that I sent off to my aunt =) She's seen them anyways when they were part of my other plan for the sets I did for her (which I'm glad didn't work out because it was too darn time consuming) LOL!

Anywho, I used up some designer paper that I hadn't been using - Windsor Knot - and created a set of four, which I'm going to drag out slowly to get the most of my posts. I've decided that at the end of September, I'm going to shut down my blog. I'm not so important as to warrant one and there's certainly an overwhelming abundance of talent out there already - that I follow who I will continue to follow - just not as a fellow blogger.

But I digress...I used the Verve AnniVERVEsary sketches for the set of four and Verve's Enjoy set to create this card. You can't really see the shimmer, but I outlined the flower, text and colored over the stem & leaves with my Sakura gel pen to get some sparkle.

Clean and simple - and totally my style!

I've been getting in some good runs lately and it's been such a blast - when you actually feel like you're making progress, it's the greatest feeling. Plus, the cooler temp has been unseasonal (at least in my mind) for August, but perfect for running in. Tomorrow, our gym memberships start up again and I'm going to try for a good compromise between some outdoor exercise and some time using the machines that we pay to play on =) Is it sad that I'm looking forward to getting back to some resistance training that I've sorely neglected this summer?! MrP and I will start taking a boxing class in November (technically, end of October, the day after our 4 year anniversary) and I can't wait to start punching him. HAHA

Have a great Tuesday!

And the winner is...

SANDI! Congrats - you're the recipient for three lovely digis by my super talented sister Teri over at Delicious Doodles! Now you can create with these lovely images, too!

My first attempt at Monogram Cards

My aunt is an Educational Assistant at a school and asked if I'd consider creating some cards for her two new teachers.

The A teacher likes green so I used the Always Artichoke designer paper I had and printed the A on white paper before cutting out with my nesties.  The ribbon is two layers and a very simple card, but easy for duplicating, so I went with the same kind of layout for the Bravo Burgundy L cards. Only difference was I didn't have any patterned paper, so I made my own with the Stitched Background stamp.

6 cards with matching envelopes

And all packaged up!

I also created four cards that I was initially going to do for each teacher because the monogram cards were so simple, but instead, I upped the # of cards to six per set and I'm just going to send the other cards to my aunt since it was her birthday on Sunday! I hope she likes them. I'll have those to share later this week!

Ex Libris

According to Wikipedia, I'm a nerd. Wait - no - that's according to MrP. According to Wikipedia, Ex Libris "is a Latin phrase, meaning literally, 'from the books.' It is often used to indicate ownership of a book, as in from the books of... or from the library of..."

In this case, I've taken two of my most recent books to show you what I'm talking about! After reading reviews of both of these books, I had to pick them up. I've already read The Hunger Games and am currently reading the second in the trilogy (thanks, library!) and will eagerly await the third which is on it's way, having just been released yesterday. Technically, they're 'teen' books...but hey, so is Twilight!

Anyways, not wanting to have it misplaced or borrowed and unreturned, I used this fun book plate from Amber Ink to create a lasting reminder of whose book this is! Their INKredible 21 Day Challenge is now taking place over here and you won't want to miss it - just use one Amber Ink product to create something with the theme of books....be it a card, book plate, journal, recipe book, etc. Don't have any Amber Ink? Let me know....I'm hoping to offer up a little Amber Ink love soon =)

I take my books very seriously - and I will hunt you down if it's not returned =) I think these owls would be totally adorable in my Harry Potter books, but of course, there'd have to be a beautiful snowy one for Hedwig. Yep - I guess I am a nerd, dear =) But aren't we all?!

What's your latest read? Would you recommend it? Let me know!

Another Blast from the Past!

Welcome to August's Blast from the Past Blog Hop with Taylored Expressions customer creations, combined with the magnificent artistry of the Baker's Dozen! It doesn't get any better than pulling out some of those sorely underused older stamps and getting them inky (or in my case as it seems to be of late, inking them inky for the first time. I know - it's pretty much a sin!)  =)

Either way, I'm here with a little creation I made for my aunt. I used Celebrate Life and did a 180 degree rotation of the  the optional inspiration sketch by the uber talented Sankari.

I used the two single leaf images to create my own background in versamark on the pinky red paper and all supplies were from my Key Ingredients "Thanks for renewing kit". That's right - not only do I get a whole bunch of fabulous goodies every month for a great price, but when upon completing my subscription, I got a Thank You present! Sweet deal! I love those little leaves that were in with the flowers. The sentiment was split up with a little masking tape, to create a two layer sentiment, but it's my favorite TE font!

Have you been over to Thanh's?

She's got some awesome Happy Birthday Blog Candy and it's just waiting for you to check it out! While you're there, she's got some absolutely awesome creations for you to adore, as I do.

Check it out here!

Whew! Is it Friday yet?!

Still haven't entered my Delicious Doodles Blog Hop Candy? Click here to get entered for three free digis from my friend Teri at Delicious Doodles!

I thought I would have some new stuff to share with you today, but it turns out I had quite an exhausting weekend. 10kms on my feet with my friend who ran her first 10K since her knee surgery earlier this year and she did fabulous! The next day, we were up & at it early for the Ice Cream Ride with the Edmonton Bicycle & Touring Club. Ended up riding 65kms in total and was completely done when I got home just before 6!

But check back tomorrow for my Taylored Expressions Blog Hop creation and Wednesday I'll have something new to show you with some of the super fun Amber Ink goodies I've been adoring!

In the meantime, check out what the new Amber Ink Challenge Blog for the newest challenge in the stamping world - and the store where all the latest goodies went live on Friday!

Too cute for land...

these cuties are all about the sea!

Aren't these two adorable?! I love these baby mermaids and the fabulous iPaper behind them. They were colored with my pencils & OMS, then sparkled up (and some Smooch to highlight the rock) These are all different stamps and can be edited as much as you like for amazing results like Lynne's (now spelled correctly)!

The other {th}INKtank ladies have created some real beauties, so be sure to have a looksie!

Lisa Coe

Lynne Phelps

Thanh Vo

Wendy Price 

It's almost the weekend and let me tell you - it can't get here fast enough!

Entered in:
Treehouse Thursday Challenge #063: Under the Sea
Creative Card Crew: Sparkle & Shine

Another Sneak Peak for Amber Ink!

Yep - two whole days in a row, I'm posting! (And twice today, at that! Scroll down or click here for my prize-offering Sisterhood of Crafters blog hop creation) I've been inspired lately...what can I say?! These kiddos are so much fun to color. I used Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #87 and apparently great minds think alike - check out Thanh's card...

Alright, so hers makes mine look like a five year old did it...I like to think I'm a clean & simple stamper. Let's go with that ;-)

I have a couple of embossed lines in the kraft, but they barely stand out - look VERY carefully. Anyways, I used the New Girl from the fun kiddos and gave her a desk like I recall from back in my youth - with the green metal (hurray for the 80's schools!) A little embossing on the olive paper and some fun ribbon...all set for shipping to my cousin who just graduated. I'm sure she's happy not to be sitting at a school desk anymore!

The other torchbearers have some inspiring new creations to share - be sure to check them out!

Lisa Coe

Lynne Phelps

Thanh Vo

Wendy Price 

Have a wonderful Wednesday =)

A Blog Hop for Delicious Doodles' Birthday! *with prizes*

Delicious Doodles is celebrating a birthday and you're invited to play along and win! Our incredibly talented sister, Teri, has been sharing her talents over at Delicious Doodles for a full year and we want to party! If you came here from Boni's blog, you're on the right track.

There's a lot of prizes to be won...some for playing along with the challenge and some just for commenting on the creations the Sisters have made. In addition to the other ladies, I'm going to be doing my own draw for three of Teri's doodles! That's right...you have until August 29th to leave a comment, qualifying you for three of these digis. There's a wide range of cute and cuddlies to elegant and lovely ones to choose from!

For my card, I chose to use her gorgeous lilies and create a birthday card for my Grandma, who's favorite color is....orange! I used inspiration from a late May 2010 Mojo sketch for the layout and I hope she loves the popped up layers like I do =) A little Verve sentiment and we're good to go!

Don't forget to check out the other Sisters for more chances to win some goodies! Here is the lineup if you get lost along the way.

Kim
Micki
Darlene
Boni
Tanis
Teri
Lisa
Terri
Diane
Delicious Doodles

Happy hopping! Head over to Teri next for the talented lady of the hour!

Look who's a Torchbearer!

Alright - so it's not in the Olympic sense, but this is much more fun! I've been asked to be a part of the August 2010 Design Team, so I'm carrying the torch for the next four weeks and I hope I can do some justice to these fabulous products, which you can find at AMBER INK.

The other torchbearers this month are some truly talented and wonderful ladies - be sure to check 'em out!

Lisa Coe

Lynne Phelps

Thanh Vo

Wendy Price 

Of course, the General Stamping Ambassador of Awesomeness is the amazing Shannan Teubner, which means you can't help but to ALWAYS be inspired by some super duper Amber Ink awesomeness! And never to be forgotten, Amber...a creative genius!

There's some super fun new releases coming up and this card features one of the new kiddos!

I used some of the hot pink swiss dots ipaper, which was a first attempt at printing on our new printer with some Staples paper. I liked the muted rose that it turned out as, though, and rather than waste it, I used it and tried to match a button for the layered bow.

A computer generated sentiment and it's my niece's birthday card. She was tickled pink by this cutie! "It's me in school!" (She's not yet in school, but she's hoping this fall she'll get there.) This was exactly what my niece looked like when she opened up her Dora birthday video and Zhu Zhu Hamster house, too....such a blast when they're that age (and you can douse them in sugar & send them home!)

Be sure to check out what the other ladies carrying the August Torch have got under their sleeves. Special thanks to the July Talented Carriers of the Torch for their inspiring creations, which included my friend Karin (who passed along her torch), as well as Nicole, Pinky, Suzi and Taylor.

Entered in:

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge 72: Buttons & Bows

Our Creative Corner: Back to School

Back to School!

Kim's challenge this week at the Sisterhood is to create something with a back to school theme. To me, school always meant books and reading. For whatever reason, it's the one thing that really stuck with me - I love reading (and coincidentally, the library, which has saved me more money than I ever thought possible since I joined two years ago!)

So this Bookwormabella really is like me - always a stack of books around for any bit of spare time. I used primary colors to help with the feel of back to school and the Splitcoast Sketch Challenge 292 as the starting point for this card. Head over to the Sisterhood of Crafters to see what the other ladies created!

I hope you're having a great week - this one's been busy and I seem to have strained something in my foot that going out for a run last night didn't help. Too much horseback riding?! I think not!

Stamps: Stamping Bella Bookwormabella

Paper: Brilliant Blue, Watercolor, Very Vanilla, Yoyo Yellow, Riding Hood Red

Ink: SU Markers (I'm too lazy to list them all!)

Accessories: Red Rhinestones, Dimensionals (pretty simple card!)

A little late

but life happens! On Tuesday, I took MrP to the hospital at 5am with abdominal pain and after three hours, they sent us home to wait & see if it persisted, stating they wouldn't do anything until it had been 12 hours of discomfort. Well 12 hours came and went and just as I was getting ready to glue this card together in the evening (nothing like last minute!), MrP asked if I thought he should go back or suck up the pain. I said I'd prefer he get it checked out, but that I'd support whatever he wanted to do. Back to the hospital we went. Almost 48 hours later, with MrP less one appendix and resting at home, I'm posting my Sisterhood color challenge card! Hopefully you've already checked out their fabulous creations!

I wanted to also participate in the Verve Ready, SET, Stamp Challenge since I have both Fluttering By and Petals and Stems. If you don't have them, they're currently 30% of though till August 15th, which is the challenge deadline. I used the Sisterhood color challenge of Orange, Red & Light Green to create this bright & cheerful card. I used Jen's SFYTT as it worked perfectly for the butterflies!

Stamps: Verve Petals & Stems

Paper: Real Red, Tangerine Tango, Certainly Celery, Whisper White

Ink: Real Red, Tangerine Tango, Certainly Celery

Accessories: Nestabilities, EF, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

Happy Anni-VERVE-sary!

Welcome to the Anni-VERVE-sary Blog Hop! Verve turns three today and we’re celebrating with a hop, hop, hop! If you've already been hopping along, you arrived here from Rachel's blog. If not, head on over to Julee's blog (owner of Verve), for all the info on how to win prizes (after all, what's a party without presents?), and to start hopping from the beginning. If there's a hiccup along the hop, you can always head to the Master Hop List to get the full list of links.


I created my card for today with my riding instructor's birthday in mind. The last couple of years, she's celebrated her day along with the students in her Cross Country Clinic, as it's on the second of August. It's my second year of the clinic and I'm loving every minute of it thusfar - and how better than to make her a special card with some of my favorite Verve stamps. I actually used three sets for the creation of this card.

I used the Mojo Monday Week 149 sketch as my base and the colors from Curtain Call Color Challenge Act 39, which I'd adored a two weeks ago. I started with the butterfly from Blue Skies and inked it up in craft white, then embossed with hologram highlights on the wild wasabi paper. I also used the smaller butterfly for the background white paper. The sentiment came from Big Wish - and oddly enough, I'd forgotten about it and thought "I really wish Verve had another birthday set with some Happy Birthday sentiments". Low & behold, I rediscovered my Big Wish set a moment later. On the inside, I used Feel the Sun and the smaller butterfly again from Blue Skies.

It's amazing how well the sets work together to create a cohesive card....I love it!

Thanks for hopping by! Now it's time to hop on over to Chriss’s blog, for a little more Verve-y goodness.

    

Stamps: Verve Blue Skies, Big Wish & Feel the Sun

Paper: Kraft, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, Certainly Celery

Ink: Wild Wasabi, Whisper White Craft, Certainly Celery

Accessories: Nestabilities, Dimensionals, Half Pearls, Certainly Celery Ribbon, Hologram Highlights EP, Divine Swirls EF