Kindness

I was waiting for my printer!  Argh!  Forever!! Why do slow and unresponsive things drive me crazy?!?  Obviously today's Lenten message was "chill, Elizabeth"!

So, while waiting on pictures of London to print (after reconnecting wi-fi on my slow desktop computer!) I thought I would do a QUICK challenge.  I need to not spend hours on one card and let myself be ok with simple.

I went to Pink Buckaroo Designs to her Design Teams and Challenge page to find a simple challenge for this evening.  She has them listed by day of the week, so it's easy to find the ones that are still open.

I decided on Clean & Simple, mostly because of the Simple part!  Turns out they've been under the radar for a while and are starting back at their first sketch.  How cool!

Here's the sketch.

Lately I've had fun picking out three or four colors from the Blendabilities lying on my craft table and making a card with those colors.  Today I chose to use Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Smoky Slate, and Soft Sky.  They looked really nice lying there all friendly like.

I stamped the larger butterfly from Kinda Eclectic in each of the four colors on a 1 3/4" square of whisper white and rounded one outside corner of each square.  I used the diamond pattern stamp from the February Paper Pumpkin kit (thanks, Kay!) in Calypso Coral ON Calypso Coral cardstock in a stripe pattern to jazz up the background. I stamped the sentiment (also from Kinda Eclectic) in Smoky Slate and then tied some Bermuda Bay bakers' twine around the top.  I centered my four squares between these two elements.

I'm don't usually stamp things off centered, but I like these "free" butterflies.  This card took about 10 minutes.  These would be great cards to do in a workshop!

Joyful Stamping,

Elizabeth

Snowmageddon Day 3

Well...it snowed again today.  I think I like my snow days like I like my cake.  A piece at a time, not the whole cake in one day.  And not all icing either!  The Governor closed state offices (at noon).

It was pretty, but it didn't stick on the roads

Linda and I decided to keep working and go home after all of the Capitol area workers got home and the Interstates weren't congested. (We get to bank inclement weather time now!)

On Wednesdays, my church, Canvas Community Church, serves dinner and shows a movie to anyone who wants to stop by for a free meal and some fellowship.  The guy in charge of cooking decided that due to the rapid snowfall, we should cancel.  I thought, great, all day to stamp and tidy my craft room!

At 1:30 (during a discussion with my boss) Charlie called and wanted to know when I was leaving.  Turns out they decided to have Dinner and a Movie after all and our help was needed!

i hurried home and we headed to Canvas.  Justin was already there cooking and Chris showed up soon after.

Justin looking for a spoon.

Chris making coffee (we went through three pots!)

We went trough the bread box from Fresh Market and put out all of the baked goods and some cookies to go with the coffee.

Yummy!

We ended up making pork roast, mashed potatoes, and salad.  Justing pulled bar-b-que pork and baked beans from the fridge, and Paul brought the remaining food from his day with the Board of Ordained Ministry (he passed and will be ordained in June!).  We were pretty short handed for a while (with just Justin, Chris, Charlie, and me) so Elijah came back to the kitchen to help out.  He had a great time and plans on helping next week! 

We thought the crowd was going to be small and we would have plenty of food, but we ended up serving all of the food and giving out the sandwiches from Fresh Market.  The only thing left was a little of Justin's bread pudding.

It was a cold, wet night and the line stayed long.

I was disappointed that I didn't get to spend the day stamping and I'm EXHAUSTED from being on my feet for five hours (kudos to waiters!), but I'm glad we decided to open.  So many people were counting on us.  Sometimes God gently reminds us of the plans he has for us.

In Christ,

Elizabeth

I won!

At Leadership 2015 in Orlando last month, there were several design challenges.  I made several cards and one journal.  I entered in three categories.

I got an email today telling me that this journal that I designed won!

I love this...and hate that I had to give it up!

I used the Adventure Awaits stamp set, Best Year Ever DSP, Hello Honey Ribbon, Paper Doilies, and the large journal.  

That cute bow builder punch paper clip is the work of the fabulous Shelby Ingle!

I had fun making this and am so thrilled that I won!  There were so many great entries in all of the categories.  My competition was great and I'm honored to have been selected.

Joyful Stamping,

Elizabeth

When Pigs Fly!

This week's Stampin' Celebration Challenge is an Inspiration Challenge.  Here's the inspiration:

My first thought was the movie Up, wasn't yours, too?

I've been dying to use the Sale-a-Bration stamp that's the house that fits the arrow stamp.  But I was looking around at the stuff on my table top and the pig from "From the Herd" looked so cute and a little startled...I thought he'd be perfect being taken up by a big bunch of balloons.  

I went with the pastel colors from the inspiration picture.  I used Daffodil Delight (126944), Blushing Bride (131172), Wisteria Wonder (126985), and Pool Party (126982) stamped on Whisper White (100730) with a base of Smoky Slate (131202).

I stamped eight balloons from three stamp sets: From the Herd (137162), Balloon Bash (137144), and  Age Awareness (135381).  I cut the balloons out (sometimes you just have to fussy cut!).

Two of each balloon for a total of eight.

I stamped the pig portion of the From the Herd stamp in Blushing Bride and cut him out too.

Isn't he cute?

I stamped the "Never Too Old to Party" stamp from the Hostess Set "Let Your Hair Down" (133940) in Wisteria Wonder and punched it out with the Extra-Large Oval Punch (119859).

I cut eight pieces of Bermuda Bay Baker's Twine (134575).  I attached them to the back of the balloons...some with Stampin' Dimensionals (104430) and some with Fast Fuse (129026).

I attached the oval toward the bottom right and the balloons artfully flying toward the left top.  I brought the strings down toward where I wanted the pig and trimmed them evenly.  I put down a small bit of Fast Fuse under the ends of the baker's twine to hold them in place.  Using Stampin' Dimensionals I placed the pig over the bundle of strings.

You know it's a party when pigs fly!

If you've never tried a challenge, then I encourage you to give it a shot.  My biggest worry was linking it to my blog, but they've made it super easy!

My next step is getting better pictures.  I just don't have good lighting for night time pictures.

Joyful Stamping,

Elizabeth

Surprise!

Stampin' Up! Has a great big surprise coming on March 1!  

It's a special Sale-a-Bration surprise.  I'll be posting sneak peaks here this weekend.  You don't want to miss this!

My first Sketch Challenge

Inspired by Shelby Ingle, I'm going to give a sketch challenge a try.

I'm participating in a sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  Here's the sketch (FMS 174).

I continued my Smoky Slate, Calypso Coral, and Night of Navy (the lighter tones) color journey and made this card.

The card base in Calypso Coral (122925).  I stamped the "eat cake" stamp from the One Tag Fits All clear stamp set (138583) in smoky slate and colored with the light tone of Night of Navy Blendabilities (131001) and the light tone of Calypso Coral Blendabilities (130996).

Using the circle thinlits (130911) and the Big Shot (113439) I cut out the stamped image and a circle of smoky slate card stock (131202) and stacked them using Fast Fuse (129026).  I attached a strip of Marina Mist Chevron Ribbon (130016) on the diagonal across the card and put the stacked circles over it using Stampin' Dimensionals (104430).

For a little something extra, I added a few Gold (132983) and Bermuda Bay sequins (137910) using Glue Dots (103683).

It's a simple card, but sometimes you just need a quick birthday card; this fits that need pretty well.  People will think you spent ages on it!

Joyful Stamping,

Elizabeth

Colors in my Head

The other day three blendabilities were lying there on my table and they just looked so good together that I wanted to make a card with the colors.  I sat with them a few days and they just kept talking to me.

These are the light smoky slate, dark calypso coral, and medium night of navy blendabilities.

Aren't they pretty together?

I had some precut smoky slate card bases, so I started there.

I colored the background with the night of navy and made a tag with calypso coral. I colored in the candles, but the black ones kind of overwhelmed the tag. 

This one's ok, but I'm not in love.

So, I started another one. With these "parts".

I love these bird stamps.  They are just adorable, and perfect to color with blendabilities.

Here's the finished product.  I'm not sure if I should have just used one button, or maybe not tied the baker's twine in them.  It looks a little busy.  

Here are the two cards with the markers.

I'm not sure I've gotten these colors out of my head yet.  I need a stamp with bigger spaces that I can color with the blendabilities.  But for now I think I'm going to just sit with them.

Do you ever get colors stuck in your head like that?  Post some pictures of your color stories.

Joyful Stamping,

Elizabeth

Saturday running and stamping

Today was a great day!  I woke up feeling so much better than yesterday.  Since the 10k is a week from tomorrow I HAD to run today in spite of the unceasing rain!  I met Jessica at her gym and we did a long 5 miles on the treadmills. Blech.  I went to her house afterwards and pinned up the tail feathers of her parrot costume....don't worry, they're be pictures next week!

The best part of today was the Paper Made Prettier team meeting.  We talked about our successes, Kay's 70 billion new recruits (ha!) and my new one, Shelby Ingle (shown here in Minnie Mouse ears!)

I got to wear hot pink sequined ears for getting a new recruit, too.  And Becky brought hot pink ears for Kay to wear for her 11-ty billion new recruits.  Look how cute she is!

I made Shelby this little journal to welcome her to the group.  I embossed the white dots.  They're pretty and shiny!

I showed how to make a treat bag using the new thinlit, Shelby showed how to make dividers with tabs, and Becky talked about what she learned at Leadership.  

Then we stamped!  Here's the gang stamping (they actually posed for me...pretending to stamp)!

It was a fun time.  For some reason, I didn't take any pictures of our projects!  I'll do that tomorrow so you can see what you missed.

I missed you all; Skeeter, Sharon, Julie, Karen, and Becky.  Hope you are doing well and can be with us next time.

Joyful Stamping,

Elizabeth

Blech

I'm home sick.  Boo!  I hope it's not the flu...just a quick moving fever virus.  Maybe I'll feel well enough later to stamp!  I'll post something here if I do.

Mardi Gras fun

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday, aka Mardi Gras.  The roads were still slick from the Arkansas Slushie on Monday and after we cleaned the inch of ice and sleet off of my Jeep, Charlie talked me into going to Mugs before breakfast (it was still too slick to drive to work).  While at Mugs we decided to make a King Cake for Mardi Gras AND to have a neighborhood potluck that night.  I'm a sucker for a baking challenge and who doesn't love a party?

We got out the laptop and looked up King Cake recipes.  Of course, the one that we had the stuff for took 4 1/2 hrs!  We put on our aprons and Mardi Gras beads and got to work!

We proofed yeast, mixed in sugar and flour, kneaded for what seemed like forever, and let it rise for two hours.  Then I rolled out the dough and put in the filling (brown sugar, cinnamon, walnuts, raisins, and butter).  It's made kind of like cinnamon but formed in a circle not sliced.  I went in to work since the roads were better and left Charlie to finish the process. 

Another 45 min of rising and then the baking.  After it came out Charlie made his very first powdered sugar icing and iced the two (who knew it made two!) cakes.  He poked the baby in one of them of course because the person who finds the baby has to host the next Mardi Gras party (and no, it wasn't one of us)!  

We had made colored sugar before I left for work so he sprinkled the sugar, colored in the traditional colors of purple, yellow, and green, in stripes over the icing.  Here's our masterpiece.

The biggest compliment came from Don who said it was the best he had had outside of south Louisiana!  I'll take that!

I would encourage you to make your own...but be sure to allow ample time for all of the rising of the dough!

Joyful stamping, or maybe baking,

Elizabeth

Custom Blendabilities

Today I wanted to use the Moonlight DSP stack to make some birthday cards with the Big Day stamp set from Sale-a-Bration.  I really love coloring with the blendabilities because they color so smoothly.  The medium Daffodil Delight goes with Hello Honey really well, but there's not really a good substitute for Lost Lagoon.

Hmmm, could I blend two colors together to make a Lost Lagoon substitute?  Lost Lagoon is sort of a greenish-blue, so maybe I can find the right color combo.

I colored in the word "Cake" with the medium Night of Navy marker.

Not so much Lost Lagoon, huh?
When I finished coloring the Night of Navy I blended it with the light Wild Wasabi marker...

It's looking pretty Lost Lagoon, huh?  Here's the finished product.  Compare with the ribbon; I think I achieved by goal, don't you?

I wonder what other colors I can make?

Joyful Stamping,
Elizabeth

Snow or No Snow?

So, what's it going to do?  Sleet? Freezing rain? Snow?  I'm hoping for snow because it's prettier!  Here's the forecast from the Weather Ninja.  I think he's calling for sleet. :(

But you know what a snow day means, right?  Craft Day!  I have a little house work to do, but I'm going to craft as much as I can!  Actually, the craft room is a wreck, so I'm going to tidy it some first.

Let me know what you're up to on the snow day in the comments below.

Oh, I'm going to attempt a bokeh card similar to this tomorrow.  I'll post the results here.

Snow White

On Mother's Day, Jessica and I are running in the Tinkerbell Half-Marathon at Disneyland!  I'm pretty sure costumes are mandatory at a Disney Half-Marathon!  Jessica decided a while back that she wants to be Cruella DeVille.  I have been undecided, cycling through being a dalmatian, Maleficent, and the Queen of Hearts.

I visited Disney World as part of Stampin' Up! Leadership at the beginning of the month and realized that Snow White is the only one of the original princesses who is a brunette...so of course, I have to be Snow White (I got a snow white mug and a decal for my Mac, too!)

I searched on-line for costume ideas and found Sparkle Athletics.  They have great stuff including sparkle skirts and capes!  They had a link to a blog that shows you how to make Snow White sleeves.  Yes!  Virginia has graciously volunteered to help with this.  I'm thinking she will be more helpful than Charlie!

I ordered a yellow sparkle skirt, a red sparkle cape, and a royal blue tank top.  They came last night.

Yes, I realize that the top looks black; it's royal, trust me.

I'll keep track of my progress here.  

I'm helping Jessica with her parrot costume for the Little Rock Marathon soon...I'll be sure to take pictures!

Paper Pumpkin Intro Party

I had five ladies over tonight to introduce them to Paper Pumpkin.  They learned about Paper Pumpkin and then made a shaker card from the December kit.  They had a great time and learned just how easy and fun Paper Pumpkin is!

I showed them my eleventy billion past kits (lol) so they could get an idea of the variety.

I think they were truly blown away by the prepaid kits.  If you buy 12 months, you actually get one month free.  You also get FOUR Sale-a-Bration items for free and host rewards!  That truly is amazing.  The 3 month is a great deal, too.  You get each kit for 18.33 plus tax and that qualifies you for a Sale-a-Bration item.

I have enough Paper Pumpkin materials to do a couple more intro parties.  Call me to schedule yours!

Have you seen the fabulous Sale-a-Bration catalog? Click here to take a gander.  You can earn free products...yes, FREE products!

Spread Joy Card Club

The Spread Joy Card Club will be meeting on Thursday February 26th at my house.  We will be making two each of these three cards.  The cost is $10 for six cards plus envelopes...however the class will be FREE with a minimum purchase!  Email me at emhart@gmail.com if you'd like to come.  I have six slots open right now.

I'm baaack!

Look what I got!  A new laptop!  I can blog and email to my heart's content now!  Get prepared to have your socks blown off!

Things have been crazy at work for the last couple of months and I've just been off my A game, and maybe my B game, too!  But I'm feeling renewed in spirit and stamps and am ready to go.

I'm having a Paper Pumpkin Introduction party on Tuesday the 10th.  We will be making a shaker card from this kit.

If you would like to make one of these cards and find out what the big deal is about Paper Pumpkin, come on over.  If you already get Paper Pumpkin and want to just hang out, then come on over!  I might even make snacks!

I'm going to work on two kit classes in March.  Keep an eye out for more info coming soon!

Joyful Stamping,

Elizabeth

The Magic of Fisney

Here are a few of my favorite pics from Disney. Stay tuned for my Project Life by Stampin Up! pages to follow.