Matt Made Master!

My wonderful hubby was just notified that he made MSgt. I'm so excited. This is the last promotion we needed in order for him to retire at the pay level he wanted. This means that in exactly 3 years and 10 months we will no longer have to worry about Afghanistan, Iraq, or anywhere else in the world that needs some military support. I made this card for him. I'm so proud of him!

My Pretty Punch art Princess

As some of you know, I am a member of VC Rocks (VC stands for Virtual Convention). This is a yahoo group that gets together every spring through fall and disbands over the winter. Anyway, this year I am hosting a card swap. Sugar and Spice is all about girly cards and inner princesses. So, to honor my card swap, I created this cute little princess. Isn't she adorable?

Princess Card

I'm hostessing a VC Rocks swap this week. Sugar and Spice, and everything nice.... :) We had to make girly girl cards. For those of you that know me, you realize this is slightly outside my comfort zone. My son is probably more girly than Katie is, and I'm definitely not girly at all. But this is what I came up with.....what do you think?

Chocolate Chocolate Everywhere!

Since we are new to the area, I joined Matt's unit's wives group. This month we had a Chocolate night. Everyone brought something chocolate. With a little help from my German friends, I was able to obtain some German chocolates to bring. Since some of the candy had alcohol in it, I wanted to make sure everyone knew which ones were which (guess that is m

y substance abuse training, I would hate to have someone in recovery eat the wrong kind!). So, I broke out my chocolate stamp (that I never used......even though it is no longer available. Dang move!) and made these little labels. I think they turned out really cute, and of course the chocolate didn't last. It was so yummy!

Easter Baskets

A month or so ago I was able to participate in a great bulk buy run by seaside crafts (if you haven't checked them out yet, go to Yahoo groups and take a moment. They get amazing deals on some really cool crafting stuff!). Anyway, one of the items I bought was these cool clear paint cans. I decided that they would make great Easter Baskets this year, so I used my big shot and some DE sheets to decorate them. As you can see, the bunny matches the bunny clues I showed you yesterday and the Chick one matches the chick clues I forgot to take pictures of. The kids loved them and they are packed away with the reusable clues for next year. I love it when my crafting bug actually creates something that is useful!

Easter Hunt

This year we decided to put together a hunt that was a little different. I had thrown away all of my easter eggs, and didn't really want to buy some more. So, Matt and I spent an afternoon putting together bunnies and chicks for the kids to find instead. On the back of each of these was a letter. Once the kids found all the clues, they had to unscramble the words to figure out where their baskets were hidden. I forgot to take pictures of the chicks, but here are the bunnies. Matt made these all by himself. He was so proud. I did laminate all the pieces so we can use these over and over again.

VC Rocks Blog Hop- Color My World

I'm so lucky to be a part of VC Rocks again this year. VC stands for Virtual Convention......a group that exists only during the summer for those of us that are super excited about the Stampin' Up! yearly convention. This group is open to everyone, not just SU! demos who want to participate in a virtual convention. During the summer we have several blog hops, so this weekend is just the first of some amazing projects.

Our theme this time around is Color My World. As you can see from my card, I

interpreted the theme to mean watercoloring. I always was in awe of the amazing watercolored projects I see all over the internet. I always thought it was too hard though. I'm not an artistic person, so I believed that watercoloring was outside of my talent level. Boy was I wrong! With SU!'s watercolor paper, ink, and an aqua brush I created this gorgeous card! Trust me if I can do it, so you can you.

This card was made using Always Artichoke, Old Olive, So Saffron, and Tangerine Tango ink. By using the water to blend the colors you can come up with amazing hues. Like I mentioned earlier, I used the watercolor paper as well as So Saffron, Always Artichoke and Tangerine Tango card stock. For best results, you should also use a detailed stamp. For this I chose Elements of Style. I love the way this turned out....don't you?

Now, if you want to see some more amazing coloring techniques make sure you visit Mary Campbell's blog. And if you didn't just come from Ellen Kemper's blog, make sure you go back and check her's out as well. Enjoy the rest of the hop!

Easter Blast back

If you remember, my computer wasn't accepting my camera's card over Easter, so I wasn't able to show you any of my cool Easter projects. I thought I would do a flashback to Easter over the next couple of days so I could show you everything I made. This first project was for my co-workers. I filled these little guys with jelly beans and handed them out the Friday before Easter. They seemed to like them, and they sure were fun to make!

Sympathy Card

I think I mentioned that Matt was gone over Mother's Day. It wasn't by choice. His Grandfather passed away and he went home for the funeral. Due to distance and funding, we weren't all able to go, but I wanted his Grandmother to know that we were thinking of her. This is a card I had made at a downline meeting. I like the fact that hope was a part of this card. Sympathy cards are always difficult, but I know she is a strong woman, and I know she has the strength to get through this.

My parent's 50th Anniversary Invite

So, Mom and Dad were here over Easter. Mom sat down in my stamp room and helped me figure out exactly what I needed to do to "fix" her invites. I wasn't happy with the ones I showed you yesterday. We decided that embossing gold on gold and using an embossing folder to meld the numbers into the card would make it look so much better. So, without further ado, these are Mom and Dad's anniversary party invites. I think they turned out pretty good. What do you think?

My parent's 50th Anniversary

So, like I mentioned yesterday, we are throwing my parents a 50th anniversary party. I can't even imagine being married to Matt that long (after missing Mother's Day, he may be lucky if we last until 15! :) ). I wanted to put together their invitations using Gold, since it is their golden anniversary. These though just didn't tickle my fancy. I only have one stamp set with numbers, so I was pretty limited in the 50, but I was able to play around some more and come up with something I liked a little better. But this is the trial run. I'll show you the finished project tomorrow.

Happy Mother's Day

I found this awesome tutorial to make a gerbera daisy and a vase on Sweet Pea Stamped Art. My parents' 50th wedding anniversary is coming up and we are throwing them a party. Since My mom had daisies at her wedding, I thought about making these as table decorations for their party. I wanted to do a trial run to see how hard they are to make though (not super hard, just time consuming!). Since Mother's Day is today, and since my hubby is in Maine and my kids didn't do anything for me. (I know, a pity party for myself!). I decided to make myself a present. I think it turned out pretty cool. What do you think? Can I get about 45 of these made before the end of June?

My Mother's Day Card

I needed to make a card for my mom. I've decided that this year, I would actually use the cards I've been making. No more hoarding them and then giving them away when I get ready to move (which is what happened this last time). So, I put this card together and actually got it in the mail on Monday!!! Wow, a card made, AND sent on time. Maybe this really is a new leaf for me!

Stamping at Jay's Class

Yesterday Jay's teacher, Mrs. Prather, invited me into the classroom to help the kids make Mother's Day Cards. While I did prep the flowers for the card, the kids did all the stamping. Each one was able to pick their own flower and card color. Needless to say we had some interesting combinations, but I'm sure all the mom's will love them!

Stamping with Jay is always exciting

This is from a different crafting session with Jay, but I have to say, stamping with him is always fun. This time he had me thinking outside the box a bit. He decided he wanted to be a Ninja for the day. He had all the black clothes and gloves, but he was missing a mask. He didn't want me to make it for him, he wanted to do it himself. So, a little bit of cardstock, some black marker and some SU string, and he was good to go. Later we did make him a name tag that said NINJA on it, just in case anyone had any question.......

My Red Black and White Card

Jay thought it would be fun if we both made cards with the same colors. Yesterday you saw his, and today I'll show you mine. This card was for my extra special German friend, Ela. She has been awesome at keeping me in German chocolates since I moved. She has sent me two care packages full to the brim with all the great German stuff I love! The inside of this card says "I miss you!" and boy is it true!

Jay's Creation

As I told you yesterday, Jay was the first to volunteer to stamp with me in my new stamp room. He decided he needed to make a card for me. We have been working on his spelling skills, so the alphabet stamps seemed to be the perfect choice. He also picked out the colors (and I had to make a card with the same ones. I'll show you that tomorrow). The inside says I love you. I couldn't ask for a sweeter little boy!

I'm finally Back!!!

Ok, computer issues solved, stamp room unpacked, entire house relatively straight. I am finally back. Just in time too. VC Rocks (virtual convention) just started! So, I now can show you some of the things I've been working on. Since I haven't had a way to post them for a couple of weeks, you are going to see some Easter stuff a bit late.....I sure hope you don't mind.

First up is this card I made for my wonderful son, Jay. He was the first to volunteer to come down to stamp with me in my new room. He wanted me to make him a card, so this is what I came up with. I think he liked it....what do you think?