Weddings, Cherries and Elvis???

Have I mentioned that I'm getting married next month? No, I didn't divorce Matt and I'm not in a polygamous relationship. We got married almost 15 years ago by a Justice of the Peace in what Matt lovingly refers to as clown college (aka Juvenile Court). I had done the whole wedding thing the first time around and it turned into a disaster. Anyway, it worked for us. But this year, I'm turning 40 (according to my daughter I will then be Old.....My son thinks I already have one foot in the grave!). To celebrate we are heading to Vegas and since we will be there anyway, we decided to renew our vows. In typical Mayou style, we can't do it in a normal quiet way....we have to be different. So, Elvis will be officiating. My husbands best man is my girlfriend Amanda, and my Maid of Honor is her significant other Derek. Oh, and no white dress for me.......mine is black, and covered in cherries.......

Isn't it cute? I've got great little Cherry Sandals and a cherry fascinator to go with it. (That's a type of hat if you didn't know). Wow, that's a long story just to get to my card.......Anyway, when I saw the Cherries in the Button Buddies set, I knew exactly what kind of card I wanted to make. I even got to use some of the glitter paper. It might not be as cute as my "wedding" dress, but it's pretty darn close!

I had a hard time deciding what to do with the pumpkin. He was too cute to not try out though. I found this card on Inkspiration Ink and loved the way she used the border punch. How in the world did I not know that you could punch a square piece of cardstock that way and leave little squares in each corner?? My daughter and I debated about adding the button. I kind of liked the way it looked without it, but finally she won out and the button went on the card. The other thing I did was randomly sponge around the edges and all over the textured part of the card to tone down the Pumpkin Pie cardstock a little. It made it look a bit dirty and more country to me.

Polka Dot Piggy

Ok, the favorite stamp in the Button Buddies set is the pig. She is just so darn cute! (No, I have no idea why I think she's a girl.). I needed a birthday card for a co-worker this week, and I couldn't let the snail have all the fun. In order to dress this piggy up for a party, I added a crown and purse from the Every Little Bit stamp set. I was so excited when I realized that I still had some of these rhinestones stashed away. My daughter likes to use them, and I thought I was completely out. Thank goodness I found a few more. I think it the bling makes the pig stand out even more. What do you think?

Oh, one more thing before I forget it......I'm officially a Demo again! Hubby finally relented to letting me join. Still no stamp sets though. I had to get the new ink pads. After stamping with them just once I realized that the ease of stamping with them far outweighed the cost. So, the majority of my demonstrator kit went towards getting two of the sets of ink pads. Oh well....now I just have to get some stamp sets when I place my 30% off order. Anyone have any suggestions on which ones I need now? (Yes, Button Buddies is on that list!)

Polka Dot Button Buddies

Yes, it's true....I'm still on my Button Buddies kick. Here is a cute little polka dot card featuring the snail. I just love him. I got this idea from Trudy. I needed to have some birthday cards on hand, and I thought this one could be used for just about anything. I have to say I really love the technique of putting multiple pieces of cardstock together and then running them through the embossing folder. It just looks so cool. Plus, it reminds me of quilting......the other craft I like to do.

After my heartbreaking assessment of my stamps, I decided that if I'm going to start my business off right I need to get familiar with the stamps I have. So, did I grab the ones of the current shelf? Of course not! I grabbed a stamp set I had been eyeing before I lost my demonstratorship from Jan Hoyt, my local demo and stamping friend. She let me borrow Button Buddies. I have been drooling over this stamp set for over a year and I finally got my fingers inky with it. Once I picked it up I couldn't put it down, so I hope you all like it as much as I do.....It is about to be a button buddies week!

The first card I made was one I CASEd off of Splitcoast Stampers. When I saw this bathing beauty I couldn't help myself. Isn't she adorable? Of course, I was stamping during "Stupid Hour" so I couldn't help but wonder if this pretty piggy would smell like bacon while she was sunning herself.

OH NO!!!

So, Thursday night I headed over to a local demonstrators house to talk about all the amazing Stampin' Up! things I have missed. I hadn't even gotten a chance to look at the catalog in over a year. Well, you can be assured that I was absolutely floored by all the new products (and a bit heart broken about some that are no longer with us). It didn't really hit home about how much I had missed until I got into my stamp room and determined which of my stamps were still current. If you don't know me, or haven't visited my stamp room, you don't realize how many stamps I actually have. The cabinet in this picture is full of them. All of them were current when I moved here. After a midnight assessment of my stamps now.....these are the only ones that are still in the catalog! It was enough to make me want to cry. Now I have to double my efforts to get hubby to agree to let me be a demo. I am sure my wish list is going to be sky high!!!!!

Proud Mama!

Last week, Jay, my eight year old, asked if he could stamp with me. Nothing makes me happier than having one of my kids want to spend time with me, and with the added bonus of doing something I love to do.....well I couldn't ask for anything better. His reason for wanting to stamp was to make a card for his Dad's birthday. As I mentioned yesterday, Matt's birthday fell on Band night. What I didn't mention yesterday was that the name of the band is Armor Piercing Zombie (Don't ask me why....must be a guy thing). Anyway, Jay really wanted to make a Zombie card, but I had no zombie stamps (SU! is this something you can put in the next catalog? :) ). I did have the Make a Monster set, so he decided that was close enough. He used the clear blocks and lined up everything himself. Like I said, I'm a pretty proud Mom. Now I just have to teach him layering :) So, without further ado....here is my favorite son, and his card.