Am I Brave Enough?

As you know, I have been working on my "space" - and yes, there is entirely too much stuff in there! *rolling my eyes* So I am cleaning out - and I realized that it's pretty ridiculous that I have no problem throwing away a scrap piece of paper (it could even be half of a 12x12) but I can't chunk a magazine to save my life. Not until I've looked through it, admiring all I seed and then look through it again to see if I want to save anything. And of course, there's always at least one or two that I want so I cut them out and glue them into a notebook. WHY??? I realized that I've done this for the last several years - but you know what? I NEVER go back and look at them. I can't recall one single time when I thought, "hey, let's make a card - I'll look in my notebook to see if there is anything I want to copy" And of course, wasn't that they whole point of starting the notebook anyway??? Crazy!
SO - I was looking at an old Stampers Sampler magazine and they have that column - variation on a theme - and I was like, hey - that's kinda me....I just keep using and using what I have out until it's gone, I'm bored or I run out of time. So, I had some stuff still out on my desk from yesterday's card and decided to use it up --- I mean, come on, I can't throw away Karen Russell paper!!! That's just crazy talk!! (OMG! That would make a great sentiment stamp - my sis and I say that all the time to each other!) Back on task - here's what I came up with. And I'm seriously considering sending them off --- I mean, not that I think they would ever be picked up....but just to have the guts to do it.

Here's a quick card I did last night. I am trying to use up all my stuff! I think this will be a great wedding card - or a Valentine's card, although it's pretty girly for me to give to hubby!
Have a wonderful day!!

Card Set, Part IV

Here is the final card in this series. Since I don't save scraps - of any size or shape - I like to try to use as much of a piece of paper as possible when I sit down to make a card. I may leave it on my desk for a few days, but when I clean up, in the trash they go. That's terribly wasteful I know. I used to save scraps but I never used them and they just became a big ugly eyesore (and if you read the post below - you'll see that I don't need any help in the clutter/eyesore department! *wink*). So I dumped them all in the trash one day and it was wonderful! The only bad thing is that I never have scraps for punching...but that's okay! And here's a free tip of the day for you - if you and I are ever at a class or a crop anywhere together - sit by me - you'll get all the scraps that I don't want!
Pretty basic and simple series of cards. Thanks for stopping by! I noticed my hit counter today and gee, it's much bigger than I expected!

Creative Chaos?

Or just chaos? I used to have an entire room to myself - painted this wonderful green color. Some old vintage map drawers that I stored all my stamps in. Lots of shelves to hold everything else. Then I got pregnant - and we decided that the baby should have a room and after much debate and about 2 weeks before I delivered, it was my room that would be the nursery. We got rid of the guest bed and I moved into that room - which had been my husbands with all his movies, army re-enactment and Star Wars stuff. I got half of the room. It was very hard to cram a room full into half a room. I barely managed. And it was just kinda thrown in there. Fast forward almost a year and I was ready to get back in the game so to speak. So I've been working on trying to get my little space organized and de-cluttered so that I can work. I am not a very organized person by nature but I need organization in order to get anything done. It's still not finished and I wouldn't even be sharing it, but there is a blog candy at stake HERE. I wasn't going to enter when I first saw it but I've seen lots of really cute Tilda cards out there and I've decided that the chance of winning a free stamp is worth the embarrassment. As bad as it looks, it was worse. Up until a few weeks ago, I couldn't even really get in there and was forced to gather stuff up and work in the kitchen or up at the LSS. I am working at getting rid of the really deep drawer units and have something to replace them with that I'm really excited about. Hopefully I'll be able to get that done within the next month or so. When it's all "pretty" I'll share again!

And then a view from the window:

Card Set, Part III

Here is another card in my Red card series. Pretty simple really - just some ribbon (don't you just love gingham??? Gingham and polka dots - love them and anything that features them!) And some really cool flowers - I wish I could remember what brand they were as I'd love to have some more!

I was tagged by my Blog Sister Vicki - her blog is Stamped Smiles and she does impeccable work!
This is called the middle name game. Here's the rules:

1. You must post the rules before you give your answers.

2. You must list one fact about yourself for each beginning letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name.)

3. After you're tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and answers.

4. At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged & need to read your blog for the details.)

My middle name is ANN (so is Vicki's by the way - made this tag so easy as I just had to copy, paste and edit a few details!!) *wink*

A ~ An eye-roller - a trait that is apparently hereditary as my son started rolling his at 10 months. Yea, it's cute now - but I don't think I'll be laughing when he's sixteen. And yes, my mom thinks it's fitting!

N ~ Never been to Europe

N ~ Naked feet are my preference. I hate to wear shoes and kick them off as soon as I come in the door!

I tag my blog sisters Maren, and Denise. I'm also going to tag Kimmie because I love her blog!

Card Set, Part II

This is the second card in my series. I think I'll refer to this time as my "one-layer phase" - kinda like when artists talk about their blue phase or whatever. Here is a close-up of the card. The first card I just used stickles on the dots, but on this one I used some embellies from Queen & Co - little rhinestones and brads.

I love, loVE, LOVE this paper! It comes in several colors and several different patterns. My VSN card with the froofy shoe in pink and brown - same paper! I really should go buy up the rest that my LSS has in stock.
Thanks for stopping by - ya'll are a bright spot in my day!
Make it a beautiful week ladies! I am off to get some stamping time in (right after I go check out the Featured Stamper challenge!)

Card Set, Part I

This is part of a card series that I created a few months ago. One of my good friends owns the local scrapbook store in town and even though I'm not really into scrapping, she always asks me to come to the Midnight Crops. I love to go because I get to hang out with her and some other friends. They all work on pages and I make cards. So I created this series one night at a crop, determined to use what I brought and not buy anything else! I loved it when I created it, but I look at it now and see how it could definitely be "kicked up a notch"! So that's my question - what would you do to make this card WOW!?
I did get some stamping done tonight but it's too dark to photography anything so I decided to see what I could find in my files. Even though the time is *technically* Sunday, I haven't been to sleep yet so it's still Saturday to me! ;)
I got to spend the afternoon and evening at my parents house after Dane woke up from his nap. I love just hanging out with my family when it's a normal day and not a "special occasion". It's something that I intend to make more time for this year. I hope you get to spend some quality time with your loved ones this weekend! {HUGS}

You Grow Girl!

My sister-in-law just announced that they are expecting their first baby! I made this card as a congrats to her. (I only took 2 pics before I gave it away and this was the best of them - it's not a great picture - I probably took it when it was getting dark outside) The dress is paper pieced and the rest is colored with my Prismascolor pencils. I don't care if this set is retired. I still love it and I hope to get lots more use out of it! I better make some younger friends as all my pals are well past the baby bearing stage! Plus, Dane will need playmates! Sadly, his cousin doesn't live close to us; but hopefully, they will be close and just play like crazy when they are around each other.
I finally got my Bella stamps in on Wednesday. I went in to stamp last night and found my desk a mess so I spent a good hour working on getting things put away and then just colored on some images. I tend to be a tool junkie so when I saw all these images on my favorite blogs colored with Copics I said: "OOOOHHHH better get some of those!!" And actually got a spot in one of Gina K's copic buys. I came out of my fog about 30 mins later and called back and gave my spot away. I am determined to learn how to really use my prismacolors. I have a very nice set thanks to hubby (they were a requirement for some graphic design class he had back in college) who sweetly let me confiscate them for myself. So that's what I did last night - practiced! It was much more fun than when my mom made me practice the violin when I was younger!
Hope ya'll have a fantastic weekend!

Better Late Than Not At All

...right?
I made these cards last week for SC159 but never got them edited and posted. I was going to - and then decided I was too tired...but Photoshop opened all the way despite my effort to close it....so I went ahead and did it real quick. I created the yellow version first and then the next day I found these ME stickers on my desk so decided to make some quick cards with them (you might have noticed another sticker from this pack on my composition book). The yellow card is still my favorite.
I like this sketch - it's quick and to the point. Next time I use it I think I'll try to pop the layers even more with matting and pop dots! Why did I resist using those for so long?
Have a Terrific Thursday girls!!

The rest of VSN

Here is the mini composition book I did for VSN. This took like 10 minutes maybe to make. I love doing these for little gifts. We always need a place to jot down a quick note and if they are pretty - then - who can resist. This will be going to a gal in my BUNKO group that loves Mary Engelbreit.


For the Love of CHOCOLATE! I wasn't going to do this challenge for VSN until I noticed a small Whatchamacalit bar peeking out from behind some stamps on my desk. This is my hubby's favorite candy bar. The only place I can find them is Dollar Tree so I always buy him some whenever I swing in there. This was also super easy and quick. I would've made it a little more "fancy" by double matting the base and the sentiment, but then I remembered it was for hubby and he will just tear into it and not even notice. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and then embossed with red.....so I guess I can count this for the Ways To Use it Challenge over at SCS last week.


I just realized that I didn't do any stamping on this card. I adore this Karen Russell paper by Creative Imaginations. A sheet of this and some crystal letters were out on my desk so that's what I grabbed to make this card.


This card is not for everyone - but it was awfully fun. I think I'd make more of them but I only know one gal for sure that would think it was funny - and honestly, how many panty cards can I send her? But this card is going to find it's way to her inbox. I encourage you to go check out the gallery for this challenge (HERE). In no particular order, these are my favorites from this challenge and I hope to see one of them get honored: stampintam_inks, snowmanqueen, nitestamper, LuvLee