GOOOOOOO Ian!!

Hey girls!! It is a wonderful Saturday here. I don't know how cold it is as I haven't been out yet but the sun is shining brightly and there is no snow or ice. That's great since last night they were predicting doom and gloom for today!!

I was happy to finally sit down last night and MAKE myself do the Club Anya sketch for this week. Circles always throw me and I wasn't sure what to do about that half circle in the sketch. I finally decided to create a pom-pom again to go with my Cheer Anya. I used my scalloped nesties this time and I think that it really turned out great this time!

I used grey and red so that my Cheer Anya could cheer on Baseball Ian over on Jacquie's blog. I am very excited about Baseball Ian. My baby brother was quite the pitcher and Baseball Ian reminds me of him and going to watch his games. I didn't make every game but I tried to make a bunch! So Baseball Ian reminds me of those good times with my family.

Lots of things to do around here today. I know you've got busy schedules too so I am really happy that you take the time and effort to stop by here. You put a smile on my face daily!!

Have a beautiful day!

Don't forget that tomorrow is a big blog hopping day!! The Club Anya hop kicks off at 7 am and wraps up at Noon with the big reveal. I can't wait to see the mystery Anya! And then the PMS (Paper Makeup Stamps in case you are a new visitor) Party starts at 11 am with challenges, a blog hop and lots of chatter. We've been chatting it up over at PCP - such a neat group of ladies - you should come join in!! You can find the PMS Party Blinkie at the top of my sidebar!! Katie and Christi have been hinting at all the prep work and I am so excited to see what they have in store for us!!

Cheerleaders Always Twinkle!

Happy Tuesday girls!! You know what that means - Madelynn's Twinkling Tuesdays!! This week Madelynn's little brother Jack provided a sketch for us as our Temporary Twinkie this week! OH.MY.WOW!! It's a great one! Jack apparently like paper piercing and was sure to let us know that! Check it out:

Isn't it great?!?! I see this going in the file to be used again and again! I had a completely different card in mind but as I was looking for patterned paper, I saw this red paper and cheerleader paper that I bought to go with my Cheer Anya. And so, I took a detour!!

I colored Anya with my copics, colored pencils and baby oil. Her hair is striped because my RSF Jacquie has been putting stripes in her Anya's hair and I always think it looks waaay cool! Not sure if mine is as cool - but I'm hoping!!!

I couldn't find my border punch from SU so I just made my own notebook paper effect with a hole punch and scissors. I cute the quote out and trimmed it really close, putting emphasis on the "extra".

And then finished it on the inside even! I could easily send this card off to each of you - are you all have the extra!! Extra-special, Extra-nice, Extra-talented!!

Now, this week our Featured Twinkie is Kim so be sure to head over to the Twinkling Tuesdays blog to see her card and leave her some love! Then be sure to check out the rest of the Twinkies too! They are each aaah-maaazing and you won't regret it!!

Bonnie
Christi

Darla
Danni
Debbie
Heather
Jacquie
Jami
Janna
Jen
Jessica
Kim
Kimmie
Rebecca
Sandra
Taylor

Take 2...

Good Monday morning girls!! How are you today? It seems like so many of my friends are sick these days. And chocolate cures everything - right? Wouldn't that be nice?

Just a quick Nurse Anya card I put together over the weekend. The background paper is from a Making Memories pad that my sweet friend Eva sent me a few sheets of. She knew I was wanting it and blessed me with several sheets plus some really great journaling die cuts and sparkly butterflies! She knows me well! Thanks Eva!

This card was going to end up completely different. We fought and fought and finally the card won. Good thing too as I think it's much cuter this way than the original layout I had planned.

My Nurse Anya was inspired by my childhood visits to our pediatrician. Dr. Joe was a kind, old man and his wife was the receptionist and nurse. She was always so soft-spoken and greeted us with a big smile as if our presence in the waiting room had completely made her week! I hated getting shots but she always held my hand and talked to me gently to help calm me down! It was a sad, sad day in our household when Dr. Joe retired. I used silver colored pencils for her hair that I blended with baby oil. Then added some white strands with a gel pen.

I hope you have a beautiful day today! I have a busy day planned divided between my stamp space and my office. Somewhere in there I am going to do a bit of housecleaning too!

Chocolate Cures Everything!

Hey girls! I hope it's beautiful where you are today; the weather here has been just wonderful for the past few days!

Several years ago when I was teaching, we were at lunch one day and the discussion turned to chocolate and how much we loved it and what a great pick-me-up it was. Teaching 9th graders was a joy for the most part but definitely challenging!! LOL!! I still laugh when I think of that day! All women but one man - an older guy who loved to laugh and tell jokes and give us all a hard time. Phenomenal math teacher as well. Anyway, he was sitting quietly working and we were all talking and he got sooooo red b/c one of the gals mentioned that chocolate was a great aphrodisiac. And then when she noticed he was embarrassed she really exaggerated it. Oh, he tormented us every day so it was nice to be able to turn the tables for once!!

Anyway, I received 2 new Anyas in the mail on Friday and was anxious to get the sketch challenge that Marie has posted on The Greeting Farm blog done. It's a wonderful sketch and I know I'll use it again.

I made a get well card and knew that I was going to include some chocolate in the card for the recipient. I remembered that day at school and decided to look up the other health benefits of chocolate. I found links that said it was a good remedy for a cough (I'll try that next time I have one) and various other things. It's a well known fact in lots of my gal pals that dark chocolate is good for you. But I also found two cute signs regarding chocolate as well and had to share them. They are from the Olive Barn and there are lots of cute things over there!!

Since I knew my card was going to include chocolate I wanted to use brown in my color scheme. I thought about using pink and making Nurse Anya a candy-stripper. But then I found an awesome sheet of red label print paper. It reminded me slightly of vintage labels and I'm passing it off as a medicine label! I paper pieced her dress and hat and used copics for the coloring. She's a great nurse as she knows that chocolate milk and a big chocolate truffle are sure to make her patient feel better!

Thanks for stopping by today! I so appreciate it girl! I have a long list of stamping I want to get done today so be sure to check back - I don't know if I'll upload them all immediately or if I'll spread them out over the week. Plus a present to finish for my mom's birthday! Have a beautiful day, okay?

Cuttlebug Be Inspired Challenge 18: Shaped Cards

Hi Girls!! Oh, I've missed you!! Have you missed me? Lie and just say yes!!! Had such a wonderful time at my in-laws. My SIL cranked out these gorgeous crocheted flowers - like 29 of them in all for shower favors. I stamped and embossed some little cards to mount them on. They looked so pretty on the table and I think everyone loved them. I know I love the 2 I brought home! My MIL took care of the other details like cake and punch and flowers. I am really glad that we made the effort to throw the shower for my other SIL. It won't be long until I'll have a nephew - well, I already have a nephew and niece but this is one that I'll know from the time he's born! Anyway, you know what I mean, right???? He'll be a gift from God - aren't they all???

I didn't get much stamping done in the last week and so it's nice to be home and back at it. The first project I worked on was this weeks Cuttlebug Be Inspired #18 Challenge. We were to create a shaped card this week. When I sat down at my desk, I had lots of ideas: heart, flower, baby bottle and then I spied little miss Anya was peeking out at me. I had another digi Dorothy Anya printed off and thought I would use her. Since I spent part of my time in Kansas and saw lots of "Dorothy" and "Wizard of Oz" references at the travel stop, I was inspired to pick her up.

I used a Summer Sun base cut to 4 3/8 x 9 that I then ran through the Houndstooth embossing folder in my Cuttlebug machine. Using a sponge, I aged it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and then with a Gold Encore pad. I also trimmed it to resemble a rambling, curvy road. Miss Anya and Toto were colored with my Copics and Prismacolor pencils. I created my own sentiment and mounted it with my Curly Label punch from Stampin Up! Cherry Red glitter was added to her slippers and the edge of the punch. I hope you enjoy it!

Be sure to stop by the Cuttlebug Challenge blog and see the creations from the rest of the team!

I'll be working on slowly catching up with visiting each of you this week as well. Thanks for coming by today! I so enjoyed getting to spend some time with you! If you participate in any of these challenges, be sure to let me know as I'd love to visit and see what you created!

Have a beautiful day girls!!