You can do it at a trot....

You can do it at a gallop!

You can do it real slow....

So your heart won't palpitate!

Just don't be late!

Do the Puyallup!
In case you can't tell- we did the Puyallup Fair on Friday!

We met up with our friends Tanya & Ava!

Checked out the animals...

Pioneer farm (yes, I am even more in love with my washer & dryer)

and my tub of butter that comes from the grocery store!

The girls did the rides...

made some music...

wouldn't be the fair without fair food!

We obviously had a ton of fun!! My girl could do the rides ALL DAY LONG and be happy! She can't wait until she's tall enough to go on the BIG roller coaster!!!!!!!

Introducing the May Arts Design Team....

Pinch me, people!!! This is one seriously talented group of gals!!! I still am on cloud 9 that I'm amongst them!!
Head over to the blog and you can read up on all these uber crafty chicks & find links to their blogs as well- and while you're there don't forget to check out the current challenge! Oh- and if you're on facebook, you might want to 'like' them- just sayin'. Could work out nicely for you....
*wink*

Play Date Cafe Challenge 46

The PDCC#46 is black & white with a 'splash' of color- we could use pink, copper or gold. I went with a copper-ish color for my splash.

PTI embellishments stamped on PTI white cardstock with versafine black ink. The sentiment is from the same set- but it's a momento ink.... I wish you could see the shimmer!

Just a quick post for me today- millions of things in the air- I haven't become a proficient juggler...yet. Wish me luck on that!

Thanks so much for stopping by- I'd love to hear what you think! Don't forget to check out the other entries at PDCC!

ETA: My friend Erin (the challenge superwoman) let me know that this card will work for Simplicity's OLW#19 challenge- so I'll link it up there too! Thanks, Erin!

I have a kindergartener....and May Arts!

So let's start with the ribbon....

gorgeous, right?

Makes you want to sew it onto something, right?

I can hardly blame you! These are just a tiny sampling of the gorgeous ribbon in May Arts catalog....

Head over to May Arts & check out the current challenge- sewing with ribbon! Leave a comment & post a pic for a chance to win a spool of ribbon of YOUR CHOICE!!! You've got until Sept. 19th, but why wait- get over there now!!! :) And while you are there, you might as well browse that gorgeous catalog!

Ok, on to the sappy portion of the post!

My baby started kindergarten yesterday!!! I can't believe it. Wasn't she JUST born? Seems like it!

And check this out- we had homework BEFORE school started!!!

I thought Natalie would love the misting... :)

Then we stamped & she colored!! :) I'm pretty sure she'll have the cutest snack mat in the class!

Those are stamps from My Cute Stamps, if you were wondering!
So we made a healthy, hearty breakfast... (and apparently we've entered the era of peace signs for pics...)

It was raining so we took our first day pic inside...

her cute new 'Tink' backpack

and because I know this is the last time her cute new shoes will look like this....

She was SO excited for school to start!! She had ZERO separation anxiety... wouldn't it be nice if the same were true for the mommies?

So here's the pic right before she gave me the 'bye, Mom' without even looking up....

When we picked her up we asked her how it went- she said 'It was WONDERFUL! That's all I can say!'

Hope that's how she feels EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.

Man, I do love that little person.

:)

Embellish & Practicing Creativity Sketch Challenge

Here's Embellish's current challege:

And Practicing Creativity has a sketch challenge going- I used Karen's for this card.

And here's my take!

I used Practiing Creativity's key to my heart stamps for the argyle- versafine black & versamark with clear embossing on the purple squares. PTI cardstock & sentiment (enjoy the ride). May Arts black burlap twine.

You may be wondering about the purple squares (or maybe you're not, but I'm going to bore you with it anyway!). They are a paint chip! Hadley & I were in the paint section & she asked if she could pick one up- and at first I was going to say 'no, we don't need those'- and then I spied the purple & the embellish challenge popped into my head!! So we grabbed a couple!

I love the way the embossing looks on them!

There's still more time to play with both challenges- so go check them out! Also- they are introducing the May Arts blog team- and there's already a tutorial by one of my talented team mates, another great place to stop for inspiration!

Thanks so much for stopping by- I'd love to hear what you think!!!

It's a win-win, my friends!

So you may remember that I made the May Arts Blog Team? Well this works out pretty well for the folks that stop by my little corner of blogland too! May Arts has started hosting challenges- the MAJOR perk? They GIVE you the supplies!!!!! I KNOW, RIGHT?!!!
So the current challenge is to use their ribbon from this UBER fun pack for something crafty!

Now run over there & check it out- you'll want to hurry so you have more time to work with your goodies!

In the Forest....

This week's challenge at Wee Memories was to use something from the forest.
I pulled out my owl stamp from My Cute Stamps and went to work! :)
I stamped him in PTI smokey shadow on vintage cream. I cut it out with my nesties & stamped the PTI vintage labels dots (with SU! creamy caramel). I added a little shading under his cheeks with prisma pencils & watercolored a bit of ink onto his belly, beak & under his feet.

I popped him up on Cosmo Cricket earth love paper that I'd border punched (fiskars). I tied some May Arts twine & added a vintage button from my stash.
I put the focal panel on the card base that I'd used my PTI woodgrain embossing plate on. I have to tell you, I felt a little genious with that touch! :D

There's a sweet gal at a local nursery that is expecting her first little baby- and she's loving forest creatures for a theme- thought this would be a cute card for her!!

You've got a few more hours to get your card in for this challenge- so hurry!

Thanks so much for stopping by- I'd love to know what you think!

'Thank you, Nichole!

If you've stopped by my blog before, you know that I'm a HUGE Papertrey Ink fan! In fact, they are the company that really got me back into stamping.... Every month so much excitement & inspiration abounds....!
So here's a little thank you to Nichole (and her partners) for always keeping it so fun!

PTI vintage cream & aqua mist cardstock. PTI aqua mist ink. PTI embellishments stamps.

A little paper pleating for Maren's challenge....

The sentiment on this is from Giga guidelines in smokey shadow.....

Thanks so much for stopping by- I'd love to know what you think!

ribbon wedding cake

I have been hoping to enter this week's challenge at Wee Memories- how can I resist- sweets & ribbon!! :)
I've got lots of weddings coming up, so I thought this would be a good time to start on those cards.... My friend, Charlene, inspired me with her doily card, so I put my own spin on that.
I used May Arts crocheted ribbon, cut in 3 lengths & layered over vellum. Then I strung pearls (from Joanns) onto May Arts silk ribbon & added those to the top of each layer.

I attached the cake to some basic gray paper (capella 'mezzo')- it has a pretty wedding-y feel to it on it's own! I distressed with PTI tea dye inks & SU! close to cocoa to try to match the uncut side.

May Arts is sponsoring this challenge- and I want to encourage you to head over to their blog- they are having a comment-to-win-a-spool-of-ribbon (your choice!)!! That contest is open until Sept. 5th- AND open to international entries (hint, hint) so go get your comment in!

The Wee Memories challenge is only open for a few more hours- but you can head over there to see all the sweets with ribbon!!!

Thanks for stopping by- I'd love to hear what you think!

EBTKS #21

I'm finally getting a chance to play along again with EBTKS!! It's sketch challenge time:

So here's my take:

I turned the sketch on it's side... then got busy. I really wanted to use the misted doily I'd made during my last post, and some ruffled aqua ribbon- but I couldn't make it work. Fiddlesticks.

So I moved on, and picked an image that I though my niece would like- I have twin girl nieces that turn 8 tomorrow (Happy Birthday Sydney & Emma!!!).

I stamped in Versafine black on PTI white, paper pieced using Cosmo Cricket's Earth love 6x6, & colored with ink & prismacolor pencils. I'd machine sewn a random circle on the pp & attached some crinkled seam binding that I'd dyed with glimmer mist. Then I attached the little rhinestone to the wand, applied white acrylic paint to the heart in her hair & on her belt (I used black glaze pen on her belt), and threw some shadows on her dress.

I stamped her wings on vellum & heat embossed, cut out & applied crystal stickles to the wings as well as the wand. I then stamped the sentiment in PTI chai ink over & over again- since I really do hope they both have a magical day tomorrow!

You've got a little more time to play along with EBTKS- so get busy!!!

Thanks for stopping by- you know I'd love to hear what you think!!! :D

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #43

This is the first time I've played along with The Play Date Cafe. My friend, Michelle, plays a lot, so I thought I'd go check it out. And check out this inspiration photo:

Is that gorgeous, or what?!
So here's what I came up with:

I glimmer misted (key lime pie) some PTI white cardstock, using a doily as a mask. I have to say, I loved it just like that! I punched some butterflies (MS & PTI die) out of PTI aqua mist, and stamped the large butterfly with PTI butterfly dreams using SU! garden green.

The sentiment is also in garden green ink. I added some diamond stickles to the large butterfly & litte tiny rhinestones (Ben Franklin's) to the smaller butterlies. The large one is popped up for more dimension.

One more of the ribbon- it's crinkled seam binding that I dyed- and I think it's a little bit of heaven! :)

I really wish you could see the sparkle- in real life the whole card shimmers....

And because I haven't posted an update of the puppy:

He's adjusting quite well!
So go check out PDCC43- you have a few days to play along!

Thanks so much for stopping by- I'd love to hear what you think!

Yippee!!! :)

You may remember that I did a few posts here recently featuring May Arts ribbon. They were having a 'Calling all Bloggers' contest to select their blog team. You can imagine my excitement when I found out this morning that I made the team!!!!! Thanks again to all of you that commented on their blog for me- I really appreciate your support!

I would love to send you over to their blog again- they are having a comment to win a spool of their awesome ribbon- it's open through Aug. 22nd. Good luck!

Happy Bridal Shower

Can you believe I'm back again so soon? Crazy, I tell 'ya! :)
It seems we know many people getting married all of a sudden. Isn't it funny how you can go a long time with none, and then BOOM- 3 within a couple of weeks. The one that I'm sad about not being able to attend is my cousins- he's getting married on Laguna Beach (CA). Let me reiterate... ON THE BEACH. 'nough said.
This card is for Cory's cousin's wedding shower... I took a look at her registry- both for a gift AND to get a feel for her colors. That's where this combo comes from. I know. It is the same combo as the last PTI hop- don't be too shocked if it's on my Christmas cards too! ;)

PTI vintage cream cardstock, scattered showers & polka dot 2 stamps. PTI pure poppy & tea dye duo, SU! creamy caramel, Versafine vintage sepia inks

The button is TRULY vintage, embroidery thread from my stash.

I don't know about you, but that dotted frame from vintage labels (PTI) around the sentiment makes me giddy!

I think I'll add this one to the Wee Memories 'buttons, brads & bling' challenge too!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'd love hearing what you think!!!

i {heart} u...

Hi there!!! Long time no blog- you'd think I got a puppy or something!?! :)
Finally back with something crafty- I know you've had enough non-craftiness out of me!
I've put my Pink Paislee queen bee paper to work here... It's so pretty on it's own! I also got out my Practicing Creativity 'key to my heart' stamps.

I stamped the heart on red cardstock with versamark & embossed with UTEE, then cut it out. I then popped it up between the i & u which had been stamped with PTI fresh snow ink. I cut a narrow piece of the dotted paper & pleated it, then machine stitched it in place.

I used my MS doily punch on more red cardstock along the bottom.

I used some red heart brads (from Joanns I think) to bring it all together.

I would like to thank all of you that were so sweet & went over to May Arts to leave a comment for me there!! I know how busy we ALL are- I really appreciate that several of you did that for me!!! So this one's for all the folks that swing by my little corner of blogland... i {heart} u! :)

I'm entering this in the Wee Memories Challenge #18 (thanks Erin!!)!

Thanks so much for stopping by- I'd LOVE to hear what you think!!!

Gone to the dogs....

Honestly there is a crafty post 2 posts down- but here's another one with pics....
Meet Cosmo (yes, as in Cricket, and Kosmo Kramer, and short for the delightful cocktail cosmopolitan).
Hadley's been begging for a pet since we lost our cat last year. I got her a beta fish a couple of months ago, but 'colorful sparky' wasn't really cutting it in the pet department. Cory started warning me it was coming- I guess I knew I was outnumbered.....
Yesterday we went to 'Woofstock'- an annual rescue/adoption event. The furry person we were looking for wasn't there. We looked around for quite awile & decided we'd hold out... and in walked 'clyde'. We wanted a girl. He's not one. And still, he had me at hello....

He's about 25 lbs & around 5 months old. He was rescued from Puerto Rico, so he's bilingual now. *giggle* That's his 'I was adopted at woofstock' bandana. The folks we adopted him from brought him to us last night- they wanted to check us out.... I'm good with that.

Hadley already had a tea party with him this morning!


I know, right?

So hopefully I'll get to some craftiness soon, but now you know who's keeping me busy!