cosmo cricket LOVE :D

today i bring you more cards from the stamp night at Impress last weekend... (i mentioned it in THIS POST) while i was there i made a set of similar cards from some of Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird line... i just matted the patterned paper, rounded some corners, attached pompoms and buttons, and did some simple stamping for all the sentiments.

i started out with a HUGE polka dot stamp that i found lying around, and i stamped it on different Bazzill papers in different/ matching colors. you can really see the texture on some of these, which i think is really cool...

after stamping the circle/ polka dot in white, i used some VersaFine ink in black to stamp the various sentiments.

from there i just used a Fiskars scalloped 2" circle punch and popped them all up onto some foam for dimension.

i love that i found some colored twine to thread the buttons up with...

i used green, cream, and blue twine for the button threading depending on the main colors of the patterned paper on each card.

you saw one of the cards from this set already the other day that i gave to my assistant coach in water polo, Gordon. he needed something with blue/ green :D

anyway, i love how these turned out and how they're all really similar but could be given away separately.

you know one of my favorite parts of this card set? the different sizes of trim that i used... i had SUPER mini pompoms on some, and then...

bigger ones on others! :D

well, thanks for looking and leaving your comments--it means a lot! have a wonderful thursday... i know i will! i'm heading off to take a nap before i go play some water polo on my pick up team. thursday and sunday nights are fast becoming a key part of the week for me, i look forward to playing water polo so much. do you do something like that for yourself once or twice a week that you really look forward to? let me know, i'd love to hear about it :)

thanks again, we'll chat soon!

water polo 'thanks' + w00t!

tonight i have the last official meeting of the 2010 girls water polo season... it's the awards banquet tonight, and since i'm the head coach, i have a big role in the awards--i usually say something about every one of the girls, and it's nice to hear from the parents what they thought of the season, and how they thought their girls improved... generally a great time for all! tonight should be extra special seeing as this season was the first time since i've started coaching that we've made it to state, and we not only MADE it, but we placed FOURTH out of 8 teams when we'd started from the #8 slot! :D

so yeah, lots of fun to be had tonight.

anyway, here's a card i made (one of the 32 created at stamp night) for my assistant coach, Gordon. he's awesome. i've been blessed by his help and steadiness this season. also, as a fellow teacher, he really keeps me sane. i coached his daughter my first year of everything, and it was a good thing for everyone that we keep doing things together. i generally let him do the 'detail talking' like administrative paper-worky things, and i do the yelling, correcting, and teaching of the game :D basically, the fun part!

so every year i give him a little thank you gift just to remind him that it means a lot to have his help, and this is what i came up with to go along with the gift:

i made about 8 cards at stamp night that follow the same layout... i used a HUGE polka dot on some Bazzill textured solid paper, for this card, the paper was green, and i stamped the circle in white chalk ink. then i layered my sentiment over the top of the white, in this case, 'thanks.' then i punched out the whole thing with a 2" fiskars scalloped circle... it's pretty simple, but that's exactly what i needed for Gordon. after all, he's a guy. i might be pushing it a little on the 'masculine' card with the pom poms, but i figure that the October Afternoon Early Bird paper in blue/ green makes up for it, right? :D

anyway, i just wanted to show you another creation, and ALSO to share some fun news! remember the MFW Tuesday Trigger card i created over HERE the other day? well...

it was chosen as a MFW Tuesday Target along with some fabulous other creations!!!

(BIG smile!)

you can read about it here... i'm so excited! it's the first time i've been featured by Cath over there at the Moxie Fab World blog :D thanks Cath!

hope you have a wonderful mid-week, and be sure to pop by later for more prettiness! :)

what a weekend!

wow, i've been busy! one of my fellow teachers asked me how my weekend went, and i was like... i can't remember, but it was good. and no, i wasn't blacked out/ hungover for it :D i just had a lot of good times!

first of all, on friday night, i got to have dinner with a dear girlfriend. we talked for a solid 3+ hours at a mexican restaurant... and then we went to coffee (or italian soda for me) and then we talked more. hehe, love how those things work. then i watched a movie until waaay too late with my sweet brothers--fun!

saturday, i was scheduled to meet up with a friend in the morning to give my 'seal of approval' (or something like that :D haha!) for a house that she will be renting with her family soon... i got to see what she meant after she'd done her best to describe the 'farmhouse' feel and the lovely yard, etc. her kids are going to love the tree fort and the awesome grate in the upstairs hallway that looks DIRECTLY into the ceiling of the living room... i predict that some kids spying on parents will occur :D

here's her youngest baby boy... he fell asleep JUST like this not seconds after i snapped the picture with my phone--what a cute little baby :D (hand on the ear, one on the chest... did your kiddos do something funny like this?)

well, i spent the afternoon with my friend and her lovely brood of children (even helped her husband install their AC), and then went off to STAMP NIGHT at the Impress Rubber Stamp shop. i've mentioned these before, and i've really come to love love LOVE them because i get to use the stamps i don't own, and also all sorts of ink colors :D

here's a pretty crummy picture of the THIRTY-TWO cards (finished, mind you!) that i created on saturday night... now that's a new record! never before have i been to one of these and created so many cards (i mean, yes, some were one layer cards, but hey! that's still work, and definitely not my 'normal' style.) what a great night!

here are some pictures of a few of the one-layer cards i made... i'll be posting more as the week goes on.

i can't say that i've ever tried out the black frame around the card edge... it really makes the focal point 'pop,' don't you think?

these would be good for masculine birthday cards, even if i did use flowers instead of something else. speaking of bday cards... my dad will be needing one soon ;)

oh, i don't know if you get lovely sunsets like this, but when i was stamping away, my *other* friend that attended stamp night with me said, 'look at the sky!' and i couldn't resist snapping this with my phone camera. Washington is beautiful when it wants to be (and really saturday was 'the' day to be outside).

ooooh, and if stamping, making 32 cards, and a lovely sunset weren't enough already, get a LOOK at these CUPCAKES! :D hehehe... yes, i got to the carton before more were taken away to meet their owner's stomachs. not sure where these were purchased, but they were just as yummy as they look... which was AMAZING! i had a chocolate one to start, and since no one eating more, i took a pink/ vanilla one... hehe. no rules against 2nds on dessert, right?

sunday was equally busy as well, but one thing i got to do was have an impromptu photo shoot of self portraits. you may have noticed my new blog profile picture... i was wearing a cute outfit for church and decided to make the most of it. what do you think of the massive flower in my hair? it's gotta be one of my favorite accessories. :D

well, thanks for stopping by, and i hope you have a totally awesome week ahead of you! i only have 9 days left of teaching school for the year. needless to say, i'm quite excited. *QUITE* :D

hehe, well, have fun! :D

2S4Y Laura's #53

if you've stopped by the blog lately, you've noticed that i've picked up a bit of a vintage/ shabby chic vibe in some of my cards lately. well, when i was pulling supplies for the 2Sketches4You sketch this week by Laura (#53), i found myself steering towards that style again. [btw, happy 2nd birthday 2S4Y!]

so here you can see another foray into the land of pink and ruffles, and lots of inking things up...

what do you think? like my other styles better? wanna see more? i'd love to hear what you think.

there's lots of graphic 45 paper on this, and a digital image from the etsy shop Piddix. i also used the mini cupcake stamp from PTI's tiny treats :D so darling, right?

well, my weekend has been off to a great start already--out to dinner with a friend (we talked for a good 3 hours!) last night, movie with my brothers :D at my parents house, then today i'm visiting a new home that another friend will be moving into (i get to give my seal of approval--hehe!), and then TONIGHT i'm going to a stamp night at the Impress Rubber Stamp shop in Tukwila. i've been to several of these before, and they're always soo fun! can't wait to get to use some new stamps and supplies :D

hope your weekend is filled with lots of fun too, thanks for stopping by! XOXO

moxie fab teamwork! with CPS #169

today i bring you a card inspired by the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger brought to you by Latisha Yoast. what a lovely summery wedding picture! don't you love those colors? i actually have made some bridal shower invites in shades of that pink/ orange, and it was fabulous seeing them come together!

i also teamed up the Trigger with the CPS Sketch #169. how about this sketch for something interesting or different... i definitely had to stretch myself a bit here, because i normally don't use a half circle for anything.

i got so much inspiration from both of these sources though once i started crafting, and here's what i came up with.

don't you like all that ribbon? its a combination of some fancy stuff that i've hoarded (silly me!) and some dollar bin stuff... but it all looks lovely here. i used the doily specifically to mimic the tablecloth from the MFW Trigger, as well as the colorful ribbon to match the colors of the flowers and grass, etc. i also wanted to keep the card clean like the sketch, so i only added the PTI sentiment, 'wish big,' as well as some huge buttons :D doesn't that sentiment imitate the mr. and mrs. on the table? yes, i thought so too... love it when it all works out like that!

well, what do you think? teamwork works, eh? haha!

hope you have a great day!