My 2008 Books I've Read List

I realized that I still had my book list was still from 2008. So I'm going to list them here and create a new list for 2009. I love to read and have been disappointed to find that I am reading less. Perhaps I am on the computer too much. I know it's not from exercising more! That said, I need to push away from my desk and just read.

2008 Books I've Read

• The Bible (NLT)
• My Christmas Assortment (3)
• Sacred Echo by Margaret Feinberg
• Dawn's Light by Terri Blackstock
• True Light by Terri Blackstock
• Night Light by Terri Blackstock
• Last Light by Terri Blackstock
• My Grandfather's Son by Clarence Thomas
• The One Minute Entrepreneur by Ken Blanchard and Don Hutson
• Breaking the Discipleship Code by David Putman
• Mudhouse Sabbath - Lauren Winner
• Crazy Love by Francis Chan
• The Shack - William P. Young
• Courageous in Calling - a Catalyst collection of assorted authors
• Death in Berlin - M.M. Kaye
• Epicenter - Joel Rosenberg
• I became a Christian and all I got was this lousy t-shirt - Vince Antonucci
• Looking for God - Nancy Ortberg
• the organic God - Margaret Feinberg
• The Purpose Driven Life - Rick Warren (was the 2nd time I read this one)
• The Small Rain - Madeline L'Engle

Mojo Monday #80

Card sketch challenges are a wonderful inspiration when making a card. But even then I sometimes have a difficult time choosing colors or stamps. But today's Mojo Monday card was much easier for me because I had a specific kind of card to make. I needed a card for a new baby boy and I wanted to use the retired SU set "I'm Here." I couldn't believe I still had some papers from SU "Splash" designer paper collection. Now all I need to do is make a couple of scapbook pages for Ty and I should be able to use up ALL of that paper.)


Gotta go, Gary will be walking through the door any minute and I need at least look like I'm making dinner. :)
Paper: barely banana, certain celery, bashful blue, white, Splash dp
Ink: bashful blue, barely banana
Accessories, punches, certain celery grosgrain ribbon

Hoppy Birthday Card for SFYTT

Yesterday I took care of Ty while his mom and dad were painting and working at their new house. Ty's sleeper had a pocket on the front with frog eyes coming out of the top and frog legs sticking out the bottom...so cute! When I took the picture, I had already made the card, but got an ink smudge on the white card stock next to the frog image and was quickly stamping and coloring another frog. I put a couple of blankets on the floor and let Ty play. He figured out how to grab one of the hanging rattles and was having a great time. Such a cutie!



Anyway, his frog was the inspiration for the card I made for Jen's SFYTT challenge. All of the stamps are from the retired SU set called Unfrogettable. Everything was first stamped in Garden green and then colored with SU markers. The toadstool/mushroom is cutout and attached with a pop up dot. The patterned paper is on of the SAB papers (still available for 2 more days).
Check out the other samples posted on Jen's blog.
All supplies Stampin Up!
Paper: barely banana, SAB print, bashful blue, white
Ink: Garden Green, SU Markers - gable green, only orange, bashful blue, barely banana, garden green
Accessories: brads, Stampin Dimensionals

Cupcake Challenge #61

This is the card layout from yesterday's Cupcake Challenge. It also fits the Stamp Simply challenge found here. That challenge is called "Let's Forget the Rules." It requires the use of either stripes or dots and if desired another print or pattern. That was easy...I chose one of the patterned papers from Taylored Expressions Easter Key Ingredients Kit. It had stripes on one side and polka dots on the other.





The image and sentiment are both from TE Sweet Spring set. I used SU markers to color the cupcake and jelly beans and of course added a TE brad on top. Bree really likes this brad...it sparkles. The felt flowers and light pink brad are from SU. I remembered to stamp a cupcake on white paper for the inside of the card.
The black border is one that Julie made for me.She sells her absolutely fabulous textures and borders (for printshop) on dvd. The dvd also includes a video tutorial and extra photoshop brushes. This is how she describes her textures and borders dvd:
Each texture and border was handcrafted for the purpose of making art. By mixing the elements of texture and line you will discover techniques to bring fine art elements to your own imagery. The video tutorials introduce techniques to get you started, but I encourage you to experiment with your own digital manipulation techniques…there are so many possibilities! Here are the specifics of what is on the disk: 31 different textures (I know, why couldn’t I have made it an even 30), 11 borders, 8 bonus Photoshop brushes and 4 video tutorials to get you going. Fun Stuff!

Check out her blog...

Mojo Monday

I made a very quick card for today's mojo monday sketch challenge. The flower is a Hero Art stamp I have had for a couple of years. I colored it with SU markers. I stamped the green layer with the sanded background stamp and then used the scallop border punch on the bottom. The patterned paper is from an Old World Textured paper pack. I was trying to finish this in less than 10 minutes so I could go for a walk before dinner...and in doing that I took the picture before I realized I had not added a sentiment. On the sketch it is positioned above the green panel, right side. I'm not sure what I will use...birthday, thank you, thinking of you...any of those will work.
The best thing about today's card...10 minutes...it took longer to take the picture and post it here!

Cupcake Challenge #60

Both Bree and Ty spent the night Thursday...it was Ty's first overnight visit. We all did fine even though I kept waking up to check on him. I took time to check out Taylor's sketch early so I could think about what I wanted to make. I just needed to find a few minutes to hide out in my stamp room. So after they were gone (and after dinner at the Mexican restaurant), I pulled out TE Sweet Spring stamp set and got busy.
I inked the image in basic brown and colored it with SU markers. Then I put this aside and finished the card this morning.
Instead of the oval layer on the sketch, I used the basket for the "oval." The egg on the left is cut out from dp from TE Easter Key Ingredients. The black dots on the egg and the eyes were made with a black glaze gel pen. I cut out the basket, added a pastel green brad on the ribbon and then popped up the middle of the basket with foam dots. I used a SU real red marker to color the dot on the top of the cupcake. Then I put Crystal Effects on it to make it look like a brad. The scallop border looked plain and boring, so I added a bit of bling. This could be considered a simple card if the basket was not cut out. To me, simple does not mean this much cutting.
Hop on over to Taylor's blog to see more cards using this week's card layout.

Thanks A Bunch for SFYTT

This was supposed to be a quick card for today's SFYTT challenge, but it has taken forever (or so it seems). Part of the reason is trying to take a picture correctly. I really need to take some (lots) of lessons from Julie. I should start by looking at some of her blog posts and following the photo tips.
For this card I used SU pocket silhouettes stamp set and Parisian Breeze specialty paper (again). I know it seems like I've been using these quite a bit lately...that's because I have been using them quite a bit lately. I like them, they are both in the current catalog, and it makes sense to use what I have. Am I rambling? Ok..I'll quit!


Paper: Kraft, Baja Breeze, white
Ink: SU old olive, not quite nave markers, baja breeze re-inker
Accessories: Felt flower, flower and circle punches, blender pen, dotted swiss embossing folder

Mojo Monday #78

It's Mojo Monday and another great sketch to inspire all of us (well, me) to make a card. The flower from Pocket Silhouettes is probably the only SU stamp (current) I have that fit in the parameters of the white panel. But that's ok...it's one of my favorite stamp sets. I used a not quite navy marker and a blender pen with baja breeze re-inker to color and stamp the flower. The patterned paper is from Urban Garden and the texture on the baja breeze panels was made with cuttlebug embossing folders. Circle Ice brads filled some of the empty space at the top, and gray satin ribbon "tied" the whole thing together.







I remembered to stamp and add an inside panel. I don't know why I don't do this more often. It only takes a minute and easier than adding it later.
I've enjoyed Mojo Monday sketch challenges and hope I'll be able to continue participating. My work schedule changes and I'm not quite sure where this will fit in. Oh well, it was fun!

Hello There, Somebunny Loves You Challenge Cards

Last Wednesday I got my first Taylored Expressions stamp set (Sweet Spring). What can I say? They are soo cute. Unfortunately I had to wait until Saturday to try them out. Thursday I was helping a friend make her daughter's wedding programs. Friday was a mad rush cleaning and cooking for book club - and tea at my house. Julie came home Friday night (she photographed the wedding and she also brought an assistant with her). Of course when she comes, Jill comes. After all Julie needs to see Bree and baby Ty. Then some other friends stopped by. It was like old times. And what a great day for them to stop by...lots of goodies and chocolate.
So Saturday afternoon, I found an hour alone and pulled out my new goodies from TE...Sweet Spring and Easter Key Ingredients. I used Friday's sketch challenge and made this card. The blue and patterned paper, along with the green rick-rack, brads and flowers are all from the Easter Key Ingredients pack. The other papers are SU Gable Green and Pretty in Pink. I colored the images with SU markers. I'm sending this card to Bree. She loves getting stuff in the mail and is sure to love the bunny, especially the pink brad!










I also made a card for Jen's SFYTT. SU's Cheep Talk provided all the stamps for this card. I used SU markers to color the branch, leaves, and birds. The ribbon is from the SAB catalog...love that free stuff! I used Jill's CM oval cutters to make the oval layers and a punch to make the dragonflies. You can't see it in the picture, but there are 2 white dots on each of the dragonflies. They were made with white glaze pens.
Paper: Always Artichoke, So Saffron, Always Artichoke designer prints, white, and a 5x7 card from my "stash"
Ink: SU markers - night of navy, always artichoke, so saffron
Accessories: So Saffron ribbon, SU button, dragonfly punch, CM cutter

So here I am at the end of a fantastic weekend...tea with my very best friends, both girls were home...and Bree and Ty, saw some friends I haven't seen in a while, church was awesome today...and I made some cards.

Mojo Monday and Divine Design Challenge

Today's Monday Mojo sketch provided the inspiration to make this month's Divine Design Bible Verse Challenge. I just finished reading Humility: True Greatness by C. J. Mahaney. (My book club is reading it this month.) It's a great book and I highly recommend it. C. J. Mahaney offers some advice on how to weaken pride and cultivate humility in our lives. Number 14 is identify evidences of grace in others and number 15 is encourage and serve others each and every day. It is in the discussion of encouraging others that he encourages the reader to memorize Ephesians 4:27 and to take it with you into your many conversations day by day. So I chose this verse for this month's Divine Design Challenge.
I used my computer to print the verse. The words "Good" and "Grace" are printed in baja breeze (I used RBG color to match). I wanted those 2 words to stand apart - just to help get the point across.
Perhaps if I have time I can make a couple more of these to give to my friends in the book club. Maybe I can make it like blog candy for them...a "treat" for reading my blog.
What did I use on the card: Cardstock - Chocolate chip, baja breeze, white, and Parisian Breeze Specialty Designer paper. Ink - baja breeze and chocolate chip markers, kiwi kiss re-inker and blender pen. Accessories - 5/16" brown brads, large scallop punch, cricut to make circle.
Last Word - Read the book if you have the opportunity.

Taylor's Cupcake Challenge

Taylored Expressions is one year old and they're having a Par-tay. Hop on over to her blog, say congrats, and join the TE Birthday Bash.

This is the card that I finally finished for yesterday's sketch. Those little squares and I were really struggling last night. I tried different images, stamps, techniques, and colors. Then I said "enough" it just isn't happening. So this afternoon I pulled out the SAB designer pack Stampin Up and tried again. I cut the squares with a CB scallop square die, then used some temporary adhesive to keep them together so I could apply the black rub-on (from Love & Happiness - retired SU). I didn't do a very good job of lining them up when I attached them to the white card stock. Oh well.
I layered that on bashful blue cardstock and added a button and butterfly (MS punch). The certainly celery layer is stamped with Sanded, the sentiment is a rub-on from Love & Happiness, and the ribbon is one of the freebies from SAB. I guess what's so nice about participating in challenges is that I make myself make things that are out of my norm. And then even better, I get to see some really great cards made with the same layout. I loved Stephanie's card. Such talent!

SFYTT Challenge Card

It's going to be a gorgeous day today. Lots of sunshine and some nice warm weather. I've had my coffee and I will soon take the advice on the card and "enjoy life's moments." After this post I'm going outside and hope to thoroughly enjoy working on my yard.
I made the card for Jen's SFYTT Saturday challenge. The designer papers are from SU Parisian Breeze Specialty collection...love this paper pack. The coffee cup is from the retired SU set "Like It a Latte." The polka dotted cup is a piece of the dp trimmed to size and attached with SU dimensionals.
Thanks Jen for another great sketch!
Now - off to enjoy some of life's moments! Hope you are too.

Becky's Cards

Last Sunday I shared some of the things my sister Becky made while she was visiting. These are are a few of the cards she made. I was supposed to post these Monday, but you know the saying...better late than never.
Becky made a total of 15 cards and took home the "ingredients" for some Christmas cards that were left over from a Christmas class and only need to be stamped and assembled.

Becky's a very busy mom and wife, so I wanted to help her make some quick and easy cards.
These cards were made using Stampin Up designer papers. What you see on the cards are the 2 sides of the same piece of designer paper. Either a strip of coordinating paper or a ribbon was attached where the 2 pieces were attached together. The sentiments were stamped and punched with either the curly label or circle and scallop punches or the window punch.

The next 2 cards use the same flower, just different colors. flower is colored with SU markers, stamped across the bottom of a single layer card. Easy!

I made a card similar to this a couple of weeks ago, but used more mustard and kiwi kiss. Usually the image colors are determined by the color of ribbon I have available.
Another set of cards we made (sorry no picture) had grass (from Inspired by Nature) colored in Old Olive and Kiwi Kiss. Butterflies (MS punch) and/or dragonflies (an old punch I have from???) were attached and a sentiment stamped across the top. I CASED the card from one I saw on Splitcoast Stampers.




The flowers and sentiments from Thoughts and Prayers helped create a great sympathy card to add to Becky's collection. The lovely lilac layer was embossed with the swiss dot CB folder. The flowers and stems were colored with SU markers.

It's hard to tell how much time it took to make 15 cards. Most of the time was spent choosing papers and colors, but these cards could easily be don within an hour! Sweet!

2 More Challenge Cards

It's Mojo Monday and boy did I struggle with today's card. I like the sketch, I just had a hard time settling on the stamp for the center layer. I think it's all because I have way, way, way too much other work to do to justify stamping. And perhaps there was a bit of guilt there, even some stress starting to mound. But oh well, what's done is done.
What I do like about the card are the colors and the designer paper. The paper is from the Parisian Breeze Specialty collection. I love the texture and colors (baja breeze, chocolate chip and kraft). I use sanded on the baja breeze layer (inked with the same color.. The flower is from Heartfelt Thanks and the sentiment from Cheep Talk.







I made this card yesterday for Jen's sfytt challenge. The house mouse stamp is called Confetti Rain 2 and is a stamp my sister Becky gave me a couple of years ago. It was lost in my stash (I remembered it after Becky's visit). The paper and ribbon are two of the free products from Stampin' Ups Sale-A-Bration. The paper and ink colors were chosen to match the colors in the designer paper: certain celery, so saffron and bashful blue.


I'm sure I left out some other details, but paper work, dishes, and laundry are among the things calling me right now. The paper work is in stacks all around me, so I think I will walk out of this room, shut the door and do anything but that on my list. Surely that will count!

Cupcake Challenge and Becky's Visit

Wow...lots to share today. First of all, last Sunday my sister Becky came for a visit. This is her with my grandson Ty. We stayed so busy that we didn't realize until the last minute that we hadn't taken pictures. So she got one with Ty, but not Bree (she was in Wilmington at ballet and gymnastics).




I'm going to jump ahead to the card I made for Taylor's challenge,

It was a quick and easy card for me. I used my Inkadinkado cupcake stamps and made a birthday card that Bree can give away or for Gary and I to give to one of the girls in his small group. I used chocolate chip, regal rose, pretty in pink, mellow moss, and brocade blue markers to ink the image and sentiment. The bottom edge of the mellow moss layer was punched with the scallop border punch. The mellow moss strip was embossed with the dotted swiss cb folder, inked with white craft ink, then tied with pretty in pink grosgrain ribbon. The dotted paper is from a designer prints pack. That's it...done.



Now back to Becky's visit. Besides eating, spending time with family,eating, seeing the new baby, and eating, we managed to make a few things. Becky made 15 cards that she took home with her (I'll post some of them tomorrow.) She also made 2 mini photo albums and 2 flip scrapbooks for her boys Jon and Caleb.
One of their favorite vacation spots is the beach. So the set Shore Thing provided perfect images of enjoying sand and sun. After using Jill's cricut to make their names, Becky realized that she needs her very own cricut.





The last 2 things we made were flip scrapbooks. Jon plays a lot of sports and I think the colors of his team are red and blue, so that's what we chose for him. Jon is in the 7th grade and will have no problem filling his book with pictures and stuff.






We used chocolate chip and mellow moss for Caleb's book. He's in the 3rd grade and I hope he has fun with his book. Both of the title pages were made on my computer. I used RGB color numbers to match the books colors. We used some stamps, punches, cricut cut-outs and designer papers to decorated the inside. And Becky will finish embellishing them with stickers and stuff that she has at home. I can't wait to see the finished product.