Mojo Sketch Challenge #69

Yesterday I went with Jill to take Ty for his 2 week check-up. He's doing great. Bree wore her big sister shirt and kept a close watch as the nurse practionor checked him out. So cute!
Anyway, we were gone most of the day and after they went home there was little time left for stamping. Well, I guess there could have been...but I couldn't miss Jack Bauer and 24!
So today, after working on tax stuff I took the Mojo Monday challenge.
This is another weekly sketch challenge that is definitely worth checking out.







Along with the challenges, I am trying to use some of the stash I have collected. You know...things you find on sale or clearance and think "I can use that." But then they come home with you and get buried in a box or drawer and quickly forgotten about.
So when I saw the round circles on this challenge, I remembered the buttons. . . packages of buttons. . . white ones, red ones, green ones, yellow ones...you get the picture. Yes, they were still in a little storage drawer just for buttons! It didn't matter that the red ones were not "real red." They were close enough. The patterned paper is from an Old World pack given to me for Mother's Day (or maybe my birthday?). There was a small piece that was perfect for this card. The other papers used are SU real red, pink pirouette, and basic black. I stamped sanded background stamp in both pink pirouette and real red inks on the pink paper. And I sponged some ink on the edges to distress it a bit. I don't have any nesties (they're on my wish list), but I do have a couple of punches that I was also very happy to use. The heart flowers and sentiment are acrylic stamps I purchased at a store last year. It's difficult to see in the picture, but the dots on the scallop circles were made with a Glaze Gelly Roll pen.
Wow...that felt good! I made a Mojo Monday card and used up some stuff!

Just a Little Sweet

This sketch is from Taylor VanBruggen's weekly Cupcake Challenge. Her blog is awesome and is full of "sweet" stuff that is guaranteed to inspire. But be careful! You may find yourself suddenly craving a treat from your favorite bakery (Apple Annie's in Wilmington).

On her blog are links to some other great samples using this sketch. I think there are some scrapbook pages made using this layout...so if you're a also a scrapbook addict, check out the links.









I made up my mind to participate in this week's challenge. I decided to use a tiny little cupcake stamp (even tho cupcake images are not a requirement in the challenge) and I made a tiny (3x3) little card. I used SU chocolate chip and pink pirouette paper. The polka dot "ribbon" is a strip of paper from Bella Rose DSP. The cupcake is an incentive stamp from SU and actually has a candle on top and the words "make a wish" under it. So I used the chocolate chip marker to color just the cupcake and then used the fine tip of the marker to finish the line on top where the candle had been. The pink icing is done with stampin pastels. Baja Breeze flower fusion are under the cut out cupcake. "Sweet" is from Everyday Flexible Phrases which is a retiring set and is only available until January 18th. There was a container of glitter on my table, so I couldn't resist adding just a sprinkle.
I enjoyed the challenge and hope to try one again.

More Coaster Calendars

I can't believe I still have more mini calendars. Why did I ever buy so many? These were much easier. . . just paper and ribbon. I chose the paper based on the colors of ribbon. Here I used real red, striped kiwi kiss, and double stitched chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon. The kiwi kiss paper is the only current designer paper. The others are retired. I'm really trying to use up that stash of retired designer papers. I need to find some bigger projects to make!
The designer paper is glued to the front of the coaster and a matching solid color to the back. I used the crop-a-dile to punch the holes for the ribbon, then added 2 magnet strips to the back.

New Years SCS Challenge

With Christmas and the new grandson, I haven't been able to do much stamping. So I decided to try some of the New Years Eve challenges on Splitcoast. The first challenge was to make a card for a friend incorporating a "food" stamp. This was the perfect choice. The sentiment says it all! One of my very best friends enjoys coffee just like me.
I used the cuttlebug dotted swiss on the card base (front). The layer under the coffee cup is retired SU designer paper. Both the cup and the sentiment are stamped in close to cocoa. This is one of my favorite color combos.







Another challenge was to use a retired stamp and another was to use stamps with an Eastern Influence theme. This stamp (from Calming Garden) fit both categories. I really like the set, I just rarely use it. So it was a nice to dust it off and ink it up.
On page 9 in the Fall/Winter Idea & Catalog is a color scheme for eastern eclectic. So I used this to choose the colors for the card...tangerine tango, so saffron, very vanilla, and old olive. The different colors on the stamp are achieved by using markers to ink the stamp. I also used Sanded background stamp to give some texture to the old olive layer.







This card was more of a challenge. You were limited in what could be used...like 1" of ribbon, 2 brads (or buttons, or flowers), certain colors, 1 punch...stuff like that. The color choices were a bit unusual for me (not something I usually use). This is sage shadow and chocolate chip. The patterned paper is from my ever growing stash of retired designer papers. I'm trying really hard to use them up. The flowers and sentiment are from Pocket Silhouettes (absolutely love this set). I used sage shadow and chocolate chip markers to color the image, then used the curly label punch.
I saw another challenge today that I would love to try, but I will probably be heading to Jill's to wash her dishes and play with Bree while she tends to the new baby. Sweet!

Ty Harrison Hall. . .

was born Saturday, December 27th. He is sooo cute! Jill is doing well and both are now home (along with Chris - he stayed at the hospital with them, and Bree - she stayed here with us.)
Bree loves being a big sister. She calls him "baby brother" and was happy to tell everyone all about him. I don't have pictures to post because I left my camera at the hospital with Jill and then forgot to bring it home today.
However...Julie has great pictures on her blog
She's coming back this weekend for Ty's first "official" photo shoot.

No more baking...almost

Wow, it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post. And what have I been doing? Baking, making candy and packaging all the peanut brittle Gary has made. I think this is a record year for him. He and Debbie (from the store) gave out almost 100 bags to their customers. If you have ever made peanut brittle...especially a lot of peanut brittle...you know what a mess it can be when you break it apart. Well, all is done now and there is no more sticky residue on my kitchen floor. I made about 250 truffles, lots of buckeyes, vanilla cremes (that's new for me this year), and toffee crunch candy bars. I used snowflake stamps to decorate the cookie boxes, the candy wrappers, and tissue paper for the peanut brittle. (No, I did not stamp 100 pieces of tissue paper for Gary...just a few for some friends). I also stamped snowflakes on white cardstock and made pillow boxes with the Big Shot.
Here's what a few of them looked like.
Inside the pillow boxes were lip gloss and a mini candy bar. I made about 60 of these for my sister Becky. Almost all of them were on cardstock that I had stamped on. Just a few were made from designer papers. The pillow box die is a really great tool to make great favor boxes.








So what did I do today, now that most of the baking is done and the kitchen is finally clean? I helped Bree make her Christmas gift for her papa.
We took a giant pinecone, smeared it with peanut butter, and then covered it with bird seed. If you see smudges on her face, that's where she sampled the peanut butter. She did a great job and we had lots of fun. A couple of hours later we put it in a gift bag and hid it behind the tree. I explained that she was to keep this a secret until Christmas. Yeah, right! When he walked in the door, the first thing she said was I made you a present. She started rambling about birds and feeding them all the while I'm laughing telling her she isn't supposed to tell. But then that's what happens when you're three.
So, now we're a few hours away from Christmas Eve, and then everyone is here Christmas afternoon. We have one day to catch our breath and then on Saturday it's to the hospital where Bree's new baby brother will make his grand appearance. So the next pictures you see will undoubtedly be of Ty Harrison Hall.

Stampin' Up!'s Fall 2008 Retired List...Plus Free Shipping!

Stampin' Up! just released their list of retiring stamp sets. And the best news is that Stampin' Up! is offering 10% off all of these stamp sets if purchased by December 23rd.
There's more! FREE SHIPPING on orders of $70 or more.

View the retiring sets and prices here

To place an order visit my Stampin Up website
http://dorissnyder.stampinup.net/
Be sure to click the "shop now" button in the top right corner.
This is the perfect time to purchase these stamp sets before they're gone for good.