Path to the Beach

This is for my challenge this week in Dare To Get Dirty this week. Want to know what all the fun is about? Check it out HERE and become a Fan Club Member!
My new Impression Obsession stamps came yesterday. Whohoo!! This is called Path to the Beach. Isn't that just so inviting? Used some scraps on the table from my Smethers trouble yesterday. hee hee I have stickles on the water but its hard to see. I am so excited to get these stamps as they really add to my masculine selection of images. YEA! I really like the long and low cards and once I do one I seem to do a lot of them. :0) Off to a pool party for the boys. Hope you can play along this week in the challenges! Have a great day!

Snowy Christmas

This is for Charlene's Dare To Get Dirty Challenge this week. Wondering what we are all talking about? Read about it HERE and become a Fan Club Member!
This was a fun and new challenge for me that I enjoyed. First I stamped the sentiment from Snow Tweet and then embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then I ran this through the cuttlebug with my snowflakes embossing folder. I then thought its hard to see the clear embossing how about a bit of sparkle, so I ran the embossing pad all across the snowflakes and then dumped the clear powder and a bit of my sparkly powder on it. Embossed it and it looks awesome. It really is hard to see all the shine and sparkle in the photo, I might take another one outside with it in my hand so you can see. It really is cool. Hope you get to play along with us this week.

HMF #125 Go USA!

This weeks House Mouse and Friends Blog Challenge #125 is brought to use by Heather. Who wants us to be inspired by the Olympics. Our fabulous Sponsor is House-Mouse Designs with a
$25 HMD GC. Now that is worth playing for!I knew which stamp I was going to use right away! This adorable stamp of them wrapped in the flag is called Patriotic Wrap. I love how this card turned out. Very easy peasy and adorable don't you think? Right now the London Olympics 2012 are on tv and I have been watching the men's vollyball and beach vollyball. Wow... Those guys have some serious power! Go U.S.A is my Olympic theme today. hee hee I hope you get a chance to watch some Olympics and play in the challenge this week! Don't forget to load your creations to the Hand Made By me gallery that House Mouse Stamps has on their site!

Have a wonderful day!

Love you Deer

Welcome to Day two of Dare To Get Dirty Challenges! If you are wondering what all the fun, games and chatting is about check out it out HERE!

I do not have a sewing machine and the little one I bought while in the Dirt Pile isn't working now. I can't figure out why it won't work, so I did some faux stitching for you. Now I was trying to be all cool and fancy with a fun pattern... Not so much I know. ha! However my hubby won't care as he loves my work and will appreciate this none the less. This fabulous image was gifted to me with the owner's approval as this is a digi and I can't do those. This is called Deer+Fawn from Delicious Doodles. I really wish that was in rubber as I LOVE it and can use this for ever male in our family. I colored them with my SU chalks from like 10 years ago. I like how it turned out all soft with the chalks though. This also fits my Dare To Get Dirty Challenge, how fun is that? hee hee Hope you can get dirty with us this week! Have a great day!

Birthday police

This is for the Dare To Get Dirty Challenge 2012 and my first time hosting a challenge. This is my favorite stamping week of the year on SCS! Hope you get to play along with us. Wondering what we are talking about and how to become a fan club member? Read about it HERE.
This is another one for my challenge today! ;0) A very good friend of ours is turning 40 and he is a police officer so this is kind of a funny pun on Birthday Police! Ha! This adorable guy is Policemen Henry and so fun! I used the sketch from the WOJ challenge blog as well. Easy Peasy guy card! Have a great afternoon!

Dare To Get Dirty Week

Whohoo! This is my favorite stamping time of the year well that and Christmas. It is the Dare To Get Dirty challenges over on SCS! Whohoo!!! And guess what? I get to host a challenge this year since I am DD Alumni! I am so EXCITED!!! Wonder what Dirty is and how you can play along? Check it out HERE! Hope you can play in my challenge and all the others!

One of my favorite guy sets is What a Catch as we have several fishermen in our family and it is one of my go to sets. I used SPellbinders classic ovals to create the frame and stamped the image on the oustide. Added a little twine and a button for my sentiment. Voila! Hope you can play along with us.

More Christmas Tags

Happy Friday! The weather is hot hot hot and I wish I had a pool on days like these. Hopefully you are having great weather and fun in the sun.
Today over on the Flourishes Blog we are celebrating Christmas. Each year around this time, Flourishes kicks off a festive sale that is sure to warm your hearts and get you in the spirit, long before the snow starts to fly! Ofcourse most of you read my blog know that I have been celebrating all year already. ha! Now till the 31st of July, all of their Christmas sets will be a whopping 25% off! Just click HERE to see all the fun sets that are on sale! They just got a NEW shipment of stamps to stock up so the Flourishes warehouse is stacked to the brim with Christmas goodies! There are no codes — all stamp sets are automatically marked down for you! At 25% off, you can’t afford not to get in the holiday spirit and get a jump start on those Christmas cards this year!


Last year I ran out of my Christmas tags, so this year I am making more so that doesn't happen again. The one on the left is for a gift package where I need to put the names. Both tags are using A Gift For You that is retiring from Flourishes Christmas line. Very sad to see this set go, it is one of my go to for tags and labels. I used several Spellbinders shapes for this one such as, Fleur De Lis Squares,Lacey Squares, Labels one. The tag on the right is one that doesn't need anything but a simple greeting. The lacey doily is so pretty on this and I have several more of these to make. The greeting is stamped on Spellbinders Standard circles and then layered on top of Iron works motifs. With a few rhinestones to touch is up. Be sure to check out the creations from the Design Team today and Happy Christmas Shopping!
Christine
Cindy
Julie
Danielle
Tammy
Beate
Silke
Sharon
Jan Marie

Masculine Thank you

I am just amazed that July is just about over. There are so many things to get done before school starts and I am not ready yet. EEK! Lots coming in the next few weeks so I am trying to get all this green bean canning done so that I can get other stuff done. Pears and tomatoes are not ready till the end of August so I get a wee break in August which I will need every bit of. I am sure you are tired of hearing about the canning! ha...
On to my card today. This is a fabulous digi from Delicious Doodles Shop called In The Harbour. Again I pulled out my chalks from ages ago and colored up this scene. I really really like this image! Very simple masculine thank you with a touch of piercing and some swiss dots on the bottom panel. I need about 5 more cards like this right now but this will have to do for now.

Don't forget this Saturday is the Dare To Get Dirty Challenges over on SCS! I am so excited for this years challenges! My favorite stamping week of the year. Hope to see you there. Have a fabulous day!

TS Monday all texture

Happy Monday! Well atleast it is happy in my house as today we get a break from picking and canning. Infact with the hot spell we just had this weekend I might be good through Wednesday. We will see how it goes. ha!
On the Totally Stampalicious Blog today our challenge is Textures. Now this was a very quick and I mean very quick card for the challenge. Forgive me in the simplicity but I was just plain tired! This is Chef Pierre from the TS Store of our Bugaboo line. He is so fun and hadn't been inked up in awhile. I ran this beautiful paper through the cuttlebug and added a few eyelets. Those were dusted off as well since they have not been used in ages.

Thanks for stopping in with me today. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Winner winner and Cod dinner

Happy Saturday! I have the day off from picking, snipping, cleaning and canning today. I am more than thrilled as it is exhausting work yet so worth it all year long. Before I get to the delicious foodie post today I have a winner from the Bugaboo Christmas in July blog hop. And the winner is.....
Patty said...
You're right..all of the Deacon images are darling...I suspect I will be using many of them in my card making as I have three grandsons!!! Love how you changed it up using the pennant shape!!
hapscrappy.blogspot.com

Congrats to Patty. I have already sent her the fun Deacon Elf that I used for my creation in the fun blog hop. Enjoy! Thank you for all your wonderful comments and for hopping along with us.

Now for the latest foodie post. For about a year now all I am hearing about is Fish taco's and how great they are. My middle sister goes on and on about them. So finally I thought I will just give a recipe a try. I could go to dinner and have some yet I really wanted to just make some here, so I did. These are Tex Wasabi's Koi Fish tacos a recipe by Guy Fieri from Foodnetwork. We actually got to watch this episode on a rerun of his show which was cool.

My take on my first fish taco ever.... DELISH! These were fantastic! These were crunchy and juicy all in one. The cabbage was amazing in the flavor it added. Who can resist homemade pico de gallo! I think all of this came together perfect and was so worth all the effort. Once again the kitchen was a mess and it was worth all the fuss. ha! A few suggestions on the recipe though I will change for the next time. The fish pieces were gigantic (a lot of guy's style of cooking is) I will cut them shorter. I got a large cod filet and cut it in 1 inch strips, well those as you can see are really long. You only get one piece of fish but man was it enough. I also am not a fan of the two shells and would stick with one. Now this recipe calls for Tequila. Uummm... we don't have any so hubby went out and bought some for this recipe. I was a little leary as I am not a fan of hard alcohol at all, but these were very tasty. No I wasn't drunk either, ha! They were very good and yes the tequila really did add a great flavor. ;0) Thanks for stopping in with me on my foodie post. Have a great weekend!

Birthday Ride

Happy Friday and Flourishes Free for all Friday. Today is the last day of Flourishes New Release Bundle for July. Your extra savings ends tonight! Now this creation using Bike Ride did not turn out like I planned in my head at all. So irritating! I didn't have time to make a new creation so I am posting this as is. I appologize! It was such a cute and country feel in my head. Do you ever have that problem when your head and paper don't align? Anyways....

Check out the creations from the Design Team:
Christine
Cindy
Julie
Danielle
Tammy
Beate
Silke
Sharon
Jan Marie

More picking, snipping and canning this weekend. My saving grace is the kids help me pick and snip and my mom helps me with the canning. Ofcourse she is doing hers also so double the load. Worth it all year long.... just keep telling myself that. ha! Thanks for stopping in today!

Christmas with Sweet n Sassy Stamps

I had a little bit of time this afternoon to play in Sweet n Sassy's Christmas in July hop. This is the first time inking up Cup of Cocoa, isn't he just cute? Some of my textures are colored using pastel copics, the main panel is up on dimensionals. Added a bit of stickles to the textures and voila.

Very quick card today, even with the boys helping pick beans and snipping I didn't have much time. Happy to have another Christmas card done though. Have a great afternoon!

Rangers hard day at work

This is our beautiful Navijo Globe Willow tree. We had two of these in the yard yet one blew down a few years ago. You can see peeking out of the right here the Maple tree that is sitting in its place. Slow growing stinkin tree.... anyways with the winds we have around here every other year we have to thin out our tree by the professionals. We do the trimming what we can from the bottom and keeping branches trimmed up. This was our week to do just that. You can see one of the boys gathering some of the branches we cut off already into a pile.
Ranger thought he would come and help. Yea..... his idea of help is tread through all the branches, bite them in half (which is actually helpful) and then....

Roll around in them and make noise. ha! He really does enjoy rolling around, biting the branches and running in a circle. We call these his mad minutes as they last about that long and are just hilarious. Ranger is doing great for those that have asked. His medication was lowered a bit to get him completely level and normal which worked. The odd thing is we have had some thunder and lighting storms lately and he is all freaked out by them. Now they never bothered him before and all of a sudden he is crazy with them. We finally had to let him up on our bed the other night just so we could get some sleep. He is not allowed on the beds or the furniture as you can imagine a queen bed with two adults and a 90 dog isn't that comfy. ha! But he finally calmed down and we got some sleep. I am going to try and read up to see why all of a sudden this would start to bother him, very odd.
Stamping is going to be pretty sparse for the next few weeks as canning season started. This year I am doing green beans, pears and stewed tomatoes. The one thing I don't like about canning is the picking, especially green beans! ugh. Talk about back breaking work this is it. The end result is worth it yet the work is manual labor at its peak. ha! Thanks for stopping in with me today. I hope you have an awesome day!

Fife Gift Frame

Hi, thanks for stopping in with me today. You have seen a few of the gifts I am working on for Christmas and here is another one. As with all large items, my photo's are not great and I am sorry. This is actually for someone who has an apples theme in their kitchen. So I made a fun frame using Apple of my eye This will hang outside the kitchen back door and it has their last name Fife spelled out. You know I can't get enough of this set Letters in Blossom, it has so many options. These tiny flowers have some added jewels to the centers. The frame squares were cut out using Spellbinders Grand Rectangles, once those were cut out I added some lace trim to the inside before I attatched the two frames. Gotta have some of the awesome Candi for corner accents, thi sis the Patriotic pack that I used. A little gingham ribbon and button combo for the side and voila. It turned out super cute I think. She is really going to love this.
Check out what Flourishes has going on this week!
This week folks are crowding in as CHA Summer kicks off in the windy city of Chicago!!! To get ready for all the new goodies that are unveiled this time of year -Flourishes needs to.....

So, for this week only ... through SATURDAY.. you can cash up on some serious savings and stock up on some goodies that you might need in your craft room! Here's a peek at the categories that will be on sale for 25% off! ALTERABLES, EMBELLISHMENTS, FLOWER SOFT, PAPER & CARDSTOCK, PENS, RIBBON, LACE, SPELLBINDERS & EMBOSSING FOLDERS, TOOLS OF THE TRADE
So act now because once some of these items are gone, they will be gone forever! To take advantage simply use the code CHASALE in the coupon code box at the time of checkout. Make sure to hit Apply and Recalculate in order for your discount to take effect. There will be no rain checks! Click HERE to start shopping!

Christmas in July Bugaboo Blog Hop

Welcome to the Bugaboo Christmas in July hop. The Totally Stampalicious design team is joining Bugaboo for this fun hop! YEA! Lots of fun, prizes, challenges and more! I hope you enjoy the hop. If you just came from Sammiebug's Blog you are in the right spot. If you are just joining us, head back over to the Catch the Bug Blog to start hopping. If you get lost along the way be sure to head back to Catch the Bug as the list will be there. Hope you get to join in on the fun!

My creation is going to show you the adorable Deacon Elf. Isn't he just so darn cute! I am going to let you in on a little secret... ssshhhh.... The challenge on the TS blog on Monday is all about Christmas, hee hee So this will fit perfect with the challenge. :0) This fun shape is using Spellbinders Nested Pennants. These felt snowflakes were screaming to be used and I added a bit of glitter to them for fun! You can WIN this digi by leaving a comment on my post. A winner will be picked on July 21 st at 11 am Eastern time. Good Luck! And remember you can win from each blog along the hop, so get hopping!

Here is the inside of the card. Easy Peasy and fun! Your next hop is over on to Sandye Curry's Blog. Don't forget Catch the Bug has a week full of challenges starting on Monday! Have a wonderful weekend!

How about a Bike Ride?

Today is release day over at Flourishes, YEA! All the stamp sets you have seen the last few days are available NOW! Don't forget about the New Release Bundle as it is for a limited time on the savings. Bike Ride is such a fun and cute set. I kept this pretty simple with nothing in my basket as I am just out riding for the fresh air. ;0) I added a paper doily to the back and a little bit of blue gingham ribbon for fun. Added a single pearl to the back tire and voila! Easy Peasy!

Be sure to check out the creations from the Design Team today:
Christine
Cindy
Julie
Danielle
Tammy
Beate
Silke
Sharon
Jan Marie

Last minute reminders:
***Want to win the stamp of the day? Visit Flourishes Blog today.
***Want to win the entire new release? Play in our Sketch Challenge.
***Our New Release Bundle is available for a limited time.
***The new 1,2,3 create kit is called Country Garden, limited quantities.

Flourishes Triple Play Noon Challenge

******Welcome to Flourishes Noon Challenge Triple Play!*****
HOW TO PLAY: To be in the running for this fun-filled challenge, all you need to do is use three of something on your card or creation - pearls, flowers, colors, layers... the sky is the limit! If you upload to Splitcoaststampers, please use the keyword FLLCJULRW2. Entries must be in before Friday, July 13th at 5PM EST. To enter, make sure you link up your creation over on the Flourishes Blog using the Inlinkz Widget. Play along and you'll be in the running to win Flourishes' entire July Release!

My creation is another one where I have popped up my butterflies and I love the way it looks. This is more paper from the Bo Bunny Country Garden collection, such a beautiful pack of papers I tell you. My triple part is the stamped image from the set Flowers and Frames new set. I have punched two circles in them and added my butterflies with the sentiment in the center. Added a few pearls and a ribbon bow to my Tall and slim card. I really think this is beautiful in the simplicity. Check out the creations from the girls for the challenge:
Cindy
Danielle
Sharon
Denise
Amanda
Cindy
Allison
Heather
Jan Marie
Last minute reminders:
***Want to win the stamp of the day? Visit Flourishes Blog today.
***Want to win the entire new release? Play in our Sketch Challenge.
***Our New Release Bundle is available for a limited time.
***The new 1,2,3 create kit is called Country Garden, limited quantities.

Flowers and Frames treat box

Today is the beautiful Flowers and Frames set. Are you enjoying everyone's creations the last few days? Some beautiful eye candy out there! This set has so many options you won't be able to put it down. I made this adorable little box and card all in one from a tutorial on SCS found HERE. This is the front of the box from the top.

Here is the box with the drawer open and the card part out. Isn't this fun? And so easy to make.

Be sure to check out the creations from the design team today and see you back at noon for my noon time challenge creation:
Christine
Cindy
Julie
Danielle
Tammy

Beate
Silke
Sharon
Jan Marie
Last minute reminders:
***Want to win the stamp of the day? Visit Flourishes Blog today.
***Want to win the entire new release? Play in our Sketch Challenge.
***Our New Release Bundle is available for a limited time.
***The new 1,2,3 create kit is called Country Garden, limited quantities.
***Check back at noon for the Noon Time Challenge.

Introducing Passion Flower

Today we introduce to you the beautiful Passion Flower. I have heard of this flower yet never seen one in real life. So I googled the flower to see what it was like. Wow.... some fabulous colors out there and such a cool flower.
My creation today using Passion Flower is fairly easy. I used the large flower in the set and colored it with copic collections Iced Aqua with a hint of YG03. Added a little bit of sheer lime ribbon and my sentiment to the Tailor made classic dies. Easy Peasy
Be sure to check out the creations from the design team today:
Christine
Cindy
Julie
Danielle
Tammy
Beate
Silke
Sharon
Jan Marie
Last minute reminders:
***Want to win the stamp of the day? Visit Flourishes Blog today.
***Want to win the entire new release? Play in our Sketch Challenge.
***Our New Release Bundle is available for a limited time.
***The new 1,2,3 create kit is called Country Garden, limited quantities.
***Check back at noon for the Noon Time Challenge.
***You might be our Mystery Blogger. Comment on all the DT creations and see if you are our Mystery Blogger.

Flourishes July Sneak Peek Day 1

Today is day 1 of Flourishes July release and we are joining the Friends of Flourishes team today. Denise is our host with the challenge of all about getting "sentimental" and using a sentiment as the centerpiece of your card or creation. Today, we are ushering in this challenge because not only is Flourishes releasing a new single stamp set with a beautiful sentiment, we are helping Jan Marie, the owner of Flourishes launch her new blog! Want a peek at the new sentiment?
The stamp is called Sweetness of Friendship and it takes on the mantra of Jan Marie's new blog - a place where friends can gather to enjoy the laughter and sharing of pleasures (in creating!) The stamp set is available right now and you can check it out in the Flourishes Store HERE. It's a beauty! What's even more fun? Jan Marie is giving away this stamp to the first 25 people who leave comments on today's post over on her new blog.
CHALLENGE RULES
HOW TO PLAY: Everyone can PLAY and anyone can WIN! As a special for our July Release Week, if you play along, you will be in the running to win our entire July Release! Here’s how you can win…
• Create a new card or paper-crafted project fitting the challenge. Flourishes stamps are not required, but if you’ve got them, why not use them? Creations that use Flourishes stamps will be counted twice!
• Include a link back to this challenge in your blog post or gallery upload.
• If you upload to Splitcoaststampers, please use keyword FTTC177.
• Deadline to enter is next Monday at 6:00 p.m. EST.


Now for my creation using Sweetness of Friendship. I framed the sentiment using Spellbinders romantic rectangles and added dimensionals to the back to lift the frame. I added some of the finesse pearls to the side and cut out one of the butterflies from an extra page from the beautiful Bo Bunny Country Garden collection and popped the wings out. Added my ribbon and voila! I really like how this turned out. Be sure to check out all the creations today and don't forget to stop by Jan Marie's new blog!
Christine
Cindy
Julie
Tammy
Silke
Sharon
Jan Marie
Amanda
Cindy
Heather
Makiko
Mona
Denise
Allison
Patti