A Family Christmas

This will be a quick post. I wanted to put something out there, but sleep is calling my name. After having laryngitis this week with a VERY annoying cough, I simply feel I cannot catch up on my sleep. It probably doesn't help that our son is now getting up just about every night at 3 am or so since he moved into his "Big Boy" bed. Really hoping this phases out soon!! Anyway, this was the last scrapbook layout that I did at that scrapbooking weekend. I have a hard time with Christmas pages for some reason. I think because I feel like they always come out the same or something. This one turned out fairly well, although I will admit it is not my favorite. I ahd some sparkly embellishments that I wanted to use and a variety of pictures (with all different colors!).

Nothing major done here. The base page is Mellow Moss with Ruby Red and Sahara Sand Strips. I stamped the holly border in Mellow Moss ink above and below the strips of Ruby Red and colored in the berries with Ruby Red marker. I embossed the title in Gold and Silver embossing powder. Other that that I just found spots to add my sparkles and went with it. You can see each individual page below.

I got all of the Dunn Family RAK cards (Blog Candy for a Cause) into a box, but I want to decorate the box before I send it to them. Hopefully I get that done in the next couple of days. I will take a pic of it before I send it on so you can all see it! Later I will also post RAKs that people sent me in addition to sending me one for the Dunn Family! So sweet!!! Until then, have a great week!

The Engineering Details: Stamps - Itty Bitty Borders (Retired), Canvas, Quirky Alphabet Upper and Lower (Retired); Paper - Mellow Moss, Ruby Red, Sahara Sand; Ink - Mellow Moss, Sahara Sand, Versamark, Ruby Red Marker; Accessories - Silver Grosgrain Ribbon (retired), Moss Grosgrain ribbon, Sparkly ornaments and Stars by Jolee's, Gold brads, Silver and Gold Embossing powder; Supplies - Photo Corner Punch, Heat Gun, Glue Dots

Dunn Family Update and Blog Candy Winner

Hey everyone! Sorry for the absence from posting. I was busy getting ready for a workshop and processing all of the beautiful cards I have been getting for the Dunn Family. I have been completely overwhelmed by the amazing response for a family that you have only read about! The stamping community is truly amazing! As I continue to post all of the cards to SCS (I will post again once I have them all up so you can check them out!), I wanted to share with you a little bit about the response I have gotten. Around 80 people have sent cards, gifts, and prayers. The Dunn Family will be receiving cards and prayers from all over the United States, throughout Canada, England, and even Australia! The power of the Internet at its best! So thank you to all of you for taking the time to send me the cards...I am honored to box them all up and send them to Michael, Alissa, Isaiah, Isabella, and Madeline.

Speaking of the Dunn Family, I would love to share some good news with all of you. Michael and Alissa were able to bring Isabella and Madeline home!! Both girls were eating well enough that they got permission to take them home. The latest tests on the girls showed that the tumors have decreased in size...so the medicine is doing its job...more importantly, the Lord is laying his healing hand on these two baby girls! They are scheduled for their next round of chemotherapy for this coming weekend, I believe...in which they will be readmitted to the hospital while it is administered. So, thank the Lord for the blessing of having the family in one house together, but continue to pray for these two baby girls as they continue to fight the cancer inside of them. Continue to read their inspiring and heartfelt journal entries at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/dunntwins.

Now for my Blog Candy for a Cause Winner! As everyone commented about posting about my RAK request on their own blogs, I added their names to a list in Excel. Then as I received the cards in the mail, I added the creator's name to my list. With a total of 163 entries, Random.org selected #110: Gabriella Arriaza (her blog is Confessions of a Stamper)!!! Gabriella, I will be contacting you to ensure I have your correct snail mail and you will be getting the great Blog Candy (which grew even more thanks to more donations...need to get a picture before I send it out). I hope that you like all of the goodies!

Once again...Thank you, Thank you for supporting my RAK request! I could not be more grateful!

Halloween - A Little Different

Happy Halloween...a little early! I love this Holiday...not the scary, spooky side, but the cute, fun side! Somehow though I never managed to get my decorations out this year...bad Mommie! Things got away from me and now it just seems not worth the effort. Oh well, I still love everyone else's decorations!

This was the page I did at that weekend scrapbooking event. This was last year's Halloween where Eli dressed up at a Samurai. Hard to see in the pictures, but the hat even had a long braid coming out the back. So cute! My husband and I bought it in Chinatown in July thinking we got a large size. But by the time Halloween got closer, I had to have my Mom fix the hat and jacket so they would fit! Worked out and he looked adorable if I do say so myself.

Since Eli's costume had that cool red dragon embroidered on it, I knew I had to bring the Red color into my layout. So I went with a little different color layout for Halloween. I made the main image of Eli my focal point and layered that image...the More Mustard layer was distressed using some scissors. I used strips of the House image from Bitty Boos Too colored using blender pen and Real Red ink & More Mustard Marker to go under the focal image and tie the other pictures into it.

I really like how it turned out and I love the fact that the alternate colors turned out so nicely.

The Engineering Details: Stamp Sets - Bitty Boos Too; Ink - Real Red, Basic Black, More Mustard Marker; Paper - Real Red, More Mustard, Basic Black, Whisper White, DP from Over the Moon Press; Accessories - "Trick-or-Treat" sentiment bought at Simple Pleasures Scrapbook Store, Scallop Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch; Supplies - Blender Pen, Sponge

Reminder to get your RAK cards in the mail & a Scrapbook page

Hey all! Just a quick reminder that I need you to get your Dunn Family RAK cards in the mail on Monday!!! I am hoping to have them all by 10/22 so that I can draw for the winner of the blog candy. So if you haven't sent it yet, go out and put it in the mailbox!! Thank you all again for your wonderful support.

Now for another one of my scrapbook pages I did a couple of weekends ago. I really do like how this one turned out. I got the idea for the hand drawn spiders from somewhere in the blog world...sorry I didn't bookmark it, so I don't know where I saw the idea.

Did you notice the pumpkins on the left...they are in stages of getting carved! Probably a small detail that no one but me will notice. Oh well!

I did the scalloped edge below the pictures using the corner rounder with the guard removed.

The saying is coming from a book that my son had gotten (well Grandma got it) from the library..."This is not a Pumpkin". I thought it was cute. And yes, Eli was attempting to eat the raw pumpkin seeds in the bowl! Silly boy!

The Engineering Details: Stamps - Carved & Candlelit, Itty Bitty Boos, Quirky Alphabet Upper & Lower, Alphabet from Wal-Mart; Paper - Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black; Ink - Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Versamark, Pumpkin Pie Marker, Summer Sun Marker; Accessories - Only Orange Eyelets, Dimensionals, Halloween Ribbon from Jo-Ann's; Supplies - Corner Rounder, Crop-A-Dile, Black embossing powder, heat gun

Picking the Perfect Pumpkin!

Two posts in a day! Crazy I know! I have been wanting to post some of the scrapbook pages that I did over the weekend. My friend and I had a great and productive day and a half of scrapbooking.

I really love how this page turned out! It definitely is one of my favorites that I have made. Actually I am pretty excited by all of the pages I did, but this one in particular (you will see the others a little later). They had a little layout contest near the end of the scrapbooking event...best double page layout and best single page layout. I won the Best Single Page layout with this one! If I would have used non-retired stamps, I probably would feel compelled to submit this to a magazine...can you tell I really like how this turned out!

Anyway, I do not have a lot of patterned paper (gasp! for all of you paper people out there), so I created my own with the pumpkin. Stamped it in Night of Navy and then colored in the pumpkins with Watercolor pencils and blender pens. Then I lightly sponged Creamy Caramel over the white spaces. I then attached it to the Old Olive and Certainly Celery layers and "sewed" the hemp twine along the edges. I only have a couple Alphabet sets...need to get a new one...and I am actually learning to like my handwriting.

The Engineering Details: Stamps - Little Layers II (retired), Quirky Alphabet upper and lowercase (retired); Paper - Creamy Caramel, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Whisper White, Night of Navy Pumpkin Pie; Ink - Pumpkin Pie, Night of Navy, Old Olive Marker, Pumpkin Pie Marker; Accessories - Hemp Twine; Supplies - Large Tag Punch, Photo Corner Punch, 1/16" Circle Punch

A Mojo Sketch Challenge (#6) & A Happy Anniversary

Well, my wonderful husband and I have hit our 9th wedding anniversary! I say "hit" because we haven't had a chance to celebrate yet. He actually had to travel to California for work on our anniversary. But since we never celebrate on the actual day of anything, no biggie!

I used Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge that she posts on her blog Poetic Artistry. Julee also is the designer behind the Verve Visual stamps, which by the way I love the two just released! I am trying to figure out if I can get one or both!!

Anyway, I used the couple in the Summer by the Sea...embossed them in Crystal Clear and then bleached the image. I love bleaching these sketch images! I also embossed the canvas background on the bottom part of the card. The You & Me saying comes from the hostess stamp set "So Many Sayings"...which I am becoming very tempted to unmount and cut it so all of the sayings are separate. I like the addition of the Hodgepodge Hardware and the melted organdy ribbon tied to the spiral clip. Ever done that before? It is real easy...just heat the tied ribbon and watch it curl! Nothing too crazy, but I like it.

The Engineering Details: Stamps - Summer by the Sea, Canvas, So Many Sayings; Paper - Night of Navy, Very Vanilla; Ink - Versamark, Night of Navy, Night of Navy Marker; Accessories - Navy Wide Organdy Ribbon, Hodgepodge Hardware-Pewter, Crystal Clear Embossing Powder; Supplies - Ticket Corner Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, 1/16" Circle Punch, Sponge, Heat Gun

My Dunn Family RAK

Well I am completely humbled by the amazing response I have gotten from so many people. The RAK (Random Act of Kindness) cards that I have been getting have been beautiful and I seriously cannot wait to give Michael and Alissa all of these cards! To give you an idea, today my mailbox was full of 18 cards! I think what actually gets me more, are all of the notes and comments saying what an angel I am for doing this. Honestly, YOU all are the angels. You are all sending cards to me to give to a family you have never even met! Words simply cannot even describe my gratitude!

I had a busy scrapbooking weekend...Friday night and all day Saturday...I will post the pages I made later. One actually won best single page layout...that is always exciting! Anyway, I was finally able to make my RAK card for the Dunn family. I decided to go with pink for the girls and a flower for each of them. I stamped the tops of the flowers in versamark and dusted Pretty in Pink pastels over top to make them somewhat soft. Then I stamped the outline image over top with Rose Red. I reverse masked the image (in other words, I masked around the image instead of the image itself) and sponged Creamy Caramel over the image. I doodled around the image with Old Olive Marker, layered it, and add some Diamond Stickles to the flowers. The rest of it is pretty self-explanatory.

Be sure to check out the updates to the Blog Candy for a Cause post. Some more "candy" was added and a couple others are offering candy at their blogs too! I put the updates in different colors so that they are easily spotted. Keep those RAK cards coming! Thank you to all that have already sent them. I plan to take some time this weekend to post any that are not already there to SCS. I just want everyone to see the beautiful cards that have been made in honor of two sweet baby girls! I think you will find the response amazing...I know that I have!

Holiday Glitz Promotion

Make your holiday cards glitzy this year with a little help from the Stampin' Up! Holiday Glitz card kit. With our precut card stock and Designer Series paper, festive zigzag ribbon, and Rhinestone brads, spreading handmade holiday cheer has never been this easy!
Each Holiday Glitz card kit makes 15 handmade cards and includes:

Precut card stock and Designer Series paper (15)
Whisper White Envelopes (15)
Rhinestone brads (15)
Real Red zigzag ribbon (15)
Full-color instruction sheet (1)

There are two ways to take advantage of this fantastic kit while supplies last:
1) Purchase one of holiday stamp sets (below) and get the Holiday Glitz card kit for the special price of $24.95
2) Purchase the Holiday Glitz card kit for $28.95 with no additional purchase required.

Qualifying stamp sets include:
Snowfall - $23.95
The Snowflake Spot - $20.95
Big on Christmas - $18.95
Love & Joy* - $23.95

* Holiday Mini Collection 2007

If you would like to take advantage of this offer, just contact me!

Blog Candy for a Cause

Well I am new to the blogging world (since July…is that still new?) and I have seen lots of Blog candy out there, so I hope this wets the appetite a little in comparison to the others out there. Instead of just having everyone leave comments to get an entry for the blog candy, I have decided to ask you for something in return…a RAK (Random Act of Kindness) card for some special people.

Recently, my family’s lives have been touched by the plight of some friends of friends (but I am claiming them as our friends now too!). Michael and Alissa Dunn and their son Isaiah were blessed with beautiful twin baby girls on July 4, 2007. The pregnancy went fantastic and the twins were full term without any issues. Madeline Ora and Isabella Grace were wonderful additions to the family. Around the end of August, Michael and Alissa noticed that Maddie’s abdomen was a little swollen and firm, but she was acting completely normal. A few days later at the girl’s 2 month check-up, the pediatrician took one look at Maddie’s abdomen and sent them to the hospital for x-rays. A CAT scan shortly after revealed that Maddie had a large cancerous tumor called neuroblastoma Stage 4S. To give you an idea, this tumor has grown to about the size of a softball in her tiny body.

Once checked-in at Children’s Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, the doctors quickly decided to take a look at identical twin Bella. Unfortunately, Bella was also diagnosed with neuroblastoma. According to their doctors, this is only the 9th reported case of twins have neuroblastoma at the same time. Both girls have undergone one round of chemotherapy and are beginning their second. You can see pictures and read their story from their own words at their website: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/dunntwins.

So as I hold my son a littler tighter and we pray together for the Lord to lay his healing hand on the ouchies in Maddie’s and Bella’s bellies, I thought it might be nice to let them know that prayers are being said all over the country and maybe the world for these two little girls and their family. As I read the journal entries on their website, I am amazed by the strength and faith that Michael, Alissa, and their families have shown.

So I put together a special blog candy in which to get an entry, you need to mail me a RAK card for Maddie & Bella and/or for the family, that I will then place in a shoebox (hopefully I fill it!) and mail to them. So if you have the time, please make a card, sign it with your best wishes, post a picture of it to SCS (if you are able) with keyword bcfac07 so all can see it, and mail it to me. You can get an extra 2 entries if you advertise this Blog Candy for a Cause on your own blog…just make sure to leave me a comment so I can come visit the blog.

Update: In addition to the blog candy that I have put together, Anita from Praierie Papier Ponderer is offering to now include the Ronald McDonald House Charity stamp set from Stampin' Up! With the purchase of every one of these sets, Stampin' Up! donates $2 to the RMHC. This is actually quite fitting, since Michael and Alissa are staying at a Ronald McDonald House by the hospital! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Anita for being so generous!!!! And be sure to check out Anita's blog!!

Update: Once you have sent the card to me, stop by Inkerdoodles and Ink-A-Design and leave Lisa and Carolynn a comment telling them you sent it (and link to a picture of it if possible). They are going to draw for some extra blog candy in addition to what I am offering! Triple candy for a good deed...can't get much better than that!

Update: Well the generosity continues! Mary Elliott of Everyday Elliott is throwing in a set of blender pens (3) and an unopened Cranberry Crisp Classic Ink Pad to my blog candy! So now the candy just got a little sweeter. Thanks Mary!

I would like all cards to be in the mail to me by October 15! It doesn't have to actually be at my house by the 15th...sorry if I caused some confusion. So get Crafty!!

Thank you all for helping me pray and hopefully lift the spirits of the Dunn Family!

Note: If you don’t normally take pictures of your cards or don’t post them to SCS, let me know and I will take a picture of the card when I receive it and post it to SCS.


Mail cards to:
Andrea Vernagus
Blog Candy for a Cause
2797 Warwick Dr.
Bloomfield, MI 48304

Cards posted on SCS

Customer Blog Candy Winner!!

I have to apologize to my customers on the delay of this! I meant to do this a few weeks ago, but preparations for the Stamp Camp got in the way.

Anyway, I offered up to my customers through my email newsletter an incentive to come and check out my blog. If they left me a comment, they got an entry into my Customer Blog Candy and if they subscribed to my blog, they got a 2nd entry!

So the winner is Janine B.!!! The winner was picked by random.org after I assigned all of the entries a number. Janine, I will be sending you what you see in the picture: 6x6 sheets of Wintergreen Designer Series Paper, a variety of ribbon pieces, sampling of silver wire, and Only Orange & Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write Markers. I hope you like it and get creative with it!

Thanks to all for commenting on my blog and subscribing...it is good to know that I may not be talking just to myself!!

By the way, I am about to announce a Blog Candy opportunity for all! Just figuring the last details out, so I hope everyone comes back to participate!!

A Christmas Planner

I wanted to show off the gifts that I gave my Stamp Camp attendees. I was pretty proud of them, even though they took a bit longer than I expected!

I wish I could take credit for these great planners, but alas I CASEd the idea from a variety of sources. Deb from Blue Moon Stamping made a planner (I think one of the first ones) for a more general purpose, while Jan from Stamp, Paper, Scissors and Shannon from Stamp Till You Cramp made Holiday ones. I picked up stuff from all and created my version. The titles I used are Cards, Receipts, Gifts, and Misc.

Basically take a plain white folder and open it up. Fold the left and ride sides into the center and crease tightly. Reverse the middle fold and you have yourself a little book with pockets.

I only have so much patterned paper, so I used the retired snowflake from Little Layers II to decorate 4 different colors of cardstock along with one of the backgrounds from Itty Bitty Backgrounds. These were then accented with gold brads. Nothing fancy, but I like how it turned out....this is probably where having patterned paper would make things faster! Oh well!

I grabbed a cool font from Simply the Best Fonts website (free!) and made a couple of lists and a little calendar to include in my Christmas Planner. I create mine in Excel to make sure it was formatted the way I wanted it, but the same could be made in Word or something.

Want to know how to get one of these for yourself?? Stay tuned in the next few days! I am going to be announcing a special blog candy that will hopefully uplift some special people during a hard time.

The Engineering Details: Stamps - Little Layers II, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Quirky Alphabet Lower; Cardstock - Elegant Eggplant, Night of Navy, Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue, Whisper White; Ink - Elegant Eggplant, Night of Navy, Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue, Whisper White Craft; Accessories - Gold Eyelets, Light Blue Wide Organdy Ribbon (Joann's), Sparkly White ribbon (no idea where it is from); Supplies - White folder, envelope, Crop-A-Dile