A Late Merry Christmas and Some News

Well Christmas has come and gone...Santa's cookies and milk were eaten up, kids eyes were amazed by Santa's gifts, Baby Jesus was placed in his manger, we sang Happy Birthday to Him, we opened presents. I always find it amazing how much work it is leading up to that one day...and then it goes by so fast! I have to share one story from Christmas Eve day. My husband took my son out to run a few errands and get some last minute gifts. While at a Dollar Store, my son saw a small Happy Birthday Balloon on a stick and told my husband that he had to get it. Kevin, my husband, then proceeded to tell him that we aren't celebrating a birthday so why do we need the balloon. Elijah then reminded him that we are indeed celebrating a birthday...Jesus's birthday! So he promptly bought the balloon. Gotta love it when your kids remind you what it is suppose to be about!

So I know I am very late with this, but Merry Christmas to all of you. Sorry I didn't get that out prior to Christmas, but you know how it goes! This is the Vernagus Family Christmas Card for 2009. I went back to a very old Stampin' Up! set that I had used for a previous Christmas card and chose a different image. In an attempt to keep it simple, considering the fact that I didn't start them until around Dec. 7 or so, I did a one layer card. The bird image and the greeting was stamped and embossed with black embossing powder. Then I colored the bird image with a blender pen and ink pads. My son decided he needed to do the same, so he got to color the cards for his teachers. Anyway, then I embossed the square around the image with my Nestabilities and the Cuttlebug. A 5/8" Real Red grosgrain ribbon finished it off. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

And now for my news! I was selected to be one of the Sugar Babies for the Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge Blog organized by Korin, the Sugar Mama herself, whom is the owner of Sweet & Sassy Stamps! I am very excited about this...my first design team! Kind of funny now that I look back...I had set a goal to get published and get on a design team at the beginning of 2009 and I actually did both of them now. Wow that just hit me...that is just crazy because I had pretty much given up on the design team thing. Just goes to show that it is not our plan, but His! That is always a tough one for me. You can check out the announcement here. I would like to formally congratulate the other newbies on the team as well...so congrats to Audrey, Candace, Renata, and Julie...looking forward to working with you ladies as well as the current Design Team members! So look for my first Sketch Challenge post coming up here on Saturday!!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - A Beautiful Season (retired SU!), All Year Cheer I (retired SU!); Paper - Basic White (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Versamark, Real Red, More Mustard; Accessories - Black Embossing Powder, Blender Pen, 5/8" Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Square Nestabilities, Heat Gun

Hot Chocolate Anyone?

Wow is this a crazy time of year or what?! I will freely admit that I have not been well organized (starting my Christmas cards in December for example), but man I swear I feel like I am barely staying afloat! I am getting lots done (and I have recorded it), but popping in here to show off has been very low on the priority list. Hoping that things have settled down here now: Christmas cards made and sent, cookies baked, teacher gifts made and given out, presents bought and almost all wrapped, some handmade gifts made and a few more to make. Now I am trying to get ready for hosting Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve...ahhh!

Anyway, the reason I am here is to show you a cool little gift that I made for my son's classmates for Christmas. Now I take absolutely no credit for the recipe or idea. I saw a blog entry from an amazing Mom, Amy, at The Idea Room (btw, if you want a place to get awesome ideas to do with the kids, get organized, etc, you NEED to follow her blog...how she does it I will never know, but I have gotten many awesome ideas from her!) for Hot Chocolate on a Stick. She got the idea from a fellow blogger, Amber, at the Giver's Log. Amber gives great instructions, so I will not repeat them here. I will say that I used Ghirardelli Baking Bars and I had a big difference in consistency turnout between the Semi-Sweet vs. Milk Chocolate. I have no idea why, but just thought I would note that, although it tasted great either way!

I made them and then put them in bags with some ribbon and a note for instructions. I decorated them very simply, mainly because I was short on time, but also because they were going to 4 year olds! But overall I thought they turned out cute...and let me tell you they are good! Just writing about them, makes me want one!! And just to give you the full effect of 22 yummy Hot Chocolate on a Sticks:

Now go make your own!!!

Sending out My Sympathies

I am proud to say that I managed to get a little crafting in over the weekend...not quite as much as I was hoping to do, but I have to start somewhere! Still behind on some birthday and anniversary cards and the Christmas cards still have yet to be designed, but who's counting...oh yeah, I am! Oh well...I will catch up here sometime. Although I already have to take a bit of a break as I got our vacation photos and around 800 others developed and I really would like to get them all in some albums! Vacation pictures first, but here's hoping for some productive nights!

This card wasn't my first card back, but I wanted to post it first as it is a bit more important. Sympathy cards are always so hard to create...finding the right balance of pretty and simple. Unfortunately, I was in need of about 3 sympathy cards...my sister-in-law lost her Grandmother, my husband's coworker lost his pregnant wife, and a fellow crafter lost her 3 year old son. The last one was the hardest to hear because the thought of losing one of my kids is obviously one of the biggest fears as a parent. I will say upfront, that I do not know Sarah, but her story touched my heart and I desparately wanted to reach out to her and her family. I heard about the loss of her 3 year old son Henry via Kim (Crafts By Kim)...Kim is organizing a Blog Candy for a Cause to collect cards for Sarah and her family. I have a wee bit of experience in organizing a Blog Candy for a Cause :), so I knew I needed to send Sarah a card. So since I know you have been so kind to help me out when I was collecting cards for someone in need, I ask you to click on over to Kim's blog and find out how you can help too!

I won't bore you with details on this card...it was kept simple, but I do want to mention that it is based on Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #108. I have missed me my Mojo Monday...hoping to get back into doing them regularly, but have I mentioned the laundry list of things I need to do...and maybe actually some laundry as well!

Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Beautiful You (Verve Stamps), Botanicals (retured SU!); Paper - Kraft, Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze (Stampin' Up!); Ink - Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla Craft; Accessories - Satin Ribbon (Offray), dimensionals

MIA

Missing in Action....I guess that is what you can say I have been, at least from the blogging and even crafting world! October was just one of those months and I think I am still trying to get things in order from it. It was filled with a HUGE trip for my husband and I, sickness (the kids and me...all right before our trip mind you), more sickness (my daughter after we got home, thank goodness), editing and printing all of those fantastic photos from our trip (over 300), and all of the Halloween activities! Whew! Needless to say, my crafting time and mojo pretty much disappeared and am I just starting to get the itch back. It is kind of being forced back as I have a need for about 5 - 6 cards right now for stuff this week!!

My husband and I went on a Mediterranean Cruise in celebration of our 10 year wedding anniversary, but ended up falling on our 11 year anniversary. Last year our daughter was too small to leave, so the trip had to wait till this year. It was a fantastic trip! Started in Istanbul, Turkey and hit Ephesus (near Izmir, Turkey), some Greek islands (Santorini was our favorite), Alexandria, Egypt (we were there overnight so we were able to hit Cairo and see the pyramids), some more Greek islands, and finally ending in Athens. The places were saw were simply amazing and it was hard to wrap your mind around how old the stuff was...I mean the Pyramids are over 4000 years old....crazy! The kids got lots of Oma/Opa and Grandma/Grandpa time while we were gone, so they had lots of fun too! But man getting ready for that trip, and coming home from that trip was rough. I had a near heart attack when we thought one of our flights was cancelled and I was trying to figure out if some pressure I had in my ear was going to go away in time. And then adjusting back to the correct time (7 hours difference) took a good 4 days...I mean I was literally passing out right after putting the kids to bed! Anyway, getting back into the groove and all of the impending birthdays and Holidays are giving my mojo a jumpstart...although the bags and bags of leaves I raked today are making my body want to go to sleep again. So hopefully I will have more to share this month than last.

This card is one that I did for a Stamp Camp I held which unfortunately never got more than 2 people. I meant to post it in time for Halloween, but obviously that didn't happen! It is using the Bouncing Brayer technique...fun technique and I really love it with the moon! The tree was embossed over top of the brayered moonlit sky. Then a torn strip of Basic Black and a white grosgrain ribbon dyed with Barely Banana ink was add to the bottom. Nothing too complicated but I liked its simplicity. Plus I may just use it for a non Halloween card...this doesn't scream Halloween does it??

Well that is all for me...hoping to try some stamping tonight...we will see. Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Branch Out (Stampin' Up!); Paper - Elegant Eggplant, Barely Banana, Basic Black, Whisper White; Ink - Barely Banana, Not Quite Navy, Elegant Eggplant, Versamark; Accessories - Black embossing powder, White 1/4" Grograin Ribbon, Brayer, Sponge, Post-it Notes, 1" Circle Punch, dimensionals, heat gun

Wild Birthday

Wow I feel like I have been missing off of the planet for the last week! When I went on my girl's weekend with my sisters, I swear I was coming down with some major allergies...then I came home and found my whole family with the same symptoms! Not so much allergies, but a nasty cold. My husband had to actually stay home on that Monday because I could barely function. Then to top it off I ended up with a sever ear infection on Friday...oh man does that hurt! So now I am on medication and hopefully will kick this darn thing (along with my daughter...son and husband are already better)...although the ear still feels a little funny...ugh! But this cold has taken me out of the loop for the last week, so I feel very behind on anything I planned to do...a lot of that has to do with getting ready for our 2 week Mediterranean Cruise in less than 2 weeks! So if you don't hear from me very often, I am either trying to get things ready or we are on our cruise! If I am organized enough, I may set up a couple of things to post while I am gone.

Anyway, enough of my woes...I made this card for a little boy's 5th birthday. I started off with the Verve Release Sketch Challenge and Color Challenge...here I thought I was going to be all sneaky and finish all five of the challenges in two or three cards and then I finally read that I was technically suppose to make a different card for each challenge...oh well! So the color challenge was sort of a tough one: Chocolate, Orange-Yellow, Vanilla, and Green-Gray...which I translated to Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun, Very Vanilla, and Sahara Sand. Not a color combo I would probably go for, but I like the splash of yellow to highlight parts. I of course had the sketch, but I flipped it and then even flipped some of the components as well...it was a starting point!

The lion was stamped three times so I could separate the body, mane, and face to give him some dimension. The greeting was stamped in Chocolate Chip and then highlight with a Summer Sun marker. The pinking (is that the right term for that jagged edge?) look came by punching a scallop circle and then rotating it slightly and punching it again. The patterned paper in the background is from To the Nines. I didn't want to have any ribbon since it was for a little boy, but I needed something...so I added a strip of beads. i just put a strip of sticky tape down, covered it with beads and then added some Crystal Effects over top to keep them in place. The main image and the greeting seemed to plain, so I added individual beads to those elements.

Well that is all for me! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Wild About You; Paper - Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, To the Nines DSP; Ink - Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun, Summer Sun Marker; Accessories - Brown Beads (JoAnns bead aisle), Circle and Scallop Circle Nestabilities, Scallop Edge Punch, Paper Piercer, Mat Pack, Crystal Effects, Sticky Strip Tape, Mono Multi Liquid Glue, Scissors, Dimensionals

Baby Inspiration

So I am getting ready to head out on a girl's weekend with my sistahs! Yes, my actual sisters and sister-in-law. My two sisters and I decided to make a girl's weekend trip to visit our sister-in-law...my brother got sent to Qatar for a year, so she is on her own. Anyway, looking forward to heading out tomorrow...just wish my baby girl was doing better. She started running a fever on my birthday (oh let me tell you how great that day was...sick baby and grouchy son...oh yeah really great day...note sarcasm, although it ended on a lovely note once Daddy got home to help with the kids) and I hate leaving sick kids! Hoping she is doing better tomorrow!

So I was reading the Paper Crafts blog the other day and one of the new "Go To Gals" was posting and showed a simple, cute card that she CASEd from the most recent issue of Paper Crafts. So I decided to CASE it myself! I was in need of a Baby card for some friends that recently had their second, so I broke out some colored Chipboard letters that I had gotten in the $1 bins at Target awhile back and made myself a quick Baby card. The ribbon matches the colors of the Chipboard...it was sold in the same bins. The little onesie is from a retired set of Stampin' Up!: A Little Love. Not a whole lot to say for this one as it is extremely simple.

Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - A Little Love (retired); Paper - Gable Green, Rose Red, Bermuda Bay, Shimmer White; Ink - Chocolate Chip, Bermuda Bay Marker, Gable Green Marker; Accessories - Colored Chipboard Letters (Target $1 Bin), Polka Dot Ribbon (Target $1 Bin), dimensionals

Sparkle on Little Fairy

So I can't believe that I forgot to mention is my last post that my sweet Adilane has decided walking is the "In" thing and that is all she wants to do now! My husband and son were outside racing to places and my daughter was sitting on the driveway watching them. All of the sudden, my husband came back and found her standing on the driveway (mind you there was nothing around her for her to pull up on). Then she just started walking! He yelled for me to come outside and I was even able to get it on video as well. It was just the cutest thing. That was only a little over a week ago now and she looks like she has been walking for months...must have been all of that practice!

So this is another card that I submitted for the March/April issue of Paper Crafts. This was under the category of Glitz Blitz and let me tell you this thing is blinged out! I love how sparkly it is, but having a slight vintage feel to it as well. I stamped the Penelope Fairy in Black Stazon on Watercolor Paper. She was colored with markers and a watercolor paintbrush. I created my own Stickles by mixing Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamond glitter and painted that onto the Fairy's wings and the ring thing she is holding. All of the Stickles I have didn't look right...they have too much a color to them, but the Dazzling Diamonds glitter was perfect!

The fairy was cut-out and mounted on a circle of Shimmer White with a circle of rhinestones. No I didn't stick each one on individually...the circle was already created...the rhinestones are on a clear sticker thing. The shimmer white circle was sponged with Certainly Celery ink as well as the Cameo Coral scallop circle underneath was sponged with Close to Cocoa ink. Lastly the Close to Cocoa base card was layered with Shimmer White (sponged with Close to Cocoa ink) and a strip of Blush Blossom embossed with the Swiss Dots embossing Folder. The bottom of the Shimmer White and Blush Blossom strip was scalloped with the Scallop Edge Punch and then I added rhinestones to each scallop. Like I said full of sparkle and bling!

Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Penelope Fairy (Paper Makeup Stamps); Paper - Close to Cocoa, Shimmer White, Blush Blossom, Cameo Coral (Stampin' Up!), Watercolor Paper; Ink - Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, Black Stazon, Cameo Coral Marker, Certainly Celery Marker, Blush Blossom Marker, Close to Cocoa Marker (Stampin' Up!); Accessories - Circle and Scallop Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Circle Rhinestone sticker (Best Occasions), Rhinestone Stickers (Me and My Big Ideas), Scallop Edge Punch (Stampin' Up!), Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder (Provo Craft), sponges, dimensionals, scissors, watercolor paintbrush

No Winter Card and Francesca Update

Sorry I have been a little MIA lately...I got a new computer, new cell phone, and my son started 4 yr preschool all in the same week! The new computer and cell phone took the most amount of time, but we are pretty much up to speed now. Still need to get Microsoft Office on the new computer though, so i haven't transferred all of my files yet. The most disappointing thing I found out though is that my camera will not stream pics to the computer via USB anymore...apparently it is not compatible with Windows Vista (or the upcoming Windows 7). Ugh! So now I have extra steps to download them onto my old computer and then transfer them to the new computer...talk about inconvenient! Anyway, I have a card to share and I also thought i would give you all an update on that sweet baby girl Francesca. A lot of you found my blog during my Blog Candy for a Cause II that I did in honor of Francesca, so since we were finally able to meet her this weekend, I thought it was high time for me to update all of you.

But first, since this is suppose to be a crafty blog, let's go over the card. This is one of the cards that I submitted to Paper Crafts, obviously not the one selected cuz I can't show you that one yet! But I really liked this card as well. This uses the Stampin' Up! set Branch Out (seriously love this set!). The tree was inked up in Certainly Celery ink and then "kissed" to the Sanded Background stamp that was inked up with Forest Foliage. Then I glued Flower Soft Sweet Pea to the tree to make it look like it was blooming (the Paper Crafts issue that I submitted for is a Spring issue). Then I took a sentiment from the Verve Stamps set Beautiful You and inked up portions of it at a time so it fell over the tree as you see. Lastly this was mounted to Forest Foliage layer that was distressed with some scissors. There is a lot of white space on this card...sort of unusual for me...but I like it.

So my family got to visit with Francesca and her Mommy (my very good friend, Maureen). Unfortunately Daddy had to work late, so we were not able to visit with him. As you can see Francesca is an adorable baby, full of smiles (unfortunately I could never capture them on camera) and wonderfully chubby. She is 9 months old now and is able to sit up for a little bit on her own, loves grabbing things and putting them in her mouth, is able to roll over both ways, and has the sweetest toothless grin around! Her smile just killed me because both of my kids got teeth very early, so it was so funny to see an older baby with no teeth. She is developing well and goes to therapy sessions to help her muscle tone which is one of the problems with Down Syndrome. So take a good look at that face and see the power of prayer!

Maureen told me that Children's Hospital of Detroit is planning on featuring Francesca's story along with two others on a special TV episode around Thanksgiving. So when she gets more details about the when and where, I will be sure to let you all know. Hopefully something gets posted on a website or something too so that those of you not in the Detroit area can see it as well. Stay tuned for that!

Thank you once again for all of your prayers for Francesca and thank you to those that have emailed me recently asking about her! And as always, thank you for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Branch Out, Sanded (Stampin' Up!), Beautiful You (Verve Stamps); Paper - Basic White (Papertrey Ink), Forest Foliage (Stampin' Up!); Ink - Certainly Celery, Forest Foliage, Forest Foliage Marker (Stampin' Up!); Accessories - Sweet Pea Flower Soft (Flower Soft), Mono Multi Liquid Glue, dimensionals, scissors

Final-Days-Before-School-Starts Activity & The SU! News

Well my summer is winding down now. My son starts 4 year preschool (only 3 mornings a week) next week. That means more of a routine and the fact that I probably have to start getting up a little bit earlier so I can get a shower in before the kids get up...ugh! My late night stamping habit that I have gotten into is not going to make that very easy! So we will see how that goes!

This week, we have stayed very busy trying to get the last bit of true summer activities in before school starts, but 2 weeks ago we were struggling with what to do. I found this idea to make marshmallow structures on a great blog called "The Idea Room". Amy (the blog owner) has lots of great projects and tidbits on her blog, so I highly recommend checking it out. Anyway, just a bag of mini marshmallows (mine were stale so I was going to be throwing them out anyway) and toothpicks and we had a fun activity for about an hour! Eli really got into making his "house" and seemed to really be enjoying himself! So of course I took some pictures to share with all of you! I think I might have even enjoyed it more than him...my engineering roots showed through, in particular my focus on structure design!

Now onto the final portion of my post. I know most (if not all) of crafty blog readers or SCS fans have seen the announcement from Stampin' Up! regarding its demonstrators...or at least have seen the rumors. I will admit that when I first started looking into it, I had a bad first reaction and I wasn't sure I would continue on...sort of out of principle. Well for those that may have no idea what I am referring to, in short, Stampin' Up! is asking all of its demonstrators to re-sign their Independent Demonstrator Agreement with the new changes. The new changes basically say that SU! demonstrators may no longer promote, market, or sell competitive manufacturers products on any form of electronic media (blog, email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). This means no other stamp companies' Design Teams if you want to remain a demonstrator. Ok, if they would have just said that, then I would have said no problem right away...I am not on any Design Teams (although I tried a few times). Well SU! decided to go further and say that demonstrators cannot link to competitor's websites where people can buy their products. This is where it gets a little sticky for me. I am not the "Career" demonstrator type...I am the lowly "Hobby" demonstrator. This change makes sense and is welcomed by those Career demonstrators because talking about something other than SU! could hurt their business. But as a Hobby demonstrator, I am very aware of the "competitor's products" and like them, so I purchase them on occasion and try to win them or whatever. Then I use those products on cards and scrapbook pages and show them here...mind you these are all personal cards and such...not like I am going to show these at a workshop or class or anything that is related to my Stampin' Up! "business". When I show you a project, I like to be complete with the supplies I used and the manufacturers...this is the gray area of the new agreement. I am taking it though that if I don't directly link you to that manufacturer where you can buy the product when I create the project, then I am in the clear...I will still continue to give a complete supplies list. I still have slight issue with SU! regulating what I can link to on my own personal blog, Facebook, etc...especially since I don't really use my blog to advertise my SU! business (I do on occasion, but it is not my main focus), but I understand the intent. Well this was suppose to be the short story...think it was a little longer once I started typing...but, in short, I will remain a demonstrator right now unless other opportunities begin to arise for me elsewhere in the crafting industry (ahh, I can dream!) that goes against the new agreement. If you want to read more about all of this (and not all of the rumors and negative feedback!) check out Jan Tink's blog where she recently posted about it after Stampin' Up! clarified a lot of the changes that caused the most amount of uproar (and they actually changed the wording so it isn't quite as strict as was first introduced...the big one for me was that I could potentially design for a store or display, but I cannot promote it...I was thinking about looking into this for local scrapbook stores...not that I have, but ykwim!). Thanks Jan for helping to sort it all out!

Sorry no crafty post today...I will show something next time. Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

Welcoming Fall and Some More Pics

So in my last post, I showed you some very cute (in my humble opinion!) pictures of my son. So this post you get some of my daughter...see below to start ooohing and aaahing. The biggest news I have for you though is that my Adilane has FINALLY decided to try walking unassisted! I have lamented on my blog before about how I wanted her to finally start walking and over the weekend she went for it. She doesn't quite have the confidence in herself to do it all of the time, but she will walk to Mommy and Daddy and sometimes to objects she really wants. So cute! With as stable as she is already (after those months upon months of practicing holding onto to our hands), I am sure it will not be long before she is running!

This scrapbook page is one that I did after the Thomas page I showed last post. I like this page much, much better! It is utilizing a sketch again from Becky Fleck at Page Maps...this is the one I assigned my scrapping girls for July. Since I missed July due to a rockin' Poison/Def Leppard concert, I thought I would make up for it. The apple paper is Apples Dashing Lace Cardstock by KI Memories. I cut out the middle portion since it was going to be covered up anyway and used a couple of the trimmed out apples as embellishments. It makes it a little busy, but I still like the look...plus I didn't find many other apple print paper that I liked.

As you can see from the sketch (at end of post) there was suppose to be a lot of buttons, so I decided to keep that element. Trying to stack the buttons in an appealing manner though was a bit challenging...think I achieved that! All of the cardstock was sponged around the edges with Chocolate Chip ink. Then the frame was cut, crumpled, and inked with Chocolate Chip ink (the ink pad was dragged across the ridges).

The tag title was stamped with a Dot Alphabet by Stamp Craft that I found at Wal-Mart. It was finished off with some of the brown check ribbon, a strip of ric-rac (love the look of this stuff) with some buttons, and finally one of the apples from the lace cardstock that I cut-out. I added some crystal effects to the apple to give it a bit of shine.

Now for the oohing and aahing portion of the post...oh wait, maybe you oohed and aahed over my scrapbook page! Anyway, here are some cutie pics of my baby girl, Adilane, from this summer. Some of the pics may need a little explanation as they are cute but a little odd!

This picture was Adi in a backpack carrier while we were hiking in the Hocking Hills area in Southern Ohio.

This picture was from that same trip, but this was after we did a hike in a bit of rain. Her hair was a bit wet and some of her older girl cousins had been dying to give her a true mohawk (she sort of has one naturally due to the way her hair lays sometimes).

My final picture was taken at our lasting camping weekend. We had a ton of rain in the morning, so there were lots of puddles by the time the rain stopped in the afternoon. Not really sure how she splattered the mud on her face like that, but I just love the look!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Dot Alphabet (Stamp Craft); Paper - Neutral Tan (The Paper Company), Apples Dashing Lace Cardstock (KI Memories), Kraft, Always Artichoke; Ink - Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip marker; Accessories - Microcheck Brown Ribbon (Offray), Moss Ric Rac Ribbon (JoAnn Craft Essentials), Buttons (Favorite Findings), slot punch, Crystal Effects, dimensionals

Scrappin' Thomas and Some Pics

Whew! That is how I feel tonight. We just got back from a fun trip to the West side of Michigan visiting the Silver Lake area and Michigan's Adventure Amusement Park. It was a great trip but after a long night with a sick little girl and a 3-4 hour drive home, all I can say is "Whew, glad to be home"!

So I finally got to scrapbook a week ago with my Scrappin' girls. I had missed the last one and I worked on Adi's thank you cards the month before that. So I started off with the double page sketch that I assigned my girls for the month...yup I assign them sketches...I am such a drill sargeant. One of my favorite plaes to get scrapbooking sketches is Page Maps by Becky Fleck. You can see the sketch I assigned at the bottom of this post. By the way, why is it so hard to get pictures of scrapbook pages?! Any advice on that one?

I decided to finally scrapbook some pictures from my son's Day Out With Thomas experience from 2007...yes I am that far behind! Anyway, I had won a whole set of Thomas and Friends stamps by Cornish Heritage Farms on a fellow blogger's site, {stampin' gal val}. She designs for them and was given a set to give away! So I finally broke them out for this page.

The Thomas paper is from Jo-Anns and I didn't note the manufacturer. The rest of the paper is either from Jo-Anns again or Stampin' Up!. I forgot to note manufacturers on the non-Su! paper...when I was working on this it was very late! Oh well, standard stuff at Jo-Anns. Page 1 of the double page turned out good...page 2 not so much. I don't like the journaling area...I like the idea of it, but my execution was not so good. Oh well, it doesn't bother me enough to change it!

It has been a long while since I have shared some cute kid pictures...so how can I deny you any further! We went to the Detroit Zoo less than a month ago to see the Dinosauria Exhibit and I managed to do a mini photo session with my son...and I didn't just get the crazy "cheeser" smile that he normally does.

So enjoy my cutie boy and I will show my cutie girl in the next post! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Various Thomas and Friends (Cornish Heritage Farms), Quirky Alphabet Upper (retired), Brushstroke Alphabet (retired); Paper - Basic Black, Whisper White, Thomas Paterned Paper and other Solids (unknown, but bought at Jo-Anns); Ink - Basic Black; Accessories - Pewter Brads, White Gel Pen, dimensionals

Pendant Ornament

So I didn't plan my days very well while the kids are gone. I was so excited to get the house clean and actually live in a clean house for a little while, that I did that yesterday and saved my yardwork for today. Well guess what...today it is raining! I saw the forecast ahead of time and it said scattered showers, so I figured I would be ok. Looking pretty rainy out there...maybe it will clear up this afternoon so I can get a little bit done outside. I definitely have other stuff to keep me busy, so no worries!

This is my final non-winning Spellbinder Pendant Project Contest entry. I will admit that it is a little plain, but I thought it was cool nonetheless. This is made up of 4 Fleur-de-Lis Pendants scored down the middle and adhered back to back of each other. The same was done for the center part in Real Red using the smaller Fleur-de-Lis Pendant. I uesd some silver cord down the middle to hold the Real Red middle pendant and to give a loop at the top to actually hang the ornament. Then I used some self-adhesive Red Rhinestones to "bling"it up a bit. Fairly plain and simple, but getting the whole thing adhered together was a time-consuming process.

Finally got my scrapbook pages that I did last weekend off of my camera, so I will be posting those soon. Until then, have a great Wednesday and thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - None; Paper - Bashful Blue, Real Red; Ink - None; Accessories - Silver cord (unknown), self-adhesive Red Rhinestones (Darice), Mono Multi Glue (Tombow)

Kaleidoscope Raspberry Tart

Freedom! Let me say it again...Freedom! Freedom from what you might ask...Freedom from being on a child's schedule and freedom to do what I want when I want...for 3 days! My parents took both kids for 3 nights, so I am on my own schedule now. Today is house cleaning and date night and tomorrow is yardwork and Mom's Night. Although I have discovered that being left without a schedule allows me to sleep in longer than I usually would...I actually slept till 9 am this morning! A good thing, but also a little detrimental to being productive! I am sure that I will be missing the kids terribly by the time Thursday comes around, but until then I shall enjoy my Freedom!

So this is the second of my non-winning entries in the Spellbinders Pendant Project Contest (see the winners HERE). This was using the Kaleidoscope Pendant. I am not going to lie to you...this one took AWHILE! You may not notice right away, but the pendant has been broken up into 8 slices! So that means it was cut out 4 times (I repeated 4 patterns) just to make the base pendant. Then I used the pieces that are cut out of the pendant (the stuff you normally throw away) to decorate the embossed areas on the center Rose Red pendant. The same was done for the embossed areas on the base pendant with Kiwi Kiss cardstock. Just imagine trying to figure out what patterned paper was what on a teeny, tiny scrap! What was I thinking?! All of this was layered on a Kiwi Kiss layer and popped up on a base layer that was made up by the 4 patterns again. Some white gel pen dots and white taffeta ribbon finished it off.

I still really like the card, but I don't think I would tackle it again due to its time-consuming nature! Well off to start the house-cleaning! Enjoy your day and thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - None; Paper - Raspberry Tart DSP, Rose Red, Kiwi Kiss; Ink - None; Accessories - Kaleidoscope Pendant (Spellbinders), White Taffeta Ribbon, Ice Circle Rhinestone Brads, White Gel Pen (Signo), dimensionals

Kissing Love Birds

So you know how you get those very touching moments as a parent when a child tells you they love you without you saying it first? Well my husband and I got the exact opposite moment this evening! We got the "You guys are so mean, I don't want to live here anymore!" moment...ahhh the joys of parenthood! This was after Elijah got a timeout for pushing his sister. When asked where he would live, he said "I am gonna live with Grandma & Grandpa!". Too funny! But all is better now and he is back to wanting to live with us...didn't even get to packing a bag...can't wait for that one!

So this is the first of my non-winning Spellbinders Pendant Project Contest entries (you can see all of the winners HERE). I used the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #96 for the layout. I just got (used) the Verve Anniversary Birds set and I, low and behold, needed an Anniversary card for my parents. Since this was for my parents and my Mom has an obsession with the color blue, I pulled out the Parisian Breeze DSP that was retired in July. Each bird is paper pieced with solid Baja Breeze cardstock and the Parisian Breeze DSP. They were placed upon a circle of white which was on top of the Contemporary Hearts Pendant. The Pendant was sponging with Chocolate Chip ink and bits of white and Baja Breeze were added to the back to fill in some of the holes. Then I used the Contemporary Hearts Borderabilities to create the strips of Chocolate Chip which I added a strip of Baja Breeze to. Then a little Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon (love that taffeta ribbon!) finished it off.

I am off to organize some more pictures and figure out what pictures I am going to scrapbook tomorrow night...yup you read that right...scrapbook! I feel like it has been ages since I have done any scrapbooking! Me and my girls (well not all of them) are getting together to do a little scrappin' tomorrow night. I assigned them a sketch and everything...look at me crackin' the whip! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Anniversary Birds (Verve Stamps); Paper - Basic White (Papertrey Ink), Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Parisian Breeze DSP, Kraft; Ink - Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip; Accessories - Contemporary Hearts Pendants and Borderabilities (Spellbinders), Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon, White gel pen, sponge, dimensionals

Love Pendant and Shaking Moment

Ok I am still shaking right now! Partly because I just got done doing a workout (Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred...tough workout!) and I can barely lift my arms, but mostly because I just got an email saying I had a project accepted for the March/April 2010 Issue of Paper Crafts Magazine! That is right, I am going to see my name in print in a magazine...with one of my cards, of course! Totally shocked and amazed right now...I actually started crying when I called my husband to tell him. Sorry I can't show you what got accepted, but when the magazine is released, I will be sure to point out which one is mine (I have no problem exploiting myself!). So now I have to learn about all of the paperwork and such that goes with having something accepted. Woohoo!!!

So this card, obviously, is not the one accepted. This is the last of my cards for the Verve 2nd Anniversary Sketch Challenges. This is also the last card I did in a night of 3 cards...so it was a wee bit late when I made this...so don't judge me too hard! I do like parts of it, but as a whole...let's just say it is not my best work! So I chose to try (oh why did I decide to try this one) the SCS Color Challenge #228: Not Quite Navy, Really Rust, and Pretty in Pink. Really? I guess it combines ok, but man was it a tough one...and like I said not 100% pleased. I used the Renaissance Hearts Pendant (the small one) for my main circle...layered onto a larger circle and a scallop circle. I sponged the Really Rust through the die for the funky heart shapes and then sponged the edges of the pendant. This was my attempt to tone down the pink...it just felt so bright up against the Really Rust and Not Quite Navy. The patterned paper is a retired Hostess Prints Pack (on Pretty in Pink). I used the Renaissance Borderabilities along the bottom of the card and sponged Craft Whisper White ink through the die...note to self I need smaller sponge daubers...my normal sponge was a pain in the you know what! I finished off the card with some rhinestone stickers (need more...I have been using these a lot lately!) and some white taffeta ribbon.

Ok I have calmed down a little by typing this, but when I think about getting accepted, I start to shake all over again! So exciting! Well anyway, thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - None; Paper - Not Quite Navy, Really Rust, Pretty in Pink, Pretty in Pink PP, Whisper White; Ink - Really Rust, Whisper White Craft; Accessories - Love & Happiness Rub-ons (retired SAB), Circle and Scallop Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Renaissance Hearts Pendants and Borderabilities (Spellbinders), White Taffeta Ribbon, Rhinestone Stickers (Me & My Big Ideas), dimensionals

Dance-Sing-Live

So why does being a Mom have to be so difficult sometimes? I need to remind myself that if it were easy than it probably wouldn't be a rewarding during those good times...right?! I am trying to get my 4 year old son to understand that his sister is a real person and not a doll that he can move around to suite his desires or a toy that he can randomly go up and smack on the head or in the belly! My poor little girl puts up with a lot. He is not doing it in a mean manner, but he is definitely not giving her the space she deserves! And man, I get so very,very frustrated when I have to repeat the same thing over and over again to him! Ahhhh! Ok, I need to look at the last line on this card and do as it says...let it go!

So on to the card at hand...this was one of the other cards I did for the Verve 2nd Anniversary Sketch Challenges (which I was not one of the randomly chosen winners...insert sad face here, but I do now have 5 cards ready for upcoming birthdays and such...insert happy face!). This was my second card in my night of three...so not entirely sure I like all of it, but I like portions of it! I used the circle Nestabilities to cut out the sentiment from Verve Stamps Beautiful You set and then sponged it with Pretty in Pink ink while it was still in the die...gives it that white edge. I used the flower from the Beautiful You set to make the patterned paper on the left and used some of the To the Nines DSP on the right side. The pretty in pink square was embossed with the Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder.

I have one more of my Verve Sketch Challenge cards to post and now some losing (although I still like them) Spellbinders cards I created for their Pendant Project Contest...so I will talk to you later! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Beautiful You (Verve Stamps); Paper - To the Nines DSP, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White; Ink - Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink; Accessories - Circle and Scallop Square Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Corner Rounder Punch, Cuttlebug Textile Embossing Folder, Pink Satin ribbon (Offray), Antique Brass Jumbo Eyelets, sponge, Crop-a-Dile, dimensionals

Fall Garden Birthday

Would you believe that I actually got all of the Verve 2nd Anniversary sketch challenges done! I did the last 3 last night...which of course means I stayed up way to late and the last card or so, may have been a bit rushed...but they are done, so now I am in the drawing for the entire August release! Keeping my fingers crossed!

So I have 3 cards to show you, but I am going to break them up into 3 posts...mainly because I hate writing really long posts...and multiple cards means long post!

So this is my favorite of the 3 I did last night...you will probably see the quality of the cards go down hill as I will show you them in the order that I made them. This was done with a fresh head though, so it turned out good. This is using the AVS205 Sketch and I stuck to the sketch pretty closely (of course my flowers make up the circles in the sketch). I finally inked up my new Greenhouse Garden stamp set that I have had for a week or so. Love the whole 2-step Stamping thing for flowers...they just always turn out so pretty! So of course I love how the flowers came out. I stamped each flower in one of the new In Colors: Rich Razzelberry, Dusty Durango, and Crushed Curry. Then I stamped the detail image for each flower in Elegant Eggplant, Really Rust, and More Mustard...perfect combinations to get the tone-on-tone style flower, but more vibrant than just using the same color. I embossed two strips of Crushed Curry and rubbed some More Mustard over the top to give it a bit more definition. Then just used textured cardstock on my bottom layer with some faux stitching with my respective darker color. The sentiment comes from the Women of Life set by Papertrey Ink.

Off to clean a sink and get a little cleaned up for dinner. Family dinner out and maybe a movie for Mom and Dad tonight...that is if my husband doesn't fall asleep again like last night. See I wasn't even planning on stamping (or completing all of the sketches), but he fell asleep after saying he was going to take a tiny nap at 9:40 pm...yeah, he never woke up until 2 am...and I was actually still up! So here is to coffee or some sort of caffeine so we can watch a movie...geez we are so sad sometimes! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Greenhouse Garden, Women of Life (Papertrey Ink); Paper - Basic White (Papertrey Ink), Rich Razzelberry Textured, Dusty Durango Textured, Crushed Curry, More Mustard, Whipser White; Ink - Rich Razzelberry, Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry, Elegant Eggplant, Really Rust, More Mustard; Accessories - White Taffeta Ribbon, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Paper Piercer, Mat Pack, dimensionals

Birthday Circle Flowers

Look at me go! I got another one of the Verve Stamps 2nd Anniversary Sketch Challenges done! Not sure I will get the remaining three in by the deadline though...unless of course I hit some major creative genius in the next 24 hours...and have the time to actually make them. I don't think that thinking about what I would do for each sketch will count for much...but man if they could only see what is in my head...genius, I say! Hehe!

Anyway, I used the 3rd Sketch for this card: AVS203. I have been wanting to make the circles from the Circle Circus set into flowers for awhile now, so I am glad I finally did! So fun! I decided to highlight the new In Colors as well. The stem though that I used for the flowers is taken from the Blooms and Stalks set by Sassafrass Lass. Each "flower" was cut out by hand and popped up on a dimensional with the largest flower getting the scallop circle punch behind it...which conveniently enough makes up that portion of the sketch! I used the Word Window punch to get the Happy Birthday sentiment just right and used some Pink Polka dot ribbon that I found at WalMart that matches Melon Mambo perfectly!

I guess the rest is fairly self-explanatory. Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Circle Circus, Birthday Whimsy (retired), Blooms n' Stalks (Sassafrass Lass); Paper - Soft Suede Textured, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Melon Mambo; Ink - In Color Markers; Accessories - Pink Polka Dot Satin Ribbon (Offray), Scallop Edge Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Word Window Punch, dimensionals, scissors

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Wow I got some awesome news this morning in my Google Reader (the place I keep track of all of my favorite blogs!)...I am one of the 7 winners from the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge Contest 98!! And that is out of more than 500 entries!! How exciting! Now I get a new Verve Stamps set...love my Verve!!! The card that got picked was my Masculine Tree Birthday card for my husband...maybe he is my good luck charm! And for the unusual title of the post...I have no idea, but that is a saying that I picked up somewhere!

Working with some more of Julee's sketches for the 2nd Anniversary of Verve Stamps, I created this card. Plus I combined it with a One Layer challenge by one of the Verve Divas...two for one! Gotta love that!! The sketch that this is based off it below...I think I may have streched using the sketch a little bit, but I love the result!

I stamped the Upsy Daisy (sorry, I just love this set!) in Versamark and clear embossed it. Then I paper pierced a rectangle around the image, masked the card off, and sponged Tempting Turquoise over the image and out to my masking. Giving it the illusion of a layer, but really it is still one layer...I can be so tricky (well at least I think so!). I added some faux stitching to my paper piercing with a Chocolate Chip marker. Then I added half of a rhinestine circle to make up the semi-circle element in the sketch. Lastly, I added some So Saffron ribbon with buttons and a rhinestone sticker in the centers. This card was actually fairly quick for me and I love the result!

Oh and I keep totally forgetting about a very sweet blog award that I received from Nicole Anderson (she is just the sweetest!) like a million years ago. Thanks Nicole for the lovely award...it means so much coming from you! And of course you need to check out what this lady can create...major inspiration there! So now I am to nominate some others that I feel are worthy of such an award...there are so many, but I will highlight some:

Teresa Kline - I recently found her blog after she actually commented on my blog...all I can say is WOW! She is totally awesome and I totally didn't realize she had been inspiring me every Monday as she is one of the Mojo Makers on the Mojo Monday Blog. But now I get inspiration from her on more than just Monday!

Susan Liles - Ok who doesn't love her style?! I am sure she is definitely not new to anyone, but I cannot not give her this award...I just love everything she creates! She is funny, crafty, and kind...can't get better than that!

Diana Gibbs - So anyone that is a SU! Demonstrator knows that she is one of this year's Artisan Award winners, so you know that she is fabulous! But if you don't read her blog, you will not see how funny she is and all of the cool animals that she comes across...although some I am not so sure I would want to see in person!

Jan Tink - A riot and an awesome inventor (or unventor as she puts it)...she is always full of new ideas that amaze me. What this woman can do with stamps, ink, and paper is simply amazing!

Deborah Anton - One of the sweetest bloggers around and uber talented, not only with stamping, but jewelry as well. I pretty much love everything she does!

Hoping to participate in some more of the Verve 2nd Anniversary sketch challenges this week...I would be amazed though if I managed all of them...you would probably be pretty sick of me by then! On that note, I will skedaddle. Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Upsy Daisy, Happy Everything; Paper - Basic White (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Versamark, Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip marker; Accessories - So Saffron 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, Button Latte, Rhinestone Stickers (Me & My Big Ideas); Rhinestone Circle Sticker (Best Occasions), Crystal Clear Embossing Powder, Glue dots