Sweet Stop Baby

Well happy Saturday everyone! I am in the middle of a full 24 hours by myself! Can you believe it? My husband had a hockey game through work with the branch in Canada and my in-laws are back from Florida and they took the kids! Let me tell you...it is fantastic! I got the house cleaned up and it has stayed clean for longer than 10 minutes, I got myself some yummy Thai food, and I started tackling my ever-looming photo album project (working on 2007...yup that far behind...don't judge me!). It has been good so far and I have a little more time before I pick up the kids. Pretty much exactly what I needed after the last month of single parenthood!

So I pretty much took the Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #49 at face value...in other words I stuck to the sketch almost completely! And since I have been sick this week and my mojo was missing a tad, I kept my card on the simple side...hopefully still worthy though! I printed the Precious Baby digi stamp from Sweet n' Sassy Stamps (how cute is that image?!) on Whisper White cardstock and simply colored in parts of it with my SU! markers. I used a blender pen and ink pad on the tree trunk because it was a bigger area that I felt needed a little more definition. I added black brads in 3 of the corners as dictated by the sketch...see I told you I stuck to the sketch! The red panel was embossed with the Cuttlebug Heart Blocks embossing folder and the pattern paper was the retired "" set from Stampin' Up!. The sentiment came from the Practically Perfect stamp set by Verve Stamps.

Well this week is the last week for some of the Sugar Babies. We will be introducing some new Babies next week, but please give some extra special attention to Ann, Jodi, and Nicole as they share their last cards as Sugar Babies! Then check out the rest of the creations by the rest of us: Audrey, Candace, Julie, Lisa, Nancy, Renata, and the Sugar Mama, Korin! Better yet, try the sketch out for yourself and link it up to the Sweet Stop Blog! Have a fantastic rest of the weekend and thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Precious Baby Digi (Sweet n' Sassy), Practically Perfect (Verve Stamps); Paper - Bashful Blue, Real Red, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White (SU!), Banbury DSP (SU!); Ink - Brilliance Graphite Black, Bashful Blue, Close to Cocoa, Real Red Marker, Bashful Blue Marker; Accessories - Black Brads (SU!), Cuttlebug Heart Blocks embossing folder, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Red stitched ribbon (JoAnns), dimensionals

Sweet Stop Furry Lion

Well I am having a very busy week...hence my absence from anything stamping related! I am actually lucky that I am getting this post set up! My baby boy turned 5 on Friday! How can that be? I swear it was just yesterday that he was born! Hard to believe it. So as you read this, I am entertaining 12 four and five year olds in my house for his party. It should be pretty fun. We went with a Ninja Warrior theme...anyone else watch that show? I will explain more later and post pics of all.

So this week's Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #48 was used to make my son his birthday card. This week you get to break out your flock because there is a fuzzy wuzzy spin to the sketch! I turned the sketch immediately because I planned on using my lion from the Stampin' Up! set Wild About You...it fits better in landscape than in portrait orientation. The lion was stamped twice...once in pumpkin pie and once with the mane being More Mustard. I added brown flock to the mane and popped up his head over my base lion. The rest of the card was kept simple as it is for a 5 year old boy! And due to my major time constraints as I write this (trying to get ready for the party), I am not going to go into anymore detail. Let me know if there are any questions.

Now go check out the creations by the other Sugar Babies: Ann, Audrey, Candace, Jodi, Julie, Lisa, Nancy, Nicole, Renata, and the Sugar Mama, Korin. Better yet make a card with the sketch yourself and link it up to the Sweet Stop blog...we would love to see it! Have a great weekend and thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Wild ABout You (SU!); Paper - Bordering Blue, Basic Black, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard (SU!), pattern paper (Basic Grey); Ink - Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Basic Black; Accessories - Bordering Blue eyelets, hemp twine, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Deckle Scissors, Crop-a-Dile, Button (unknown), dimensionals

Flower Sweet Stop

Well happy Saturday to you all! We have a busy Saturday around here. We actually get to see my husband this morning (shocker I know lately) as we are taking the kids to a kid-oriented performance at the Detroit Symphony and then my son has another birthday party to attend to...then only one more week until his birthday party! I think I am most excited about getting to spend some time with my husband...seriously he is working way too much right now!

Before I get into the Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #47 for this week, I would like to take a moment to toot my own horn! My Mojo Love Birds card was selected as one of the winners of the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #128! So exciting...new Verve Stamps coming to me!

Now onto the regularly scheduled programming...it is Sweet Stop Time! I will apologize in advance if you are tired of seeing this paper from me...it is a large pack of paper and it is really pretty...hard to not use it! Anyway, I stamped the base flower from Greenhouse Garden in Pink Passion and then the detail flower in Real Red. The stem was first stamped in Kiwi Kiss and then Glorious Green. The "Mom" sentiment is from the Women of Life stamp set by Papertrey Ink.

The hummingbird is actually from the top of the pattern paper...I cut it out and then cut out the wings of a second one. The second set of wings was glued on just to give it some more dimension. The last touch was to add some pearl stickers to the scallop edge and the center of the flower.

Now go check out the rest of the creations by the Sugar Babies: Ann, Audrey, Candace, Jodi, Julie, Lisa, Nancy, Nicole, Renata, and the Sugar Mama, Korin. Better yet, make a card with the sketch and link it up to the Sweet Stop Blog! Have fun getting crafty and thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Greenhouse Garden (SU!), Women of Life (PTI); Paper - Glorious Green, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Passion, Whisper White (SU!), Sunshine Pad (Me & My Big Ideas); Ink - Pink Passion, Real Red, Kiwi Kiss, Glorious Green; Accessories - Pearl Stickers (Oriental Trading Company), Scallop Edge Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, Paper Piercer, Mat Pack, dimensionals

Olympic Biathlon

Still in single-parenthood. Really looking forward to it being over and the grandparents coming back! I have definitely had my good and bad days. Those bad days are really tough. But we will get through it...just need to keep praying for patience!

This card is going back a little bit. I made this card for the Mini Virtual Stamp Night (VSN) on SplitCoast Stampers. The challenge (FEBVSNMINI4) was to use the chalkboard technique...I won GOLD! The hostesses picked top three cards (medal winners) for each challenge and mine was picked for Gold. So exciting! Anyway, I stamped the flower from Heartfelt Thanks in Whisper White Craft ink and pounced Stampin' Pastels over top. Once I was done and it dried, I wiped it with a Swiffer cloth and the background was cleaned up beautifully! The ribbon is from Wal-Mart and the half pearls are some old ones that I had.

Check out the card my friend made for the same challenge below. Fantastic huh?! Make sure to come back on Saturday for the next Sweet Stop Challenge! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Heartfelt Thanks; Paper - Pumpkin Pie, Mellow Moss, Melon Mambo, Basic Black; Ink - Whisper White Craft; Accessories - Stampin' Pastels, Scallop Edge Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Polka Dot Black Ribbon (Offray), Half Pearls (unknown), dimensionals

Sweet Stop Birthday

Well, lookie, lookie, it is Saturday! That means that it is Sweet Stop time! The week's sketch, Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #46, was a great one, but for some reason I was not in the mood. Not sure if the mojo was gone or what, but i definitely struggled with this one. I needed a boy's birthday card for one of my son's upcoming birthday parties...it is like birthday city around here! Looking back on the card I see some things I would change, but oh well!

Anyway, I pulled out an old SAB set, Alphabet Soup, and colored the stamp directly with markers. This was layered on Riding Hood Red (old In Color) and Green Galore. I used the Birthday Wishes embossing folder for the block underneath the image. It needed a little something extra so I dragged my white craft pad across the top. Looking back I think this should have been layered on Green Galore too, but too late now! I used a strip of the pattern paper with the Scallop Trim Border Punch on a Summer Sun strip.

Now go check out the rest of the creations by the Sugar Babies: Ann, Audrey, Candace, Jodi, Julie, Lisa, Nancy, Nicole, Renata, and the Sugar Mama, Korin. Better yet, make a card with the sketch and link it up to the Sweet Stop blog! Have fun getting crafty and thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Alphabet Soup, Quirky Numbers (retired SU!); Paper - Transportation Dots pattern paper (TCP Studios), Brocade Blue, Green Galore, Summer Sun, Riding Hood Red (SU!); Ink - Summer Sun marker, Green Galore marker, Brocade Blue marker; Accessories - Cuttlebug Birthday Wishes embossing folder (Provo), Brocade Blue Brads (SU!), Scallop Trim Border Punch (SU!), 1" Circle Punch (SU!), Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Ticket Corner Punch (SU!), dimensionals

Mojo Love Birds

I am getting a dose of single-parenthood and let me tell ya...kinda sucks! I really feel for all of the single parents out there. I truly don't know how you do it! Oh and let me clarify, all is good...my husband just has a huge thing going on at work and he is working very long hours and weekends. I will look forward to this being over!

Anyway, I got a chance to participate in the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #128...I miss these sketches when I don't get a chance to do them! This one was a tougher one, but I always love a challenge, so I gave it a try! I needed a wedding card, so I pulled out the Anniversary Birds set from Verve Stamps. The couples wedding colors (as gleaned from their invitations) is a teal color. So I found a teal based patterned paper from my Sunshine Pad and found that Taken with Teal was my closest (not exact) match. Each bird was stamped in Taken with Teal...funny sidebar, I cannot find one of the birds for the life of me! That is the only problem I have with clear stamps, I put them down and then they get stuck to something else. So I am hoping that it turns up soon!...and then I added some silver wire to the birds for tails and legs. They were mounted on a circle that I outlined with a rhinestone circle.

The ribbon is some that I picked up in the $1 aisle (although they were like $2.50 instead) at JoAnn's around Halloween time. I glued a heart cardstock to the back of some of the ribbon and cut out the ribbon around it to add my heart about the birds. I liked how that helped tie the ribbon into the card a little better.

Here's to hoping I can get some quality stamping time in the weekend...in other words, the husband doesn't have to work too much!! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Anniversary Birds (Verve Stamps); Paper - Taken with Teal (SU!), Basic White (PTI), Sunshine Pattern Paper Pad (Me & My Big Ideas); Ink - Taken with Teal, Versamark; Accessories - silver wire, Sparkle Black ribbon (JoAnn's), Silver embossing Powder, Rhinestone Circle Sticker (Best Occasions), dimensionals

Red Mittens

Good Monday morning to you all! It is only lunch time and the day has been interesting already! The daughter woke-up happy but early...you know what that means. Yup, cranky city! So lots of crying and difficulty this morning. But then I come home from grocery shopping to find a very sweet surprise...this card was one of the winners of the Paper Crafts February Gallery Challenge! Holy cow! That brightened my day a little bit!

I made this card about a month ago during the Mini VSN (Virtual Stamp Night) on Splitcoast Stampers. My friend Stephanie (her card is below) joined me for a fun filled stamping evening. This was for the Red Mittens Challenge where we were to use a Red and White color combo and incorprate yarn in honor of the Red Mitten worn during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Since this was before Valentine's Day, I decided to make mine a Valentine's Day card. This heart is from a long retired Stampin' Up! set called Love Always. But I so love the heart, so I cannot part with it! The heart stamp has the word LOVE already on it (you can see that in Stephanie's card below)...I just glued my yarn over top of the word. The yarn completely covered the word, so it almost looks like I am super crafty and made an embellishment on my own...oh well just crafty to think to put the yarn there I guess! The cut strip behind it is the Spellbinder's Lattice Borderabilities Petite. The rest of the card was kept simple mainly due to the 45 minute time constraint that you are to honor during the VSN....just goes to prove that "winning" cards don't have to take a ton of time...a lesson I really should remember more often!

Well that is really it for me...still can't believe it got picked! Anyway, check out Steph's card too for the same challenge and thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Love Always (retired SU!); Paper - Real Red, Whisper White; Ink - Real Red; Accessories - White yarn, Lattice Borderabilities Petite (Spellbinders), scissors, dimensionals