Baby Shower Blog Hop for Lisa

The PMS Design team is celebrating a very fun event today! We get to celebrate the upcoming birth of one of our own's baby. Lisa McKinney is due any day now (she is hoping it will be sooner than later) and we wanted to surprise her with a Baby Shower Blog Hop! You should be getting to me via the lovely Anita. If you didn't, go get started at the beginning of the hop with the PMS Blog, so you don't miss a bit of the adorable baby creations!

I decided to give a new technique a try with my card. The Technique Lover's Challenge #283 this week on SCS was to make a T-Slide Card. Of course, true to my form, I didn't want to make my card the exact size that was in the tutorial. So it took me awhile to get everything cut correctly and get it to work...but now that I have done it once, it wouldn't be bad to do a second time....I understand how it works! See you pull the little tab and the main image flips open to reveal a greeting on the inside. My numerous pictures hopefully show what I mean.

Lisa is expecting a boy...and hopefully the ultrasound is right, otherwise I will need to make a new card! So I pulled out the very old Western Sky pattern paper from SU! and colored the adorable Jamie Fairy with ink pads and aquabrush. I actually didn't have the River Rock color that was used in the pattern paper, so I fudged it by combining Creamy Caramel and a little Old Olive...pretty darn close huh?! Finished off the card with some simple white gel pen stitching.

So now you need to hop...oh wait...I am the end! We hope you had fun celebrating with us. Please leave some love for Lisa on her Blog...and some fast delivery wishes! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Jamie Fairy (Paper Makeup Stamps), Practically Perfect (Verve Stamps); Paper - River Rock, Blue Bayou, Ruby Red, Western Sky Pattern Paper (SU!), watercolor paper; Ink - Black Stazon, Blue Bayou, Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel, Old Olive; Accessories - Aqua Brush, White gel pen, Round Tab Punch (SU!), Tag Corner Punch (SU!), dimensionals

Engineer with me!

It has been a bit of a whirlwind in my household this week! Sicknesses, lost pet mouse (whole other story I will get into on a later date...she is still lost!), more sickness, and trying to get ready for camping this weekend! All of that would be manageable though if I wasn't one of those that was sick...a sick Mom makes everything difficult!

So today I get to be the Hostess for the Makeup 4 the Weekend Challenge #36! How fun! Now I am a total sketch challenge type of gal, but actually coming up with those sketches is not my strong suit, so I decided to issue a different type of challenge. For those that don't know, I am a Mechanical Engineer (well that is what my degree is in...not that I use that too much as a Stay-at-Home Mom) and I remember back when I was in college insisting on using graph paper for my homework...there was a particular green graph paper that was the best, but I don't have any left. See, us engineering folks tend to be a little detailed and I loved having the graph lines to line things up and for drawing the ever important diagrams for homework. I wish I would have saved some of my homework...they were literally a piece of artwork...I even colored some diagrams on occasion (that was just for fun). So my challenge to you is to use graph paper (or notebook paper) on your card! Then link it up to the PMS Blog to show it off to the rest of us!

So for my card, I used the Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #65. I inked up the "Wish" dandelion image from the Dandy Wishes set with Creamy Caramel ink and then thumped my Chocolate Chip marker over top of it to get the variegated look to it. I then stamped it on my graph paper (actually one of the papers from the High School Mat Stack by DCWV). I stamped it again in Bordering Blue ink on Very Vanilla ink and punched out the center "Wish" and edged it in Chocolate Chip ink. I pulled out a couple of papers from the Granola Paper Pad by Basic Grey and created the edge on the circle paper by using the edge of the Kaleidescope Borderabilities. I added a strip of Naturals Ivory cardstock from SU! and some brown cording. The swirly clips are from the old Hodgepodge Hardware set in Pewter. It was then finished off with my little "For You" tag on graph paper.

So now you should head over to the PMS Blog and see what some of the other designers did with the challenge. Better yet, get to creating something with graph paper (or notebook paper) and link it up to the PMS Blog so we can all see! I hope you enjoy my challenge and thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Dandy Wishes (PMS), Happy Everything (SU!); Paper - Bordering Blue, Naturals Ivory, Very Vanilla (SU!), Granola Paper Pad (Basic Grey), High School Mat Stack (DCWV); Ink - Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Bordering Blue, Chocolate Chip marker; Accessories - Kaleidescope Borderabilities (Spellbinders), Hodgepodge Hardware - Pewter (SU!), 1/2" Circle Punch (SU!), Brown cording, dimensionals

Wedding Love and Scottish Family

Whew! Still recovering from the weekend...and on top of that a lovely cold to go along with it! We celebrated the wedding of two amazing people over the weekend and enjoyed all of the festivities to go along with it! It was a family wedding where was a Bridesmaid, my husband was an usher, and Grandparents were involved during the ceremony. So I tried to lay out a detailed schedule (following the bride's equally detailed schedule to help us get through the day with happy kids and yet get everyone where they needed to be on time. Only hiccup was I never planned to wake up the day of the wedding to a feverish little girl. She was really hot and barely moving, so I had to run out and get motrin. On top of that she decided to throw up on me a little in the elevator as the doors opened and there was someone standing there (and someone in the elevator with me). So plans were changed up and my husband was exhausted after the day, but we made it through and had fun for most of it (at least when the medicine was keeping the fever down!). Now apparently we are realizing that there is some sort of 24 hour bug going around because my son is experiencing the same thing today. So we are trying to get everyone healthy (including myself with this lovely cold).

So this is the card I made for the bride and groom for the wedding. It was also done for the Paper Crafts July Gallery Challenge: The Boys of Summer, Matt, Brad, and Chip (in other words use matting, brads, and/or chipboard on your card). I ended up incorporating all of the "boys" on my card! The shimmer letters were stuck on white cardstock and cut out (which is my matting portion). They were arranged on a heart chipboard piece that I covered with Raspberry Cream paper from the Bittersweet Collection by Basic Grey. All of that was then adhered to a Basic Black strip that I adhered lace to underneath. Then I added gold brads around my heart...this part I am not so sure looks right, but oh well!

So as I promised, I thought I would share a few pics from our weekend. It was my husband's close cousin that got married. She married a lovely gentleman that was born and grew up in Scotland. So he and most of the groomsmen (one of them was from England and apparently they don't wear kilts) wore kilts. Since my husband and his brother were Ushers, they decided to rent some kilts too. Then since my husband was going to wear a kilt, my son wanted to as well. So can I just tell you that I really love the Scottish kilts...they looked so handsome and cute! I started crying when I first saw my son! And my husband looked pretty good in his too! And in case you were wondering, he started off "untraditional" in nature, but at the reception switched to "traditional"!

So this is me with hair and makeup done! Definitely don't look like this everyday!

How cuuuuttttteee is this?

My sweet girl smelling my flowers

My cutie in a moment of low fever...she LOVED the dance floor even though she was sick!

Our little Scottish family! Well not so much, but it was fun dressing up like one! BTW why am I standing so funny?

Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - None; Paper - Basic White (PTI), Basic Black (SU!), Pomegranate Splash (Bazzill Basics), Raspberry Cream (Basic Grey); Ink - None; Accessories - Gold Shimmer Alpha Stickers (Making Memories), Heart Chipboard (SU!), Gold Brads (SU!), white lace (from Grandma!), scissors, dimensionals

Clean and Simple Wish

Busy, busy, busy....that is what I am this week. We have a wedding this weekend that I am a bridesmaid in and my husband is an usher, so I am doing everything I can to prepare so that things run smoothly. See we will have both kids (and a dog) with us because it is a family wedding. It is a BIT more complicated being a bridesmaid when you have your children coming to the wedding. Thankfully there will be lots of family around to help out...just a little stressful! So because of that this is all you will see of me this week, but don't forget to check-out the PMS Blog on Friday for the Makeup 4 the Weekend Challenge #35! Oh and today is the last Review Day of the July Release over on the PMS Blog...so go check out what the designers created with the Beauty sets! Don't forget that the final day to use the 15% off coupon that you collected during the Blog Hop is Wednesday night (7/14). If you didn't collect your code, follow the Blog Hop from the beginning and collect your letters to spell out your code!

So this card is using two challenges: Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #147 and the SCS Clean and Simple Challenge #75 - Dry Embossing. I am not sure this ended up a truly clean and simple card...I usually envision less layers for clean and simple...but it does have a lot of white space so I say it qualifies! I stamped the large heart dandelion from the new Dandy Wishes set from Paper Makeup Stamps...see I told you I love this set and I haven't even had a chance to do some of the other things I want to with it yet! I cut it into squares and colored them in with markers. Then I mounted them on black cardstock. Stamped the same image in Basic Black on my white base, so I could have a stem to my flower. My dry embossing for the CAS Challenge came in with the 2 lines on either side of my flower. Then I inked up the Wish in black and colored the dandelion top with markers. All of it was matted on the four colors of cardstock and finished off with a black rhinestone sticker.

Have a great rest of the week! Make sure to check out the Makeup 4 the Weekend Challenge on Friday. Since I am having hair AND makeup done for the wedding, I may post a pic...I am not done up like that very often! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Dandy Wishes (PMS); Paper - Whisper White, Basic Black, Crushed Curry, Dusty Durango, Bermuda Bay, Old Olive (SU!); Ink - Basic Black, Crushed Curry marker, Dusty Durango marker, Bermuda Bay marker, Old Olive marker; Accessories - Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Black Rhinestones (Darice), Scoring Blade, dimensionals

Make a Wish

Have you ever watched a child grown up before your eyes? I seriously am having these incredible moments lately with my son. See last year, he wanted very little to do with water. He would cry if he got water on his head...God forbid if it got in his eyes! We started him in swim lessons back in March and he was doing ok...very, very hesitant. But he liked going, so I just prayed that he would eventually pick it up. Little did I know that I would witness him swimming like a fish! Around 2-3 weeks ago, he finally realized he could go underwater and since then he has begun testing himself everytime he is in the water. Tonight I saw him swim the length of a pool...I just cannot believe it! He just grew up a little bit before my eyes!

So that was my wish last summer for my son (that he would eventually be able to swim)...this card is all about making your own wish. Remember how I said my favorite stamp set released in July from Paper Makeup Stamps was Dandy Wishes...well here it is! I LOVE this set! I decided to use the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #146 for my card.

I inked up my stamp with markers, spritzed it with water, and stamped it on watercolor paper. It made the image look almost like I hand watercolored it! So cool! I cut and embossed it with Oval Nestabilities. The Rich Razzleberry cardstock panels were crumpled a lot and then I separated the cardstock to give it almost a fuzzy texture. The pattern paper is from the Green at Heart stack by Basic Grey. The final touch was to use the rhinestone template by Bazzill and the Tangerine Blast rhinestone stickers for some swirly bling.

The "Make a Wish" sentiment was stamped in Whisper White Craft ink on Handsome hunter cardstock. I used the photo corner punch to clip the end to make it look like a flag. Then finished it off with a couple smaller tangerine blast rhinestones.

Now I just happen to coincide with the Review Day going on over at the PMS Blog! I swear I didn't plan it...I wasn't assigned this review day. But since you are here, why don't you hop over to the PMS Blog and see what other beautiful creations the design team members came up with for this set...you will see quickly why I love it so!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Dandy Wishes (PMS); Paper - Melon Mambo textured, Rich Razzleberry, Handsome Hunter (SU!), Green at Heart Collection (Basic Grey), watercolor paper; Ink - Whisper White Craft, Melon Mambo marker, Dusty Durango marker, More Mustard marker, Green Galore marker, Handsome Hunter marker, Rich Razzleberry marker (SU!); Accessories - Tangerine Blast Rhinestone stickers (Bazzill), Rhinetsone Template (Bazzill), white satin ribbon (Offray), Oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Photo Corner Punch (SU!), Corner Rounder Punch (SU!), dimensionals

Meow to You!

Is it Friday already? Man this week feels like it has flown by! Not that I am upset or anything, but I am just sayin'...still can't believe that it is July already! I may actually scrapbook tonight...although only one friend is making it out, so maybe we will just make cards instead. Not feelin' the scrapbooking vibe right now!

Anyway, today you are getting a double duty of PMS! Wow that sounds bad...who wants a double duty of PMS...see there are times to use an acronym and there are times not to. So let's try that again...today you are getting a double duty of Paper Makeup Stamps. It is the Makeup 4 the Weekend Challenge #34 and it is the first Review day from the amazing July Release. So what was your favorite set/image released?? Honestly, mine is one I haven't even shown here yet...Dandy Wishes...totally love it...don't worry you WILL be seeing it here! But this Francesa kitty is right up there as well...she is just SO sassy! So the Makeup 4 the Weekend Challenge #34 is to use "Critters" on your card and what luck, Paper Makeup Stamps has some of the cutest critters around! Diem Pascarella, yup the illustrator of the PMS Beautiful Day fairies, has created these Retro Critters in 1950's fashion! They are just so cute. And today we just so happen to be reviewing the recently released Critters, Francesca the Cat and Felicity the Fawn, and the new Cutie Critter Sayings to match! So make sure you hit the PMS Blog to see what all of the designers have to show you with these great critters!

So Francesca, like I said, is a sassy kitten...she normally comes with a martini glass in her left paw...which I am sure she is drinking before Noon because that is just how sassy she is. But I have a niece that LOVES cats...so I immediately thought of making a birthday card for her with Francesca. Problem is she is turning 12 (I think!) and a martini glass is not really appropriate. So I put clear tape over the martini glass (kinda tricky since it is small), inked up the stamp, pulled the clear tape off and stamped the image on my cardstock. Her left paw didn't quite look right and I was stumped as to what else I could put in her hand to cover it up, so I got a little of the ink on my blender pen and kinda "filled in" her paw. Not perfect, but I think it worked...can you tell? Now she just looks like she is showing us a Sassy pose! Then I colored her with the colors from the Color Throwdown Challenge #100 (you gotta checkout this week's challenge as there are HUGE prizes in celebration...Katie even donated the entire July Release!): Baja Breeze, Real Red, Certainly Celery, and Regal Rose. I colored with the ink pads and blender pen. Then a little star dust stickles on the red parts to match my sparkle red rhinestones. I also went around her and the edge of my paper with a grey watercolor pencil and then blended it out with the blender pen. It kind of makes her jump out a little since I kept her white.

The layout for my card came from the Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #63...told you I would be back! This is a great sketch! I pulled out some pattern paper from Parisian Breeze collection that is retired SU!, added my scallop border and some white gel pen accents. The certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon was tied with silver cord and a button from the Button Latte collection from SU!.

So now you need to check out what the other designers did for the Makeup 4 the Weekend Challenge at the PMS Blog. Better yet, break out your "critters" and create something...then link it up to the PMS Blog so we all can see! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Francesca the Cat, Cutie Critter Sayings (PMS); Paper - Certainly Celery, Real Red, Regal Rose, Whisper White, Parisian Breeze DSP (SU!); Ink - Brilliance Graphite Black, Certainly Celery, Baja Breeze, Real Red marker, Regal Rose marker (SU!); Accessories - Watercolor Pencils (SU!), Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon (SU!), Flower button from Button Latte Collection (SU!), Silver cord (retired SU!), Sparkle Red Rhinstones - Kisses (Bazzill), Scallop Border punch (SU!), white gel pen, Stardust Stickles, Blender Pen, dimensionals

PMS July Blog Hop

So are you ready to see all of the great sets being released this month at Paper Makeup Stamps? If you have been following the PMS blog, you have gotten a pretty good taste of what is to be offered, but you are getting even more through this Blog Hop. So make sure you start at the beginning and follow all of the way through...make sure to collect all of the letters as you go as well so you can get a code for 15% off the entire release! If you did already start at the beginning, then you came here from Lisa Kind's blog (wasn't her card Beautifully Fabulous?!).

So let's get started here. I am showing you a peek at the new set "Kiss and Makeup". The makeup image in this set is very fun to work with. I chose, for some reason, to paper piece it. Ok not totally recommended as there are lots of little pieces, but I love how it turned out...a whole matching beauty kit! I paper pieced it like I said with paper from the Rockstar Mat Stack by DCWV...that is also where the perfect kiss paper came from as well. I added some white gel pen and silver gel pen accents to the makeup image. The kiss paper has the metallic look to it and apparently I did not do a very good job of picking up the pink metallic color of the lips.

The sentiment was stamped on an oval piece of Pretty in Pink cardstock and accented with a silver gel pen. The Pink Passion piece of cardstock was embossed with the Heart Blocks embossing folder. I will admit that I wasn't sure about the sentiment purely from the side of I don't give my husband a card when we are done with an argument...but I can totally see this as a Valentine's Day card and the sentiment is just for a little fun. I am just sayin'!

So now you need to hop on over to Tangii Crain's blog to see what amazing and Fabulous things she has in store for you. But before you do, my letter for you is "U". Have fun hopping and join us at the Release Party in the FORUM at 9 pm EST for some games, prizes, chatter, oh my! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Kiss and Makeup (PMS); Paper - Basic Black, Whisper White, Pink Passion, Pretty in Pink (SU!), Rockstar Mat Stack (DCWV); Ink - Brilliance Graphite Black; Accessories - white taffeta ribbon (SU!), Cuttlebug Heart Blocks embossing folder (Provo), Oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Scallop Border Punch (SU!), silver gel pen, white gel pen, scissors, dimensionals

Paper Makeup Stamps Sneak Peek

I am so excited! This is my first Sneak Peak for Paper Makeup Stamps (PMS) and what a great release to begin with! There are all sorts of great new stamps being released this month, but I will admit I am partial to these fairies! They are just the cutest! So with great pleasure I introduce you to the Maya Fairy. I was told she is suppose to be a more "ethnic" fairy, but really she is great for all. In fact when I saw her and her outfit, for some reason I saw "Punky Brewster"! Does anyone else remember that show...it was a favorite of mine when I was younger. Well I looked up a picture of her (from then, not now) and I really have no idea why I thought this originally...she had pig tails with s light wave in her hair...not the curly hair in Maya Fairy. Oh well, the inspiration was still there.

Anyway, I chose a piece of pattern paper from the Rockstar Mat Stack from DCWV to get my color scheme. I stamped Maya on two pieces of watercolor paper. One I cut out with Oval Nesties and the other I actually watercolored and cut out the fairy minus the wings. Then I glued the cut-out one on top of the Oval cut one so she is a little thicker giver her some dimension....plus it allows her to come outside of the oval some too! And you know as I was cutting her out, I realized you could totally use her without the fairy wings if for some reason you didn't want to do the fairy thing one time.

To finish the fairy off I, of course, had to add some Stardust Stickles to her wings (what is a fairy without a little sparkle?). Then I added some white star brads around and coated them with stardust stickles as well. Final touch was a sparkle white ribbon. And you know what...now you may need to sit down for this one as it may be a HUGE shock...I did not use a sketch for this! See aren't you glad I told you to sit down! Shocking, I know!

Now you need to check out the sneak peeks by the other design team members over at the Paper Makeup Stamps Blog...be prepared to be wowed! Make sure to leave a comment to be entered to win the stamps being shown today! Then join us on July 7 for a special Blog Hop and at 9 pm EST for the Release Party! We will be partying away in our FORUM with games, prizes, chatter, and all around good times! Hope to see you then and thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Maya Fairy (PMS); Paper - Soft Suede Textured, Rose Red, Pink Passion, Cameo Coral (SU!), Watercolor Paper, Rockstar Mat Stack (DCWV); Ink - Black Staz-on, Soft Suede marker, Rose Red marker, Cameo Coral marker, Pink Passion marker; Accessories - Oval and Scallop Oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Stardust Stickles, white star brads (Oriental Trading), sparkle white grosgrain ribbon (Offray), paintbrush, dimensionals, scissors

Dancing into the Weekend

I am going to totally admit that if anyone were to watch my house through the windows, they would totally see some dancing. Dancing of all kinds...ballet, head-banging, or simple just gettin' down...and I am sure it is not done well! If I am alone and cleaning and have the music nice and loud, you may see even more dancing. Even my kids will dance...we have little dance parties sometimes. Pretty darn funny! So this little ballerina fairy, Marissa, just spoke to me and yeah, I like to "Dance as if no one is watching".

So this is my first Makeup 4 the Weekend Challenge #33 (from here on out this will be shown as M4TW because that is a lot to type!) and I love the idea that it is a different type of challenge every week. While I am partial to sketch challenges, it is fun to play with other challenges too. I am usually a one challenge per card type of gal, but I went CRAZY with this card and made if for not 1...not 2...but 3 challenges! Yup, got a little crazy, but I think it worked out. So the M4TW Challenge was to make a window card...this is where my people walking by my house seeing me dancing through the windows discussion came from...so I chose to put my ballerina on the inside with a square window to see her from the front of the card. I almost did actual window panes, but I was afraid it would cover her up too much. I used Jen Del Muro's Sketch For You To Try from last Saturday...can't go without a sketch right?!

My color scheme came from the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger Pleasing Palette inspiration picture. I loved the cup in the picture as well (shown below) and the Turquoise color was just so bold. So those are the primary things that I put into my card. Then I used some pinks and greens to accent with. The orange stripes were made by crumbling the more solid orange paper from the Green at Heart Basic Grey collection, flattening it out some, rubbing it with Whisper White craft ink (to get the ridges of the crumbling), and then embossing with white embossing powder. I love the way it looks...not sure it really fits with the card though, but I was going with the inspiration picture! The fairy was colored with a blender pen and ink pads.

So now, I encourage you to check-out all of the samples for the M4TW Challenge #33 and get creating! Once you are done link it up to the Paper Makeup Stamps Blog so that we can all see your amazing work! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Marissa Fairy (PMS), Beautiful You (Verve); Paper - Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red, Whisper White (SU!), Green at Heart Collection (Basic Grey); Ink - Black Staz-On, Tempting Turquoise, Really Rust, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Mellow Moss, Blush Blossom (SU!); Accessories - Blender Pen, white embossing powder, heat gun, pink pearl stickers (Oriental Trading), white satin ribbon (Offray), Scallop Border Punch (SU!)