Be Still for Some Sneak Peaks

Well Happy 4th of July to all of those in the great USA! We have been enjoying celebrating...maybe a bit too much!  I feel like we have been going crazy the last few days...but then again I was dealing with getting over Strep Throat (yeah, tell me how I get that during summer?!), my daughter having to go into teh doctor's for an infection on her face that turned out to be bacterial (mostly liked caused by strep), and my son suddenly coming down with strep throat yesterday!  We have managed some fun in there too, but that was a lot to handle!


But today is also special because it is a Sneak Peek day for Paper Makeup Stamps!  The July release is almost here!  Today I get to share a scripture from the Be Still Set...and mine is the Be Still scripture.  I actually used the digi version of this and colored the words "still" and "God" in Photoshop Elements.  I used the color scheme from the Paper Crafts Color Inspiration #6 Challenge.  Not sure my flourish looks right...feel like I didn't place it right, but finally hitting the stamping table after taking lots of nights off, I just went with it.  


Be sure to check out what some of the other "Makeup Artists" came up with for today and leave a comment on the PMS Blog for a chance to win some free stamps!  Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!


The Engineering Details
Stamps - Be Still Set digi (Paper Makeup Stamps); Paper - Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Bashful Blue patterned paper (SU!); Ink - Bashful Blue; Accessories - Black Rhinestones (Darice), Black Rhinestones (Bazzill Basics), Flourish Template (Bazzill Basics), Ticket Corner Punch (SU!), Labels 16 Nestabilities (Spellbinders)

Hopping with Some Dreams

So what is your dream? Dreams are hard for me...I am too much of a realist and I am always thinking about how said dream is difficult and unlikely. My husband on the other had is a big dreamer and I have to be very careful not to squash his dreams. My current dream is to find a way for my paper-crafting hobby to become a job (down the line when the kids are both in school full time), but my realist side isn't allowing the dreamer to think about what that might look like. Wow that was a little much for Blog Hop...sorry about that!

Did I mention that today is the Paper Makeup Stamps New Release Blog Hop?! Well it is and it is fabulous! You should be arriving from Jami's Blog (isn't Skater Cat just so cute?!), but if you didn't start at the beginning, make sure to head over to the PMS Blog so you don't miss a thing!

So this beautiful quote is what sparked my major self-reflection above. And it is a quote from one of my favorites, Walt Disney...I was the hugest Mickey Mouse fan when I was in High School and College...still am a fan, but I don't have any rooms decorated with Mickey right now. The colors for this card were inspired by the Paper Crafts Color Challenge #2. The stamp was colored directly with markers to get the words in different colors...oh and since I used markers, this qualifies for the Moxie Fab World Stamping with Markers Challenge!

So now you are to head on over to Tangii's Blog (wait till you see what she has for you!), but first make sure you note my letter for you:

Oh and we invite you to join us for a little Release Party over on the PMS Forum tonight at 9 pm! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Dreams Can Come True Wordart (Paper Makeup Stamps); Paper - Sahara Sand, Wild Wasabi, Tangerine Tango, Shimmer White, Sahara Sand and Wild Wasabi pattern paper (SU!); Ink - Sahara Sand, Tangerine Tango Marker, Wild Wasabi Marker (SU!); Accessories - Big Scallop Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Glitter Brads (American Crafts), Corner Rounder (SU!), sponge, dimensionals

Bold and Brightly Tied Up in Love

Are you ready for some prizes...a whole bunch of prizes? Paper Makeup Stamps is helping Paper Sundaes Challenge Blog celebrate their First Birthday....and they are only one of the many sponsors (which means there is a lot to win and lots of chances to win!). The challenge this week is an easy one...just pick one of the past year of challenges and go with it! So make sure you check out the Paper Sundaes Challenge Blog for all of the details...there is a Blog Hop to go along with it!

So for my card I went with a recent Paper Sundaes challenge of using Circles. I chose the Viva La Verve Sketch Challenge #2 for my layout and the Moxie Fab World Bold & Bright Color Challenge in honor of the Color Inspiration Special Issue by Paper Crafts. And since this is a Valentine's related card, it just happens to fit the Paper Crafts January Gallery Challenge too! Wow that is a lot of challenges for one card...at least for me! I gotta say I loved this color combo, but it was a challenge to color a big image like this with just these colors. I had to really restrain myself from adding another color to the bunnies! Speaking of bunnies...aren't they just the cutest?! These are Billy and Bianca all tied up in love...makes me remember the days of high school when it was a form of courtship to duck tape the one you liked. I was duct taped a few times so I was pretty good at getting out of it too! I can distinctly remember that my now husband was one of those duct tapers back then! Anyway Billy and Bianca Love Bunnies are the latest additions to the Retro Cutie Critters line by Paper Makeup Stamps.

I colored them with an aquabrush and markers (for the colors) and an ink pad (for the black). The little "love" at the bottom is from the "with love" sentiment in the Little Moments Sentiment set from Paper Makeup Stamps. I happen to find a button from the Cat's Pajamas Candy Sprinkles set that matched perfectly so I went with that instead of a bow.

Four more color combos in honor of the Color Inspiration for Cardmakers issue to go...so you will see me soon! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Billy & Bianca Love Bunnies, Little Moments Sentiments (Paper Makeup Stamps); Paper - Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Basic Black, Whisper White (SU!), Basic White (Papertrey Ink), watercolor paper; Ink - Brilliance Graphite Black (Tsukineko), Melon Mambo Marker, Tangerine Tango Marker (SU!); Accessories - Black Satin Ribbon (Offray), Orange Button from Candy Sprinkles Button Collection (Cat's Pajamas), Heart Blocks embossing folder (Provo), thin white satin ribbon (Offray), Clear Stars Glitter Pen (Sakura), Circle and Big Scalloped Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), aquabrush, 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

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