A Christmas Card...Just a Wee Bit Late

Nothing like posting a Christmas card after Christmas...but that is pretty much how I am rolling right now. I swear I need to get myself organized. Things are still a wee bit crazy right now so I think that organization this might be waiting until we move into our new house! Yup that has been the big thing going on...we are in the process of buying a house. Probably shouldn't be announcing this until we sign on the dotted line, but I am just too excited.


So due to my lack of organization, here is a late Christmas card. It was made for the SCS Clean and Simple challenge #149...and I actually posted it to SCS on the first day, just really late posting here! Oh well! The adorable stamps and sentiments are from Hambo Stamps. I actually managed to keep it simple too with just some select coloring.


Alright off to get some cleaning and planning done for our annual New Year's Eve party...most likely last one in our current house! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

Perfect Summer Digi

Back again with another Father's Day card...I always hate it when I forget to show the cards I make for holidays BEFORE the holidays!  So this is me cramming them in before Sunday!!  


So I am assuming you all know that Paper Makeup Stamps is giving away FREE wordart digis nearly every Friday...and if you haven't, you have now!  You can find the free digis at the PMS Blog or in the PMS Store.  This wordart is the digi from last week...I so love, love this quote.  Just makes me giggle!  And if you ask me, it is perfect for Father's Day!


My layout is from the SCS Clean and Simple Challenge #123 which was a layout this week based on a card.  Verve Stamps has also opened up their Get Your Diva On Challenge for this month and the theme is Bring on the Summer, Sunshine, and Blue Skies...think I covered that here!  Nothin' like a sweet simple card that turned out pretty cute!


I hand cut the grass and the sun was made with Big Scallop Circle Nestabilities...cut it once and then rotate it a little to and cut again to get the points (did that make sense?).  The faux stitching was then added with a white gel pen.  


Well that is all for me...I am hoping to get you my first week's theme for summer this weekend...that is assuming I get my Father's Day project and Teacher's Gift and Card done first!  Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!


The Engineering Details
Stamps - Perfect Summer Day Digi (Paper Makeup Stamps); Paper - Crumb Cake, Bashful Blue, Summer Sun (SU!), Summer Grass (Pebbles Etc.); Ink - None; Accessories - Signo White Gel Pen, Big Scallop Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), scissors, dimensionals

Be Counted

Well I feel like I am still catching up from the birthday party week...did you see my post from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Party?  You don't want to miss the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake and Mickey Glove Balloon favors...the invite was nothing special, but I was pretty proud of the cake and favors.  So make sure to check it out if you missed it.  Anyway, like I said, trying to catch up...laundry still hasn't been started, but oh well!  I was happy, though, to be able to have a chance to get a little crafty...and what better way than with the most recent Freebie from Paper Makeup Stamps!

Yup remember how I said in my last post that Paper Makeup Stamps is doing Freebie Fridays? Well there is another great wordart up for grabs at the PMS Blog (or in the PMS Store...and while you are there, might as well browse the Inventory Reduction Sale going on!!).  I took the Be Counted Digi and opened it up in Photoshop Elements.  In that program, I was able to color the different parts of the digi in different colors...to go along with the Splitcoast Stampers Color Challenge #324: Baja Breeze, Soft Suede, and Perfect Plum.  If you search in SCS, you can find files that have the RGB values to put in when coloring stuff so you get the SU! colors printed.  Pretty cool, right?!  Even cooler is the Cryogen White cardstock from Paper Temptress (which is on sale...30% Off) that I printed the wordart on to...it has a beautiful sparkle that you can see in the detailed shot.

I also used the Clean and Simple Challenge #120 on SCS too.  It was a sketch challenge this week.  The bow should be offset for the sketch, but that just did not work with the wordart...just had to be centered.  Plus as a bonus, the SCS Free For All challenge #66 is to use something that you got for Free...well a Freebie Digi from PMS certainly qualifies!  So a very simple card to get myself back into stamping...now to get to that to do list of cards I need to make!  Don't forget to submit for the Paper Makeup Stamps Design Team...you only have until June 4!!  Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Be Counted Wordart Digi (Paper Makeup Stamps); Paper - Baja Breeze, Soft Suede Textured (SU!), Iridescent Cryogen White (Paper Temptress); Ink - Printer; Accessories - Ticket Corner Punch (SU!), Amethyst Satin Ribbon (Offray), dimensionals

A Krafty Kind of Christmas

Oh it has been a little while! Sorry about that! I got sick last week (yup there went the exercise program..but I am back on track this week) and then we were away for the weekend. Plus Thanksgiving is coming and I volunteered to make some table decorations...ok it was suppose to be me and my son, but he keeps finding reasons not to help me! Then my husband's grandmother will be celebrating her 90th birthday this weekend and I have been busy getting the kids to make her things and put together a photo board. So crazy how many memories 90 years can hold! So those are all of my excuses...I think. But I am getting back on track and I owe a lot of cards for birthdays and anniversaries I am late on...so hopefully I can be productive now!

So for my first card back, I pulled out some of the new Holiday collection cardstock by Jillibean Soup...totally love the colors on kraft...just makes me happy. This one also combined up the Clean and Simple Challenge #94 (this week: sponging) and the Clean and Simple Challenge #93 (last week: sketch). This is definitely clean and simple for me and I like it...don't know if I can do it all of the time, but it felt good.

I stamped the Moody for Presents from Paper Makeup Stamps in Chocolate Chip ink on Kraft cardstock. Then I used an aquabrush to color in just the hat and sweater with Bravo Burgundy and Whisper White ink. See the Moodies don't have to be completely colored! And oh how I love how that white ink went onto the kraft cardstock...just perfect! After I cut her out I sponged around the edges with some Chocolate Chip ink. Then I used a strip of the Jillibean Soup White Sugar from the Christmas Chestnut Soup on Kraft collection and some colored twine I had on hand. The greeting is the FREEbie sentiment from Paper Makeup Stamps from any order during November. I also sponged around the entire base card too.

The other cards I made I don't think I will be showing for awhile...one is my Christmas card this year and the other I may submit for publication...so we shall see. Well that is all for me. Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Moody for Presents, Season's Greeting FREEbie sentiment (Paper Makeup Stamps); Paper - Kraft (SU!), White Sugar from Christmas Chestnut Soup on Kraft Collection (Jillibean Soup); Ink - Chocolate Chip, Bravo Burgundy, Whisper White Craft (SU!); Accessories - Oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders), red twine (unknown), aquabrush, dimensionals, sponge

Itching Yet?

Odd title I know...don't worry I will get to it. I normally use the first part of my posts for my "therapy sessions", but knowing it could get a little lengthy with this post, I thought I best put it towards the bottom. So if you want me to make you itch with two little words, read on below!

So leaves can make you itchy...like when you play in the leaves and get them stuck in your bra or underwear...seriously how do they find there way in there?! Imagine hiding in a pile because you were about to turn another year older. That is what I see little Leif doing here....only he isn't so good at it because his tail and horns are sticking out! So cute! Leif along with a sentiment and three leaves is one of the newly released images from Paper Makeup Stamps. For this card I decided to try my hand at a Clean and Simple (CAS) card based on Clean and Simple Challenge #89 on SCS. Basically it was a sketch challenge (which I turned upside down). I colored the stamp directly with markers and used a couple alphabet sets to create my own custom greeting. The inside reads "from your birthday". I gotta tell you that one reason I hate white CAS cards...I can't not get smudges on them...ugh...hopefully you can't seem them too much in the pictures.

So now, let's sit down on the couch and have a chat. Getting back to my title and one of the reasons I have been a little absent in the last week or so. So I bet I can make you instantly itch with two words! Let's give it a try...Head Lice! Yup you probably scratched your head just now. My kids were the lucky receipents of the little bugs...thankfully my husband and I didn't get them too (how I don't know), but we were both convinced that we were infested based on how itchy our heads felt! I am itching again just typing this! We treated them, did what feels like a million loads of laundry, and picked through their heads like gorillas on a nightly basis...but I think we got rid of them without too much trouble.

Then in addition to the head lice, my entire family seems to be in various stages of a cold...my husband actually was determined to have bronchitis. My daughter has sensitive lungs, so as soon as she starts a cold, we immediately need to start breathing treatments to get everything under control. So she was not sleeping well at all last week...like waking up for a couple hours at night...not so good for Mommy and Daddy!

But by the end of the week I finally got to have a little fun. One of my good friend's asked me to decorate a cake for her daughter's 2nd birthday. She bought a white frosted cake from a store and I decorated it with Curious George. I was so very pleased by how it turned out. I was so nervous when I started working on the George part because that was going to either make it or break it...but I think I did good.

Alright, I guess my couch time is up...thanks for listening (reading). Check back soon for the next Makeup 4 The Weekend Challenge and thanks for checking out my kind of engineering.

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Leif Monster (Paper Makeup Stamps), Random Alphabet Stamps (unkown); Paper - Basic White (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Soft Suede Marker, Real Red Marker, Pumpkin Pie Marker, More Mustard Marker, Brilliant Blue Marker (SU!); Accessories - scissors, dimensionals, ruler

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

Black & White Doggie Thanks

Wow would you look at me...2 posts in one week.  Say What??  I know pretty crazy for me...even crazier is I actually have two other cards to show beyond this one and after the weekend I will show all of the stuff for my daughter's 1st birthday!  So hold on to your seats!

So in my last post, I told you about the passing of our wonderful dog, Lucy.  Thank you to all that commented their condolences...that is very sweet of you!  Lucy will be missed by us and her furry sibling (our other dog), Alex.  Our Vet office was so very kind to us during the whole process and really did all they could to save her.  They even basically cut the bill for her surgery in half for us...and when you are talking a couple thousand dollars, that is awesome!  So I made this card as a thank you to them for the wonderful care they provided (and provide for our other dog as well).

I went back to a Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge that I missed, MOJO82, and I found a Clean and Simple challenge on Splitcoast Stampers, CAS15...so two challenges on one card...woohoo!  The Clean and Simple challenge is basically to create clean and simple cards (for yourself...everyone has their own view of clean and simple), but for this challenge you had to use Black & white plus one Bold Brights color.  So my Bold Brights color is Pink Passion and I used it very sparingly:  around the dog and the base flower embellishment.  The central dog is from an old SAB set, A Little Love, and the group of dogs is from Loads of Love Accessories.  Surprisingly, these are the only two dog stamps I have!  

That is all for now...the card is pretty straightforward.  Thanks for stopping by my engineering world!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - A Little Love, Loads of Love Accessories; Paper - Basic Black, Basic White (Papertrey Ink), B&W DP (Me & My Big Ideas); Ink - Basic Black, Pink Passion; Accessories - Blender Pen, Black Brad, Scallop Edge Punch, Sqaure and Scallop Sqaure Nestabilities, flower embellishments (Making Memories), dimensionals