For Ewe in Review

Ok I am going to admit that I am writing this very late at night (then scheduling it to post), so I cannot guarantee that it will be 100% coherent. After all I have been up since 6:30 am as that is when my children have decided it a perfectly decent time to wake up...I try to differ with them, but they don't seem to want to budge on this issue.

Anyway, I get the opportunity to show off one more of the newly released stamps from Paper Makeup Stamps. Sally Sheep is part of the Retro Cutie Critters line, which I absolutely adore! Now Sally is just looking completely fabulous all dressed up, don't you think? Actually the thought of a sheep being dressed up like this for some reason makes me giggle.

Anyway, I took the opportunity to paper piece her, lining up nicely with the Moxie Fab World Paper Piecing Challenge, in orange. i used a layout from an old Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #94 that I never got a chance to play with before. I added some white fun flock to her woolly parts...did that sound dirty or was it just me and my very sleepy mind! If it was, I apologize! Back to the card...I dyed some white taffeta ribbon with the Early Espresso marker...I apparently need some ribbon in this color because I keep doing this. The "For" part of the sentiment is actually from the Cutie Critters Sayings set from Paper Makeup Stamps and the "ewe" was created with an old alpha set I have.

Well that is all for me tonight...really should go to bed. I was suppose to be finishing up some birthday cards for my nephews and my husband went and got me involved in a movie...so now I have stayed up late and didn't get my cards done. Ah well, I will say it was a relaxing evening! Next week in addition to some new cards, I will become a baker...that is right new cake creations (and cupcakes) for my son's 6th birthday. I won't tell you what they will be so I don't jinx myself...just hoping that the ideas in my head work out! If you have never seen my cake creations thus far (mostly for my kids birthdays) take a look at my Gallery HERE. Until I post again, thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Sally Sheep, Cutie Critter Sayings (Paper Makeup Stamps), Dot Alphabet (Walmart); Paper - Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Whisper White (SU!), Olivia Nectar Pattern Paper (BoBunny); Ink - Early Espresso, Cajun Craze (SU!); Accessories - Mini Glitter Brads (American Crafts), Cotton Ball White Fun Flock (Stampendous), Oval and Big Scallop Oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders), white taffeta ribbon (SU!), dimensionals, blender pen, white gel pen

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

Sleeping Beauty

Are you ready? Ready to see some new Paper Makeup Stamps? It is that time again...New Release time and it is a good one! If you missed Day One of the sneak peeks then, you need to check out the PMS Blog.

Today is the introduction of the new fairies and I have to tell you that these little kid fairies have got to be my favorite! This is Aurora and she is one tired little chickie. This totally reminds me of my daughter (minus the cute little braids...she flat out refuses to allow me to put anything in her hair).

I used the current Sweet Stop Sketch #97 for my layout. Aurora was stamped on watercolor paper. I masked her off and sponged the green color on...for some reason though it darker on the watercolor paper than it normally is. Not sure you can tell from the pic, but there is a little Stardust Stickles on her wings (fairies always need a little sparkle). The sentiment comes with Aurora too!

Make sure to check out what the other girls have in store for you today at the PMS Blog. Don't forget to stop by on the 7th for the Blog Hop and then into the PMS Forum at 9 pm for the Release Party! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Aurora and Sentiment (Paper Makeup Stamps); Paper - Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red (SU!), Delirium from Euphoria Collection (Basic Grey), watercolor paper; Ink - Brilliance Graphite Black (Tsukineko), Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red, Elegant Eggplant, Certainly Celery, Crumb Cake marker (SU!); Accessories - Labels 16 Die (Spellbinders), Scallop Border Punch (SU!), Purple Pearls (Oriental Trading), sponge, dimensionals, aquabrush

Friends Box

My kid-free, clean house time has now ended...and to be honest I welcome the mess to have my kids and husband back with me! While I definitely enjoyed my "me" time, I missed them and I am so glad to have them back! I didn't quite get my photo albums done, nor all of the stamping I had planned, but I did a good amount...somehow there was more to do than I expected! So now I am working at getting the kids back into their normal routine.

I got a very cool surprise this morning. I made it into the Paper Crafts Designer Blog Roll!! It is very crazy to see my name among some of the "heavy hitters" (you see the whole list HERE), but I am super proud! Make sure to check it out, and maybe find a fantastic new blog to follow!

Speaking of Paper Crafts, this was a project that I submitted for the Stamp It! Techniques special issue that did not get picked up. This was for the paper piecing technique. And let me tell you, this Penelope fairy from Paper Makeup Stamps is paper pieced...down to the little tassels on the circular thing she is holding! It took awhile to cut her out, but I love how it turned out. She was then mounted on a mini pizza box (instructions originally by Jen del Muro).

Still have to show you my last scrapbook page...that will come soon. Then don't forget the new Release Sneak Peeks for Paper Makeup Stamps will be starting March 3 on the PMS Blog. Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Penelope Fairy, Friends are Angels Quote (Paper Makeup Stamps); Paper - Kitchen Spice and various Dots colors (BoBunny), Chocolate Chip, Whisper White (SU!); Ink - Brilliance Graphite Black (Tsukineko), Oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Tag Corner and Corner rounder Punches (SU!), Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon (SU!), dimensionals

Leaf Pile

One of the perks of being at home without any kids to worry about is that I can go shopping as I please. So it was wonderful to spend some time doing just that with my sisters and niece! Family really is the best and I just can't imagine going through life without them. Thanks sisters for a wonderful day!

We are now onto #6 of my scrapbooking weekend installments. This is one of my favorites. When I finished this one, my girlfriends all said wow you left it so simple...your style is changing. I will admit that sometimes I have a problem leaving space on scrapbook pages, but it was quite refreshing to make a simple page (besides the time consuming part of hand-cutting out all of those leaves)! Once again the layout is from Page Maps.

I just love Fall leaf pictures...the colors are just so vibrant and fun to scrap! I am the one out raking the leaves with a camera close by so that I can capture my kids playing in them. I thought the leaf stamp would be too detailed to use, but once I tried the tone-on-tone look with it, I LOVED it! Gave the leaves almost a texture or dimension. The little loopy strip was created with the Apron Border Die from the Cat's Pajamas and I gave the orange strip some texture with the Distressed Stripes embossing folder.

Only one more page to go, but plenty of cards coming up! Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Botanicals, Quirky Alphabet, other alphabet (SU!); Paper - Black & Ivory Fusion Paper Pad (K&Company), Crumb Cake, Crushed Curry, Ruby Red, Tangerine Tango (SU!); Ink - Crushed Curry, Ruby Red, Tangerine Tango, Always Artichoke (SU!); Accessories - Apron Border Die (The Cat's Pajamas), Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes embossing folder (Provo Craft), scissors, dimensionals

Yum

Coming at you with the 5th installment from my scrapbooking weekend. As I write these posts, it reminds me that I need to get the next scrapbooking session set-up. It felt so good to do these pages!

This one is one of the ones I really liked...even if there is a bit of an oops on the page. Don't worry I will tell you what it is...can't tell from a distance, only if you read everything! Anyway the layout is again from Page Maps...did I mention how much I LOVE the sketches there! They definitely help me get much better designs out of my scrapbook pages...my earlier pages just look kind of plain to me now...not that I don't love them too, but I just didn't seem to be very creative with my layouts! This sketch is one that I used before (seen HERE)...so you can see how you can get different looks with one sketch!

The baby food jar images are from an old Stampin' Up! set which the name totally escapes me. So when my kids were each infants, I was pretty diligent with recording firsts and such in a calendar, so I actually had written down the day that she tried each new food. Since the journaling area couldn't contain all of that information (and I wasn't going to scrapbook each new food, nor did I take pictures!) I wrote around the outside edges of the pictures the food and date. You can see it better in the detail shot. So here comes my oops...I started just above the single carrots baby food jar on the left side and continued clock-wise around the pictures. Well I ran out of room...so I had to jump down to below the single carrots food jar to get them all in. Why I didn't start down there in the first place I have no idea. So the oops is that if you were to start down there like I should have done, the foods will not be chronological...not a big deal for many, but my engineering mind is bugged by this!

I have started working on the March Release for Paper Makeup Stamps...super cute...can't wait to share with you...but you will have to wait until March 4th on the PMS Blog (March 5th for my first sneak peek). Will be back with some more scrapbooking too, but thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - Unknown Baby Set (SU!); Paper - Banbury DSP, Certainly Celery, Whisper White (SU!); Ink - Dusty Durango, Lovely Lilac marker, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke marker (SU!); Accessories - Sprinkles Thickers Letter Stickers (American Crafts), scissors, dimensionals

Bath Time

So imagine this for a second...and this is mainly for those that have kids (particularly young kids)...you clean your house and it stays clean! And not just clean for an hour or so, but for FIVE days! That is the dream I am living in right now! Granted the only way for said dream to come true was to send the husband and kids down to Florida (they get warm weather, I still have to shovel snow...didn't say it was all good!) for 5 days, but hey I am livin' the dream! Yeah I miss them and I actually miss the "noise"...although it is nice to have silence for a bit, but the dog is not the greatest conversationalist. So my enjoyment of my clean, peaceful house (and the photo album work...trying to finish 2008...yup that is how far behind I am...and the stamping) has delayed me from continuing my posts of my scrapbook pages. So before I head out for some errands, let me get back to it.

This is my 4th edition from the scrapbooking weekend. It was funny...I totally thought this one was going to be an easy one. I found the adorable duck and bubbles and the super cool paper and with my sketch (from Page Maps of course) I thought this would be the easiest page to complete. So wrong I was...this one felt like a labor of love. And honestly still not sure I "love" it...but it is done! Something about those naked babies in the bathtub...just can't get enough of them! Plus I need to have some pictures to embarrass her with later on in life, right?!

Hoping to stay on track and show you the final three pages in the next few days...my favorites are still to come. Thanks for checking out my kind of engineering!

The Engineering Details

Stamps - None; Paper - Whisper White, Yoyo Yellow (SU!), Super Cool Glittery Wave paper (sorry I used the part with the name, but I got it from Archiver's); Ink - None; Accessories - Labels 14, Scallop Circle, and Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Scallop Border Punch (SU!), Rubber Duckie Stickers (PaperBliss by Westrim Crafts), Scrap Metal Self-Adhesive Letters (Pressed Petals)