You're Too Kind

Hi all! Hope you had a great weekend! It was HOT here today! Yikes! Perfect time for a little trip to Target :) I'm proud that I still went walking and I'm going out first thing tomorrow too. I really would like to get back into a regular routine b/c it really makes me feel good.

I'm happy to say that I back on a regular routine with creating (and posting). It seems that my desire to make stuff has returned...yippee!! Here's another thank you that I created for an end-of-the-year gift. I hope it arrived safely!

I just love the butterfly set from PTI! And I would have never guessed that as I've never been a fan of butterflies! I guess when you see so many things that you like that have butterflies your mind starts to change :)

On a separate note, I'm getting in a lot of reading this summer too. Yay! I've already finished Three Cups of Tea and I'll probably finish The Shack tonight. I'm listening to Water For Elephants on my iPod as I walk and I just bought One Day today at Target (please pronounce as Tar-jzay for rhyming effect). I'm really knocking off my list of 'To Read', especially when every movie I've watched lately leaves me wondering why I watched the whole thing. I signed up for swaptree Friday and I'll be sending out 2 books tomorrow. Does anyone use swaptree? I'm a big advocate of the library, but I love that I can swap out the books I have bought for others I'd like to read.

Details:

Stamps - Butterfly Dreams (PTI); Whimsical Words (SU!)

Paper - white, kraft; dp - DCWV (Summer Dream matstack)

Ink - Sweet Blush (PTI), Chocolate Chip (PTI)

Accessories - nesties, white grosgrain ribbon, pop dots

Quite The Pair

Wowza! It's been a productive day. I started off with a walk (4 miles - wahoo!), followed by laundry and cleaning out my kitchen cabinets! My pantry is completely cleaned out & reorganized and I even changed a few cabinets, switching the glasses and serving dishes cupboards. I love when I can check things off my summer to-do list, don't you!

Today, my best friend and her husband celebrated their 8th wedding anniversary. I made them this simple card which I got a call thanking me for this afternoon. Her husband requested that we reinstate our cooking club that we had going on a few years ago. Once a week, we get together at each other's houses and cook a new recipe. I think we're both excited about starting it back up and Monday's the big day! So far Tortellini Soup & a tomato-onion salad w/bread is the tentative menu.

Hope you had a great Saturday as well!

Papertrey June Blog Hop Challenge

Can you believe that this is my first Papertrey Ink Blog Hop? I'm so excited, especially with the challenge that was presented - all about color! I have so many favorite color combos, so I went with one inspired by this dress I really wanted to buy at Macy's on Wednesday. I have no place to wear the dress, so I did the next best thing - make a card using it as inspiration :)

So here's my card with the color combo of Hawaiian Shores, Lemon Tart, and New Leaf

The neat thing with this card is that I can see myself making tons more using different color combos and different sentiments! Heck, I can even use the other frame sets :) With my mojo a-flowin' today, I may even get them done tonight!

Alright, I off for a walk to return the movie to the Red Box so I'm back in time for the start of the hop.

Thanks for dropping by!!

Details:

Stamps - Polka Dot Basics II, Fillable Frames #5 (PTI)

Ink - New Leaf (PTI)

Paper - white; Lemon Tart, Hawaiian Shores, New Leaf (PTI)

Accessories - Frame #5 die (PTI), buttons, pop dots

Thanks For The Gift

After Stampin' Up, the next stamp company that I fell in love with years ago was Stampendous. I love their fun & whimsical images which definitely bring out the kid in me. I have a bunch of Fluffles images and picked out a fun one to use with the current Stampendous Sketch Challenge.

Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

I'm sending it to my mom to thank her for my birthday gifts. Yep, I celebrated the big day earlier this week. We had a nice day visiting an AC Moore about 1 1/2 hours away. I thought I was going to leave empty handed until I found three awesome A muse sets on super clearance - I'm talking $3.50 per set!!! Along with some great finds at the Gap, I had a fantastic day.

Sweet, Sweeter, ...

I created this quick & easy thank you for a student who gave me a gift card to a local ice creamery as an end of the year gift. I knew immediately that I wanted to use my Martha Stewart ice cream punch for her card. It just so happens that today's Free For All challenge at SCS is all about ice cream. Perfection!!

Side note: I finished watching Leap Year and I did predict the ending...darn it! Oh well, it was a free rental. Now I just need to walk it back to the Red Box :)

Moxie Fab - Bicycles

The latest Moxie Fab Challenge is all about bicycles. I love the Hero Arts bicycle but decided it wasn't a must have. Especially after I bought the A muse vintage set that has an adorable bicycle in it.

I thought the sentiment that came with the bike definitely called for a bumpy road ahead, so I created a little hill for the bike to go up. Now I've got an encouragement card for my stash.

okay, I'm going back to watching Leap Year. I had a free rental at the Red Box, and it was the only thing that looked interesting that I haven't seen. So far, it's okay....but I have a feeling I know what's going to happen. I hate that - how 'bout you?

Everything's Coming Up Roses

I finally have a day at home! Which meant I was bound & determined to get going on that list of cards that I need to make & mail. Hopefully I'll finish them all up tonight so I can get them to the post office tomorrow.

Here are two cards that I made using the latest Flower of the Month set from PTI. I love roses, so I was excited to add this set to my collection.

The first card was designed with today's Ways To Use It challenge at Splitcoast requiring heat embossing. I will be the first to say that I LOVE the look (and feel) of heat embossing, but I HATE the task. So this definitely was a challenge for me! I'm very happy with how it turned out - the graphic nature of the card & the bold colors are great!

The second card is a nod to all the fabulous floral cards that I've been seeing using polka dot dp. Aren't they great?! So I had to create my own with some helpful inspiration from Nichole Heady! I love how she popped up the center of the rose on one of her cards during release week. Here's mine:

Just love how this one turned out, too!!

On a separate note, I bought new storage containers for my flour, sugar, spaghetti, etc. yesterday. I keep all of these items in my pantry and wanted containers that would keep them fresh and use the space the best. I decided to go with the new (I think) OXO pop containers. Have you seen them? They're really cool! I'd love to hear if anyone has been using them and how they're working out.

Funk Free :)

Oh my goodness! I have been in this funk for three weeks now - not wanting to create much of anything. I'm happy to say that I'm finally getting over it :) Which is good because I have so many thank you cards to create and send out.

I made this quick & simple thank you tonight with some color inspiration from Kristina Werner.

And here's what I came up with:

I think it's 'sew' cute!! I started the inspiration with stamping overlapping circles, but it just wasn't cuttin' it. I'm really glad that I switched to a different idea. I hope the friend that I'm sending it to likes it.

Wednesdays With MyGrafico

This week's MyGrafico Challenge is a sketch challenge. And up for grabs is this great set from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff perfect for graduation cards (I'll be showcasing my graduation cards later this week).

And here's the sketch:

And my take:

I think the library card is so versatile & couldn't wait to use it. I also used some of my new Basic Grey Basics Kraft paper....LOVE THIS STUFF!! Be sure to hop over to our Ning community to see the fabulous creations by the rest of the design team and join in on the fun!

Today, we're having a Minute To Win It event in my classroom!! Afterwards, some colleagues and I are heading to Buca di Beppo for dinner. I can't wait :)