The whole enchilada

Not much doin today, but you might remember this post and the sneak peak of a girlfriends birthday card?  Well here is the whole enchilada for you to see today.... 

Happy Birthday Ana!!!

Your encouraging comments are always welcome!  Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful Friday!

Cheers,

Katie

 

Extra! Extra! Extra hostess dollars!

Live in the Seattle or Edmonds area? Schedule your next workshop with me by August 31 and earn an additional $25 in FREE Stampin' Up! merchandise, starting with a $350 workshop order! Or email me to learn more about hosting a virtual catalog workshop!

CLICK HERE FOR $25 HOSTESS BONUS FLYER!

For example, if you host a $350 workshop, you'll receive:

• A free Level 1 or Level 2 stamp set of your choice. To learn more, see pages 9 - 16 of the new catalog or CLICK HERE.
• Receive $65 in FREE Stampin' Up! product ($40 + $25)
• I'll hold the workshop in my home for you! You provide the guests. You get the hostess benefits.

• Workshop includes a personal demonstration, instruction and materials for a fun make & take project, lots of paper crafting tips and prizes!

Dates: July 27-August 31, 2010

Details:

Hostesses will receive an additional $25 in hostess free merchandise dollars when they hold a workshop totaling $350 (before shipping and tax) or more!

Mr. Golden Sun

My kiddo is all about singing songs in the car these days. One after another and I never get tired of them b/c she is so cute!  The other day she was singing, "Mr Golden Sun won't you please shine down on me."  Although she didn't have to, because thankfully the sun has been out for about a week straight now (knock on wood!) and it has been oh so lovely!  We spend many of our afternoons/evenings at the beach digging in the sand and playing in the water.  She is a total water baby!  Anyway, I've been thoroughly enjoying her, the beach and Mr. Golden Sun!

Actually, we had a rough patch with the family and work this week.  My husband has to work a lot of OT and on Monday he worked 22 hours!  That's right, 22 straight!  Crazy and amazing he didn't hurt himself since he does a lot of heavy lifting/labor all day.  Meanwhile I was up half the night cursing his employers because they are very abusive of him and his co-workers (in the sense that they are poor employers, expect a lot and give very little).  Bblah, blah, blah, you don't need to know every detail of my life right! :)  Basically, I have to say that although I was POed the sun made it easier.  Yep, you know in the winter that might have been harder for me to handle, but Mr. Golden Sun here, along with a little of that good old Vitamin D, really does help to keep my spirits up.

So today I have a card that is an ode to Mr. Golden Sun that I made a few days back.  This is also, basically (in my mind) a cartoon version of my daughter playing on the beach.  So cute and so perfect (most of the time...heh!).  All the supplies are Stampin' Up! with the exception of the stamps themselves, which are from Pink Cat Studio.

Thanks for stopping by and note that encouraging comments are always welcome!

Sophie Video

OK, this is just too good to resist, I have to post my little Sophie video.  This is in reference to this post below where we made daddy cookies. :)  Enjoy!

So many momentous occassions!

One of the things I have the most trouble with when making cards is the layout of the card.   For some reason I feel that they are all the same, or similar enough.  It might also be because I am stingy, I don't want to use my DSP most of the time.  I love it so much that I want to wait for just the right project, meanwhile, it piles up and gets used after it retires, there isn't more available if I do have a big project or never at all.  So sad to be so stingy.  My goal for the next few weeks it to use up my paper! 

Another way I deal with this  is to I spend some time surfing and looking for card sketch challenges online.  I have a little book that I use to draw some of the sketches I really like so I can go back to them if I am stumped. I also carry it around with me in my purse (yes among the 15,000 other things in there), just in case I have some inspiration of my own.

This first card today is for a friend who is pregnant.  They have been trying for quite some time with no luck and eventually tried IVF with success.  So this is a super big deal and I wanted to make it extra special, so dug out some lovely paper I had been hoarding in a drawer somewhere.   I also added another special little touch.  My other good friend Julie, who just had her baby boy Alexander last weekend at 11 lb 3 oz- whoa!(CONGRATS!), had used the retired SU! set She's All That on her shower invites several months ago with this sage color behind with the scallop edge punch.  I can't keep everything, but I kept it that part of the invite for another special occassion.  Well here it is, I am passing that image from one mom friend to another on this card, a fun way to reduce, reuse, recycle! :)

I made this card using a sketch from ICsketches (Inspirational Card Sketches).  Here is the sketch I was working from, I simply flipped it over. :)  (I seem to have issue with doing things from right to left, something about that rule about reading I guess, things go from left to right. 

One other thing I wanted to share with you today is a sneak peak for a birthday card for my girlfriend Ana.  She reads this blog sometimes so I don't want to give things away, but I thought a little teaser might be fun- insert evil grin.

So much good news out there, babies, pregnancies and birthdays- congrats to you all!  I feel priviledged to share these momentous occassions with you!

Thanks for stopping by today!  If you have any encouraging comments I'd be delighted to hear them!

 

Cookies for Daddy

Although I just use the tollhouse recipe, I make some darn good chocolate chip cookies!  Now if you leave it up to me, who needs the cookies, lets just eat the dough!!!!  Yummo!  However, my family seems to like the cookies themselves.  In fact, about a week ago, I was hanging round the house and I mentioned making some chocolate chip cookies but never got around to it.  Well my husband wasn't about to let that go- ha!  He reminded me just a few times. :)  He even went to the store to pick up a loaf or bread or something benign like that and called me from the store, "what do you need to make cookies?  I'll get it while I am here."  Talk about dropping hints!  So I looked through the cupboards and reported what was needed but we (and by we I mean the royal we- aka I) didn't make cookies that day, ran out of time.

Now the next day, Soph and I were solo as Daddy had been putting in a lot of OT the last few weeks.  So, we decided to have a girls night and watch a video and make cookies.  The video came first at her request but she was up for the cookies later.  Of course, she didn't exactly "help" (being two and a half) she was more of a supervisor than anything. :)  She did however, oblidge me by being my taste tester and beater licker- life is so rough!  Anyway, we had a ton of fun. 

When Daddy got home that evening (we were all in bed) we had left him a plate of freshly baked cookies, made him this quick card and a little video from Sophie.  He had a rough day at work, so I think it really made his day.

As for the card, it was super quick.  I used my newest wheel Full Speed Ahead, added a little color and some torn edges for effect, added a little DSP and wallah!  It took me about 5 minutes but was still fun and cute and the hubby loved it. :)

Check back later and I may link the video, too cute to resist.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Power of the letter P

Did you notice that 3 of the 5 new in-colors start with the letter P?  Yep, Pear Pizzaz, Peach Parfaitt and Poppy Parade.  The other two, Concord Crush and Blushing Bride could have easily been something like Purple Port and Pleasantly Pink.  All the names Stampin' Up! has chosen are so very appropriate and I love them.  The one I love the most though, is Poppy Parade.  I read or think of this and I am automatically transported into a field filled with red poppy's!  So lovely!  They really hit the nail on the head while naming this color and I find it to be my very fave of the new in-colors.

Last night after my Peanut :) went to bed, I wanted to make something with this color.  I had seen Mercy's sketch earlier in the day and decided to play with that, it looked really fun.  For my card, I wanted to keep that playfull feeling, so I used the new Playground DSP and the new stamp Set Greeting Card Kids.  This was a fun card to make and I just love how bright it is!

I have one more thing to show you today.  I got a belated b-day present in the mail from my good friend Krista in Minnesota.  OK, here it is.  Now do you know WHAT it is?   No?!  Once you know what it is you'll think, "Duh, why didn't I see that!" :)  I'll give you  a hint...it has something to do with geography... It is comfy...it is very creative and a very loving gift.  It is a Washington shaped pillow (with a heart in Seattle) holding hands with a Minnesota shaped pillow (with a heart in Minneappolis).  We may be far apart, but our friendship spans the distance.  Isn't that sweet?!?!  What a creative woman she is and so thoughtful.  I miss her terribly and wish I could see her more, but we make do.  But now I have this silly gift to cuddle up next to and think of her.  We are quite the Pair, must be cosmically linked somehow ;) as we do many things in Parallel much of the time even thought we are Parted.  Thanks KK, I love you!  HUGS!

Thanks for stopping by today and your letter to play with today is P! :)

Stuff

I know it has been a while since I posted last (three weeks???).  Sorry to be gone so long.  There has been a lot of stuff going on in my world in the last three weeks.  I had my father visiting and then the next weekend we went to visit my family in my home town.  In between my hubby has been working a lot and I have been extremely busy at my job.  Most importatnly, trying to get my kiddo out for some fun in the sun since summer is finally here in Seattle!  We have really been enjoying the beach and our time together playing.  I feel like that is what summer should be all about.

Meanwhile, I did get a whole new box of SU! stuff, but haven't had much of a chance to use it.  Planning on finding some time in the near future though! I did make one card this last week in the evening with some of my new stuff.  It was fun to make.  I just love this new DSP, Greenhouse Gala, the flowers are beautiful and the colors are awesome.  Can't get enough of the new Pear Pizzaz.  I used the new corresponding stamp set, friends never fade.   I'll have to find someone special to give this card to.  I have no shortage of special and wonderful people in my life, so that should be easy, but picking who to give it to will be hard!

I do have one more card to show you, I made it quite a while ago.  The stamp is from one of my favorite stamp sets, Chic Boutique.  I think the bling really sets it off and makes it stand out.  This is such a trendy color combo right now too (Gray, Yellow, White, Black), and I agree it is fun.   Some of the paper and accessories are non SU!, but what the hey, I am putting it up here for my own enjoyment.

Cheers, and hope you have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by! :)