Happy Thanksgiving & Friends With Flair

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Since the kids had a rare break with no sports practices or school, we drove down to San Diego for a mini-getaway. Funny how traveling from your house, even if it's only two hours away, can really give you a sense of "getting away".

We stayed at a hotel in the Gas Lamp district - it was an interesting place to walk around! San Diego is a nice city, but I miss my green grass - I guess I'm just a midwestern/suburban girl at heart!

The girls, of course, hankered for the beach. We took them to Coronado Island and La Jolla (above). They had so much fun! Just behind them, you can see a seal playing and splashing his flippers. How cool is that?!

 

Well, it's Friday and time for Unity's "Friends with Flair" - unfortunately, this was a bit of a rush job, since we were away and then cooking all day yesterday. I just purchased (this morning!) Carta Bella's "Devoted" paper (6x6 pad) for $2.50 at the local scrapbooking store. It was a good deal - although of course I don't need any more paper - so I thought I better start using it right away! I absolutely adore this stamp set (Out of This World) and thought it would go well with the paper.

The sketch is from Unity DT member Lisa Arana's blog - a simple but very classy card sketch. If you're looking for a challenge, you can join in the fun (entries due by December 13, 2013)!.

How many of you braved the crowds this morning and went shopping? Hubby bought me a new camera for Christmas, but we're still debating whether or not it's "the one", so it remains unopened. I used to love my little Canon Powershot SD750, but it's several years old now and lately, I've been pretty unhappy with the quality of pictures. I've been openly coveting my neighbor's Canon Rebel T3i and it was on sale at Target today. We'll have to decide within a few weeks, obviously. What to do, what to do...

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend! Thank you for visiting and don't forget to visit Unity on Monday for their Cyber Monday sale! I'm sure it's going to be awesome! :)

Cocoa Creators - Summer ATC Swap

For those of you who are suffering through cold weather already, here's a little bit of "warmth" for you. Earlier in the summer, I participated in a "Summer"-themed ATC swap amongst a CropChocolate offshoot FB group - my first ATC swap ever! We had to mail in our cards by September, but it wasn't until last weekend that we received a copy of everyone else's cards.

Here are the ATCs that I received... aren't they pretty? :)

And here's mine - of course, it should be no surprise that I used Unity stamps (Summertime in a Jar and Jars of Love x 3) or that I showcased insects! Unfortunately, I couldn't find any firefly stamps that I liked, so I had to hand-doodle all of them. Having grown up in Missouri, I sure do miss fireflies and cicadas - to me, they represent summertime. :) The yellow gelato did a good job of providing the "glow" of the fireflies.

 Patterned paper (MME), kraft paper (The Paper Company), chipboard stars (UmWowStudio), stamps (Unity Stamp Co), ink (Memories, Inc.), distress ink (Tim Holtz - Walnut Stain), distress stain (Tim Holtz - Bronze), marker (Micron), yellow Gelato (Faber-Castell), Stickles, brads (Making Memories)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Don't forget to check out the incredible Brown Thursday sale at Unity Stamps - it's their biggest sale of the year and you can use 55THANKS to get 55% off all non-sale (stamp) items! How fun is that? Happy shopping! :) And if you are looking for inspiration, be sure to check out Unity's Friends with Flair Friday blog post!

Unity's Friends With Flair and Authentique Challeges...

Happy Friday, everyone! Hope it was a good week!

 

 

Patterned paper (Authentique), cardstock (Bazzill), chipboard (UmWowStudio), stamps (Unity Stamp Co), embossing powder (American Crafts Zing! White), twine (Martha Stewart), marker (Spectrum Noir), black ink (Memories, Inc.), distress ink (Tim Holtz - walnut stain)

Just a quick post here... I made another card for the UmWowStudio/Authentique challenge and decided to use some Unity stamps within a couple of kits. The heart is from the December 2011 Kit of the Month, "Filled With Love" and the sentiment is from Hodge Podge of Happiness (it's not on sale this week but keep your eye out for it when it is!). Don't forget to check out this weekend's awesome sale!

I also used the sketch from this month's Inspiration Challenge at Unity and will be entering it there as well. In case you're looking for some inspiration, you can enter the color inspiration, card sketch, or layout sketch challenge - or all three.

There's still plenty of time for you to enter the UmWowStudio/Authentique challenge, too! Come check out the details here! You can also go shopping for more yummy UmWowStudio chipboard, flair, and masks (Pssst! There's a promo code at the Authentique link above!).

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! And I don't know about you, but it is WAY too early to be hearing Christmas carols at Target! One of the parents at the girls' school also commented that he was putting up his tree this weekend. What is going on?! Are we skipping Thanksgiving? I didn't get that memo!

Mika Gets Down - Revisiting the 2005 Photos...

In the midst of all that craziness lately, I discovered that I am no longer on a design team - 2 Broke Girls Scrap has simply ceased to exist, so... now I have to decide whether or not to look around for another design team. Hmmm... does anyone know of any sketch design sites I should check out? Although, if I'm not on a design team, that gives me extra time to clean my crafting area... trust me, that task is seriously overdue!

Since the November sketch sheet was still sitting on my craft table, I decided to use 2 Broke Girls Sketch #28 - which I don't have an uploaded picture of, because the FB page no longer exists - this makes me so sad! - but this was my take on it! Hard to believe that this was almost eight years ago!

 

Patterned paper (Authentique), word stickers (Authentique), chipboard accents (UmWowStudio), stamps (Unity Stamp Co),
alphabet stickers (Making Memories), distress ink (Tim Holtz- Festive Berries & Walnut Stain), crackle paint (Tim Holtz - Rock Candy),
black ink (Memories, Inc), markers (Spectrum Noir and American Crafts), pink twine (The Twinery)

I'm submitting this layout for Unity Stamp Co's "Friends with Flair" AND for a unique combined challenge at UmWowStudio's blog - they partnered up with Authentique! In case you haven't tried UmWowStudio chipboard, you should! You can check out her store here. You can also post your own entry for the Authentique/UmWowStudio challenge here - AND you can get a promo code for 15% off to use at UmWowStudio. How awesome is that?! Cropchocolate.com fans, you probably have lots of both company's products to use!

As always, don't forget to check out Unity's latest sale - they have an adorable new line of funny stamps (on sale this week for only $1!). My favorite one of the bunch? "Holy Shiitake!" LOVE IT! For the layout above, I used the stamps Memories and Life Documented Banner {Simple Stories}. By the way, all Itty-Bitty stamp sets are 50% off this weekend, if you use the promo code BUCK50. What a great deal!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Thank you for stopping by! :)

Safe! Sketch Challenge #27 (2 Broke Girls Scraps)

Patterned papers (My Mind's Eye), kraft (Bazzill), alphabet stickers (Basic Grey), star & arrow chipboard accents (UmWowStudio), paint and sentiment sticker (Making Memories), distress stain (Tim Holtz - bronze), distress in (Tim Holtz - walnut stain

I'm exploring the clean & simple look... which is why I purchased a bunch of kraft paper...

Happy Halloween - The Day After

Hello and happy Friday! I hope all of you enjoyed a fun Halloween yesterday - but I have to admit, I'm pretty relieved that it's over... this past week has been crazy!

 

 

Here are Mika and Marika - this year, their theme was "super heroes". I made everything except for the shirts - but I did create the Batman and Superman iron-on design for each (fusible interfacing!). Here's the link to "how to make a circle skirt" tutorial I used, too. Capes were cut by hand and hemmed and the Batman mask was made out of leftover pleather (I had to change the eye hole locations, though) from a Santa Claus outfit I made about 8 years ago. Good thing I hold onto fabric scraps! :)

Ever wonder, who would win, if Supergirl ever battled Batgirl? I have to say, the odds looked to be in Supergirl's favor... KAPOW!!! 

 

See, I told you Supergirl was pretty tough - she even took on an evil vampire!

 

 

I'm actually not a huge fan of Halloween, but I do enjoy walking around the neighborhood with the kids, visiting old neighbors and friends. It's a bit more fun when we dress up, too - and no, we don't ask for candy! - and how fun to get a family photo taken by our friend Brian! :) In case you couldn't guess, I'm a pirate girl! I swear, that skirt kept getting shorter and shorter over the evening! Yikes!

 

 

I wasn't sure if the neighbors were going to make goody bags for the kids, as they had for previous years, so I made some for their kids, and for other special schoolmates who might appear, just in case. Unity stamp fans will recognize these upcycled kraft envelopes and great stamp image!

 

 

Patterned paper (DCWV), kraft paper (Bazzill), white cardstock (Crafters' Companion), distress ink (Tim Holtz - Festive Berries),
marker (Spectrum Noir), stamps (Unity Stamp Co)

 

And because it's Friday, here's another for Friends With Flair! I hadn't planned on buying this penguin guy until I saw some card samples - he's a pretty big guy (this is an A2 card) and frankly, now I think he's pretty darn adorable! Unfortunately, he's no longer on sale, but you might want to keep an eye on him, so he can come & settle down with you. :) The background stamp is also from Unity - Hearts of Old.

So... how was your Halloween? It seemed to us that fewer people were giving out treats and fewer people were trick-or-treating. I wonder if it's because it was on a Thursday - if so, will things be totally crazy next year, when it's on a Friday?

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend! Don't forget to check out the newest sale at Unity, too! :)

Scrappin' out of order - back to 2005!

 

 Time for another sketch from 2 Broke Girls Challenges! Here is sketch #25...

 

And here is my take on it... this was especially fun for me, since I decided to raid my old photoboxes back from 2005... if you've been following my blog, you might be amused by how the girls have changed in eight years...

 

Patterned papers, banners, twine, and circle alphabet (My Mind's Eye), golf stickers (Karen Foster), sentiment sticker (EK Success Sticko),
heart stamps (Unity Stamp Co), distress ink (Tim Holtz - walnut stain) 

  



I'm entering this at Unity Stamp Co's "Friends with Flair" - the three hearts at the top right are from Stephanie Ackerman's "Becoming That Person" stamp. I love how there are so many cute heart patterns on one image. It also turned out to be the perfect finishing touch for the journaling at the top. 

 

I had wanted to make another card with Unity stamps, but alas, I ran out of time this week, helping out at the girls' school book fair all week. Even as I type, I am off to the book fair's grand finale tonight - "Family Fun Night" for 3+ hours (and then we have to pack everything up, too). As an undiagnosed claustrophobic, I'm a little afraid of being compressed in there with a bunch of people, but hopefully I'll survive! Wish me luck!!!