Greeting Card Kids

Over the weekend, Riley Kate and I went to the apple orchard and bought a bushel of apples. We spent most the day Saturday (and half the night) making and canning applesauce. It was a lot of fun to spend the day with Riley Kate. I will be sad to see her go back to school Wednesday. She is good help. We canned 25 pints of applesauce and OHHH the mess we made. :) Sunday, I cleaned the kitchen and started canning again. I had another 5 gallon bucket of tomatoes that needed to be preserved. I packed all the canned goods downstairs this morning to my root cellar--35 quarts and 7 pints of tomatoes plus the 25 pints of applesauce. The shelves are filling up. It's a good feeling.
BUT... I need a break from canning. It was so hot in the kitchen--I started to think about how nice it would be to spend some time in the basement in my Stampin' Room.
When I got Evan down for his nap--I ignored the mess that I should have been cleaning up and headed right for the basement! :)

I ordered the Greeting Card Kids set from the new 2010-11 Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog. I just couldn't resist the cute little kids. They remind me so much of the cards that we received when I was a little kid. They are so sweet and simple.

This week's color challenge over at Krista's Cards & Things Challenge Blog was a perfect excuse to use my new stamps. I thought immediately of the little girl w/ the Christmas tree when I saw the colors.Here's my card!

She makes me smile when I look at her. Awwwww!!!

Card Recipe:
Stamp Set: Greeting Card Kids
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black
Stampin' Write Markers: Crumb Cake, Wild Wasabi, Real Red
Accessories: Real Red Striped Ribbon (retired), 2 way glue, dazzling diamonds glitter, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Scallop Square die, Big Shot, Circle Scissors Plus, Non-SU scallop square and pearls

Mmmm....The Good Stuff

Here's Evan enjoying his 'sketti' and peaches. Where are his clothes? His mom took them off before he had tomato sauce. I think if he would have wore them for this meal, they would be ORANGE still!!! :)

Speaking of tomatoes and big messes. My kitchen is a sty this morning, but I am excited that I have my first 18 quarts and 7 pints of tomatoes done. There will be more in a few days, but it's nice to know that I have at least this much for all those great comfort foods (chili, goulash and of course soup) this winter. :)

Evan's Canisters

My little guy, Evan is on a special diet. Evan is autistic and after reading about ways to possibly help him, diet looked like one of the most promising and one that I could research (God bless Google!) and start immediately. He can no longer have gluten and casein (milk products). When we first started Evan on the diet, I thought he would surely starve. We are in Wisconsin, everything here has cheese on it or in it! Needless to say, I was wrong. Boy was I wrong! He is eating really good and it's so healthy. Evan has been on the diet for several months and we have seen some good improvements. ♥

With only one toddler on the diet, it is hard to keep things fresh. I found these canisters at Walmart. They were relatively inexpensive and work well. BUT the thing that I LOVE most about Evan's canisters are the LABELS.
The Oval Labels "chalkboard" are in the Stampin' Up! Decor Elements Catalog. You can write on them with chalk and wipe them off if you should want to use the canister for something else. They were a MUST HAVE at our house. There is no question what is in them and that they are 'safe' for Evan to eat. I also like the fact that they are pretty enough to leave out on the counter. :)

Good Tuesday morning! Back to school shopping is in full swing at our house. It has been an expensive couple weeks getting my girls ready to go back to school. I think we are finally ready (crossing my fingers). If you are financially challenged like me right now there is a challenge going on over at Krista's Cards & Things that is just for you. It's a sketch challenge and it's free! LOL Why not take a couple minutes away and play along this week? :)

My stash of little boy cards was running low and I thought it was time to pull out some of my old NON-SU! stamps and blow the dust off of them. I had a good time pulling my drawers open and looking at all the stamps I forgot I had. I found this little bunny--he's a perfect little guy to hold up a cupcake for some little birthday boy.

Stamps: Non-SU!

Cardstock: Real Red, Pacific Point, Whisper White and Bashful Blue

Stampin' Write Markers: Certainly Celery, Pacific Point, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, So Saffron, More Mustard, Real Red, Creamy Caramel, Blushing Bride

DSP: Celebrations

Accessories: Dimensionals, Old Olive 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon

Tribute to Mary Brown

My inbox is FULL of card samples from stampers all around the world. I should be in a support group of some kind. I have 1000s of jpegs of cards that are just too pretty to delete and I just never seem to find the time to move.

A couple weeks ago, I decided that I was going to CASE one of my favorite stampers, Mary Brown. My inbox has over 100 cards of Mary's to choose from. Mary makes the most incredible cards. Every morning before the kids wake up, I check my email. Mary Brown's are always the first to be opened. :) Thank you, Mary!

These are Mary's 3 cards that I decided to CASE. Aren't they beautiful?

The first one uses the Punched Posies set from the Summer Mini that just expired--CORRECTION (Thanks, Juliana) the mini doesn't end until the end of August. You still have a few days left to order from it!

I had to have the Punched Posies set. I love any set that incorporates punches so I don't have to cut everything out by hand. :)

The second card uses one of my favorite new sets, Just Believe.

I wasn't sure about the new in-colors, but now I'm pretty sure they are fantastic. :)

This card, I changed Mary's sentiment to suit my needs. My sentiment is from the Just Believe set. The GORGEOUS stencil is Folk Flowers. There is a second stencil in the set that is just as beautiful. They are a definite must have! You can find information about the stencil here.

Birthday Build A Bear

Hi Stampers!
This weekend, I spent most of my time at the softball diamond in the neighboring town watching my daughter play in the 5th-6th grade softball tournament. It's hotter than hot and it was miserable for the players. Our girls didn't do well and ended their season with a loss. :(

Now with softball finished, I can focus on back to school. I can't believe another summer is nearly over. School starts here on September 1st. I will miss the girls when they go back to school and Evan will be lost without them. I don't entertain him nearly as well as the girls do.


Anyway.....It's time for another sketch challenge over at Krista's Card & Things Challenge Blog. It's another good one to play along with. I have had the Build A Bear stamp set for awhile and I have not had much luck with creating anything I liked so I tried again for this challenge. I'm not jumping up and down excited, but I think it's a cute card.

Sketch Challenge #45:

My Build A Bear Boy Birthday Card:
(that's a mouthful!)
Card Recipe:
Stamp Set: Beary Best Friends
Cardstock: Old Olive, Real Red, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Old Olive, Real Red, Bashful Blue,
DSP: Celebrations (LOVE THIS)
Accessories: Dimensionals, Real Red 5/8" Grosgrain, Bashful Blue 1/4" Grosgrain, Aquapainter

Hip-Hip Hooray

There is another color challenge over at Krista's Cards & Things Challenges.
My basic gray cardstock was dusty on my paper rack. I knew this was going to be a challenge for me. LOL I'm a pink girl--definitely not a blue! Ohhhh boy....

Here's my Hippo Card:

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Pun Fun

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Night of Navy

Ink: Basic Gray

Accessories: Whisper White Satin Ribbon, Colored Pencils, Gamsol, Scallop Border Punch, Sewing Machine and White Thread, Pearls

Elements of Style Desk Calendar

It's a rainy Sunday morning in Wisconsin. I'm glad. Now I am not tempted to head outside. I need to get a few projects made before Tuesday for our Hostess Club. Yes, I am a procrastinator! There should be some sort of support group for us. Everyone would be late to every meeting though. LOL

Anyway, my first project of the day is for my Hostess. I have used this layout before, but revamped it a big and made it into a desk calendar. Expect to see a few more of these on my blog. I love the little drawer and I know that I will be making these for family as the holidays near. :)

Recipe:
Stamps: Elements of Style

Cardstock: Kraft, Always Artichoke, Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White

Ink: Real Red, Always Artichoke, Basic Black

DSP: Newsprint

Accessories: Scallop corner and scallop punch, fire rhinestone brads, signo gel pen, basic black stampin' write marker, dimensionals, mat pack and paper piercer, aqua painters, circle scissors plus, always artichoke grosgrain ribbon and dimensionals

Sweet Little Skunk

It's time for a TERRIFIC color challenge over at Krista's Cards & Things. This week's colors were so much fun to work with!

Go on over and play along.....

I had a great time stamping after I decided what stamp set I was going to use. I think choosing the stamp set I will be using for my challenge cards is the hardest part! :) I have a few new sets from the 2010-2011 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog, but none of them spoke to me like this little skunk! There's something about this sweet skunk that makes me smile everytime I see him. Isn't he adorable?!

Card Recipe:

Stamp Set: Pun Fun

Ink: Basic Black

Cardstock: Whisper White, Crumbcake, Not Quite Navy, Rose Red and Bashful Blue

DSP: Rose Red (this DSP is retired, but there is GORGEOUS brand spankin' new DSP in the catalog)

Accessories: Sewing Machine and Thread, Word Window Punch, Aqua Painters, Watercolor Crayons, Non-SU! colored pencil (cheapy brand from my kid's school leftovers!), Gamsol, Dimensionals, Not Quite Navy Brads, Mat Pack and Paper Piercer, Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder and a Glue Dot (good grief that's a LONG LIST!)