The Pink Elephant - Monday and Wednesday

I made 2 cards for the

Pink Elephant Challenge #77 (a sketch challenge)

This first one uses Monday from the Greeting Farm:

I used SU! cardstock, ribbon, and DP in Pumpkin Pie and Not Quite Navy.

And for this next one, I flipped the sketch onto its side and used Wednesday from the Greeting Farm:

This time I used Stampin' Up! colors in Real Red, Cameo Coral, Summer Sun, and Basic Black. The sentiment is torn out of something I had in my stash... I forget what you call that paper, it's like opaque and you can get it plain or with stuff printed on it? Shoot - what the heck is it called? LOL

I'm off to spend the day with a friend - hope you are all enjoying your Summer.

Peace.

Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge 66

The countdown is officially on, peeps - we are leaving for California in TWO WEEKS. OMG. It's coming up so fast!!! I am getting more excited every day, to tell you the truth. Of course I'm still nervous, but I wouldn't be normal if I wasn't a little nervous moving my family completely across the country! LOL

On to business - today's card is for the

Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #66

I used a Honey image from All That Scraps - ribbon, cardstock & DP from SU! in Summer Sun, Cameo Coral, Tempting Turquoise.

hmmm The picture is a bit fuzzy, sorry about that. Did not realize it or I would have taken a better one. I am still learning how to use my new camera - I am hoping Jeremy's sister Chelsea will help me when I get to Cali, she's a photographer. She is also the founder, publisher, and editor of Descry magazine. Check it out here - very interesting. I'm quite proud of her, she's only 24 years old.

Be back tomorrow, I'm on a roll this week. ;)

Peace.

Unscripted Sketches

I was really excited to the be the "Christmas in July" BINGO winner at the Unscripted Sketches blog. :) It was fun playing - thank you to the US team!

I used the same designer paper for this card as yesterday's post, doesn't it look completely different? :) This is for the:

Unscripted Sketches #65

The digi image is from Paper Ink Color. I colored it with Prismacolor colored pencils blended with Gamsol and SU! Stampin' Write markers. Colors are Cameo Coral, Summer Sun, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, and Green Galore.

Here is one more card using the same papers, this image is from AiFactory:

This is the inside:

OK hope you are all having a good week. I am going to be very busy packing and preparing to move over the next few weeks, so please forgive me if my postings aren't quite as frequent as usual. Peace.

Friday Sketchers

I have been trying to use up some of my Stampin' Up! designer paper that I tend to hoard... hee hee... I am always struck how you can use the same papers and get so many different looks. This card is for the

Friday Sketchers challenge # 112

I used a digital image from Pixie Dust Studios, and the ribbon is from my stash. The regular brads, flower brads, cardstock & DP is from SU! in Real Red, Cameo Coral, and Pretty in Pink. I am waiting for the sun to come out to take pics of the other cards I made, so they will be in another post. :)

So anyway - happy Monday! I have to go get my contact lens fitting done today, so I can have my new prescription ready when we move. Then I am stopping over a friend's house around 4:30 for an hour, just to visit quick. Then I'm picking up my sister this evening and she'll come over and have dinner with me and help me do some packing. I can't believe we leave in less than 3 weeks. Holy crap.

Peace.

Amanda's Bridal Shower

Yesterday afternoon was my cousin Amanda's bridal shower. I met Amanda when she was only 6 years old, when Jeremy and I started dating. I love her because when she introduces me, she says "this is my cousin Jenn" - not "this is my cousin Jeremy's wife". :) It's the little things. Anyway - Amanda is almost 24 years old now and is getting married in October. Here is her gorgeous cake from the shower (and by the way, these are the first pics with my new camera):

This is Amanda and her mom, Cande:

Me & Amanda:

Amanda with my daughter, Cassidy (she's 15):

Cassidy and me:

Me & Leia (another cousin - she's hysterical and I adore her):

Gramma & Leia:

Gramma & me:

Marcia & Leia (mother & daughter):

It was a beautiful day and I was glad Cassidy came with me. We most likely won't be able to attend the wedding in October, as we'll have just settled into our new home in California, hopefully. There was a lot of yummy food (LOBSTER!) and drinks, and we played some fun games and everyone just had a great time.

Hoping to get some challenge cards done today - peace.

Thanks, love

I had to make a bunch of thank-you cards for the girls I worked with who threw me a going-away party a couple of weeks ago. I spent some time doing that yesterday, and this is one of them - I used a digi image from Heather Ellis and some scrap DP I had laying around in red & white hearts. The ribbon is also from my stash. Heart-shaped eyelet by Stampin' Up!

I should have more to post tomorrow. I went to dinner and to see the movie Inception last night with my good friend Holly. We had fun - the movie was very intense, it was 2 1/2 hours long but FLEW by. This afternoon Cassidy and I are off to a bridal shower for Jeremy's cousin Amanda. I will then come home and make my famous leftover casserole (chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, gravy and cheese all baked together... yum!) and Jeremy and I will go have dinner with his dad tonight.

Speaking of his dad - he's doing pretty good. He's home now, and getting around in a wheelchair. He should be walking again in a couple of months, we hope. Jeremy's sister Brittney is living with him for a few months, but she had to go to her hometown in Vermont this weekend for a wedding. So Jeremy and his grandmother went over last night and brought Richie Chinese food, we'll bring dinner tonight, and Britt should be back tomorrow.

I think I also told you that Richie's brother Ronnie, Jeremy's favorite uncle, was driving a backhoe thing on his property a few weeks ago and flipped it over onto himself, crushing his pelvis. He spent 2 weeks in the ICU at Brigham & Women's in Boston, and was finally just released to a rehabilitation hospital the other day. So he's coming along, too. Thank God. He is like a 2nd dad to Jeremy, Jeremy really respects him and looks up to him. When all this stuff happened with Jeremy's dad, every decision that Jeremy had to make was so overwhelming... so every time he spoke to uncle Ronnie, he'd feel better when Ronnie would say "you did the right thing" or "that's what your father would want". Ronnie really helped him get through it all. I had been thinking about writing Ronnie a letter to tell him that when his own accident happened. I am so thankful that he's OK and that I didn't miss my chance. I am writing it this weekend.

Peace.

Halloween is Hoppin' at Tiddly Inks!

Christy Croll is one of my absolute favorite artists, and I just adore her Tiddly Inks images. I discovered her through Stamping Bella and bought some rubbah images, then later found her online digi image store... the rest is history. I'm addicted. :)

So today I have 2 cards to share for the

Halloween is Hoppin' at Tiddly Inks blog hop!

I was DYING to make a black & white card, and I thought Halloween would make a good theme for this. But I love to color, and so I just had to make a card with some color in it, too. So this first card uses "Betty Belfrey" and I stuck with all black & white cardstock, DP, and embellishments. I used Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the buckle on her hat and clear gemstone brads along the side (all supplies by SU! except the button is from my stash):

For my colorful card, I used "Cast Your Spell" digi image. I used Basic Black & Whisper White cardstock by SU! along with DP in Pumpkin Pie & Basic Black. Ribbon by SU! and button from my stash:

I colored her using Prismacolor colored pencils blended with Gamsol and SU! Stampin' Write markers. I used Dazzling Diamonds & Orange glitter by SU!

Hope you are enjoying the hop - you should be able to find the full list of participants here. Good luck and have fun! Peace.

Summer

Well, I've started packing. It feels so much more real now that I've actually started packing my stuff, knowing the next time I unpack it will be 3000 miles away. I have been a little bit anxious, but a lot excited. I'm mostly nervous about leaving my friends and family, of course. Every time we do something, see someone, I think "I won't be able to do this or see these people anymore when I'm living in California..." *sigh*

So I've been bringing my camera with me everywhere I go, and taking lots of pictures. I realized I had no recent pics of my sisters-in-law, so I took this cute one of them together last week. Kelsey is on the left, Brittney on the right:

And these are my daughters - ha ha- Cassidy is my real daughter, her BFF Jamie (on the right) is my practically-adopted daughter:

These 2 have known each other since they were babies, and have been best friends since they were about 8, I think. They are 15 now. I am super proud of Cassidy because when we talked about moving, she actually really understood that even though she has a million friends, there are only a few that are her "real" friends and that she will keep in touch with them whether we live here, in California, or on the moon. Real friends find ways to stay in touch and keep connected. I wouldn't be surprised if Jamie moves out and joins us in a couple of years, to be honest. She'd be more than welcome to. :)

I'm going to do some stamping today - gasp! LOL I have just not had time, and I hate it! But first things first, you know? I have got to get my house packed up and my life in order - I just can't relax and concentrate on creating artwork when my head is full of chaos! But I did decide I needed a therapy session today, and for me that means making a card for a challenge. So I will be back with my creation. Peace.

Oh, Alice! Don't follow the sketch?!?

I simply adore the quirkiness and silliness of the Oh, Alice! Challenge blog. This week's challenge was a sketch that you can see here, and the idea was to NOT follow the sketch exactly. LOL Here's what I came up with:

I used Edward from the Greeting Farm. The cardstock, DP, and silver brads are by SU! Edward is colored with markers by SU! and I colored his skin using a Prismacolor colored pencil blended with Gamsol.

My friends from work are throwing me a goodbye party tomorrow, at my friend Kim's house. She has a beautiful yard and pool, and it should be a fun day. But bittersweet. I love these people, it's going to be hard to say goodbye. *sigh* I still feel like I'm on vacation right now - but it's weird because normallywhen I'm on vacation, I have in the back of my mind "OK I have 5 days left - now I have 4 days left" etc. And this is different - this is permanent! LOL Jeremy and I have been doing a lot of talking about everything and I think within the next week or so we should really have a good idea of what our plan is. It's all very scary and exciting at the same time!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend. Peace.

Bellarific Friday - sketch challenge with my favorite kitty

My secret is out - Mavis from Stamping Bella is my absolute favorite kitty stamp. She is a dream to color and so much fun to paper-piece, I love the way this card came out. I made this for this week's

Stamping Bella Bellarific Friday challenge (sketch challenge this week)

I used Stampin' Up! cardstock and DP in Pretty in Pink, Almost Amethyst, Old Olive, and So Saffron. I colored Mavis with my Prismacolor colored pencils blended with Gamsol. I paper-pieced her dress.

Have a wonderful weekend!!! Peace.

Raise the Bar - Baked Goodies

I have a bad habit of printing out digi images to use, but then never actually use them. LOL So there is a big pile of adorable images on my stamping table - and it almost never fails that when I go to create a card, I wanna use a new stamp! But this week I have been forcing myself to use whatever images I already have printed out. So here is one of the cards I came up with using one of them, this is a Bugaboo image and the card is for the

Raise the Bar - Baked Goodies challenge

I used SU! cardstock, DP, and ribbon - image is colored with both SU! markers and Prismacolor colored pencils blended with Gamsol.

My good friend Linda from Behind My Red Door (if you like prim stuff, you HAVE TO check out her blog) is picking me up at 11:15 today and we are off to do lunch and a little shopping, probably our last time before I am off to California in about a month. Linda is a very good friend and I'm really looking forward to our day out! :) I think my goal for today is to pick up a couple of good books for my trip!

Have a happy Thursday. Peace.

Crazy4Challenges 45 - Red, Black & White

I absolutely love the Greeting Farm's Roll Call kit - it's a steal at $48, check it out here. Anyway, this card below uses Maria from the kit, and this card is for the

Crazy4Challenge 45 - Red, Black & White

I colored Maria with PrismaColor colored pencils blended with Gamsol and a Real Red marker by SU! Cardstock, designer paper, glitter, and gemstone brads by SU! Buttons and mulberry paper from my stash. Peace.

Michelle Perkett Studio Challenge

I won a gift certificate to an online store that I could choose a shop to spend it at, and I chose Michelle Perkett Studio - I used one of the images that I chose to make a card for the

Michelle Perkett Studio Challenge 38 (Sketch/color challenge)

The colors were cream, turquoise, sand, and chocolate. The image is called Harmony Goddess, isn't she beautiful? The sentiment says "Find your own little peace of harmony" - I love the play on words. :) I colored her with PrismaColor colored pencils blended with Gamsol and PrismaColor markers. Cardstock is Stampin' Up!

Peace.

Spoiled Myself...

I decided to spoil myself a little bit this past weekend - I had some extra money and my idea of shopping usually involves either crafts or electronics. Electronics won out this time. ;) I went to Sam's Club with my mom and ended up really splurging. I got myself this gorgeous camera, it's a Canon Rebel EOS - because I got it at Sam's Club, it was a "kit" that came with 2 lenses, all kinds of software, and a nice bag for it all:

The reason I actually went to Sam's in the first place was to actually buy myself a laptop, I ended up getting a little bit of a nicer one than I had planned, but it was totally worth it. Here's what I got, it's an HP Pavilion Entertainment PC laptop:

LOVE LOVE LOVE it! It has a web cam and I signed up for Skype and got to see and talk to Trevor in California the last few nights, it was awesome. This was a must-have purchase for our move! hee hee

OK I promise to get back to stamping this week and have some cards to share with you all. Today was my first day not working - it kind of feels like vacation right now, hasn't really hit me that I'm not going back! LOL
Peace.

4th of July - 2010

I am so sorry that I haven't blogged in over a week! Last Friday was my last day of work, so the week was just a whirlwind! Add that to the fact that Jeremy & Trevor are in California, and we had a heat wave here in Massachusetts, and I just never did get around to updating my blog, which is sooooo unlike me!

So anyway - here are some pics from our July 4th celebration at my friend Missy's house, which was actually on July 3 (last Saturday). We had a blast - she always has a cookout the day her town does fireworks, and she lives up on a hill so her yard has the perfect location from which to watch the fireworks. Good times.

Here is my BBFF (best boy friend forever) Tim & my friend Amy:

This is my nephew Josh, he's 12:

This is my nephew Eric (he's 19) with my friend Missy:

Missy & my sister Michelle:

This is the tow truck I had to call becaue I locked our keys in the car.... hee hee

Me and my friend Melissa:

My friend Kim & me:

And this is Missy sitting on Jeremy's lap at the end of the night, getting all teary-eyed about us moving:

Missy & Jeremy have been friends forever - it's going to be really hard to leave so many friends behind. Thank goodness for Skype!

Be back tomorrow, I promise! Peace.

C4C44 - ribbon

Busy weekend - just here to quickly post for the

Crazy4Challenges 44 - use 2 or more ribbons

The digi image is from Bugaboo Stamps and the cardstock, DP & ribbon are all from Stampin' Up! Image colored with SU! markers and Prismacolor colored pencils blended with Gamsol.
Happy 4th of July festivities!
Peace.