Re-do on the Bella Challenge card...

OK so you know I just wasn't happy with my original card that I made for Stamping Bella's Bloggabella Sketch Challenge this week. So I made another one, and I am much happier:

I used the same image, but changed up the colors and added a button. Whatcha think? Better, no?

And then I dragged out a few of my Bella images that I've received through Wish RAK and I made this one:

And last for today, I just love this little girl (Snuggle) from the Greeting Farm:

We've had rain for about a week straight now, and it's starting to get old. Especially because I'm on vacation. Luckily, I have my stamping addiction to keep me busy - but a girl's gotta have some sunshine on her vacation! I hear the sun might make an appearance tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed for me! Peace.

Bella Challenge & Cassidy's Graduation

I made this card for the Stamping Bella Bloggabella's Sketch challenge, I am not that crazy about how this came out, it's too much of the same color. But I love the image, and the sentiment. LOL So here it is, using Little Emmy and sentiment:

Now - I cannot believe this - but my baby graduated from middle school (junior high) today. Cassidy just turned 14 in April and will be a freshman in high school in the Fall. Gulp. I made her take a picture with me:

Now here she is on our front porch. I just love this kid - she's got this pretty dress with a raggedy old sweatshirt and flip-flops. *sigh* And she still looked like a million bucks:

Here she is with her friends Katie & Bethany:
Cassidy and Bryana, my friend Krissy's daughter:
Cassidy and Nicole:

There she is with her diploma. I cannot believe how quickly the time flies. Someone said to me that we're lucky, the kids will be grown and gone before we know it. I don't know, though, that kind of scares me. It's really unbelievable how fast it all goes - it sounds so cliche, but I mean it quite literally. I am thankful that I've cherished my kids and enjoyed every minute of them. I don't doubt for a minute that they know how much they are loved. I won't lie, I am a bit anxious for Cassidy to get past the early teenage drama nonsense, not wanting us to hug or touch her, the eye-rolling sarcasm and the "I never get to do ANYTHING" after 5 straight days of being out with her friends and us FINALLY making her come home... yeah, I'm not really enjoying that part. hee hee

But for the most part, I don't rush it. I truly have enjoyed every phase of their childhoods. Trevor has had his own challenges and successes and will be a junior in high school in the Fall. He finished up the year with one A, 4 B's and one D. Compared to the past few years of all C's, D's, and F's. I'm very proud of him. He's currently reading the book Roots and has been given permission to continue and finish it for his Summer reading project.

More cards tomorrow! Peace.

Rainy Sunday

So I'm on vacation for the next 2 weeks - and it's a glorious feeling! The weather has not been very nice in Massachusetts, and I hear a lot of people complaining... but I don't care! I take advantage of the crappy weather to create! This is what I came up with for the Sugar Bowl's sketch challenge today:

I used Diane Duda's Frog Prince stamp from Sugar Nellies, some adorable background papers called Once Upon a Time by Die Cuts With a View (DCWV), cardstock (Perfect Plum, Ballet Blue, Kraft) and inks by Stampin' Up! Glitter by SU! Assorted buttons & gold cord.

And then I made this one to use up the scraps from the background papers that I used for that one:

And then this one is the for the Greeting Farm's 3 Stamps Challenge:

I used Hula Anya, Surfer Ian, and a sentiment from the Hope & Grace set. I love the bright, summery colors! YoYo Yellow, Whisper White, Ballet Blue, Green Galore, Only Orange cardstock - Su! inks, scallop punch, gemstone brads. SU! & miscellaneous ribbon. DCWV background paper.

I have a feeling I'll be posting a lot over the next 2 weeks! Peace.

Sugar Nellie Blog Hop!

Hello there everyone, hope you are enjoying the Sugar Nellie blog hop. If you happen to be visiting my blog before viewing the Sugar Nellie blog, then you should get yourself on over there to find out all about this hop and to see the first blog (and the rest of the blogs before mine) in the blog hop!

Sugar Nellie is releasing new stamps today, illustrated by Diane Duda - each member of the blog hop was given a Diane Duda stamp to play with and blog about. The adorable image that I received is called Frog Prince, and I just LOVEY it!

What do you think?

I used Stampin' Up! cardstock (Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, and Pumpkin Pie), inks, and glitter. I layered some background paper by Pressed Petals, and then torn cardstock with the image on top. I used Dazzling Diamonds and light blue glitter for the crowns and her necklace, as well as to embellish the sentiment. The sentiment is from Close to my Heart's "Dare to Dream" set. I then tied a piece of certainly celery ribbon around it.

The next stop in the hop is: Kay at Stampgalaxy's Weblog. Enjoy! Peace.

Black & White Challenge

Happy Wednesday! The Greeting Farm recently had a Black & White Sketch Challenge, you could also use shades of gray. I decided to stick with the true b & w - this first one is my attempt at getting into the groove of not coloring, which was really hard for me! This did not follow the sketch, so I did not submit it, this is one of my new stamps, HG Sing, I think it's my new fave - I stamped the flower in her hair twice, cut one out and applied Dazzling Diamonds glitter to it, then adhered with a pop-up, which is difficult to see in the picture:

Then I followed the sketch and used black glitter on the flower in her hair instead... it was REALLY hard not to color:

And then I switched images and used one of the other new stamps I just got from the Greeting Farm, HG Peace - did I mention it was REALLY hard not to color? LOL Anyway, this one turned out to be my favorite:
And then just because I was having coloring withdrawals, I made this one:

Isn't she just precious? I colored her in all Pink Passion and did her guitar up in hot pink glitter.
Hope the rest of the week flies by - peace.

Eric's graduation party!

You know, when you have children you really don't realize that some day they are going to grow up. I mean, intellectually you know this - of course you do. But psychologically, you really can't comprehend it. Being a parent is so all-consuming that it's almost impossible to imagine a day when things won't be the same. It's like one day you have little ones who hold your hand and demand to be tucked in at night and then POOF! They suddenly turn into teenagers who don't even want you to TOUCH them.. LOL So when the first kid of the family graduates from high school, it's quite an emotional event. And it makes you really think. Some day, my own kids are going to graduate from high school. And most likely, they will move out and have lives of their own. That's kind of.... scary. Of course it's also completely normal, but it's still scary.

We had a big party for my nephew Eric's graduation last night and we all had a blast. I'm so thankful to everyone who came and celebrated with us!

This is the box that I made for cards to go in:

This is the hall:

The table with the card-box, and a bunch of pictures. My sister and Missy made a beautiful collage of pictures of Eric and all of us from the time he was a baby. It was gorgeous. Then Michelle also had a photo album that Eric's kindergarten teacher had made for him, along with framed pics of Eric and Jay, Eric and me from the prom (hee hee) and a bunch of his graduation pics:

Close-up of the collage:

Cake:

Eric and Jeremy

Eric and Trev

Eric and his momma:

me and Eric, doing his GQ pose... ROFL:

Shell and Eric dancing:

Missy and Eric dancing:

Josh and Cass, love her face in this one:

Eric and Cass:

Eric and Trevor, I LOVE this one cuz Trevor is really laughing, not the fake smile I usually get:

Me and my nana:Our cousin Amanda - she's just a year or two older than Eric and they have always been close. They have very similar goofy personalities, I just adore them:
Me, Eric, Missy, and Michelle:
Josh and Eric, brotherly love:

Peace.

My nephew Eric and more cards

Here's a few more of what I worked on this past weekend, totally and crazily addicted to these Anya images:

Campfire Riley

I love da Bella:

A while ago, I blogged about my nephew Eric and the prom last year... read here.
This is a better picture of us that day, thank God this kid loves me - hee hee:

Look at him - look at how freaking adorable this kid was - OK, just pretend not to notice the totally '80's hairdos... LOL
This is my auntie Karen, Eric, and me at Christmas time.

So I just wanted to say that I cannot believe how fast time flies. I cannot believe my nephew is graduating from high school tonight, right about now! I love you and am so proud of you, Eric!!! Peace.