Another Prettie Peek

German Phrase of the Day: Beweglicher Verkauf = Moving Sale. Yup...trying to get rid of all the stuff we bought over here that is not going back to the US with us, like our awesome black leather couch, our beds, dishes, you name it! It's going to be busy around here for the next several weeks, that's for sure! Fortunately, I managed to finish up 8 projects over the weekend. Yup, I'm pretty impressed with myself for that! ;-) Of course, I still have LOTS more to finish as gifts for folks before we leave!

However, today's project was created this morning. I was actually inspired by Jackie's adorable Gift Tags that she showed for her Prettie Peek yesterday. Seeing those fabulous tags gave me the idea to make luggage tags for all our suitcases for our return on August 9th. And what says California better than a lovely palm tree??

I think this Palm Tree is actually my favorite image in the new Soakin' Up the Sun set coming out tomorrow night. It's just so much fun to color, with all these wonderful opportunities for shading! I used my Primsacolor pencils along with some OMS and blending stumps to color the tree in this morning...and I just LOVE it! Granted, it feels like a LONG time since I've seen a real palm tree (altho they had them in Spain, and I was just in California in April) so I had to think to figure out where the shading on the trunk should go. Not that you really needed a close-up photo of this tiny project (only 3.5" by 2.5") but I'm giving you one anyway so you can really see the shading and blending with the pencils. They are SOOO much fun to use!!

I cut my tree out, then mounted it on some more Stamper's Select White. I stamped my saying (I knew California or Bust wouldn't fit, so I had to shorten it to Cal) with my Karen Foster Snap Stamps using Chocolate Chip ink. I then mounted the white onto some Wild Wasabi, then another layer of white so I can easily write our new address and contact info on the back. I'll add some more ribbon to tie the tag onto our suitcase...might had some Wasabi double stitched for that to help them stand out more. Now to make 5 more of these babies!! Or...shall I make them all different?? Hmmm...choices, choices!

Don't forget, today is your LAST day to sign up for the Paper Pretties Stamp of the Month Club and get Bunny Slippers Sophia in July. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until August to get her like the rest of the poor schmucks out there! (Have I told you all that schmuck in German actually means jewelry?? I think that is so funny. My husband says "When you're a schmuck, you have to go buy some schmuck!" - maybe that's why he's always so good! ;-) ) So...go sign up and be sure to tell Christie I sent ya! Oh...and just WAIT until you see what we've got coming for August! Better hold onto your hats!!!

Supplies: (all supplies from SU! unless noted)
Stamps: Soakin Up the Sun by Paper Pretties , Karen Foster Snap Stamps
CS: Wild Wasabi, Stamper's Select White
Ink: Brilliance black
Acc: Prismacolor pencils, OMS, blending stumps, wide chocolate grosgrain, badge holder from Walmart

TFL!

Mosiac about me.

I don't usually do these, but this time I couldn't resist! I found this on Alison's Blog today!!

Answer each of the questions below. Surf over to Flickr and type your answers into the search bar. From the choice of pictures shown only on the front page, click on the one that moves you. Once the page with your picture opens, copy the URL. Surf over to the Mosaic Maker, set up your mosaic, and paste your URLs. Click Create. Voila!

The Questions:

What is your first name?
What is your favorite food?
What high school did you attend?
What is your favorite color?
Who is your celebrity crush?
What is your favorite drink?
Where would you go on your dream vacation?
What is your favorite dessert?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
What do you love most in life?
What is the one word that describes you?
What is your Flickr name?

Unfortunately, 2 of the photos I chose wouldn't pull into the mosaic maker, but I still like it!

1. For Jana...Happy Birthday and Happy Mother's Day!, 2. donut, hole, 3. St Canice, 4. Masjid Al-Noor, 5. Seville lit up, 6. Mojito, 7. Radiance, 8. Woopie Pie Cake!, 9. Cloud Gate, 10. Golden monkey, 11. Eternally Optimistic, 12. When Waves Collide

A Prettie Peek

German Phrase of the Day: Darueber moechte ich nicht sprechen. = I don't want to talk about it. What, me?? Not talk about something? Impossible! ;-) I love to talk about things...especially this ADORABLE new set coming out from Paper Pretties on July 1st! I really love all the different stamps that come in this set, especially the sentiments!

I started this card with just the image of Sophia on her lounge chair, soaking up some rays and relaxing with her pup. As usual, she's colored to look like my daughter, with our dog Maisy - altho Maisy is a wee bit larger than this cute little pup!! She has on her pink bikini with a sparkly flower (courtesy of my Spica glitter pens) and her rose colored glasses.

After trimming around the stamped image there were these 2 big empty corners, so I thought I could use one of my lovely large Prima flowers to fill up some space. I'm not sure if it overwhelms dear little Sophia, but I know Julia will love it!! To further enclose that space, I added some pink rhinestones to the opposite corner creating my own little photo corner.

The image is so large a regular sized card would never work, and I have made so many square cards lately I wanted something different, so I went with a long one. I embossed half the card with my Swiss dots embossing folder, and then decided that this sentiment would be perfect for my little princess. When I was much younger, my mother had a Mary Engelbrecht mug that said "Queen of Everything" and I got to have one that said "Princess of Quite a Lot." When my sister was here this spring and Julia was playing princess as usual, she told this to Julia who now declares herself Princess of quite a lot rather frequently, but always remembering that I am the Queen of everything!

Don't forget to join us Tuesday night to Stamp in your Jammies with the Prettie Girls! We'll be in the Forum starting at 8pm EDT. Of course, we will have challenges and prizes, and tons of fun. I hope to "see" you there! And be sure to check the other Prettie Girl blogs (linked on right) for more Prettie Peeks, and go to the Paper Pretties site to see who's new in the Guest Room!

Supplies: (all supplies from SU! unless noted)
Stamps: Soakin Up the Sun by Paper Pretties
CS: Bashful Blue, Purely Pomegranate, Stamper's Select White
Ink: Brilliance black
Acc: Prismacolor pencils, OMS, blending stumps, rhinestones, prima flower, rhinestone brad, 1/2" circle punch, swiss dot cb embossing folder, dimensionals, spica clear glitter pen

TFL!

I actually did a challenge this week!

German Phrase of the Day: Warum arbeitest du nicht? = Why are you not working? My response to this is often "I am working...I'm stamping!" But my husband doesn't count stamping as work, so it usually doesn't work. Oh well!

I finally got to the SCS sketch challenge from this week. I really loved this sketch, and had some different ideas in my head so was happy to finally get one out on paper!

I started with my Bunny Slippers Sophia. Don't forget you only have until 11:59pm on Monday, June 30th to sign up for the Stamp of the Month Club and get this little cutie before she's released to the general public in August! And be sure to tell Christie that Jana sent you when you sign up. Anyway...I stamped her on Stamper's Select White, then paper pieced her robe with this wonderful DCWV patterned paper. I colored the rest of her with my SU! markers, and she was good to go.

Next, I used my 1 1/4" square punch to punch the patterned paper, and my 1 3/8" square punch to punch the pink layers underneath. Then, I made my card layers, Pink, white and blue. After fussing around to line up all the squares perfectly, I wanted to add some ribbons, so I punched a horizontal slot and tied 3 ribbons in. Then, I decided that the sentiment from Look Out World with Cooper would be perfect to go with this little sleepy-head, so I added that on with a jump ring. I edged the little tag (corners rounded with a corner rounder punch to look like a long oval) in my cameo coral ink pad to help it stand out against the white better.

It's been a fun day stamping today. My husband and daughter have headed north to the Vogel Park (bird park) near Hanover, so I have a weekend of peace and quiet. Of course, I'm supposed to be cleaning and packing ...but stamping is so much more fun, right?!?

Have a wonderful weekend everyone, and I"ll be back tomorrow with a Prettie Peek for you!

Supplies: (all supplies from SU! unless noted)
Stamps: Bunny Slippers and Look Out World by Paper Pretties
CS: DCWV patterned paper and solid textured cardstocks, Stamper's Select White
Ink: Brilliance black, Cameo Coral
Acc: SU! markers, grosgrain ribbon, horizontal slot punch, square punches, corner rounder

TFL!

Winter already??

German Phrase of the Day: Ein wunderschoener Tag heute! = It's a beautiful day today! Actually - it is...and I don't get to say that all too often. This morning it was a little gray and scary, but it's cleared up and turned into a beautiful day all around. I love summer!

Speaking of summer...why on earth am I making a winter card? Well, when I saw Danielle's sketch for this week's Paper Pretties Weekly Challenge, I immediately thought of cute little Snowflake in that center circle. I mean...isn't he perfect in there? I also knew I didn't want to use designer paper for the squares, but embossed paper. Fortunately, I still had some Cool Caribbean snowflake embossed paper from over a year ago when my mom was here, and it mixed well with the swirls on white. I mean...doesn't he just look adorable??

I stamped Snowflake with Brilliance black ink onto Stamper's Select White. While that dried, I cut the rest of my cardstock, layering my embossed pieces onto Tempting Turquoise, and I layered some more White cardstock onto my Tempting Turquoise 5.25" square card. Once Snowflake was dry, I colored him in with my prismacolor pencils. You know...I don't think I've done that with him before, and I think it works SOOO much better than watercoloring him. It's very hard to get black to smooth out evenly on watercolor paper, but with the pencils and blending stumps, it was a breeze! Of course I added some blue shading to the edges of his snowangel, and then I went over that with my liquid applique. I sprinkled some Dazzling Diamonds on over that before heat setting to "puff it up" (said in my best Arnie accent a la Hanz and Franz!)

After affixing Snowflake to the scalloped tempting turquoise circle, I pierced holes in each bump and then outlined the wholes with my white gel pen. Lastly, I stamped the Happy Winter! sentiment on more white cardstock and punched it with the word window punch. Even though the card has no ribbon...I LOVE it... don't you?

Oh...and I have news! Paper Pretties is releasing 2 new stamps on Tuesday, July1st at 8pm EST. You won't want to miss the fun of another Paper Pretties Stampin' In Your Jammies party, with fun challenges and prizes! I might even drag my sorry bum out of bed to attend this time - if my husband will let me get up at 2am for some stamping. ;-) And in addition...we have a few new Prettie Guests who will be joining us for the next three months - they'll be announced on the Paper Pretties website tomorrow! And be sure to read about our newest Prettie Girl, Jodi while you're there!

And, have you ever wanted to be a Cutie Pie?? Well, your chance is now! Send Christie your best Paper Pretties projects and YOU could win the stamps being released on Tuesday for FREE!! That's right, all the stamps being released could be yours for free, just by emailing Christie one of the adorable cards you've made using our stamps...what could be easier?? You have until June 30th at 8pm CST to get your entries in, so don't delay.

Supplies: (all supplies from SU! unless noted)
Stamps: Snowflake Kisses by Paper Pretties
CS: Tempting Turquoise, Cool Caribbean, Stamper's Select White
Ink: Brilliance black, Tempting Turquoise
Acc: Prismacolor Pencils, OMS, blending stumps, liquid applique, dazzling diamonds glitter, mega scalloped circle punch, paper piercer, white gel pen, coluzzle, word window punch, CB embossing folders

TFL!

Prettie Wednesday

German Phrase of the Day: Ich liebe Dunkin' Donuts! = I love Dunkin' Donuts! I grew up in New England, a place where Dunkin' Donuts rules. I mean, where else do you see highway exit signs with Dunkin Donuts posted as a food option at that exit? Krispy Kreme has never stood a chance up there...not with the crappy excuse for coffee they serve and the poor choice in donuts.

When I was young there was a great Dunkin' Donuts commercial called "Time to Make the Donuts" which you can see on YouTube. In my household, if you had to get up early it was always "time to make the donuts." We also had donuts only on Sunday, because we lived close to the mall, and the mall was closed on Sunday (still had blue laws back then) and we could go over at 8:20pm Saturday night and get a dozen donuts for half price!!

Anyway, whenever I look at this sweet Sophia who has just woken up I think of the phrase "Time to Make the Donuts," so when Joni (our amazing illustrator) challenged us all to write, draw or doodle on our project this week, I knew I had to use little Bunny Slippers Sophia and write that phrase. The color scheme is also from DD...in case you aren't familiar with their pink and orange logo. And did you know that Bunny Slippers Sophia is the Stamp of the Month from Paper Pretties for July? That means you have just 5 more days to sign up for the Stamp of the Month Club to get this little cutie before everyone else! Otherwise, you have to wait until August 1st to get her, so...what are you waiting for??

Sophia is on Stamper's Select White, and I watercolored her with ink pads and an aquapainter using Pink Passion, Only Orange, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Blush Blossom, Summer Sun and a tiny touch of Pretty in Pink. I started the card with a Close to Cocoa base followed with a white layer, and then only orange and pink passion split the 3rd layer. I tied some cocoa grosgrain around it to hide the seam. Sophia herself is layered onto some more close to cocoa. I wrote the sentiment with my chocolate chip stampin' write marker.

Supplies: (all supplies from SU! unless noted)
Stamps: Bunny Slippers by Paper Pretties
CS: Pink Passion, Only Orange, Close to Cocoa, Stamper's Select White
Ink: Brilliance black, Pink Passion, Only Orange, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Blush Blossom, Summer Sun, Pretty in Pink
Acc: Aquapainter, cocoa grosgrain, chocolate chip marker

TFL!

Happy Anniversary to Me and My DH!

German Phrase of the Day: Ich bin zu hause. = I am home. Yeah...the let me out a day early. I had no contractions, no bleeding, and was up and about feeling great so the doctor's let me out. I was VERY relieved. And this was the Hyatt of hospitals over here. My own private room with en suite bathroom, internet terminal in my room as well as a small fridge. The only thing that wasn't better was the food...but we came prepared for that this time, and I had snacks galore! And I was SO happy to get to come home and spend the evening with my wonderful husband on this, our 8th wedding anniversary. (Sorry for the lousy picture...it's actually taken from a photo of a project USING this picture...can't find e-copies of my wedding photos right now.)

So, I also made my Dear Husband a card. I made it before going to the hospital so I'd have it there with me to give to him today. When he arrived to pick me up he had a single long stemmed red rose for me (he's not big on buying flowers, so that's actually pretty good for him!)

For his card I started with a stamped image of Luke & Lexi on watercolor paper. I colored them in using my aquapainter and SU! watercolor crayons. It's tricky to capture the actual color of my dh's hair, since it's got a lot of gray mixed in with that light brown/dirty blond...but I like how he turned out. Blue is one of my favorite colors on my husband since he has these wonderful dark blue eyes that just sparkle when he wears blue...so I used a lot of blue on his card!

I stamped the jewelry box and envelope separately on watercolor paper and after coloring them (and adding some sparkle with my Spica Glitter Pens!) I cut them out and popped them up in Luke and Lexi's hands. I finished off the image by stamping the sentiment with Night of Navy ink. Originally I was thinking, "I can use this for my Prettie Wednesday card this week, so I need to do some doodling and hand written things" thus the doodling and SWAK on the envelope. Then of course today I realized, I'm not going to send this to anyone else...I'll have to make another card for my PW card this week! Oh well, an excuse to go stamp more!!

I used Bashful Blue for the card base, and stamped the hearts from the Sealed with a Kiss set all over the background. I love these hearts...all different sizes - they make a perfect background image for the other stamps in the set! I also love that you can put any number of items into Luke and Lexi's hands. I chose jewelry for him to give me, and a card for me to give him. Now if I could just get the jewels!! LOL!! Maybe for our 10th I'll get something sparkly. ;-)

I hope you all have a wonderful day today, and be sure to give your special someone (if you have one) a special kiss in honor of my anniversary! :-)

Supplies: (all supplies from SU! unless noted)
Stamps: Sealed with a Kiss by Paper Pretties
CS: Watercolor paper, Night of Navy, Bashful Blue
Ink: Brilliance black
Acc: Aquapainter, WWC, Spica glitter pens, silver wide organdy, navy grosgrain

TFL!

hallo from im krankenhaus!

I've got Internet!!! I'm using a German keyboard which is a little tricky, but otherwise all is good. The surgery this morning was quick, and the doctor said I'm all closed up now, so this little baby should be all set for 5 more months. :)

I'm especially excited that now I can catch up on my google reader stuff...I was getting behind again!

I won't be able to share any photos while here, but at least I can type and get email. I hope everyone is having a great week, and I'll be back to share my im krankenhaus experiences. (Krankenhaus is hospital in case you don't remember!)

Bis später!

TFL!

I've been tagged!

Hello everyone. Sorry I don't have a card to share with you before I had to the hospital tomorrow morning, but I promise I'll have one when I get home on Wednesday! Jessie (one of the wonderful Prettie Girls) tagged me last night and I thought that now would be a fun time to play along since I don't have any eye candy for you.

The"rules" of the game: Each player answers questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

Ten Years Ago: I was working for a Fortune 500 company as a web marketing manager in Silicon Valley, living in a townhouse with my then boyfriend/now husband with our 2 cats.

Five thing in today’s ‘to do’ list:
1. Take my friends to the airport at 5am!!! (YIKES!)
2. Pack for my hospital stay (including towels!)
3. try to clean the house some (didn't do this, altho my dh did!)
4. catch up my google reader-not gonna happen...
5. complete paperwork for rental house we're hoping to get in San Jose, CA
6. make dh's anniversary card - DONE!

Snacks I enjoy: depends on my mood; peanuts, chocolate (peanuts in chocolate) fruit, chips...I guess pretty much anything!

Things I would do if I was a millionaire: Unfortunately, at least where we're moving back to, that wouldn't get us very far. It would just barely buy a home. But then we'd have no house payment so I guess we could use that money to do fun stuff like travel more.

Places I have lived: Maine, Southern California, Northern California, and Germany.

Okay, so now I am supposed to nominate 5 people, so I nominate....YOU! Please leave me a comment if you decide to play along on your own blog...or just leave a comment with your own answers!

Have a great few days everyone, and I"ll be back soon.

TFL!

Happy Birthday Mom!

German Phrase of the Day: Alles gut zum Geburtstag. = Happy Birthday (roughly translated.) Today is my mom's birthday...and we've already called and sung to her.

Today's card uses the Rainy Day Friends set from Paper Pretties. I love the scenes that my fellow Prettie Girl Charmaine makes with this little dog and her Copic markers. I don't have copics, so I had to make do with my prismacolor pencils instead. I hope that my mom likes this one!!

I tried to p8ick colors I thought she would like, and I know she likes blues and greens. I stamped my scene first, stamping one cloud on some extra white I had, then I colored everything in and blended with my OMS and blending stumps. If anyone out there knows the trick to getting nice smooth color in larger areas I would love to know!! It's very tricky for me.

For the background, I used my Sassy Circles set. And lastly, for the greeting, I just bent the stamp a little as I was attaching it to my block to make it fit the curves of the oval.

The sketch for this card came from Irina. She has a blog candy contest going on on her blog right now with this sketch, and I just loved the simplicity of it! Perfect for a not-so-quick card for my mom (that was some intense coloring!) Thanks Irina!!

Hope you all have a great day, and an especially wonderful one to my mom!!! Love you mom!

Supplies: (all supplies from SU! unless noted)
Stamps: Rainy Day Friends, Sassy Circles by Paper Pretties
CS: stamper's select white, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue
Ink: Brilliance black, certainly celery
Acc: Prismacolor pencils, OMS, blending stumps, wide celery grosgrain, oval punches

TFL!

Goin' to the Chapel

German Phrase of the Day: Die Hochzeit ist heute Wochenende. = The wedding is this weekend. One of Julia's kindergarten teachers is getting married this weekend, and the chidren at school have prepared a song to sing for her at the wedding...so I'll get to see a German wedding. I'm quite exctied. I haven't made her gift yet (better get crackin'!) but I did make this card for another friend to give her.

Lisa asked me once again to make a card (and a few other projects) for her. She loves the Bellas, and since Daggi is just so cute, I agreed that Bella was perfect. Lisa wanted mostly white, with a touch of green. I stamped Hitched a Fella Bella onto Stamper's Select White from PTI with Brilliance Black ink, then colored the image with my aquapainter and watercolor crayons. He has a celery tie, and she has a celery sash. The roses are colored with Rose Red. For some sparkle, I added a star shaped rhinestone to her tiarra, and some spica clear glitter pen to her eyelashes.

For the background, I wanted to keep it white, but I wanted some texture. The card is 5.25" square, and I knew I couldn't cuddlebug a 5" square piece at once, so I decided I'd have to use Swiss Dots, so I could do part of it, then line up the folder to emboss the rest. I was amazed at how well that turned out!

Ok...now to get to work on her stationary set...and a few other projects before I'm away from my craft room (and computer) for 3 days in hospital.

Supplies: (all supplies from SU! unless noted)
Stamps: Hitched a Fella Bella by StampingBella
CS: stamper's select white, Certainly Celery
Ink: Brilliance black
Acc: WWC, aquapainter, rhinestone, celery organdy, swiss dots cb embossing folder, spica clear glitter pen
TFL!

Prettie Wednesday is Prettie BRIGHT!

German Phrase of the Day: Ich bin für dieses zu alt! = I am too old for this! I'm really feeling my age with this pregnancy!! With Julia it was fairly easy, but that was 6 years ago...now I'm older and wiser, but with creaky joints and sagging parts. I told a friend at Julia's kindergarten this morning that I'm zu alt and she laughed...having 2 kids almost 10 years apart she could totally relate! :-)

2 weeks ago Jessie challenges us all to make a card using bright colors, and one of them HAD to be orange. I have nothing against orange, I just don't tend to use it that much, so it was good to be forced too. However, you may need your shades for this one!

The image I chose to use today is the brand-new, not-yet-available Bunny Slippers. It won't be available to the general buying public until August, but members of the Stamp of the Month Club...well...they get it in July! How cool is that?? I love getting stamps before everyone else does, just makes you feel special, dontcha think? And this little gal is just too perfect for me! I REALLY don't do mornings lately!! Recently, my husband has been running interference with Julia in the mornings for me, letting me get up more slowly and take care of myself. But this morning, he had an EARLY flight (taxi was here at 5am!!) and I had trouble getting back to sleep after the 4:20am alarm went off. So, when Julia came in at 7, I was just not ready!

However, after going back to bed after she was at kindergarten, I was ready to stamp this afternoon! I colored this Sophia in with my SU! markers. I'm still not great at doing it without the lines (as you can see on the detail photo) but check out those adorable bunny slippers?? Don't you just want those for yourself? I used Pumpkin Pie and Rose Red for her robe, and Close to Cocoa and Creamy Caramel for the bear. A little pretty in pink for the slippers were all they needed, and her hair is So Saffron.

I used some DCWV patterned paper I had in my stash to tie in the bright colors, and the card base is Certainly Celery. Oh. and what do you think of my orange grosgrain stripes? I love em. That and the rhinestone brads really finish off this card nicely I think. Be sure to check out all the other Prettie Girl blogs (listed to the right) to see how everyone else met this challenge!

I hope you all have a great day, and if you haven't checked out the Paper Pretties SOTM club, now is the time to do it so you can be one of this first to get this adorable little Sophia in YOUR mailbox!

Supplies: (all supplies from SU! unless noted)
Stamps: Bunny Slippers by Paper Pretties
CS: stamper's select white, DCWV patterned paper, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie
Ink: Brilliance black
Acc: SU Markers, orange grosgrain ribbon, rhinestone brads

TFL!

Prettie Tuesday

German Phrase of the Day: Ich bin ein Berliner! = I am a Berliner. Kennedy made this famous statement when visiting a divided Berlin once, and was castigated for it because a Berliner is a jelly donut. However, a Berliner is also a resident of the city of Berlin, so he was in fact correct. That does not stop my husband from repeating this phrase every time I bring him a Berliner from the bakery though! Oh well...I guess I married a goofball. :-)

I have a lovely Sophia card for you today. I used the awesome sketch challenge that Danielle posted last week on the Paper Pretties challenge forum, and I just loved it! All the papers are from the Prettie Boutique as well. I just love this Cloud 9 patterned paper that Christie used in one of the Prettie Kits back in January...and this Bazzill textured cardstock is just luscious!

I stamped Sophia on some Stamper's Select White from PTI using my Brilliance Black ink pad. Then, I cut the rest of the cardstock while I let that dry. When the card was mostly assembled, I colored the image in with my prismacolor pencils, OMS and blending stumps, and then I added some Crystal Effects to the top of the umprella, Sophia's rain boots, and the puddle to give it all a little sheen and look wet. You can see it better in the detail photo.

To finish off the card I tied some white grosgrain around before mounting Sophia on the card wtih pop dots, and then I stamped the greeting and punched it out with my SU! word window punch. Voila...a finished card!

Supplies: (all supplies from Paper Pretties unless noted)
Stamps: Rainy Day Friends by Paper Pretties
CS: stamper's select white, Cloud 9 patterned paper, Bazzill textured cardstocks in red and light green
Ink: Brilliance black
Acc: prismacolor pencils, OMS, blending stumps, crystal effects, word window punch, white grosgrain ribbon

TFL!

Thanks Jessie!!

German Phrase of the Day: Geben Sie mir Bescheid. = Let me know. Thankfully my husband just came up from his "dungeon" i.e. office in the basement so I was able to ask him for a phrase of the day. I think he came up with a good one for me!

Look at this gorgeous card I got in the mail! Isn't it just wonderful? Jessie Rone (our newly appointed DT Coordinator for the Prettie Girls...hmmm...if Christie is our Prettie Mama, does that make Jessie our Prettie Big Sis?) made this gorgeous card for me to congratulate me on my pregnancy.

I love this SU! set but just couldn't justify buying it. Of course now, I kinda wish I had. Guess I still have time, don't I? And I'm so out of it, I don't even recognize the patterned paper...but I love how she used her Nesties - and the covered chipboard blowr is just gorgeous!!

Thanks so much Jessie, you totally made my day! :-)

TFL!

Happy Father's Day!

German Phrase of the Day: Heute ist Vatertag. = Today is Father's Day. And my wonderful husband has taken our daughter to the Neander Valley (Neanderthal - thal is German for Valley...betchya didn't know that, did you?) to see the museum there. It's only about 40 minutes away from our home - I can't believe it's taken us over 20 months to go see it. I stayed home to get some cleaning done on the top floor, and to start sorting through what will make the cut to go back home with us, versus what will I give/throw away here. Not a fun process!!!

I have also been busy getting a few Father's Day items made. First, I made a large chocolate chip cookie cake. I LOVE the cookie cakes from American Cookie stores, and since I had made some cookie dough on Friday night and not finished baking the cookies yet, I thought it would be perfect. Looks pretty yummy, huh?

I also got a card made for my dear husband. I can't even begin to tell you how helpful he's been the last few months. He's been VERY concerned for my well-being, and trying to make sure I'm healthy, rested, and not over-doing things. He's also a wonderful father who loves playing with his little girl and taking her to new places and teaching her new things. I consider myself extremely lucky.

For his card, I used the Just so Hoppy and Hip-Hop Accessories sets by Melanie M. for GinaK. I stamped the two frogs with Palette Noir ink on Stamper's Select White CS, then colored them with prismacolor pencils and blended with OMS and blending stumps. Then, I stamped the greeting (the HOPPY part is from Just so Hoppy, the Father's Day is from Accessories) with Wild Wasabi ink. For all the layering I used Wild Wasabi CS, Stamper's Select White and the Wild Wasabi prints from the hostess set of prints paper. Oh yeah...and I added some cute screw head brads from Gina's store also. I think he'll like it.

I hope you all have a wonderful day today, and be sure to thank your dad...I know I will! He's the only man I know who's as good a dad as my own husband! :-)

Supplies: (all supplies from SU! unless noted)
Stamps: Just so Hoppy, Hip Hop Accessories from GinaK Designs
CS: stamper's select white, Wild Wasabi, Wild Wasabi prints dsp
Ink: palette noir, wild wasabi
Acc: screw brads, sponge, prismacolor pencils, OMS, blending stumps

TFL!

Pretty Wednesday, on Friday!

German Phrase of the Day: Ich habe hunger. = I am hungry. Seems I'm always hungry, but don't actually want to eat anything lately. Wonder why that could be. ;-) Julia and I had a great time in Paris with our friends, and they are now off to London while Julia and I recover at home and hopefully have a quiet weekend with dh (perhaps including some time in my stamp room!!)

2 weeks ago Jillian challenged the Prettie Girls to "make it new again" by making a project with one of our oldest stamp sets. I flipped through some of the oldies I brought over here with me (not many I must admit) and came across an old favorite Baby Firsts from SU! I know it wasn't in my first order, but it was probably in my second!

For this card I started with some beautiful Bo Bunny paper Christie sent me from the Prettie Boutique. I'm really loving the pink and brown still (I know...I take a while to catch on to these fads, so that by the time I do they're already done!) and thought it would work perfect for a baby girl card. Then, I decided I wanted two babies, so I stamped a second one on acetate and then quickly put the acetate against the white cardstock and rubbed the image on. It's not as dark as I would have liked, but when colored in it isn't too bad. I colored the babies in with my SU! markers to match the paper.

Then, I pulled out another old SU! set to stamp the greeting. See how I added an s to little one? It's the perfect card for someone having twin girls - not an occasion that comes up very often I suppose, but it was fun to make! I added the ribbon (first a layer of pretty in pink grosgrain with the brown polka dot organdy on top) and then stuck all the layers together on a white card base. The greeting was punched out with my circle punches, and I popped up the clothes pin stamped in Rose Red to add more dimension.

I'll be back again soon with another Prettie creations! And thank goodness our travel is now DONE until we move on August 9th, so other than packing and trying to get rid of a LOT of stuff, I'll have time to stamp again...yeah!!!

Supplies: (all supplies from SU! unless noted)
Stamps: Baby Firsts, retired SU! hostess set
CS: stamper's select white, Bo Bunny patterned paper, chocolate chip
Ink: chocolate chip, rose red, palette noir; blush blossom, pretty in pink, and rose red markers
Acc: pretty in pink grosgrain, brown polka dot organdy from May Arts, circle punches, sponge

TFL!

Heading out again...

Hi everyone...sorry...as usual things here are crazy with a BIG houseful (4 additional people visiting from the US) so I haven't been to the top floor in ages. I'm leaving for 4 nights in Paris, but promise to post my (slightly late) Pretty Wednesday card when I get back, along with some other fun stuff!

Have a wonderful week, and I'll "see" you all on Thursday.

TFL!

It's a healthy Baby!

S/he is healthy! We just had our first-trimester genetik screening where they do some pretty cool things with 3D ultrasound. The good news is, we have now gone down from a 1 in 200 chance to a 1 in 2000 chance of having a major genetic problem. This is huge news for us considering our last pregnancy ended because the baby died in utero at 13 weeks because of trisomy 13. Now, I just have to get my "stitch" put in (a cerclage to try and prevent my cervix from opening early again like it did with my daughter), and we're all set for a full-term, healthy baby! :-)

TFL!

Prettie Wednesday with Lexie!

German Phrase of the Day: Heute ist Mittwock. = Today is Wednesday. And you all know what that means....Prettie Wednesday! Yup, and 2 weeks ago I challenged everyone to make a baby card using Paper Prettie stamps.

I decided to use Lexie from Made with Love for my card, and I created my own sentiment on the computer. My mother doesn't like this phrase, having come from a generation where it was a bad thing...but I tried to explain that today it no longer has the same negative connotations. She still doesn't like it, but I do!

I stamped Lexie onto Stamper's Select White with my Brilliance black ink. I then colored her in with my prismacolor pencils and blended with blending stumps and OMS. For papers I used textured pearlescent paper by Bazzill that Christie sent me a few months ago...it's such luscious paper...I felt bad covering it up. But, I had to use more of my wonderful patterned paper that Julie sent me by Making Memories. Then of course, I used the matching flower accents as well. The finished card measures 5 1/4" square.

Supplies: (all supplies from Paper Pretties unless noted)
Stamps: Made with Love from Paper Pretties
CS: Bazzill pearlescent textured CS, Making Memories patterned paper, stamper's select white
Ink: brilliance graphite black
Acc: pink ric-rak, prismacolor pencils, OMS, blending stumps, Making Memories flower accents.

TFL!

No stamping yet...

Sorry I haven't had a chance to do any crafting in the last 2 days. My parents are currently flying home, so I'll be crying in my non-alcoholic beer tonight. I've lost my laundry-man and chief dishwasher, as well as the best playmates for Julia there are! However, we will be driving back to the airport in just 30 minutes more to pick up our good friends from California who are arriving this afternoon. I had just enough time to wash the sheets and vacuum the guest room in between visitors!

Hope you all are having a wonderful day, and I'll try to get some stamp time in this afternoon.

TFL!