Project Rudolph bags

I've been making bags for Project Rudolph. I kept them fairly simple because she needs about 7,000 decorated lunch bags. I'm just doing what I can probably about 200 bags. If you would love to help with Project Rudolph Tawny is still in need of decorated lunch bags and letters from children and adults. You can read all about her Project Rudolph here. When she arrived here in Germany two years ago she wanted to give back to the men and women that are in Iraq and are transitioning through Ramstein PAX termanal or those who are being seen for medical care at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center from Iraq. She hands out and mails downrange these decorated lunch bags with various goodies to let the men and women know that we care about them and are deeply grateful for their sacrifices. I would love it if you could help her meet her goal. Please read the article and decide if you can help in one way or another. If you want you can link my blog into your blog to spread the word. It's almost October so the sooner these are sent to her the better!

Sweet day...

Well two days in a row of posting a card what do you know? Life has once again picked back up and so I've not stamped in a while. I have urges to stamp all the time but when I can fit it into my schedule is the problem. I really liked the sketch challenge over on Our Creative Corner blog a few weeks ago but never had a chance to play so I've sat down and finally made a card for it. I picked my cardstock color choices from this ribbon that I've had FOREVER and have never used. I know it's kinda summery colors but there's no law that says we have to use fall/winter colors because we're in Fall season right? I used my new Crazy For Cupcakes stamp set by Stampin' Up! If you're interested in purchasing it let me know because I'm a SU demonstrator. Thanks for looking!

supplies: YoYo Yellow, Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore & Whisper White cardstock, Crazy For Cupcakes stamp set by Stampin' Up!, Noir black palette & Real Read ink, Argyle Cuttlebug embossing folder, sponges, and ribbon

Cutie Patootie friends

This Mistletoe Pixies image by Stampendous is one of my favorite Christmas stamps. I love how the two are so snuggly. This is my October Christmas card that I will have for Christmas card class in a few weeks. I just ordered some more of the background paper because I love it so much! The background paper is by Sandylion called Let It Snow. I found it at the arts & crafts center at another base near here.

supplies: Bravo Burgandy, Bordering Blue, Kraft & Whisper White cardstock, Noir black palette ink, Stampin' Up's stampin write markers, blue & white polka dot organdy ribbon, Sandylion Let It Snow background paper

Bad or Fattening?

Of course I'm posting on a Wednesday don't you know it's Splitcoaststampers sketch challenge Wednesday? :) This cute little card is my contribution to sketch #194. I love this mini Inkadinkadoo Bad or Fattening stamp set. I bought it over at All That Scraps a few months ago. I used the Stampin' Up! Cutie Pie paper that is no longer available. Boohoo! Well take a look and enjoy! Don't those little cupcakes look delicious?

Supplies: So Saffron, Bashful Blue & Purely Pomegranate cardstock, Palette Noir ink, Inkadinkadoo Bad or Fattening mini stamp set, Lemonade twill ribbon, circle punches, Prima flower, Stampin' Up! black Vintage brad

My Catch All Can

As I was doing a ceiling to floor cleaning of my kitchen and dining room last week. I came across this Starbucks cocoa can I had lying around. It was black so I thought it will be perfect to dress it up and use it as my new catch all can on my new craft table that I'll be bringing into the house tomorrow. I decorated it pretty simple just wanted to keep things simple. I will use this can on my table to put pens, bone folders, markers, scissors, etc while I'm stamping. Then I'll put them in their rightful places later. But at least they won't be rolling around the table as I try to work. I used a flower chipboard piece by Stampin' Up! and I covered it with Basic Black cardstock. I used circle punches, and Taylor Tots to decorate it. The raspberry twill ribbon is from Taylored Expressions.

Thanks Over & Over

Good Wednesday morning everyone! This is my card for the SCS sc#193. I used several Stampin' Up! markers to color in the daisy image. The image is by TAC. I used some scrapbook paper by Fancy Pants Designs. Thanks for taking a look!

supplies: Daisy stamp by TAC, Circle of Friendship stamp set by Stampin' Up!, Not Quite Navy, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, & Whisper White cardstock, Fancy Pants Design scrapbook paper called True Blue, Earth Elements button, Nestabilities

Owl Happiness

I check in on Tamara's card sketches pretty often but I hardly have time lately to participate. So this last sketch #60 I did! I really like the 4 panels on the card background so I gave it shot. I used some scrapbook paper by Fancy Pants Designs. I am in love with the Wise Owl set by Papertrey Ink. It was my first time inking that stamp set up. I love all the phrases that come in the set. I did make color my owl to be a girl owl in pretty pink. I gave her belly and eyelids some glitter using the Fruit Punch stickles. I have a horrible headache this morning and I was really hoping to get outside to start painting my used craft table I purchased recently. Right now I'm doing all my stamping on a little desk and it's just not enough room. A lady I know here was selling a farmer's style table, she used it as her kitchen table. I loved the look of it and bought it. I've stripped the paint off of it, now it needs to be re-painted. I'm hoping to get it done before this weekend. I'll be posting pics of my craft room once my new curtains are hung and my craft table is finished! I'm so excited.

supplies: Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip & Soft sky cardstock, Chocolate Chip ink, Fancy Pants scrapbook paper, Photo corner punch, Blender pens, Fruit Punch stickles, Earth Element Watercolor crayons, Doodlebug button

Blog is getting a facelift

Hi everyone! I just wanted to let everyone know I'm trying to update the look of my blog. Giving it a facelift! I'm not done adding back in the buttons and making it look like it did before. I had a hard time getting the header to fit just right and still getting it to fit just right. Who knows by the time I'm actually done it may look more different. :) I felt it needed some personalitiy and I was visiting someone's blog last week and noticed her cute layout so I went to the website she purchased it on and bought one of my own too. Thanks for bearing with me!

Time Spent with Friends

Today is Manuel's first day of Kindergarten so here I am sitting at home and it's a little strange not having him around. I will post pics soon of his first day. I made this card because it's rainy here today yucky wet weather! I wanted something bright and sunny. Summer is almost over so I figured I'd knock one more summer card out. I found this cute Bo Bunny Shabby Princess collection designer paper called Ella Dot with the cute polka dots on front, and the plaid on back. Well I'm off to figure out what to do with myself. Hope everyone has a great day!

Supplies: YoYo Yellow, Green Galore, Real Red & Whisper White cardstock, Bo Bunny Shabby Princess Ella Dot designer paper, Stampin' Up! Time Well Spent stamp set, Real Red & Green Galore ink, Prima flowers, Stampin' Up! vintage brads, Cuttlebug, Stampin' Up! ticket punch, Green & white polka dot organdy ribbon & pop dots

Sweet Birthday Wishes, TECC31

Good morning! I woke up this morning to the noise of rain just pounding down outside. I LOVE it when it rains. I had no clue it was to rain on Labor Day here in Germany. Oh well, it will be a perfect day to do odd and end things around the house. I especially love the mornings when the kids sleep in and I can check email and get on online in peace and quiet. That's why I'm trying to get my card posted for Taylored Expressions cupcake challenge #31. I finished my card yesterday but ran out of time to post it. Yesterday while checking my myspace account I thought hmmm....why not use the color scheme from my myspace page to use for her challenge. My page is set to private but you can find the myspace page from Pyzam here. The colors in the page are Tempting Turquoise, Pink Passion, Basic Black, Apricot Appeal and Whisper White. I used just a bit of the Apricot Appeal to throw some of that color in there somewhere. I inked up my Birthday Cupcake stamp set by Inkadinkadoo. I purchased it at Joanns.com during 4th of July when it was on sale and shipping was free! What a deal right? I stamped the heart from the set as a background on the Pink Passion and then I went over the hearts with my new Black Diamond stickles I bought at the Spangdahlem AB crafts store. My sweet husband drove me an hour and 15 minutes away just so I could go to the craft store. They have a large selection of stuff on hand. He made my day Saturday! Instead of using a sentiment in the oval circle I used my large sentiment from the Birthday Cupcake set on the main image panel. My mom lives in Kansas and she goes to Topeka pretty often. She was there recently and happened upon a new scrapbook store. She does not stamp or not scrapbook at all but she's always thinking of me so she went in to see what she could find. Well she found this ADORABLE cupcake punch by EK Success. Actually the owner had made several cards using the punch and my mom could not find the punch so she ordered one. When it came in my mom went to get it and sent it to me! She knows I love cupcakes. I paper pieced the cupacke. I used some black eyelet designer paper for the liner, and I cut out the pink passion cupcake top. I also punched and pieced a piece of apricot appeal for the candle portion. I added some rhinestones because all cards need bling somewhere! Finished it off with some black and white polka dot organdy ribbon! Uh-oh I hear people moving about upstairs. In a few minutes I'll have to start breakfast so I'm off to start my day!

Supplies: Birthday Cupcake set by Inkadinkadoo, Black Diamond stickles, Black & White polka dot organdy ribbon, Scallop oval punches, Cupcake punch by EK Success, Basic Black ink, Tempting Turquoise, Pink Passion, Basic Black, Apricot Appeal, and Whisper White cardstock, Rhinestones, Pink Passion Stampin' Up! stampin write marker

Rock Star Onsie

This morning we had our monthly Stampin' Up! meeting and our wonderful Ally demonstrated how to do this very cute and simple onsie card. She found the tutorial here. This card is super cute you can dress it up as much as you like. And the best part it's so EASY and quick. I have this great designer paper by American Crafts called Fortune Teller with all the stars. I thought this would be cute to dress up the onsie. I used large brads by American crafts in pink. I didn't mean to put them so close together but it's still cute so I left it be.

Edited: I updated this post with the link to the tutorial

Supplies: Elegant Eggplant cardstock, American Crafts Fortune Teller designer paper, American Crafts large pink brads, Scallop punch, Stampin' Up! 1 3/8 inch

Boo Time, SC191

Today I managed to clean house for good part of the day so that when my husband went to work (he works night shift) that I would be able to sit down and stamp the night away. I think I got 2 cards done and it's almost 10pm here. So much for stamping the night away ha? I always sit down and start blog hoping and next thing I know I've spent hours looking at and commenting on blogs. About my card I want to say I didn't color in my witch image from Booglie Eyes because I just don't have the coloring skills like so many talented ladies out there. I tried 3 times to color her cape but it just wasn't happening. I used the sketch challenge over at SCS. A few months ago I bought the twill bundle from Taylored Expressions and realized the Key Lime twill ribbon matched to the t with the color in the designer paper. I stamped the sentiment in the old Stampin' Up! Parfait spectrum pad. My mom is constantly searching at local garage sales where she lives for SU items and she found and bought this spectrum pad. She is so sweet but she really doesn't know what to look for. If she had known this pad is half way dried up she wouldn't of bought it. But I appreciate her thinking of me often so I used it on my sentiment for this card.

Supplies: Only Orange, Whisper White, Basic Black, Lovely Lilac cardstock, Stampin' Up! halloween designer series paper (Sorry do not remember the name of the paper), Square punches, Stampin' Up! Booglie Eyes set, Taylored Expressions Key Lime twill ribbon, Lovely Lilac eyelets.

Booglie Boo

Yesterday I had the urge to make some Halloween cards because Halloween is near. I'm not sure what we will do for Halloween this year. I know there is trick or treating on base however I can only imagine how extremely crowded it will be. We will probably end up going anyways because well we're over here and have to let the kids enjoy their American traditions. I recently purchased the Vampire Riley stamp and wanted to use that as the main image but my coloring was so not working. It was all wrong. I really wish I had some copic markers to color. I tried coloring him three different ways and it just was not to my liking. So I took out my handy Booglie Eyes, it's one of my favorite Halloween sets. I also used some old Stampin' Up! ds Halloween paper I think it's from 2 years ago. I bought several packs of that paper because it was too cute for Halloween. Thanks for stopping by!

Vienna, Austria

When we were stationed in Texas and my husband was teaching classes at Lackland AFB he had a student in his class from Austria. His name is Sebastian. Sebastian and my husband became good friends. When Sebastian left he always extended the invitation to go visit him in his country. While family was in town we decided what a perfect time to go. Sebastian is in the Armed Forces of Austria. He was our tour guide for 2 days. He set us up in a nice hotel and showed us his home. We loved Austria!! We will go back probably next year for his wedding. The only downside was it was SUPER DUPER hot!!!!!! Did you know Austria has the world's oldest zoo? We did not go but we went to the front gate.

These two pictures are of the palace in Vienna. My 12 year old son Luis is standing in front of the Palace ruins, and the other picture is taken from the Palace looking into old Vienna. Sebastian showed us how easy it was to ride the subway and buses in the city. He took us to every tourist attraction. But for dinner on our first night he took us somewhere special on the outskirts of the city at the border of the mountains for dinner. The wine was fabulous as well as the food. We finished up our second day in Vienna visiting his workplace and had lunch before we took off for Garmisch, Germany.

Paris, France

Paris is AMAZING! We definitely (just hubby and I) have to go back before our 2 years is up here in Germany. You need more than 1 day to really enjoy Paris. If you have the time and money then a week is good. There was so much to see and do in Paris. I want to keep my posts short because there are several places I want to post pics about. The Eifel tower was the highlight, but so was seeing the Louis Vuitton building. If only I could afford to buy anything in there. :) I was so impressed with the details in the buildings. Just absolutely breathtaking!! I can't put into words how amazing it is.

Amsterdam

I've mentioned in a previous post that I would share pictures from our recent summer travels. My husbands parents and his Aunt and Uncle came to visit us for 3 weeks so we took a summer vacation. We went to all these places by car. The closest country we live near is France. We are about 20 minutes to the France border. As soon as I get my International Drivers license you better believe I will go to France on my own while the kids are at school on day trips. There is a store called Cora that isn't too far away from the France border it's like a super Wal-Mart. Ok onto my review of Amsterdam. Well in my honest opinion everyone has their places of enjoyment and this was not one of them. Perhaps we just did not know where to go in the downtown area but the area we were in was jam packed with marijuana everywhere. Of course that's one of the things Amsterdam is known for it's legalization of drugs. Maybe I didn't really get to enjoy it because we didn't arrive until 5pm and a lot of the tourist attractions closed early. Well here is a picture of my husband and I at one of the many canals. The kids really enjoyed the canals. There was a huge population of people from every country imaginable!

Cute As a Bug, Mojo Monday #49

Ok well here is my last minute attempt at this Mojo Monday challenge #49. I forgot all about it and I think I have 30 minutes left to enter the contest. I've had this cute 12X12 paper by Making Memories in my pile for a while now and wanted to use it. I only have 1 Verve Visual stamp set and hate to use the same one over and over again for her challenges. I also had to change the saying to stick outside the main image as if I had put it underneath it would've covered the sentiment.

Supplies: Brocade Blue, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White cardstock, Making Memories ds paper, Brocade Blue & Wild Wasabi ink, Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug emobssing folder, Stampin' Up! vintage brads

Ruby Snowbunnybella

Edit: Sorry everyone the previous dark picture was really bugging me so I re-took the picture to show what it really looks like. Much better in my opinion!

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been almost a month since I've posted anything. As I mentioned in my previous post we did have family come for 3 weeks. They left last weekend and well life's been busy getting the boys ready for school to start. We had a fantastic time with our family. It gets so lonely living overseas with no family. Essentially our friends always become family it's a way of military life. Anyway we went to many places while they were here. Our main highlights were Paris, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Vienna, Rome, and Milan!! I'll be posting a few pics of our adventure while they were here soon.

To jump start back into my mojo I went over to SCS as always for color inspiration Tuesday. Today's colors were different but very cute!! The colors we were challenged to use are Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red, & Blush Blossom. I participated in a Stamping Bella image swap on SCS and today they came in my mail so I decided why not pull out a fantastic bella to color and use as the main image for this card. I went with a winter theme because before you know it winter will be here.

I used stickles in the fur of her coat. On top I used my new Copper stickles, and on her boots I used Stardust stickles to give it a little girly girl glitter.

Supplies:
Close to Cocoa, Whisper White, Ruby Red, Blush Blossom cardstock, Snowbunnybella, Copper & Stardust stickles, brads, Cocoa grosgrain ribbon, Snowflakes Cuttlebug embossing folder

OCC Dry Emboss challenge

We have family from the states coming to visit us in Germany tomorrow and I've got a whole list of challenges that I sooo want to finish before they arrive because I know the entire 3 weeks they are here I will probably not stamp very much at all. But I have a TON of cleaning and washing bed sheets, etc to do before tomorrow morning that I probably even will not get to the challenges I have on a list. I love reading the OCC blog and thought this was a challenge I could handle. The challenge is to use dry embossing somewhere on your card. I went over to Taylored Expressions blog to pick a sketch challenge because I love her sketches. Not to mention I have this new Hero Arts Cupcakes stamp set that had not been broken in yet. So I knew this was the chance to break it in. I think it came out pretty cute. I ran the striped squares through my cuttlebug using the Tiny Bubbles embossing folder. I used some of the pink twill ribbon and the absolutely adorable Taylor Tots from Taylored Expressions.

supplies: Chocolate Chip, Gable Green, Regal Rose, & Whisper WHite cardstock, Hero Arts Cupcakes stamp set, Nestabilities, designer paper from Hobby Lobby, taylor tots

Verve Diva Challenge Part Deux

I have completely forgot to look at the Verve challenges going on at SCS and now that I have 1 set of theirs I can feel good about entering them. Their stamps aren't required but it doubles your chances of winning so I think I need to get some new sets. I can't use the Anniversary birds in all their challenges. :) Anyway you can find more info on the challenge here which ends midnight on Wednesday so if you want to participate hurry and get your card in today!

card supplies: Night of Navy, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi, & Whisper White cardstock, Night of Navy, Pumpkin Pie, and Wild Wasabi ink, brads, prima flower, ticket punch, star dust stickles