Stamps, Paper, Glitter!

Stamping 411 Sketch Challenge & Some News

I know you're here to check out our weekly sketch challenge from Stamping 411, but before we get to that I have some news to share with you. This is my post on the Stamping 411 blog tonight :( "This will be my last week with Stamping 411. This is a decision that has taken me quite some time to come to, and I will truly miss the wonderful group of Operators and dear friends, as well as the inspiring entries from our players!

As you may know, I began working full time last fall. I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but wow, I had no idea how little time I'd have leftover after working all day and maintaining a household! (I worked 3 hours a day previously and had plenty of time for my favorite pastime, ie. stamping :) Throw in my two boys that play on 3 different baseball teams that travel and it gets downright chaotic. Over the past 8 months or so, we have also encountered some serious health issues with my dad, that have required numerous trips to Boston. In short, I needed to figure out what I could cut out to keep up with the rat race that is my life right now, and the only "optional" task I have is the one I hold with Stamping 411, so I had to make the tough decision to let go.

I'll be honest with you, I worry that I won't stamp at all if I don't maintain my weekly schedule of stamping for Stamping 411, but right now that is not a fear I can succumb to. I love my time in my stamping room, and I hope to get back to it and maybe even play along with the challenges some time in the future."

I wanted to thank you all for the support and inspiration you've shown over the last year that I've been with Stamping 411...now without further ado, here's the sketch this week, we sure hope you'll play along :)

And my card:

Oh how I do love stamping :) I really enjoyed making this card!! Here's what I used:

Stamp Set: Cheers to You

Ink: Melon Mambo, Real Red, Garden Green, Pool Party, Black StazOn

Card stock: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Basic Black, Flirtatious Specialty dsp

Accessories: Blender Pen, Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Stampin' Dimensionals, Basic Black StazOn

As always, thanks SO much for stopping by :) I hope I'll be back to share more with you before too long :)

Stamping 411 Sketch Challenge 208

Happy Friday everyone, and welcome to your weekly baseball update! Haha, that seems like what I should rename this post for a few months doesn't it??? It was a great week in baseball for our family...Nick pitched a no-hitter Monday night in the semi-finals for his town team, and they won the championship last night!!

As you're reading this post we're at the beginning of AAU playoff weekend for him, just in time to begin Summer Traveling All-Stars next weekend!

Ben's team didn't fare as well this week, but he personally had a couple of great games. They were eliminated in the 2nd round of playoffs, but Ben hit a triple in one of the games, and pitched great in part of another game so he was happy :)

Oh yeah, so would you like to see a card while you're here? Here we go with the sketch from Stamping 411:

And here's my card, as you can see I decided to flip the sketch:

Here's what I used to make my card:

Stamp Set: On the Grow

Ink: Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Garden Green, Crumb Cake, Basic Grey, Tangerine Tango, Sahara Sand

Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Watercolor Paper, Sunny Garden dsp

Accessories: Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Neutrals Designer Buttons, Linen Thread, Blender Pens

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure and hop on over to Stamping 411 and see what the other Operators have come up with! We hope you'll play along this week :)

Stamping 411 Sketch Challenge 207

It's Friday night and that means it's time for the latest challenge at Stamping 411 :) I'm going to keep it short & sweet tonight, because today I brought my dad in for another surgery and it's been a loooonnnngggg day. I won't go into all of the details, but we'll just say it's a long road and we're trudging along. Anyway, onto the sketch:

And here's my card:

Hmmm, wonder where I got the inspiration for this card?? Kinda manly, kinda get-well-ish...I've definitely been stressing over the latest surgery for dad...don't think I'll actually send him this card though, I don't know about flowers for men ;)

Here's what I used to make my card:

Stamp Set: Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Early Espresso, Always Artichoke & Not Quite Navy (for sponging the edges)

Card stock: Always Artichoke, Early Espresso, Paisley Petals dsp

Accessories: Fun Flowers die for the Big Shot, Early Espresso Satin Ribbon, Neutrals Buttons, Jewelry Tag punch, Linen Thread, Stampin' Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Stamping 411 Sketch Challenge 206

Hooray! I'm so excited to share my Stamping 411 card with you this week...wanna know why? Because it was inspired by the awesome time we had last weekend at Nick's AAU baseball tournament in Long Island!! What a wonderful weekend we had...we left on Thursday, took the Ferry from Connecticut over, and we didn't come home until Monday! The weather couldn't have been more perfect! (well it may have been a little warm for the boys during the games, but the parents thought it was ideal!)

The whole team stayed in the same hotel, actually we had a block of rooms so we were all in the same hallway :) The kids all ran around, played wiffle ball (because what do 11 boys do when not playing baseball? Play wiffle ball of course!), and swam in the pool.

Now for the card that matches the weekend, first here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

I really enjoyed making this card. I'm a huge fan of coloring anyway, but for the first time I tried the "outline with a marker & drag the color around with the blender pen" method, and I'm thrilled with the results, and it was super easy!

Here's what I used for my card:

Stamp Set: Sunny Fun

Ink: Basic Black StazOn, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Soft Suede, Pacific Point, Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Regal Rose, Melon Mambo

Card Stock: Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black, Watercolor Paper

Accessories: Neutrals Buttons, Tempting Turquoise Patterns dsp, Scallop Border Punch, Paper Piercing Tool

Thank for stopping by, and be sure and stop by Stamping 411 & check out what the other Operators have come up with!

Stamping 411 Sketch Challenge 205

Happy Friday friends! Wow, it looks like the weather may be finally coming around here in New England!! Hope it's getting better in your area as well :) I heard on the news the other day that the sun had only been shining 2 out of the last 17 days!! And I'm sure even then it was only part of the day! Saturday was the strangest...we began our day wrapped in blankets for Nick's baseball game in Randolph, and by the end of the second game we were peeling layers off and having sunburns! Bizarre! Then later in the day, Jeff & I decided to take the boys for ice cream at the waterfront in Plymouth (it was in the 70's & sunny at our house), riding along with the top down in Jeff's new car, got about 1 mile from the waterfront and hit a wall of fog and freezing cold air!! Needless to say we made a quick turnaround and headed to a Dairy Queen near our house where it was still sunny & warm!

Anyway, how about the latest sketch from Stamping 411? Here it is:

And here's my card:

I know right where this one is going, actually it's on its way already :) Making as many cards as I do, I'm not the greatest at actually getting them in the mailbox...I know I'm not alone am I? So I was very proud of myself for having the envelope addressed & stamp on before I even wrote this post :)

Here's what I used for my card with the paper-piecing technique:

Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes

Ink: Basic Black StazOn

Card stock: Pink Pirouette, Tangerine Tango, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Rose Red, Basic Black, Sweet & Sour Specialty dsp

Accessories: 2-way Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds glitter

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you'll find some time to play along with us this week!

Stamping 411 Sketch Challenge 204

I am sooo happy that it's Friday night! Not just that it's Friday night, the end of the work week, but also because my little boy has been away at camp ALL week with school and I finally got to pick him up this afternoon! Wow, in this age of electronics, and being connected all the time, it was so strange to drop my child off at school Monday morning and have NO contact until he got home this afternoon! No cell phones, no nothing!

The school was really great though, they had a website that parents could go to and view hundreds of pictures taken throughout the week and read journal entries by the chaperones. It was certainly an unforgettable experience, as I can tell from Nicholas talking non-stop since he hopped in my car!! As you can guess I'll be spending my evening washing & drying all of his stinky boy clothes & gear, and nagging him to scrub every nook & cranny of that body in the shower!!

Okay, so how about this week's sketch for Stamping 411?  

And here's my card:

Woah! Got your shades handy?!?! It's a bright one for sure! I really like it in real life though...there is glitter on the edges of the flower and it really pops! Here's what I used:

Stamp Set: Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Basic Black, Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango

Card stock: Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Whisper White

Accessories: Basic Black Taffeta Ribbon, Fun Flowers die for the Big Shot, Bold Brights buttons, 3/4" Circle Punch, Stamping Sponges, Stampin' Dimensionals, Crop-a-Dile

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a great weekend :)

Stamping 411 Sketch Challenge 203

Woot! Woot! It's Friday night!! Another week has come and gone and it's time for a new sketch at Stamping 411 :)

I hope you've got a fun weekend planned! We are getting together with friends tonight for a campfire, I even made my first attempt at making sangria...hopefully it came out yummy!  Yes I'm pushing the summertime festivities a bit since it's not even 60 degrees out today, but I'm not the most patient girl and I'm trying to will summer to get here...I even painted my toenails this week, because that's the only way to sport flip flops!! Oh you know what was the coolest thing??? I went to Wally World last night with my friend Meg, because both of our boys are going on a 6th grade camping trip for the week with school next week and we needed to stock up on little trial sized toothpaste, deoderant, shampoo...you know, all of the things they're not going to use because mom's not there to nag them?? Anyway, we spotted the coolest jumbo, and I mean jumbo, like the size of a baseball, marshmallows!! The boys are so excited to toast them up over the fire tonight!!

Anyway, how about a sketch and a card?? Here's the sketch:

Pretty easy, pretty straightforward huh? Here's my card:

For my card I used the new On the Grow set from the Summer Mini, and I watercolored it using an Aquapainter & Poppy Parade, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, &Always Artichoke ink. Oh I stamped it in Black StazOn, on watercolor paper of course.

I used some Daffodil Delight Satin Ribbon, along with Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz & Tangerine Tango card stock. I added some Fire Rhinestones and Playdate dsp. Oh and I also did a little paper piercing around my focal image.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a great weekend :)

Stamping 411 Sketch Challenge #202

Good evening friends! Not that I want to wish the weeks away, but boy I'm thrilled it's the weekend again! Oddly enough, our weekends are even busier than our weeks lately, but I truly love every minute of watching my boys play baseball! This weekend we've got 3 games each day, yes my Mother's Day will be spent at the field :) Seems perfect to me!

Ooh, other exciting news this week...our older son Ben was inducted into the National Honor Society Thursday night. We are SO proud of him!! He has become such a wonderful young man, and we couldn't be happier with the nice boy he is and the choices he's made :)

I know you didn't come here to hear about all of that stuff though, how about the new sketch from Stamping 411?!?! Here it is:

And here's my card:

This card is a little cutesy for me, but I thought a get well card should be a little more perky than my usual cards :) You'll want to check out what the other Operators came up with, their cards are all gorgeous!!

I used the new Bold Blossoms set from the Summer Mini, and instead of stamping the flowers I decided to use the Daisies die for the Big Shot, with Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, Tempting Turquoise, and Bashful Blue for my flowers. The flower stems are stamped in Old Olive. The butterfly is stamped in Melon Mambo, and I cut it out and put Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the polka dot parts of the wings. I used Old Olive Satin Ribbon and Bold Brights Designer Buttons to finish it off. Oh yeah, and the words are stamped in Rich Razzleberry and they come from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoy your weekend :)

Stamping 411 Sketch Challenge #201

What a crazy week it's been...normally I would say how thrilled I am that it's Friday night (well I am still thrilled ;)...but I feel like I may need to go back to work on Monday to relax after the weekend schedule we've got going on! So of course as you're reading this we'll be at the baseball field, actually that's where you'll find us at just about any point this weekend...my boys will be playing in 9 games between tonight and Monday!!!

We've had such a fun week over at Stamping 411! The Guess that Operator game was so much fun, and seemed to be a hit with our readers too :) So let's continue the fun with a new sketch! Here we go:

And here's my card:

This card is totally not what I thought it was going to be, but I really like it. I always love buttons as flowers, I think they're just too cute :)

Recipe:

Stamp Set: Hello Blossoms

Card stock: Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Play Date & Sunny Garden DSPs

Ink: Old Olive

Accessories: Designer Buttons in Brights & Neutrals, Linen Thread, Mini Glue Dots, Old Olive Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you'll carve out a little time to play along this week :)

Guess That Operator Revealed & Blog Candy Winner!

Wow, what fun we've had this week with the Guess That Operator game at Stamping 411!! If you haven't been by to check it out yet, you can catch up on our game in the post from last Friday night HERE.

Here's the card I posted which was NOT made by me:

If you haven't guessed yet, this card was actually made by Tiffany! Boy, the guesses were all over the place!

Here's the card I actually made (posted on Tiffany's blog):

I was being a little tricky, using lots of white & a double bow like Lee usually does to try and throw you off my trail :)

Okay, so onto the blog candy, I used random.org, and I kept selecting a random # until that person made the correct guess of Tiffany.

Here we go:

and #50 is...

I'm guessing Tiffany. But, boy is this hard.

Posted by: Lisa B. | April 24, 2011 at 11:06 PM

Hooray! Lisa, you're the new owner of a brand new Because I Care level 1 hostess set! Send me a quick email with your address and I'll mail it right out :)

Be sure and check out who made all of the other cards, this game was tricky!!