Dad's Cake

Just a quick update (before I arrive to work late again, lol), on last nights cub scout bake sale. Each cub scout den got together and voted on their favorite baked good to do a live auction bid with. Jeep thought his dad's cake had it in the bag and was very animated and excited. Well, unfortunately there was this cake with a hatchet and a hand and a bunch of rats and well, you know, it was one of those 7 year old, "Oh that is cool!" So that cake won the vote for a live auction bidding. Well that just did not sit well with Jeep and while he was determined not to cry, he was still leaking tears a little. His den leader saw how upset he was and went over and bid $25.00 for our cake. Which made it the 2nd highest bidding cake of the night. Okay, I am not sure why one of the cakes was going for $32.00 but whatever, lol. So once I pointed out that the hatchet cake went for $12.00 and our cake went for $25.00, Jeep felt much better and happy again.

But then little Kenneth was crushed. He just loved the cake that Joe made. I think they named it scary hill cake. lol. So then he was all upset. I talked with Joe and we were actually thinking about making Kenneth his own scary hill cake, when I saw Kenneth's mom walking out with the cake. The den leader gave his cake away to Kenneth. So sweet! And what a great guy to bid high on a cake to make one little guy happy and then give it away so another one would be happy.

No one bid on one of our cupcake plates. I am not sure if it was an over site because the sheet was on the other side or if they were saving up for other cake bid wars. So I bid $5.00 on our own booglie eye cupcakes and we won. And I was very happy to be taking them back home, lol. They are so yummy with all the sprinkles, m&m's, and candy corn on them. Is it wrong to love your own cooking? lol. I had my eye on some great looking brownies, but I got over bid on them twice and you know, at some point you just have to stop, lol.

Overall a great night and successful cub scout fundraiser. We had a lot of fun. And I have a great memory of Dad's cake.

Don't be afraid to eat the Cake!

One last upload for the Cubscout bake sale this year. This is Joe's invention. He baked a chocolate cake from our giant cupcake pan, and cut the cake to arrange it like a haunted hill. He made that frosting......spooky, but yummy. Vanilla, chocolate and lots of food coloring, lol. The toomstones were made from white chocolate bark and he wrote on them with a toothpick (yes, he is amazing!) He also used some clear horsdorvs picks that have pumpkins and skulls. All I did was stamp the haunted house and trees. Okay, I had to fussy cut the trees and adhere them to eachother and then cut out the haunted house with my Nesties dies, lol. I used another retired Halloween SU set, "home is where the haunt is." And no, I am not selling this one either, lol.

Thanks for looking, all comments bring squeels of delight, lol, or at least a smile.

Cubscout cookies sale

Okay, I'm going to have to get dear Joe to come edit and flip that pic around, lol. These are the cookies for the sale that we made. Jeep is very artistic like his dad, he likes to mix different mediums to see what he comes up with. The black on black with orenge literally looks like glitter on the cookies, and they are sprinkles. So I am very proud of these cookies.

So each year the cubscouts get together for a bake sale. Each family brings one or some, lol, and they lay sheets of paper by each. When it's all set up according to den tables, the families all go around and bid on eachothers baked goods. This is where Jeep gets a big kick out the whole thing. Last years cookies yeilded $5.00 bids and he was over the moon with joy. So I am hoping this year they remember how great these cookies tasted with the m&m's, sprinkles and candy corn on them.

Cubscout bake sale tonight!!!

Tonight is the cubscout Bake Sale. Last year they had some really over the top Halloween creations. Okay, I think they were professionally made and bought for this occation, but Jeep, Joe and I decided we would have some more creative fun this year. I decided I wanted to encorporate some stampy images from S.U.'s retired booglie eyes, hey ghoul friend, and best fiends. I was able to pick all these retired sets up last year after Halloween and you know, they are just too darn cute to resell, lol. I must keep them for future projects.

Joe made us black (from chocolate frosting) and Orenge to use with our white. We had Autumn colored m&m's, candy corn, sprinkles, and a whole lot of eager ambition from Jeep (who's 7). I just saw a blog with some other fancy cupcake creations, lol, but I really really have to say I like ours the best.

New Home Card

My friend and her family recently bought a new home. It was a dream come true for her and her family. I was there the other night. There is a little black dog that rules the street and loves to chase cars and my friend was commenting on how it loves to chase their truck. I thought I would whip her up a Congrat's on her new home card and include some company with the little black dog, lol.

I used two SU wheels. Neighborhood and tailgating. I cut out the images from the tailgating and added them to the card. Colors were added with blender pens and sponging. I also added some liquid applique to the clouds, SU pearls to the sides, and some wonderful ribbon my friend Linda sent me.

Speaking of Linda, she is our Queen for the Day this week on SCS and I chose this card to case. Have a wonderful week Linda, I love our cyber friendship and seeing you on line each day.

Many thanks to my wonderful Hottie for spending hours fixing the computer yesterday so I was able to catch up my blog posts this morning!

This months SU club cards

This is S.U.'s have a cute Christmas and new mini DSP. it is so cute and I love the shine on the dp.

I thought the hope happens SU set was a great ribbon set that can be used for any ribbon occasion. These colors are so great together and this card came together very easy.

I loved the vintage Christmas card and using the waffle paper. We also used the new decorative label punch and used it on the corners of our tags. The center of the poinsettia's is the new chunky champagne glitter that we adhered using a glue dot (how great is that?) I had to add this product to my order! lol. I love bling. The ribbon is the new S.U.'s cherry cobbler seam binding. This set is the boughs and bells with matching DSP from the holiday mini.

Thank you Rhonda (my Demo) for coming up with such fabulous and fun cards for us to make this month. I had lots of fun.

Whoo's Birthday is it anyway?

My friend Tina asked me to make her an owl card for her Birthday. It was late, but I did make one, lol. I used the Seasons of friendship stamp set from SU and the owl punch. I stamped and cut out the flowers and added some pearls to them. The sentiment is from family phrases. I got this idea from this card.

I used S.U.'s colors, pretty in pink, old olive and chocolate chip.

Thanks for looking.

Totally stampalicous Challenge part 2

This was the other image I picked up from Totally Stampalicous. I love this little chef, he is too much fun.

Here is Sue's card I chose to case.

Totally Stampalicious Challenge

This last weeks Totally Stampalicious Challenge was to case one of the design team members. You know how much I love a good Kopykat challenge, lol. I've had two of Sue's (AKA coffeestamper) cards in my fav's for a while now and was so happy for the opportunity to finally make this. I searched for the rolling pin (loved it) and wine bottle but could not find the stickers.

I love the images and funny sentiments. I picked this up, along with chef Pierre when I won their blog hop not too long ago. I colored with various markers. Used Only Orange and Green Galore card stock from SU. Lately I've been picking up a lot of bling, I can't seem to get enough, lol. I also picked up some gingham dp from JoAnne's. It's DCVW, along with the ribbon.

Thanks for looking

Stampalicious

I have had this in draft for so long, I don't remember what I was going to say, lol. I won this stamp from Stampalicious, I remember that much. and I love the image and the sentiment.

A happy tree of love

Oh I love these happy colors together and the great card design. I did KopyKat this from here. I think I have a smaller version. The pear pizzazz is 4X51/2, the Cajun Craze is 31/2 X43/4 and the whisper white is 31/4 X41/2. This stamping set is from Stampin' up called Season's of Friendship. The hearts were punched out with S.U.'s small heart punch in Cherry Cobbler. The leaves were punched out with S.U.'s 3/4 circle punch and the leaves were inked up in pear pizzazz, Cajun craze, cherry cobbler and more mustard. I died my own seam binding in cherry cobbler and used my bow easy to make the bow. OH and I used Stampin' Up's I {heart} hearts set and stamped in pear pizzazz on the background.

Thanks for looking and for your comments.

My N'ears

Hello All,

I am back on the road to recovery. As many of you know, I cannot hear much but a steady humming noise or tennitis from my right ear. After the tympanoplasty things went from bad to worse. I tried that hearing aid thingy and it just did not work out for me. So that leave me my left ear with about a 25% deficit. Functional, I tell you, it's functional. lol. Until something goes wrong. And then all communications come to a complete stop, lol.

I had the beginnings of an ear ache on Wednesday after spending a couple weeks with bad allergies. So I called to see my nurse practitioner on Thursday, but she was booked and I saw someone else who does not know me so well. I got some antibiotics and thought I was good to go. By Saturday I could not hear anything much and by Sunday the pain really started to call my name. So my co-worker suggested an urgent care nearby. Dr. I-Don't-Care declared it an outer ear infection and prescribed drops. by Monday, it was clearly an emergency. When prescribed pain medication is not working and the ear feels like it will explode, it's never a good thing. Thanks to my diligent husband, my usual nurse practitioner (who is the best) called me and realized I needed to get to an ENT ASAP. So she had me in, in less than two hours. And two days later, the wick is out and I am feeling like I may live again, lol. Best of all, I can hear again and that is scary when you can't.

So now that I am established with a new ENT, I think I might let him work on my right ear and see if he can get some hearing back into the situation, lol. I have this thing with doctors. If I concentrate and put my finger on it real well, it's called pain, yes! That's it. Every since I was a child, going to the doctor has meant some kind of enormous pain or anxiety. And the poor ENT doctor did not mean to make me cry but OMG an ear dilator in an ear that is swollen shut is just not going to work!!!! lol.

So let's see, how will I get through this? meditation? prayer? focus? distract? People, I think I am going to have to talk to him about a good sedative, lol.

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers!!!!

Fresh as a Daisy

Has something ever reminded you of something else? Like a symbol for something? I really love this daisy die from sizzix but in white, it really reminds me of those Kotex commercials I used to see as a teen and get mortified over. lol. I am not sure if it resembled the trademark daisy or not, lol.

Anyway, I saw this card and had to make it. I had the colors and I wanted to finally use this daisy, lol.

Supplies: Baroque Motifs stamped in Versamark, and teeny tiny wishes both from S.U.

The squares are from a 11/4 glued onto 4X4 kraft, onto a so saffron base of 41/4x 41/4 and finally back on to white. I died that seam binding the same color as the cardstock squares - Marina Mist.

I had to go hunting for the "faux suede" technique. lol. It says you basically take your bone folder or the side of a table or a crimper and work the paper til it separates into two peices. take the center of the separated peice and it looks like suede. so that is how I made the leaf and the stem.

Thanks for looking! I've missed you all.

QFTD31 KopyKating Crystal

Over on Splitcoast, Crystal is the new Queen. I loved this card she did and had to do one of my own. I used my Pure Innocents start each day with a whee. LOVE this little image, it just makes me so happy.

I used the same dp and basic design, flipped the dp so my paper peircing would show up, lol. I did not have any old olive ribbon, so I made my own wrinkle ribbon.

I cut some seam binding and opened up my old olive stamp pad. Cut a peice of sponge and sponged over the top while color was being drawn up from the bottom. I put this uneven mess into a baggie and added a tiny amount of rubbing alcohol and wadded it all up together and left it in the baggie for hours while I worked on the card and did other things. when I took it out of the baggie, I put it on my non stick craft sheet and the alcohol evaporated quickly. So I was able to cut a strip of 1/2 inch Scor tape and try to buckle it a bit at the end. This is my first attempt at that look, so I am not totally thrilled, but not unhappy with the results. lol.

I used SU markers for the shoes and swing. Watercolored the tree bits with old olive and then stamped on the smallest stamp of my Kitties Kit - outdoor master. I also used copics that I get from my friend Vicky for her hair and face. Vicky always sells her things with a discount, so it's like shopping with a coupon for everything, I love it!

I used my paper peircing tool to go around the white edge and used old olive and rich razzleberry base. The dp is S.U.'s cottage wall.

Thanks so much for taking a look.

Teapot for you

Lori, AKA Melody Gal on SCS is this weeks Queen for the Day, and I chose this card to KopyKat. I have had this Gina k set for a few months and have not inked it up yet, so I was very happy to find this and put it to some use.

You cannot see the glimmer mist on this card, but it sparkles ever so slightly when you move it. I am loving the new SU pearls, they are the perfect sizes and stay put once placed. Plus, I have not been able to find the itty bitty ones that come in the pack, so that is such a great find for me. If you want to order these, give Jamie a message. She is so great about getting things out fast.

The designer paper is from basic gray's "perhaps" pack. I embossed the teapot and teacup in detail black and fussy cut them out. The "just for you" came from S.U. 's teeny tiny wishes, which seems to be my go -to set for words lately.

Thanks for checking in with me.

Amour by fireworks

Last week, when I was Queen for the Day, Lori AKA Melody Gal on SCS cased my Breakfast at tiffanies card and I liked her version so much that now that she is Queen for the Day this week, I kopykat'd the case, lol.

I did not have the DCWV linen closet (I'm bummed) but I did have Old World mat stack and was happy with the background it gave. I also did not have the cute little ruby gem but I did just pick up some ruby red pearls, so that was good.

Joe says the red stamp in the middle looks like fireworks, lol. He is so funny. So now that is all I see when I look at it.

The stamps and top row punch are from S.U. - Amore, I used Memento black ink and SU real red ink. If you do not have a S.U. demo, Jamie would love to take your orders - just message her.

Gratitude to CHP, Triple AAA, and my Joe.

Wow, what an eventful weekend. First running down to Santa Barbara on friday to go get Reed, then Jeep's testing for Tae kwon Do on friday night. Packing in up saturday morning to go on our cubscout camping trip, camping and oh so little sleep lol. Then back to unpack, shower, do breakfast, quick clean up, and back to Santa Barbara to deliver Reed safe and sound to his mother.

On the way back, we had a tire blow out of sorts. Rather the tired peeled away in the middle, we heard a pop and then wobble, wobble. We were on the interstate 5 on the grapevine, worst stretch of road I know of, very dangerous. We were in the third of four lanes, ( you know the truck drivers own the first two lanes) going the speed of traffic. The truck veared off to the left lane and Joe kept it steady and recorrected slowly back into our lane, then made the daunting task of getting us over to the right hand side of the road with the wobble wobbles. He got out, looked at all four tires, no flat. So we decided to do the emergency lights and travel a bit further in search of a turn off, around the next corner was another vehicle off to the side with emergency lights and so we could not go any further and did not dare go around it because traffic was heavy and we were right around a curve, making it even more dangerous. Joe takes another look at the tires and sees that the the middle of the back tire on the drivers side is stripped off the thread.

Joe's first instinct is to protect his family and correct the problem right away. Mine is to look at the situation and figure out the safest way to go about it. So I got Jeep out of the truck right away and onto the side of the road. Joe is pulling out the jack and getting things ready to change the tire. I can't even count the number of fatalities I have heard about on the grapevine where someone was hit on the side of the road. So I am trying to talk him out of it and suggest I call triple AAA to come change this tire. He agrees and gives me his phone and card but continues to work on getting things ready. So I called Triple AAA and answered questions and he tells me someone will be there in less than 25 minutes and will call the cell phone to verify our location if he cannot find us. I no sooner hang up and give Joe the information when I look up and there is a very tall CHP officer walking right towards us. And the other vehicle with their lights ???? Gone. So the officer asked me what happened and if I called a towing service and which one. The cell phone rings and it's the towing service. The officer takes the cell phone and tells the man he is relocating us to a safer location. We all got back into the truck and the officer gives us an escort to the next turn off and then loud speakers us where to go.

We no sooner turn to get into location and the triple AAA guy is taking the exit to come assist. He changed the tire, followed us to the nearest station to fill it with air and we are on our way home again in less than an hour.

So many times I read about "the worst possible scenerio" and about tragic things and bad results and yada yada. I just once wanted to put it out there that my husband did not over correct and really exercised the best driving skills. He didn't get all macho on me and we worked through the situation together. The officer was like an Angel that came out of no where, was very helpful and respectful and SAVED US FROM HARM. He truely got us out of a bad situation and into a safe one very quickly. The Triple AAA tow service man was fast and efficient and took care of us right away.

And many thanks to God, because while some people think he is too busy handling much more pressing things in the world, I know he is watching over me and mine.

camping

Four of us sausaged in one tent, lol. We survived our camping trip. Now normally my idea of camping is motel 6, but for Jeep i will push those boundaries wider. We learned all about retiring flags, sang songs, went on adventure hikes, played with other kids, and ate hotdogs & smores for dinner. Joe helped cook the hotdogs, and i helped pour stuff from bags into containers, lol. Glad were done for a few months.

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golfer hole

Well here we are camping with the cubscouts. Jeep & Reed have discovered a golfer hole with some friends. They are trying to poke it with sticks, lol. Oh what fun!

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Bird Cage

I've been chatting back and forth with few gals on SCS about hoarding paper, lol. I bought one of these 12X12 of Webster pages and have been hoarding it all summer long.....among other things. The conversations have encouraged me to get out the fav's and use them. After all, they are going to be "old paper" very shortly.

I thought the webster pages would be easy to use, but they are not. It's hard to cover them up with anything, because all by themselves they are so beautiful. I framed with pacific point and river rock from SU. Then I pulled out my Tim Holtz bird cage die and finally used it. And then I was stuck. For a couple days. And after recutting a couple birds and trying various methods of painting, I decided to cut out a white cardstock bird and sponge with T.H. distress inks tumbled glass and broken china. I think I used some scattered straw for the nose/beak. Then I glued it down and I used tombo in a hurry (big mistake) and I got glue outside of the cut out and yes, it shines. It's like a zit on picture day in High School, I swear, lol. But I had already invested way too much time in this to round file it, so I spritzed on some home made glimmer. I used champagne glimmer paint from SU, put a small amount in a mini mister and filled the rest up with alcohol. Oh that sings to me. I love the shimmer on it and yes, it covered the zits perfectly. Then I added some blue bling (I'm really into buying bling right now, lol.) The seam binding ribbon is from my friend on SCS Linda, I used my bow easy to make the bow. AND then I spent countless hours trying to make my own flowers to put in this. OMG. I just could not get this card to work with me at all. So off they came and out came the closest flower to the colors I could find.

Do you ever have cards like this? I decided to upload it anyway. You know recently I saw an article on a blog with a series of cards and it was one stampers struggle to make it work. And it inspired me that such a fabulous and gifted artist could struggle. And while I am far from fab and gifted, I wanted to upload so that others don't feel lonely who go through this. lol. Sometimes they come together, sometimes you have to force them to come together, lol.

A card for Sister

I made this card for my sister. The image is a gift from Celisa at SCS. She sent me these really great images....thanks! The card design takes inspiration from this card I saw last July here. Love the combination of the October Afternoon papers. It's from both fly a kite and thrift shop, packs.

I went to town on the coloring. Lol. I used copics (I get from my friend Vicky) and watercolored with some SU colors. The black bow is from some ribbon that came wrapped in See's candy. My sister and I love to stop for a treat when we are shopping. So I knew it would be the perfect touch. I used spellbinders for framing and then cut inside framing (cameo coral cardstock) to fit along with the image paper. The open scallops is a die from MFT's and the lace I picked up at a local fabric shop for .50 cents a yard - SCORE! I also sponged on some scattered straw distress ink to match the floral dp. Added pearls to the top and viola, a card for Sister.

My sister is wonderful. She is super smart and very creative and talented. When we talk, we lose all track of time and hours have gone by and then things don't get done, but who cares, lol. We talk about everything and solve all kinds of world problems in those hours. I could not have made it through some of my toughest times without my sister. This image reminds me of us together. She wears the heels and no, I don't do pinstripes, lol. But seriously, just sitting together and it's easy. She is easy to be around. Fun. She makes me laugh. And I swear she has every memory of everything we have ever done etched into her brain. Oh I love my sister!

Queen for the Day 27, casing Darla Ryan

I am so behind on this KopyKat. I saw Darla's card and was looking for that stamp set. I knew I wanted to use the bird. At first I was sure I had it, then I was thinking I probably have it, now I think I still might have it, but can't find it anywhere, lol.

Then I saw Nina's card and was so in love with the card design and the colors. But really I LOVE the new labels set she used. This is definetly on my wish list, but it might be a while before I get one. So I improvised and just sponged around the new Nestie labels 16 with Memento Cantaloupe. The dp is from october afternoon's thrift shop (I will never get tired of this paper or seeing it used, I just love it.)

Darla, hope you like the birds and had a great week as Queen. Thanks for all your wonderful comments on my cards and for sharing your beautiful work.

I'm Queen for the Day!

I just got home from a day trip to the L.A. area. I checked my emails and found out I was named Queen for the Day at Splitcoast Stampers. I missed my own party! lol. That is so like me, always fashionably late.

Many thanks to Anne Ryan and all the wonderful people at Splitcoast who participate in these challenges and upload cards. You are all amazing stampers and I feel so blessed to be a part of something so great.

Holly