I'm still alive

Wow, I didn't realize how long it has been since I've posted anything. Things have been a bit hectic here at the Schwarz household. We have received some exciting news...Noah is going to be a big brother! Yes, I am 9 weeks pregnant. We went for an ultrasound yesterday and everything looks good so far. The past few weeks I have been going through all of the fun pregnancy stuff...exhaustion, nausea, irritability, etc. so I haven't been doing much stamping. I have a few things that I've made but I need to take pictures and download them. Right now my stamping room is a total disaster. It looks like a bomb went off in here. I just don't have much energy for anything. After chasing Noah around all day, who by the way, is getting ready to turn 2, I don't feel like doing anything but putting my feet up and relaxing. That kid knows how to wear you out. I've been working on his birthday invitations and they are super cute if I do say so myself. Once I get those finalized I will take pictures and post them. Even Chris couldn't get over how creative they were. Well, I guess that's all the rambling for now. I just wanted to let you know that I am still among the living but have had good reason for being such a slacker on the blog! Take care.

Fabulous Friday

Just a quick post tonight because I have a little munchkin to get to. I have to say that I really love the way this card turned out. This is the Big Celebrations stamp set from the new catty. The cardstock colors are Buckaroo Blue, Certainly Celery, Basic Grey, and very vanilla. What a great color combo this is. I colored the main image with a blender pen and my ink pads. The main image and sentiment is stamped in Basic Grey. The cuttlebug was used on the certainly celery strip. And just take a look at this new ribbon. The grey ribbon is some of our new taffeta ribbon. Isn't it beautiful. I also used some celery grosgrain. Silver eyelets that I set with my handy dandy crop-a-dile are in the corners of the main image. Well I hope you like it.

Noah got his first haircut today. Yep, I cut off the curls. It was getting really ratty and unmanageable. I was sad to see it go but he sure does look like a handsome little fella with his short hair! I will post pictures as soon as I get them downloaded. Thanks for stopping by!

What a week!

Well, it's been quite a week here at the Schwarz household. Noah started running a fever last weekend and I ended up taking him to the dr. earlier this week. Turns out they said he had a virus and we just had to wait it out. They said he would probably break out in a rash after he breaks the fever and sure enough...he did. He was also having night terros when he was running the fevers which was a scary thing. He's feeling much better now but he still has the rash. However, Chris started getting sick Tuesday night and he's been home sick for the past 2 days. Poor guy, he never gets sick.

So, since I've been neglecting you all this week I decided I'd post 2 cards for you. I was finally able to stamp today. Noah has been sleeping for over 3 hours so I took advantage of my time. About the card...this is what they call a tent topper card. You cut the card base to 8 1/2" x 4 1/4", then score it at 4 1/4". You will have a 4 1/4" sqaure for the base. Then you make your main image whatever size you want but when you adhere it to the base try to make the total height of the card 5 1/2", which is the normal size of your cards. So here is the recipe for this card:

Stamps: Garden Whimsy, Whimsy wheel, Everyday Flexible Phrases

Ink: Brocade Blue, Buckaroo Blue, Summer Sun, Old Olive

Cardstock: Marigold Morning, Buckaroo Blue, Whisper White

Accessories: Mustard/Gold ribbon from Michael's, stickles, stampin dimensionals

I'm still not sure if I like this card or not. It is not quite what I pictured in my head but I think it is growing on me. I used chipboard and designer paper to make the petals. The chipboard is the On Board Blossoms & Basics and the paper is the Almost Amethyst Prints paper. I used decopauge to glue the paper to the chipboard. The center of the flower is stamped with the Pick a Petal set. The stem is stamped with Stem Sayings and I used double stiched wild wasabi ribbon for the "leaves".

Stamps: Pick A Petal, Stem Sayings

Ink: Wild Wasabi, Almost Amethyst, Rose Red

Accessories: Chipboard, wild wasabi double stiched ribbon

Well, it sounds like Noah is waking up so I better go get him. Thanks for stopping by. I'll post more tomorrow.

Happy Stamping!

Mom's birthday

Last week was my mom's birthday and here is the card that I made for her. She collects bees so I thought this little bee image from Stampendous was perfect for her. Isn't it the cutest? The sentiment, "happy bee-day" is also from Stampendous. I ordered them both from Eclectic Paperie. It's a great online store to order from. Shipping is really quick. The designer paper is retired from SU. Cardstock colors are cameo coral, chocolate chip, and very vanilla. The bee and sentiment are stamped in basic brown. I colored the bee with ink pads and a blender pen. I used the scallop oval punches for the main image and used the happy birthday cuttlebug embossing folder on the cameo coral cardstock. The flower embellishment is a prima flower from the "sprites" collection.

Mom and Dad left today for their 10 day cruise to Europe. Poor them, huh? We are keeping one of their dogs, Deuce. They just got him a few weeks ago so he's a little nervous right now and doesn't understand what is going on. Romeo is having issues with him too. I hope they start getting along or it is going to be a long 10 days.

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping in!

More workshop cards

So I have some more cards to share from my workshop. The first card is one that I demonstrated. I used the glossy cardstock for the main image and did the crayon resist technique. You can do this by stamping your image in Basic Black and let it sit for a few minutes to dry. Then take a regular white crayon (not a watercolor crayon) and trace around the image where you want the white to show. Then take a stamping sponge in the colors you choose and rub it around the card. On this card I used purely pomegranate and wild wasabi. After you are done appyling the color you take a paper towel or soft terry cloth and rub over the top. This will wipe the waxy part of the crayon off and resist the ink that you rubbed on. Hopefully, this all makes sense. If it doesn't then let me know and I can explain it more in depth.

This next card was one the make and takes. Cardstock colors are Certainly celery, always artichoke, and pumkin pie. The stamp set is Double Line Doodles and Stem Sayings. I stamped the heart/flower image twice on whisper white. I punched one of them out with the scallop punch and the other one out with the 1 3/8" cirlce punch and popped it up with dimensionals. We sponged the edge of the scallop with always artichoke ink to soften the edges. We used dazzling diamonds to highlight the heart. We also used the paper piercer on the always artichoke strip, which is hard to see in the picture.

I hope to get more stamping in this week. I've been really tired lately and haven't felt like stamping much. Tomorrow my new goodies arrive so I hope to play a little.

As always, thanks for checking in! Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the summer! Florida's heat is ridiculous but Noah and I try to get out in the morning before it gets too hot.

I'm back

Did you miss me? I've been MIA lately so I'm sorry I haven't posted much. Last week was hectic and I went out of town on Thursday and just got back last night. It is so good to be home.

So I have two treats for you today. This first card was one that we did at my workshop last weekend. This is using the Garden Whimsy stamp set and the Jumbo Whimsy wheel. These look so cute together and I LOVE the Garden Whimsy because you don't have to color it. I used Almost Amethyst for the card base and Bashful Blue for the bottom of the card where I used the wheel. I really like these Jumbo wheels. I didn't think I'd like them at first. I purchased my first one a few months ago and now I'm hooked. They are so quick and easy to use. If you get stuck on a card it always seems that the wheels give that extra added touch. I also used real red and whisper white cardstock. Ink colors are real red and bashful blue. I used silver brads in all four corners of the main image and some grosgrain ribbon for the final touch. Quick and easy!!

This second card was also one we made at my workshop. I totally CASE'd it (Copy and Share Everything) from pg. 21 from the catalog. A perfect example of how you can get ideas from the catalog. I basically copied the layout and changed the colors and stamp set. The stamp set is Summer by the Sea. Colors are blue bayou, soft sky, and wild wasabi. I love that color combo! I used my basic brown stamp pad to stamp the main image. I used a blender pen to outline the dress and to color in the grass and flowers. The circle was cut using my coluzzle. And don't you just love the new double stiched ribbon. It is so pretty in person! I ordered some of the other colors so I will be excited to try them out.

Most of my workshop order is supposed to be here on Wednesday so I will get to play with some new stuff! Yippee!! Whenever Mr. Brown delivers an order it feels like Christmas....so exciting! Well, hopefully I will have a chance to post more this week than I did last week. I have to get back into the stamping groove! I haven't stamped in a week. I'm going through withdrawals! Thanks for stopping by!

Yummy...chocolate!

So I used some of my retired stuff. This is the Like it A Latte set from the last Winter Mini catalog. I was really hoping this set would make it into the new catalog, but no luck. It is just the cutest coffee set. The designer paper is also retired...Au Chocolate. I don't know why I waited so long to order it...I love it. There isn't much to this card. I stamped the cup in Basic brown. I used Liquid Applique for the whip cream. If your not familiar with this stuff, you have to try it. When you put it on it is like puffy paint. Then you heat set it and it puffs up. Very cool! I used my circle scallop punches and used my white gel pen to make "faux eyelets". I also used chocolate grosgrain ribbon, white organdy ribbon, and some brown polka dotted ribbon from Michael's. I think it turned out pretty cute, myself.

Sorry I've been missing in action lately. I had a workshop on Saturday so I was busy preparing for that. My mother in law stayed here this past weekend too and we took Noah to downtown Disney on Sunday. He had a blast playing in lego land and we ate lunch at Rainforest Cafe. He thought that was super cool. He is really into animals right now so he loved looking at the monkeys, gorillas, elephants, etc.

I am leaving Thursday to go out of town for the weekend so you won't hear anything from me for a few days. I will try to post my workshop projects tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!

Go me!

Well, lookie at what I did. I created my own blog banner. I had no idea that I was so computer savvy! I've seen websites that charge to make these and I kept thinking...naah, I don't need to pay for one of those. So I started playing around with my photo editing software and figured it out on my own. Go Me! Granted, it is very basic and not as fancy as some of the others I've seen, but hopefully I can improve on it in time. I've rearranged the page again, so hopefully it doesn't confuse anyone. I get bored with the same thing for long periods of time so I try to change it up a little. Sorry I haven't posted any cards in a few days, but I've been working on stuff for my workshop on Saturday. I will post what we made after the workshop. I want my customers to be surprised at what they are making...LOL. I also got my order from Mr. Brown today (UPS guy). It was on my front porch when I got home and I couldn't wait to tear it open. I bought a couple of stamp sets, some textured cardstock in the new In Colors (love those), a couple of wheels, and some of the new double stiched ribbon (also In colors)...yummy! These are beautiful and I can't wait to try out my goodies. In fact, that's what I'm going to do right now! Thanks for stopping by and I promise I'll have some new stuff up this weekend.

Join the club...

...the Prints Designer Series Paper Club, that is. I am trying something new! On page 173 of the new catalog are these new Prints Designer Papers. They are available in 16 beautiful colors (4 of these colors are the brand new "In Colors". Each pack includes 12 sheets (2 each of 6 double sided designs). If you don't have a catalog in your inky little hands yet, you can follow this link to see what they look like Stampin' Up!® - Online Catalog - shopmain.

So here is what I'm offering if you join the club. All you have to do is pay $11.75 per month for 4 months and you can get a collection of these papers in all 16 colors. This is how it works:

I will cut the paper into 6 x 6 sheets.

You will get 48 total sheets (6 x 6) per month in 4 different colors, which includes 2 sheets of each of the 6 double sided designs.

By the end of the 4 months, you will have a collection of all 16 colors. Sounds like a great deal to me!

These papers can be used for cardmaking or in your scrapbooks. You can find a few cards on my page using these papers.

Are you interested? If you are you need to email me and use "Designer Papers" as your subject line and let me know you are interested. I will email you a contract to sign and send back to me saying that you agree to pay $11.75 per month for 4 months or you can pay all four months up front ($47.00). If you are local (within the greater Orlando area), you will not have to pay any extra shipping. If you need me to ship it to you I will charge you a shipping fee, probably around $3/month (sorry, I haven't figured out the exact shipping total yet, but it will be around $3).

I will need 4 people to a group to start a club. If more than 4 people are interested then I will have as many groups as I need.

Once you email me I will respond and send you payment instructions. Hopefully all of this makes sense. If it doesn't please leave a comment or email me for clarification. Thanks!

Book Clippie

These little clippies are so easy to make. They are made using the oversized paperclips you can find at an office supply store, Walmart, or Target. I used a cuttlebug flower die to cut the flowers out of chipboard. Then I took some DS paper and ran that through the cuttlebug too. I attached the paper to each of the flowers. I used a glue dot to adhere the button to the top. I used some tacky glue to adhere all the flowers together and I sandwiched the two large flowers between the paper clip and glued them together with tacky glue as well. I added some ribbon for a finishing touch and voila! Easy as pie! I think this only took me like 10 minutes to make from start to finish. These little clippies make great bookmarks. Also, if you don't have a cuttlebug you can use any small chipboard pieces to make them. SU sells quite a few different chipboard packs that would work.

Well, I better get ready for work. I have a lot to do this afternoon and the next few days. I am hosting my catalog kickoff party this weekend and I have tons to do to get ready. So if I don't post anything for the next few days it's because I'm running around trying to finalize all of my projects. Thanks for stopping by!

Stampin' Sunday

Well, it's Sunday and I have a few hours to myself right now. Chris took Noah with him to the airport to pick up his mom. So I think I'll take advantage of the quiet time and get some stamping done. Yippee!

This is a square card that measures 5" x 5". I actually made this for my SIL's birthday. Here's a little tip on mailing these cards...don't mail them in the square envelopes, they are extra postage. If you put them in a 5 x7 envelope you can put regular postage on it. The set I used is Double Line Doodles again. I can't get enough of that set for some reason. I used my prismacolor pencils to color and blended with gamsol and a stump. There are twinkle stickers for the centers of the flowers, which are from Amuse. I used one of my cuttlebug embossing folders for the Wild Wasabi background. Here's the complete recipe:

Stamp sets: double line doodles, it's your birthday
paper: basic black, purely pomegranate, wild wasabi, whisper white, DS rose red prints
ink: basic black, prismacolor pencils
accessories: black gingham, twinkle stickers, gamsol, blending stumps, cuttlebug, black eyelets, cropadile

By the way

I just wanted to mention that if you ever need a better view of any of the photos on my page, just click directly on the photo and it will enlarge it so it's easier to see. Not sure if you all knew that or not. Take care..

"Big Fix It" and "Little Fix It"

I hope everyone had a happy 4th! We spent the day relaxing at the house. Noah played outside in his pool before the storms started to roll in. Mimi and Granddaddy came over for burgers and fries and Mr. Fix It had a few projects to work on so I couldn't resist sharing these pictures with everyone. My dad is Mr. Fix It. Yes, he can fix just about anything. You name it, he has probably figured out a way to fix it. He is the family handyman. It seems that things are getting put into the "shop" weekly for him to work on. Well, our dining room table has had a problem for quite awhile. It has been a bit wobbly, okay so more than a bit. You couldn't even sit at it and eat without it rocking back and forth. So everytime my dad would come over he would comment that he needed to fix it. So this was one of his projects yesterday. And of course, he had a little helper..."Little Fix it". It was hilarious to watch him take it all in. He was very curious about every move that "Big Fix it" made. He even got out his Little Tikes tools and "shared" them with "Big Fix it" in case he needed more advanced tools than what he had to work with. Notice in the picture how "Little Fix it" is reaching for his bright orange wrench.

In this next picture, take a close look at "Little Fix it". He appears to be making some precise measurements and following up on "Big Fix it's" work. I think he is double checking to make sure the leg is attached securely enough. I wonder if "Big Fix it's" work was up to par according to "Little Fix it's" standards??

It appears that all went well because "Little Fix it" proceeded to play in mommy's shoes. He has a thing for shoes, I tell ya. After all was said and done I think he put his stamp of approval on the job. We now have a table that doesn't feel like it's going to fall over at any minute. This is a good thing considering I have a stampin' party next weekend and I'd be in trouble without my table.

This last picture was just taken today. This is my little cookie monster. We went by my old office today to drop off some stamping stuff for some of the gals. One of the secretaries gave him some oreo cookies for the ride home and this is what he looked like after the fact. He was talking about those cookies all afternoon! This kid is a piece of work! I hope you enjoyed my little story. Sorry no card for you today. I had a card for you, but apparently I never took a picture of it. I went to look for it on my computer and it wasn't there. So I will hopefully take a picture of it tomorrow. Thanks for reading and don't forget to subscribe to my blog so you can get email updates. That way you don't have to check back all of the time if I haven't posted anything. As always, happy stamping!

Simplicity

I love the simplicity of this card. I used my coluzzle circle template to cut the half circles. The color combo is purely pomegranate and groovy guava. I used blender pens and my ink pads to color the flowers and stems and then put some stickles over the flowers for some *sparkle*. The polka dotted paper is the DS rose red paper from the new cattie. I drew polka dots with my white gel pen on the pomegranate half circle and sponged the edges of the white circle with groovy guava. The ribbon is from Target. Here's the recipe:

Stamps: both way blossoms, hugs & wishes
Ink: basic black, purely pomegranate, groovy guava, wild wasabi
paper: groovy guava, purely pomegranate, whisper white, DS rose red
accessories: blender pens, white gel pen, stickles, ribbon from target

Today I don't have to work until 11 and Noah is already headed over to Mimi's for the day. It looks like I'll have a few quiet hours to myself. What on earth should I do....hmmm, maybe stamp? Actually, I have a report to work on so I'll probably do that. I've been learning some really interesting stuff at work. Well, it's interesting to me anyway. Today I'm going in to learn to give an EEG. I saw one done on Friday. If your not familiar with EEG, it's basically looking at someone's brainwaves. We are mainly doing them with children for diagnosing ADHD and ruling out other disorders. Cool, huh? Well, hope you all have a wonderful day!

Catties are in route

Just wanted to let you know that if you preordered an SU catalog from me then it is on its way to you. I took my little helper, Noah, with me to the post office this morning and we mailed them out. Depending on where you live they should be in your hands by Thursday. After you get your copy I'd love to hear from you and let me know what ya' think. Also, if you didn't preorder you are still able to get a copy if you'd like. If you live nearby and don't want to pay shipping just let me know and we can set a time to meet up. If you just can't wait to see the catalog in person you can follow the link on my sidebar to Stampin' Up catalogs and you can view it online. Hope everyone is pleased with all of the new products. I placed my first order yesterday so hopefully I will get it in time for my Catalog Kick Off event on the 14th. Have a great day!

Altered frame

Good morning stampers! So here's something a little different. I've been wanting to alter one of these frames for awhile and I finally got around to it. This is just a wood frame that I bought at Michael's for $1, I think. I used some retired SU paper and used decopauge to adhered it to the frame. I put 2 coats over the top to seal it. I put the apricot ribbon on with sticky strip. I tied the blue ribbon in knots and adhered them with glue dots. The flower and the letter are both chipboard. I used patterned paper to cover the flower and used a rhinestone brad for the center. I covered the letters in so saffron craft ink. I used irredescent ice embossing powder to emboss, which gave it the sparkly look. The letters are glued on with craft glue. I'm not sure what I will do with the frame. It matches the colors of my family room so maybe I'll put it there.

I sure am tired. We stayed up a little late last night watching a movie. We watched Blood Diamond with Leonardo Dicaprio. It was very disturbing to me. I had a hard time watching some of the scenes, not because some of it was gory. I think it was because I know that this stuff really happens. If your not familiar with the movie, it's about the diamond mines in Africa and how they are killing each other over there for the diamonds and training young children to be killers. I won't give the movie away if you haven't seen it, but the one thing it said at the end is that if you are buying diamonds it is up to you to find out if they are conflict free diamonds.

Well, enough of that. I am off today so I'll be hanging out with the big guy. We will probably go to the gym so he can play. Hope you all have a wonderful day.

Cool color combo

I am really enjoying the new In Colors. There are so many different combos you can make with these. I think this is one of my favorite cards that I've made lately. The stamp set is double line doodles, which is in the new catalog. I got it for free when I went to Stampin' Up regionals in Tampa...one of the wonderful perks of being a demo (free stamps)! Anyway, back to the card. The color combination is soft sky, blue bayou, and wil wasabi. The soft sky paper on the base of the card is from the designer paper series. I stamped on the blue bayou base with one of the flowers in whisper white craft pad and clear embossed. For the main image, I stamped the stems in wild wasabi and colored with a blender pen and ink pad. The flowers are stamped with soft sky and blue bayou and colored with blender pen and ink pads. I outlined the flowers with a glitter pen, which is hard to tell in the pictures. Then I used some cute little rhinestone gems for the centers of the flowers. These are self-adhesive and are made by Amuse. I bought mine from http://www.ellenhutson.com. They come in different colors and sizes and are easy to use. And to finish off the card I stamped my greeting on a silver metal tag and tied with a green ribbon. This was such a fun card to make.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Ours was pretty low key. Noah had gym class yesterday, which is great because when he comes home he is soooo ready for a nap. Then I spent yesterday afternoon cleaning and organizing my office/stamp room. Today we just relaxed at home and I put lots of stamping time in. Thanks for checking in.

Dinomite...

This is one of the new sets that I bought at Stamp Fest. This is a set by My Favorite Things and the first one I own. They have such cute images and they are all great for watercoloring or using the gamsol technique. This card didn't photograph really well, but you can get the general idea. I used my prismacolor pencils to color and blended with gamsol and a stump. The greeting looks horrible in the picture, but I promise you it looks much better in real life. I stamped it in Basic Black and then traced it with a glitter pen. I promise, it doesn't look as messy in person. Here's the recipe for the rest of the card:

Stamp sets: Dinomite (MFT), Toy Box (SU)
Ink: basic black, prismacolor pencils
Cardstock: bordering blue, real read, whisper white
Accessories: gamsol, blending stump, glitter pen, red grosgrain ribbon

Have a great weekend!

New catties...

I tried posting this a few days ago and I was having issues getting it to post so I gave up. Anyway, yes the new catalogs have arrived. If you preordered a catalog from me they will be shipped out on Monday so look for them in your mailbox next week. If you did not preorder one from me, no worries, you can still get a copy from me if you'd like. Just send me an email to let me know and I'll give you details. I sure hope you all enjoy the new catalog as much as I have. SU did a great job with this one. My wish list keeps growing. And to think, in another 6 months we'll have another new one to look at. Yikes, my wallet can't take it! Well, have a great weekend.

We have a winner!

All righty...we have a winner for the blog candy. I used this website, http://www.random.org, to pick a random number. So congratulations goes to Pamela! Thanks for participating in my first blog giveaway! I hope to get some more participation in the future. Pam, I'll get those goodies out to you ASAP.

Envelope card or gift card holder

So I cannot take credit for the idea of this card. I got this idea from Cambria Turnbow, another SU demo. These are pretty simple, especially if you just needed a quick little note or it could be a gift card holder. Here's how it works:

1.Stamp all over both sides of an envelope.

2.You take the envelope (the invitation size) and fold it in half.

3.Flip it over to the back of the envelope and cut the flap where you folded it. You will now have two flaps.

4. Take the left flap and seal it down.

5. Take the right flap and tuck it into the pocket and seal it down inside the pocket.

6. Make a mini card for the inside. The measurements of mine are 3 3/4" x 2 1/2" for the white part. Then I matted that onto a piece of pale plum that is 1/4" bigger all the way around.

7. I used my round tab punch to make the little tab at the top of the card.

8. Mat the envelope onto a piece of cardstock that is 1/4" bigger all the way around. I used perfect plum.

9. Then tie a ribbon around to close it and voila!

That's my mini tutorial for ya! Hope you enjoyed! Have a great day!

Blog candy!!!

This is looooonnnng overdue! I think I mentioned giving away some blog candy about 2 weeks ago and I apologize it has taken me so long to post. So I'm now celebrating getting to over 400 hits on my blog. Woo hoo! And that is thanks to all of my faithful blog readers. I hope you all are enjoying all of the things that I've been sharing. So what do you need to do to when this prize? All you have to do is post a comment to this post below. Comment about anything...what you like, what you don't like, or if there is something you might want me to show you on my page. Or you can just say hi, whatever tickles your fancy! The winner of this blog candy will receive 2 sets of $1 acrylic stamps from Michael's, 2 acrylic blocks, some assorted scalloped circles, and a "hand stamped" stamp from SU. I will randomly pick a winner and the winner will be announced on Friday. So make sure you check back on Friday to see if you won. Good luck!

Congratulations!

I just wanted to give a big congrats to my hubby, Chris! He got accepted to St. Leo University. He just registered for classes and they start at the end of August. He has been wanting to go back to school for a long, long time and life just kept getting in the way. Between his sister's death 4 years ago and his 4 hip surgeries since then he has been through a lot and has not been in the "school frame of mind". I feel like he is ready now more than ever and know that he will be successful this time. He already has his AA, so really he should only have about 2 years left for his Bachelors. He will be majoring in Business Admin. and will be doing everything online. I am just so excited for him. Keep him in your prayers that he makes this transition smoothly. This will be a big change for him but I know he can do it. Well, that's it for now.

Pretty Prismacolors

Okay, I think I'm back in full force. I'm feeling much better today. I've been wanting to play with all of my goodies I got this weekend and now I'm finally up for it. This is another card that I made for my MIL's order. She usually likes her cards personalized so this is what I came up with. I used the Because of You set, which I am sad to see go. This is a very simple set, but easy to color. I used my flower cuttlebug embossing folder for the background. I colored the flowers with my prismacolor pencils and blended with gamsol and a stump. I used my Giga and Mega scalloped circle punches and layered them. I then did some paper piercing around the pink scalloped circle and used my white gel pen to make "faux eyelets". I also used stickles on parts of the flowers for some extra sparkle. Here's the recipe for the card:

Stamps: Because of You, Sincere Salutations
Cardstock: so saffron, cool carribean, pretty in pink, whisper white
Ink: basic black, cool carribean, prismacolor pencils
Accessories: cuttlebug, gamsol, blending stumps, stickles, white gel pen, paper piercer

On a separate note, we took Gracie back to the vet today and they said her wound is healing nicely. She has to be on antibiotics for another week and they think it will close up by then. So things are looking up here at the Schwarz household. Also, if you all ever have any questions about anything that I post on here do not hesitate to email me or leave a comment and I will try my best to answer it. Have a great Monday!

I'm back...

So sorry that I've been MIA! Whew, it's been a long week and I'm hoping that this week is better than the last. If you remember from one of my last posts, Noah was sick with the flu and pneumonia. Well, you guessed it, I got it the next day and boy did it knock me on my butt. I called my dr. and she gave me a prescription for the flu but it didn't seem to be helping. So yesterday I got an antibiotic and it finally seems to be kicking in. Whatever I had turned into this upper respiratory crud and it was NASTY! I sure wish I would've bounced back as quick as Noah. Oh well! I didn't stamp all week and I was going through withdrawals. Chris was on nursing duty taking care of myself, Noah, and Gracie (our cat). That's a whole different story. Wednesday morning she had this abcess on her side, like the size of a quarter. It was so gross. The vet seems to think that something bit her like a snake, a spider, or another cat. They took care of her and she's been on meds too. We take her back to the vet tomorrow for a check up so hopefully everything looks okay. It seems to be healing.

Mom and I went to Stamp Fest yesterday. For those of you that are not familiar with SF, it is a convention with tons of different stamp companies and vendors. Boy is it dangerous! However, I wasn't feeling very good so I probably didn't do as much damage as I could've. Anyway, we had fun, learned some new things, got some new ideas, and bought some new goodies. I got some cute stamps from Art Gone Wild, Inky Antics, and My Favorite Things. My most exciting purchase was some Gamsol spirits and blending stumps. These are used for coloring with regular colored pencils. In fact, that leads me to my card above. I used Prismacolor Colored pencils and blended with Gamsol and a stump. Isn't the color lovely? I love the look you get with this type of coloring. The colors are so vibrant and it really is a nice change from watercoloring. The stamp is not new. I've had it for awhile and it's from Art Gone Wild. This is one of their Rocker stamps, which I love. They are about the size of background stamps and you can cut out the center to make a frame to put a picture or in this case, make a shaker box. Cute, huh? I also used some adhesive rhinestone jewels for accents. They are from Amuse. I ordered them from Ellen Hutson's store online. I made this card for my MIL (she ordered a few cards from me) and she's giving this one to Chris' sister. She likes to put handmade cards in her scrapbooks so I thought this would be a cute addition to her book. Here's the recipe for the card:

Cardstock: real red, green galore, bashful blue, whisper white
Ink: prismacolor pencils
Accessories: window sheet, tag punches (both sizes), button, linen thread, adhesive rhinestones (Amuse), microbeads (for shaker)

***Enabler Alert***

Just wanted to let you know that Joann's is having a big sale on their Marvy punches (the scalloped ones). They are 40% off and if you order online by tomorrow you get free shipping! Can't beat that! You don't even have to leave your house to take advantage of this deal. Go on over to http://www.joanns.com to check it out!

Nothing today...

Hello all! Well, I have nothing to post for today. Noah is very sick and I had to rush him to the dr. this afternoon. He was fine all day and we stopped by Target on the way home from work. He started getting the chills and I felt him and he felt very warm. By the time we got home he had 103 temp so I took him to the urgent care place. They ran some tests and apparently he has the flu and possibly the early stages of pneumonia. It was unbelievable how quickly he got soooo sick. He's never been that sick before so it was quite a scare for me. Anyway, we are home and he is in bed now. His spirits are much better now that the fever is down. We'll see how he does through the night. I will keep ya'll posted and please keep him in your prayers. I do have a few cards to make for a customer so I will post those sometime this week. Take care and have a great week!

It's a long one

Sorry for all of this space at the top...I don't know how to get rid of it!

A long post that is! I have a lot to share with you today. I'm sure your wondering what that little thing is on the right (or maybe your not). Well, we'll get to that in a minute. The card is made using a different fold (can't remember the exact name of this fold). You use a pieced of 8 1/2" by 4 1/4" cardstock for the base. Then you score it at 2 1/8" at each end and fold it toward you. That's it...easy peasy! I used one of the upcoming hostess sets from the new catty, Vases in Vogue. The background paper is DS Petals & Paisleys again. Love that stuff! I colored the vases in with my blender pens and ink pads and popped them up with dimensionals. I colored the flowers with my gelly glaze pens and they look nice & shiny in real life. And that bow...isn't it gorgeous? I have never been a whiz at tying bows. In fact, they usually come out upside down or lopsided or something. It's usually a big production for me to make a bow so I usually resort to just tying knots. Well, that was until I got this super cool gift for my bday from my Aunt Char. It's an adjustable bow maker, which is what that other picture is. You can check it out at this website http://www.thecardladies.com/. It's very easy to use and you can make different sizes. Thanks Aunt Char for such a great gift!

And here is the little munchkin! This was actually taken today. As you can see he's trying to climb the gate at the bottom of the stairs. This kid is a serious climber. He thinks he needs to climb on everything and jump off. I swear, the kid has no fear, which is good in a way but also dangerous. I tell ya, he's developing quite the little personality these days. He's quite full of himself and repeats everything you say. Boy, we really have to watch it. He's my little angel though. We are so very blessed to have him.




And last, here is Maggie (left) and Romeo (right). Romeo is our BIG

baby. I'm not kidding either. This dog is the funniest dog I think I've ever seen. He's a lab/pit bull mix that Chris surprised me with for my bday 3 years ago. He is sooooo pathetic. If he's not getting enough attention he'll put his head on the foot stool and bat his big brown eyes and just stare at us until we give him some love. Or he tries to hop his 60lb self onto the couch while we are on it like he's a lap dog. He thinks he's Maggie's size. Maggie is my baby sister...LOL! This is my mom's dog and I'm posting this picture for my mom to see. We are dogsitting her while my parents are on vacation. I know my mom has been reading my blog so I thought I'd post a picture of Mags for her to see. I know she misses her because she only calls here about 20 times a day. She acts like she's calling to talk to me but I know she's secretly just calling to find out how Maggie is doing. Anyway, Maggie on the other hand thinks she is Romeo's size. I guess that's the Jack Russell mentality. These two (Ro-Ro & Mammie, as Noah calls them) are quite a pair. As a matter of fact, as I was upstairs stamping tonight I decided to go downstairs to get a drink. Well, wouldn't you know it, these two are camped out on the couch. Just making themselves right at home. She was hogging all of the blanket too. Well, I guess that's it for today. Hope ya'll have a great weekend.

Thursday spotlight: New In Colors

Just when you think you have all of the colors you could possibly need (or want), SU comes out with more. I ordered all 6 of the new colors, not that I needed them, but I've been hearing such rave reviews, I figured, why not? And wouldn't you know it, I happened to have some ribbon stashed away (from Michael's) that matches Groovy Guava and Blue Bayou perfectly. This is just yummy! I have to admit, not only do I have an addiction to paper, but I think I have an addiction to ribbon as well. I have a hard time though, because some of it's so pretty that I don't want to use it all up. Once again, this card is not at all what I had originally pictured in my head, but once I got to playing I changed it completely (numerous times, might I add). This is the new Pick a Petal set and I have to tell you that it isn't as easy to use as I thought it would be. This is my first attempt so hopefully it will get easier. The flower and the saying on the right of the card is not from Pick a Petal. They are from the Vases In Vogue hostess set. When I saw that little flower I immediately thought it went so well with Pick a Petal.

I had major computer issues earlier today and was beginning to get very frustrated. Well, actually I was past the point of frustration. I believe I used a few choice words on a few occasions. After looking online at tech support trying to resolve the problem myself and not having any success I finally decided to get on the phone and call. Well, what a pain! Because my warranty had run out about 2 weeks ago they were going to charge me $50 for tech support (and it only covers software problems) If it's anything else then I would have to pay something else. He said I could also go online and do a live chat with a tech person for free. Well, I decided to do that but then decided to try one more thing and low and behold it started working again. Half my day was wasted on this stinkin' computer trying to fix it and it resolves itself just like that. How annoying! Sorry to get off on a tangent there. I am just so annoyed that I didn't get to stamp more.

Noah has been sleeping for almost 3 hours now. What a treat this has been. I kind of hear him moving around in there so I'm sure he'll be getting up soon. I'm gonna see if I can whip up one more card. Until next time...happy stamping!

Wednesday spotlight: Paper Piecing

So I'm finally getting to posting tonight. I had quite a busy day and didn't think I was going to have time to stamp tonight, but I whipped this card up. It actually didn't turn out like I pictured in my head but I guess I like how it turned out. I used the paper piecing technique to do the background, which makes for a quick card. I used the DS Petals & Paisleys paper from the Spring Mini. The measurements fro the 2 pieces on the right are 1 7/8" x 3 1/8". The piece on the left is 2" x 3 7/8". The flowers stamped in the middle are from the Polka Dots & Paisley stamp set. I colored directly onto the stamp using my watercolor markers and I put some Stickles over the top of that to give some sparkle. The grosgrain ribbon is turquoise and apricot from SU. The card base is Kraft paper. Oh, and I almost forgot my favorite part...I used my new Giga scalloped square punch for the old olive background. I bought a few of these scalloped punches recently and I love, love, love them. So I'm going to warn you now that you might be seeing a lot of cards using these punches. I also got my goodies that I preordered from the Fall-Winter preview so I will be showing off some of that in the next week.

Well, it's officially a circus around our house. Yep, that's right, good ol' Schwarz and Bailey's circus. We are dogsitting my mom's dog Maggie (or Mammie, as Noah calls her). So we have Noah, Romeo, and Maggie running around here like crazy. Noah has these new moves which we don't quite have a name for yet, but they look like they are out of the world wrestling federation. He runs towards the dogs and basically kamikazee's into them. Romeo can basically hold his own (he's a 60 lb. black lab), but I'm afraid poor little Mammie (a jack russell) is gonna get squished by 33 lb. Noah (Hulk Hogan). However, she may not be so little after spending the week with us. The way Noah has been sneaking food to her she's going to be as big as a house.

I am off tomorrow so as long as Noah takes a good nap I plan on getting in some good stamping time.

A little different..

This color combination is a little different for me because I typically don't use Summer Sun or Not Quite Navy very often. It's not that I don't like these colors but for some reason I prefer Night of Navy most of the time and I just don't use a lot of yellow (not the brighter ones anyway). I used one of my cuttlebug embossing folders again. Yes, I think I am addicted to that thing. Other than that, there's not much to this card. I colored the center bird in with my watercolor markers and then put crystal effects over the top of her to give a little dimension. I also used some stickles on her hat to add a little sparkle. That about sums it up!

I am off work today and Friday so I'm not sure how much stamping I'll get done this week. I have a lot of work to do around the house and I need to finish up a report for work. Hopefully I'll have the chance to post a few quick things for ya though. Have a great Monday!

Stampin Sunday

Wow, Chris got up with Noah this morning and let me sleep in a little. What a treat that was! I stayed in bed until about 9 and then came into my "sweat shop". I played on the computer for a little bit and now I'm stamping. In celebration of my blog being up for a week I am sharing 2 cards with you today. I don't think the picture does this first card justice. It looks so much prettier in real life. I used my white staz on ink pad to stamp the images onto basic black cs. I colored the images with my SU metallic pencils. After I colored them I took a paper towel and rubbed around the images to give it a bit of a softer look. I also colored the centers of the flowers and some of the bee with gold stickles. Here are the ingredients of this card:

cardstock: basic black, pink passion

ink: staz on white

accessories: metallic pencils, ribbon from Michaels, and gold stickles.

Now for the second card:

I think the girls in this set, Living Large, are adorable. I was sad to see this one on the retired list. All I can think is that they must be coming out with something better. It really took me a little time to come up with the colors for this card. I stamped and colored her first, but then I couldn't figure out what cardstock colors to use. After much debate, I think I am finally happy with how it turned out. I used my watercolor crayons and an aqua painter to color the girl. I colored the flowers in with my Gelly Roll Glaze pens. It gives them a shiny, slighly dimensional look which I know is probably hard to see in the picture. Then I just doodled around the edge of the white cs using my black fine tip pen, by Martha Stewart. Here are the ingredients:

cardstock: gable green, green galore, whisper white, and orange gingham from Michael's

ink: basic black, gable green, wc crayons, gelly roll glaze pens

accessories: buttons from button jar, hemp thread

Well, as I look at my hit counter today I noticed that I am almost at 200 hits. Not bad for one week's worth of work. I think this is cause for a celebration. So be in the lookout this week and I will be posting a small giveaway for you faithful blog readers. A lot of us on the blog circuit like to call it "blog candy". So be on the lookout for more details. Have a restful Sunday and a fantastic week!

Happy Friday

Here is a travel coffee mug that I made for my dad for Father's Day. I used SU designer series paper (Spring Showers). I printed the pictures on regular printer paper so they would be more flexible. Then I just adhered some cute grandpa stickers that I found at Joann's. I bought the mug from Target awhile ago. I think these make really cute gifts and they are easy to make and it would be easy to swap out pictures if you wanted to update it.

I sure am glad it's Friday. I am ready for the weekend. We don't have any exciting plans...just getting things done around the house. I also have a report that I need to work on for work. Other than that, we'll probably just do some heavy duty playing with Noah. I am hoping the weather is nice so he can go outside in his pool. He's really into that right now. Tonight we are going to a birthday party for my cousin, Brooks. He is turning 11 so Noah will get to play with the big kids. He sure loves his cousins. I think they are going to have one of those big water slides so we'll see how he does on that. This morning we went to this gym that is filled with those bounce houses. There are about 5 of them inside this place along with other toys for the kids. He had such a blast and he totally crashed when we got home. I didn't hear one peep out of him when I laid him down for his nap, which is very unusual. He usually just lays in there and talks to himself and laughs for awhile before he goes to sleep. Well, I'll leave you with a picture of my little man. He's getting big way too fast. I'm so glad that I switched jobs so I can spend a little more time with him while he's still little. Hope you all have a great weekend.

As always, happy stamping!!!

Mr. Crabby Attacks

Okay, so I can't help myself. This is another one of my latest favorite stamp sets. This is Crab & Company from the Spring Mini. He is quite irresistable because there are so many options with this set...birthday, christmas, get well, etc. I just love how you can put the little hat on his head or the present in his claws. I used a trifold on this card. First you score it like you would a regular card at 4 1/4". Then on the front flap you score it again at 2 1/8" and fold it back toward you. It is quite simple and gives you a unique fold. The picture on the right shows you what it looks like when it is open. Cardstock colors on this card are so saffron, bordering blue, ruby red, and whisper white. I used my inkpads and an aqua painter to color my images. I also put wiggly eyes on Mr. Crabby. Also, I apologize if some of my images are showing up a little blurry. I'm trying to get the hang of photographing my cards and trying to get the perfect angle and distance so they show up clear.

Thanks to all of you who have been reading my blog. I've only had it up for a few days and I already have over 50 hits. That is so exciting to me. Feel free to leave me comments at anytime. I would love to hear what you all think. Also remember that you can subscribe and receive it by email whenever I update.

I guess I better get going. I need to start some laundry and cooking. Thanks for looking!

Here's this little frog again...I just love this set. I made this card for my brother-in-law. Cardstock colors are tempting turquoise and gable green. I used my watercolor markers to color in the frog and mushrooms and used a black journaling markers to draw in the little dashes. The slit punch was used to make the little corners and I attached green brads, which I believe are from Making Memories. The frog and some of the mushrooms are popped up with stampin' dimensionals and that's about it. I am some other stuff that I will be working on and hope to post it soon. Noah just went down for his nap so that gives me a few good hours of stampin..yipee! I should probably be cleaning or doing laundry but I'll save that for later. Hope you all have a great day...and get some stampin' in if you can.

Lookie what I got. I've had my eye on this Jumbo wheel for awhile. It's the Wash Day wheel and it's retiring so I finally broke down and got it. I love it because it's quick and makes a really cute card. I apologize that the picture is a little dark. Here's the basics of the card: Cardstock is regal rose and lovely lilac. I used my white gel pen to create faux stiching. I colored the clothes in with my watercolor pencils and blender pen. The pink ric rac ribbon is from Michaels.

Take a look in the upper right hand side of my page. You can subscribe to my blog, which means you will get it emailed to you whenever I update it. If your interested just enter your email and subscribe. I promise I will be posting more ideas soon. This whole thing is taking me a lot longer than I had anticipated.

I started my new job yesterday and I love it. I am still working as a school psychologist, but now I work in private practice. I'm only working 2-3 mornings a week over the summer so I can be home with Noah more. It has been a nice change so far and I can tell that I am going to learn A LOT, which I love.

Noah has been a busy little bee lately. He is entering into the terrible 2's and boy does it show. He has quite the attitude lately and can really throw a temper tantrum. Here's a recent picture of the little stinker...

Well, tomorrow I am off so Noah and I will be hanging out. We have gym class in the morning and we'll see what happens after that. Hopefully he's on good behavior at gym class. Last week he jumped on one little girl and hit another one because she had a toy that he wanted. My goodness, he's turning into a tiny terror. I am hoping this is only a phase. I hope you all have a good evening!

Good evening! Here is a quick and simple card for you. This card is for Chris for Father's Day (from Noah, of course). I really love this little superhero guy from Amuse art stamps. I think he would be adorable for various occasions. The word stamps "super dad" and "my hero" are also from Amuse. The big "DAD" stamp I bought at a used stamp sale last year and I don't know what company it's from, but it sure helps make a quick and easy dad card. The colors on the card are Buckaroo Blue and Cranberry Crisp. The ribbon is Cranberry Crisp stiched ribbon by SU. I colored the superhero in with my SU watercolor markers and he's popped up on a stampin dimensional (hard to tell from the picture). That's about it for this card. I sure hope Chris thinks it's cute. He really is "super dad" to me. He's been through so much with his health these past few years and he's been such a trooper through it all. To make a long story short for those of you that don't know him, he had to have both of his hips replaced last year. It was a rough year, but it has all been worth it. He is now pain free and walking with only a slight limp, which is much better than it used to be. Anyway, it is now 7:15, we already ate dinner and put the munchkin to bed so we are going to have a movie night tonight. Chris rented some movies the other night and we still have one to watch. Hope ya'll have a wonderful evening!

Let's get it started...

Here is a recent picture of the fam! We went to St. Louis for Memorial Day weekend for a wedding. We went to the Cardinals game on Sunday to see the new Stadium. There is a Build-A-Bear workshop inside the stadium and Noah went there to build a "Fredbird". He actually did better than I thought he would. I will post pictures of that later. Now for the good stuff...

Here is my first card to share with you. I used this adorable SU set called "Unfrogettable". Isn't this frog too stinkin' cute? I attempted to use the "crayon resist" technique on the blue background but it didn't come out as good as I had pictured in my head. I used blender pens and my ink pads to color the frog and his shadow. There are wiggly eyes on the frog, but it's hard to see it in the picture. Other than that, the card is pretty self explanatory. Colors used are Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery, and Bashful Blue. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for looking and have a wonderful and restful Sunday.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog. My name is Tracie and I am starting this blog to share my love of stamping, scrapbooking, and papercrafting with you. I am a wife to my wonderful husband, Chris and mommy to 21-month old Noah. I am a school psychologist and have recently started on a journey in the private practice world. I have also been a Stampin' Up demonstrator for 4 years and love sharing my creations with family, friends, and customers. I hope you enjoy reading my blog. I hope to update it regularly so check back often.