FOUR Challenges in ONE card! Squeeee!!!

Here's another Dare To Get Dirty challenge card! Can you believe it??? THREE posts in ONE WEEK??! SQUEEEEE!!!! I combined FOUR challenges into this one card. You can see details about DTGD over on Splitcoaststampers.com


I have a sweet Bichon Frise named Chibi, and I talk about her in a post, HERE. I found these cute stamps at vivalasvegastamps.com so I had to make a cute bichon card! My mom calls Chibi her "grand puppy" so cute!!

Stamps: Bichon and sentiment from vivalasvegastamps.com, Distressed Dots background stamp from SU; Ink: Stazon Black, Peach Parfait & Pear Pizzazz (both retired), Pretty in Pink; Paper: Watercolor paper, Newsprint DSP, Peach Parfait & Pear Pizzazz (retired); Accessories: XL Pennants Die, Decorative Label Punch, 2 3/8" Circle Punch, Scallop Edge punch, Corner Rounder punch, Aquapainter

 I've had so much fun doing these challenges! Now I'm in Dallas for Quakecon for the weekend so won't get to stamp anymore before the upload deadline on Monday...but it was fun while it lasted!!

Don't forget to RSVP for my class next Saturday! Details are over on my Stampin' Up site www.darthsunshine.stampinup.net !
Thanks for stopping by!

Where's St. Andrew's Day?

St. Patrick's Day is coming up...where all things Irish will abound during this month. But I want to know where our Scottish homage holiday is? HUH?!?

I stamped this card for Splitcoaststampers VSN (Virtual Stamp Night) Challenge to use a heart or the word "love" on my card...but when I finished I thought HEY! I'm not even IRISH! If I could have it my way I'd want a Scottish Holiday...we could call it St. Andrew's Day! Or Ewan McGregor Day! Or Gerard Butler Day! Or....my personal favorite Scotsman right now JAMES McAVOY!!! Ha! (Of course my first favorite Scotsman EVAH was Sean Connery...he's the quintessential Scotsman!)
Wow. I digress. The Challenge! So I used hearts to make my shamrock. This heart is from the PS I Love You set from the Occasions Mini Catalog. The sentiment is is an a la Carte stamp from the same catalog-Happy St. Patrick's.

Stamps: PS I Love You, Happy St. Patrick's; Ink: SU Garden Green; Acces: Full Heart Punch, Decorative Label Punch, stripes Embossing Folder; Paper: Garden Green, Whisper White

VSN is fun because it forces me to make a card in 45 minutes or less. This is torture because I will play around with the same card idea for hours sometimes. I'm not always happy with my cards...but the challenges always force me out of my comfort zone. This isn't one of my favorites...but...oh well. On day I'll show you my trashcan after a craftventure...or craftastrophe. HAHA
Thanks for stopping by!

Multitasking...

I'm finally feeling like things are getting back to normal around here--I had stamp class last Saturday, we have Stamp Club beginning this Satuday and it will run through October! YAY! I'm walking without a limp and my knee is feeling really good! YAYAYAYA!!! and...

The stitches are FINALLY coming out of my KNEE!!! SQUEEE! Some of my friends have said "Dana, seriously, you can take out those stitches, can't you?" (don't forget I'm an RN and I do own a suture removal kit)....however, I used to work at the hospital where I had surgery and take care of my doctor's patients and he would NOT appreciate it if I go into my appointment tomorrow morning and my sutures are already out. Nope. So...since I have to go in and pay a co-pay anyway (grumble grumble) I'm going to let my awesome doctor go ahead and follow through on his care for me.

Anyway...on to the FUN STUFF! I decided to multitask this week! (HA! That's a joke right? Who can really say they multitask?! Because my attention really has to be 100% on one thing at a time....but I digress....)

I'm participating in TWO challenges! I like sketch challenges, and the MOJO Monday one is great, and thankfully I never forget WHEN that challenge begins...ON MONDAY! So here's the sketch: 

Also, Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger totally made me SQUEEEE when I saw it!!! LOVE THOSE COLORS!!!

And here's my card:

Stamps: Stampin' Up Delicate Doilies, Word Play
Paper: SU Lucky Limeade, Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie
Ink: SU Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Accessories: SU Boho Blossom Punch, Fancy Label Punch, MFT Doily Die, Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon, Corner Chomper, SU Mini Glue Dots, SU Stampin' Dimensionals, Silver brads, Wild Wasabi embossing powder


See those green brads? I don't have green brads, or pink, or blue. I couldn't believe it when I got to this step in my card because I have probably EVERY OTHER ACCESSORY AVAILABLE in the stamping world. No joke. I didn't even have SMALL white brads...I had BIG ones but I needed small....so I decided to heat emboss green embossing powder on silver brads. Pretty cool. Use tweezers to hold your brad and it takes about 3 "dips" in the powder while your brad is hot and then embossed for the desired result. I totally SQUEEEE'd when I was doing it. 

Today is also Father's Day...I have an awesome dad and an amazing hubby who are so both incredible! I should really time my blog posts better and include the Father's Day stuff I have...but I do have this for you: 

hehe!

I'm making The Pioneer Woman's Burgundy Mushrooms and grilling filet mignons for hubby for dinner. I'm taking my dad out to lunch this week to a Brazilian Steakhouse...nom nom nom!

A personal challenge

I have spent the last several weeknights going to bed at an INSANELY early hour--before 9 pm. I don't even know what happened to last week. Not sure if it was allergies, my body fighting a virus or what...but my body revolted and decided I needed REST.  I hate that. When I'm so busy/tired I can't even enjoy my evenings. I didn't even STAMP. Quelle Horreur!! I am SO. READY. for Spring Break! 5 more days...

For a few weeks now I've been following the umpteen million Stamper Challenges out in the bloggersphere thinking I would combine a few challenges and submit them....but it's overwhelming how many I enjoy and would like to do....so I don't do any of them! HAHAHAAAA!! (It didn't help I also slept during such time as I would stamp! GAH!) I have decided I would do my own personal challenge this week--to use a stamp set that is on my shelf I haven't used yet AND an accessory that I haven't played with. Maybe I'll make this a regular thing....
I discovered today I have a plethora of buttons....but I mention this and didn't even use buttons on my card!! Yeah, so I have a LOT of accessories. Tons. Loads.  I used some ribbon I've been hoarding. Hadn't even opened it since they're my FAVORITE colors EVAH--Stampin' Up's Pacific Point and Tangerine Tango. These colors, combined with Baja Breeze, make me seriously happy.

(One of the hospitals I worked at in Labor and Delivery had surgical scrubs that were Baja Breeze with a Tangerine Tango drawstring tie--I loved those scrubs. You couldn't really see the pretty tangerine tie...but I knew it was there! When Stampin' Up came out with Tangerine Tango and Baja Breeze colors (In Colors) I SQUEEEEE'd so loudly!!! Ahhh...I digress...)

I also realized after I made this card that my last blogged card included the same colors! (Have I mentioned how tired I was this week?)

I used Build A Blossom stamp set with the Blossom Petals XL Punch ...this Peach Parfait and Tangerine Tango flower makes me so happy! The sentiment is from Perfect Punches stamp set and colored with a Pacific Point and Tangerine Tango Marker. The Baja Breeze layer is stamped with the palms from Tropical Party Stamp Set (which is now only available as a My Digital Studio Download) but I have the stamp set which was not used prior to today.  The ribbon I finally opened and used for this card is the Pacific Point striped grosgrain and Tangerine Tango polka dot ribbon which is no longer available (GAH!).

Next week for Spring Break my brother, Skip, is flying out from San Diego to spend the week with us---SO. EXCITED!!! My girls are almost as excited as I am. He is one of the funniest people I know so I'll be getting an excellent abdominal workout all week! Can't wait!

Thanks for stopping by! What will you be doing for Spring Break?  Leave a comment and share what your favorite colors are to work with...

Have a great day!

XOXO

Family photo and TWENTYTEN!!!

First of all--I promise to start my Christmas cards BEFORE THANKSGIVING next year.  Wait. THIS year! It's twentyten!  So I had to stamp HAPPY NEW YEAR inside my cards this year. Oy! I'll be posting the pic of the card this week...don't want to spoil it for my friends who haven't received theirs yet! HAHA.

We've started this tradition to include a family photo...and a letter...with our Christmas Cards.  This year I scrapped the letter--it's so hard to compile the lives of 5 people onto one page.  More than one page in a Christmas Card is a little much.  Really.  Who wants to read a novel with a card? Ahhh I digress...but here was our photo.  We decided to do something different and this version won because my hubby liked the expression on my face with Chibi licking my chin.  So cute!

That's me, with Chibi our adorable Bichon Frise, my hubby Dean, Delaney (11 yrs), Kayci (10 yrs) and Madison (15 yrs). We had a lot of fun trying to take this photo (my father in law is holding the camera).

So I don't really like to do resolutions every New Year, because I basically set myself up for failure. Seriously.  I've NEVER EVAH kept my resolutions. However, this year I'll be 40 and I promised myself years ago that I would be in the best shape of my life EVAH by 40...so I'm getting serious about that.  Now. Plus my favorite Triathlon is in June and I plan to be so ready for it!!

As for my stamping goals for 2010, I plan to:

Blog at least once a week.  I can do that.  I enjoy blogging and will most likely have new stampin' stuff to post each week...so I plan to share more!

Participate in more challenges--I love them.  I really loved KWernerDesign's challenge, so I hope she picks it back up. But I've also discovered many more that I want to participate in!

Both of the above mean I will set aside time to stamp at least once a week.  Life gets away from me usually and I have this fabulous crafty space to work in...I want to utilize it more.  So I will!

I've also decided I'm going back to my Franklin Covey planner.  My iphone calender is great for setting alarms for stuff--but I'm a tactile/hands-on person and need a central location to write my TO-DO and plans.

Wow. All this and I don't have a card to post!  Stay tuned! I'll be back!

Happy New Year!