Why stamping keeps me sane....

I have 3 children. Three daughters. (My mom jokes that is PAYBACK. ahem.) Most of the time they are the greatest joy EVAH. But, let me be more specific. They are 16, 12 and 11 years old. All in puberty. Yeah. That means Hormones. Attitude. I MUST have the IQ of a walnut most days.  They are good girls. Loving and a LOT of fun. I've taught them how to BWAHAHAA like their momma. And they're also die-hard Star Wars fans. Yes, I know how to raise my children correctly. I know my priorities.

Kayci (11), Madison (16), and Delaney (12)

Oh...back to being the biggest joy...well, sometimes. Like today. My 16 year old, who is kind of dragging her feet on learning how to drive calls me today to come pick her up from her tennis tournament because she's done playing and she doesn't have to take the bus back to school. Ok, so I drive 40 minutes out of town to pick her up. When I get there, however, she discovers that NO she cannot leave...she has another round to play. I turn around to drive home because she doesn't know when she'll be on the court and I have a stamping class to prep for. GAH! I proceed to call my hubby and leave him a loooong voicemail spewing my frustration. We decide to punish her--her choice--of either taking away her phone/computer for 24 hours OR she can choose to sit in the car for 80 minutes (my round trip time wasted) without radio, ipod, book or phone. Just. Sit. There. To hopefully learn a lesson about NOT ASSUMING ANYTHING.

So what did I do while she sat in my car (in the garage) for 80 minutes...???

I made a card!!! And I was soooo happy when I was done. Yes, stamping keeps me sane. I don't need blood pressure medication. I just need time to stamp!

And...It's that time again....FRIENDS WITH FLAIR blog hop!
What? You don't know what I'm talkin' about? Unity Stamp Company recruits 50 volunteers to stamp a card with Unity or Ippity stamps and we all share and SQUEEEEE over one anothers cards.

I have a hard time designing cards on my own....but I am WAY excited about this week's card because I didn't CASE (Copy And Steal Everything) this from someone else. When I was finished I had to SQUEEE a little bit. 

Stamp set: Ippity Music Of My Heart Paper: Stampin' Up! Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point, Naturals White

Ink: SU! Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point, Basic Black, Real Red

Accessories: SU! Full Heart Punch

I had a lot of fun "mutilating" errr.... distressing my paper for this card.  The Pacific Point layer behind the white is pulled apart for a sueded look.  I used my Stampin' Up! bone folder to curl the corners of the white layer.  I stamped scraps of white with the larger background sheet music stamp in Tangerine Tango and punched hearts then softened the paper with my bone folder and sponged the edges.  The background is stamped in Pacific Point with the same sheet music stamp and sponged (I used a scrap piece of paper torn to mask off the middle of paper).  The sentiment stamp was colored with SU! markers in Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point, Real Red for the heart and Basic Black.

So. Much. Fun!  Be sure to check out the other "hoppers" on this Blog Hop! Thanks for stopping by and please leave some comment love!

Oh...and did Maddie learn her lesson? We think so. After she vented on Facebook about her punishment, she did say she will "never assume anything again." Yes, my job here is done.

Have a fabulous weekend!
XOXO

Stamp A Stack of Cards on Feb. 26th!

Spring Break is 15 school days away and I could not be more excited! My brother, Skip, is flying in for the week and my girls cannot wait to see him.  I'll be getting my laugh on for sure, he is the funniest person I know and he'll have me laughing pretty much nonstop when he's here.  Can. Not. Wait!

Anyway, with Spring Break on the brain, I really can't get away from using pink in my cards lately. I was laughing at myself when I'd finally decided on the 3 cards we'll make this coming Saturday. They all have a form of pink in them. Well, lemme just show them to you:

Stamp set: Teahouse Background stamp, Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White

Ink: Versamark, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose

Accessories: Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder

This card design is CASE'd from a Thank You card I received from my friend, Lydia

Stamp sets: Artistic Etchings, Define Your Life, Elements of Style, Sanded Background Stamp

Build a Blossom stamp set and Blossom Petals XL Punch. En Francais background stamp

Ink: Crumb Cake, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette

All supplies are Stampin' Up

Details for Saturday, 2/26:

Spring Stamp A Stack of Cards,

10 am to 12 pm

You'll make 2 each of 3 designs (above), price includes envelopes

Cost: $15.00, unless you place a $40 order then class cost is waived.

It's SALE-A-BRATION so for every $50 you purchase you choose a free item from the Sale-A-Bration Catalog! WHOO HOOO!

Please RSVP by Wednesday, 2/23...which is also my OPEN HOUSE NIGHT!!!

Come and go anytime between 5-7 pm to pick up the Occasions Mini Catalog, Sale-A-Bration Catalog and shop my retired stamps and accessories!

Check out my Stampin' Up website for details on all upcoming events and get project idea and SHOP ONLINE!

http://www.darthsunshine.stampinup.net/

We interrupt this busy week to bring you....The Flu.

Just an FYI--my Debut Open House scheduled for tomorrow night has been bumped back a week to 2/23 because my hubby has the flu! Boo!!! :(

Any questions or comments please don't hesitate to call or email me! Details are also on my Stampin' Up website: www.darthsunshine.stampinup.net

Trying to stay flu-free over here,

Working on the studio...

My 2 biggest faults (these are self-proclaimed...we're not talking to my hubby!) are lack or organization and time management (otherwise known as Procrastination). The organization issue I have stumps me because when I'm at work I'm borderline OCD. Well....a little MORE than borderline. I think this is from my days when I worked as a bank teller.  All currency HAS to face the same way in the drawer, and the entire job is about detail. You have to be organized when handling thousands of dollars of cash every day...or you may spend hours looking for an outage because you can't balance your drawer. Of course this didn't happen to me because I was sooo meticulous. :D hehe

Anyway, I digress. And who doesn't have issues with procrastination?

This weekend was dedicated to organizing the stamp studio. Especially after I saw this post by the Stampy Goddess Lisa Spangler. I mean, really?!?! I'm sorry Lisa, but that is not "messy". Lemme show you "messy" mkay?



This is the table to the left of my main desk. This pile in front of my ink pad storage is mostly class layouts I've printed and "stacked" there. They will eventually be bound and filed on the bookshelf above this table. Key word is EVENTUALLY.

Here's the table in the center of my studio. Um...yeah. The plastic bag is full of the irreverant stamps I bought at the stamp show I went to in Dallas a few weeks ago. (see?!? Procrastination!) Also, there are several UNFINISHED projects in piles on this table.  My goal this weekend was to sort and/or finish those cards and file them away to eventually give to someone.  But instead, I worked on the following:

I FINALLY organized my Nestabilities!!! YAY ME!!!!! Lydia gave me the idea to take magnetic vent covers, trim them to mount on chipboard, then file your dies. This is SOOOO much easier than sorting through a big pile of them! And fortunately I already had a file box ready to go to put these in! SQUEEEE!!!

I spent the rest of the weekend cracking the whip getting my offspring to clean their rooms and OHMUGUH I understand why some species eat their young. (JUST KIDDING!!!)

I have my Sale-A-Bration Open House this week! Wednesday from 5-7 pm and it's come-and-go if you want to shop some of my retired/duplicate items/stamps/punches and pick up a catalog. Email or call me to let me know you're coming by! Of course...this means I'll be cleaning up!!! :D

Stampin' Up!, Cupcakes and valentines

First off I need to share I am a STAMPIN' UP DEMONSTRATOR again!! SQUEEEEEEE!!!! Again I'll be holding classes and will start my Stamp Club back up beginning in March!! SQUEEEE!!! You can shop online, get project ideas and view my calendar at my Stampin' Up Website 24/7!!

My oldest daughter (age 16) has been nagging (haha) me for weeks to stamp some cards with her....so finally this weekend we got to hang out together in the studio!! She is totally hooked. (WIN!)
My youngest "daughter" decided she wanted to help as well:

HA! This is Chibi, my Bichon Frise, who has to be wherever I am. Soooo cute!!

One of my best friends has a birthday this week and for ONCE I'm actually sending a birthday card BEFORE the actual birthday.

I got to play with Stampin' Up's Create a Cupcake stamp set and the Build A Cupcake punch. I love cupcakes. I mean LOOOOVE cupcakes.  Lydia and I both frequent Sugar Mamas in Austin...serious NOM NOM NOMs.  Here in San Antonio the closest version of them is Saweet Cupcakes....but alas they're not very convenient...but we did get to pick up some Strawberry Mango, PB Chocolate and Coconut nom noms yesterday. YAY Stamping AND CUPCAKES in the same weekend!!!

Maddie made some cute cards for her boyfriend using Lawnfawn stamps and some Stampin' Up, too. She worked completely independently of me and designed her own cards. These cards are seriously better than anything I did my first year of stamping!

I'm so proud! Look:

Maddie used Lawnfawn's My Silly Valentine clear stamp sets for both of these cards. Soooo cute!!

Thanks for stopping by!

I love a challenge!

One of my favorite websites is Splitcoaststampers (SCS)...they have tutorials, galleries of gorgeous cards, forums to talk about anything stamping...and well, anything at all really. I could spend HOURS there.  Another fun fact is their Community Manager is my dear friend Lydia.
This past Friday was a Mini Virtual Stamp Night (VSN) on Splitcoaststampers! There is a new challenge every hour and you usually have a time limit in which to work.  I have a love/hate relationship with parameters like that...but honestly I get more done when I'm trying to rush through it in 45 minutes. SO FUN!!! So I played this weekend, but only really liked 2 of my finished products and wanted to share them with you.

This first card required quite a bit... it was a sketch challenge (meaning we follow the original design/sketch of the card), needed to have a punched flower, the only stamped item could be the sentiment and we had to use the following colors: Red, Pink, Green (I used Stampin' Up's Cherry Cobbler, Pink Pirouette and Kiwi Kiss).

My flower is made from using a Sizzix Bigz die-- Beauty Bloom (made from a retired SU Designer Series Paper that has GLITTER on it! SQUEEE!) and anchored with a very vanilla brad. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up! In A Word set. That awesome wavy punch is an EK Success border punch. Me likey!

This card was for the Entwined Hearts Challenge...at least 2 images had to "entwine" and they should be hearts if we had them. Here I used Stampin' Up! sets SweatHeart and I{Heart} Hearts in the following SU colors: So Saffron, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay, Pumpkin Pie and Real Red.

I've been out of the Stampin' Up realm for a few months...took a little time "off" to work on other things, but plan to pick that part of my business back up in February--along with Stamp Club (SQUEEEEE) and classes again! YAY!!! Very excited!

Hope you're surviving the Cedar Pollen storm we're experiencing here.  I'm STILL not 100% Pfffth. Allergies.

Thanks for stopping my and seeing my stampy goodness! 

a true friend....

Last weekend I got to spend some time with my bestest friend from high school EVAH! Stephanie and I hadn't seen each other in 13 years and it was like no time whatsoever had passed....the minute I walked in the door of her GORGEOUS home (at 11 pm!) we just started catching up....until almost 4 am!


She and I met way back in 1984..... my family moved from San Diego, California to Waco, Texas. I began my freshman year in high school in Waco, Texas after living several years in California. I was a girl with short-short hair, did NOT carry a purse, didn't wear jeans, or ropers or listen to country music. In Central Texas. Freshman Year. Yeah, it was awkward. Culture shock.


I share all this to say...awkward, weirdo me then met Stephanie...who made my few years in Central Texas the best EVAH. We consistently had more fun than should be allowed--getting in trouble for laughing in Physical Science, and volleyball practice...and youth group lunches....(until I moved to Corpus Christi halfway through my junior year in high school.)  And we've stayed good friends all this time.

She's one of the funniest people I know. So, knowing me and my crazy laugh....I laugh a LOT when I'm with her.

So much fun. And I'm so grateful to have had last weekend with her! THANK YOU STEPH!!

One of the things I got to do last weekend was attend the Stamp, Scrap and Art Tour in Mesquite--and Steph came with me so I could show her a bit of my obession--stamping! I bought some new Nestabilities, and irreverant stamps that I'll show off in future stampy goodness.  But for now...here are a couple of cards...

First, from one of Stampin' Up's Simply Sent Card Kits:

I love that glitter...and these kits are great when you just want a quick card...all the elements are there, you don't really have to think about it and the kits even include a stampin' spot (mini stamp pad) along with all the embellishments! Awesomeness.

This card was fun to make. Well....I can say that now that it's done and super cute....but WHILE I was making it I was thinking "another step? more cutting? ugh" because this card takes some time...embossing the background, softening and wrinkling cardstock so you can peel apart the layers for the "suede" look, cutting by hand tiny flowers, brads, ribbon etc etc etc...you get the picture. However, once it's all in place it totally made me SQUEEEE!!!!

(All supplies from Stampin' Up)

Thanks for stopping by...come back again soon!

XOXO