Out on a Limb!

I finally ordered "Out on a Limb" from Papertrey Ink. I absolutely love it and you will be able to tell as I've been making quite a few cards with it this week! The first card I have to share is for a Dirty Dozen Splitcoast Challenge. These are colors

I don't usually use together (Black, Vanilla, and Old Olive). I think they look pretty together though! I used my cuttlebug to emboss the vanilla cardstock underneath.




This card I was going for Tone on Tone. I love pink as most of you know. I've been adding some "Bling" with rhinestones lately too. I used Out on a Limb from PTI and I used the new set from SU Heard from the Heart! The new catalog will be here soon......I can't wait! I'll be back with some more samples to share tomorrow!

"Mommy, Is it my Birthday today?"

The famous question that is being asked everyday now! "Mommy, Is it my birthday today?" "No Ethan, but it is coming up in one week." "Mommy, is that the day after tomorrow?" "No Ethan, not that day!" This comes up several times a day now! Ethan will be 4 years old next Tuesday, August 5th! He is such a neat little boy! He has a very cool personality and is very intrigued by everything. He's been cooped up for most of the last year getting chemo treatments, a transplant, radiation, you name it, this kid has been through a lot! So we don't take any day for granted. Ethan wants a Cowboy Birthday Party, so that is what he will be having! We don't have any horses yet, but that is only a month away too! YEE HAW!

Here is Ethan's Birthday Invite! He was coloring right along side me when I made these and he ran all of the red cardstock through the cuttlebug for me! He loves to help and really loves to do crafts. I'm getting a lot of use out of this Cowboy Kid set (retired from SU). A friend let me borrow it and I think I'm definitely getting my use out of it. This was my first attempt using copic markers too. I mixed it up a little. I used Close to Cocoa from SU for the boots and chaps and the red is from Copic and the Blue shirt is a watercolor pencil. I tried a little of everything. I'm still not sold on Copic Markers, but I'm still trying. I'm actually still a huge fan of colored pencils and watercolor crayons.

This weekend we went to the fair and had a great time. The kids watched the horses, road rides, had lemonade shake-ups, ate hotdogs, saw bull riding, more horse shows and were completely exhausted after the day was over! It was just great to see them having so much fun. I was worn out, but that goes along with it. He keeps asking when we'll be going back out and I think we'll go again tomorrow night. They have horse shows going all day long and there is a roping contest that he would love to see. We'll turn into real cowboys yet!!!

Hopefully I'll get more cards for the Dirty Dozen Challenges this week. I had to focus on Birthday invites and entertaining the kiddos so I just ran out of time last week, but it's a new week with hopefully new ideas!

Stamp Set: Cowboy Kid (Retired SU)

Paper: Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White (SU)

Star Punch (SU)

Star Brads

Twine (SU)

Copic Markers, SU Markers, Watercolor Pencils, Blender Pen

HOWDY Cowboy!

This has been a fun week of making cards. This was my attempt at a masculine card for the card challenge. Those of you that know me no that masculine cards are not usually my strong point. I used my cuttlebug....of course and a friend of mine let me borrow her Cowboy Kid set (a retired SU set) so I could make Ethan's Birthday invites. They are finished as well so I'll share those with you this weekend. This cowboy is so cute!!!

Here is a picture of my "REAL COWBOY"......he is definitely the cutest by far!!! Doesn't he look so sharp in his hat and jeans! I'm trying to get his 4 year pictures taken and I like this one the best so far!

Don't ask me how I ever got this shot of Ava.....I have a quick camera! I just love this picture!

Here are both of my kiddos!

Brotherly Sisterly LOVE!

Pink Cow

I got a couple challenges accomplished yesterday....yippee! You know what that means.....yep, I finished the laundry. It really isn't as bad as I like to make it out to be. It takes a little over an hour to finish.....but it is complete now so I'm hoping to play a little this afternoon. I do have a project of sorting out kids clothes, but that can wait....right!

This is a card I made for a little "ribbon" challenge. I just love the ribbon, the colors, the "PINK COW"!!! It will make a great birthday card for my Mother-in-law. They milk cows.....I used this cow from My Favorite Things stamp set Punny Farm for my Father-in-laws Birthday card! The pink is the new pink porouette from SU.....love it! The ribbon is from various sources......meaning I don't know where it all came from, except the pink bow. That is the Sweet Blush satin polka dot from Papertrey Ink. There ribbon rocks! I have another challenge to share tomorrow. It's a cowboy card using Cowboy Kid stamp set from SU! I'm in search of this set so if anyone reading this has this and wants to sell......please let me know! Have a great day!

"Card Challenge"

I'm a big fan of a fellow blogger. I have never met her, but she is talented and funny. While reading Carole Burrage's blog Mother's Little Helper I decided to join Splitcoast Stampers Fan Club. This will allow me to see some of the greatest cards from fellow stampers. I'm really enjoying it so far. This week's challenges was a hard one for me. I used some vellum and really struggle with this and very rarely use it, but I do like how this turned out. I'm going to attempt another challenge.....if I get my laundry done. Oh that task has been lingering now for days and I said the other day that Tuesday was the day....so after that is complete I get to play....hope the kids take a long nap. I'm really into scrapbooking lately too and finished another page and did a little picture organizing yesterday. I'm anxious to dig in and finish a few albums this month.....we'll see how that goes. I'm still awaiting my prize from Papertrey so I can play! I already have an idea for their new owl set, so stay tuned!

Stamps: Everyday Blessings (Papertrey Ink)

Cardstock: Aqua Mist (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: Everyday Blessings (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Basic Blac (SU), Aqua Mist (Papertrey Ink)

Vellum: Stampin' Up!

Embellishments: Dew Drops (Michaels)

Ribbon: Aqua Mist Grossgrain (Papertrey Ink)

Home Sweet Home and No More Broviac!

Home Sweet Home! No other words so so sweet! My brother got married on July 4th and then on July 5th Ethan ended up in the ER in St. Louis. He was released after some antibiotic and we stayed in St. Louis waiting on results from pending cultures.....so we spent the day at the zoo and that was fun. Ethan's cultures were negative, so no infection....yeah, just a fever probably from a virus! Well, as luck would be, Ethan had his oncology check-up on Tuesday and they drew follow up cultures......just in case. Wed came and I thought all was well until we got a call asking if we were on our way. So we ended up in the hospital with Ethan from Wed - Sat evening. It was a crazy few days and a lot has happened since. Ethan got his broviac out since it was his 3rd line infection and they came in and surprised us Thursday saying surgery to remove the line would be on Friday.....then 10 minutes later they were asking when he last ate......surgery had been moved up for later in the afternoon on Thursday! Oh how life changes in a moments notice! Friday I had a stamp camp scheduled with 20 ladies and had just found out about 4 others coming on Tues evening so I needed to cut supplies for 100 more cards! So I cut paper Wed and Thursday before surgery, sent what I had back with my Mom with plans to drive home (2 1/2 hours) to do stamp camp and come back later in the evening. I ended up coming back Sat morning with my daughter too!

My card is for Stamp Club that I have this evening. I put a little sparkle on the hippos back with Dazzling diamonds and used the new Scallop punch from SU. The stamp set is Pun Fun from SU! Oh is this set cutes! It's a very simple and fast card to make. I think I will bring my cuttelbug along tonight in case anyone wants to do some embossing.....I was running super short on time so I needed to get it finished, cut and ready to go. The pink is the newPpink Pirouette and Mellow Moss from SU!

Crazy, crazy life, but Ethan finally got discharged on Sat. He had an IV in his foot since surgery because they couldn't find a vein in his hand. So he had to ride around in a wagon for 3 days until they finally removed his iv before leaving the hospital. Getting oral antibiotic for the bug he had was a whole other story......we did finally get his meds and decided to celebrate his broviac removal with a trip to the zoo and then on Sunday we went to the Butterfly house. Our trips get planned on a moments notice, but that's life! I can't tell you how glad we are to be at home. It's been busy, but we would rather be busy here than sitting in a hospital room. Ethan is doing really well and has been in such a good mood! Here's a pic from the Butterfly House.

And.....here are the kiddos at the zoo! They are looking at the elephants. We could go everyday to the zoo and I think the kids would have fun.

A BIG HIGHLIGHT to top my week off.......I won a contest. I got the "I want it all" pacakge from Papertrey Ink! I was so excited to win. It was worth $124.....how cool is that! Time to get the kiddos dressed and ready to go outside to play. Oh how nice it is to be home!!!

Life is Good......well, pretty Good!!!

I should have titled this, Life is forever changing!!! We are sitting as I "type" here in the hospital with Ethan. He has "another" line infection in his broviac so we'll be here for a few days! He doesn' t have a fever and feels great, but his cultures from his check up came back positive yesterday so they called and told us to come in. We live 2 1/2 hours from the hospital in St. Louis so it took me a little while to get everything together, find someone to watch Ava and let it all soak in that Ethan needed to go! I also have a stamp camp scheduled for Friday with 20 gals coming to my house to make cards.....I haven't figured out all the details on that, but I'm sure I will. That's just how it goes I guess!

I thought this scrapbook page would cheer me up. I submitted this for a contest and didn't win so thought I would post. I have several pages to share so since I won't be stamping while I'm here, I'll share some "oldies, but goodies"! I used the cuttlebug folder to make the trunks of the trees, designer series paper from Stampin Up!, and the title is stamped with stamps from Papertrey Ink. This is one of my favorite scrapbooking layouts. The pictures just went perfect with the trees. I'm hoping to work on some sketches while we are here at the hospital. Just say a prayer that Ethan stays fever free and that we get to come home soon!

Butterfly Birthday & SCS Sketch Challenge

Have I mentioned that I love my butterfly punch from Martha Stewart? They are the cutest little butterflies. This card was super easy. I used my new Fresh Cuts stamp from Stampin' Up! and a sentiment from Papertrey Ink! The ribbon and sweet blush paper is from Papertrey Ink too. I used Chocolate chip for the background and accent color and got out my favorite "swiss dots" template for my Cuttlebug.

Here is my card for Splitcoast Stampers Wednesday Sketch Challenge. You can't see it too well, but I used the cuttlebug to emboss the so safron paper with the paisley. I used my wild wasabi designer paper from SU and kraft paper too from Papertrey Ink. The stamp is Circle of Friendship from SU. I used stampin dimensionals on the stars and my sentiment. I'm going to miss this wild wasabi paper....it retires next month. Guess I'll just have to stock up!!!

BELIEVE in Miracles

BELIEVE! I wear a necklace that is a circle inscribed with "BELIEVE IN MIRACLES". I purchased this from Lisa Leonard who makes custom jewelry out of California. This just says it all. Over the past year, (which if you read my blog, you'll already know this), my 3 1/2 year old son was diagnosed with neuroblastoma cancer last July (of 2007). He went through multiple rounds of chemotherapy, surgeries, stem cell pheresis, stem cell transplant, radiation and many, many long stays in the hospital. Our little ETHAN is our MIRACLE and I dedicated this card to him. The card reads: "Miracles happen to those that Believe". We BELIEVE that he is cured forever! He is such a great kid and the picture on the card is from just this week of him wearing his cowboy hat. Ethan's wish from Make-A-Wish is to get a horse. My aunt and uncle from Colorado have the horse and are here this week for my brother's wedding. They brought pictures of Sonador for Ethan to see. Ethan is so proud to show off his horse. We can't wait for his arrival this coming September.

The card layout came from a sketch at Page Plans. I have just discovered their website so I thought I would try their card sketch this week. I think it would make a wonderful scrapbook sketch as well. Thanks for stopping by!