Happy Memorial Day!!

The Nascar race was called off last night due to rain. We live about 15-20 minutes from the big Nascar race track. Its looking gloomy again right now so I hope its not called off again. Plus I want to grill out hamburgers and corn on the cob for dinner tonight!! Priorities, ya know!!!

I made a card using my new Amuse stamps I got. Tell me what you think :).

Stamps:

Snorkel boy (new)- Amuse

Saying (verse-new) - Amuse

Crab (old) - Amuse

Birds- Denami

Sun - Magnolia

Feeling blue?

I made this card for a friend of mine who isn't feeling well. I colored the image while I was sitting in the car pick up at Nicholas' school and I only had blue Copic markers with me so I even colored her hair blue. I think I like it like that. (Can you tell I am practicing my blending lights and darks together?)

Have you discovered Flower Soft yet?

I bought mine online and I can't remember where. Anyway, I got it out today and decided to use it on some flower cards I made. Here's a birthday card for someone having a birthday in July. Hmmm, who could it be??? Its super easy to use. You can watch this you tube video by Suzanne. No heat gun needed. You dab on a little glue, pour it on and let it dry.

Yesterday I took a Copic marker class at Stampers Alley

We learned how to blend with Copic markers, how to use our colorless blender to move the color, how to fix a mistake with the colorless blender by moving the color back into the lines.... It was a great class and Debbie is a great teacher!! When I got home I decided to try it on my own and this is my before and after using the blending technique. I still need to practice ALOT MORE but I do think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

This is what we did. First I colored the dog with my light brown marker. Color the whole dog. Then I took my dark brown marker and colored around the lines. Then I took my light brown marker and tried to pull the dark brown marker colors into the light brown to blend the colors. I did the same with the flowers and the butterfly although the butterfly to me just looks like one deep shade of yellow. When blending you want to get colors that are in the same color family. Like I used E33 Sand and E37 Sepia. The smaller the number, the lighter the color of the marker. Plus, it takes lots and lots of practice!!

Cheerleader made out of punches

I saw this adorable cheerleader made out of punches. Surprisingly I had all but one of the punches so when I was at Michael's today, I had to get the tag punch. I've been wanting one anyway. Emily's school is the Concord Spiders so I added a little spider to the shirt and bows to the hair and shoes. Their colors are black & gold. I really think this is just the cutest!! Rah Rah Rah!!

Punches used: 1 1/2" circle punch, Giga tag punch, Mega scallop round punch, Stampin Up scallop round punch, Stampin Up word window punch, Stampin Up round tab punch .... I cut out the squares with a paper cutter since I do not have a square punch :). Spider is actually image from the internet as I don't have a spider stamp (hmmm, do I need one now?)

A new cheerleader in the house ...

Need I say more???? Cheerleader try-outs were this week at the high school. Emily decided last Sunday that she wanted to try out. She was a gymnast from age 4-12 and surprisingly she hasn't forgotten any of her flips. There must've been 35 or more girls trying out. They had to learn a brand new dance and a brand new cheer. So cheerleaders from last year had to also learn a new routine with all the new cheerleaders. Today was the final try-out and Emily made the team!! Go Spiders!

More exciting news ... All the senior cheerleaders get to cheer in the Macys Day Parade in NY over Thanksgiving weekend. How fun is that?!?!?!

Our garden is all planted

I know I said we WERE NOT planting a garden this year but then the thought of a fresh tomato sandwich hit me. I had to go get some tomato plants!! We only planted 7 tomato plants and 6 cantelopes. I'm also trying herbs this year. Have never done that and I have no idea what I am doing but I am hoping my friends Cindi and Christie can help me out online. LOL

I got this upside down planter for Mother's Day. Herbs are in the top part and tomato plants are hanging UPSIDE DOWN. We will see if it works!!

My flowers are also in full bloom. Aren't they pretty???

I made my friend Christie a spiral card

Check out the tutorial on this spiral card. It was fun and easy to make. Christie shared with us at the Stamp Shack a story about dropping a hotdog on a teenager's head while she and her boyfriend were at a baseball game a few weeks ago. Yes it was embarrassing, but I have to admit I laughed out loud just reading about it. Here is my "funny" card I made for Christie and I hope it made her laugh out loud!!

Yesterday it was 90 degrees,

today it only reached 58 degrees. What a big difference a day makes!! I went over to Ellie's house and we stamped today. Haven't done that in ages. Ellie is now working so we don't get to see each other that much. We had a good time.

Emily has decided to try out for cheerleading. Try-outs are all week from 4-6 pm. Friday she will have to show what she has learned all week, in terms of a dance so we'll see how she does. They put their names on the door if they made it and the coaches run out the other door. I thought that was funny but I'm sure they have parents mad, girls crying ... at least the ones who did not make it. So we should know by Friday. MANDATORY practice starts August 1st and the school year doesn't even start until August 26th. I think the first home football game is August 10th or something like that. Its hard to believe she will be a senior in the fall. We'll be on the home stretch!!

Nicholas has decided to try out for football. Yes, you read that right. He has never played football but he does enjoy watching it on tv. They are having a parent meeting tomorrow night so I will get all the info about that. I think that practice starts in August too sometime.

That's all my news for now. I feel like I haven't written much on my blog lately so I thought I would catch you all up to date :).

A friend of mine has a 4th of July birthday

so I made her this card. I have not stamped a single card since I got back from Indiana. Was I all stamped out from that weekend with the girls? Did I leave my mojo behind? I do like how this card came out :).

Stamp by: Gorguss Girl by Sugar Nellie, Stone Wall by Magnolia, Happy Birthday ticket by Gel-A-Tins

Added star sticker in her hair, the girl is holding flags from my stash and I added 2 punched stars that Jan punched me while in Indiana

Happy Mother's Day to all moms out there!!

My new punch storage system ...

I got this punch storage idea from Stampin'HappyInCT at Splitcoast and I found these "rods" at Ikea. They come in 2 different sizes, 23 1/2" and 31 1/2". Mine are the 31 1/2" size and they are $4.99 each. I bought 4 but so far, I think I only need 2 of them. I have my Stampin Up punches on the top and I have my Martha Stewart punches on the bottom one. I have my heavier Marvy punches in a clear shoe rack on the back of my door and even though its full, at least I have more room for these punches.

Some photos of the birthday boy

May 2nd - Happy 14th Birthday to Nicholas!!

14 years ago, I was giving birth to this huge baby!! I was 10 days EARLY and he weighed 9 lbs, 10 oz. It was that second I knew no more babies for me. LOL I will have to take a few photos later and post them. His birthday wish was for a bean bag chair and some Dr. Pepper. How funny is that?!?! I found him a red bean bag chair but it needs to be bigger so I will take that one back to Target and see if Ikea maybe has bigger bean bags. Ikea opened a few months ago in Charlotte and we have yet to check it out so we will do that this week ...