Sweet Sixteen

It's hard to believe, but my "little" nephew, the boy who made me an aunt for the first time, is turning 16 next week.  I'll be missing out on he festivities since we don't live close so I wanted to make his card extra special.  This young man is by no means "little" anymore either.  In fact, because he's so big I have gotten in the habit of calling him Uncle Luke in front of my kids.  He's almost like a big little brother and not a nephew.  He's over 6' tall but his heart is big too. He's such a sweet, thoughtful young man - always putting others first, and he's quite the athlete.  I spent my late teen years babysitting him and watching him crush a whiffle ball at the age of 4 and now he's a multi-sport athlete.  I know he will go far in life. We love you Luke!  

Here is his card.  The only thing not current is the car - it's from the stamp set Need for Speed and I honestly wish I knew Stampin' Up!'s logic behind retiring it.  It's such a great masculine set.  Will. Not. Sell. It. :) even my mom used her set to make Luke's card and it's a winner too!

Different DSPs, stamps, bunches, dies... Yeah, you should see the aftermath of getting all of it out.  There's lots of texture, color & dimension to this card.  I hope I put enough postage on the envelope!  Hehe :P

I love the new crushed curry ribbon in the Occasions Catalog too! It was a last minute decision to add it and I love it!

The car I shaded with Smoky Slate Blendabilties.  This is a perfect stamp set to use with these markers. 

(Please don't be mad at me for teasing you with a great set you can no longer order.) :(

The 16 is from the Skinny Mini Alphabet - embossed in Crushed Curry embossing powder.  I love embossing on vellum!  Such a neat look I think!  You just have to be conscious of how you adhere it to your card or you will see the tape/glue/dimensional.  I snuck a skinny piece of a dimensional behind the 6.

So there you have it :) I hope you are inspired.  Dust off some of those oldies but goodies every now and then.  There are many great sets, current and retired!

Happy stamping and happy sweet sixteen Luke! We love ya!

- Holly

Sometimes you need to just ask :)

You know there is a verse in the Bible that says "a wise man seeks council" and though I don't think it was in reference to me stamping at 11:30 at night, I was completely stumped last night and reached out to my stamping friends on here on Facebook.  I posted a picture of the card I made with and without the blackberry bliss colored butterfly behind the gold.  I liked them both, but even my mom taught me that sometimes you need to walk away from it for a bit... And in this case, overnight.  When I woke up this morning I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  And even the gold dots I didn't like at first turned out great!

This stamp set is called Butterfly Basics.  You can bundle and save on the framelits if you purchase them together.  I love the saying in this set!

The results were on my side too. 21 said with, 9 without and a few said they liked both. So I may just make another without :)

If you look close, you can see that the pattern on the Moonlight designers series paper (DSP) has a honeycomb print that coordinates perfectly with the stamped honeycomb that I used with So Saffron.

The gold "blobs" I made using the gold glitter.  It's a very inexpensive accessory to purchase and it really goes a long way for the price!

I hope you enjoyed the story behind the card - remember, it never hurts to ask! (Unless, you ask someone to hit you) ;P

Happy stamping and happy Friday!! 

-Holly

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Snowed in!

This morning we woke up to lots and lots of snow! Most of the snow was piled up so high from the drifts, yet there was still patches of grass near the house.  It was so windy last night and we even managed to lose our grill cover (not the first time).  But I was excited to wake up and see the snow.  I think when all was said and done there was about 12-16". 

Before yesterday, it had snowed 3x since Black Friday here in rhode island and then WHAM! Just like that it's winter!

So I thought I'd have fun with breakfast.  These are the snowmen I like to make :) much warmer!

This is something my mom would've done for my siblings and I when we were little.  She always goes that extra step to make you feel special!

I also made a few cards yesterday. I thought I'd do more stamping today since we were snowed in but we rearranged furniture instead. I also planned on making my cards for tomorrow night since it was going to be my first girls night, but I didn't even make the cards and cut the paper.  My little ones (all three) have the flu and pink eye.  Plus here is my front door:

So my class is postponed a week.  Bad timing :(

Here are the cards I made yesterday:

How simple is this card? Hearts punched out of DSP... Easy peasy. 

(Love that DSP! It's called Sweet Dreams and it's current in the new Occassions Catalog)

And last but not least, an oldie but goodie ;) 

I was in such a rush to get these valentines made for the local florist.. Then I remembered no one in their right mind will be going to buy flowers in the middle of a blizzard :) so I cranked out some extras.

Hope I inspired you to start your valentine's day cards a little early.  You don't want to forget :)

Blessings, 

-Holly

Playing catch-up

Seems like the story of my life these days.. Playing catch-up. And rightfully so as a mom of three boys. It's  a constant job picking up toys, washing dishes and folding laundry. Some days you need a break - or maybe 10 days! 

We just got back from spending 10 days at my parents house.  Shawn and I planned our trip around the Minnesota Wild vs. Pittsburgh Penguins game - our date night <3 it was a great time.  I had never been to a hockey game and who knows that last time we had a date. Another thing to catch up on..

Here we are (both smiling) before the game.

I'm a pittsburgh girl at heart, but I will say it was kind of tough to watch.  The Pens won 7-2.  After awhile it was hard wanting to cheer knowing your husbands team was getting their butts kicked!

Plus, MN is my second team and I wanted to see them score more.

Anyway, we had a nice vacation, but now back to reality.  Playing catch up with kids, meals, laundry... Oh yeah, and I get to prep for my FIRST CARD CLASS!! I will be starting a bimonthly card club this Wednesday.  I'm excited!! I've been making samples this week so they'll have some new cards to look at.

Here are some I made at my parents.  This is a new bundle of thinlits and stamps called Crazy About You. I WISH I could afford this bundle.. until then, I'll use mom's ;)

You can use the adhesive sheets to make them easy to apply after cutting, or you can either glue the word or use the SU stapler like I did below.

I had a lot of fun with that set!  Could've played for days as the combinations seem endless :) 

Other set I don't have and took advantage of while at my moms is this cute project life set.  It's called Hello Life.  I love the saying - so true for me! Most days I just need to stamp MORE to make me happy.  More sleep would make me happy too!  hahaha! 

If you haven't noticed by now, my color combos this post are very similar.  I took my own paper and ribbons home because I always feel bad that I use my mom's supplies.  Hope you don't mind ;)

And I hope you enjoyed the cards.  Will "catch up" more tomorrow! I made some more cards this week that I can hardly wait to share <3

-Holly

A head start on valentine's day cards

I'm actually on vacation while I type this, but I wanted to share these cute lumberjack cards I made before I left home.  

I just love this set and the new Adventure Bound paper stack.  The woodsy look is perfect for this set and the pack is a nice variety of "manly" paper. Even my husband said so. =)

Here's one with the stacked wood paper.  I used the wood ring to stamp a background behind the lumberjack.

This background is made with the stamp set. I was in a hurry coloring and went outside the lines so I decided to cut him out instead. 

Another great piece of background paper from the adventure bound paper stack. :)

And these trees are so fun to stamp! Love the look of them :)

Hope you enjoyed these :) I'll post more cards soon. I'm visiting my mom (and upline) so there's stampin' going on for sure! 

Blessings,

-Holly

(Birthday) Card Party!

Okay, not really... But it feels like a party in my craft room today :) (my new craft room btw... Spent all yesterday afternoon moving my stuff from the basement up two floors to the guest room.  Too cold in that basement!).  but today during nap time I was able to play a little bit with some new sets I just ordered - Celebrate Today and Balloon Bash. I will say I started the morning off by finishing my now 2yr old's card.  He turned two today... Wow how fast time goes! 

He's such a fun kiddo - he never stops! He is a thumb sucking, talkative, eat anything in sight, color on your walls kind of kid. If it's silent, something is going on that shouldn't be!  If you've heard of the book called "No David!" you would think they wrote it after after Andrew. :) but we are so grateful for him - he's perfect just the way he is!

Here's the card I made my sweet boy :)

I finally ordered Dear Heart.  This stamp set is a polymer that is all about boys. And since I'm a mom of three, I figured I had better get it before it's too late.  Some polymer sets are only available for 6 months and I think January is the last month for this set. 

We enjoyed pancakes for breakfast at home and lunch at the bakery in town.  Drew even got a cupcake since daddy is working tonight.  We will have cake tomorrow. (Once I frost it!) 

We bought him a shark puppet too. Love his reaction!

So anyway, fun morning for the boys, so that meant I was able to stamp while 2/3 boys napped.  Here are the other two I made.  I love these new framelits for the Celebrate Today balloons! 

I punched some stars out and added some gold sequins for the shaker frame. 

And this one I absolutely love! I wanted to add more color to the stamped image so I originally colored the word celebrate.  Then I decided to try coloring with my blendabilities to make an ombré look.  I. Love. It.... It's going to be for a very special friend :)

I hope these inspired you! Remember Sale-A-Bration is going on now! Every $50 order (before tax and shipping) earns you free products with SU!  

Blessings and happy stamping :)

-Holly

Under Construction

We are fast approaching our middle son Andrew's 2nd birthday.  I cannot believe how fast he has grown up!  Seems like just yesterday we were at the hospital at Nellis AFB in Nevada holding our little guy!  Time sure does fly.  I read something the other day that was bittersweet and a small glimpse of being a mom.  "The days are long and the years are short"… seems the case! I wouldn't change the bickering brothers or the long nights for anything! <3

We will be celebrating with Andrew on Friday (his actual birthday) by doing some breakfast or lunch as family.  My husband will be working so we wont' be doing cake or anything that night.  I'm in the process of planning a construction themed party for Andrew to have at my parents house later in the month.

I feel the pressure too! There's so much pressure to have a "pinterest perfect" party.  I admit, it's intimidating and I love the challenge.  But I also know I'm human with 3 little ones on a somewhat single-income paycheck, so I'm doing most of the decoration/baking on my own.  

When I went to start on these invited last week, I couldn't find the "I Dig You" set.  It's a retired set that I had borrowed from my mom and apparently returned.  Quite disappointing considering my mom lives 9 hours away!  Good thing my friend Megan came to the rescue.  I was also on the hunt for some black and yellow striped washi tape but I discovered that I could just use my typeset DSP and color it in with my Daffodil Delight marker!  Might have taken longer, but I love the outcome!  

The card is a 6x6 sheet of Kraft cardstock and I scored it at 2 5/8" on my envelope punch board.  This was perfect because I was able to make 4 card bases with one sheet.  

I used the Kraft cardstock to make the dirt look stamped with the splatter from the Gorgeous Grunge set.  I also splattered some "mud" on the inside too.  

Did you notice the little mounds of dirt with the construction cone? (Or cozy cone as my oldest son says.)   I used the scraps from the envelope punch board.  :)  Even the "2" on the front was from the other side of the DSP.  Yes, my mother-in-law is right - I save too many scrap pieces!  But hey - it worked! 

I only had to make 8 and I'm ot sure I would've wanted to make any more!  He's so worth the time and work though :)  

Check back later for pictures of the party!

-Holly

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Glancing back and looking forward...

Wow, how fast this past year flew by!  We have been blessed with many new adventures and friendships, memory filled trips and new family members.  2014 was a wonderful year and we are anxious to see what the Lord has in store for us in 2015!

I separated and Shawn retired from the Air Force after each serving 9 years.  We packed up and moved across country from Las Vegas to a small town in Rhode Island.  We visited PA a few times, had grandparents visit, planted a garden and enjoyed the fresh veggies, ventured to Vermont in the fall to take in the foilage and made some new friends through church.  Shawn started work with Midwest ATC and I took on the role as a SAHM.  Different than what I had been used to for 9 years (separating toddlers vs. separating fighter jets) but it has been rewarding!  I also signed up with Stampin' Up! again and opened my own Etsy shop to sell my handmade cards.  Lots to be thankful for...

But of course our biggest blessing has been our family.  This summer we welcomed our handsome little guy Samuel Oliver.  We call him Sam-O and Sammy Jammy.  He's 6 months now and is such a joy - even if he hasn't slept through the night since he learned to roll over to his belly.  My sister had a baby boy 6 weeks after Sam was born.  And I did not get new parents, but they have lost over 70lbs combined which is something to be thankful for!  Family has always been so important to me and I am so grateful to God for the family He has given me.

I wanted to share a picture I made of my boys today. 

I wrote this quote to describe what I would love most for my boys - a bond that lasts a lifetime.  I hope it's true for my boys.  I have no doubt that they will be friends for life <3

I used leftover silver sequins from the holiday catalog, mixed with some black PLxSU sequins and some Bermuda bay sequins from the new sequin trim coming out in a few days!

So much to be thankful for!  Praying your year is truly blessed!

Happy stamping :)

- Holly