Bugs & More Bugs

Warning:  This is all personal and very picture intensive.

A couple of weeks ago Liam came down for a visit with my parents over the summer vacation.  I decided to kidnap him on Saturday for a day with me (MWAHAHAHAHA).  I had heard that  they were having a World of Giant Insects at one of the local museums and thought that would be a great idea, right?  hehe

We started the day off with picking lunch up and going to the day for lunch.  It was nice, turned out a little warm and he was already full of quite a bit of energy.  Which was not a problem because we were at a park and he could run around & when we went to the museum next he could take it out there.  However, he comes the fun part.  While we are sitting there eating our lunch, he starting complaining about all the… bugs… OH NO!  The flies and the ants.  I tell him honey we’re eating outside it kinda comes with the territory.  Did he want to go somewhere else?  No we are fine.  Ok, so we manage to finish lunch & I ask him if he wants to go for his surprise now.  He’s excited and off towards to the museum we go… me now a little apprehensive, him super excited.

We get there and the first thing we see is a person dressed up in a termite costume.  I should give you a little back story here.  When Liam was smaller and he saw anyone/anything dressed up he would climb you to get as far away as possible.  Thankfully I learn that day he’s gotten past that fear, he was even a little curious.  As we enter, this was the next thing we see…

That’s right a huge praying mantis, which Liam thought was cool.  As we continue in we go into this room with more giant replicas of bugs like beetles and grasshoppers & he FREAKS out!!  When I say freaks out I mean he starts ripping my arm out of its socket pulling me out of the room saying in a very loud & determined voice “SARA!!! I DO NOT LIKE BUGS!!”  You can imagine my surprise as we had just seen this praying mantis and didn’t have a problem.  I tried reassuring him but he was having none of it.  I told him ok, well let’s check out what else is here.  This is what he found next:

Liam loves getting himself some tattoos.  When she asked where he wanted his, he said on his cheek because the girl that was putting them on had hers on her face.  He got a centipede.  It was so cute. (The funniest part about this was later after we left & got ice cream a lady about freaked out because she thought he had a real bug on his cheek) At least he was calm now.  We continued on a little further and then found,

Now I’m not sure if you can tell what this is so let me tell you.  That ladies and gentlemen are racing cockroaches.  You heard me correctly…COCKROACHES.  HUGE ones.  They had about six of them.  You got to pick which one you wanted to race and if yours won you got a prize.  Nice, right? LOL.  You see Liam standing there, you see how far away from the table he is?  That’s because he didn’t want to race the cockroaches. I asked him later why not, he told me it was because he was afraid they were going to make him touch them.  Can you blame him on that one?  NOPE, not me.  He was upset though that that meant he didn’t get a prize though.  In case you can’t tell how big they are, I’ve given you a little close up of the lovelies.  We left that area right after we found out it included snakes.  He informed me he really didn’t like them, in that case I agree whole heartedly.

Onward we went, and I think this may have been one of Liam’s favorite areas…

He was “digging” up dinosaur ones.  He kept moving to as many areas as he could to find more.  After this we went to the Planetarium show and it was here Liam turns to me & says, “Sara, after this I think I want to go look at those big bugs”. I grinned & asked if he was sure, which he was…so we did.

  And so ends our adventures in Bug Land!!

Going White on White

Heidi I dedicate this to you babe!!

Over at the All Things Unity blog  we have a new challenge up.  We are going all white.  Yesterday I was at a Create~n~Crop crop, my 1st crop in fact, as I was talking to Heidi about it she just couldn’t visualize it.  She held up a piece of paper and said ok I’m done.  I laughed and told her not quite.  I even showed her the inspiration piece.  I guess that’s the difference between scrappers & card makers… LOL.

Onto the inspiration piece.

Now hopefully she’ll get a little more now that she will see my card.

Stamps: Unity Stamp Co – fly free (June KoM), Rockin It Unity Style (March KoM)
Ink: Palette Glue Pad
Paper: All Neenah Cardstock
Extras: Zva Crystal Arrow, Scor-Pal, Embossing Folders – Floral Fantasy, Argyle & Spots/Dots, Kabuka Mold 7 Time Expressions, Art Institute Angel Wings Glitter, Tim Holtz Sizzix Tattered Florals

Twinkle, Twinkle

Welcome to another exciting week of falling down the rabbit hole into a very curious world.  As for this week’s challenge, I personally love it but I’ll let you decide.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!"
You know the song, perhaps?' 
`I've heard something like it,' said Alice. 
`It goes on, you know,' the Hatter continued, `in this way:-- 
"Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea-tray in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle--"'
Here the Dormouse shook itself, and began singing in its sleep `Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle--' and went on so long that they had to pinch it to make it stop."

Hello out there!  It's a beautiful day here in Wonderland and a twinkling one at that!   We are wrapping up one FABULOUS month with a super fun, no-pressure challenge!  We are going to ring out the month of June with a Twinkle!

That's right, just use something Twinkling, Glittery, or Sparkly on your card or creation this week and we'll put on our shades :D

I <3 making thinks sparkle!! twinkle!! and glitter!!  So I broke out my supplies and got to work.

I wonder if you can tell where I put all the sparkly stuff.

Make sure you go back to the Oh! Alice Challenge blog so that you can check see what the rest of the design team did.

Stamps: LAD February Mix – Singing in the Rain
Ink: SU Whisper White, Memento Dandelion
Paper: PTI Kraft, Bazzill Black, Cosmo Cricket Garden Girl
Extras: PTI Saddle Stitch Pure Poppy Ribbon, EK Success Punch, Hero Arts Jewels (along punch), K& Co Colored Jewels (along ferris wheel), yellow stickles (used on the enjoy), Burlap Distress Stickles (used on ribbon slide), Ribbon Slide, Zig Pen

Love Rekindled FFC

Hey my lovelies!!  I hope you are up for a very fun challenge this week.  Our very busy girl Jimmi has been living it up with her hubby Mike so she got an idea.  I’ll quote her as for what our challenge is…

“Mike and I have been without a kid in the house this whole week…living like crazy newlyweds, so I have an interesting challenge for you……..Make a card that you would have given to ME on my wedding day almost 11 years ago.  And I will make one that I would have liked to receive, as well….make it Sassy!”

Now personally I did have a hard time coming up with something so what I did end up doing was making something geared more toward lovebirds.

I hope you play along with us this week.  For more inspiration you can check out the other Sassy Girls.
Christi (busy moving this week)
Jimmi
Kim
Kimme
Sherry

Stamps: Unity – Worn Hearts, Middle School Madness
Ink: Unity Burnt Umber
Paper: All My Mind’s Eye Penny Lane
Extras: Tim Holtz Sizzix Flower Die, Cricut Cartridge Wild Cards, Smooch – Siren, Zig Pen, Black Jewel, Hole Punch
 

Coming Up Daisies

You would think roses right?  But nope daisies.  It’s time for another Oh, Alice! Challenge.  Are you ready to go down the hole?

CHAPTER 18: Crazy for Daisy Chains...

lice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, and where is the use of a book, thought Alice, without pictures or conversations? So she was considering in her own mind, (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid,) whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain was worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when a white rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her. "

Hello everyone!

We have lots of fun to share today here at Oh, Alice!   We have a fun new sketch with a twist from our very own Tasha.   Here's the sketch:

The Twist?  Use a DAISY or some sort of similar flower and incorporate it on your card!  Nothin' like a little FLOWER POWER to kick start your mojo, Alice always says!

What's more?  We have a WONDERFUL Sponsor today, Tickled Pink Stamps!  One lucky winner from this week's entries will receive a special prize.

Want to play along and get Crazy for Daisies and get sketchy too?   Hooray!  We'd love to have you!  Just upload your card or creation to our Oh Alice blog and use OAC18 if you're using a public gallery such as SCS.   You have until FRIDAY, JUNE 25th at 8pm CST to enter to WIN!!

I went with using My Favorite Things stamps for two reasons.  1) I missed last week’s challenge & hated that because I love MFT stamps & have lots, lots & lots of them, including this new adorable set. 2) Somehow I didn’t get a chance to get one of Tasha’s wonderful stamps.

You would think that the challenge was to use as much bling as possible not daisies, LOL!!

Stamps: MFT Wonderland Costumes
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Kraft, Neenah White, American Crafts – A La Carte, Yellow Bazzill
Extras: Copics, The Paper Studio – Jewels, Nestabilities, Ric Rack Die Cut from MFT, Smooch – Siren, Gold Sakura Pen

Don’t forget to go check out the Oh, Alice! Challenge blog for more info & more inspiration.

Hey Chick FFC

HEY CHICK!!

or CHICKS!!

I hope you all have a awesome weekend plans… It’s been really hot around here lately.  Like around 100 & that doesn’t even include the heat index… CRAZY, right?  So I’m going to have to find something to stay cool this weekend.

This week our wonderful hostess Jimmi challenged us to make something with doggies, kitties, or a card for a pet owner.  I started thinking there are other types of pets.  Ya know like birds (that & I don’t have any doggie or kittie stamps from Unity).

Would you love some more animal inspiration?  Check out what the other girls made today.

Christi
Jimmi
Kim
Kimme
Sherry

OH!! And have a great weekend!!

Stamps: Sweet ZZZZ’s, Hey Chick
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, DI Pumice Stone
Paper: PTI Soft Stone, HL Kraft, Misc White, Webster’s Pages DP
Extras: Prismas, Crystal Stickers Pearls, Nestabilities

Summerfest

A couple of weeks ago my sister invited me to go along with them to Virginia-Highland Summerfest.  I figured why not… there would music, food, and… AND ART!!

I had so much fun with all the eye candy.  I met some incredible people.

There was so much to do.  There was just so much and yet it was so hot!!  Trying to stay cool was hard.  I could go on but I will refrain.  Just enjoy the eye candy for yourself.

I will come back later to talk about 2 very nice artists that I met.

Dreams

We have a new challenge up at All Things Unity.  It’s to do a scrapbooking page.  I have to tell you scrapbook pages aren’t easy for me to do anymore.  Although when I first got into papercrafting it was through scrapbooking.  Funny right?

Plus I never used stamping when I did, however the very last 3 layouts that I have done I have been incorporating stamping.  I really think I like how it adds such a more personal touch to what you do.

I really must tell you I love this new image by Unity & Donna Downey.  For the first thing one of the main reasons I love to do this is in the coloring.  As funny as it sounds I love watching as the image “comes to life”.  So with this one it was especially cool.  I give you a little close up of the details.

I hope you take a few minutes to go check out the All Things Unity blog to see what the rest of the team has done.

Stamps: “She”
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Creative Imaginations Paper, Neenah White CS
Extras: Copics, Prima Mulberry flowers & jewels, Plaid Pearls & Lace Ribbon, American Crafts Thickers

Graduation Day at the FFC

It’s that time of the year!!  It’s graduation time!!  YEAH!!  Sometimes I wish I was just graduating from High School again, but if I was I wish I knew what I know now.  Isn’t that always how it is?

Us girls over at the Friday Fun Challenge are helping celebrate with our fellow sassy girls’ and their kiddies (although they are probably not so much that anymore).  Jimmi challenged us this week to make a graduation card.  I have to say I went super easy but I have a reason.  My air is not working properly & it was over 90 degrees when I was making the 2 cards I made tonight.  Can you say sweat box?  I went with as quick & as simple as I can do.

Now to go check out the other girlie girls…

Christi
Jimmi 
Kim
Kimme
Sherry

Paper: American Krafts – A La Carte, PTI Kraft
Extras: Prima Center, MFT Ric Rac Ribbon Die, EK Success Swiss Cheese Punch, Cricut Wild Cards Cartridge

La’ Chaim

This post will be a little personal.

La’Chaim – To life.

This is going to be a little bit about my heritage.  And a little about history.  Back during World War II, there was a period of time called the holocaust. I’m not going to go into a spouting about what that was about.  I just know that if I had lived during that time as the person that I am today I would have been affected in two ways.  1)  I, ethnically speaking, am Jewish  2)  I am a Jehovah’s Witness

During the holocaust, it is widely known that Jews were affected and greatly persecuted.  They were forced to wear yellow stars of David to identify them from  others in the concentration camps.  However there were other groups that were treated the same way.  They were just identified with different patches of cloth.  With Jehovah’s Witnesses it was swatches of purple cloth in the form of triangles.

It is a sad reflection of our history as humans and what we are capable of.  However that is not the point of this post.

Not that long ago I got a pendant from Amate Studios, it was a triangle.  As soon as I saw it I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.  It was just a matter of figuring out the execution.  I sat down the other night and let the muse/mojo take over.

I mixed some Ice Resin with Pearl Ex and away I poured.  But as it cured/set I wasn’t happy with it being so plain.  What could I do?  Then I got an idea.  I grabbed my Kabuka Mold from Ten Seconds studio and found the word I wanted to use & that most importantly that would fit.  However if I just pressed it against the mold itself it would be reversed, what was I going to do?  I grabbed some scrap metal & put it on top and ran over it with my stylus.  Pressed it into the hardening resin and let it finish setting.  Once it was finished setting I pulled it off and this is what I had.  I did rub most Rub On Metallic from Craf-T.  So even if you can’t tell there’s a word on there it was a great looking texture to it.

I was very pleasantly surprised.

I hope I haven’t completely bored you with a little look into me & my history.

Found My Muchness?

I have an announcement to make.  You may have a slight idea by the title of my post.  I was invited to join the OH Alice Challenge blog!! I’m so excited not only because it will be so fun and OMG the challenges are so interesting and to say the least curious.  But the team is AH-MAZ-ZING!!!  Yep required to Zs.  I hope you will get the chance to join us every week.  For me this first week already was a doozy.

CHAPTER 16: What's YOUR Muchness?

The Mad Hatter said to Alice:

"You used to be much muchier before! Yes, you were much more Alice the last time we met. You've lost your muchness..."

Alice replied:

"My MUCHNESS?"

The Mad Hatter pointed to her heart and repeated "Yes, your muchness..."

So, what's YOUR MUCHNESS? We want to know the HEART of your stamping style. Whether it's your favorite embellishment, "signature style", fave technique...we WANT TO SEE the MUCHNESS!

EEK!! What’s my muchness?  I’m one of those that thinks I don’t really have a style.  I’m always trying to find a way outta of the box so I’m not in one.  I asked my mom tonight when she’s looks at my cards if there’s one thing she saw what it would be.  She said details.  I thought that was interesting because I really don’t see myself as a detail person.  I did however pay more attention to them tonight.  Well this is what I ended up with…

When I do cards one thing I do do (hehe, dodo…sorry).  I check challenges what’s out there to get the juices flowing.  I saw a sketch for WOJ, ok granted I didn’t use their image but it didn’t mean I couldn’t use their sketch.  Then I also saw where Play Date Cafe has a flowery & color challenge.  Off I was to play with my nice little image from Prairie Fairy.

Upload your card or creation to the Oh Alice! Blog by Friday, June 11th at 8pm CST to enter to WIN the prize from Prairie Fairy!

Stamps:  Holding Hands
Paper: PTI Yellow, Webster Pages
Extras: Bloomers – Webster Pages, Zva Crystals, Nestabilities, Copics, Flower Soft Microfine (Sand)

A Rolling Sketch

It’s a new month.  And the beginning of June, which means Summer.  I love the summer!!  I just wish it meant the same thing it did when we were kids.  Ya know… 3 months of vacation!!  Oh well, welcome to adulthood.

Our hostess this month is Jimmi.  Have you seen the sketches she’s been doing lately?  I love them!!  I not only did one here for the Friday Fun Challenge but also over at the All Things Unity blog for Friends With Flair (they are both Jimmi’s sketches and both of them are different).  You have to see what she’s got.  I know stop babbling.

What did I do with it?

To me it reminded me of rolling hills so I ran with it & perched my little Jolinne girlie on them.

Wanna play with us?  Post your project on SCS gallery using keyword FFC85.
Make sure you check the other Friday Fun Sassy Girls blogs for more inspiration.
Christi
Jimmi
Kim
Kimme
Sherry

Stamps: Jolinne – Sitting Pretty
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Black
Paper: PTI Soft Stone, Basic Grey – Kioshi
Extras: Copics, Spicas, Crystal Stickers Pearls, Nestabilities

Whimsically Making It Fit

Sometimes everything falls into place just the way you want it.  Sometimes it doesn’t.

Sometimes things take very little effort and go exactly the way you want.  Other times, not so much.

Then there are times when you start off with the best of intentions but everything falls through.

Sometimes you just have to make things fit around what you have.

That’s kinda what I had to do with this week’s inspiration challenge for Whimsical Wednesday.  Normally I just work from the inspiration piece and I love taking different aspects from it what I can.  However this week, I am kind of bending the inspiration piece to work it toward what I made. And…

I’m also going back on the fact that I said I wasn’t going to be making anymore onesies for a while, but this time I mean it because I don’t have anymore in the house.

As for the inspiration piece itself, I think it is beautiful, in fact we are also using it over at the All Things Unity blog this round.

Now as for making it fit for the challenge.  I used the colors and I used the shape.

 

As for why I made two, well they are for 2 separate teams.  Alabama & Auburn to be specific.  See the friends’ & their baby I made this for are from what we call a  “divided” household.  The husband (the smart one) is for Alabama & the wife is for Auburn.  I couldn’t make one in just one color combo & not the other.

I used my another Cricut cartridge to cut out the monogram J & even the setup for the stitching.  It’s a cutout of Claudine Hellmuth sticky back canvas that I painted with Acrylic paint & then went over with Matte Medium to seal.

This challenge we are issuing is to keep you busy for the WHOLE month of June.  The rest I’m quoting directly from Jess…

“...and just to keep you intrigued?  We have one HECK of a PRIZE!

Today's Challenge is a WONDERFUL inspiration piece that my sweet friend Sara (that’s me) sent to me because she knew I'd love what it said.  It just so happens it makes for an EXCELLENT summer challenge too!  Here's the photo:

Now...here's the deal.   You have ALL MONTH to play along.   There are NO restrictions on number of entries, etc.  You just have to link it up here and we have to be able to see the inspiration piece somewhere on your card or project.

Entries will be accepted until JUNE 30th, 2010 at 8pm CST.

The catch?  Well, ok, it's NOT a catch..it's more like LOOT....TONS OF IT!  CHECK THIS OUT:

ONE lucky winner will receive:

TWO Kraftin' Kimmie stamps of Choice, sponsored by Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!

This HUGE prize from Tamiko's:

1.  Spellbinders Frameabilities Scalloped Edge Frame
2.  1/4" Scorepal tape
3.  Sticky thumb adhesive tape
4.  Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad
5.  Robin's nest tear drops
6.  Robin's nest dew drop
7.  Robin's nest mini dew drops
8.  2-3 bags of Lion coffee (a little something from Hawaii)

A FREE Digital Image sponsored by Daredevil herself, Sara Henton

TWO Rubber Stamps from a newly released  BabyBud Designs (manuf. by C.C. Designs) sponsored by Daredevil Krista!

ONE 4x6 Set of choice from The Greeting Farm

Can you BELIEVE the generosity of these sponsors???   I am SUPER stoked for this and it's nothing we've ever had the privilege to offer our players before.  I cannot WAIT to see who the random winner is!

Here is my card in case you need a little inspiration:

Well, as they say in Hollywood, "that's a wrap" for now...but we will see you in a few weeks and in the mean time, HAPPY STAMPING and good luck to all who participate!”

Now don’t forget to go check out more from the Whimsical Wednesday blog.