Feelin’ Like a Pumpkin Girl!

Happy Wednesday everyone—we are in the middle of the week, pause for a mini celebration ok LOL!  I am celebrating making it thru each day in my house…between being sick, trying to get work done, the terrible weather and teens that are driving me nutters…I celebrate EVERY DARN HOUR I MAKE IT THROUGH LOL!  Alexa ran me through every wringer ever created from the age of 2 when she learned to talk and her first word was “NO” to age 15.  Do not get me wrong, she’s a good girl (and her brother is a good boy)…great grades, good personality and etc BUT it was the attitude, hormones, disrespect and arguing that about drove me bonkers for 13 years ackkk!  But Riley has always been laid back, calm and super-respectful and always careful to not hurt anyone’s feelings.  Well age 14 set in early this year with Riley and I do believe he may be trying to put me in the mental hospital…and soon!  He’s so stubborn-bull-headed-know-it-all-macho-hormonal-bigger’than’u-disrepectful that I may offer him up on Ebay to ANY bidder!  And its harder for me this go around because he was NEVER like this…at least with Alexa not much shocked me, I was already full of teen-bullets so to speak LOL.  But boy-o I wanna kick this boy’s arse right about now…I thought I might be having a heart attack last night and then just calming myself down gave me a migraine.  I’ve turned into a muttering-under-her-breath-cuz-I-may-kill-him kinda mom right now.  It was RAINING out hard and I went out, in the rain, like a CRAZY PERSON to calm down…I may be certifiably nuts by now.  I’m not sure I’m gonna make it thru this freshman year with him.  I said on Facebook last night that they need to create some kinda drug for moms/dads that can get us thru the teen years—I will buy cases of it!  And I’m sure I’m not the only parent that has gone thru this, I know…but its like you get one child out of it and on the good path and the other child goes pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffft down the damn rabbit hole.  NO BREAK or rest for the weary!  I mean I understand why some animals eat their young cuz’ they probably know what’s coming…and they don’t even have TEENS!  Alexa keeps asking me why I can’t remember anything and why I repeat myself and why I always seem 2 steps behind….welllllll..I just laugh and say you know what, just you wait….its called “parenting of teens syndrome”.  It may NOT be written down in medical books but it exists, there are millions that will attest to suffering from it but alas…there is NO treatment for it until they grow out of it.  Meanwhile moms & dads continue to smile, put on a brave face, get up the next day to face the chaotic-uncertainty of that day, soldier on, shoulders growing larger, bullet-proof vest on and YES sometimes we put the salt in the fridge, YES we sometimes forget what you just said 3 x, and YES sometimes we just need the blessed QUIET…just some quiet, peace, a few mins away…to pretend we are on an island where nooooo one can bother us for few hours….ahhhhhhh that is where you shall find me today…while I can!  So yes I am the frustrated mom of a teenage boy…no big news…it won’t change for the moment…so I will carry on as always   Just had to vent a bit…..LOL!

My animal parade for you today…with 7 animals its NEVER a dull day at my house….then again its never dull much ever ahahahaha!!  Yesterday with the storms and rain all 7 animals were in my studio with me sleeping, which was like little animal landmines for me as I worked. That’s Baylee my dog sleepin in the chair in my studio…and my Buddha cat Poncho awaiting his dinner LOL.   And Tucker, the one in the basket is NOT allowed on the counters like his siblings…however he thinks he is KING and makes the rules.  If you haven’t seen the video of him being naughty, its up on SocialCam and on my Facebook wall…he’s a trip that’s all I can say LOL!

    

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Pumpkin Girl!!

Today I’m sharing a fun fall card I made with a new digi image by Chelsea Le Design called “Pumpkin Girl”.  She has a few of these lil’ beauties on her site that you must check out, they are irresistible!!  I just fell in love with her cute lil face and knew she’d be a blast to color up for fall!

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Creative Craft Challenges 2 (anything goes)

Papertake Weekly Challenge (fall colors/theme)

Sweet Stamps Challenge (shades of autumn)

Party Time Tuesdays (pic inspiration)

Digi Makeover Challenge (digi/autumn)

Eureka Stamps (fall colors)

Make It Monday Challenge (anything goes)

I used some beautiful new papers from BoBunny “Apple Cider” that I love, the patterns and colors are so richly fall!  I distressed all the edges with my fave Zutter Distress machine …if you’ve never used it and you love to distress AND are sick of doing it by hand I recommend this machine 110%.  I’ve had it since it came out a few years ago and I use it almost everyday, makes the job so much easier.  I used my Marianne Designs dies for the swirly leaf and feathery leaf accents.  The sentiment is from PTI and I stamped it directly on my patterned paper for a different look.  A few pearls finish it all off.

I colored this cutie up with Copics: YR18,YR15,YR12,YR01 / E35,YR23,Y15,Y11 / E29,E25,E31,E35,E50 / E11,E00,R20 / E09,E15,E11,E02 / G99,YG63,YG03,G20.  I added some Stickles to the grass I drew in, her lil sweater-vest and pumpkin leaves for sparkle.

That’s it for me today…I am off to my son’s football game tonight…here’s hoping for another win for them!  They are undefeated so far

Fallin’ Home!

Happy Saturday my friends!  Hope you have a fun, relaxing weekend ahead of you planned.  Amazingly I have NOTHING planned for this weekend, nowhere to go, no big to-do list…even I’m shocked…see my mouth hangin’ open as I write this?!  THAT NEVER HAPPENS…but glad that it is cuz’ I need to get better before I leave for CT on Friday to teach…they NEED me to have my voice and to be standing upright LOL!  Otherwise they will probably take pics of me and put them on the web saying I was drunk or some nonsense ahahahahahaha!  I do need to run out to JoAnn’s and get a few supplies but other than that I’m good to go for the weekend and I plan on NOT doing much either.  I think some reading is in my future along with just sitting on the patio…while I watch hubby mow the lawn Payback is sweet sometimes…yes indeedy it is!  If you have NO idea what crazy stuffs I’m talkin’ about just scroll down to read last post and you’ll understand!  And while you are there READ the comments left…OMGosh they made me laugh so hard, thank you to all who posted…I LOLed a few times that’s for sure!  I have a funny below for you that will probably make you spit your drink out and laugh like it did me!  I like to post a Friday Funny on Facebook each week that makes me laugh, snort, smile or all 3 heehee!

I mean let’s put it this way….if I WAS an obedient wife (heaven forbid) life would be sooooooo B-O-R-I-N-G…and I’d not be a nice person hahahaha…there were no words that implied “obey” in my marriage vows, I made sure of that

NewsBitz:

-CMC Challenge has a new challenge up “Fall Colors”---you can use any alcohol markers or colored pencils on your images, its open to everyone to join in as well and runs for 2 weeks!  Bugaboo is our fabulous sponsor this time…so hop over & check it out & join in!

-We have also started a new Group at the CMC Classroom for all those that use & love their Cameo Silhouette machines.  Its open to everyone, its still a work in progress but we have some useful links & videos up, you can share tips, your projects and have fun too!

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Fallin’ Home!!

Today I’m sharing a card I made for my sister’s birthday next month (shhhhh don’t tell) and I am way ahead on my birthday cards…whoot LOL!  Her and my mom both love primitive style/antiques and love doing puzzles by Charles Wysocki.  So when Paper Trey Ink (PTI) called “Autumn Hills Stamp Set” came out with this set I knew I had to get it.  My sister loves aqua and soft blues so paired up with some choc brown makes a nice fall card.  And I was asked to be a Guest Designer this week for the challenge at “My Sheri’s Crafts Blog” which I was honored to do.  The challenge is “Family”, so you have to make something for family or a family member!

The papers are a mix from a couple of my pads and I distressed them all with my fave Zutter Distress machine, the branch die is from Memory Box called “Leafy Branch” (luv it for fall and for other things like this card here I did). And he tborder was done with a Jumbo MS border punch.  The image was colored with Copics on cream cardstock for a more vintage look, topped with a bow done with my Bow Easy and a button (cardstock, bow & button from PTI).

Have a great fall weekend everyone!  See you on Monday with a fun 

Magnolia-licious Blog Hop called "2 For 1 Holiday!

Fallin’ A Little!

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Hope your first day of August is going swell!  Hard to believe its August already…sniff sniff, that means summer is soon to come to an end and kids back to school.  Now don’t get me wrong I love my kids but about this time we all start getting a bit edgy…they get attitudes and I get sick of them being in the house ALLLLL the time messin’ with my peace LOL!  Although this summer everyone has been so busy that we’ve really tried to enjoy the down time and times that we have together.  Riley starts regular high school football practice on Monday twice a day so he will be gone quite a bit which is good for him although very hot & humid, sucks for carpool mom KWIM!  His friend Tarq is Muslim so he's celebrating Ramadan right now so he cannot eat or DRINK even during football practice, so I'm praying that he does ok in this crazy heat.  I can't imagine not being able to at least drink during practice...I fell for him!  Then Alexa and I leave next Tuesday for NY to visit my grandma and family and then on Friday I will drive up to Ontario Canada for a few days to teach with all my fabulous, fun Canadian friends.  Then I’m home for a few weeks before I leave again BUT Aug 24th me, my mom and Alexa are down in VA Beach to see Luke Bryan & Jason Aldean again (whoot whoot) and to spend the night so looking forward to that.  I’m guessin that seeing Luke Bryan so many times in 14 mos puts me in a special place right?  Either serious groupie OR stalker LMBO hahahaha

Last night we were at the Washington Nationals baseball game (ugh not a good game but we'll do better tomorrow LOL) with the teens and their friends….seems that NO MATTER what we do there are always a carful of teens along for the ride LOL.  Most times I enjoy it but every now and again I just want some QUIET KWIM..some peace…some ahhhhh zen time.  I really don’t get much of that unless I’m in the shower or driving by myself LOL.  This is why I read late at night, when everyone is asleep and the house is totally quiet…mmmmmm love that, I need that now and again.  I live LOUD and LARGE LOL and so does my family 99% of the time but we all need to recharge now & again that’s for sure.  And this week I’m working HARD on the “All About Hair” online class trying to get manuals and pdfs done and some videos taped so I can edit them when I get home from Canada.  Each class depending on size takes about 50-80 hours of solid work and I tend to be work-obsessive and try to get it down in a block of time so I can move onto something else…so fingers crossed.

Alexa and her good friend Thomas on the metro to DC

Alexa, Tarq, Riley & Thomas at Nationals Park

(see their stair-step heights…Riley is 6’3 and Thomas is 6’5…oy)

NewsBitz:

-New “All About Hair” Class online will debut end of August at the CMC Classroom…pre-register now for special pricing.  All classes are on sale at CMC thru Aug 24th so go stock up!

-I’m teaching the “All About Hair” Class In-Person in Ontario Aug 12th (only 2 spots left) and then again in Connecticut in Sept.  Go to www.cmcroad.com if you’d like to register and come see me…I promise it will be LOTS OF FUN!!

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Fall Splendor!

Today I’m sharing a fallish Magnolia card with you that I’ve done for TWO challenges!  First the August Magnolia-licious Challenge is to create a card showcasing “Autumn Splendor” and using the fabulous NEW “Turning Leaves” Collection at Magnolia-licious.  You can check out the DT projects and how to join in the fun at the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog!  Diana Crick is our August hostess and its also her birthday month….so an early Happy Birthday to her!

The second challenge this was done for was the Shinhan TouchTwin Challenge HERE…it’s a photo inspiration challenge and I used the colors in the photo for my project…a softer version of fall.  You can find all the challenge details at above link…you can use any markers to join in…but best of all you can win 12 TouchTwin markers as well!!  If you want to learn more about the markers join my CMC TouchTwin marker group to find resources, color combos and more!!

I'm entering this into the following challenges as well:

Bearly-Mine Challenges (anything goes)

Crazy Amigo Challenge (punches/dies)

Die Cuttin Divas (anything goes/dies)

The Stamping Boutique Challenge (anything goes)

Twisted Tuesday Challenge (anything goes)

Make it Monday Challenge (anything goes)
Cupcake Crafter Challenge (great outdoors)
Paper Playtime Challenge (anything goes)

This cute stamp from the NEW “Turning Leaves Collection” at Magnolia-licious is called “Tilda with a mouse, Peanut”…I love her blowing hair!  (see the Mini Turning Leaves Collection here).  I used papers by My Minds Eye “Lost & Found” and pulled out the corals, golden yellows and aquas…a fun and softer color combo for fall.  I distressed all my papers with my Zutter Distress Machine and the swirls were made with a Magnolia Doohickey die “Leaf & Swirl”.  I punched some leaves out with my punches, inked them and added them in bunches to the corners.
 

Image was colored with Shinhan TouchTwin markers…see picture above.  I stamped some PTI swirls around her in gold-yellow ink and drew in some fall-grass with my markers to ground her.  I added some fun white polka-dots to her headband and scarf, Stickles to her sweater and headband and Diamond Glaze to her mouse friend.

That’s all for me until Friday when I show you all some fabulous new SCACD Release projects!  Have a goodie!

Nostalgic Much?!!

Hellooooo and a very happy Friday to you all---can I hear a Yeahhhhh for the weekend anyone?  YEAHHHHHH! I’m so excited to have alll my work done so I can enjoy my first full weekend at home in a long time LOL.  The weather is supposed to be sunny, in the 70’s and we are headed to the Pumpkin Patch tomorrow—yeehaw. Gonna do a lil’ pumpkin pickin’, hay ridin’ and apple cider drinkin’ y’all under the shadows of the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains.  We go every year no matter where we have lived and I’m sure hubby and I will go once the kids are in college and then maybe one day with grandkids (shhhh I don’t want grandbabies for a LOOOONGGG time lol).  And I have been on a roll the past few days—the sun and getting some long needed rest has energized me even more (yes hubby is very skeeered).  I groomed my dogs, made and ordered all my Xmas cards and photo books, bought frames and ordered my Maui & beach pics for a wall collage, made homemade dinners, baked, and cleaned my closet out (again).  whoo hooo! I like it! Sunday we are going to prune all our bushes outside and put in new door hardware (do you hear my hubby groaning) but gotta get it all done early cuz Sunday afternoons/nights are reserved for FOOTBALL baby hee hee. Redskins & Ravens have off this week but we watch any game lol so its all good.  Last night hubby and I sat outside on the patio with a fire roaring—that’s one thing I love about fall is fires and punkin’ patches See pic below!  Anywho I hope you have a super fantastic weekend and I will have my video up on YouTube by Sunday for y’all ‘kay!

our outside patio fireplace

NewsBitz:

-I’m coming to San Jose, CA and Waco, TX this fall so sign up if you wanna come to a Copic class with me.  Always fun and I would love to meet you in person—I promise to not wipe you out or fall on you ‘kay? LOL!  www.cmcroad.com

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Nostalgia!!

Are you a nostalgic kinda person?  I know I am—I can smell something and it takes me right down memory lane or if I see a picture then I’m right back there again.  I am obsessed with red barns (yes I have lots of obsessions including forest fairies, skin care, Tim McGraw & Luke Bryan and Cherry Coke to name a few).  My dream house one day will be a low-country farmhouse near the water in SC perhaps with a red barn and stream (yeah I never ask for too much hee hee).  I love red barns, they remind me of my grandparents farm they owned in New York—I loved spending summers there in the country. Bare feet, mudpies, swimming in the streams, smells of the grape vineyards and laundry in the breeze—not too mention ice cream and goodies made by my grandma.  So I wanted to recreate that feeling a bit with this card—equal parts rustic and romantic and nostalgic. 

This is my project for my new “Free For All Friday” Challenge over at StampTV today---hope you will get a chance to join in!  Its all about KRAFT and RED—use kraft cs and the color red in your projects.  I’ve got some inspiration photos as well you can use too if you’d like!

I'm also entering this into these fun challenges:

365 Cards Challenge (rustic-thurs)

Do You Stack Up? (browns)

Moving Along with the Times (autumn leaves)

Paper Play Challenges (autumnal colors)

The Pixie Cottage (Fall fun)

I used two different stamps sets from Gina K on my project. The main image is from “Farm Life” and it has some beautiful images in it, all gorgeous and this is the last one that I hadn’t used.  And of course my barn HAD TO BE RED, duh! LOL!  All my patterned papers are from my scrap pile but the cardstock is Gina’s Pure Luxury Kraft, nice weight to it too.  The vine-like die cut out is new from Memory Box—its actually a wreath but I cut it into sections to wrap the corners of my image with.  The sentiment is from Gina K’s “Dreams” set and I love it---cuz you all know I’m married to James Dean right?  Yep that’s my hubby’s name and his dad was Jimmy Dean, LOL!  ( a movie star & the sausage king)  I distressed the papers with my Zutter Distress It tool and then added a bow with my Bow Easy topped with some Prima flowers and some pearls.



For the barn I wanted a rusty red color---Copic has a range of rustier reds from E07 to E19 but they weren’t exactly what I wanted.  So I colored the barn in R29,R24,R22 & R20 and then went over the R29 with E35 to brown it down a bit.  I also took E31 over the lighter reds too and then topped it with the reds again—kinda like a sandwich.  That’s the beauty of Copics—you can layer colors to create new colors to your liking   I used a mix of colors on the fall trees—E08,YR24,YR20,YG03,E31,YR12 and then added stickles to make them sparkle.  The roof of the barn was done with my W grays and the silo in C grays.

Alrighty I wish you all a fabulous weekend and if you get a chance join in on the challenge with me at StampTV HERE—anyone can play!

The Fall Door!

Happy Wednesday friends—hope the week is being good to ya! Tomorrow is my last day at home before I head to Kansas City to the Scrapbook Page for classes so I got lots to do, hee hee.  Oh you ladies (and gents) in the Kansas City classes, watch out cuz’ it might be CRAZY ROWDY ahem…..I’m just saying LOL.  Well I will keep it contained in class but afterwards whoowheee it might be LOUD & CRAZY!  I’ve got quite a few friends coming and they are “similar” to me so I’m not sure what will happen!  But I’m just warning you—‘kay?!  If you missed the Chat/Party at the CMC Classroom last night then you might be confused LOL but it was fast, chaotic, crazy & FUN!  Just how I love it to be!! (hmmm sounds like my life ‘eh?) LOL!

I’m watching my fave fluff tv show “Housewives of Beverly Hills”—I LOVE it and I about died when Anderson Cooper said he was a fan too (love him, love his new show)!  These women are unbelievable and make me laugh—I could never live like that ugh—no fun me thinks!  And Glee started lasted night too, oh yeah, I love fall tv for sure.  But I don’t have enough hours to watch it all so I’m always behind on my TiVo LOL.  We have taped Ringer, Glee, Anderson (my Oprah replacement), Up All Night, Tanked, Castle, and more ugh. I’m still watching last season’s Chuck and Castle trying to catch up before the new ones start And then add in football (a whoot whoot for the Redskins win this weekend) and my travels and that leaves not much time for me, hee hee!  What shows are you looking forward to this fall?  I also can’t wait for that “ever after” show about Snow White and the fairytale characters by the creators of Lost—looks really good!

NewsBitz:


-SCACD has new embossing folders and Kraftin’ Kimmie stamps in stock—so check them out!
-Come take Copic classes with me—I’d love to meet you & they are always fun, www.cmcroad.com !  I’m all around the US thru mid-November when I then take a break until CHA in January LOL!  Then I speed around again

-Oh I’m gonna get you all addicted to Luke Bryan just like me ok!? I found this link to a video from his concert and I think I might’ve drooled all over myself LOL—I cannot wait to be front & center next month at his concert.  They may have to call security hee hee!  So watch this video—he ROCKS!! (‘scuse me while I wipe my drool off the screen)!

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The Fall Door!!

Today I’m sharing a fall card I made with a fantastic new Lockhart Stamp called “Autumn Gate”.  SCACD has a fabulous selection of Lockharts in stock—they have always been a favorite of mine, I like to color them and they are so elegant.  I use a few of them in all my Copic classes too.

I’m entering this into the following challenges:

I Brake For Stamps Challenge (fall-ing for you)

Anything Goes Challenge (anything goes)

Heart Song Inspirations (orange & buttons)

Make It Monday with Kraft Outlet (use kraft & fall)

My Craft Spot (fall leaves)

Stamp With Fun (anything goes)

I have been on a no-patterned paper kick as of late and I’m not sure why cuz’ you know how I LOVE paper.  Maybe because life has been chaotic & busy lately and I can’t handle anymore busy-ness LOL! And I love kraft cardstock with fall cards—always a bit rustic feeling!  But I used an oldie-but-goodie technique of scoring a basket weave pattern on my cs with my Scor-Pal—easy but effective.  The die I used (love these) is from Cherry Lynn and from my pal Betty’s NC store (hey she ships everywhere—see here).  These dies are FANTASTIC, they cut better than any I’ve used and they have so many delicate and fab designs.  You NEED to check them out, LOL!  I finished it off with pearls and a bow and button!

This image was a ton of fun to color and yeah I used a lot of Copics on it too, LOL.  The image got some goodies on it of course—Stickles on the wreath and lantern glass, Diamond Glaze on the pumpkins & lantern tops & ribbon.  A perfect image for any fall card occasion.  Hope you’ll check the Lockharts out---if you have Crafter’s ADD like me you will like to change it up now & again with different images like this

Ok I’m outta here to work on some projects and stamp out all the images for classes in Kansas City—at least 1500 images that is, yikes! LOL!  Have a good one!

Chummy Chubby Fun!

Hi all and Happy Thursday to ya!  While you are reading this I SHOULD be on my way down to Charlotte, NC which is a 6 hour drive for me.  But soooo looking forward to seeing my friends, doing some shopping and laughing of course.  I’m gonna TRY really hard to be good & on my best behavior BUT you know “stuff happens” LOL!  If anyone is going to the Southern Women’s Craft Show stop by Betty’s Stamping & Scrapbooking store booth at 4 pm today or 2 pm on Friday and say HI to me, ‘kay?  I’ll be there demoing Copics for a bit and chattin’ with everyone.  If not and you see someone either trip or wipeout on the floor with horrendous laughing following—well then you know you’ve probably found me   Yeah I’ll be on facebook the next few days with our hijinks of course!  Then next Friday I leave for Kansas City to teach for a few days—looking forward to it, been a few weeks since I’ve been on a plane and I miss it hee hee!

ITunes News---yep I’m a music and book addict!  If hubby saw those bills each month from Itunes & Amazon he might faint dead away…shhhh don’t tell hee hee!  It’s my “crack” LOL!  Have you gotten Lady Antebellum’s new album yet?  <swooooon> I love, love, love it---my fave two songs that you MUST listen to are “Own the Night” and “As You Turn Away”.  And I love a good rockin’ country artist too and Brantley Gilbert is one of my faves---his new album ROCKS (Kick it in the Sticks has been a fave but “Falling Into You” is sweetly good too).  Another song I cannot get enough of is Little Big Town’s “Kiss Goodbye”—you need to listen to it, reminds of me of old Boston mixed with country, so pretty!  Yeah its not new but I just love it—see video below!

Little Big Town Video:



NewsBitz:

-Wanna see me and take a class, cuz’ I’d love to see youuuuu!  I will be in Ohio, Chicago, San Jose and Waco, TX this fall.  Check them all out at www.cmcroad.com for more info!

-Tomorrow I will have two more projects showcasing the new Gina K releases!  But make sure to check out the DT samples today starting at Gina’s Blog HERE!

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Chubby Chummy Fun!!

Today is a fun challenge for the Copic Creations Challenge Blog!  Our fabulous sponsor is The Stamp Fairy—one of my fave digi stores (sending Gerda big hugz)!  She so generously gave each of the DT an image to use and I chose this cutie-pie “Chubby Scarecrow 1”---too adorable!  The Challenge is to color fur with Copics—one of my fave things to do and there are soooo many different ways to do this but I’m just showing one today!

I'm entering this into some fun challenges:

Digi Stamps 4 Joy (fall colors)

Paper Craft Star (anything goes)

Digital Tuesday Challenge (seasons & digi--my pic is fall)

Happileigh Scrappin Challenge (fall)

Make It Monday (anything goes)

So I used “Chubby Scarecrow 1” which is one of a set of cute fall bears for the fallicious season.  My papers are from Memory Box and I based my bear colors on them—I wanted to make him a chubby black bear.  I distressed all the edges with my Zutter Distress Tool and added some black pearls as well.  The sentiment and circle stamp are by PTI and then I used my SB’s “Pinking Circles” to mat them.  The cobweb border punch is by MS.  The sketch I found at Skipping Stones Design and was designed by my pal Amy Sheffer, she has fabulous sketches to jumpstart your mojo!

Of course he got colored with Copics—C9,C7,C5,C3,C1 / E57,E37,E31,E50 / YR18,YR15,YR01 / YR24,Y21,YR20,E08.  I left lots of lines in his fur to make him look well….fuzzy LOL.  I also kept lines in his hat so it looked like an old straw hat.  Stickles were added to the leaves, patch and straw for sparkle and Diamond Glaze on his nose & foot pad.

Now make sure to hop over to the Copic Creations Challenge Blog to see the DTs projects and how to play along and win!!  Have a great day everyone!!  See y’all tomorrow!

Sunny Fall Days!!

Happy Tuesday my friends!  It is finally sunny in Virginia after many rainy days here thank goodness.  The rain certainly greened things up which was nice but enough is enough, lets hope we don’t have any more rain for at LEAST a month LOL.  I had a great time in Delaware teaching and visiting with friends, it was fun and I miss my pal Anary already (sniff, sniff).  I hope you all had a good weekend as well.  We pretty much had a football day on Sunday---it was NFL Kick-Off day in the Dean household and it was FANTASTIC!  Yep my Redskins won—yayyyy and the Ravens beat the Steelers—yayyyyy!  And the Cowboys lost---yayyyyyy---it couldn’t be a better football day, LOL! (sorry if you are a fan of the teams that lost, hee hee but I GOTTA go there).  And this was all AFTER I took the family to Tyson’s mall for shopping (oh boy).  Alexa was looking for a homecoming dress and Riley had to get jeans.  The jeans issue was solved pretty quickly, HOWEVER the dress situation was tiresome LOL.  Alexa tried on quite a few but didn’t like ANY OF THEM, OMGoodness!  So we came home empty handed for her but I ordered 4 dresses off line HOPING that one of them she will like (please pray) as I don’t have too many weekend opportunities to take her shopping again.  She is SUPER PICKY—too poufy, too lacey, too showy, yucky color, yucky length---can you feel my PAIN here and yes I was in PAIN for real.  I am battling a terrible kidney infection so I was in HIGH PAIN for real along with the slow pain of teenage girl craziness pain KWIM!!?  But I grinded my teeth thru it all and then got home and crashed in front of the tv, LOL!  Football will always help me---I yell and scream at the tv and shout loudly, its like my version of a punching bag!  Good times

NewsBitz:

-I have new registrations up for my Copic Classes at www.cmcroad.com for San Jose, CA , Chicago, Texas and more!  So if you’d like to take a class with me and I’d love to see you gooooo check it out!!!

-Anyone going to the Southern Women's Craft Show/CHA Supershow in Charlotte, NC this week?  I will be there this Thursday thru Saturday so come see me.  I will be demo-ing Copics in Betty's Stamping & Scrapbooking Room booth (times TBD)!!

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Gina K Sneak Peek & New Release Hop!!

We are very excited to extend an invitation to Gina K. Designs September Release Party. We have a fun evening planned for you - chatting, prizes, challenges, stamp sets reveal, design team shares, and most importantly, at the end of the party you will be able to go shopping!

If you came from Sharon Harnist’s wonderful blog, you're at the right place. If not make sure to head over to StampTV where you will find a list of all those participating in today's hop.

Hope to see you at the party, here are all the details:

• When: Today, Tuesday, September 13
• Where: StampTV Release Party Forum
• Time: 7 PM to 9 PM (CST)

Today kicks off a fun week for the NEW Gina K Release for September—wahhoooo!  And these sets are once again fantastic, filled with creative and beautiful images to mix & match and create 100’s of new projects!  Today we are sharing some sneakie peekies of all the sets so make sure you hop along to see them all.

I got to use this fabulous set illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger called “Holiday Basket”!  I love it because you can fill this BASKET UP with lots of loveliness including these beautiful sunflowers—which scream fall to me!  I stamped 4 of the sunflower images, colored with Copics and then cut them all out and popped them all over with dimensionals.  This way the basket is full of flowers and dimension.  The papers are by Gina K and the border was done with a new Jumbo MS punch.  A fun gingham ribbon double tied with my Bow Easy finishes it off.

The images were colored with Copics—E57,E25,E31,E50 / YR20,YR23,YR24,Y11,Y18 / G99,YG03,G20.  The fun texture on the inside of each sunflower is a product called “Elements Earth Textures” by Barbara Trombley for Art Institute Glitter.  They are all organic and natural and smell so yummy—I love all the variations but for this I mixed two called Cacao and Raisin.  Perfect for any kind of card but particularly holiday cards—I love fall and winter holidays and always associate “good smells” with them!

Hope you enjoyed this sneak peek and hope you can join us at the Release Party tonight as well!

Now you need to hop on over to Tami Mayberry’s beautiful blog!!

See you back here tomorrow for the beginning of our three day Inspiration Blog Hop series for September!

Mum’s the Word!!

Hello and a Happy Thursday to you all!  Wow the week is almost over and then it’s a holiday weekend for those of us here in the US—Labor Day weekend.  That means a 3 day weekend YAY!  I am headed to my parent’s house on Saturday for a picnic and then on Sunday me, Alexa and my mom are going to see BLAKE SHELTON—whooohooooooooo!  I lovvvvvveeeeeeeee HIM --he rocks and he’s hot, but I just like his singing (hee hee).  My top picks for country hotness reside with Tim McGraw (sigh he gets better with age) and Luke Bryan—umm yeah have you see this man---whoooo hoooo I’m sweating already LOL! (see video below so you can sweat too)!  He's singing my summer theme song "Country Girl Shake it For Me!!" --OMGoodness you MUST watch him!!  Nothing better than a guy in jeans, boots and a cowboy hat that’s for sure---well at least in Suzanne’s book that is!!

Video:


Ok now that you’ve properly sweated let’s talk about my BookEndz Book Club!  Tonight we wrap up with a fun PARTY at 8:15 pm EST—we will chat about our first book, have some fun contests with prizes and announce the next book.  It will be FUN, FUN, FUN and everyone is welcome whether you just like to read or read and craft!!  Hope to see you there!

NewsBitz:


-Chicago, Ohio and Delaware registration is ongoing for my CMC Copic Classes—see www.cmcroad.com !  I’d love to see you this fall!!

-Copic Creations Challenge has a new challenge up today as well---go HERE to see the fabulous creations and challenge.  My card will be on my blog on Friday for ya!

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Mum’s The Word!!

Since it’s the first of the month that means another fun Magnolia-licious DT Challenge! And our fabulous hostess this month is none of than the talented Sharon Caudle—she’s challenged us to create either Fall or Back to School projects BUT use the rich colors of fall!  You can see all the challenge details on how to join in and the DT’s wonderful fall projects at the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog.

I’m not a huge fan of fall, but only because it means winter is on its way (boohoo), but I do love the beautiful colors of the leaves, trees and fall harvests!!  I used this older image from Magnolia-licious called “Tilda with Fall Bouquet” from the Halloween/Autumn 2008 Collection.  Diana does not have this in stock but I’m sure if enough of you would love to have it she can order it for you—just shoot her an email.  The sentiment is from the same collection and it is only available in mini-size HERE right now. Diana has the best deals and customer service in the business so I encourage you to email her about these stamps if you LOVE ‘em 

I’m entering this fall creation into the following challenges:

Die-Cuttin’ Divas (fall colors + die cut)

Oldie But a Goodie Challenge (old stamp & bling)

I Did It Creations (nature)

Magnolia Down Under (texture)

One Stitch At A Time (fall)

Paper Sundaes (Magnolia)

These beautiful papers are new by BoBunny called “Forever Fall” and I love, love the colors they’ve included. I love bold colors and the pop of turquoise just popped out to me and I used it a lot to contrast with the warm golds and rusts.  The mats were done with SBs Labels 16 and then I embossed the teal layer, and added Gold Stickles to the orange mat for sparkle.  I wrapped the paper with ribbon from PTI and some bronze Magic Mesh underneath finishes it off.

And yes she is colored with Copics BG49,BG45,BG11,BG10 / E09,E08,E13 / E11,E00,R20 / E29,E25,YR20 / YR23,Y21 / YR18,YR15,YG03.  I added Flower Soft (in orange & yellow colors I custom mixed) to the mums for more fun and pretty texture.  Stickles went on her hat and socks for more bling!

That’s it for me today!  Make sure to stop by the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog for more on this fun challenge!  Hugz to you all!