No Laptop

So my laptop has once again decided to bite the dust. With Patrick in Oklahoma that means my only link to the online world is our old desktop that belongs to the kids. Not the fastest running machine in the world and even slower once you add all the games they like to play. It also means that I can't get to my photo software to share any pictures with you. Boo Hoo. So it looks like I'm going to be AWOL for a while. Hopefully I can get my computer fixed quickly and be back posting soon. Things have been pretty uneventful here but if something exciting happens I may just drop by and share.

Till then,
Lara

Rain, rain go away.

Thought I would share a little something for the weekend. The boys and I are in sunny San Diego for the long weekend. We had great plans for swimming, etc but instead we woke up to rain and lots of it. Hopefully it will all blow over by Monday when we have a big pool party planned. In the mean time it's game day at my parents. The boys love board games so they are just fine with that. It also gives me an opportunity to follow the USC game this afternoon. Go Trojans! We are huge USC fans in our house. The boys have already said that's where they want to go to school. If they do they'll be fourth generation Trojans. I'd better start saving now.

Hope everyone has a great long weekend.
Fight On!
Lara

Something older

Just a quick post before my computer decides to shut itself off again. We just got one fixed and now this one seems to be possessed. Just my luck. I wasn't lucky enough to get something made today although I have some great ideas floating in my head. I did want to try and get back to daily posts so I thought I would share a card I made last December. The front of the card has a pocket that holds the sentiment or could also hold a gift card. It was for a pocket swap I did awhile ago. Hope you enjoy.

August Hike

I thought I would share some pictures I took from our hike last weekend. I have started to remember how much I used to love to take pictures. This month took us to Lee Canyon and we hiked the Upper Bristlecone Trail. This is a wonderful hike because it is not to steep at any one time.
Today was Open House for the older boys. It was nice to see our friends again, meet the new teachers and check out the classrooms. I think this will be a fun year.


I loved this tree at the peak of our trail. Peter and I called them "witch trees". There is just something about it that's different.

I'm going to try and be back tomorrow with something creative.
Till then, Lara

Simply so

Where did the summer go? It feels like the kids were just getting out of school and I had a whole summer ahead of me. There were things I was going to get done. I blinked and now here we are again... shopping for school supplies, new shoes, haircuts, the works.

I finally got to be creative recently. My sister called and needed a set of cards (like, yesterday) for someone she works with. This is one of the cards I came up with and I think it is among one of my favorites. It is elegant yet simple which I really like. I hope you do to. I'll be back tomorrow night with some pictures from our latest hike. I never realized how beautiful our mountains in the desert are.
For this card: Garden Silhouettes stamp set; Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Whisper White card stock; Regal Rose and Always Artichoke markers; Rose and Spring Moss ribbon all from Stampin' Up! and of course some Stickles for that little something extra.

Bonus Challenge

Whoo Hoo! I love the bonus challenge. This time is was hosted by the talented, JulieHHR. The show, Friends. The challenge to make a funny "friend" card. I am not funny at all, so at first I thought I might have to skip this one but then an idea. Is it funny?
Dylan decided to make funny people. Again they pulled out the essential ovals, who knew they could be kayaks, skateboards and monsters. He stamped them then drew funny faces and bodies. What a kid.
Can you see the lines between the trees and the bird and butterfly. Jake thought it was funny that his trees, etc were holding hands. Always thinking outside the box that one. I'm going to have to watch out for him.

Patrick's card may not necessarily be funny but I think it cute. Patrick is our Cubmaster so he thought the Hiker needed to take Santa's sleigh for a joy ride. Cool.

Talk to you later,
Lara

VMAA #4

I should have known with a TV theme that Jennie's would be One Tree Hill. The goal... to use just one stamp. You could use it multiple times but only one stamp. I pulled out the scout because I have had Cub Scouts on the brain lately, I've been busy stamping cards for all the kids whose birthday's are this summer. So they get a little something special. This is quick and simple but I like it.
Dylan went with a flower stamp and stamped it over and over in different colors.

Jake, the ever creative one, went back to his go to stamp set, Essential Ovals. But this time he turned it into a skateboard then drew his own ramp. Why can't I think of things like this.
Patrick new exactly what he wanted to do. He stamped his image over and over all the while telling me how he just loves the clear stamps because he can see right through them. Yes, honey!

Enjoy!

VMAA Challenge #3

I just loved Challenge #3 hosted by the wonderful Rhonda. Rhonda is a lady after my own heart. Her challenge was based on her favorite show, LOST, which is also my favorite show. I wait every week to see what new twists are around the corner and at the end of the night am shocked and excited for next time. Summer is hard to be without the drama and suspense. Our cards were to showcase our favorites (ie stamps, colors, notecards, etc.) I just love this Elzy so I had to use her and I have been loving the Purple Kitchen notecards and creative candy. Hope you like.
Jake (top) and Dylan (bottom) decided their favorite thing was to make birthday cards. Hope you like them.

VMAA Challenge #2

Our second challenge of the night was hosted by Geeta (who also hosted our online chat). She chose Gray's Anatomy. The challenge: Make a card that has something to do with love: any kind of love!

By now I had given up on stamping live and played online while getting things for the boys when they needed help and answering their many questions. Next time I want to know something I'm going to have them start stamping first. As soon as they started I don't think they stopped talking till I told them they had to stop stamping at 9:00.

My cards first. I love the coffee set. It was my first ever A Muse stamp and I always seem to come back to it.

Dylan (8) is next. He thinks the hiker and Elzy are in love. I love how he drew a heart in between them.
Jake (6) thought about the love theme for a couple minutes before he decided to make tons of girls ( there are 7 more on the inside and back of the card). He was very adamant though that he didn't love girls but that girls loved love.
Lastly, we come to my husband, Patrick. Since we stamped after the kids went to bed. This was actually the last card he made. He combined sets to make and Mom and her baby.

I never knew I had such a creative family. We'll have to do this again sometime.

I'll post the rest of the challenges later. I've got to run now, Dylan has a scuba class in 20 minutes.

Lara

Patrick's Passport to Europe

So I had the pleasure of stamping with my family tonight for VMAA. Dylan and Jake stamped till 9:00 and then after we got everyone to sleep Patrick and I sat down and did our cards. I know what you are thinking, "Your husband stamps?". Not usually but tonight he saw how much fun the boys were having and wanted to join in. He said it's just like when you were in elementary school except he's better at coloring now.

Challenge #1 - Passport to Europe

Well we may be behind but it's kinda fun stamping with all my boys. This is the card I made for Michelle's challenge. I loved the colors and was drawn to the window. The boys on the other hand were drawn to the "kayak".
Jake immediately looked at all my stamps and wanted to make Kayaks out of the essential oval set. I would have never thought of that. He has a starting line and a finish line for his race.
Dylan has a lot more going on in his. He also has the kayaks in water and a house for his window as well as a table on the patio with lemonade and the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Hope you enjoy.

They are hard at work on the next challenge.

My stamping family

These are my boys stamping for tonight VMAA goodness. Hope you enjoy. If you're interested the younger ones are 8, 6 and 2. I'll be posting all the cards in a minute.

Gift Bags

I want to share with you today a cute and simple gift bag and card I made using 12x12 sheets of patterned paper. For the bag I used a single sheet of 12x12 paper. I gave it some added height by adding a border at the top using coordinating card stock and scalloped scissors. I also covered both sides of the bag.

I made a matching card using another sheet of the patterned paper. I used the same card stock as on the bag. For the sentiment I cut out a single "dot", stamped my sentiment inside and layered it twice. I also added a twinkle sticker to the i to give it a little added something. It was simple to make but everyone was impressed.
Hope you enjoy!

Hiking at Cathedral Rock

Last Sunday we went on our monthly hike with our Cub Scout pack. It was nice and cool at Mt. Charleston, a welcome change from the heat of the valley. I turned up having some great pictures I thought I would share with you. I hope you enjoy them.

The picture to the left was taken about half way up the mountain looking to Cathedral Rock. I can't believe we made it all the way to the top of that.

The second picture was taking at a natural spring we came across near the final leg up to the top.

Next is the view looking to the west towards Mary Jane Falls (another great hike) from the top.

Lastly is looking south at Mt. Charleston and the surrounding mountains.

What a month

Things have been kinda stressful here at home so I haven't been inspired to be creative lately. Peter is missing his brothers, Jake is having a tough time being gone and Dylan is trying to hold everything together. Add in another round of lawyers and that is my life right now. So I am going to try to post some cards you haven't seen before in hopes of getting back in the groove of things and over the hump.

For this card: Paper is Rose Red, Regal Rose and Whisper White by Stampin' Up!. Ink is Memento Tuxedo Black and Versamark. Ribbon by Stampin' Up!. Copics, Spica Glitter Pen, Creative Candy from A Muse. Marvy punch and SU punches. Main image popped up on dimensionals.

Hope you enjoy.

Bug me anytime

Just a quick card to share. I feel bad that the poor blog has been neglected lately. Patrick and I are still sharing the computer which just doesn't leave me much time. I now realize I do most of my blog reading and creating in the mornings and don't have access to a computer then. We finally sent his computer off to Utah to be fixed and hopefully will have it back in about two weeks. I am counting down the days till it's all mine again.

This card was for a Food and Drink themed swap by Jennie. I stamped the watermelon on Whisper White cardstock and colored with my copics. The rind is actually created by one green copic marker. I kept layering the color on certain parts to give it a deeper color. I love that they can do that which tearing the paper. I doodled the ground to give it something extra. And you can't be a "lady" bug with some sparkle so I used my spica glitter pen on the bugs lashes, antennae, and spots as well as the watermelon seeds. It's shimmers in real life.

For this card: Ladybug Picnic, Green Galore, Real Red and Whisper White cardstock, DP paper all from Stampin' Up!, Ribbon from A Muse, Copic markers

Kid's Challenge

I just love that the challenge over on the A-muse-a-poolza blog this week is to make a card with you kids. My boys were so excited when I told them about it because they love to make cards and are always asking me if they can. I let them pick the stamps they wanted to use and let them loose with the colored pencils. I really like what they came up with.

This first one was designed by my oldest who is 8.

This next card was designed by my 6 year old. He loves the scouting stamps I picked up last month and is so excited to be starting Cub Scouts this year. I think it's cute that he paired them with the Eiffel Tower and had to draw in a mountain for the hiker.
This last one is by my youngest son who is 2. He wanted to be just like his brothers but can't quite grasp the concept of how the colored pencils work yet.

Hope you enjoy.

Tomorrow's the day

The boys come home again tomorrow. Yea!!! This week has been kinda boring so far. I haven't had a chance to sit down and do anything crafty even though I have cards that need to get out. Once the boys are back in the state I think my concentration level will get back to normal.

Hopefully I'll have something new for you soon. In the meantime have you checked out Amuseapalooza. I have been having so much fun.

For this card: Image by A Muse, paper by Stampin' Up!, Copics (of course), random ribbon from Michaels.

A belated Birthday

Well this week was a bounty of celebrations. Monday was my good friend, Jennie's birthday and then to cap it off on Friday we all got together for the fourth of July parade our community puts on. It was so much fun.

I thought I would share with you today the birthday "card" I made for Jennie. For those of you that know her, you are well aware of her love of coffee and all things A Muse. But what some of you may not know is that she is also giddy about music. She love to find new songs and shares her love with her friends and family. So I knew right away that I wanted to give her an itunes gift card this year. What better way to wrap it than in a CD case.

I did a lot of paper piecing on this project. I first stamped the girl on some scrap paper, then stamped the banner, her dress and the star on patterned paper and cut them all out. I layered them all on different patterned paper and tore the green paper to look like ground.

On the inside I used the same green as a band to highlight my greeting. I taped the gift card where the CD would normally go. To get the patterned paper behind the inset all you need to do is pop the insert out starting at the outside edges very gently. You can then place you paper behind it or remove it all together.
This is just a quick pick of the outside of the case. After quite a bit of thought I ended up leaving the back unadorned to keep it crisp and simple. I had so much fun making this and Jennie really enjoyed opening it. She is truly my inspiration.

For this project: Celebration Kids clear stamp set from A Muse, Designer Paper from Stampin' Up!, Spica glitter pen, Stickles, Marvy Punch.

Till next time,

Surf's Up!

Well time keeps passing by and here we are again. I love these surfboards from the Do the Hula set from Stampin' Up!To give them some dimension I stamped the pink and purple ones on my white strip and trimmed it down on both sides. Then I stamped the turquoise surfboard on scrap paper and cut it out. Once that was done I popped it up on dimensionals. Add some layers and brads and you have a fun summer card.

I made this card for the swap that my friend, Jennie, hosts each month. I love to see all the wonderful design that the ladies come up with. I have been busy coming up with some new cards this week, so be on the look out in the next few days.

For this card: Pixie Pink, Chocolate Chip, Lovely Lilac cardstock; Pixie Pink, Tempting Turquoise, Lovely Lilac ink, Dimensionals, Vintage brads all from Stampin' Up!.

Till next time,

I'm here!

Wow. What a week it's been. Just a quick post to let everyone know that I'm still here. I traveled to San Diego last week to pick up my older boys, spent some time with my family, went to a retirement party at my husband's school and got to go the Paper Tales. It was great meeting Michelle and the store is so cute. It was hard to decide what to get as I could have easily bought out the store. If you are ever in the Southern California you just have to stop by. We traveled home on Sunday and found out that night that I left my computer cord. So I had a computer but no power plus my husbands computer has decided to stop working. My cord finally came, the boys are gone again (boo hoo) and Patrick and I are having to share my computer. Thus me having no time to surf and share. I'm going to try harder to make late night work for me since he gets it days for work. Wish me luck.

More Party Paper

So to continue our topic from yesterday, I thought I would share with you any easy way to make your personal wrapping paper. By using a solid stamp and colored ink you can have your paper done in less than half the time. After I picked my focal stamp I then used the bubbles and fish to fill in and added the red for some pop. Over all the paper took less than 10 minutes and really was a hit. On the card I stamped the bubbles with Versamark and layered the sub on red to give it some dimension. I'll have one more set of paper on Friday and hopefully some cards before that.

For this project: Tempting Turquoise , Real Red, Whisper White card stock, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, YoYo Yellow, Brilliant Blue Ink, Versamark, By Sea and Eat Cake stamp sets all from Stampin' Up!

Until then,