DARE SKETCH CHALLENGE...

Well, it is my turn to host this week's Doubledog Dare Challenge. I decided to create another sketch. I love card sketches! Any and Everyone is welcome to participate, just put DDC as one of your keywords so that we can see your creations. This sketch can be combined with any other challenges... just have fun!

RAK FROM JDMOMMY...

This is the gorgeous card that I recieved from Anne aka jdmommy. She sent this lovely card to me accompanied by some Changito images that I can use in my classroom this year! Thank Anne! I love this technique and the colors are so rich and beautiful!!

LORI'S SAS...

I went to my friend Lori's house last night and made these cards.. It was so fun to sit and stamp with friends. I love the set and can't wait to use them. Thanks for a fun time Lori!

CHANGITO IN MY CLASSROOM..

Well, take a good look now.... This is the top-half of the door to my classroom at school. I used these adorable Changito monkeys. I stamped it, then used an opaque projector to make the image larger. I traced it onto bulletin board paper with pencil, then went over it with a black sharpie. I then used my daughter's crayons to color it. I wrapped my door with yellow bulletin board paper, then cut out the monkey's and put them on the door. I added grass by cutting green construction paper with my scissors and then layered it on the bottom of the door. I used the school's ellison die cut machine to cut out the apple and backed the frame with black construction paper to make it look like a chalkboard. I used chalk to write the Welcome message.

Normally, I would change out the door decoration each month.. and had big plans to update with Changito for each season and theme. However, there is a new Fire Marshall in town.. and while visiting, he informed us we can no longer decorate our doors --poooey!!! We have done this for the past upteen years, but now it is a no, no. So, take a good look now... poor Changito will come down at the end of the month.

...AND GOD CREATED VIRGINIA...

Hi! I just had to share this funny email that a good friend of mine forwarded to me. It made me laugh out loud, so I just had to share it here. Don't take it personally (if you live in DC.. it's just a joke **wink**)... Enjoy a good laugh...

• God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael, the archangel, found him, resting on the seventh day..
  He inquired, "Where have you been?"
  God smiled deeply and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look, Michael. Look what I've made."
  Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, "What is it?"
  "It's a planet," replied God, and I've put life on it.. I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a place to test Balance."
  "Balance?" inquired Michael, "I'm still confused."
  God explained, pointing to different parts of Earth. "For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while southern Europe is going to be poor. Over here I've placed a continent of white people, and over there is a continent of black people. Balance in all things."
  God continued pointing to different countries. "This one will be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice."
  The Archangel , impressed by God's work, then pointed to a land area and said, "What's that one?"
  "That's the Commonwealth of Virginia, the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful mountains, rivers and streams, lakes, forests, hills, and plains. The people from the Commonwealth of Virginia are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent, and humorous, and they are going to travel the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, high achieving, carriers of peace, and producers of good things."
  Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then asked, "But what about balance, God? You said there would be balance..."
  God smiled, "Right next to Virginia is Washington, DC. Wait till you see the idiots I put there."

BIRTHDAY AT DISNEY...

This is for a friend who will be at Disney for her birthday - as well as one of her sons.Happy b-day Naynay.. Have a great trip!

Additional Info
Stamps: unknown - from swap
Paper: gp white, real red, basic black
Ink: unknown
Accessories: SU! markers, sakura glitter pen, ribbon, nestabilities

BIRTHDAY BOT...

This is for Saturday's IC challenge. I browsed the boy section and came upon a robot short john set. Super cute! I needed a boy birthday card for today and viola here is the card.

Thanks for looking!

Additional Info
Stamps: Lots of Bots
Paper: chocolate chip, whisper white, kraft, dsp by basicgrey
Ink: stazon
Accessories: SU! markers, twine, piercer
Techniques: paper piecing

QUILT QUIPS...

I made this for the WT Challenge: Revved Up for Red. This is also for the DDC Challenge this week to use buttons. I love how this turned out.. thanks for looking!

Additional Info
Stamps: Quilt Quips
Paper: chocolate chip, whisper white, kraft, dsp by basic grey
Ink: stazon
Accessories: buttons, ribbon, punches, scor-pal, eyelet, crop-a-dile, hemp twine

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MONKEY...

I made this using today's color challenge combined with the Viva La Verve Friday Sketch. It is for one of my students..

I substitued rich razzleberry for elegant eggplant

Thanks for looking!

Additional Info
Stamps: changito
Paper: whisper white, basic black, rich razzleberry, old olive dsp
Ink: stazon, rich razzleberry, old olive
Accessories: SU! markers, ticket corner punch, brads, ribbon, swiss dots embossing folder

MAY YOUR BOBBIN ALWAYS BE FULL...

i made this for the Technique Lover's Challenge: Make Your Own Stamps using fun foam.. I guess I should just go ahead and admit right here that I skipped the fun foam and just inked up my embossing folder and ran my cs through... I think it creates the same look.. I must also admit that I didnt' read the challenge in its entirety which is the real reason I missed the boat on the fun foam. I just looked at Lynn's gorgeous card and read embossing folders, and filled in the rest myself... lol! Please don't send the challenge po-po to my house - eek!

Thanks for a fun challenge Lynn..

Have a great day!

Additional Info
Stamps: Quilt Quips
Paper: basic brown, whisper white, bermuda bay
Ink: stazon, not quite navy (for embossing)
Accessories: SU! inks, textile embossing folder, button, fiber-ish ribbon, paper piercer
Techniques: embossing, paper piercing

MY BLOCK OF FRIENDS...

I made this for Sunday's Featured Stamper. I decided to case THIS CARD. What a wonderful gallery!!

Additional Info
Stamps: Quilt Quips,
Paper: whisper white, basic black, melon mambo, basic grey dsp
Ink: stazon
Accessories: SU! markers, velvet ribbon, heart charm

FINALLY... A NEW POST..

WOW! Where has the time gone. I am so glad to finally be creating projects to share with you. It has been a whirlwind of activity here. First of all, the excitement of school starting... for the kids and myself. I spent a week getting my preschool room ready, and I will share photos of that later this week. I used the Changito monkeys by Stampendous to decorate my door... so cute! The kids are excited to start back and it is hard to believe that summer has come to an end. Here is a cute and sweet pencil set that I made for my son's preschool teacher.

I cased this idea from jenn1203. I added some score lines with my ScorPal and sponged the edges to give more dimension. This is a pack of mentos wrapped with crushed curry cardstock and a hershey kiss put on the end with a glue dot.
Additional Info
Stamps: none
Paper: crushed curry
Ink: crushed curry
Accessories: sponge, ribbon, hershey kiss, glue dot, mentos

In the midst of all of this excitment, we have experienced tradegy and heartache. We have also witnessed great faith. Heartache came from the passing of my husband's grandmother. Mama-Lee as we affectionately called her, was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetary this past Thursday and while I was not able to attend the burial, it was nice to visit with family from Texas who came up and spent the remainder of the weekend here in Lynchburg. We enjoyed catching up with each other and reminiscing about Mama-Lee.

The tradegy was the terrible news of David Metzler and Heidi Childs, who recently returned to VA Tech and murdered near campus. (An apparent random act) Our nephew, Kyle, was best friend to and neighbor of David, and spoke at David's funeral. (We love you Kyle!) It has been a terrible tradegy and something that will shape the lives of many people here in our area, especially those closest to the families. Although David is now with the Lord, his witness and testimony will continue to impact those who knew him, as well as those who were less familiar, through stories and testimonies. It is amazing to hear those who knew him say "They want to have the faith in and relationship with God that he had." - powerful stuff! He was an incredible, young and vibrant Christian man who will be deeply missed.

My father also lost his best friend Carl (see this post).. who suffered from a heart attack while recovering from hip replacement surgery. Please pray for Carl's wife, Barbie, as well as the families who have lost loved ones within the past couple of weeks. I don't even know how to explain the emotions we have been feeling, to say is has been somber would be an understatement. Needless to say, I haven't have the time or even the inclination to stamp or post. Thanks to my friends who have been stopping by despite the lack of anything 'new' to share. I appeciate your visits and look forward to having some time to come over to your blog and 'catch up'.....

Until we stamp again...