peaceful petals-ppa 205...and more

hi tracey, mom and other friends old and new!

i decided pals paper arts sketch challenge #205 would be the inspiration for the wedding card my friend alli wanted me to make for her.  for some odd reason, i struggled with this a little, just wondering what to do with the top and bottom strips...i liked the way it worked (hope alli does, too!)

set:  peaceful petals, one in a million
ink:  crisp cantaloupe, pear pizzaz, stazon black
cardstock:  crisp cantaloupe, very vanilla
embossing folder:  beautiful baroque
die cuts:  spellbinders's nestabilities lacey circles and standard circles
misc:  stampin' up large and small pearls, aqua painters and sponge daubers

*Note:  i am so excited to share...my card featured above was the ppa design team 2's pick of the week!  i am so humbled and honored to be chosen among such incredible talent!  thank you ppa!


believe it or not, i've been quite busy stampin for friends...everyone needs a card this time of year...wedding, graduation, mother's day, father's day, etc.  i am overwhelmed and very grateful for everyone who wants to share my artwork with loved ones!  here are a few things i've been putting together...

some of these are the ideas of others...with a little tweaking.  i'd like to give credit where credit is do, but i do not know who should get the credit.  thank you to all for sharing your talents with the world...it really helps break through the mental non-creative walls that sometimes creep into your mind!

today is my father's birthday...he loves to read his kindle, listen to music, take naps and go out for breakfast!  more than that, he loves my mother more than one can measure and truly believes his family is the most important thing in life.  he is a wonderful man with such a great sense of humor and a tender heart.  he has always been my measuring stick when it came to men in my life...

i have many wonderful memories of time with my father, too many to share, but one stands out that defined my dad's love for me...i was in high school track-i did the hurdles.  my parents didn't come to many meets, with work and all, but unbeknowngst to me, he did come to a regional meet one saturday.  i was on a relay team with the most incredible athletes and we should have gotten first place.  i, however, blew it when i went around one of the hurdles.  we were disqualified because of me.  with my chin on my chest and crocodile tears streaming down the front of my shirt, there wasn't a person in the world who could take away my hurt...until the moment i reached the locker room and heard my dad voice behind me. "hey-you want a lifesaver?" he asked. (if you are really young, you won't understand the line)...it meant the world to me that my dad was there, at that moment on that day.  he made it all ok, without saying another word.  

i love you dad, today and forever, more than you know...

honor your father...

thank you so much for stopping by...i appreciate you!  until next time...

peace be with you

oh please, stampin' up! pick me!

below, dear stampin' up! friends, are my samples for your consideration!

         

                                         

flower fest...mojo monday #340

hi tracey, momma and friends old and new!

i'm on a roll!  i decided to play with mojo monday's sketch #340.  it's such a versatile sketch i'm sure to use again and again.

if you are a die-hard stampin up kinda girl, i apologize for using retired everything...but i love this set and these colors!  the 'cleanliness' of this card is so not me...even john said so.  it's my attempt at thinking outside my sponge-all-over-everything box!

stamp sets:  flower fest, curvy verses

cardstock:  regal rose, white, dsp subtles, sage 

ink: versamark, stazon black

embossing folder: polka dots

misc:  winter white embossing powder, pink silk ribbon

i am eager to hop on my motorcycle on this beautiful day...i hope you are enjoying yours as well!

until i stamp again...

peace be with you

by the seashore-fms #130

hi tracey, momma, and anyone who stopped by to visit!

i have had this wonderful set from stampin up, by the seashore, for such a long time and it was collecting dust!  i was so happy to be able to put it to paper using linda's fun sketch from freshly made sketches #130.

as i mentioned before, the stamp set i used is called by the seashore.  the cardstock i used is vanilla, pool party, marina mist and chocolate chip.  i used pool party, marina mist, chocolate chip and crumb cake inks.  i know it's hard to see, but i stamped doubles of the conch shell and the sand dollar and layered the top pieces using stampin dimensionals.  i sponged the shapes with crumbcake ink and a sponge.  the background paper is vanilla card sponged with pool party, marina mist and crumb cake.  i splashed a bit of water from a paintbrush and dried the paper with my heat gun.  i then ran it through the sellabration's decorative dots embossing folder.  i finished it off with pool party seam binding ribbon and...tadaaa!  i have a feeling it is not clean and simple, but i really like the look.  as my sister said, it's me!

speaking of...it was about a month ago when my sister and dear friend, laura, went down to my woman cave to stamp.  it was the kind of sweatpants-wearing-hair-in-a-headband-no-bra-chocolate-eating-wine-drinking-make-the-card-up-as-you-go-along kind of stamping night.  it was fun.  we got to talking about how much i really wanted to win a challenge.  (i guess i need to play to win...but that's not the point!) all of a sudden, laura put the last little rhinestone on her card, smiled a crazy grin and clapped with glee.  she's not five.  the point is, she felt like a five year old...at christmas!  she was ready to burst-because SHE made such a beautiful card.  she didn't know she could make such a beautiful card.

all of a sudden-GAH!  mental head slap!  that's why i do what i do...it isn't about how many people comment on my work, or not comment.  it's not about whether i win a challenge or not.  it's about helping my friends create little pieces of love they can't wait to send to someone special! that's not to say the day i actually win a challenge i will be sad...nooo, i will be overjoyed.  until then, though, i need to realize my stamping is much more important. i think i AM making the world a happier place, one card at a time!

dr. roopleen, a motivational speaker, said, "listen to that little voice inside you.  sometimes it can whisper meaningful words of wisdom and make more sense than the deafening noise of opinions and judgements outside."  i need to spend more time listening to my little voice.  i love what i do.  i do what i do with great love.  i really want that little voice to calm the deafening noise with a quiet, "shhhh! i'm working here!"

until i write again-
peace be with you

peaceful petals...mojo monday 331

hello tracey, mom and other friends new and old!

the weather here in new jersey has been lovely...if you love cold!  however, in the words of my pop...if you stick around a bit-it will change!

snow days for teachers mean catching up on important things-like report cards and progress reports, laundry and cleaning bathrooms.   for me, however, snow days are a gift and should be enjoyed as such.  they mean time to be still and enjoy the things i love, whether it is reading, baking or catching up on some shows i haven't seen in awhile.  this snow day meant time in my woman cave where i am finally getting the pretty pictures out of my head and onto a card!

this particular card is for the mojo monday sketch #331 julee created.  i loved playing with this one!  i've wanted to make a card using one of the new sets from the spring stampin' up catalog called peaceful petals...a beautiful flower set for when you are in the mood to sit and do some grown-up coloring therapy!  and...i just had to use this color combination as well!

stamp sets:  peaceful petals, en francais
cardstock:  pool party, vanilla and chocolate chip
inks pads:  pool party, chocolate chip, crumb cake, stazon timber brown, wild wasabi and marina mist
extras:  square lattice embossing folder, chocolate brown satin ribbon, subtles candy dots

i used my very favorite aqua painters with reinkers to color in the flowers and petals.  although it is hard to tell, i softened all of the cardstock  by sponging the edges with the same color (except on the vanilla i used crumb cake).  for the sake of my very sparkly mom, i used dazzling diamonds on one of the three i made this go around...  i always say, if you are going to take the time to make a card, you may as well make a few of them!  having said that, you can only imagine how long i sat and colored...three chick flicks worth of time!

recently i attended a district workshop...and like all other workshops, there is always an ice-breaker.  this particular day, after stating our name and position, we had to tell everyone a goal we had for the new year...'balance' was a recurring theme for many teachers in the group.  i think many people all over the globe struggle with this idea...and i have to say, there is no balance to be found on a snow day for me...no balance between work and play, between healthy and junky wonderful food, between time with others and time with myself...oh no...it's all about being downstairs, me and me alone, surrounded by my wonderful stamp sets, inks, papers and other beautiful materials, diet pepsi, my choice of movies and some chocolate!  some may say it might be selfish...i say it's what makes me a better wife, mother, friend and teacher when i return to the reality of life upstairs.


i leave you with this quote:  "we spend our lives asking the question-'what do people want me to do?  who do they want me to be?'  but this is a betrayal of our inner truth.  we should be investing our lives in the pursuit of discovering who we are and what we are meant to do."― Elizbeth Grace Saunders

i loved that you stopped by today!
peace be with you

oh! by the way...thought i'd share this little card i made my momma in honor of her birthday...
thought it was a cute way of sending her a little cash to spend on the things that make her happy!

finally! ...ppa 185

let me start by apologizing...there are a few people who care what i do and have been asking where i am..."walking the dog" is my reply!  at the end of october, we adopted ruby, a beautiful pit bull, from a shelter in ewing, nj.  my life is forever changed by this bundle of personality!

Look out Rudy!  Santa's calling on me, Ruby, next year for sure!

Sooooo, between school, giving ruby the time she needs to adjust to our home, including obedience school (in which we graduated with dignity, not necessarily honors!), thanksgiving, christmas, blah, blah, blah!...i have simply failed as a blogger!  having said that, i am not giving up or giving in!  

the first sketch i decided to play with is found at pal paper players #185.   this versatile sketch by nicole watt can be used with any style.  
                                                                                                                                                                 
       

i used black, crumb cake and cherry cobbler card stock.  the ink i used was versa mark.  i embossed the frame and verse from the chalk talk stamp set with winter white stampin up emboss powder.  i inked the woodgrain embossing folder with brown sugar before i put it through the big shot.  a nice look if i do say so myself!  once again, i feel i had to think outside the butterfly/flower box, however, a true pleasure with this sketch...

...and now~a side note:  i was up quite late last night, trying to post this on the pal paper players blog and what to my wondering eyes should appear...no internet connection!!  GAHHHH!  

as i always say, "it is what it is!"

new year's eve is now upon me.  i'm about to ready myself for dinner, an early one at that, with dear friends...to come home to my son later on so that we may play a board game, eat chips with onion dip, and drink champagne at midnight.  it's a weird holiday for me...i try to be festive, indulge a bit too much and make merry...but as i get older, it becomes a night of true reflection...

my friend, kim, has a tradition each new year's...she sets goals for the year-not resolutions...they are sometimes too easy to ignore.  those promises are for better health, for a deeper spiritual connection, and lastly, for personal growth.  i like this tradition and have adopted it myself...i'd like to get four activity points a day with my weight watcher's active link (staying active is a must for this tired body of mine!); read a daily devotional-daily! (to remind me that God is my guide in my thoughts, words, and deeds); stamp/blog on a regular basis (this will help with staying true to my authentic self!); and lastly, to cook more new recipes for my family (we tend to have more harmonious mealtime's when we are eating new and healthy food!).

i wish any of you who may have stopped by to read this, a very fabulous new year...one filled with an abundance of blessings of peace, joy, good health and love.

peace be with you...

freshly made sketches #105-wish big

hey tracey and mom! (and maybe gigi!)  thanks for stopping by!

i think i mentioned before, by day i am a special education teacher for a group of adorable second graders.  i love this time of year...they are all excited to learn, share, do and explore.  they have funny stories to share...and...i have a collection of rainbow loom rubber band bracelets that would rival the queen's jewels!

...but man oh man...this teaching thing is really getting in the way of my stamping...so i apologize for the delay...and i hope you have not given up on me!  i have 'flagged' about eight challenges i would like to do...and here is the first one!

i needed to make a birthday card for my daughter's friend...who by the way, can't wait to become a stamping fool herself!  i decided to use allison's design from freshly made sketches.  it is a very versatile sketch that could be used for anything.  see how this talented design team used this sketch  here.



















i definitely have favorite colors, and wanted to try something new...so i used my color coach to come up with the pallet for this card.  The colors are espresso, daffodil delight and cherry cobbler.  i used my favorite flowers from the secret garden set...first embossing them with vanilla ink on vanilla paper...then cutting the flowers and leaves with the coordinating framelits.  i used my aqua pen with cherry cobbler ink to color the flowers, however, the color wasn't rich enough for the card. so...i used sponge daubers to enhance the pretty red.  i fussy cut additional flowers to add dimension to the flowers' centers and finished them up with a pearl.  i'm really happy with this one!

balance in life is really difficult sometimes...work, kids, the home, friends and stamping...but i also know it is essential to enjoying life as well.  as the greek poet, euripides, once said, "the best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life; acknowledge the great power around us and in us.  if you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man."

peace be with you