so get this....

So, today I went to several yard sales. I'm so into decorating at the moment, that just finding possibilities with other people's 'junk' is so fun to me. So today I'm walking around this fantastic sale, great antiques etc. When I see a ton of scrapbook stuff. I mean a TON. And it was all new. I eventually asked if someone owned a scrapbook store. Any guesses at who the owner of the yard sale....

Jenni Bowlin.


She answered my question, by saying she was a whole seller and showing me her logo. Of course she had no idea that I am a crazy card maker and know all the brands. Here's the conversation:

Jenni: Here's my logo.
Me: (Look at logo, look at Jenni)
Jenni: You might have seen it if you've ever been to a scrapbook store.
Me: Oh no. I know EXACTLY who you are. Ali Edwards was just talking about your paper the other day.

I of course had to call the only person I knew that would be able to appreciate my interesting morning, my friend Kelley. Pretty fun eh?

I did buy several things while I was yard selling today. I purchased two planters, brought them home and immediately spray painted them black. I really like the way they turned out:
Lastly, I haven't been crafting much (well I have it's just massed produced), because I've been finishing these:Do you remember my first mock up here? I made a few changes. I did add some polka dots with versa mark to the background. I also just used the certainly celery to make the bow, rather than both the brown and celery. I think I like it better? What about you?

I'm off to address envelopes!

The Windy City.

Well, yesterday was catch up day at work. I had to work later than I normally do, but it was kind of fun getting back into "normal."

After looking through all of our pictures, we probably took the best pictures the very first day. And we also walked a million miles the first day too. We started off at toast for breakfast (recommended by my friend Mary Anna):
Don't you love that sign? Poor Chase was verbally assaulted by the manager for having a southern accent. I think he was pretty offended, but I think in reality she really liked him. I mean how cute is he? How can you not like him? In her exact words she said, "I didn't notice your accent (speaking to me) but you (to Chase) sound like you should be playing the banjo." I mean a banjo? Listen people, just because you're from Nashville and have an accent doesn't mean you play the banjo or like country music. Just saying.

From toast we took the el to Millennium Park. Can I just say that I love this bean? Why can't we have some cool art like that in Nashville? I heard it quoted while I was there, "Great art can make a city." I truely believe that, and I'm requested some kind of equally cool bean type art here. This is my official request. I'm sure the right people will heed my request.

The pictures look amazing. Do you see our friend Jon waving in the background?
The boys were too cool to do this, so Ashley and I did our own jumping picture.
There wasn't anything going on at the ampitheater, I just thought it looked so cool. I love repeating elements in photography...
After we did the magnificent mile and a lot of shopping... we had.... wait for it... wait for it...Pizza! So good. I loved it. Someone please tell me why they don't make this everywhere. So good. So that was day one... more coming soon.

we're back.

Well, we made it safely back from Chicago today, however our flight back wasn't painless. I had motion sickness the whole time, and to top it off, we were in the air an hour longer than we expected. We did have a fabulous trip. I'll post more about our trip in the coming days, but in the mean time here's one of my favorite pictures:Yes, that's us a Wrigley, and yes we are being rained on. But check out those seats! It was such a fun experience.

Since our flight got in midday I had time to participate in Dawn's color challenge:

My sister graduates from high school next week. My sister is 8 years younger than me, and I can NOT believe she is graduating. I remember explaining to her how old she would be when I would start middle school, and how old she would be when I graduated high school and finally collage. It seems we have passed all of those landmarks that at the time seemed so far way at the time.

Here's the card I came with:

Check out those fabric thickers! I think they are so fun. Of course I had to dye them with my ink pad to get them the right color. I also made the 'A' pink. My sister's name is Alison, so I thought that was a fun touch. I think my sister will love it.

I also have a cute pink butterfly that I just realized I didn't add before I photographed. So please pretend!

Here's what I used:
Stamps: Damask Designs
Ribbon: Ripe Artichoke Ribbon
Accesories: Fabric Thickers, Basic Grey Buttons

off, off and away.

I am leaving tonight for Chicago tonight. So, I will MIA for the next few days. We finally have a packed itenerary! And I couldn't be more excited.

Since I'll be gone I thought I'd leave my fellow bloggers with some reading material. Personally, nothing makes me happier than finding another great blog. So without further ado, let me blog post that I have enjoyed lately:

Bakerella. I'm sure many of you already read her blog, but she is awesome. Love all of her posts. I particularly loved this one. I thought about trying to make them myself, but then I realized I didn't know how to do any of that stuff. Everytime my friend Lindsay and I try to make candy... well it just doesn't turn out well.

Buzzing of a Queen Bee. I just found this blog recently, and well I love it. I especially love these wreathes she's been making. I may not try making cute candies, but I will be trying this.

The Lettered Cottage. This blog has been a long time favorite of mine. I just love Layla, and she's helped me a ton with my own decorating. She seriously has amazing inspirtation ALL THE TIME, but recently I loved this post. I could do that. You could do that. That's why her blog is so amazing. Practical style, practical inspiration. You can't beat it.

In the craft world, we all know about Kwerner, Dawn McVey and Ali Edwards, but there are tons of other great bloggers too.

Lately I've been loving growing a community of bloggers that I visit with via the blog world and share inspiration and encouragement:

Traveling Mama - Her clean style and graphic style is fabulous. Check out this card.

Lynnette at Netters Notable's - We share a love for a 3D textured style (well that's my assesment Lynnette, hope you agree)

Winter Wonderland - Well we both love guys name Chase or Chace in her case! Here is one of my favorite cards from her.

Lawn Fawn Cards - Kelly Marie makes some seriously cute cards! I love this recent one here.

My Front Porch - Kelley is my for real "in real life" friend. I'm the one that got her into stamping and the into Papertreyink, and now she's blogging. I love this card. I'm pretty sure I could hang it in my house and it would look great with my style.

I'm I the only one that feels like they are friends with the writers of their favorite blogs? I hope you had fun visiting some of my favorites, there's plenty more in my google reader. I'll be adding them soon. So if you're a regular commentor on my blog, I'm probably loving your blog too, and I'll be continuing my list soon.

Alright, the next time you'll hear from me, I'll have pictures from Chicago (and stuff from a trip to Archiver's). Until next time...

raspberry suite color challenge

Well, this was so fun to make. I truly started with the birdcage, loved it and went from there. I used Dawn's Raspberry Suite Colors. Aren't they so pretty? Here's what I came up with. I used this set from My Cute Stamps.
Here's everything I used:

Stamps: My Cute Stamps, Ashley's Blossom
Ink: White Craft, Chocolate Chip
Ribbon: Aqua Twill
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Aqua Mist, Berry Sorbet White

In other news, Chase tried to teach me how to play guitar last night. It didn't go so well. He said his middle school students are faster learners than I am. He also said if I want to get serious about this, I need to cut my nails and stop blogging so much. I told him I quit. Ha! So I was officially a guitar student for one night. Ahh... I'm a quitter.

a quick little project.

This weekend I finished up a little project at my mom's house. We updated her cherry china cabinet with some natural sea grass wall covering. It looks great, and I promise I'll pose some pictures once she gets the hardware changed out (hint hint mom).

Well we had some wall paper left over, and I decided to revamp my little black bookshelf downstairs. Here it was from before:Now, let me tell you this bookshelf is CHEAP! I'm pretty sure this is it from Target. Chase and I bought it right after we got married because we had so many books. It was crazy. Since then we have gotten rid of a lot of books (thankfully). Below I've taken everything off, and taken out the back and shelf. That cheap piece of black cardboard made this pretty easy. I just cut the covering to it's size and used double sided tape to attach. Yes, double side tape. I'm too into decorating to do anything permanent. Here it is back together. The texture on this is great. My lighting isn't nearly as good as with my beginning picture, but I promise it looks great. And it looks great with this living room.
Now I'm thinking about adding it to a shelf in my craft room... decisions.

In other news I'm beginning to work on my Raspberry Suite Challenge. I should have that up tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by!

Kwerner Color Inspiration #52

Well, Chase and I are counting down the days until we leave for Chicago. I can't say we have our itinerary totally set, but I'm kind of loving the flexibility. Since we only have 5 days to go, we knew we needed to get our latest project done.

Chase and my dad got working on adding a new light box so we could install our new lights. On a side note, I'm SO glad I married a handy man, and that my father can do just about anything. They are such a blessing.

Here it is just a few weeks ago, after I got done painting it: And here are my dad and Chase adding the last step, new lighting:And here it is....I know I'm biased, but I love it! And now it goes perfectly with our living room that it opens up to. I hated speding money on new lighting, but because it is the first thing you see from the front door (you can see from the front to the back of our house it's very open) it was worth it.
And now for some crafts. I participated in Kwerner's Color Challenge. I didn't have any sand (I actually had to look it up because I thought "Sand?" But I did think these were fun beach colors. So instead of Sand I have Kraft, but I think it works:
Here's what I used:

Stamps: Friend's Til The End, Polka Dot Basic, Damask Designs
Ink: VersaMagic Black, Craft White
Paper: Kraft, Baja, Mustard, White
Ribbon: Organza
Button: PaperTreyInk Aqua

congratulations!

Today's going to be a busy day. We've got cleaning to do, a light fixture to hang (including adding another light box in the ceiling), I'm doing my sister's makeup for prom and then we have a party tonight.

In light of the party tonight I knew I need to whip up a card this morning. Scott, Chase's brother graduated from college this fall while in the military. So tonight we are celebrating his achievement. After seeing Debbie's card for this week's CPS challenge. I knew I wanted to give it a try. Isn't her card amazing?

Here was the sketch:
For some reason I was into super bright colors this morning. I used mostly Cosmo Cricket Paper, except for the yellow piece from Basic Grey Lime Rickey. I used some of my punches to punch circles out of Snorkel Umbrellas from Cosmo Cricket and used my ever growing stash of buttons to finish off the embellishment. The strip in the middle has several folds along the way. It gives it some fun dimension (along with this buttons and thickers).


Here's the details:

Paper: (Snorkel Umbrellas, Snorkel Borders, Girl Friday Sunday) Cosmo Cricket; (Lime Rickey) Basic Grey
Letters: Thickers


Chase and I leave for Chicago on Friday, so if you have any must see places I need to add to my list, let me know!

a new card and a new picture.

Hey bloggers. How are you? I'm about to go get and bed and read my latest book. I just got my next book for book club in the mail, Infidel. So I need to get this one finished. In crafty news, I made this card tonight:I started off thinking I would make some thank you cards that I need. But after pulling out my cosmo cricket Ever After Elements sheet, it threw my plan for a loop. I'm loving the way it turned out. The two little hearts were just cut out of the element page. I just flipped the sheet over, drew my hearts, and cut away.

After laughing at my flowing shirt picture, Chase volunteered to take a new picture for me. Unformatunetly I was in work close. I'm not sure which is better: And these will probably be my last outdoor pictures, but we finally got our furniture in. Isn't it cute? I'm so excited I think I could sit out there all night. Card:
Paper: Ocean Tides, Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket Elements
Ink: Basic Grey, Tea Dye
Ribbon: American Crafts
Pearls: Kaiser

Thanks for stopping by!

baby card mock up and a baby tree

After asking my fellow bloggers for some advice on my baby shower invitations. I had my heart set on combo #3 (see here for reference). When I got home I glued down my basic grey paper, but then something happened and I ended up with this:
Now here is my question... does this look girlie enough? I hope so because I'm kind of digging it. I also think I'm going to replace the white buttons with some Lemon Tart vintage buttons for PaperTreyInk! So excited about this release. I also added some stickles to the dots and led it off the paper. I'll print of the invitation on the Lemon Tart (I will be ordering some on the 15th). I'll probably also add some lage polka dots. What do you think?


In other news, I made (yes made... he's a good sport though) Chase go take a picture with our cute little trees we just planted. I had this great idea of taking a picture with the tree every year. I think it could be an incredible scrapbook page! And isn't my hubby so cute... and confident enough to wear pink... gotta love it.
I almost didn't post my picture because well, that super flowy shirt sure does make me look pregnant. I don't need any of those rumors going around town! So it was just the wind and a very light shirt! :)
So let's pray these trees live so I can one day make that scrapbook page!

landscaping fun and baby shower color combination

As promised I took my camera back outside yesterday to retake the pictures I took yesterday. We finally finished off our flower bed with some gorgeous rock tumblers. If you missed pictures of the "in process" go here. And we are also loving our lights we purchased for out there. It's all ready for some furniture. We are counting down the days until it comes!

While we were in the process of buying rock we went ahead and purchased enough for the front as well. I think it makes it look "finished." My green thumb mother also took me around to all of my flowers to tell me how to make the best of them!
In crafty news, I'm working on some ideas for a baby shower my friend Christie and I are throwing for our mutual friend Shannon. Here's Shannon's description of her baby room:

"The colors are light yellow, sage green and brownish colors - like a natural theme. But I kinda have an animal theme too - just not cartoonish animals...actual photos I took. So modern but sweet, and no cartoons."

So I decide I would play off her colors. I'm actually pretty excited not to be making baby stuff that's not brown and blue or brown and pink. So here's my first set of color ideas:
#1, #2, or #3? I actually think at the moment I'm liking #3. It's certainly not baby, but it does kind of have a modern twist. I'll probably change my thoughts tomorrow. What do you think? I'd love some feedback.

happy mother's day.

I had plans to reveal all of our recent landscaping work today. I even took all of the pictures yesterday, but well, they are not on the card. I was getting a weird message all day yesterday, but I wasn't really worried about it. Apparently I should have been.

My family celebrated Mother's Day yesterday at my house. We had a very nice menu:

BBQ Grilled Chicken
Grilled Corn
Twice Baked Potatoes (my first time to ever make these... a lot of work but worth it)
Salad
Brownies and Ice Cream

It was a fun day cooking with Chase, my brother Daniel (picture above with my mom) and sister Alison. My mom also loved her card. We also gave her some blueberry plants and some things for her dining room she is decorating right now.

Rasberry Suite Color Challenge

Last night I broke out my stuff to participate in Dawn's color challenge. I'm always curious about the process of how people get started on their cards, so I thought I'd share mine for this card. Usually with a color challenge I pull out the cardstock first, and then some accessories that go along as well:


For this challenge I actually had a little inspiration as well. Now this is rare for me, but I just thought the folds on this shirt would be really neat with paper.
So here's what I came up with. For the white paper I had to use the thinnest white paper to make so many folds, and truly they are really are far from perfect folds. I thought that would just add some more interest. I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but I think it's pretty interesting.

Stamps: Inkadinkado letters, Polka Dot Basics
Ink: Hibiscus Burst, Craft White, Black SU writer
Paper: White, Rasberry Fizz, Basic Gray
Ribbon: Hibiscus Burst Ribbon
Circle NestabilitiesIf it stops raining today Chase and I are going to be working in the yard! Oh, and I had to post from Chase's computer today. Mine won't even turn on... I'm thinking that's a bad sign.