Bye Bye July, Hello August

I have no stamping/crafting project to share today as I have been on vacation and when I got back last weekend, life have been hectic with work and house work. It's starting to settle down a bit, but still very choatic. This is the last day of July and tomorrow, we are in the month of August. Yesterday, I had some time to look at challenges, so hopefully I can get some stamping done. I haven't been to my craft area for about 3 weeks now. I need to clean up my area and start making some cards to get my mojo on especially after purchasing so much stamps before I went on vacation.
Have a wonderful weekend and hopefully I can get more stamping done in August.

Christmas in July & Miscellaneous Winnings & Giveaways

I am so ELATED and smiling all day after receiving this package. Today I received my big order from All That Scraps in my mailbox. I ordered over $200 worth of rubber stamps and designer paper. Yikes, I did ask hubby and he said ok and I usually don't make such a big order, but All That Scraps were have 25% off last week, so I couldn't resist. I ordered over 16 Magnolia stamps. I haven't order any Magnolia stamps for awhile now, last time I ordered was the club kit (fall kit) which was directly through Magnolia in Sweden. I also purchased 5 Whiff of Joy and 2 TGF (Ebony and Hugh) which looked like Alice and Jasper from Twilight. I went to see Eclipse with my husband (so sweet of him since he has no interest in the movie or book) and it was great. I can't wait till New Dawn comes out. This is one of my BIGGEST purchase ever for rubber stamps. I purchased over 20 rubber stamps. I have to say that right after I got the package, I started to mount them in EZ-mount for the WoJ and cut the rubber from TGF. Good thing the Magnolia's are all trimmed and mounted otherwise, I will be spending hours cutting.

I want to mention that I made Top 3 at Paper Sundaes for last week's challenge (birthday), you can see the badge on the side bar. I just won $20 gift certificate for Stamp and Create Challenge #2. I just found out that I won the Bella send a card at Stamp Something. Please continue to send cards to Bella. You can get Bella's address at Erin's blog and she is giving a grand prize away on July 20th. Stamp Something, Paper Sundaes and Stamp and Create are having new challenges, come join the fun. I am super lucky and happy this week =). YEAH!!! Super great week for me. I don't know if I will have time to play any of the challenges this week before leaving for vacation. I am taking a stamping class this Sunday to celebrate A Muse A Palooza 2010.

Whiff of Joy is having its day 7, stamp per day giveaways. All you have to do is promote this giveaway and enter your name.

Crystal is have Thrusday Trades (Swaps), this week is Martha Stewart lattice, leaf, and hole punches. Crystal is having a blog candy from her last week's trade. If you like to trade with her or enter your name for the blog candy, just click on my side bar to get to her blog.

Crawfish & Super Jumbo Shrimp

No cards today. I am tons to do this week before I leave for vacation next week. For my 4th of July, I went over to a friend's place and did BBQ. We had crawfish & super jumbo shrimp from Fisherman's Cove Seafood @ Kenner, LA. They do overnight delivery. We ususally get our at the airport cargo the same day, they ship in the morning and we get it by late afternoon or evening. There seafoods are super fresh and good. I have eatten crawfish 4 times this year already.

CAS/AMUSE APalooza & A Stamp Per Day Giveaway

Quick card. Lots of things going on this week as I tried to get everything done for my vacation next week. I made this CAS (clean and simple) card with A Muse stamp called Marigold. Totally pretty stamp. A MUSE is also having their annual A*MUSE A*Palooza run from July 10th - 17th. I join in the fun activities every year at their website and at my local stamping store that is participating in this event. This is the time where they are releasing their new fall and winter stamps.

Also, Whiff of Joy is have A Stamp Per Day Giveaway for 7 days this week. Check it out.

That's it for now, got to go to work and chance up on things this weekend.

Bella Tucker - Sending Hugs

Have 4th of July. I can't believe I have been blogging all week (I surprise myself sometimes). Jim and I have no plans for today since we have to go back to work tomorrow, but there will be fireworks at our nearby park (1-2 miles from our house) and we can see it clearly from my backyard. We have been watching the fireworks from my backyard for the last 5 years (since we moved into our house).

Per my blog yesterday, I briefly wrote about Bella's story. I am so sadden to read about her story. Erin, a fellower crafter is having a Bella card blog hop with a grand prize. My side bar has Bella's blog hop. Please flood Bella with tons of cards. The links to Bella's story are in my yesterday's post. Here is my card for Bella. I am sending her lots of hugs and keeping her and her family in my prayers. I used The Greeting Farm stamp and made it sparkly by adding stickles. You can't see the sparkles in this photo, but IRL, it is really sparkly. The sketch is from Sketch Saturday and the color inspiration is red, blue, and white (USA flag) to celebrate Independence Day.

I am so happy I won the top 3 award at Stamptacular Sunday Challenge with this card. I am so happy to be back stamping and crafting and is taking this hobby more seriously, but I am still undecided if I should try out for guest designer teams as it is a big commitment and I don't know if I am free to make weekly projects and if my projects are good enough. I will see after this month as I will be going on vacation from July 14 - July 24. I need a little R&R. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Challenges :

Sketch Saturday: Sketch #110

Stamp Something: Colors of your flag

Raise the Bar: Challenge#25 - colors of your flag

Crazy 4 Challeng: Ribbons

Stampavie & More: Challenge #101 - Sparkling

2 Sisters: Challenge#1 - Anything Goes

Card Deeds:

Stamps: The Greeting Farm, PTI outside sentiment, Hero Arts inside sentiment

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Brillance Coral, Copic Markers

Papers: PTI, Big Memory dp

Embellishments: stars, stickles, ribbon, button, floss thread, pearls (color w/copic to match), nestabilities die

Party Cats

I am thinking of sending this card to my brother for his birthday this month. I just loves cats. On the side bar is a blog hop for Bella, a 8 yr old girl who is very became very sick during Easter and had to lost all four of her limbs. Click on the side bar to get to the blog hop and Stamp Something Challenge is also having a prize if you make a card to send to Bella. This is it for now, I need go to Petco to get cat food and treats for my cats and give litter to the shelter. Have a wonderful weekend.
Challenges:
Stamp with Fun: Challenge 65-Birthday
Paper Sundaes: Challenge 24 - Birthday

Card Deeds:
Stamps: Whipper Snapper, Hero Arts
Ink: Onyx Black, Tombow markers
Paper: GinaK pure luxury white & black, watercolor paper, DCWV dp
Embellishment: Nestabilities tag, twine

Have a Special Day

I am so please with myself that I am making time to be in my crafting room this week. I am starting my weekend early, every Friday is my day off, but that is the day to do doctor appts, run errands, and etc that I am unable to do during Monday - Thursday. There are tons of birthdays (friends and families) coming up. I made this for my nephew who is turning 13 the end of July. Hmm, maybe this this card is too childish for him since he is a teen now and loves video games, computer games, and sports. I have younger nephews, maybe I will give this card to them instead of my 13 yr old nephew.

I was able to play along with a few challenges this week. The sketch is from Sketch Saturday. This stamp is from High Hopes. I have to admit, this is the first card I made with High Hopes. I have always adore their stamps for years ago, but just recently started to purchase them because shipping took forever back then since they decided to just sell to retailers, so I got them from Stamp and Create, they got some really great stamps and embellishments. The paper I used is Basic Grey, Max and Whiskers. I love the masculine colors and I loves animals, so this is a win/win paper for me. I put some crystal lacquer ona few of the water drops. Off course I used my copic markers to color this image. I really need to get more copics for my collection, but I feel like I am neglecting all my other coloring mediums like my coloring pencils and watercoloring.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful 4th of the July. Be safe.

Challenges:

Sketch Saturday: Sketch 109

High Hopes: Challenge 82: Super Star

Paper sundaes: Challenge 24: Happy Birthday

Simon Says: Check it out!

A Spoonfull of Sugar: Challenge 110: Animal Crackers

Stamp with Fun: Challenge 65: Birthdays

Card Deeds:

Stamps: High Hopes, Hero Arts star and sentiment

Papers: PTI, DCWV, Basic Grey Max and Whiskers

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Adirondack Espresso, Copic markers

Embellishments: star punch, star buttons, crystal lacquer, floss threads, inkssential white opaque pen