Debi's Crazy Life;

Today instead of stamping I took my kids to the zoo. We have a fabulous zoo here in Syracuse, NY and it is one of my favorite places to go. We have not been since last summer and today was a perfect day to go. The kids favorite things at the zoo are the elephants (of course) and the penguins. We saw Indy the male elephant today. We don't usually get to see him, so that was a treat. It was feeding time for the penguins. They are all hand fed. The kids really enjoyed watching the penguins begging and diving for fish. The bears enclosure is currently being worked on so they were not out but the Tamarin Golden Monkey just had twin babies last week so that was a real treat. We had a wonderful time. Jessika checking out the fish tanks. Manny liked the shark. The penguins...

I am ashamed to admit that I have had this set for at least 10 months and have never used it. I have actually had multiple copies of it and have given them away to my customers. Last month my good friend Lisa mounted this set for me (she is an absolute sweetie and mounts most of my sets for me) and I still had not used it until today. I was moving it to my sell pile, which is huge by the way and getting bigger by the day, and decided that I should at least use it once before I let it go. The colors for the day are Marigold Morning, Cool Caribbean (both also retiring in a few days) and Pretty in Pink. The image is stamped with basic black classic ink on whisper white card stock. I used all three colors and an aquapainter to watercolor the cake. Then used a two way glue pen and dazzling diamond glitter to give it a little sparkle. Layer the main image and the cool caribbean strip with basic black card stock. A very simple and quick card.

My old PC and I were not getting along anymore and I decided that we need to spend some time apart, far far apart. He just wasn't reliable anymore, I need a computer I can count on. He was always crashing, would leave me hanging and then the final straw was that he wouldn't turn on anymore. So I bought a new Mac! Still trying to figure it all out so bear with me. Today's project "a fond farewell" can be found by clicking the link. Sorry but even though I managed to upload the picture on the previous post correctly I can't seem to do it again. Today's challenge was a double challenge. First we are to make a card sized to fit in a business envelope. Secondly we are to use a retiring stamp set. I must say that I had trouble at first with the size of the card but I am not unhappy with the results. Petal Prints and French Script are my favorite retiring sets and the vintage violet and true thyme card stock will be missed as well.

My oldest son graduated from high school yesterday. With highest distinction I might add. We were all soooooo proud of him. He is headed off to Messiah College in the fall. I am still having a hard time figuring out where the years went. I still look at him and see the baby he was superimposed over the man he has become. I know that everything before this moment was leading up to me having to let him go but... it is so hard. Trying not to cry because I know that he is a fine young man, stubborn and hardheaded, but bright with a strong moral base. He will do great! So I guess I have to look at it as one down and four to go!

Sorry I have been neglecting my blog this week. Last day of school today and Matt graduates on Sunday so I have been super busy. The retired accessory list is out (if you didn't get it email me and I will send it out to you) and the new catalogs are on their way! Thought you might enjoy seeing another new set today. This one is called Double Line Doodle. Today's card is 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 square. What I used: Double Line Doodle Real Red, Barely Banana, Creamy Caramel and Whisper White card stock Real Red, Creamy Caramel and Basic Black classic stamp pads red gingham ribbon, sponge, real red, old olive and barely banana stampin' write markers, coluzzle oval cutter and corner rounder.

Super simple card today. I have made cards just like this dozens of times before. Some card stock, a scrap of designer paper, a little something, tie a ribbon and you are done. Ten minutes tops and you have something wonderful. What I used: chocolate chip and river rock card stock brocade designer paper baroque motifs stamp set round fire rhinestone brad chocolate grosgrain ribbon Go ahead give it a try...

More new toys. This is just a quick little card. Wanted to try out some more of the new stuff. This set is called Pick a Petal. Do you like it? What I used: Pick a Petal and Hugs & Wishes stamp sets See You Around jumbo wheel and handle Blue Bayou, Purely Pomegranate and Whisper White card stock Blue Bayou and Purely Pomegranate classic ink pads corner rounder What I did: Stamped the flower petals (purely pomegranate) and center (blue bayou) on white card stock and cut them out. Stamped the greeting on white strip of card stock in blue bayou, then layered it on a piece of purely pomegranate. For the scalloped strip I first wheeled it with the See you Around wheel inked in Blue Bayou (I just ran it across the stamp pad) then created the scallop edge using the corner rounder punch with the guard removed. Then assembled the card.

Have I told you yet how much I love this new stamp set? Okay I guess I have. Well here is another card using the Baroque Motifs set. I also used some of the more of the new colors. What I used: Baroque Motif and Elegant Expressions stamp sets Whisper White, Blue Bayou and Soft Sky card stock Soft Sky Prints designer paper Blue Bayou, Soft Sky and Basic Black classic ink pads Ice square rhinestone brads, wide white organdy ribbon, foam dimensionals What I did: I started with a 3 7/8 x 5 1/8 piece of Soft Sky designer paper. I chose the one that had a kind of brocade design. I inked up the flourish stamp from the Baroque Motifs set with Blue Bayou ink and stamped directly onto the designer paper several time. I then took the smallest flower stamp and stamped that on the background as well. This background is very subtle and does not show very well in the photograph but is beautiful in real life. The designer paper background is then mounted on a piece of Blue Bayou and th

This set is soooo much fun. Do you like the bling? Now I am not much into the girly stuff but I do love these rhinestone brads! Take note of the new colors Purely Pomegranate and River Rock as well as the new Brocade designer paper. 17 more days until the new catalog! What I used: Baroque Motifs Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, River Rock card stock Brocade double sided designer paper Old Olive and Purely Pomegranate classic ink pad Chocolate grosgrain, Fire circle rhinestone brads, foam dimensionals On the home front Matt has left for his summer job as a camp counselor. He is only about 45 minutes away but he will only be home for graduation at the end of the month and his graduation party in July. When camp is over he will have less then a week before he has to leave for college. Thankfully he finally tackled his room and did a lot of his packing all ready. His bedding came the other day. Hard to believe he is all grown up!

Okay, I am soooo in love with this new stamp set. It is called Baroque Motif and will be in the new catalog that is coming out in July. Do you love it too? This card was super simple. No special techniques just straight stamping. Cut out a couple of little thing layer them up and BAM done! What I used: Baroque Motifs stamp set Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery and Cameo Coral classic inks Chocolate Chip and Whisper White card stock celery grosgrain ribbon and stampin' demensionals. The fabulous color combo is courtesy of Emily over on SCS.

The man has arrived. The man in brown that is! And brought me a box of brand new toys. I thought I would share them with you before they become scattered all over my studio. Unfortunately I don't have time today to do anything with my new toys, maybe Monday I can make something wonderful with them. But now I have to go be a grown up. I have an adoption event to speak at, house work that needs to be done, a child with 4 lacrosse games this weekend (in Oswego of all place) and another child that need to be picked up from his summer job 40 miles in the opposite direction (in Moravia).

I am waiting ever so impatiently for the UPS man to arrive and bring me my new toys. One of the perks of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is that we get to pre-order the new catalog stuff before anyone else. I quite literally was up at 2:30am last Friday to place my order. I didn't actually get up specifically to place the order, I need to use the bathroom and since I was up and it was after midnight mountain time, well you get the picture. Fast forward to today. My new colors of card stock, ink pads and rubber stamps are sitting on my UPS man, John's truck. Sometimes he is kind and delivers them early when he is doing the commercial deliveries but evidently not today. Here is the card I made this morning. I don't have time to give you all the detail because I need to go deliver my oldest Matt to his summer job and he just called me to pick him up at school. He just finished his last final exam.

Okay I have to start out today bragging on one of my kids. My second son Daniel the athlete of the family, though it looks like Manny will be following in his big brother's footsteps, loves Lacrosse. His modified lax team did very well this year only losing two games to very tough teams. Summer LAX is now starting which usually involves weekly games and driving to weekend tournaments. We were notified last night that Daniel has made the Upstate Lacrosse League Select team. The 60 best 8th grade players in the league play on these teams and it is quite an honor. We are very proud! Now on to stamping business. This is my project of the day. Today's challeng e involves using chipboard. What is chipboard? Chipboard is a heavy cardboard, like what cereal boxes are made out of but much heavier. Currently this stuff is one of the hottest paper crafting embellishments on the market. It comes in letters and all sorts of shapes and sizes. The chipboard I used is from the On

My club hostess this month has requested that I teach the cracked glass technique, so I have been playing around with it. The supplies were on my counter and being lazy by nature I figured I would use the same stuff for today's sketch challenge . This is not the project that they will be doing but it will have some similarities. what I used: Blossoms Abound stamp set and Weathered background stamp Chocolate Chip, Vintage Violet, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla card stock Creamy Caramel, Vintage Violet, Always Artichoke classic ink pads and a Versamark stamp pad glassy glaze embossing powder, sponge, vintage brads, stamp-a-m-jig how I did it: The first thing I did was ink the weathered background stamp with creamy caramel and stamp the background on the vintage violet background piece. Then with out reinking I stamped the same background on the piece of very vanilla. On the main image the lilacs are stamped in vintage violet and always artichoke. For the more solid of th

My dear friend Amanda tagged me today. So in return I am tagging some of the blogs that I read. So go check them out. Juliana's Taylor's Andria's Wendy's Judy's This is the one word answer tag. Yourself: busy Your Partner: patient Your Hair: messy Your Mother: fussy Your Father: funny Your Favorite Item: paper Your Dream Last Night: forgotten Your Favorite Drink: diet pepsi (two words, I know) Your Dream Car: Mustang Your Dream Home: clean The Room You Are In: studio Your Fear: debt Where You Want to be in Ten Years: sane Who You Hung Out With Last Night: kids You’re Not: boring One of Your Wish List Items: Stamps The Last Thing You Did: lunch You Are Wearing: clothes Your Favorite Weather: fall-like Your Favorite Book: Dragonsong Last Thing You Ate: pretzels Your Life: chaos Your Mood: good Your Best Friend: Trish What Are You Thinking About Right Now: to-do-list Your Car: minivan What Are You Doing At The Moment: multi-tasking Relationship Status: married What

Friday's bonus Limited Supply Challenge over on Splitcoast fit in well with my plans to create more cards using soon to be retired colors and stamps. The challenge was to use a monochromatic color scheme and retiring or retired flower stamp sets. So of course out came the Petal Print stamp set. I love the soft look of the flowers in this set. What I used: Petal Prints, Elegant Inscriptions stamp sets and Linen background stamp Marigold Morning, Pumpkin Pie and Confetti White card stock Marigold Morning and Basic Black classic ink Always Artichoke Marker tangerine grosgrain ribbon sponge, Q-tip How I did it: For the main image I inked the flower stamp with Marigold Morning classic ink. Then I used a q-tip to wipe the ink off of the stem part of the image and inked the stem with a Always Artichoke marker. I stamped the image several times before reinking. Then repeated the process two more times. The Romans 12:12 verse is stamped in Basic Black ink right over the top of the f