Mr. Twigster

I'm sure many of you have seen the new Holiday Mini Catalog that was recently sent out.  If not click on the Mini Catalog photo to the left and you can see it.  I just love this little guy.  And his name, Mr. Twigster, is so cute!  My sister made a card similar to this years ago at a card class and I've always loved the idea.  I used the new 1 3/4" Circle to punch the hole.  Then on the inside I put clear contact paper down, so the sticky part is now on the front of the card through the circle.  Then I sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds glitter on it.  Giving the look of a sparkly snow globe.  So fun!  I tried to scan the entire inside of the card, but it must have been too big or something.  But this is the main part of the inside: 

Justus, Tori and Adri

The kids pictures turned out okay, but I'm afraid we failed on the family pictures.  The photographer only did one pose and it's not a pose that I care for.  Family pictures are so stressful and now we're going to have to try again.  Not sounding too fun for the near future!

Upsy Daisy

If I had to name this card I think I would call it 'Fall Elegance'.  We went up the canyon last night to get family pictures taken and it was SO pretty up there.  The higher up you go into the mountains the prettier the colors get.  It almost made family pictures fun, almost.  I'll try and post a few snapshots later, but I'm sure the real photographers pictures will be much better.

Fall Flair

A little wild?  Oh yeah!  But I decided to share it with you anyway.  I used the 'baby wipe' technique.  You take a baby wipe and saturate it with ink refills.  For this card I did patches of Bravo Burgundy, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and So Saffron ink refills.  I've never tried it on a background stamp before, but it worked just fine.  I folded the baby wipe into fourths before I inked it and then just moved it around on the Canvas background stamp until the whole thing was inked up.  Pushing down in each spot of course.  My hands were a mess!  I should have put a baggie over it or something (I'm too impatient).  I used the solid flower and leaf stamps out of the Fall Flair set and just used the baby wipe as my ink pad.  It's a quick way to add lots of color to your solid images.  I also used the build-a-brad.  Those things are so much fun!

Happy Birthday JUSTUS!

We had a Birthday Party for Justus Sunday night.  Here's a few of the pix:
Tori and Adri helped make the beautiful sign.  Tori had to add spider webs since Justus LOVES spiders.  She also made a spider web in the house for 'decoration'.

We have a TEEN in the house!  Good times!!!

Grandma Sorensen gave Justus a Birthday Coin set and a book of all the things that happened the year he was born.  He loved it!

That's money in his hand.  The only thing he wanted for his birthday.  Imagine that!

  Notice the cash pile that just kept growing.  He was in heaven!

I hope Justus wished for an easy going teenage life!

Grandma Sorensen, Codi and little 'cheeser' Cinch.

Justus is now taller than his Grandma Bonnie!

Justus with his Great Grandma Lorae.

Jake, Tori and Justus enjoying the party.

The kids had a blast playing together outside.  These are just a few of the many cousins!

Adri loves the babes.  Here she is with Grey and Will.

The boys loved our dog Lily!

Upsy Daisy

Yip, I'm definitely loving this set!  I got this layout idea from the Stampin' Success magazine that demonstrators get monthly.  It showed how to use this set all year long just by changing the colors for the different seasons.  I came up with my own color combo above using the Summer Picnic Designer Paper, Bashful Blue card stock, 5/8" Old Olive grosgrain ribbon and an Olive colored felt flower from the Flower Fusion tin.

Wow Flowers

I actually started this card a week or so ago and got stumped.  I got as far as the white embossed flowers on the Chocolate card stock and stopped.  I loved it, but wasn't sure how to finish the card.  Now that it's done though I'm really liking it!  I used the new Riding Hood Red card stock and the Chocolate polk-a-dot paper from the Bella Rose pattern paper.  Awe!  So cute!  The ribbon slides are from the current Hodgepodge Hardware.

Fall Flair

I just love fall colors and the season itself.  It's the best time of year!  I made the scalloped square by using the Scallop Edge punch.  I've been wanting the Scallop Square punch but I don't have it yet.  So this was close enough.  The brown pattern paper is from the Bella Rose pattern paper.  I embossed the outline of the leaf by first stamping in Versamark and then in the Chocolate Chip pad and followed with clear embossing powder and heated it.  'Heated' doesn't sound like a word, but you get the picture.  The green paper is Kiwi Kiss and I used the Old Olive button but sanded it first and then rubbed it in the Kiwi pad, let it dry and sanded it again.

Kite Festival

We went to the Kite Festival on Saturday and had lots of fun.  The octopus and fish kites were being pulled around by 4-wheelers and the multicolored kite was being pulled around the reservoir by a jet sky.  The kids had lots of fun!  Justus slipped and fell in the water and was wet up to his chest.  So of course Adri had to 'slip' and fall in also.  Tori wasn't having any part of that fun.  Adri enjoyed flying her own kite around that she got to make there.  It didn't fly quite as well as the others we saw, but she tried hard.

Upsy Daisy

Oh my goodness!  I think I'm in LOVE!!!  This is my new favorite set for sure.  I just love, love daisy's and this particular set does it for me.  I'm really loving the new Filigree Brads and Riding Hood Red Taffeta ribbon also.  I embossed the daisy's with Winter White embossing powder.  I got this layout idea from page 10 of the catalog.  Another favorite set of mine is the Inspired by Nature set, but I don't have it yet.  Remember that until September 30th you can get Upsy Daisy and 8 other sets at a 15% discount.  Click here for more details:  NEVER BEFORE SEEN STAMPS & SAVINGS

Doodle This

I wish you could see this card in person.  The flower is stamped in Stazon, colored and then the entire piece is covered in Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  To do this you ink up the whole piece of paper with Versamark, then pour on the Heat and Stick powder and heat it.  This makes the paper tacky and you pour on the Dazzling Diamonds and then heat it just a little more to set it in.  I love the look.  The Word Window punch seems to be a favorite of mine to add a greeting to my cards.  The greeting on this card is from the Short and Sweet set.  The ribbon is Very Vanilla Taffeta.  The Taffeta ribbon also seems to be a favorite of mine right now.

Heartfelt Thanks

My scanner doesn't like to scan the whole card so imagine that there is Bashful Blue card stock around the entire card, not just the top.  It looks so much better that way.  This is a fun two step stampin' set.  I stamped the outline of the flower first in Not Quite Navy and then stamped the bold part of the flower in Bashful Blue and the center flower part in Barely Banana.  Of course I also put Dazzling Diamond glitter in the center of each flower, but that can't be seen.  I used the corner rounder to make the scalloped edge because at the time I made this card I didn't have the new cool Scallop Punch.  The new punch is much faster and easier.  The ribbon is Bashful Blue Taffeta.  And the greeting is from Sincere Salutations.

Wonderful You

I copied this card exactly from my Stampin' Success Magazine.  It didn't turn out quite as well though.  The lighter Old Olive part of the card is actually vellum.  I used a brayer to ink it up and then took the leaf stamp (with nothing on it) and stamped off the ink.  I did the same thing with the outline of the leaf.  I'm not sure if I didn't ink up the vellum quite enough or what happened, but my leaves aren't quite as noticeable as the leaves on the card in the magazine.  On the original card the leaves looked almost white.  It's still a pretty card though.  I just LOVE the jumbo wheel that goes with this set.  I used it on the Chocolate Chip part of the card.  The ribbon is the Chocolate Chip Taffeta.