Guess who {hearts} blogging friends?!

I do!!! I {heart} all of the fantastic people I have met through blogging! You put a smile on my face, thank you!

Today, I opened my mailbox to Happy Mail and when I saw the return address from Deb Famularo of sPaRkLiNg sCrApBoOkS, I looked for the fastest way into the envelope!

Deb was the winner of my Blog Anniversary giveaway and had a $25 gift certificate to Papertrey Ink to play with...............which she kindly, and CREATIVELY put to use! Deb is an incredibly talented scrapbooker & altered artist and if you haven't visited her before, I highly recommend a visit to see her talents in action! You may want to spend some extra time scrolling down and checking out some older posts, especially all of her Alice in Wonderland creations.....she must have a fabulous muse whispering in her ear. :>

Now, Deb, in her words, "bleeds red & gold" aka she's a die hard San Francisco 49ers fan. Me? I love me some Hawks, Seattle Seahawks, that is!! And we're division rivals...... Oh yea, did I mention Hubby is also cheering on the 49ers everytime they play??!! And I get ribbing from another one of their fans, thanks to my best friend with season tickets.

SO!! For Deb to bandage herself up so as to ensure none of that red & gold leaks out for a moment and craft me a Seahawks card with her fantastic creative flair............well, there has been some serious smiling going on here today!!!

This fabby card is sitting on my mantle reflecting some serious sparkle from the helmet, sparkle on the wings, those precious sequins on the lace, and the blue glitter. Even my son was mighty impressed and ran up for a closer look....did I mention the kidlets love football season?? That my wee daughter has been asking me when is football going to be on?? Every week since the Superbowl??!! :>

Thank you Deb!! Looking forward to sharing next season with you! Definitely grab yourself some creative inspiration and hop on over to visit Deb, say 'Hello' & maybe even throw in a "Go Seahawks!" from me! :>

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Random tidbit for the day: I get a random little chuckle everytime I spellcheck an email and 'blogspot' comes up as a misspelling. Google owns gmail AND Blogger, so isn't it only logical that they write 'blogspot' into their spell checker?! Just thought I'd share some of the random places my mind goes........:>

A {quick} random share...worth the click!

Costco, Safeway, and laundry took up most of my evening.......well, who am I kidding...........they took up all of my evening!! I had hoped to get a little creative play in, but that just didn't happen tonight.

However, while my son was doing his homework, I got the chance to go on an artistic ride as I blurfed my way through a few blogs. I started by hopping over to my blogging friend Penny and from there, I visited someone on her blogging roll at My Creative Sanity (with a busy day that started with paperwork at 6am and is still going strong coming up on midnight, perhaps the word 'sanity' in her blog title drew me there, ya think? :> lol) where I found a link to a site SO fantastic and SO SMILE worthy, that I just HAD to pass on the share to you all!! :> I highly recommend the click....I most definitely found it worthy! Go check out Color Me Katie and have a laugh, grow a smile, and get inspired! And in case she posts again before you get a chance to head over there, {this} is the post that had me giggling (though I certainly enjoyed myself as I continued to scroll down her site).

I know, I know, I promised this was going to be quick!! But, if you knew me in real life, you would know that I am indeed a chatty one! Every report card I ever had as a child said, "Socializes too much." or simply "Talks too much." But, what's a gal to do?? I've got a lot on my mind and I have yet to find the OFF button. Hubby searches for it regularly, but to no avail....there is no map for the land that hides that button!

Wishing you a terrific Tuesday!!

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Random tidbit for the day: Try a little plop-plop, fizz-fizz (aka Alka-Seltzer) to clean your travel coffee/tea/chai mug or thermos. Drop those tablets into water (in the thermos) and let soak an hour, like I'm going to do since I forgot to wash my pink coffee travel thermos when I got home! (I said "random"!)

Spring Has Sprung!

Daffodils waving 'hello', trees flowering balls of pinks, purples, and whites, tulips smiling, hillsides blanketed in green, vineyards being cleaned up & prepped for the growing season, picnics being packed, daytrips being planned, dreams of veggie garden dance, children running, playing, laughing, and even the adults seem to be nicer! Spring has sprung and other than the fact that I live with a box of tissues glued to my face, I'm oh so enjoying it all. Are you?


A very determined weed in our backyard does have its pretty & entertaining side. My Princess loves to go out back, sing songs, and pick the pretty little blue flowers off of that weed.....and bring me sweet little bouquets! And ya know what............you know its coming............it makes me SMILE!!!!!

Edited to Add:  Thanks to friendly people on flickr, I was informed that this is a Forget Me Not!  We just always assumed it was a weed because it wasn't there when we moved here and we never planted it and it just keeps coming back and back and back.....good thing for a flower picking, bouquet building wee girl/my Princess helping out with its pruning! :>

Butterfly {Dreams}

I flit, I float, I fleetly flee, I fly........oh no....wait...that's Sound of Music...not quite where I was headed here. But, with spring in the air, I have butterflies on the brain. And since there is oh so often a song singing its notes in my head, its not a huge leap....right?

Okay, okay, so I imagine you came here for something other than the inner workings of my brain, yes?! So, I'll spare you the adventure that would require a five point harnass and show you.....a card!

I've had this fantastic butterfly lady stamp in my collection for over fifteen years now and I love her! She's a butterfly who just seems to be made of {dreams}. I stamped & embossed her with fabby pink foil embossing powder, also from my old stash.


Then! I decided to try one of my friend Elise's (Mamacow Creations) coloring techniques.....using Stampin' Up!'s watercolor wonder crayons with an Aqua Painter (taking the aqua painter brush tip to the tip of the crayon and then laying it on the paper) to add some pinks & purples to my fabby butterfly lady. (Okay, I definitely need some practice here, but I had fun trying this for the first time.) After cutting her out, I wanted to pop her up, but not so extreme like with foam, so I cut out three itty bitty strips of white cardstock, adhered them together, and then to the back of her body. See, she has lift! (Those Sound of Music lyrics are floating through my brain again!! :>)

Add some printed vellum with a fun K& Company rubon sentiment, bracketed with some Cosmo Cricket chipboard pieces (that were painted pink and decked out in Tim Holtz's Distress Stickles) and The Butterfly Lady has a safe place to land. (If you are noticing a difference in the colors, the first two shots were in the sun and the last one was shot in the shade.....and then my camera battery said it was tired and wanted a charge.)

The weather here has been like easy summer days this week.......we've been running in the 80's. And with tomorrow being the first official day of spring, it will be nice to have the sun out this weekend.

Does it look like spring where you live? Do you have any spring like activities planned this weekend? We're hoping to get some work done in the backyard, plant the parsley, sage, and chives that came home with my daughter and I this week, and clear out some room for the tomatoes that my kidlets are dying to plant! Happy Friday! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hibiscus Burst - Papertrey Ink
Paper: Vellum - Dollar Tree (I've had it in my stash for over five years now...lol!)
Stamp: Butterfly Lady - Hippo Heart

Ink: Versamark
Watercolor Wonder Crayons: Stampin' Up!
Rub On: K & Company
Chipboard: brackets - Cosmo Cricket
Other: embossing powder - from stash....and it has mysteriously disappeared, if it just as magically reappears, I'll update the info.; Paint - Delta & Making Memories; Worn Lipstick - Distress Stickles by Tim Holtz for Ranger; Bling - Stash (off brand from Walmart)

Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming!

Well, if you live in the U.S., you just might know why I have Dory stuck in my head!! I am knee deep, okay...well, quite literally waist deep (since I'm working while on the sofa!), in paperwork...bills + T~A~X~E~S!!! Oh now, does that ever deserve a mantra/song/mission statement?! Right?!!?!! Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming.... :>

I *do* have a beautiful butterfly lady all stamped, foil embossed, cut out, and watercolored up, just waiting for a card to take rest upon. But! That "R" word (ooo...ouch....eek! *R*esponsibilities) keeps tapping at my shoulder and so, to be a r-r-r-r-r...esponsible grown up (oh when, REALLY, when did that happen?!), I must get through the pile o' paperwork before I can continue playing. Sigh. (and oodles of cartoonesque disgruntled nosies!)

Though, if you know me, then you know, even when the....

...uh-oh...having a serious '80's flashback....a little Billy Ocean....a little Jewel of the Nile...
...uh-oh...bear with me...

Okay..........so.....now that that particular digression has run its course (yes, I'm good at that!), back to the 'if you know me' part! And that is that even with all the yucky paperwork that has me engulfed to my waist (thank goodness my fingers are free or else I wouldn't be able to get chatty with you all!! :>), its those little things that make me smile!

Like the SUN that is SHINNING right now, the kids & Hubby who are playing their games (don't even say "Music & Soundscapes" right now or else a serious finger is going to be pointing at You and I'll be in a straight jacket, for sure!!), the ribs on the Q, the crafting supplies that are calling my name with all their colorful delight, the books that are singing their songs from my bedside, my son looking forward to growing strawberries again this summer, my daughter looking forward to planting the organic sage & flat leaf parsley we just picked up (no, not from seed....2 1/2" pots), and me, {hopefully} seeing signs that my paperwork might be whittled down enough to squeeze some creative time in quite soon...............ALL make me SMILE!!!

Now, what I really want to know (it just might give me the steam to plow through the rest of this paperwork, these numbers, and all this...uber technical term here: NON-fun stuff!) is what wonderful, from BIG to small, things are making YOU smile today??

Here Kitty Kitty!

Why am I still UP?! No! Seriously?! WHY am I still awake??!! The clock just rolled past midnight a minute ago and I'm flashing back to at least half of the day today (okay, so its technically Yesterday, but since its past midnight........is it really necessary to attend to 'technically'??!) that I was tired and wishing I had gotten some extra zzzzzz's the night before. Hmmmmmm.......so why am I still awake!

Oh, yeah!! I wanted to share a couple of my favorite kitty pictures! :> Pioneer Woman, Ree, put a call out for kitty pictures for one of her Flickr groups and since my kidlets are obsessed with kitty cats (well, since we're here, okay OKAY, I'm here, up past midnight, I'll let you in on a little secret...........my kidlets are way past obsessed with kitty cats.......way past that.........they adore, they love....YES! a pic of a kitty will rapidly bring forth a very vocal, quite loud, series of, "Awwwwwww"s!)...oh yes, I digressed (I'm good at that)....since my kidlets just LOVE pics of kitties, I thought I would throw in a couple of my favs!

Here is Kitty Clyde! He passed just before the New Year, at seventeen years of age. But, this is not a sad post!! We LOVED him so!!! And this pic, is most definitely OUR favorite of him because it incorporates his spunk, his attitude, and always makes us smile! :> Our kitties were Hubby's kitties long before I came into his life. But, Clyde welcomed me with open arms.......um, so to speak!!

They are/were brother and sister (& another brother lives with Hubby's best friend) and are a Manx/Siamese/Tabby mix. If you know kitties, then you may know that both Manx kitties (they don't have tails...Clyde had about a one inch stump and his sister has no tail at all, a rump) and Siamese kitties are VERY HIGH personality kitties!! Our kidlets have had many opinions as to what our kitties have had to say about life, in general, over the years. :>

Now, here's a kitty that's a bit bigger than the kitties that live with us!! We met this kitty....er, um...tiger, during a special trip to the Oakland Zoo! It was a Mama and Son trip and I remember every last detail of our visit. Oh boy, I'm heading down memory lane now!! Don't worry..................its way past midnight................I won't share my ramblings down memory lane..........well, at least not at this hour! Maybe another time! :>

This sun bathing tiger was a bit shy all day and we finally caught him towards the end of our visit. We watched for him several times that day and we were so thankful that he decided to come and stretch out on his rock for a bit!

Soooo.....are you an animal person?? Do you rock with the cats or the dogs of this world?? Or maybe a fish? Any animals to capture your heart?? Or do you have a RoboDog (like a sweet friend o' mine)?? Or do furballs and critters not float your boat? I'd love to know what's prancing around your home...or not! :>

I'm off to make sure I catch at least a couple of zzzzzz's tonight or else I fear even some hot java may not help me when my alarm starts singing at 5:40......in....um.....YIKES!!!....a few hours!

Thank {You} from me & a Win for one of You!

Oh

SO

Very

Much!!!

Blogging this last year has taken me on such a FUN adventure and I'm so glad to have gone on it. I look forward to oodles and oodles of creating, playing, chatting, visiting, and playing some more this year as well! THANK {YOU} for making it such a fun ride! :>

Okay, let's get to why you are here, right?? I promised a $25 Papertrey Ink gift certificate to one randomly selected February commenter!

And the winner is.................................

#119 Deb from sPaRkLiNg sCrApBoOkS

Congratulations! Deb, send me an email and I'll get you your gift certificate! :>

Sending out BIG thanks again to everyone who visits and comments!! Comments always put a smile on my face and make me so happy to have jumped into this fabulous & fun blogging adventure!

Source:
Spell with flickr

Lisa's Poppy Seed Challenge & Fabric Fun for EBTKS

Wow! As busy as this week is, I'm so happy to have crafted a bit of time for some paper, ink, stamps, bling, and fabric!

I had fabric in mind to play along with the Everything but the Kitchen Sink challenge. Actually, I thought I was going to use some of the fabric that I bought recently, but instead found myself digging through my old stash and even using a wee piece of the pink gingham that was in my daughter's nursery!







And I was so excited to see Lisa Johnson diving in and starting her own challenge, that I knew I wanted to include her three Poppy Seeds in my card!







I made my fabric circles essentially the same way I created them HERE (for a scalloped paper flower) and HERE (with an Easter egg dye paper towel)......only with fabric. Once they were layered, I pinched the fabric in the middle, threw in a couple of stitches, and then sewed a button on top with embroidery floss. I really love how it came out and will have to make one again!

This little sweet sentiment is from my stash from about fifteen years ago and its one of my favorites. Isn't that exactly what a card is meant to do, no matter what the occasion is??!

A couple of last details to share......I stamped that little flower stamp all over the lemon tart card base in Versamark for a subtle pattern (you can click on the photo to enlarge it) and then stamped it again, in teal, on either side of the sentiment. A couple pink crystals and my happy little card is complete.

I'm off to enjoy some of today's happy moments......my daughter is going to her second dance class with her Grammie and I'll be heading back to my son's school to watch him perform Tiki Tiki Tembo, which they have been working on this trimester in Drama class. He tells me he's the Old Man in it and has to walk very slowly. :> Should be fun!

What's making you smile today?



(I'll be back with a supply list this evening!)

I'm back and here's my supply list:

Supplies:
Cardstock: Lemon Tart - Papertrey Ink
Stamps: Flower - Stampin' Up!; Sentiment - Love You To Bits
Ink: Versamark; Taken with Teal - Stampin' Up!
Fabric: Stash
Button: Stash (I think its Autumn Leaves)
Thread: Coats & Clark
Embroidery Floss: Bazzill
Bling: Lisa Bearnson

Just a note...

Its a crazy busy week here............nothing exciting, but lots to do nonetheless! Hopefully, I'll still find some time to play this week, preferably with ink or paint (or fabric or stitches or stamps or paper or something messy & fun!), but either way, just wanted to let you know, I'll announce the winner of my First Birthday Blog Giveaway for a Papertrey Ink gift certificate towards the end of the week!