Taylored Expressions birthday bash

last Saturday was Taylored Expressions first anniversary and they had 13 challenges that were posted through out the day and some really awesome reveals. i just love that potion tag set with the bottles. i got some great ideas for Brady's birthday party which will be Halloween themed this year (his idea). Here are my participations for the 13 challenges! the grand prize winner by random draw) will get a major gift card and a painting from the cupcake artist Jessie Oleson, check out her Etsy store.

challenge #1

TEBBTV - photo inspiration

Challenge #2

TEBBKM - sketch

challenge #3

TEBBDB - paper piecing

this is made from two different stamps - the igloo and the snow hills with a fence. the igloo is pop-dotted.

Challenge #4

TEBBCI - color challenge

Challenge #5

TEBBDM - photo inspiration

challenge #6

TEBBLF - sketch

Challenge #7

TEBBDE-paper tolling

(when you 3-D only certain parts of the image)

the coins and diamons are pop-dotted 1 and 2 times; the back sails are pop-dotted once and the front sails are pop-dotted twice

Challenge #8

TEBBJC - color challenge

Challenge #9

TEBBSH - photo inspiration

Challenge #10

TEBBKG - sketch

Challenge #11

TEBBLS - distressing

Challenge #12

TEBBSW - altered item, buttons as main embellishment

Challenge #13

TEBBJP - stitching or faux stitching

Brady's first day

today is Brady's first day of pre-school, ok granted it's only two afternoon's a week for 2 hrs at a time but it's a big step. When i dropped him off 1 hr ago everything was just dandy, like it was a normal day of going to daycare. no biggie! he gave me a kiss went down the stairs with the other kids and didn't even turn around. it went so fast i didn't even have time to take a picture of him on his way in to class.

His brother on the other hand found this separation very hard. he really wanted to go with him and was totally devastated that he couldn't go with.

on a different subject, there is a great blog giveaway at the Scrappy Shack!

mixer 28

Here is this week's mixer inspiration: a Schweppes ad. i think it's fantastic and yummy! Even though Julianna created an awesome sketch this week my layout is solely based on the ad.

the green of my layout is actually more of a yellowish-green like the ad itself. i hope i manage to recreate the same feel of the ad. My journaling says: "This picture was taken by Brady on a sunny morning before leaving for work & daycare. Quite the budding photographer"

materials:

cs: Bobunny

pp: my little shoebox, K & Company

transparencies (clouds): my little shoebox

brads: Doodlebug

pen: AC, Signo

other: Martha Stewart punch, stickles, pop dots

thanks for stopping by!

SAHM and TGF gardener call

As of tomorrow i will officially be a SAHM! today was the kids' last day at daycare, the timing was perfect since i had medical tests at the hospital this morning. no worries, everything went very well and nothing was found. i was so drugged up that i slept through the whole test.

a while ago I decided that it was time for me to get another DT, i would love to get on a manufacturer DT but that might take some time. i'm still applying for them, unsuccesfully for now, but many one day it'll pay off. Since i won't be working anymore my scrapping budget is gonna be greatly diminished so let's say it really wouldn't hurt to get free supplies onc
e in a while :) my friends know this but some of you might not; since i discovered Copic markers i've been totally hooked on stamping and card making. i just love to color and practise with the
Copic markers. sometimes i just stamp images on a piece of cs and color while i watch t.v.
at the beginning of the month of august my friend Mel sent me an email with the link to some girl's blog. she had just bought a stamp called "Edward" well... it's so damn cute i really had to get my hands on it, so i found the manufacturer's website and ordered myself an Edward and a few more goodies while i was there. Their stamps are really great. they're called The Greeting Farm and they even have their own line of papers. last week i'm checking out their blog through my google reader when i see that their having a DT call...O-M-G!!! i just had to apply! don't get too excited...the call ended today and i received an email that i hadn't made it. but
that's ok, the term was only for 3 months so i'll be applying to the next call; who knows i might get lucky! Anyways here are the two cards i made for the call using their stamps.

this one is using Wild Sprout - Dahlia

they had asked for a circus theme card, i think i did ok. the white of the card is actually the inside of the card. the orange glitter is the top part of the card that is already opened like the big top tent (at least that's what i was going for)

well no explanation needed for this one; this is the Wild Sprout - Edward stamp. I also used the greeting farm papers that i bought. i was very obsessive with this one. i did 4 tests for hair colors and 3 tests on skin color. what you can't see here is that the skin is painted with a light coat of shimmerz paint, and so is the tip of his hair.

well that's it for now folks! i cropped with the girls on friday night, it was JJ's last night with us for a while. i did make a page but it's for the next mixer so you'll have to wait.

thanks for stopping by!

awesome blog candy!

OMG! how i would love to get my hands on this goody giveaway from Leanne, check out her blog; Fluttabyz crafty Heaven. i'm crossing my fingers! (i never win at these things...)

mixer 27

this week's mixer was a color prompt and what a great color palette Mel chose! Go check out what the other girls did!




I used the Cosmo Cricket - Snorkel collection. the colors fit perfectly! I also used my new Surfer dude stamp from "The Greeting Farm". Isn't he the cutest! I've had a lot of fun coloring a bunch of these little guys! It doesn't show much but i streaked his hair with some Shimmerz. The only thing that is really bugging me about this LO is the placement of my title, but unfortunately these foam thickers stick really good and i could not change their position.



thanks for stopping by!

a little blog candy...

Check out my friend Claude's blog, she has a list of blogs giving out blog candy! that`s how i found out about this one.

Go check it out, but hurry it ends on aug 20th! Don't forget to mention that i sent you!

i'll be back later with this week's mixer...it's pretty awesome and i used a new stamp from the Greeting Farm...so cute!

TESC77- sketch challenge

here is my very first participation for the Taylored Expression sketch challenge. i just love these cute cupcake stamps! i wonder if she ever has a DT call....hmmmm......

Thanks for stopping by!

home with a sick kid...kinda

i'm home today because Brady was sick yesterday at daycare - he threw up at daycare, in the car on the way home and once more at home. Today he's like nothing happened yesterday (same thing happened last friday, he was sick 3x and then was fine the rest of the week-end) but daycare rules state that we have to wait 24 hrs before re-intergrating him with the other kids in case it's the flu. So this morning i made a banana bread with some bananas i had stashed in the freezer when they got to ripe, it smells really good in the house right now. I'm also making a ham in my crock-pot for supper. i coated it with a mix of Dijon mustard and brown sugar, i then poured a bear over top and set it on low for 6 hrs. it should be really yummy!

so i figured it was about time i posted some pics of the cottage we spent our vacation at a few weeks ago. Like last year (see this post) we rented a cottage by the sea in Cap-Pele, NB. This year the cottage was so much better than last year's. First of all it was newer (only 6 yrs old) we were directly on the shore, nobody in front of us like last year. There was this really nice 4 season veranda (we didn't get eaten by mosquitoes!) that we ate all our meals on and spent most of our time there. And the master bedroom was on a mezzanine facing the windows. one morning Brady woke me up at 5am, after i put him back in bed i just laid in bed looking out the windows at the gorgeous sunrise, the horizon was painted with shades of orange, pinks and fuchsias. it was totally gorgeous! so i leave you with some pictures of the cottage and the kids playing outside.

oh yeah! we also drove down to the PEI bridge. we didn't cross 'cause it was 42$ (i think) and we didn't really have anything planned on the island. that'll be for another year.
The boys with their half-sister, it's unbelievable how much they all resemble each other, you'd swear she was my daughter too!
back at the cottage.

mixer #26

this week's mixer was based on this piece of design. How great is that?! i just love the colors and the repetition of shapes. i used Juliana's sketch as is, because it was so awesome but got inspired by the colors.



here's my layout, you can see the other girls' mixer here.


i hate that the photo seems dark, it's much brighter on my MAC (i don`t know if that would make a difference...)

materials:
cs: Bazzill
pp: Heidi Swapp Invisibles, Fancy Pants (summer soiree),Luxe Design, bo-bunny dots
ink: colorbox
flowers: American Craft (they`re all white but i colored some with copic markers)
pen: zig, copic
jewels: MAMBI
letter: American Craft foam thickers, Jillibean Soup
buttons: dollar store
chipboard: Riff Raff
other: stickles, liquid pearls

thanks for stopping by!