Amanda's Challenge

Sorry I haven't been around much. I didn't want to keep posting pictures of my basement, (i.e. here are the drywalls with one coat of mud, here's a second coat.) I will post (by the end of this week-end) basement pictures on my other (family) website: www.davidandmelissa99.com for those interested. I was only posting here originally because it is so much quicker and easier to post here than my other website. But now family members want to see updates and I think that is the appropriate place to post them.


Anyway, with everything going on, I haven't stamped much, but yesterday Amanda posted a challenge to use Heartfelt Thanks and I have wanted to try out a technique from the newest Technique Junkies newsletter and I came up with this car

I used the Polished Rainbow from Technique Junkies for the center. Here it looks kind of mottled, but IRL it is silvery. I like how the center is lighter (Bliss Blue) and darker on the edges so it kind of frames the flower. I used one of my Vintage Cuttlebug die cuts for all the corners, (the outer edges are punch outs from the main die cuts.) I used Canvas (I'm pretty sure) for the Ballet Blue layer.

So Amanda, here you go! Thanks for the inspiration! :D

Basement Update

This morning our contractor, Wes, showed up with a plumber and another worker and broke up the concrete and moved the plumbing over several feet next to the wall. They capped off the shower plumbing; nope just a 1/2 bath down there. By law we can't have a bedroom, so we didn't see the sense in putting more expense into a larger bathroom. (We have two showers upstairs, so no worries there.)

Here they have patched the floor. I'm not sure if you can see it or not, but Wes and Troy were playing in the wet cement. Troy was quite tickled that his name will be in the floor forever. It is written, however, right where the wall will go so he won't be able to see it for very long. ;)

The framing, electrical and whatever else needs to get done before sheetrocking should be done by Friday! I won't push anymore basement pictures on you until then. :)

With Sympathy

I drug my feet as long as I could to avoid making this card. I have read several blogs lately that have posted sympathy cards and thought it would be a good idea to have some on hand (as these blogs mentioned) but I never got around to it. Not too long ago an old acquaintance let me know that a mutual friend recently lost her husband (in his sleep). Mind you she is a couple years younger than I am (I'm 40.) Such a tragedy and loss! Our husbands served together in Iraq a couple of years ago. Here is the card I made for Amy:

Stamp set: All Year Cheer I. Cardstock: Shimmery White, Basic Black. Ink: CRAFT White. Accessories: Giga Scallop Circle punch, Double Hole punch, Cuttlebug, White Grosgrain & Narrow Organdy Ribbon, White Gel Pen. Note: the black card is actually attached to a Shimmery White layer.

My Favorite Flower. . . . . .

I love sunflowers. They are just so. . . . . well, I guess they are a breath of sunshine to me! When I saw Kimberly's creations I just wanted one so badly! Then she started to sell these hand towels. Finally! I got to have my own sunflower hand towels! Well, here they are!

What I didn't show is that I have burgundy counter tops and hard wood floor so these colors really go well with my kitchen.

I took this interesting little quiz I saw on Allison's blog today and guess what it told me my flower is?

I am a Sunflower What Flower Are You?

Get Ready, Get Set. . . . . .

Well, I have finally finished getting the basement ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow is THE day that the contract really gets started. He will tear up some of the concrete to move the plumbing for the bathroom. Although I am pretty happy with my builder, where they placed the pre-plumbing for the bathroom was horrible! There is no good place for a door from the front left of the basement to the back left (where my craft room will be.) By moving the bathroom plumbing to the left 3-4', so it will be along the wall, will free up some room so I will now have a nice double door from the playroom to my craft room. Anyway, the clean up, and shoving boxes into the sump pump alcove is finished. I took some pictures just to prove that at one time the basement was clean! LOL!

Here is everything (plus a little extra) shoved into the alcove. The contractor will try to seal this up with some plastic to keep as much sawdust and dust from it as possible.

Here is another picture of the shelves Wes, (the Contractor) built for us last week.

Here is our futre Media Room:

This room WAS my craft area, but will be Troy's play area. It will have a TV so (HOPEFULLY) he'll be able to play in his room and I can be in my craft area and still supervise him.

This will be my craft room. That pipe sticking up will be moved to the left and my double door will be between the bathroom and that gray support beam.

I crammed as much of my Stampin' Up stuff (and a few other things I thought I couldn't live without, can you say Cuttlebug?!) ;) into my office. Once my craft room is finished my computer will move down to my craft room. It will be so nice to be able to surf for inspiration then roll over to my crafts. *beaming*

Sorry for the Delay

It has been so long since I have posted. We are beginning to finish our basement and I had to move *SOME* of my stampin' stuff out of the basement into my upstairs office and box up the rest. Our contractor built shelves for the unfinished area and we now have them filled! Actual work to finish the basement begins on Monday. Our contractor guarantees that it will be finished in one month! Yippee! I will finally have a true craft room, and we'll move my computer down there so I can check out ideas on-line then swivel around and start stamping! *VBG* or as Julie Ebersole would say, "(bouncing here)" LOL! I love reading Julie's blog, she writes conversationally. Here's her blog.

I didn't want to post any of my projects until after my class, which was last night so here are the two projects that we did. I do want to shout out a HUGE thank you to Britta (Camsmom on SCS). I CASEd her this month. I just loved a couple of cards she posted that incorporated SU's special this month and they just looked so fresh and springy!

I have never done a square card before; I know what was I waiting for???? LOL! I guess I was waiting for this card. This was a direct CASE from Britta, I couldn't even begin to image making a change to it! Punching out those little dots with my 1/16" punch got a bit tiring, but so worth it! This uses the Petals d& Paisleys Designer double sided paper. It is the same sheet, just flipped! I used the white gel pen on the paisley. I just LOVE that gel pen! I stamped the "hello" on Shimmery paper, it doesn't show real well, but I still love the feel of the Shimmery paper, just like silk.

This card I did change up a little bit, (Britta's card here.) I used the Petals Jumbo wheel on Shimmery cardstock. I only have a hand full of the jumbo ink cartridges, so it caused me to modify the color combo, shifting to Lovely Lilac. I used markers and huffed for the flowers on Shimmery c/s. You can't see it, but I stamped off So Saffron using the bold flower from Polka Dots & Petals stamp set, as I didn't want those flowers to detract from the stemmed flowers, just fill in some of the white space. Used more of the Petals & Paisleys Designer paper for the Round Tab Punch. Used my stamp-a-ma-jig to place the "joy" from the stamp set in the right place.

Both of these cards are simple just so springy! Thanks Britta, I just love your work and appreciate you sharing on SCS!

March's Class

EDIT: The morning class will be held on Wednesday at 10am, but the evening class will now be held on Thursday at 6:30pm. Come and have some fun!!!

Well, I have picked a date for March's class. It will be on Wednesday the 14th. I will have the morning class at 10 and the evening class at 6:30. The Spring Mini is now in effect and you can expect to see (and use) a few things from the mini! *wink*

If you would like to check out the Spring Mini you can see it here. Our special for the month of March is our Spring Fever Promotion:

Spring Fever Promotion

You'll save a bundle during March with Stampin' Up!'s Spring Fever Promotion! From March 1 through March 31, you'll get 50 percent off any one item in the new Spring Mini Catalog when you purchase the Polka Dots & Paisley Bundle ($34.85)! Or you can host a workshop totaling $400 or more (before tax and shipping) during March and get 50 percent off any one item from the Spring Mini Catalog with no purchase required!

(Check out page 18 in the mini, if you purchase the Polka Dots & Paisley Bundle you can purchase the Doodle This for 50% off! Seriously awesome deal! The Doodle This set has been used for some incrediblely hot projects by demonstrators getting ready for the Spring Mini! I wasn't interested in it at first but now I HAVE to have it!)

If you aren't able to make the class but would still like to take advantage of this month's special just let me know!

**EDITED: I keep trying to fix the spacing between the paragraphs, but after each "fix" I view the blog and the corrections are gone! Really, I do know how to space properly! :D