Mojo Monday Week 41 Challenge

This card was created for my friend Sherry, who just had her 2nd baby girl!

Paper - SU! Vanilla and Close to Cocoa.

I have no idea where I got the pink paper - just in my stash! The patterned paper is by K&Co. "Hopscotch Girl Ballet Toss."

Stamps - SU! Soft and Sweet (retired, I believe)

Embellishments - pink brads with crystal stickles and American Crafts Ribbon.

Sketch to Try

This is my very first sketch "challenge." It really was fun - especially since I had a need for a graduation card!

Paper -: SU! Black, Whisper white and a silver metallic that I got from Michael's

Patterned Paper - Stemma "After Graduation"

Stamps - I got the graduate stamp from the dollar bin at A.C. Moore and the corner stamp is from the Verve Visual Filigree Fantasy

The ribbon is an AC Moore ribbon.

I made this card for my graduate - Cody - he graduated from the 5th grade today. Boy was I a proud Momma! I thought I would showcase him here in all his cheesiness!!! Happy graduation baby boy.

Summertime color challenge - a wee bit late

Here is my interpretation of the Verve Visual "Summertime and the living is easy" color challenge. Entries were supposed to be posted by the 31st of May. Oops, I didn't quite make it.

I have never entered any challenge before and I was SO nervous about posting my work. But I really liked how my card turned out, so I thought - what the heck. I will link to the contest anyway.

Here are the deets:

Stamps (from A.C. Moore - Inkadinkadoo)

Paper - SU! Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White & Certainly Celery

Ink for Cones - pumpkin pie

Ink for ice cream and words - regal rose, so saffron, certainly celery, & Bashful blue (I didn't own any sky blue, so I guess I didn't follow all the rules!)

Extras - stickles for the sprinkles, big brads by Queen & Co., and sweet petite ribbon from AC Moore.

Next time I will do my best to get my post in on time!

Strawberry fascination!

I don't exactly know what is going on with me lately - but I have become obsessed with strawberries - not the actual food item, mind you - I am not the biggest fan of eating them - but I am obsessed with strawberry images.

I saw this paper at Joann's craft store and bought just about all the pages they had - in addition to two different fabrics with strawberries (don't know what I will do with those yet!)

I am really please with how this card turned out - I used SU Real Red paper and ink and Old Olive paper. The strawberry image is from Papertrey ink and I topped it all off with some red gingham ribbon. Yum!

Card for Katie

Katie and Adam are heading out to Salt Lake City, UT in just a couple of weeks as well as Adam prepares to attend law school. I am just glad I still have Katie's sister Melanie staying at work with me to keep me sane! I can't believe so many of my favorite gals from work are leaving at the same time. Friday is going to be one VERY hard day. Make sure the waterproof mascara is on! I totally love the way this card turned out and it reminds me of a Tiffany box...at least that was what I was going for!

The sentiment is from Verve Visual's new release as is the filagree design. I started playing around with the desing and finally came up with this one and I am really please with it. The bee stamp is just a random stamp I got from Michaels in the clearance bin - I think it is Tin Can Stamps (?) The blue paper and ribbon are from Papertrey ink and the white and black paper are from SU! I also had to adhere a little bit of sparkle to the card to continue with the whole Tiffany theme.

I hope Katie likes it and knows it goes with her wishing her the best of luck on a great new chapter in her life! I will most definitely be following her and her family's antics on her blog!

Card for Tara

Tara will be heading to beautiful Charleston, SC in just a few short days to start a new job with the Citadel! She loves the beach and is so excited to be living SO close. I hear she can even see the water from her new condo. I am too jealous. Lunch won't be the same without her either!!
I used a couple different shell papers and a SU stamp set as well as the same Verve Visual sentiment "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" --Eleanor Roosevelt. So fitting!

Card for Erin

I created this card for my friend and fellow librarian, Erin as she heads off to her new job as a reference librarian in the Executive Office of the President's Library! I just knew the "bookabella" stamp set would be perfect! The inside of the card has a great sentiment from the new Verve Visual set. Erin will be missed - but I had to create two other cards as well! 3 of my great "lunch bunch" set are all setting out for new jobs/destinations!

Backyard baseball and cookout with Grandpa

Cody, Jonathan and Wyatt had a great game of wiffle ball going - eating smores with Grandpa was pretty cool too!

Jon and the "caterpitters"

Jonathan is in love with 'caterpitters' he named this one C3PO!

Gift Card holder for Garrett's B-day

This is the gift card holder that I made for Garrett's 5th birthday. I used the Snappy Birthday set from Stampin Up. I got the idea from the Pine is here blog. So cute and super easy to make. It made the gift card not so totally boring! 5 year olds aren't usually all that excited about gift cards - that is why the bag is filled with a gazillion bubbles!!!

Even More Teacher's Gifts - Nugget Tins

This is another great thank you gift for a teacher. The tin contains 12 pieces of Hershey's chocolate nuggets. The colored paper is from SU!

More Teacher's Gifts - Thank you berry much!

This is a "mini" paint can decorated as a thank you to that special teacher in your child's life. I put the tape dispenser in the picture to give you an idea of how big the paint can is. It is filled with new "sweet" mint life savers.

I used the SU! tag punches to create the thank you card and the stamp set is from Paper Trey Ink.

Our Furry Friend

Isn't he cute! Especially when he is outside - not chewing my favorite pair of shoes or eating one of my magazines!!!

Easter Egg Hunt Pictures

Jonathan was thrilled to search for more Candy - boy the dentist is going to love us today!!!

Cody was trying to act like he wasn't having as much fun as everyone else!

Samantha, Natalie, Eric, Kellie & Wyatt also found lots of goodies in the eggs.

Easter Treats

These are the treat bags I made for all the kids! They were filled with candy, erasers and a couple of other special things. Pink for the girls blue for the boys. All supplies/stamps came from Papertrey Ink.

Sweetie's Birthday Treats

Ok, I know, crafts for a dog's birthday party??? Everyone deserves something cute on their special day! I made this bag for Sweetie on her 1st birthday. Just bringing a box of Milk bones just seemed too...ordinary. Jazz it up!

Happy Birthday to me!

39 and holding...how long will that be my motto? Who knows - but it certainly is for today - the day after. I am writing this to send a big thank you out to all of my girls for taking the time out of their busy lives to call or celebrate with me!

Danielle - thanks for including me in the big dog birthday party! LOL the pups had fun, but so did we. I am going to be better about "accessorizing." I promise! Now that you gave me all the cute jewels, how could I not. 21 years together now! Wow that is unbelievable.

Missy - Thanks for coming and sharing with the dog party. I hope Roxie had as much fun as Zeb and Sweetie did. Poor Zeb could barely lift his head up on Sunday he was so beat! I am going to miss you when you head South - but just another reason for a road trip, right?

Miss Anne - you are a lifesaver! Thanks for feeding me, listening to me whine and offering a shoulder to b*tch upon! I know you are family and you now HAVE to put up with me, but I truly appreciate it, especially yesterday : )

Jenn - You called at just the right time! There is always so much chaos in our lives, but we somehow still manage to hold a 27 year old friendship together!!! Thanks for remembering.

Lisa - Gosh, I wish we could spend more time together! I am so glad you called when you did. Really the insanity that was my house yesterday almost pushed me over the edge. I am looking forward to my birthday surprise that should be arriving any day now! You always know just what I need.

A big fat thank you goes out to all of you! Because of all of you, I managed to make it through a pretty crappy birthday "celebration" without having to fix my mascara. I love you all SO much and with the big 4-0 coming next year I am going to have to take matters into my own hands! Men are men and they just can't help themselves, thank god for girlfriends.

Anyone who posts a comment on the blog will get a special treat from me...

New Blog Banner

This is my first real attempt at creating a blog banner. I like how it turned out. I took the photo of our blooming Japanese Maple - I flipped the photo to fit in the banner! The flowers were not as clear as I hoped they would be - but I was the genius who tried to take a picture with gale force winds blowing around me.

Teacher's Gifts!!

Ok - it's the end of the school year and you are desperately trying to figure out something unique to give your child's teacher - well I have the perfect gift idea!! Each set comes with a Pen/pencil holder covered in "school" related paper, 4 pencil "flowers," a post-it note pad and a card - that looks like a mini chalkboard - the message reads "A hundred years from now...it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove, but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child." If you would like to order one of these for the end of the year - contact me for details at plpurses@yahoo.com .

Open House Success

Well, Missy's "Vend-O-rama" was a pretty good success. I had several ooher's and aaher's over my stuff - and even had some pretty respectable sales. It got my enthusiasm up and I am ready to make some more things and try for a real craft fair! I will be posting more pictures of things that I have made and hope to get some orders for some custom creations!

New Pictures of Zeb - 5 months old 55 pounds

Martini Card

Don't ya just love this card? For the image, I used "Cosmobella." I colored her with prismacolor pencils. The ribbon I got from the discount bin at Michaels. It is Martha Stewart grosgrain ribbon. The paper is also from Michael's.

Wellies Card - So Preppy!

This card just speaks to me! I LOVE the polka dots and the preppy striped paper. I used the stamp set Green Thumb for this card and after I stamped it I covered the image with Stampin' Up's crystal effects. It really looks like a rubber boot. Fun!

Maculine Birthday Card

Hello Friend Card

Ginger Rodgers Card

Dare to be Fabulous Card

Classy & Fabulous Card

Birdcage Card

Desk Set - Teal and Brown