Hip Hop HangOver

Here it is. Hip Hop HangOver for Unity Stamps! Had a wonderful time Hip Hopping yesterday with all the amazing Unity design team members. Talk about inspiration!! And today we, the customers, get to show off our Unity goodness.

If you checked out my posts this week ~ you've heard that I've been on a quest for a 'perfect' card to give to my LSS to spotlight Smooch. And in my little mind ~ scheming as I do ~ I've decided to use Unity stamps so that (hopefully) I can inspire more people to want Unity & therefore cause my LSS to order more (for me)!!! And guess what?!? Here it is ~ one I finally am happy with. It spotlights Unity & Smooch & Basic Grey papers... win~win!!! Only thing I'm kinda worried about is that I used Copics to color in the cupcake wrappers & I'm not sure how it will hold up to being on display ~ I know that the color guide that I made last summer has had quite a bit of color change & it's not even exposed to constant light... I guess we'll see... Oh & if you look closely ~ you'll see where I dropped one of the bauble-y things & got a little Liquid Glass on the DP ~ but it's really not that noticeable IRL...

I thought a nice little pic of all the things that I used to make the card would be nice for a change of pace.

The only thing missing is my beloved Cuttlebug. But other then that item ~ these are the products I tend to 'have' to use whenever I make a card...

And how excited am I ~ I finally figured out how to get my blog name on my photos... whoever said old dogs can't learn new things!!! I need smilies!!

Another day... another card...

Today just sped by. Doesn't feel like I got anything accomplished. Not that I ever seem to feel that way. A bit sad really....

Onto the card front... so, I'm on the quest for the perfect Smooch card... still haven't found it & not thinking I probably will. Darn perfectionism.... as well as procrastanation... generally just need to hang my head in shame...

Ok~ enough of that!!! No more self-pity!!! My dd had a bday party to go to today & I of course had no child bday cards on hand ~ so, instead of making the perfect Smooch card for my LSS ~ I had to make one for an 8 year-old. I did use Smooch ~ almost used all the colors I had ~ HA!!! I love the Moonlight color as a creamy frosting on the cupcakes!! And you see the sprinkles? Yep ~ smooch!! The confetti one turned out to be my favorite ~ so easy to make the little straight lines with the tiny tip.

A shout out to Unity for making such cute & easy stamps ~ I was able to line up the cupcakes & the sentiment on one block & stamp it at one time ~ how easy is that!!!!

My daughter loved it!!! And that is all that matters!!!

Dets:

Cardstock~ SU, GP & some misc paper from Micheals

Stamps~ Unity: Mix-up of Cuteness, UK-310A

Ink~ Memento

Other~ Nestibilities, Smooch, Trim Accents, Copics, CTMH Liquid Glass

Inspiration...

The assistants & I went to eat lunch next to Barnes & Noble ~ & I just happened to have a coupon to B&N... so off we went. I went straight for the Craft Magazine section & the girls went to the Children's section. I picked out about a half dozen mags to check out ~ I really wanted to fall in love the Take Ten (I think that's the name) ~ but I just couldn't ~ I don't know what is wrong with me... I just couldn't love enough of the cards in it to buy it. From the cards I've made so far on this blog ~ you can probably tell that I tend to go towards the Clean And Simple ~ Coloring Book ~ Keep It Simple S ~ style of card making. I've just never been into the type of cards that have everything just short of the kitchen sink on them. Or much of the grunge-y stuff either...

If you peek at the selections that I found I also got a Blog mag & one on organizing ~ something I am so challenged with in all aspects of my life. Some nice summer reading for the endless hours at the pool... yeah!!! I was getting a little tired of always doing Sudoku... Well, it's late & the girls are getting a bit hungry ~ hope they can finally decide what they want... probably not...

The Beauty of Butterflies & Smooch

So what have I been doing today? Well I tried to make a card for my LSS using Smooch. I also wanted to use items that could be bought at the store ~ unfortunately I did not succeed... I wanted to use only Basic Grey paper ~ but I couldn't make it happen. I think the card I orginally had in mind would have worked on a larger card. Also, the other paper was more red & the Smooch turned out more maroon. Luckily I had this left over ribbon & brad that matched perfectly. I had also wanted to use the sentiment 'within' as well. But it just wouldn't fit. After I finally assembled the card ~ well, I kinda like it... I tried to get the photo to show the shimmer of the Smooch ~ am I the only one who has problems getting shimmers & glitters to show up decendly in a photo?!?! I sure hope not.... One day I should really try to build one of those photo boxes.... just another project to add to the mile long list of things I need to do...

And now we're back...

So have you missed me? Yes, well then you probably would like to see why I've been MIA. I have had no time to do any crafting ~ I know ~ very sad isn't it? Every so often our little family does what I call the whirlwind tour of North Carolina ~ to visit both sides of the family. Visiting the central NC area for awhile & then the mountain area. We always stay in a hotel in Boone, NC to visit with my parents. This year we visited Blowing Rock... as you can see the girls (aka my assistants) loved climbing all over the rocks ~ not necessarily meaning to scare their poor Oma to death. Although I lived in the area for many, many, many years ~ I never visited the attraction before. Now that I no longer live there ~ I'm trying to visit as many of the 'fun' tourist~y places with the girls as possible. Another thing I love to do when visiting Boone is to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway. A couple of years ago, we drove the Parkway from Boone north thru VA to Skyline Drive ~ it was magnificent! We stopped at almost all of the Overlook areas ~ looking at the amazing views & log cabins & sawmills... country stores... we saw animals & even had to stop for awhile to wait for the raccoons to cross the road...

This time we went

South & stopped at the Lin Cove Viaduct... from this pic you can not only see the Viaduct (see the bridge like structure wrapping around the mountain), but also in the distance you can see the Grandfather Mountain which has lots of 'wild' animals ~ bears, otters, deer, etc. & a swinging bridge that is quite a challenge to get children across. We visited it several years ago & the girls can't wait to go back ~ we just didn't have the time on this trip.

There is a wonderful trail that leads under the

Viaduct & thru the woods ~ unfortunately we did not have enough time to do much hiking ~ the girls loved going up ~ not so much coming back down. But as we were leaving the area they asked if we could go back & finish the trail. Maybe next time...

Another fun stop is the Moses Cone Park ~ the girls got to pick fresh raspberries ~ saw horses & the amazing house with the stunning views....

And now we're back ~ to continue on with what's left of summer ~ it's amazes me that July is almost half over... I feel like I better start thinking about making my Christmas lists.... Oh, and I went to pick up some more Smooch at my LSS {heart} & the owner wants me to make a sample card for her! So totally exciting ~ I hope to make something that will be somewhat CAS ~ & to use Unity, Smooch & BG papers ~ these are the items she carries & if my card can help encourage more shopping ~ that would be FANTASTIC!!!

Happy Hip Hop Hangover!!!

This is my first ever time to participate & I wanted to showcase some cards that I've done this week ~ that I have not already added to SCS. With this card ~ I made it along with another one for the SCS Hip Hop Challenge to use your newest Unity kit. I checked my orders & figured out that this is the latest of my Unity Goodness ~ Folk Inspired. The stamps are so beautiful & inspiring.

I used Basic Grey paper & in this card I decided to use my SU Watercolor Crayons ~ I haven't used them very much since I discovered Copics... I'm not sure if you can tell ~ but I used another one of my latest 'favorites' ~ Smooch. It adds a little shimmer & is so easy to use! I used Ancient Page ink & SU Ribbon. ...and of course, my Nestibilities.

For my next card I used the June KOM ~ they are such great values with a wonderful variety of images. I made this for SCS Sketch Challenge #234.

I used (again) Basic Grey paper, Memento ink, Copics, & my Nestibilities. Oh ~ any my base card is made with GP cardstock.

Be sure to check out Miss Boo for more HHH!!!

This is NOT our house...

.... but it's cleaner..... LOL.... I woke up this morning at around 7:15 & decided to start to clean.... of course, it'll take a miracle to actually get it done. I'm not the queen of clean ~ sadly not in my blood... I wish it was... one major thing is organization... I'm not too good at that either...

Ok ~ enough of that ~ a little about the picture ~ a couple of years ago, we decided to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway from Boone NC to Skyline Drive in VA. It was early spring ~ so there was very little traffic & it was a little chilly. We stopped at every overlook and each log cabin. It was so much fun ~ if you ever get a chance to take this drive ~ you really should. The girls had so much fun exploring the cabins & I loved the views!

Well, I've rambled enough & I still have more stuff to do ~laundry seems to take forever!!! AND I really want to work on some SCS challenges using my new Unity Goodness!!!