Happy Memorial Day!

Well, if it's any clue, my husband just commented "...and it rained for 40 days and 40 nights!".  Not really, but it sure seems like it these days.  I heard the rain start last night about midnight and it hasn't stopped since and it's now after 5:30 PM!  The hubby had to go out and make sure the outside drain by the lower level of our house was clear so the basement won't start flooding.  Needless to say, I've enjoyed my day in my craft room sipping tea and making cards and other projects for Father's Day and a niece's graduation.  Here's what I was involved in today:

Baby Bug!

I'm a BIG VW fan and own a convertible Triple White bug, so when I saw this stamp set offered through Papertrey Ink called Enjoy the Ride, I just had to have it!  I've already made a few cards with it and can't wait to make more.  Here's a card I made for the Basic Grey Photo Inspiration Challenge:

Here's the photo that inspired me:

Thanks for looking!

Shelly

A Slice of Life!

So, I was trying to come up with something to give my teaching staff for National Teacher's Day coming up this Tuesday, May 4th.  I came across a cute little cake slice box, so I put forth my best efforts and made a nice, sweet little cake for my teachers.  Each "slice" is filled with goodies like sweet magnets, small mechanical pencils, and of course some sweets...candy, that is!   I just had to set it up like shown in the photo for the full effect.  I may still add some embellishment in the form of rick-rack to the inside of the slices to resemble frosting between the layers, but considering it's already 3:00 pm on Sunday and I've spent most of the day working on this, it may wait until tomorrow!  Anyway...enjoy!

Thanks for looking!
Shelly

Spring is HERE!

We enjoyed some sunny weather the past few days, but now the rain and high winds are here.  You'll have to excuse my lack of posting.  I've had several things going on... mostly due to my new job with the same organization.  I've experienced a wee bit of stress lately which knocked my immune system for a loop and I came down with a pretty nasty bug.  I think it's been the worst school year for me so far for being sick, and it's not over yet!  I am also signed up for school again this coming quarter, so I've been mentally preparing for that as well. 

Anyway, my mojo went on vacation for a while and I think it's due back here any day...I guess it just couldn't take it any more.  So watch for some new projects coming soon.  Take care and enjoy the weather!

Thanks for looking,
Shelly

Chasing away the winter blues...

Well, okay, so we don't have any snow this year.  It's almost worse than having too much snow because everything is so gray and dead!  To brighten things up a bit, here are some projects I've been working on between homework assignments, work and family obligations, and being a bit under the weather.

Did you think I forgot?

Well, I didn't, life has just been extremely busy around here.  I decided to go back to school and am currently taking 3 MS Office classes: Word, PowerPoint and Excel.  One can never get too smart or too bored, so that's why I decided to start up again.  Besides, I figure it can only help me in my job.  I've been busy doing homework and haven't had much time to commit to cards or crafting, but I think this week will be a turning week for me (last week I had meetings three days after work and was priveledged to have my granddaughter over a bit one evening while her momma went to school... looks like that will happen again this week...I just love it!).  Anyway, I will post on here after I get a card or two done later this week.  I had hoped today would be the day to start up again, but homework was my focus and I played all weekend with my hubby driving around and enjoying the unusually warm weather we've been having...56 degrees today!
Thanks for looking!
Shelly

Final CCS DT2 Card (sniff sniff)!

I made my final DT2 card using the Simply the Best stamp from the Friendship set from CCS. I chose this specific phrase because it sums up my experience working on the CCS Design Team 2. Laura (owner of CCS) is Simply the Best, the other DT2 gals (Jennie, Linda, Rebecca and Lisa) are Simply the Best, CCS stamps are Simply the Best, and the past three months have been Simply the Best!

Thanks for looking!
Shelly

Happy Holidays!

I missed wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, but now I can say Happy New Year!  It seemed like Christmas came and went with the normal business that we all experience this glorious time of year.  In what spare time I had, I was able to make a few creations.  Here are some of them:

CCS Blog Hop

Are you ready for another Creative Clear Stamps Blog Hop! I am so excited and this time EVERYONE can join and share their Creative Vision using their favorite Creative Clear Stamps. Be sure to stop by the Design Team members blogs: Laura, Jennie, Linda, Shelly (Yep, this is me!), Lisa, Rebecca as well as the very creative and talented Olga, Patti, and Theresa.      
                                                                      

Laura will also be giving away a new release to one lucky commenter from one of the blog comments, so be sure leave a comment at each stop. You just never know whose blog will be picked! You can look for the announcement of the winner over on the Creative Clear Stamps Blog: A Fairy Creative Place.

For the cards I made for the blog shown here, I used the CCS stamp set Holiday Sentiments.  The set is so versatile for the holidays.  The sentiments can be used on the front of cards as a focus or on the inside as a sincere sentiment to the person you're giving it to.

Thanks for looking!

Shelly

Family Photos

We took some family photos a week or so ago and here are two of them of my daughter Katie, her boyfriend Justin, and my 14 month old granddaughter Ashlin.  We took some other family photos of all of us and some of all of us with my mom, stepdad and sister and her family.

Advent Calendar

Okay, another post today.  My mom asked me to post a photo of the advent calendar I made using CCS stamps...so here goes:  I bought a magnetic wipe-off board with a easel back for the background.  The tins can be found in store's wedding aisle.  I punched scallop circles from designer paper to fit the lids of the tins and stamped numbers 1-25 on them.  Then put sticky-back magnets on the back of the tins so they are magnetized to the board.  I filled the tins and placed them on the board.  The topper was just made from designer paper and paper punch outs.  I also put magnets on the topper so it can removed for storage or to change it out.

It's the most BUSIEST time of the year....

I don't know about everyone else out there, but I have been so busy, I can hardly keep up with it all!  I made 58 felt floral and snowflake pins for my staff last weekend (I'll post photos of some of them later).  I literally spent 9 hours on Sunday in my craft room!  I also made hand-embossed glass ornaments for my fellow managers at work...only 10 of them, but still more time gone.  Yesterday was my center's potluck and we managed to get all 50+ staff into one room comfortably to eat and enjoy each other's company.  It was a lot of fun, but it entailed decorating the room, and baking goodies on Sunday AFTER I finally exited my craft room.  Today was my administrative holiday get-together with more potluck (and baking).  I'm also on a hiring committee and have interviews three out of four days this week.

On top of that, we sold our GMC Yukon Denali a week ago and are now down to using my Beetle for winter driving as my hubby's Mustang will NEVER see snow.  Having one vehicle is more difficult than we imagined, so we're already on the lookout for a used car for my husband to drive for winter.  Tomorrow night is my step-son's Christmas program and he lives an hour away.  Straight home from work and on the road.  About 4 inches of snow fell today so the roads are a bit dicy...should be a fun drive.  Can I say AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!

Upcoming Blog Hop and Goodies!

Creative Clear Stamps is having another Blog Hop that can feature YOU and your Creative Vision! Our current Design Team Jennie, Linda, Shelly (me), Lisa and Rebecca will be sharing with you a project created using our favorite CCS set.



We also want YOU to participate by creating a project using YOUR favorite Creative Clear Stamp set. We are all going to link them together over on the Creative Clear Stamps Blog and that is not all..... Each customer that participates using CCS stamps will receive ONE of the brand new releases coming out in January. It is just Creative Clear Stamp's way of saying THANK YOU for helping us grow!

Here's what you should do:

1. Create a brand new project FEATURING ANY stamp from our line of Creative Clear Stamps. This project should not include stamps from any other stamp company.

2. Email Laura creative-vision@hotmail.com and let her know you will be joining the hop. Include a link to your main blog. Also include your full name and mailing address - so Laura can send you your FREE new Release in January. All links must be given to Laura no later than December 16th.

3. On the 17th, make sure your CCS Blog Hop project remains in the top position for the day on your blog.


Doing these three things will qualify you to receive ONE Free New Release. Laura, owner of CCS, reserves the right to disqualify any project or blog hop link that does not follow the guidelines of this special offer.


Our customers are the best and we appreciate you. So mark your calendar's for December 17th and hope you can hop along to a free stamp set soon!

Thanks for looking!
Shelly

All Wrapped Up!

For this cute little reindeer all tangled up in sparkly lights, I used a stamp from the Jingle Jangle set from CCS. The sentiment is also from that set. I highlighted the string of tangled lights with glitter pens and colored the reindeer with watercolor pencils and a blender pen. Behind the sentiment is a scallop square with two bronze brads. There's also a scallop circle that I wound brown floss around for extra texture.

Check out the Creative Clear Stamps website and you'll see that you can collect badges on the site and become a guest designer for January!  What an exciting opportunity...go check it out here.   Also have a look at the CCS blog for some great ideas and challenges.


Thanks for looking!
Shelly

Naughty or Nice?

Hmmm, interesting question to ask with the holidays coming up.  Anyway, here's the round card I made for the tutorial over on the CCS blog.  It's a cute little card, if I say so myself!  I used my circle cutter for the circles and my Sizzix snowflake die for the flakes.  The sentiment and image are from the CCS Jingle Jangle stamp set.

Thanks for looking!

Shelly

SNOW?

That's right, we had our first measurable snowfall over the weekend.  So, I stayed indoors and created a couple of cards and cleaned my craft room.  I'll have a tutorial over on CCS this Thursday and I will post a photo of the finished product here, so come back soon!

Thanks for looking!
Shelly

Here's some of my newest creations:

Ho Ho Ho!

So my card-making is slowly getting up and running again after being sick.  I'm planning on getting my groove back on tomorrow to whip up some stuff for some challenges, so stay tuned!  In the meantime, here's a cute little Ho Ho Ho card I made using CCS Jingle Jangle stamp set.  This little Santa is just so roly-poly cute!  Doesn't he look like one of those little garden gnomes you see around?

Thanks for looking,

Shelly

New Blog Design and Award!

So, it all started about 2 1/2 weeks ago...I came down with flu-like symptoms.  Now remember, I am a manager in a good-size child care center (100 children 75+ staff/volunteers).  Although I try my best to steer clear of the ill-feeling little ones and staff, sometimes it does catch up with me.  Anyway, I got pretty sick and took a couple days off to get better.  I was feeling a lot better, went back to work and a few days later, felt sick again.  I took a couple more days off (Thursday and Friday a week ago) and used the weekend to recoop.  I felt 95% Monday with just a mild cough and went to work as usual, worked the week and felt a bit under the weather again on Thursday evening.  I drank some of that nasty Theraflu to knock me out, woke up Friday feeling okay, went to work and slowly went downhill.  By Saturday morning, I thought I was going to die!  My husband insisted I go to the doctor, and he didn't have to twist my arm much to get me to go.  Long story somewhat short, I now have bronchitis and have been put under doctor's orders to be home resting until Wednesday.  That being said...I'm resting, but I'm also bored!  Hence the new blog design.  See, and you thought I would never get to the end of my story.

Now for the award part of the post.  Jennie, one of CCS DT buddies gave me an award:

This award actually made me smile as well.  Thanks Jennie!

Now on Jennie's blog, she has some great examples of the projects she creates and she made mention of 5 things people didn't know about her.  One of those things was that she is not into sports.  I am similar to her in that I am not much into sports and my idea of sports is listening to Nascar as my husband watches a race in the family room as I create in my craft room.  That being said, I do have to mention that I have actually met Jack Roush from Roush Racing.

My husband and I are actually car buffs and I had a pretty fancy Mustang (yes, those are pink stripes), but traded it for something I could drive in the snow (yep, we get lots of here in eastern Washington!).  I actually still see my car driving around town as another gal bought it and LOVES it the way it is!  It might be fast, but I sure love my Beetle.  Top down in the summer, snow driving in the winter.