Squeezen' In

Squeezen' in... no not into my jeans! Squeezen' in on some challenge deadlines. I didn't think that I would be able to stamp today due to Ellie being sick but thankfully I did manage to get these ones done. Both cards came relatively fast. Who wouldn't like that?

The Thank You card was made for a A Shade of Blue Blog challenge. To do this one you needed to download the provided digital labels, print them out, and use them. Here's my card made with The Angel Company stamps and supplies with one of the provided labels. OOOps...the flowers and dew drops are not TAC. :-)

The second card was done for Korin's blog challenge over at Inky Doodle. I love all the cards that have been entered already and Korin's sketch is just right. Here I used one of Korin's stamps from the Penguin Hugs set.

I guess I am keeping it brief tonight. Not much to report from my part of the world other than we are getting through Ellie being sick. I hope you all are happy and healthy.

Smiles,
~Nancy

You Make My Day

A big THANK YOU to Susie B of White Ribbon Cards and to Fiona of Fe-Fe's World for giving me the "You Make My Day" award. It is such an honor to know that I am among the list of ladies that have brought you joy.

Sleepless...

It was a sleepless night for our household. Our daughter had an icky throwing up bug... the first of it's kind for her. Thankfully she only had a couple of episodes and one bought of the runs. Right now she is playing at my feet and keeping herself occupied. As for me I am blessed to have missed out on a little sleep to be a comfort and to deal with her messy clean-ups. What makes me feel blessed is to know that I am not alone in the care of my daughter and that God gives me strength to get through it all. I am constantly reminded that He only gives me what I can bare and no more. Tonight I will be teaching a class through my TAC business. Although I am creative and love to stamp, doing FunShops totally stress me out. The effort and anxiety is worth the work and I am pushing myself to at least do one workshop a month.

Anyhow, when I finally made it to my email late this morning I received a message from my husband with a photo attached to it. The title was "Remember When..." and the email was two short sentences. It was a picture of me with Ellie when she was still in the hospital. I was allowed to hold here twice a day an hour at a time. This included changing her diaper, feeding her, and having skin to skin time. What a precious miracle. Now she's 14 months old and not so tiny. The enclosed message was him thanking me for taking such wonderful card of our daughter. It means a whole bunch to me to have a husband that takes care of me and meets my needs and then gives more to take care of our children too. Going sleepless is a big deal for him and I am relieved that he isn't complaining about not sleeping last night and having to scrub the carpet and disinfect Ellie's room. I know that there aren't very many men out there that would be there like he has been for me.

Thank you Andrew for being my husband and for giving so much of you! It is an awesome God that made you for me. Your email means so much.

I LOVE YOU!
~me

Sweet n' Sassy

Oh how I love my new Sweet n' Sassy stamps. Here's two cards I was able to squeeze in this afternoon during Ellie's nap time. I used the Lots of Layers sketch that Miss Korin has had posted on the Sweet n' Sassy blog. Layers indeed! I don't think I've ever had so many in my carding making career yet. Whew! What an awesome sketch. Sweet n' Sassy is one of the few stamping companies that uses the King James version with their scripture verses. This makes me really-really happy.

I showed my husband the cards this evening and he was really impressed with the scripture card. He also liked the shimmer on the penguin card. (It sure is nice when he gives me feedback like that. How blessed am I? I really should thank God more often for my husband.) Another thing Andrew mentioned that you probably wouldn't be able to see the shimmer in the photo. I think even with my close-up that he's right. You really can't see it that well in the photos.



I hope you had more time to stamp today then I did. Thanks for visiting me today.
:-)

CARD DETAILS:
Sweet n' Sassy
"Penguin Hugs"
&
"Encouragement"
Two Scoops Basic Grey Papers
TAC Card stock
Blank White Notecards
Versa Magic Chalk Ink
Making Memories Lace
Stampin' Up Pretties Pearls
Dew Drops
Ribbon
Shimmer Chalks
Dove Blender

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!!!

Today is Jen's birthday!!!! Happy Birthday Blessings to you!!!

You can find Jen's main blog at Pieces of Me.... Go wish her a happy b-day! I know she would enjoy hearing from you.

MORE QKD...

The last of my Queen Kat Designs "Coffee Break" projects was fun to create and easy to put together. I used my Scor-Pal to make the altered coffee bean baggie and sticky note holder. I just winged it with the altered coffee bean baggie. Basically it's a sleeve that goes over a bag of coffee. This design makes it look like a carton even though the coffee inside is in a bag.


For the sticky note holder I used Creating with Chrissy's tutorial. It's fast and super easy to follow. I love the bow closure on the side too.

To round up these projects I included two mini scalloped notecards. These bright ditties will go perfectly attached to a coffee cup or with a coffee themed gift basket. Anyhow, I hope you have a joy filled day!

6x6 Scrap Page

I will be making at least one scrapbook page a month for a while. Here's my latest endeavor. I used Basic Grey's Montifica paper, some foam stickers from Miss Elizabeth, and stamps from Queen Kat Designs. The sentiment is from the new "Coffee Break" set and it will make its debut in the QKD store this March, whereas the Dotty Scrolls are available now. This is one of my favorite pictures of me and my husband. It was taken by our son Alex the day before I left Barrow to have our little Ellie. Memories for sure. God sure did make a "Special Blend" when he put me and Andrew together. Thank You LORD!

PAGE DETAILS:
Queen Kat Designs Coffee Break
& Dotty Scrolls
Basic Grey Montifica Paper
Palette Ink
TAC Chalk Ink
Prima Flowers
Miss Elizabeth Foam Stickers

ENABLER ALERT!

The Angel Company just put out their Spring Supplemental and boy oh boy is it ever fabulous!!! Not only are there some awesome new stamp designs you can also pick-up the Crop-A-Dile II! I can't wait to get my inky hands on it all!!!




Wanna see what I am talking about? Here's the link: TAC Spring Supplemental 2008. If you have any questions or would like to place an order send me an email.

ENABLER ALERT!

Queen Kat Newsletter

Hey there, just in case you have yet to subscribe to the Queen Kat Newsletter you can click below for all the buzz.

QUEEN KAT DESIGNS ALWAYS FUN, FUNKY & CREATIVE...

My monthly contribution is the Household Uses section. Coming up with something unique and original every month sure does push me put on my thinking cap. This month I put together a bandage holder with matching stamped bandages. There's lots of room for creativity here. You will find the tutorial in the QKD newsletter. I hope you enjoy it!

CARD DETAILS:
Queen Kat Designs "Feeling Blocks"
Double Sided Designer Papers
Palette Ink
Ribbon
Stickles
Cricut Die Cuts

Sneak-a-PEAK

UPDATE: QKD COFFEE BREAK SET IS A MARCH 2008 REALSE AND SHOULD BE AVAILABLE IN MARCH. :-)

March is just around the corner now and I have two preview cards to share from Queen Kat Designs. This set is called "Coffee Break". It's a total sentiment set revolving around coffee. It's kinda crazy that I have this collection because I drink coffee hardly ever. The closest I usually get is a white chocolate caramel mocha. Does that count as coffee? Although I am not a big coffee drinker I do know plenty of people that are big coffee buffs and I am going to have lots of fun sending them these cards.


Thank you all for your birthday wishes. You made my day!



CARD DETAILS:
Queen Kat Designs "Coffee Break"
Queen Kat Designs "Birthday Skullz"
Palette Ink
Versa Mark Pigment Ink
Clear Embossing Powder
Blank White Note Cards
Basic Grey Papers
Stickles
Sakura Gelly Roll Pen
Cricut Die Cut Machine
Marvy Scallop Square Punch
Dew Drops
Corner Rounder Punch

SURPRISES!!!

I don't know if I can handle more surprises!!! My childhood bestest bud had a bouquet delivered. I cannot express to you what a treasure of live flowers are up here. Not only are they gorgeous but the smell is so fresh! THANKS Mona for the birthday surprise! They look beautiful in our dining room/family area and Ellie is mesmerized by the festive ballon. :-)

It's not often that we go out as a family but this afternoon we all got bundled up and out to do some errands. When we came back there was two envelopes held in the front door. Miss Stacy dropped of a fun B-day card with matching carding goodies! Thanks again Stacy! Sorry I wan't home to give you a squeeze! I hope you are having a joy filled day like me!

Birthday BLESSINGS!

Yep, it's my birthday today and I am fully thankful for being alive. To celebrate my husband made a cake for me! Fresh strawberries included! What a pure luxury for living in the arctic! He also brought home some Dryers Strawberries n' Cream ice cream another sweet treat. YUMMY!!! Cake and ice cream sure did make for quite a sweet breakfast. I think it was the first in my life to have cake and ice cream for breakfast. Please don't tell my MOM! ;-) No plans for a party...just some quality time with Andrew and Ellie. Since I still have some more tourist cards to pump out before tomorrow, I might even squeeze in some stamping later.



Check out some of my birthday goodies:
Cake and treats
Cards & Designer Papers from friends and family
Cards made by: Bev, QKD DT
Vicki, Queen Kat
Nancy DePalma, Eskimo Girl Card
Laurie Serino, Stamping for God's Glory

THANK YOU ALL FOR REMEMBERING ME!





My Barrow stamping pal, Stacy Smith of Arctic Spring brought home these lovely goodies for me as a random act of kindness. She just recently spent some time with her family in Florida! OOO...what fun! THANK YOU Stacy for the presents!!! HUGS!



I hope you all are having a lovely day like I am.

BIG cheesy SMILES,
~Nancy

E for Excellent

Among the first friends I made when I started blogging was Kim from Crafty Me. She is sweet, creative, and beautiful! Well...guess what Kim did? She nominated me for the E for Excellent Award! Thank you KIM for the award!!! Thank you-thank you! :-)

Who am I nominating?

1) Cassandra (My Sister)
2) Laurie Serino
3) Tricia T.
4) Marlou
5) Kemi

Basically everyone in my Blinks list from Alaskan Bloggers to Blinks. You are all Excellent

More of My TOURIST Town

I stayed up late last night intending to make a huge stash of card but managed to produce only one more tourist card. I got up this morning quite surprised by this lovely little blue ditty. She is sentimentless but I think she gets the job done with staying within the arctic theme. I picked up the papers at one our annual Buy, Sell, Swaps. What a bargain! She is stamped in Palette ink and then colored in with pastel chalks applied with a Dove Blender. It's an easy and quick way to color an image. If you haven't tried it yet you ought to. The Cuttlebug snowflake embossing was highlighted with Brilliance ink and Perfect Pearls. Stickles and glitter was also brushed on a few of the flakes to add some dimension. Don't forget the ribbon and dew drops and there you have it... another tourist card!

Laurie and I were chit-chatting this morning and she mentioned a challenge I ought to complete so to make a long story manageable I did a card for two challenges in one. Yep, it's another tourist card! Thanks Laurie for the direction and thank you Amy of Heartfelt Greetings for the sketch and thank you Creating with Chrissy for challenging me to use my chipboard. It sure has made a tedious but necessary task much more fun. Two more done and plenty more to go!

By the way, my little Ellie woke much happier today. Although she has been fussy, she has not been as upset as yesterday. PRAISE GOD for His tender mercies. :-)

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Pilippians 4:19

Tourist TOWN

Sometimes I am blessed to have the opportunity to make tourist cards. I hope this one will be a hot seller because it was easy and fun to make. The design is clean and can be both masculine and feminine. Anyhow, my baby is either teething or has an ear infection in any case she's been fussing all day. I am thankful to be a mommy even when she's fussy.

Have a great day!

CARD DETAILS:
Stamp from Far North Designs
Sentiments are Custom Made
Blank Cream Notecard
My Mind's Eye Solid Paper
Spellbinders Die
Martha Stewart Ribbon
Palette Ink
Versa Magic Chalk Inks
Shimmer Chalks
Dew Drops
Versa Mark Pigment Ink
Vintage Plum Embossing Powder

Three MORE To Go...

When I did Beate's Weekend Sketch I cut out enough papers to make three more cards and when I went to assemble them instead of doing the sketch I went ahead and made three different cards with the same papers. I'm not sure if I like all of them but I do love that I have three more cards to send out and to be a blessing with. I actually was able to come up with these a whole lot faster than if I started out fresh without the pre-cut papers. I'm gonna have to keep doing this with my future sketches... you never know where it will lead to.



Have a wonderful day!!!

CARD DETAILS:
The Angel Company "Spring Dream"
& Gift with Purchase Stamp "Thank You"
TAC Hemingway Designer Papers
TAC Winchester Cardstock
Prima Flowers
TAC Assorted Bitty Blossoms
Dew Drops
Palette Ink
Michael's Ribbon

A Shameless Plug...

Well ladies, I've decided to try to bring in an income from home other than stamping. It is pure irony with the company I have chosen to go with. It's ironic because way back when I young used to make fun of Avon. So here I am eating crow and shamelessly plugging my new business. I have fallen in love with their anti-aging ANEW products. Not only are they reasonably priced but ANEW makes a difference in how I look. Now that I am approaching 40 I am a bit more concerned with appearing young. :-)

Well, there you have it! I am now an AVON Representative and hopefully I'll be able to earn an income to contribute to our home. If you currently don't have a representative that you get your AVON from, you are welcome to check out my online store at: www.youravon.com/ngrant. For your convienenance I will also put a link in my sidebar to my store.

Thanks for your patience as I plug my new business.

Simply Charming..

Guess who has sketch challenges on her blog too? Why it's Mrs. Amy Rysavy of course! When I first discovered the world of stamping blogs, her's was among the few that I could find and kept coming back to. I loved to check everyday to see her art and read about her life. Oh, the inspiration!!! Its no wonder that she's on so many design teams. Her cards and projects remain to be so clever and cute. Now a days, there are so many of us stampers that keep a blog that I just can't keep up. So many and so little time. YIKES!

This week I printed out a whole bunch of sketchs that I want to try and last night I sat down at my desk and stamped away. It felt good to create and then create some more. Me at my desk, singing with the tunes loaded on my iPod and my husband a few feet over glued to his computer trying to complete a video game mission. Talk about spending quality time together...and I mean this with the utmost respect. This is the benefit of sharing a creative space. We can both be close but still be able to do our own thing. My favorite is being able to turn to him with my finished cards and say, "What do you think?" A lot of the time he likes what I make and will tell me at least one thing that catches his eye but when it's something he doesn't care for he usually responds, "Well, it's not my style." :-)



So here it finally is. A card designed with one of Amy's sketches! Thanks Amy for the stamping inspiration! I hope you all enjoy this little ditty.

Smiles,
Nancy Grant

CARD DETAILS:
Queen Kat Designs Diva Monster
My Mind's Eye Designer Papers
Palette Ink
Prismacolor Pencils blended with Gamsol
Tombo Markers
Ribbon
Dew Drops
Liquid Lacquer

Mojo Monday #24

Yeah!!! This makes three in a row that I've completed Julee's Mojo MONDAYS! Her challenges are among my favorites. This time around I used stamps from The Angel Company. I had been wanting this one for quite some time and was thankful to have earned it with the last FunShop I hosted. You can find this lion and sentiment in the Wild For You set. The cute animal images in this series are all closed (solid and filled in) and I used a technique that Jen from Pieces of Me shared. Her technique helps you easily achieve multiple colors in a solid stamp. To get the lion colored this way you first stamp the image in one color and then go over the areas you want in a different shade with a marker pen. This worked out really well with my little guy here and I love the way he turned out. Anyhow, I hope you are having a blessed day and that you are leaning on God's everlasting arms.

Smiles,
Nancy

CARD DETAILS:
The Angel Company Wild For You
My Mind's Eye Designer Papers
Palette Ink
Tombow Markers
Ribbon
Button

Beate's Weekend Challenge #35

Oh wow! It's been a while since I last completed one of Beate's Weekend Challenges. I haven't purposely been avoiding them. It just hasn't worked out for me to complete them. Oh how I love to participate in her challenges. Actually, I think her sketches were the first ones that I ever did. My how time flies and now completing sketch challenges are a part of my everyday stamping habits. When I first started stamping I would scour the internet looking for inspirational cards and save them to go back to when I needed some mojo. Now I hardly save cards instead I save sketches. I really like how sketches give you the liberty to put your own spin on thing whereas using cards for inspiration to me seemed more like card casing and I try not to case cards at all. Anyhow, here's what I did with Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #35. I used all TAC (The Angel Company) papers for this creation and a gift with purchase Thank You stamp. I cut enough papers out to make four of these cards as I have many people to send them to. What a blessing to have people to thank. How grateful I am to God to have been given so much.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." I Corinthians 15:57

CARD DETAILS:
The Angel Company GWP Thank You Stamp
TAC Hemingway Patterned Papers & Cardstock
Palette Ink Burnt Umber
Perfect Pearls
Prima Flowers
Dew Drops
Michael's Dollar Ribbons

Last Call for...

Yep, today is the last day to get your submissions in for Julee's Honored Guest Sketch Challenge over at Verve Visual. I had time to create one more and here it is with another card that I made for different sketch challenge. The other challenge can be found over at Toni's blog called the Stamping Diva. She is hosting a Tuesday Notebook Challenge. Clear Dollar Stamps' Pond Pals was used for both sketches. Lots of different possibilities with this versatile set.


I hope you are having a blessed day. As for me I have a ton of house work to do. Spring is approaching and I would like to get our home in tip top shape. I am trying to pare down my belongings... dare I say it? This will be the year that I am going to get rid of that box of fat and skinny clothes that never quite fit me right. After the Spring cleaning I'd like to redecorate. Where's IKEA when I need them?!

Catch you all later and THANK YOU so much for visiting me today. It's nice to have stamping friends to share with.
:-)

VERVE VISUAL SKETCH CARD DETAILS:
Clear Dollar Stamps "Pond Pals"
Basic Grey Papers
Palette Ink
Prismacolor Pencils blended with Gamsol
Scrapper's Floss
Nail Jewels

STAMPING DIVA TUESDAY NOTEBOOK
SKETCH CARD DETAILS:
Clear Dollar Stamps "Pond Pals"
Stampin' UP! Cardstock
Miss Elizabeth Designer Paper
Michael's Dollar Ribbons
Prima Flower
Sakura Glitter Pen
Tombo Markers
Crystal Lacquer

Happy LOVE Day!

Today was an awesome day. Andrew got up with Ellie when she got up for the third time this morning. This gave me a chance to sleep in. Is it still sleeping in when I had to get up twice during the early hours of the morning to calm a crying baby? I guess I'm gonna say yes. It was some rest and I loved every minute of. The restless night caused Ellie to take a longer nap this afternoon. I had more "ME" time. So what did I do? I stamped of course!!! I'll post the challenge card that I did later. Here's all I am sharing for today. Can you guess who it was for?

CARD DETAILS:
The Angel Company "My Life"
TAC Juliette Papers
Versa Mark
Vintage Plum Embossing Powder
Hydrangea Flowers
Dew Drops
Paper Lace
TAC Winchester Ribbon

HAPPY Us

I did stamp today. It's just that I haven't had a chance to share... instead I thought I'd share us. :-) My husband & I had a chance to get out tonight and celebrate our marriage at our church's annual Valentine Banquet. In a town where your best jeans and t-shirt means that your done up, it sure was fun to get all gussied up for an evening out with my love. Andrew called me an hour before he came home from work to check and see if I was ready for our date. I was planning to wear something special and do my hair but when he called I was far from beautiful as I had lost track of the time. Thankfully an hour is plenty of time to look spiffy and to get Ellie ready for the babysitter. We had a great time of fellowship, good food, and adoration. I thank God for giving me my husband.

PHOTO DETAILS:
I didn't want to use the flash so our picture is a tad bit blurry. I like it anyway because it captures the moment.
:-)

THANK YOU!

So the Secret Pal reveal was at the beginning of the month and I missed it! How terrible to be so caught up with my own daily things to have missed finding out who had blessed me! So who is my Secret Pal? REBECCA G of Bella Carta. With grace and friendship Miss Rebecca accepted my belated gratitude. I am so thankful for Rebecca's kindness. Not only has she sent me happy mail she has also been a wonderful blogging friend in offering advice and inspiration. THANK YOU Rebecca!!!

Q & A

Back on my Just Life post Chelemom asked, "How did you get your ink to be soooo brown? What kind of ink is it?"
The answer is...
I used Palette ink in Burnt Umber to stamp my image and then I used a Prisma Color Pencil to color in the edges. Next was blending the colored pencil out with Gamsol and then topping it off with Liquid Lacquer. When comparing the browns on my card the sentiment was done with the Palette ink alone whereas the flowers have been done up with the Prisma Color and liquid lacquer. That's how I got the brow sooooo brown Michele. Thanks for being so patient for an answer to your question.

Mojo Monday #23

I'm in the pink with this lovely card for Julee's Mojo Monday #23 sketch. If you can't tell already I'm a big fan of Basic Grey papers. I love their 6x6 packs! These are so perfect for carding or for making 6x6 layouts. I used a combination of Queen Kat Design's Flying Crowns and Valentine sentiment with Basic Grey Perhaps papers to get my mojo a going.

Four more days till Valentine's Day and I'm surprised that I haven't had very many commissioned cards for the holiday. Maybe I'll make some anyways and have them on hand in case I get a last minute call from some of our friends or a frantic person in need of a beautiful handmade card. Anyhow, I hope my Honey had my favorite local cardmaker, Laurie Serino, whip me up something special for the 14th. ;-)

Thank you Julee for the sketch. I hope you get to relax and stamp soon.

CARD DETAILS:
Queen Kat Designs Flying Crowns
& Valentine Sentiment
Basic Grey Perhaps
Versa Magic Chalk Ink
Sakura Sparkle Pen
Flowers
May Arts Ribbon

Suggestive SUNDAY

Allison from Stampin' When I Can has started doing her own type of stamping challenges. It's called "Suggestive Sunday". This weeks suggestion was to make a card suitable to give to a child. This one didn't start out for the challenge but in the end here it my entry for Allison's challenge. I might save this one and send it to my son when I know he's having a some struggles as he is away from home going to college. Thank you Allison for the suggestions. I am having fun with your challenges. SMILES!

CARD DETAILS:
Queen Kat Designs
Huggy Monster Stamp Set
Basic Grey Recess Papers
Palette Ink
Sakura Gelly Roll Pen
Ribbon
Dew Drops

Queen Kat Designs Teaser Contest!

Here's the deets:

Can you digggggg et???? QKD is getting ready for the CHA release! We have added 1 last minute set to the release... You'll never guess what it is... But in the mean time.. here's a Teeny Tiny Peek and one of the other sets....



Post the teases on your blog! See if anyone can guess what they are. Or just link them to the QKD blog. The person's blog to bring the most hits between now and Sunday morning 8am PST will win this stamp set that is {peeked} above! It's a $7.99 value.

Have FUN ladies!

SURPRISE!!!

It sure is something to read what others think about me... very-very humbling. Suzy from The Paper Monkey has decided to make me her Blog of the Week. !!! Her intro to me really made me up. (To is not the same as the computer term but rather a word that my son and I have used to mean tear up. There is also a gesture that goes with it where you take your pointer finger to your the corner of you eye and move it across and then swoosh it outward like you are flinging a tear. The first time my son did it to me it made my heart melt.) I am so shocked to find myself as her BOTW week because her art is tops and I never thought of myself among her favorites. I'm not fishing for compliments but this is really-really affirming and I'm trying not to let it go to my head. ;-)

On that note (pride), during this mornings scripture reading this verse really struck a cord with me. "For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright." Psalm 11:7 His countenance beholds the upright... oh how I want to be seen upright in God's eyes and to see it shining on His face. What a thought and an encouragement to be righteous.

Anyhow, thank you Suzy for picking me as your Blog of the Week!

Smiles,
Nancy