Kraft Cardstock & Color Coach

Hi stampers!  Ok, I know it's a K and three C's but that's a lot of alliteration :-)  But I wanted to tell you about one of my new favorite items in the new catalog!  The 12 x 12 kraft cardstock!  It's seriously awesome!  You get 12 sheets for $5.95 (item #133674) so that can go a long way!  

It's a bit darker than our crumb cake cardstock, it's a bit more fibrous looking, and a bit heavier.  As the picture from SU shows, it would make great die cuts.  It would also be great for gift packaging and 3D items and I'm having fun stamping on it!  It stamps really well!  You can see that here in this card where I stamped on it with crumb cake and island indigo!

Stampin' Supplies:

Stamps:  Kinda eclectic

Paper:  Whisper white, Crumb cake, island indigo, kraft card stock

Ink:  Island indigo, hello honey, tangelo twist

Accessories:  Natural ribbon (retired, whoops), linen thread, very vintage designer buttons, basic rhinestones, elegant and bitty butterfly punches

I'm also loving the kinda eclectic stamp set!  I tried to resist it but saw it was a convention set so I knew I'd be seeing fabulous stuff with it so I better get it so I wasn't UBER sad when convention rolled around :-)

And one more thing....this color combo....I would have never tried it had it not been on the color coach card!  It's totally not a "me" combo but I LOVE it!  The cards always have fresh and fun combos so make sure to grab them if you haven't already!

Happy stamping!

Baby Backes Bumpdate

Hi stampers!  I know I haven't really given any bumpdates and I've got no excuse except for all the crazy with the move and pure pregnancy laziness :-)  But people have been asking and there's no way I can do individual emails so here we go.  I'm 37 weeks now which means the little guy should be here in about 3 weeks.  I'm still sad to miss convention but it's the best reason to have to miss!  I'll be glued to the computer in a few weeks trying to soak up any news...although that won't do much for getting anything done around the house....not that I've been good at that lately anyway, ha!

I've been rather tired and lazy the past few weeks and finally having some discomfort.  I have been pretty lucky to have rather mild and "easy" symptoms all pregnancy but as he and I get bigger I am feeling some pain and discomfort. He kicks me a lot and hard and actually makes my belly and muscles quite sore!  I really never talked to anyone who's baby moved this much and this hard!  The ultrasound tech even commented on it once, lol!  He also likes to wedge a foot or something in my mid-back which isn't any fun!  I also have some burning muscle and nerve paint at the top of my belly which I guess is common in short people like me.  I guess it's a trade off since I don't have much pelvic pain yet at all.  But overall I can't really complain.  I'm still working out or at least walking sometimes up to 4 miles most days of the week but honestly sometimes that's really all I get done, lol!  I was anemic and feeling pretty wiped out from that but I just found out my numbers now are really good so I'm glad that's gotten better.  Jon was sad to hear it as he thought it would mean a decrease in red meat for dinner (which I had upped when I found out) ha!  I told him I need to keep my levels up so beef is on the menu for a while still!!!! Men!  Haha!   And speaking of daddy, I'm happy to say he made it through our birth class with flying colors.  He's pretty squeamish about medical stuff so it could have taken a turn for the worse :-)  And some of the things that annoy/bother me are just funny and things I'd never really think of.  For instance, I can't do dishes and work at the sink very comfortably.  Being short, the biggest part of my belly sticks out RIGHT at the edge of the island and it's literally hard to reach the faucet and soap!  LOL!  Who would have thought!  Putting my gym shoes on is also a challenge.  I swear, walking 4 miles is easier than THAT!  I'm excited to have my body back as in just belonging to ME and not sharing it, lol! And being able to put my shoes on without doing some weird breathing and yoga moves and being able to do the dishes comfortably lol!

So, overall I can't really complain as it's been an easy and uncomplicated pregnancy so far and I feel very lucky seeing what some women go through!  It makes me nervous to go for number two in case I'm not so lucky the second time lol!  That's part of the reason I'm an only child! Seriously, my mom said it was easy the first time and she didn't want to tempt fate the second, lol!  And I have a good friend who's on number two and was sick every single day for two whole trimesters after not being sick at all with her first.  You just never know!

Here's me at 35 weeks. At that point I was up about 20 pounds which was my target weight from my old OB taking into account that I was teaching a lot of aerobics.  Needless to say, now that I'm not doing that I may gain a tad more, lol!   But I'm happy to say that's not even a maternity skirt!  It's one of the very few things I had from before that I can squeeze into :-)  I think this might be my most favorite outfit to date.  I love clothes the way I love stamps so dressing the belly has been fun for me!  And I just realized my skirt matches my card!  It's totally coastal cabana, ha!

And you can't come without seeing a card of course.  These are the quick and easy thank you's I made up for my baby shower hostesses.  Which reminds me, I really need to try to see if anyone has pictures from that day and show you the decorations I made!!!!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Something for baby, lots of thanks
Paper:  Whisper white, coastal cabana
Ink:  So saffron, coastal cabana
Accessories:  Baby's first framelits

And that's pretty much it.  Thank you to everyone for your prayers and comments and support during this whole journey to have little Baby Backes!  It means more to me than you'll ever know!  I can't wait to share his arrival with you and probably all the silliness that he's going to bring if he's anything like his daddy ;-)

Happy stamping!

Oh Snap! I have lost it!

Hi stampers!  So I've officially lost it!  No, not my mind....a stamp!  Or at least I did for a short time.  First time ever I think!  I'm usually fairly mindful to put my stamps back immediately after use so I don't lose them or throw them away with my mess because I would totally do that.

Last week I finally felt inspired and sat down to make some cards and only wanted to do ONE thing!  I wanted to use the single camera stamp and color it with my blendies and use the "Oh Snap" sentiment from......  It's the SINGLE reason I broke down and bought the silly camera stamp.  So, I got to get the sentiment.....uh....What.  The.  Heck?   Where is it?  CRAP!  So I look through ALL my sets that were near it (I have a weird storage system now, I'll show you sometime soon I hope) thinking I've put it in another case by chance.  Nope, no dice.  All I wanted to do was make this ONE flipping card lol!!!!  I finally got mad (hubby even asked me what was going on as I was talking to myself and stomping around and my room is right outside his "office" although he got a new desk this weekend and moved over a bit so I get to cabbage onto his old space and desk, yay...he wanted to be closer to the TV lol...men!)

So, I got up and turned off my work lights and gathered my stuff and just happened to walk by some stamps that I'd JUST moved.  They were stamps from SAB and the expired occasions.  And it hit me, I had used that sentiment with the Peachy Keen set since it had the camera image.  Could it be in there????  I should ONLY be so lucky!  Wouldn't you know it!  Opened it up and there it was, oh happy day!  LOL!  Guess it's good I got mad and stomped around or I may not have walked by there and happened to think about it! But the bad news was I wasted all my energy looking for it and being PO'd so I didn't feel like finishing the card lol!  Figures, right????

Anyway, I finished it a few days later. So here it is:-)

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Snapshot, hip notes
Paper:  Whisper white, basic black, coastal cabana
Ink:  Momento, blendabilities (daffodil delight, coastal cabana)
Accessories:  On film framelits, essentials woodcuts, arrows embossing folder

Sorry the picture is not great.  But the 9 month pregnant woman isn't hauling the baby bump down the stairs to take another:-)

Any of you ever lose a stamp?  Did you find it?  Do you put them away right away or let them pile up on your desk?  I really don't lose many things in stamping and my "real" life but it's always awful when I do!  I have a favorite pair of fleece sweatpants that have just up and disappeared and an under armor fleece...I have a feeling someone at the gym inherited them both :-)

I'll try to have some tips on coloring with the blendies once I play with them some more.  There is a learning curve for sure but I like them.  I'm not good with other alcohol markers so these are great for me since they are easy and take a lot of the guess work out.  The one thing I will mention is that you need to use momento ink.  Staz on will bleed.  And the momento works great as just a regular black ink as well!

Happy stamping!

Mailable Monday Flowers

Hi stampers!  Hope you all had a great holiday weekend!  The in laws were here and we had fun but they wore me out :-)  I spent most of the day napping on the couch yesterday but I was happy to have the energy to hang out with them when I did!  And I'm glad I napped because the poor dog flipped out over a storm last night even with her thundershirt (which normally works really well for her) and after trying everything I could think of I finally resorted to hanging out with her IN my closet as she has a basket of old clothes she likes to nap in there.  That seemed to help her as she couldn't see the lighting with the door shut.  I think I would have had insomnia anyway from the napping so it worked out.  Now, lets hope she doesn't make this a habit!  Otherwise her, the baby and I may end up spending a lot of time in there, lol!

I also got TWO cards done in a short amount of time on Friday while we waited for them to arrive.  I'm hoping it means my mojo is coming back and I can enjoy some stamp time before Baby B arrives!  I'm going to try today but my to do list is long....I've been putting a lot of things that NEED to get done off!

So, I was excited to get the flower patch set and framelits.  Don't forget you can get them together in a bundle for a great price! I think this set is great because you can make really detailed and fancy cards with it OR you can keep it simple and make really pretty and easy ones like this!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Flower patch, gorgeous grunge, a dozen thoughts
Paper:  Whisper white, blushing bride, calypso coral
Ink:  Blushing bride, calypso coral, hello honey
Accessories:  Subtles candy dots, flower patch framelits

I have to say I LOVE this color combo! I got it right from the color coach cards for the new in colors.  They are super cheap and offer up a number of fun and inventive color combos so I suggest getting them if you haven't AND the whole color coach as well.  It's a great resource and inspiration!  I'll be using this one again!  And the candy dots are just the ticket for a little extra that still goes in the mail!!!!!

Better get going and get my walk/exercise in so I can get to work on that to do list and maybe stamp!

Happy stamping!

Fab Friday 45

Hi stampers!  First of all Happy Independence Day!  I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful 4th of July and a big thanks to all our troops and their families past and present who keep us free!  Another big shout out to my Uncle Harold Bergbower who was a POW in the Pacific (I think I've mentioned him before).  Google his name for some seriously interesting reading!

And happy Friday!  It happens to be time for nice little sketch over at Fab Friday!

Now, I should have a patriotic card to share but I don't.  I made this one first as I wasn't feeling super inspired and then I tried to make an inventive 4th of July card and it just didn't work out.  I still don't love this one but it was better than the second, ha!  So here it is.

I used the blendabilities to color.  I'm not great at it but not bad either.  They are pretty easy to use!  I'm trying to decide if I need ALL the colors....sigh :-)  And by practicing and watching videos I'm picking up little hints and tricks and getting better.  I'll share some of those soon!

Now head on over and see what the rest of the team came up with and play along!

Happy stamping!

Nuts About My Hubby

Hi stampers!  On June 26th my wonderful hubby and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary.  We kept it about as low key as you can get by just staying at home instead of spending any money.  Although the delicious meal I was going to make got ruined as I think the chicken was bad!  It was stinky even though it was still within the date so I had to change plans mid-cooking. Oh joy lol!  But with chicken and being pregnant especially I wasn't taking any chances!!!! And we agreed no gifts this year as we are getting the best gift in a little under a month now ;-)  However, he DID learn his lesson on that fateful Valentine's day of 2013 where we said no gifts and he didn't even get his wife the CARD maker a card lol!

And while I hadn't been stamping much I knew I would never live down not having a card (lol) so I had to whip one up.  I don't normally get hostess sets, or try not to anyway since I don't do many events (hoping to change that after the baby of course) but this year's were just too cute to resist!  My card today is a case of one Kimberly Van Diepen made.  I don't case much anymore but it's great when I'm short on time AND inspiration which has been the case recently.  More the inspiration (and energy) than the time.  And I might have only started this one shortly before he was due home from work, hehe ;-)

But, since we act like 3rd graders I knew he'd appreciate anything with the word "nuts" in it.  Sigh....and they are just going to send a kid home with us....it's scary lol!  I hope we don't teach him TOO many bad things ;-)  And wouldn't you know, as soon as he opened it he was giggling :-)  He also even noticed and commented on the "nuts" on the trees.  This is why he's a keeper!  He always likes my cards and really does notice the details :-)

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps: Nuts about you (hostess)
Paper:  Whisper white, Bermuda bay, baked brown sugar
Ink:  Soft suede, Old olive, baked brown sugar
Accessories:  Woodgrain embossing folder, neutral candy dots, petite curly label punch, pear pizzaz taffeta ribbon (retired)

I did use some retired ribbon.  I kinda miss that taffeta, I really liked that stuff.  But the new cotton ribbon is similar in that it's thin, soft, and ties really well!

So there you have it!  Now you know we act like little kids 99% of the time around here.  Raising one should be interesting!  LOL!

Happy stamping!

HSS 189

Hi stampers and happy Tuesday!  And happy July!  HOW can it be July?  Little Baby Backes is due 30 days from today!  Ohmygosh!  I feel like I've been pregnant for about ever in one way but can't believe he's almost here in another!  Granted, we did know much earlier than most people do but still!!!!! It's crazy that now when people ask when I'm due I can say THIS month :-)  Guess that's why the dry cleaning lady said I was big the other day?  LOL!  Well lady I don't think I am but I am working on close to 9 months here ;-)

Anyway today is full of fun!  First, customers can order the pre-order sets of blendabilities now!  I've been having fun playing with these!  I'll have some tips and projects to share soon I hope (still struggling to get in the stamping AND blogging and doing most of anything lol groove!).  You can now get the skin tone set, coastal cabana, cherry cobbler, old olive, daffodil delight, rich razzleberry, and pumpkin pie now.  The rest of the colors will be out on August 1.  They really do make coloring easy and I'm so not a good colorer!  Even my hubby complimented my work the other night!  Also, buy any 3 packs of our DSP and get a fourth free through the end of the month!  Not too shabby!  All of these items are available in my online store or by contacting me directly.

And maybe the most fun of all, a new challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments starts today!  This week is an awesome color challenge using some of the new in colors!

I just love the new in colors and have NOT used them enough!  For my card I used the kinda eclectic stamp set.  This is one I tried NOT to like, lol!  Do you ever do that?  Try NOT to like a set so you don't HAVE to buy it?  LOL!  I'm kind of glad I sat on my order for a while because I really had talked myself out of it but then I kept seeing amazing cards made with it so I had to get it!  It's great on it's own and will work so well with so many other sets and elements!

I kept it pretty simple though since I got started on this a tad bit late.  But it makes great simple cards!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Kinda eclectic
Paper:  Whisper white
Ink:  Hello honey, lost lagoon, tangelo twist
Accessories:  Basic rhinestones, natural ribbon, hello honey ribbon, butterfly punch

I stamped off the dots once although it's really hard to tell in the photo.  I think I should have stamped them off twice!  Lost lagoon is such a deep pretty color!  And the butterfly was punched out twice.  The first one I adhered flat with glue dots then folded the second one slightly in the middle for some dimension!

Ok, now it's your turn!  Go see what the rest of the team did and grab those new colors and play along with  us!

Happy stamping!