Mike & Ike

Well, I guess Monday is my day to post, lol. I don't seem to be posting any other days! Must be because I looooove Mondays. Not.

Remember I said I may have bought a new Whipper Snapper stamp or 4?? Well, here's a card made with Stamp #2:

This is Mike & Ike Go Fishing. Actually, I think it's Ike & Mike Go Fishing. I don't know why they named it wrong.

Annnd I used my Copics AGAIN! I'm actually really liking them. It only took me 7 years to warm up to them!

I used Snow stuff & glitter all over .... & I mean ALL over. In places I didn't really mean to, so I added more to make it look like I *did* mean to. Yep, I'm creative that way! 

Just LOOK at the sparkle. Sigh .... I could stare at it all day ...

{I kind of am. It snowed a LOT here today. For those of you who have never seen snow, it really does sparkle!}

I think these two are adorable. Mike & Ike. Ike & Mike. I like Mike & Ike! I think there should be a stamp made with Mike & Ike riding a bike. Or going on a hike! Those cute little tykes :)

Whipper Winter Wishes

Say that 3 times fast! 

I hope you all had a great weekend. I actually spent the weekend catching up on laundry & cleaning ... so not fun, but I was sick the week before so it had to be done & apparently my fairies are on strike. 

I did, however, get to finish a card on that I had started before I got sick. Look at me go! How many cards is that this year now?? Two? I think that's more than I made all last year haha

It has been a looooong time since I've been to Creative Pals here in town. The store I affectionately call "the Whipper Snapper store" .... because  ..... well duh. Same person owns both :)  I used to go there so much I became friends with the person who creates ALL the samples in the store. She was using Copics before anybody else had heard of them. We became great friends. Heck, I was there practically every week.

She was there the night I was there. It took her a while to recognize me. She finally did remember that I used to visit the store a lot. Then, as she was getting ready to ring up my stuff, she stopped keying & said ..... get this ....

"I'm sorry, I don't remember your name." 

What?!?!?

Sigh .... I guess that's what 4 or 5 years will do. 

 I explained that I was forced to take a break. You know ... like Ross & Rachel. On a break, but not quite completely on a break. I told her I snuck a few in here & there. 

But now my kids are older & I've been really missing it. I've missed all the adorable stamps out there. I wasn't sure what to expect when I walked into Creative Pals. Were there still wood mounted stamps?? Was everything going to be acrylic? Just rubber? 

Happy to report there is still some wood, although they are phasing it out. No matter, the stamps are cute no matter how they are packaged. I picked up one or maybe four new stamps. Oops. Well, I have lots of time to make up for, no? 

I even used my Copics. I can't believe they haven't dried up! The sentiment is one of my favorites & it came from one of those little clear sets Michael's used to carry for $1. Basic Grey papers (soooo sad they won't be making paper anymore, guess I missed that boat) & lots of snowflakes & glitter. Simple card, but I like how sparkle-y it turned out. 

Thanks for bearing with me while I try to get my groove back!! 

Have a great week! 

Oh good. More snow.

Our official snow total for Friday when all was said & done was 13". Except Mother Nature *wasn't* done ~~ she dumped 4 more inches on us last night!! I am so glad we don't travel for Christmas. I feel so badly for those trying to get out of Wisconsin!! The farthest I have to go is my mom's house ~~ 5 minutes away :)


I am trying to get gifts done for the school staff. Here is a jar of chocolate goodness I made for the ladies I work with. I know I'm not a *real* employee ~~ I'm still just a sub, regardless of how long I've been there & will be there. But they all have been so incredibly nice to me, & so helpful. Not one of them has treated me as "just a sub". They include me in everything. They have a secret stash ~~ ok, not so secret ~~ of chocolate in the teacher's cabinet, so I wanted to add to that stash. I bought a HUGE jar at Michael's, & a HUGE bag of chocolate (Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Twix, Hershey kisses....mmm....) & filled 'er up.


The jar is so huge, I couldn't even fit a 12"x12" piece of paper around it, so I angled it. The paper is from the DCWV Christmas glitter stack from last year. You can see where it comes to a point in the front, so I had to cover that up with something adorable. Nothing more adorable than Santa Snowman from Whipper Snapper (BTW, did you see their new website?? Looks awesome!! And now you can order their stamps wood mounted, cling mounted, or unmounted!). I colored him with Prismas & gamsol, & added Dazzling Diamonds to his hat. I used Liquid Applique for the snow, & added the DD glitter to that as well. Had to make sure it sparkled!! Used my Nesties for the layers (that's Cryogen shimmer white paper on the bottom). Added some ribbon & a sparkly snowflake around the lid.


Then for the top I used a sentiment from my Papertrey Holiday Treats set. Added a small snowflake to the center, glue dotted that to a big sparkly snowflake (bought a pack of those at Michael's) & put all that on top of another Nestie cut from yet another piece of paper from the DCWV stack. I don't like how this picture turned out, the blue is more of an indigo shade rather than the bright blue this pic is showing. But you get the idea :)


I can't wait to give them this jar tomorrow ~~ my last day before Xmas vacation. They still have school Tuesday, but it's an early day so I don't have to work. Which is good, because I'm having Dominos pizza with my 4th grader. That's what they decided to do instead of a regular class party ~~ order pizza & soda & invite the parents & play music.......too much fun!!

I hope you all have a productive Sunday!! I'm off to finally do some baking!! First up are Spritz cookies, using my grandma's recipe which I posted HERE. If you haven't tried it, you should. Trust me :)

Winter storm warning...

We are under a winter storm warning. How shocking. They're not sure what's coming. 18" of snow......or 2" of snow. If you're closer to the lake, maybe just rain. Or if the temps drop slightly, ice. Whatever. I'm already sick of winter. LOL!

But I do like making winter cards!! Take a lookie at the cute Whipper Snapper penguin my friend Tammi sent me!! She also sent me some cute snowmen that I can't WAIT to ink up!!



Yep, this is Christmas card #4!!! I colored the penguin with Prismas & gamsol, & used Diamond Dust on the penguin's hat, the snow, & the punched snowflake. The papers are Basic Grey Two Scoops, & DCWV Christmas stack. The darker is actually more burgundy than the picture shows. I am once again trying to take pictures at night, in my dark rec room, with just an Ott Light. Not working so well. Anyway, believe it or not I stitched AGAIN, added some very wide organdy ribbon, & finished it off with a snowflake charm attached with some silver cord. I think I spent about an hour on this card, which may just be a record for me!! I might get my Christmas cards done yet! It's a good thing I don't have a lot of friends :)

Have a great night, & for those of you in the midwest, stay safe!!! This is supposed to be a HUGE storm covering many states so stay home tomorrow & make it a pj & hot cocoa day!!!

Getting down to business

Ok, so I decided I'd better start making some Christmas cards for myself or everyone would be getting store bought. I don't think any of my stamping friends would appreciate that!! So I made not 1 but......**gasp**....2 of these!! If you know me, you know I hate duplicating. But I really liked how this turned out so I made another. It's not like there was a lot of coloring involved!! I said I was going to keep it simple. In fact, the hardest part (for me) was the sewing!!


I used Santa Snowman, an older stamp from Whipper Snapper. I see just now when I looked it up to add the link, that it's available in cling mount!! I got my stamp at a rummage sale at my LSS last year, dirt cheap!! The little bit of coloring I did do, I did with my Prismas & gamsol. Heck, for that small amount I could have attempted to use my Copics, even I couldn't have messed that up!! I used Dazzling Diamonds on his hat to make it sparkly. For the snowflakes, I used Liquid Applique & more Dazzling Diamonds. Yep, this card really sparkles!! Added a few layers with my Nesties, & a piece from my Provocraft Holiday pad, did some SEWING, added some silver cord & DONE!! My sewing is coming along, just don't look too closely at it. It's a bit off on one side, but I guess that's the beauty of handmade ~ it will never be perfect!!


Here's the inside ~~ I used a dollar stamp from Michael's for the saying. Never mind the shadow, lol. I knew I wouldn't be home tomorrow to take pictures, so I attempted to take the photos with my Ott Lite. Didn't work so well ~~ now I remember why I wait for daylight ~~ & I had to edit the heck out of it. My camera doesn't like red anyway, but add the polka dots, & the Ott Lite, & I'm just lucky I got a useable picture!!!


2 Xmas cards down....too many to go!! At least I won't be tempted to sell this on Ebay, because selling Whipper cards is a no-no!! No angel policy, & I know sellers who have been kicked off for doing so!! Too bad, as they have soooo many cute stamps. Especially this last release, with all the cute snowmen. I try not to buy stamps I can't use to sell on Ebay, because I just can't afford it. The day I win the lottery, though, watch out!!!!

Whipper Snapper Halloween

Weekends seem to be a bad time for me to try to stamp. There is always so much going on, & now that my kids are in school during the week, I really want to hang out with them as much as I can on the weekends. They are 6 & 9, & I know that soon MOM will be the *last* person they want to hang out with!!

So....I haven't had a chance to stamp at all this weekend. But I do want to share a card with you ~~ one that I made last year with a cutie ghost from Whipper Snapper. I love this stamp ~~ it has seen a LOT of ink!! I actually did this card for a challenge on SCS last year ~~ which was simply to make a Halloween card!! If I remember correctly, the dotted paper is from Doodlebug ~~ love their papers!! Always such cute designs!! I also used SU's Pumpkin Pie & Basic Black, plus Whisper White for the image. I actually just added the 3 dew drops at the top, the spider & the bats (the spider is an EK Success punch, the bat a Martha Stewart punch). I also added some ribbon behind the sentiment, but I'm not sure I like the outcome of that. I futzed around with it so much, though, that it is staying :)


Unfortunately I can't sell this card on Ebay. Whipper Snapper is not an angel company. So......I may just have to send it to a friend. Or one of my readers. Or one of my readers who is a friend, or a friend who is a reader......lol!!!

Stay tuned tomorrow for (hopefully!) a High Hopes card, using this month's set of stamps that are on sale!!

Speedy delivery!!

Sometimes the Post Office surprises me. I mailed this puppy card to my friend Cris on Friday, & she received it yesterday already!! Now, she does live in the same county, so that's the way it *should* be. But I've had mail going across town take more than a week!!

Anyway, Cris got a black lab puppy a couple of weeks ago so I HAD to make her a card for the occasion. Seems having a puppy is a lot like having a baby ~~ getting up at night to let it out, putting up baby gates to keep it out of trouble, & taking it *everywhere* to show it off!! I've only seen pictures of "Lola", but I hope to meet her soon!!


I used one of my very favorite images from Whipper Snapper, Spunky Pup. It's a small image but I do seem to get a lot of use out of him!! I stamped him onto Cryogen shimmery white paper (I prefer this over SU's shimmer paper ~~ the shimmer is a bit more subtle) & colored him with my Prisma pencils & Gamsol. The papers are from a K&Company paper pad I picked up at Michael's a couple of months ago. The circle/scalloped circles were all created with my Nestabilites. I added some of my favorite Offray dotted ribbon, a bone button I had in my stash, & finished with some faux stitching. Oh, how I would LOVE to learn how to operate a sewing machine! The last time I operated one was in middle school, in Home Economics class, in the year 19-none-of-your-business. I'm pretty sure they've changed since then, but unless it comes with an elf who can operate it for me, I'm out of luck. Those who can't sew, faux sew!! I added a bit of Crystal Effects to his cute little nose & sent him off to his new home!!!! I know I've seen this layout before, but I can't remember where. I hate when that happens. I just look at too many galleries & blogs to remember exactly what I've seen where! Thanks to ALL of you for your inspiration!

Hope you had a pleasant Sunday!! It was so gorgeous here ~~ sunny & perfect temps. We were outside most of the day & I even got a bit of gardening done! My asters are close to opening, & my mums are getting buds, which means fall is just around the corner!! I *heart* fall, but then another Wisconsin winter follows very quickly. And after LAST winter, I'm not sure I'll ever be ready for that!!!!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Hello everyone & happy Saturday!! I got most of my "party" duties done, & we have an hour before we have to leave for the baseball game so I'm ahead of schedule!! That almost never happens!!

We are having Michael's birthday party tomorrow, but it's also my grandma's 89th birthday!! We are very close ~ I don't have any other grandparents so I always tell her she has to live to be 150!! Last year she was in the hospital on her birthday, so this year is extra special. Sadly, with all the goings-on of late, I didn't have time to make her a birthday card, but I found this one in my stash which I know she'll love:


This cute mouse is from Whipper Snapper. I had sent this plus 2 other cards in for their spring contest this year. None of them won :( But I know my grandma will love it ~~ I made the inside extra special just for her!! I colored the mouse with Prisma pencils & Gamsol, & added Twinkling H2O's on the goodies. The background is stamped with an Inky Antics stamp ~ I think it's called "Chocolate Treats". I added Crystal Effects to his nose & the cherry on top.

Thank you to all of you who have e-mailed me about my hubby. He's doing a bit better since having the Upper GI yesterday. When the doctor called me after he was done, he said there was a TON of food stuck in his esophagus. Ewwww ~~ gross, but I'm sure that's what's been causing all the pain in his stomach & chest. They think he has something called Achalasia of the esophagus. It's very rare ~ apparently none of the nurses that assisted had ever seen a case of it. Basically, the muscles of his esophagus aren't working, so the food isn't going down as it should. He is on a liquid diet until he sees the doctor again, at which time they'll perform a manometry. They will stick a tube down his nose, & he will swallow several times. This measures muscle contractions in different parts of the esophagus. This will determine whether or not it IS achalasia. They also did a biopsy, so hopefully all of that will come back okay. Treatment would be either medication, which is the easiest but is inconvenient & doesn't always work, dilation, or surgery. We will know more after his appointment, which isn't for another week & a half.

And we're going to State Fair next week!! Poor guy can't have anything fried or on a stick. He must have shed a tear or two, because the doctor did okay a cream puff :)