The drive way is DONE! The drive way is DONE!

Hi everyone!  I am super happy to report that the driveway, walkway and garage floor is DONE!  Man, it feels good to have it complete.  AS IN DONE, nothing lingering on like with the kitchen (update, my contractor is coming next Wednesday to complete the last little things, whew).

Wanna see pics of the BIGGEST RUBBER STAMP EVER?  Check this out.  We opted for a concrete stain and stamp along the border of the driveway and continue it on to the walkway.  SUPER COOLIO! 
The big blue thing on the left is the stamp, sorry for the shadows, it was super sunny this day!

Here are some before pictures to let you know what we lived with for 7 years.

And alas... here it is now!

 I can't wait to put back my porch bench, decorative planters and spruce it up with new landscaping!! 

I also have a card to share today.  This one uses a couple of Verve's new release sets, Great Friend and Happy Hello.  I love how versatile the flower blossoms are in Great Friend.  You can use the outline image for paper piecing OR for a delicate flower outline like I did here.  And of course, Julee never misses a beat with the layering options with her flowers. 

My layout is from Taylor's sketch (TESC125) from last week.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend.

Driveway remodel: Day 9

Hi everyone!  Yesterday, the cement driveway was poured!

As I type, the walkway is being poured.  We have gone with a concrete stain and stamp.  Have you seen that done before?  It will be amazing.  Some of you have asked, and no, we did not take out our HUGE Blue Spruce tree.  We cut the 3 major roots and sealed them and will pray it survives.  I LOVE this tree, I mean really LOVE it.  I will keep it as long as I can.  

Anyway, here are 2 from yesterday:

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day!

Mojo Monday ON a Monday

Hi everyone!  I actually have a Mojo Monday sketch card to share with you ON a Monday!  That so never happens -LOL!  But, with all the crews here all day prepping for the concrete pour tomorrow, I have to stay home.  TRANSLATION: I want to stamp instead of clean! 

I love Julee's sketches!  This Mojo153 sketch ROCKS!  I have used a similar sketch in the past and using 4 squares is always a hit with me.  My card uses 2 newly released Verve sets, Happy Hello and Dream Big.  The sketch lends itself perfectly for that cute square border in Happy Hello!  I stamped it on Vintage Cream in Basic Gray ink, masked it off and stamped the medium sized leaf branch from Dream Big.  I colored in the small square border with the W1 Copic marker to add a bit of pop.

I have a couple pictures of how I masked the squares.  First I stamped the square image on the cardstock and on a post-it note.  Using a craft knife, I cut out the inside of the square on the post-it.

I then lined the square outline onto my cardstock and stamped the image over it.  Easy peasy!

Driveway Remodel update:  Well, at the end of last week we had complete demo and haul away of our driveway, walkway and garage floor.  We were hoping to only demo the left side of the garage, but after everything was demo'd we discovered some serious unsound structural issues, so we had to demo the entire thing.  Ugh, we were hoping to save on the cost.  Oh well, it is for the best and will turn out MUCH better in the end!

So today, the crew brought in and leveled off the gravel, placing the drains and are setting the forms.  We are still on schedule to pour concrete tomorrow morning in the garage!  This will be super cool!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Card Deets:

Stamps - Dream Big, Happy Hello
Ink - Always Artichoke, Basic Gray
Paper - Kraft, Vintage Cream, Basic Grey Manilla 6x6 pad
Accessories - 3/8" blue grosgrain, blue rhinestones and green burlap string (all Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts), Tag nestabilities

Friends with Flair, home style

Welcome to Friday with Flair!  It's been awhile, but I love it when I have time to play along!  Angela has the master list of all the 50 designers participating in the FWF this week, so take a lookie at the Unity Blog for the names/links of everyone.

Today I have a couple more Housewarming cards to share.  My real estate agent asked me to make him 20 and I am chipping away at the order in between this week's Verve Release Spotlight peeks and house renovations!  CAS is the name of the game with these.  AND Ippity's House a Home is the perfect for all my cards. 

I got the layout idea from the incomparable Julie Ebersole -queen of CAS!!  The pattern paper is from Bella Blvd from my scrap folder, but most are from Man of the House line.  I love Bella Blvd papers because they are great for masculine cards.  I have to REMEMBER that I can't make all the cards girlie with flowers!  Some have to be masculine -which is very tricky for us girlie stampers -LOL!

Here is another with different colors and papers.  I like how these turned out, not too girlie, right?

 Before I go, yesterday was Demo day 1 for my driveway/walkway and garage!!

I have a couple pics to share.  Today they finish the demo and clean up and all next week they set the forms, lay and stamp the concrete!  I am so excited!  Here are the before shots:

Believe it or not, this picture doesn't show any demo.  It's a close up of the condition of our driveway.  The HUGE Blue Spruce tree roots have done unbelievable damage!

Here are some demo shots -yep the 3 guys tore up everything with a jack hammer!  I think my neighbors HATED me cause they started at 9:15am!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!  I hope to see you tonight at the Verve Release party!

Card Deets:

Stamps: House a Home (Ippity)
Paper: White, Man of the House PP (Bella Blvd)
Ink: Soft Suede, terracotta tile, Hawaiian shores
Accessories: Jute string (Stamp Simply Ribbon store), circle nesties, corner rounder, Copic markers and buttons from Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts

Another 2 house cards and Verve Spotlights begin

Hi everyone!  Well, here are another 2 housewarming cards for my real estate agent.  These both follow this week's Fall To Layout sketch #103.  Quick and easy!  I am gonna need to pick out a few more favorite FTL sketches and make more cards!  17 to go!

Again, I used Ippity's House a Home set.  These are pretty simple, just a bit of coloring and ribbon.  This card uses the PTI Simply Chartreuse saddle stitched ribbon and Pacific Point cardstock.

This card uses October Afternoon's Fly a Kite paper and the amazing SU! 1/4" Taffeta ribbon in Daffodil.

AND, it's that time again...

The VERVE stamps release is this Thursday and all this week the Divas are Spotlighting the new sets.  The New Release Spotlight will be a bit different this time, each day the Verve Stamps blog will have a master list of all the Divas showing cards that day.  

As usual, with Verve releases there are challenges -this time Julee has created 5 amazing sketches!  Check them out here there are a couple ways to win.  The Release Party will be this Thursday, 5pm Pacific over on the Verve Forum on SCS.

Today we are Spotlighting the fabulous set, Love Story.  This is an amazing wedding set that features 6 images and 14 sentiments!  You will love this set!  Be sure to check out the Verve blog to see what Divas have samples to share!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

House is a Home to the rescue

Hi everyone!  I have a couple challenge cards to share today.  First up, my real estate agent has asked me to make 20 Welcome Home cards for him!  I don't do many custom orders, but he is such a great agent AND Ippity just released the set, House is a Home - it seemed destined - how could I say no??  So be prepared to see lots of Welcome Home cards -LOL!

This cutie card not only uses Ippity's  House is a Home set, but also uses the dotted background stamp from the Love in Return set.  I stamped the houses, colored them with copic markers, and cut them out.  The strip of pattern paper is from Bella Blvd.  I love the colors of their lines.  The tone is earthy and no so girlie, perfect for Home cards.

I used today's Taylored Expressions sketch #124 for my layout.  Perfect sketch for little houses, huh?!?  The small brown bling is from the Round Wheel by Zva Creative and the brown twill ribbon is from Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.

Next up is my card from last weekend for the Featured Stamper challenge on SCS.  This week we are celebrating vdutchr. I cased this cute card here. I kept the size of the card, layout and use of circles. But I changed up almost everything else.

This is also for the last Technique Tuesday challenge, TTSC1, to use TT stamps. I used the Thanks for Everything and Wise Guys sets. I also used some of the Technique Tiles -the FUNdamental Rings. LOVE these!  This was also for the Embellish Magazine challenge, to use the colors: pink, brown and green AND use a bird of some kind.  But, I didn't complete it in time to enter it!  OOPS!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Card Deets:

Stamps: House a Home, Love in Return (Ippity)

Paper: kraft, white, Soft Sky
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa
Accessories: brown twill ribbon, circle nesties, copic markers, scallop trim border punch, button from the Gentle Times collection

Card Deets:

Stamps: Thanks for Everything, Wise Guys (Technique Tuesday)
Paper: kraft, white, hibiscus burst, dark chocolate 
Ink: early espresso (su!)
Accessories: satin edged grosgrain ribbon (Stamp Simply Ribbon Store), technique tiles, copic markers, border punch, Oregon Rain drops in Kiwi, felt flowers   

THEY ARE HERE!! 

...... 

NEW IPPITY STAMPS!! 

...... 

THE SUMMER 2010 COLLECTION! 

Be still my little heart :-) 

To purchase these, please visit my Ippity Sales Blog.

Introducing:

Quotes a'la HAPPY - $18

Introducing:

Authentic Man - $15

Introducing:

 House a Home - $15

Introducing:

 You Deserve - $8.50

Introducing:

 Thoughts from the Past - $6

Introducing:

Book It! - $6

  Here is the entire collection.  I didn't purchase all of the stamps on my initial order.  If you would like to purchase Dots for Sure, Life is the Journey, That's Creepy, So This is Love, Bitty Pixie Paisley, or Totally Happy, please email me and I can get it for you no problem!

Speaking of Ippity Stamps...  Don't forget I am sponsoring this week's Cupcake Inspiration Challenge!  Hop on over to the CIC blog for details on how enter and win the Music of my Heart set!

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for new release stamp samples!!  In the meantime, there is a blog hop going on showing wonderful samples by the Ippity DT and Ippity Chicks.  You can go to the Main Ippity Blog for blog hop details!!

Kitchen remodel: Day 38

Please scroll down or click here for the Stamp Simply August blog hop.

Hi everyone!  Well, I am so pleased with how everything is turning out in the kitchen.  You know, my old kitchen was so awful that buying new fun kitchen stuff felt a little like putting lipstick on a pig!  KWIM?

Today, I have a couple kitchen gadgets to share.  First up, a total splurge, an automatic soap dispenser!  Oh yeah, this is so fun AND anyone who has little kids knows what a challenge it is to get them to wash their hands with soap -LOL!  I got this at Target, part of their new Michael Graves line, for $20.  Worth every penny.

This is another SUPER splurge.  A KitchenAid 14 cup coffee maker.  Yeah, you read correctly - a 14 CUP maker!!  I have never seen one before.  This coffee maker is amazing.  It's quiet, has some "shower head" spray thing, state of the art look, I just LOVE IT!!

Next up is something small, but really cool and functional.  These little guys are PERFECTLY sized to fit in the upper cabinets.  It is pantry bin and fits all the sauce packets and such -I bought 3.  How cool!  These are about $10 each from Storables.

And last, but NOT least my favorite splurge.  My new SimpleHuman compact dish drain.  It is sleek and stylish, AND works SO much better than the standard Rubbermaid dish drains by far.  It has a funneling system on the tray that empties into a small spout that is directed into the sink.  No more emptying the drain tray that puddles with dish water -you with me?  I also bought this at Storables, but it can be found online.  It cost $35.  Again, worth. every. penny.

So tell me -WHY do we not buy fun and functional stuff for the kitchen?  

I am the first to buy a new Spellbinders die, Cosmo Cricket paper, but a new coffee pot?  No way -why buy a new one when my old one (over 7 years old) still worked?  

Well, this remodel has encouraged to update my kitchen in every way and I am so pleased!  Oh and see that clamp thingy in the background of the drain picture?  That's another fun thing I got -it's called a Telescope Bag Dryer.  I wash and reuse ziplock baggies and this is a gadget to help dry them!  Who knew?!?

Next up, demo for the driveway, walkway and garage.  This starts next week on the 19th. Yeah, that's how we roll!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!