More is More

Happy Friday!  Looks like I might make it through the week.  It was questionable there for awhile – LOL!  My card for today’s Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge (sketch where cupcakes are not actually required) uses mostly all new stuff I had sitting out in my stamp room.  New stamp set – Forest Friends (preview from the upcoming Occasions Mini), designer paper – Sweet Slumber (yummy texture), jumbo grommet (Ocassions Mini preview), Button Latte, and Flower Soft.  I guess sometimes it can be good to have stuff not put away.

I just got the Flower Soft this week and I’ve been wanting to play with it ever since I saw it demo’d at CHA in January.  It’s fun fluffy stuff.  On the leaves of the tree I used Pale Green and Shamrock Green and then some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.

I hope you’ll join us in playing the TECC this weekend.  See Taylor’s sample and get all the info on her blog.  Now it’s time to see what the rest of the Cupcake Crew has cooked up.

And this week’s Featured Stamper is Jessie Rone.  Plus we have a bonus today as Our Friday Friend over at Stamp a Sweet Impression also has a TECC sample for us!

If you are following my blind date story (scroll down 2 posts to read it from the beginning) – 20 years ago today it’s Monday.  He hasn’t called yet, but I just figure he doesn’t want to appear over anxious.  I figure he’ll call within the next couple of days…..

I have class tonight and then a full-to-the-gills weekend!  I hope you have stuff to keep you busy as well.  Enjoy!

-Jami

My monthly Stampin’ Up! Class is tomorrow night so I thought I’d stop in and share one of the cards we’ll be making.  My card is a slightly modified version of this card by Christine Okken (ChristineCreations).  I just loved the Springy color palette and the fun layout.  Be sure to leave a comment for Christine in her gallery if you love her card as much as I do!  🙂

You know my penchant for adding black to cards for a bit of pop – well that’s what I did here.  Christine’s card is colored with Copics, but mine is simply stamped with classic ink on glossy cardstock.  This set, Botanical Blooms, is one of the sets you can earn for FREE with a $50 SU order.  Background is Pretty Petals Background Stamp.  Colors used here are Regal Rose, Lavendar Lace, Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery, Basic Black and Glossy White.

Just a quick post for me today.  I’m hosting a meeting at my house tonight to plan the next Saints Alive dinner for the seniors at our church.  Lots to do before then.

Oh and if you are wondering about the blind date story (see my last post)…20 years ago today it was Sunday.  I was giddy and just waiting for that phone call to be asked on another date.  More about that later….

Thanks for stopping by!

-Jami

 Yep – Curt and I met on a blind date 20 years ago today!

(fuzzy swirly things like when a tv character thinks back…)

My friend Marcia wanted to fix me up with a guy her husband, Bill, worked with.  She told me what a great guy he was, but I wasn’t really interested.  You see Marcia and Bill had fixed me up on a horrendous blind date about a year earlier so I wasn’t excited about trying another.  I had helped to fix up Marcia with Bill about 7 years earlier and they had been married about 5 years and looking to repay me I guess.  I was pretty much the last of all my friends to remain unmarried.  Anyway she finally convinced me to go out with Curt on a double date with them.

I was still fairly disinterested in the whole thing the day of the date and didn’t put much thought into my outfit or hair (I know – shocking!)  But when the three of them arrived at my condo to pick me up my first thought was “hmmmm he’s cute…he just needs a haircut.”  ( I later found out he had just had a haircut – LOL!)  We went to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory in Newport Beach and I had a signal worked out with Bill and Marcia.  After dinner they were supposed to ask me if I wanted to go  on the ferry over to Balboa Island.  If I said “yes” that would mean I liked Curt and things were going well, but if I said “no” that would mean “You’re in trouble!  Take me home now!”  Well I did like him and I was dying for one of them to ask me the magic question, but they forgot until we were on the freeway and almost home when finally Bill said “oh I forgot I was going to see if you wanted to go on the ferry.”  Curt said he remembers my response because it was so strange – something like an exagerated “why yes Bill…I would have very much enjoyed going on the ferry!!!”

Now here’s the really fun thing – to celebrate tonight we went with Bill and Marcia to the Spaghetti Factory in Newport Beach and had the exact same dinner we had 20 years ago!  Our 22 year old waiter thought he whole thing was pretty funny.  We had so much fun!  And the best part is that tonight we actually did take the ferry across to Balboa Island!

I wish I had a photo from that first night, but of course people rarely take photos on a first date!

When we got back to my place that night 20 years ago, I was wishing I could talk to Curt longer, but I had insisted that Bill and Marcia bring Curt with them to my condo so I wouldn’t be *stuck* with him if things didn’t go well.  As they left I told Curt to get my phone number from Bill and give me a call.  (Dang – why didn’t I pick out a better outfit to wear to and really do my hair??? Will I get a second chance?)

And so the waiting began…

Check back later for the rest of the story.  *wink*  And stop by tomorrow to see one of my samples for my class coming up on Friday.

-Jami

Happy Friday!  I finally got to play a little bit with Branching Out and Branching Out Coordinates.  This week’s TECC sketch pushed me to do something a little different than I might have thought up on my own.

I don’t have a 1″ square punch, so I started with 3 strips of cardstock – each 1″ x 3″.  I stamped a branch and all the additional *pieces* in Palette brown ink and then added the 2 different solid leaves in Kiwi and Olive ink.  Then I cut the strips into 1″ sqaures keeping them in the same order.  Each square scene picee was mounted onto a 1 1/8″ Kiwi square and then all those pieces were mounted onto a Bashful Blue 4″ square.  That whole panel was then covered with VersaMark ink (pad directly smooshed on the stamped panel) and heat embossed with Glassy Glaze.  I kept it at just one layer so it would maintain a textured appearance.  I used the same process on the sentiment oval.  The bottom portion of the front on my card was run through my Cuttlebug with an embossing folder.  Some Chocolate satin ribbon and kiwi corduroy brads finish off the card.

Let’s see what the rest of the Cupcake Crew has cooked up with the TECC today:

and today’s Featured Sampler Broni Holcombe at Splashes of Watercolor.

Of course you’ll want to check out Taylor’s blog for the sketch, her sample and all the deets on how to play.  Plus it’s a big weekend at Taylored Expressions.  Not only did Taylor just have a huge release yesterday, but she’s now celebrating the first birthday of the store and she wants to invite you to the party! The festivities will last all weekend long with games and prizes on her blog!
There will be drawings for Party Favor Packages for three days – Friday (today), Saturday and Sunday, with a different package given away each day. PLUS on Monday there will be a Sweepstakes Grand Prize winner drawn from all the orders placed at the Taylored Expressions Store from Thursday through Sunday.  To enter today’s drawing all you have to do is play in the TECC!  And you know you wanted to do that anyway!  So click here to head on over for all the action!

It’s been a busy busy week!  I was supposed to go to tea with a friend today, but she had to reschedule.  I guess that means I have time to work on the taxes *heavy sigh*…or maybe I should use that time to stamp.  Hmmmmmm.  Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

It’s here!  It’s release day for three brand new stamp sets at Taylored Expressions as well as a new Key Ingredients Kit and some other new, fun products!  Everything is available for purchase now.  Be sure to hop over to Taylor’s blog to get the whole scoop!

I have a card to share with you created with the new Sweet Spring stamp set along with the SU SAB designer paper pack Delicate Dots.  The layout is the SCS Sketch Challenge for this week SC218.

Good Egg Cuppie is colored with Copics and his frosting is covered with Diamond Stickles.  The Easter egg is paper-pieced.  His cherry is a Kaiser Craft pearl.  Cuppie and the egg are cut out and mounted on foam tape.  Buttons and clip are SU.  The entire Baker’s Dozen has a whole new line up of samples this morning so be sure to check them all out from the links on Taylor’s blog!

This morning Taylor posted a fun color challenge during her release party at Paper Craft Planet.  Here it is:

To celebrate the release of her new stamps over at Taylored Expressions, Taylor is giving away a Key Ingredient Birthday Boy set. All you have to do is to create a card inspired by these colors and upload it to Paper Craft Planet using the tag: tecolorchallenge (all one word, all lowercase). You must have your cards uploaded by Monday, March 9th at 8am PST to be eligible for the Key Ingredients Set.

Also a little bird told me there *might* be some fun TE birthday happenings tomorrow, so be sure to check back! Heck – you wouldn’t want to miss a Cupcake Friday anyway!  See you soon.

I don’t even know where to begin!  First of all I am totally over being sick – YEA!  Last Friday was my first day of feeling ok and then Saturday I was the reception coordinator for a wedding at our church.  I was on my feet for about 6 hours straight.  The Lord was so gracious to give me full energy and strength for the day and all went really well.  It was a lot of work, but I had a blast!  Of course I was exhausted for the next 2 days afterwards.  LOL!

In the midst of that the New Catty Swap I hosted came in and I needed to sort everything and get it mailed back out.  I have lots of pictures to share with you in this post.  The one to the left is a card made by Stacy White – a new Swapper for me.  That black bird is completely sparkly!  Isn’t it cute?!

And on top of all of that this is Sneak Peek and Release Week for Taylored Expressions.  My term with the Baker’s Dozen Design team is over, but if you’ve been keeping up with Taylor’s blog this week, you know that I am now serving as the Marketing and Promotions Coordinator for TE…and I couldn’t be more excited!  You better be signed up to receive our newsletter via e-mail!  You don’t want to miss anything!  I hope you’ve been checking out all the fabulous sneak peeks posted by the Baker’s Dozen this week.  Those girls are blowing me away!  Release of the new stamp sets is scheduled for 8:00 am PST tomorrow (Thursday March 5th).  Did you know that Taylor has two brand new non-cupcake sets?  Yes, she’s branching out!  And the proceeds from those 2 new sets will be donated to charity for the next 3 months.  Not to worry, we still have plenty of cuppies for your stamping sweet tooth.   I plan to have a Sweet Spring project to share with you tomorrow.  Also Taylor is hosting a pre-release party tomorrow morning at 7:00 am over at PaperCraftPlanet.  As you know, I am NOT a morning person, so I won’t be there…but here’s the info in case you ARE a morning person or maybe just in another time zone.  *wink*

Taylored Expressions is Branching Out! Come
Join us to celebrate Taylor’s newest release!!!

When: 7am PST – 8am PST (its an early morning soiree to get you going!)
Where: Join us at Paper Craft Planet at the Taylored Expressions Group
—- Taylor will have a special color challenge that will be posted at the party – Create a card using the color challenge and you will be eligible to receive the Key Ingredient’s Birthday Boy!!! (Winner will be drawn by Random.Org) Please upload your creations to Paper Craft Planet with the key word: tecolorchallenge (all one word, all lowercase).
You must have your cards uploaded by Monday, March 9th at 8am PST to be eligible for the Key Ingredients Birthday Boy Set.
—-There will also be some fun trivia and prizes for the winning guesses!!! So come on and join the fun as we celebrate Taylored Expressions Branching Out!!!

And now it’s time to share photos of the awesome swap I hosted.  It was a strictly Stampin’ Up! only New Catty Swap. We had four rounds.  You’ll need to click the thumbnails to see them full size – I didn’t want to shrink them to fit into the post because there are 7 cards in each photo.  I promise it’s worth the extra click!

ROUND 1 – Feature: Color Schemes
Choose a brand new set and along with one of the color schemes listed on pages 8-13.