Friday Night Challenge

Okay here is my very first Hanna Stamp challenge. Check it out here. This is the one I did.

I first stamped my Hanna on cardstock. Then with a very small flat paint brush I painted each portion of the Hanna the color I wanted. For the colored portion I used making memories paint. I then went back with my CTMH pearl paint mixed with twilight reinker and sparkled up some of the areas. When all the paint was dry I reinked my Hanna and stamped her again to get a nice image. I did the same for the puddle. That is one thing I just love about these clear stamps. To finish it off I added some painted and glittered brads and BOOM done! The paper is also CTMH from the let's get together line.

For Kristen

Hi all, my friend Kristen wanted me to post a Mother's day card I did for a make and take using the pearl paint, here it is. If you like the stamp set it is CTMH March stamp of the month and there are only a few more days to get it.

Crop For Kids - Abigayle's Place

Here is the information on Laura's next crop. Visit her site HERE to read about what she's about and what type of stuff she's done before.

Crop For Kids!
Benefiting “Abigayle's Place” who provides housing and support for needy moms-to-be

Ticket Crop
Saturday, April 19, 2008
10:00 am -9:00 pmTrinity Lutheran Church in Utica @ the NE corner of Hall Rd. & Van Dyke
$20 + 1 pajama/clothing item size 0-2T includes: .
All-you-can-eat lunch spread .
Coffee, Pop, Bottled Water & Goodies .
Dinner .
Generous cropping space .
10 tickets .
Hourly Giveaways .
Use of Creative Memories tools/punches/cutters compliments of Dawn Simon .
On-site store will be www.simplystitched.org (Simply Stitched) & www.chipboardalbums.com (Chipboard Albums & More!) .
Make-n-take compliments of Kelly Kuehn from Close to My Heart .
Product samples compliments of Trish Ethridge of Tastefully Simple
Collect tickets for the chance to win 1 of 10 prizes including the 3 grand prizes:
1. Scrapbook Weekend Getaway for 2 valued at more than $300.00!
2. Genuine signature COACH purse worth hundreds!
3. Scrapbook MEGA Basket filled with hundreds of dollars in product!
Want to earn more tickets to increase your chances of winning?
. Early Bird Special: The first 25 croppers to register earn 5 EXTRA tickets! . For each additional clothing item you bring, earn 10 more tickets the day of the crop -NO LIMIT . For each baby care item (lotion, wash) earn 5 more tickets the day of the crop -NO LIMIT . Paid registration by March 15 earns you 2 extra tickets . Refer a friend who has never been to one of my crops and you both earn 2 tickets! NO LIMIT-(for example: Refer 5 friends, earn 10 additional tickets and each friend earns 2) . Show your support by wearing pj's, earn 2 tickets Plus more chances to earn tickets the day of the crop!
Questions? Call Laura @(586)323-3196

Jana's Tip, My Challenge

Jana just posted a tip on her blog about making fuzzy brads! Go check it out Here, of course I had to add in my own little tip. You can always use CTMH Liquid glass (or any brand you like!) on any of your brads to add sparkles, fuzz or whatever you want. Thanks Jana for sharing your tip and getting us all talking. I think we need to start a challenge, lets all make something with Jana's fun new brad tip. Post your link in my comments (or email them to me) and lets see what type of wild brads we can come up with!

Kind of hard to see the fuzz with my camera but it's there I promise!

CTMH Pearl Paint Tip

I bought this stuff and just love it! Paint is so much fun anyway, you all know how much I love happy sparkly things so why not put it all together on a scrapbook page or card!

The first step is : Get your hands on some of this fun paint!

Once you've found this awesome stuff lets put it to work. Pick out your paper and a darker ink choice (so it will show through the paint) I used Close to my Heart's cocoa brown. I then stamped my image on the paper

Then I took paint and spread a thin layer over the image, making sure I gave it just enough color to really shine but not to much that I made it Gooey.

I let the paint dry. The CTMH paint dried really quickly so there was not a whole lot of waiting. Once it dried I started to color in my image with my CTMH markers. I used slightly darker colors then what I wanted because over the paint it looks lighter.

Once my Image was done. I cut it out and added it to a card.

I love the extra little POP it adds to my image and my card. I can't wait to use this on my cupcake stamps!

Another great idea for this stuff: Add some reinker to it and then paint over paper flowers for your very own bling bloom! Or paint over chipboard letters for so shiny titles. This is so much fun I think I am going to scrap right now... It is spring break (meaning it's time to stay in my PJ's and stay home all day! If only those two older kids would take a nap too, then I'd really be able to play.)

Happy Belated Easter

It's been a long week in the Kuehn house hold. We left for Grand Rapids on Friday... in the snow...five hours later we showed up at my parents house. Where the boys screamed and cried because they are scared of my parents very big dog (really they are scared of all dogs at the moment...I will not name the "mean" puppy who started this...but you know who you are!) Finally Jake was banished to the basement and things started to settle down, well, as much as settled down ever happens at my parents house. My mom is one of those people who just creates craziness. I can't even explain it to you but much to my mothers dismay "things" are just always happening to her. Ten o'clock rolls around and Matt and Dad decide to go out for a drink (a much need drink after that drive).

Bed time comes around 12 and finally we have everyone asleep.

The next morning the boys head out to Todd's house (Traverse City Area). Two hours later the girls (and Peyton) head up there. Another two hours in the car. We arrive and once again the boys are "scared" of the dog. More tears and carrying Peyton around because there is no way he is touching the floor. Poor puppy gets sent outside (once again thank you unnamed puppy!) I am getting pretty sick of this "puppy" crying. Saturday rolls on with not a lot of excitement...remember we are in the middle of no where. We all go to bed in various places in the house and look forward to the morning.

Sunday comes and the morning quickly goes by with Easter Baskets, Breakfast and the Egg hunt. We pack up the car and are off again. 4 hours later we pull into our driveway and I have never been so happy to be home. 11 hours in the car over less then 48 hours is not my idea of fun. Not to mention more snow! I really need a vacation! I don't recall a time when I have liked snow as little as I do right now.

With my complaining done through all of this I did almost finish a sweater ( I should have had it done with all the driving!) and once the gift is given I'll post a picture...it makes me want to have another little girl though! So sweet. I am also going to post some of my scrappy pages and a fun How to tip on Close to my Hearts Pearl paint.

What are best friends made of?

Apparently in my case Sprinkles cupcakes.

Yes, got some. I finally got to dive into the cutest cupcakes in the world. It's true they are the original thing. How did this happen you ask? Who was kind enough to send me sprinkles cupcakes and how in the world did they make it to Michigan still looking (and tasting) so perfect.

As many of you know this was a busy weekend for us Delta Tau girls. One of our very own is getting hitched and this weekend was the shower and girls night in celebration. My BFF (who left me for LA) is standing up in the wedding with me and flew in for the festivities. So Saturday I was sitting at our school crop talking and selling my CTMH stuff and having a good old time when in walks Amber with a brown bag. I am so excited to see her I don't even look we hug and then she holds it up....It's sprinkles cupcakes all the way from LA. I was shocked. Not in a million, billion, trillion years did I think that anyone would fly cupcakes all the way to Michigan to see me! Those four little things were just the loveliest things I have ever seen. Tears swelled up in my eyes as I looked from the box to her. How could such a simple thing bring such joy and love all at the same time. Once I got myself together a little I ran around the Gym showing off my cupcakes and my wonderful friend who had hauled them through security to get them to me! From the adorable store in Beverly Hills to LAX to DTW to Twelve oaks mall to St. Thomas. Those cupcakes came a long way to meet me and when we bit into them it was worth every mile (all 2000 of them!)

So here is a big (tear filled once again) thank you to the person in this world that loves me so much that she thought up all on her own to bring me my cupcakes.

PS they were 100 times better then the ones I made! It was HEAVEN!

Handy Me!

I know I said I would post some pages. I promise they are coming. Instead of being a good little blogger I have been hard at work. I've been dying to get my hands on one of those Shelving units that making memories makes. The huge one with a price tag of 80+. It has ample shelf space and a place to hang ribbon on it. I've been jealous of it ever since I spotted it at Micheal's. Gazing at it in all it's white glory sitting on the shelf just waiting for me to buy it. It has been teasing me calling my name as I walk by at every visit. Then one day there was nothing. No sweet nothings being whispered in my ears! I was horrified to see it gone. I searched the store looking to find another, kicking myself for not grabbing it the million times before. I left the store feeling rather deserted, deceived at the comfort of "someday" and disappointed that I was not the lucky owner. I knew I'd never find anything like it again. (at least where I could use a 40% off coupon!) For days I was mopping. I had been to several other Micheal's with no luck of finding my little treasure. All hope was lost...UNTIL my adorable husband brought home some scrap wood. I stared at it and instantly got an idea. I would just make my shelf. I would take this wood and use power tools and paint and whip it up in no time. I created a sketch, gathered the pieces of scrap I would need, called around to family to figure out who had borrowed what tools I need and then put my plan into action. I made this. (with a little...or maybe a lot...of help from that adorable man I said "I do" too !)

Thank you, Thank you, you may all stop clapping or gasping or jumping up and down over my creative genius. I know I couldn't have a more perfect eye for design or steady hand with a saw! (really Matt did help a little) I even mounted it up on the wall and organized it all by myself. Since this thing is just so darn beautiful and I know you've all been dying to see where such creative magic takes place. Here is a little glimpse at my (messy) scrap station.

Well now that I've got my new handy little thing all painted and hung I better start scrapping something to go along with it!

I've added Music!

Isn't this so much fun! I saw this on another blog and I just has to have it! Do you want one? Go to http://www.playlist.com/ . I'll be adding more songs later. I just wanted to try it out. I put my favorite country songs on here right now! I hope you enjoy! The even better news is that if you DON'T like it you can turn the music off! Just go down to my playlist and use the volume control.

I'll be posting some more pages later today!

I've been dreaming.....ZZZZZ

A while ago my husband made a passing remark about owning a scrapbooking store. He attempted several jokes about how there would be nothing in it because I would use it all. He poked fun at how he would really NEVER see me. He even joked about filling it up with Close to my Heart supplies! I laughed along with him and smiled at ANOTHER one of my obsessions.

Then he sent me a listing for a scrapbook store for sale. I laughed as I peaked through the email. Laughed as I imagined owning my own store. laughed at the thought of an adorable store with pink walls and tons of the latest and greatest supplies. The dreams soon followed as a store name, a floor plan and even the special events I would just HAVE to hold where all planned out in my sleep. I now can't seem to shake the idea and have officially started a new crush, my prefect job: owning a store called "My (pink) Scrappy life". I'd of course have crowns and frills everywhere. You'd walk in and never want to leave. (kind of like you feel about starbucks..right? Maybe I should have a starbucks in my store...If Barnes and Noble can do it why can't I?" I'd have a place where my kids could "live" and fun music always playing and a Chick flick scrap night every Friday! I wake up with a smile of the thought and set off into my life. There is no way this will happen. I definitely do not have the time, energy or money to pull it off...but isn't it always fun to dream? Isn't fun to create these wonders in your head and smile at just the possibility of it coming true? The possibility of really surrounding my life with this awesome hobby? To me I have to even add an extra giggle because years ago I wanted to own a children's book store. Downtown Milford had one and it was a place I just loved to be. When it closed down I would have done anything to buy it up, yet another dream come and gone. I think I should make a page about my past dreams and even about my pretend scrapbook store. What was your dreams? Did any of you ever want to own a store, a bar, be in a movie or live in Italy...but not really? It would be nice to know that I am not the only "crazy" one out there!

Still Cupcake crazy

I'm still in love with cupcakes. I just received my Hero Arts cupcake stamp in the mail. I got it from www.stampdesires.com one of my new favorite websites. They offer free shipping deals, discounted stamp sets the only down fall is that shipping can take away yet I still received mine within a week. I was just peeking at some other peoples blogs and check out what she did with her hero arts cupcakes www.motherslittlehelper.typepad.com. To take cupcakes to a new obsession I started paper piecing some of them last night with my cricut. I haven't gotten the hang of it yet but when I've finished my delicious paper creations I'll post them for you.

Some more pages!

This is Peyton's One year old Photo shoot. It was one of the hardest I've ever had to do. I am not sure if I even love any of the pictures for a frame but I do love them in this scrapbook page. All close to my heart in this one with the exception of some of the bazzil bling cardstock.
Gavin is such a good boy, nothing else to say here. I just got this awesome pack of chipboard from Joanns. I love it so much I may even go buy another pack. It has large and small circles (the one around the picture which I covered with paper and the smaller journaling tag) plus loads of other shapes and letters. I think it is on sale this week for 12 dollars. It's a great buy.
Mikayla is addicted to tattoos. She covered herself in them. Here is her page all about it. I used Mod paper and ribbon some chip board swirls from maya road and black cardstock.

What I did this weekend

Since and a person (who shall remained un-named) canceled scrapbooking AGAIN I was forced to go elsewhere to get my scrappin' fix. My kind and adorable Mother-in-law sweetly accepted my invitation to go settle ourselves at the large tables and stock filled LSS Papertales. Where we scrapped and shopped all night (well at least until midnight!) Besides my bag full of purchases I also was able to finish some pages.


Gavin's Valentines tree is using my minds eye paper and some other random stuff. What's the story? Well this little guy just loved his valentines so much he couldn't find the perfect place to put them. What is more perfect then displaying your most loved items on a tree? This is exactly what my little guy did. What a stinkin' cute guy.

I just realized that I already did a tissue page for Peyton. So now he'll have two. (the first one was with actual tissue not toilet paper!) As you can see from the pictures he was just so pleased with his little mess he made in the bathroom.
You've got to love little things. Here is my page to honor target and their dollar section. It's just these type of things that make my day just shine.