I’m lucky to have anything to share with you after our experience yesterday.  On Sunday we had an impromptu block party to get rid of the extra hamburgers and hot dogs that were left over from the party last month.  I quickly baked some dessert and we headed down with the kids.  All of the kids were playing on their scooters and bikes and just having fun.  Evan wanted to go home to use the restroom so he ran down on his bike and Roger was following closely behind.  When he got to our driveway he said Evan was all worked up and crying because Colin closed him out of the garage.  What he didn’t tell us was that he fell over on his bike.  He continued to play and we were out well past dark roasting marshmallows and just talking with the neighbors.  When we got home to go to bed Evan was crying and said his elbow hurt.  He wouldn’t let me touch it, but it didn’t look scraped or bruised or swollen.  Yesterday he got up and watched cartoons, ate breakfast and just went about the day as normal.  We were going to run a few errands so we started to get the kids dressed and I heard the most awful screaming coming from Evan’s room.  Roger took off his shirt and Evan was yelling that he didn’t do it the right way.  That’s when we found out that his elbow didn’t bend.  It wasn’t bruised, but it was slightly swollen.  I called the pediatrician to find out if they were open and when they weren’t I took him to the ER.  He has a fractured elbow and is in a temporary splint and sling until we can get him into the orthopedic practice here.  We made an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. Please cross your fingers that the fracture isn’t bad and that it heals quickly.  The poor kid can’t do anything he likes to do.  At least with the splint on he isn’t in pain anymore.  I felt so bad for him while they were splinting him up because you could really see in his face how much pain he was in.

With all of the things he can’t do my time is more limited this week.  I’m sure you all understand.

All Supplies are Stampin’ Up!
Stamps: Season of Friendship
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Woodland Walk dsp, Garden Green, Very Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Garden Green
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon, Natural Hemp Twine, Neutrals button, Two Step Owl punch, dimensionals, 2 Way Glue Pen, Half Pearl

Recently Roger’s brother and Sister-in-Law adopted a baby from China.  We sent a care package, but I’ve been wanting to use this stamp set to send an adoption baby card.  I used the retired By Ones & By Twos from Stampin’ Up!.  I stamped the onsie image on Shimmer White card stock and watercolored it with Pretty in Pink and Rose Red ink.  I cut it out with the Circle Scissors and sponged the edges to make it stand out a bit more.  I’m not sure I’m happy with the sponging, but it is what it is.  I added a retired Barely Banana brad to the center of the flower.  The felt embellishment combines Felt Fusion flowers and the Sweet Pea stitched flowers.

Here is the sketch that Jen provided for us this week.  She also welcomes a new Guest Designer for the month of August.  This month it’s Tori Wild!

Please take a moment to check out the rest of the Sketch for You to Try Sisters. I hope you have a chance to play along with us as well.

Jen del Muro and the Designer of the Month
Amber Hight
Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O’Brien
Megan Lock
Susan Liles
Kelly Lunceford
Sonja Chirstoph
Jodi Collins
Carole Burrage

We have no soccer games this weekend! My parents are coming to pick up my sister and their dog who have been living with us for over the past week. We have no major plans for the 3 day weekend and I hope to get some stamping time in.  I’ll be back on Monday with a new project and on Tuesday the Stampin’ Up! Only challenges begin.

This sweet girl is Cookie.  She is going to be a guest in our home for the next few weeks.  She is another foster dog that we took in last night.  She definitely knows we saved her just in time.  Doesn’t she look a lot like Bandit?  Thank goodness for the tail so that I can tell them apart when they are running past me in a blur in the yard.  Cookie is looking for her forever home!

Well I have 3 dogs in my house today so I’m super busy.  I’ll be back tomorrow with a Sketch for You to Try sample.

I really like the soft subtle colors and I think this card has an elegant feel.  The Upsy Daisy image was stamped in Crumb Cake after being stamped off once and then I used an AquaPainter to add the soft So Saffron “glow” around the flowers.  The sentiment is from Oval All.

Well I’m off to head out the door with the kids.  Have a great Thursday!

The base is Rich Razzleberry.  I took a piece of Whisper White and used the Distressed Texturz plate on it before spraying it with Gold Glow Smootch Spritz and then doodled around the edge with a Basic Black Stampin’ Write marker.  I used a ruler to keep my lines straight.  I then stamped and watercolored in my Greeting Card Kids image.  I just love this stamp set.  It’s definitely a must have! I matted the layer on Rich Razzleberry.  The dsp is from the Wicked Fun Specialty pack and the striped layer is matted with Basic Black ink.  I added the small Pumpkin Pie oval with the Wicked Cool sentiment stamped in Rich Razzleberry.  The card is finished off with a Brights brad and Pumpkin Pie taffeta ribbon.

Well we are getting ready for another foster dog!  Her name is Cookie and she looks just like Bandit.  It looks like she’ll be arriving tomorrow so I may have my plate a little more full for the next few days.  My sister and my parents dog are leaving on Saturday, so then hopefully things will calm down a bit.  I hope to be back tomorrow with another project though!

Today I decided to combine Mercy’s Tuesday Sketch #89 with the color challenge at SCS.  This color combo was a stretch for me – Melon Mambo, More Mustard and Baja Breeze.  I can’t say it’s something I would have come up with on my own, but I like the way the card turned out.  I used Four of a Kind from Papertrey Ink.

I have some exciting news to share with you!  I’ve accepted a Design Team position for SUO Challenges.  If you don’t know SUO stands for Stampin’ Up! Only.  The challenges will start next month on September 7th.  I am no longer a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator but these challenges are for demonstrators and customers alike that enjoy using Stampin’ Up! products.  I hope you’ll check the challenges out and play along with us.  You can find the challenge blog here.  Challenges will take place every other Tuesday.

Then I decided that my card needed some sort of flower for the center and this large ruffled Pretty in Pink rose was born.  I used satin ribbon with a running stitch up the center to ruffle it and then just sort of played with it until it looked like a good flower.  I then decided to make an entire card based on ribbon flowers so I made the smaller buds out of 12 inches of Very Vanilla satin ribbon.  The only stamping on my card is the “for you” tag from the All Holidays stamp set.

Here is the sketch Jen provided for us this week.  I hope I did it justice.

I hope you have a chance to play along with us! If you need more inspiration check out the rest of the amazing Sketch for You to Try Sisters blogs:

Jen del Muro
Amber Hight
Amy Rohl
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O’Brien
Megan Lock
Susan Liles
Kelly Lunceford
Sonja Chirstoph
Jodi Collins
Carole Burrage
and the Designer of the Month, Ashley Nguyen Newell

We have another soccer game today. I hope the kids aren’t too tired from the one last night. Colin is really enjoying his team and it’s fun to watch him come out of his shell and try other positions. He used to only like goalie and then last year he liked defense. This year he is enjoying playing midfield and offense.  Evan is looking forward to being old enough to play next year too.

All Supplies are Stampin’ Up!
Stamps: All Holidays
Paper: Concord Crush, Basic Gray, Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette, Old Olive
Ink: Concord Crush
Accessories: Pretty in Pink satin ribbon, Very Vanilla satin ribbon, sticky strip, crimper, 1 3/4″ circle punch, 1″ circle punch, half pearls, word window punch

Be sure to check back tomorrow for my Sketch for You to Try card.

That brings me to my card using bird cages.  I think these are much cuter than the one Bandit was in.  It was HUGE and took up a lot of space in our living room.  I recently got Aviary and it was one of the first sets on my wish list.  I paired it up with the Sketch Challenge from SCS.  I paired it with the sentiment from Picture This. The base is Tempting Turquoise and then I layered So Saffron with Crumb Cake that was run through the Finial Press embossing folder.  I used a sponge dauber and Whisper White craft ink to highlight the embossed layer and soften it a bit.  The Old Olive layer was stamped with the Elegance standard wheel. The flower was crocheted by my Mom and I used a Brights Button in the center of it.

I can’t believe tomorrow is Friday!  This week just flew by.  Colin has two soccer games this weekend, but that’s all we have planned.  I can’t wait to sit back and relax.

Once again I used the Papertrey Ink set Four of a Kind.  This time I used it with a clean and simple Fall to Layout 103.  The colors are Baja Breeze, Early Espresso and Very Vanilla.  I used Daffodil Delight, Old Olive and Early Espresso for the ink colors.  The ribbon is retired Stampin’ Up! and I stuck on a butterfly that was laying on my desk along with some half pearls.  The main image panel is raised on dimensionals.