Welcome Bella! & How To Come Up With A Great Nickname /NAC #39

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Hey y'all. I'm so excited to do this post, but sooooo very tired so this is gonna be quick. Ok, so it will probably be Shan quick, but you know what I mean. It's been a busy week, but you know what's been really busy? The last 16 hours. I got a special little Easter present and I'm so excited to share it with you in today's project, but make sure you read on after, cuz you're gonna want to know about the nickname part of the title. Honest.... So without further ado, here's this weeks entry for Nacho Average Challenge #39. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. It's truly a "Labor of Love" in more ways than one.

I'm sure you're not going to fault me for the X-Large picture there instead of the normal sized one, right? Ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh! How Stinkin' Precious is she!?! Well let me just tell you, 8.1 pounds and 20 inches long that's how much. I'm so in love I just can't even tell you!  This is the very sweet and I think beautiful Eribella Syn, my early Easter present from my sweet daughter and son-in-love and I'm thrilled.

My daughter went into the hospital yesterday afternoon at 1:30 in the afternoon and we were up until late this morning with this little beauty. She arrived at 4:55 this morning. Well worth the loss of sleep, I assure you. While I was waiting yesterday I decided to start work on some pages for the new love in my life.  I got out my Mac-book and started working on a layout. I knew I wanted something special for her first page and I also needed to whip up something for this week's sketch challenge over at NAC so why not combine the two. MDS makes it so easy to do this. I love that I'm able to create on the fly like this. Here's this week's sketch-

So I kept to it, except I made my project a square instead of a rectangle. So simple! I had everything ready in a snap. All I had to do was find just the right pic to put in it. Oh, yeah, and wait...and wait..and wait. 

So, Would you like to know how to come up with a great Nickname? You have to be in just the right spot at just the right time and be open to whatever you happen to hear, no matter how it might sound at first. I can't say this will work all the time, but it sure worked out great this morning when my sister and I were tired and punchy and waiting for Bella's first hour on mommy's chest to be over so we could get in some snuggle and picture taking time. Well, I decided to show her the layout I had created. However, since I didn't know how long the labor was gonna take and if I'd have a pic to put in it and finish it before I sent it in, it was just titled Nacho #39 in MDS. So when it opens at 5:30 my sister says "I love Nacho 39's page" and just like that a nickname was created. And so it was after, we almost peed ourselves laughing, that Baby Bella was officially nicknamed Nacho. Well at least to Gigi (me) and Lili (her Aunt Lisa). I'm sure her cousins Beaner and Spanks will be more than happy to join in on that fun too. 

I'm happy to report that aside from being tired, everyone is doing well. That's all I have for you today. I hope you liked today's project and had a little giggle too. If you liked today's project or have questions about it, I hope you'll take just a moment to leave me a comment in the space below. I love hearing from you and read all of your comments. They really do make my day! If you'd like to +1 or Pin today's project, I've put those buttons on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! Till Next Time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. Its not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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Mother of Pearl Swallowtail / NAC #38

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Hey y'all. Happy Friday. Just a quick post for you tonight. It's late here in the DMV and I'm trying to get to bed. It's been a long day and I think it may be an even longer weekend. We have a late winter/early spring snow storm headed our way and between the barometric changes that is bringing and the back pain my, 38 weeks-very pregnant, daughter is having I think this may be a very eventful weekend and I wanted to get this posted as early as possible just in case I didn't get a chance to post it later. :)

This week's challenge over at Nacho Average Challenge is a color challenge. As many of you know, they are not my favorite, by any stretch of the imagination. I didn't even have a sketch to help me out with this one. I decided to get out my brand new Swallowtail stamp and give it a try. I also thought I'd try and blend the colors in the wings and I thought the Mother of Pearl technique would be a nice one to try with this. Here's this week's card-

Card featuring Swallowtail Stamp and Mother of Pearl Technique

Here are the colors in this week's challenge-

So this is only the second time that I've tried the Mother of Pearl technique and I did it a little different this time than I did the last time. Last time I stamped in Black Staz-On then colored the image and then created the MoP effect. This time I created the effect first and then stamped and colored. You know I always tell you the truth here. Although I like the effect, I'm not sure that I'm in love with my first attempt at it. I think now that I know the few tips that I share below for you, I could probably come up with a card I like even more. Unfortunately, there's just no time for that this week. Sorry- :( 

I learned 3 things this time-

1- Even if you use your embossing buddy, if you choose to Heat Emboss, your embossing powder will still stick to your MoP technique areas. I really had to go in very carefully with a paintbrush and q-tip to get as much of the excess powder off. If you look closely you can still see some around the antennae. For those of you that are OCD like me this is not a fun idea. :( Just saying.

2- Adding color on top of your MoP will extend your color's drying time significantly. Be Prepared. I recommend using your heat tool. I did not know this and the result is the pink smudging at the upper right edge of the left wing. 

3- In addition to the glow that the MoP technique gives your finished color, adding color on top of the MoP in this manner can cause the color to separate somewhat. This can be seen the most in the lower portion of the middle section of the wings, the Primrose Petals portion. I have to say I kinda like that look, believe it or not. I think it looks kind of like a stained glass look.

Here's another look-

I stamped the image with VersaMark and then Heat Embossed it with Early Espresso Embossing Powder on Glossy Whisper White paper. I used Frost White paint for the MoP technique. The colors were added from my stamp pads with my daubers increasing the color until I had the depth where I wanted it.

And one more-

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you like it and I hope the fabulous ladies over at NAC like it too. There's still time to play along and I hope you find time to play with us. If you liked today's card or have questions about it, I hope you'll leave me a question in the space below. I love hearing from you. I read all of your comments and they really do make my day! If you'd like to +1 or Pin today's card, I've put those buttons on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. you are very appreciated! Till Next Time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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A Smarty Pants Surprise /NAC #37

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Hey y'all. Happy Saturday! I hope you're having a great weekend! I spent the morning and early afternoon with my daughter and son-in-love getting the last few things they needed to have for when baby Eribella arrives in just a few short weeks. We are so excited to finally get to meet her. Of course my daughter is mostly excited about just having her body back to herself. But before I get down to cleaning out closets and doing more Spring Cleaning/Getting the house ready to put on the market cleaning I wanted to sit down and get today's card done and posted.

I have to tell you when I first saw this week's sketch, I was a little nervous. Clean and simple is definitely not my cup-o-tea. But, I was determined to make a good card and not only that, but I decided to really step out of my box. Do you ever surprise yourself? Well, I really surprised myself with this one! I almost never use DSP for a background. I'm not sure why, I just don't. I bet you could look back in the almost 2 years of this blog and count the times I used DSP as a background on less than 2 hands. Truthfully, probably on 1 hand. But, I had decided to christen not one but two of my Sale-A-Bration stamp sets and I had so much Sycamore Street DSP lying around, and it's so pretty, I thought why not. And you know what, I like how this card ended up so much I think I'm going to make a few sets with it, probably as 4 x 4's but still. Not only that, but the whole card came together in less than 25 minutes and that included cutting and measuring all of my c/s and even conditioning one of my new stamps. That is unheard of for me. So I really surprised myself with this card, and in a good way too!!!! :)

Here's today's card-

Congratulations card featuring Patterned Occasions Stamp Set 

& Sycamore Street DSP and 

I'm soooo excited by how this card turned out! I almost never do monochromatic cards but I went that way because of the DSP and it just worked. 

I stamped off the jeans image once to lighten it up, and it made it just right. for the sentiment, I used my Curly Label Punch and a scrap of Whisper White c/s. I simply turned the punch and used the short edge and centered the sentiment inside it before punching. 

Here's this week's sketch over at Nacho Average Challenge-

I took just a little liberty with the sketch by adding the DSP layer. I hope those fabulous ladies over at NAC won't hold it against me. Have you played along with them yet? They have a different challenge each week, alternating between color and sketches and they are always full of inspiration and so nice with their comments.

Here's a peek at the inside-

I kept it super simple, just a strip of the same DSP from the front and a stamp and matching punch from another SAB set, Ciao Baby. I thought it went well with the sentiment from the front.  :) Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you like and it inspires you to make something that surprises you in a good way and I hope those fabulous ladies over at NAC like it too. If you like it or have any questions I hope you'll take a moment to leave me a comment in the space below. I love hearing from you and read all of your comments. They really do make my day! If you'd like to +1 or Pin today's card I've put to buttons on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too!

Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! Till Next Time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe-

Shan

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Thanks For Your Support Swaps

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Hey y'all. Happy Thursday. I hope you're having a good week. Just a quick post for you today.

Do you have people that give you a little needed support and might not even know they do it? My stamping friends do this for me. So when I needed to do swaps last weekend, I pulled out my For the Birds set and made a few that conveyed my thoughts for me. If the layout looks familiar, it's the same as my layout for the NAC challenge for last week, but it was perfect for this card and I was doing them around the same time so it just happened to work that way. Here's today's card-

I used some Sycamore Street DSP for the accent piece and I used some permanent markers to color the pearls to match the Island Indigo c/s. I was so happy with how these turned out. Fairly C&S but still so striking. I did them in 3 colors. Here they are all together-

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you like it and I hope it inspires you to try something that's a little different from your norm. I also want to tell you all a big Thanks for your continued support.  If you like today's cards or have any questions I hope you'll take a moment to leave me a comment in the space below. I love hearing from you and read all of your comments. They really do make my day! If you'd like to +1 or Pin today's card I've put to buttons on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too!

Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! Till Next Time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe-

Shan

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Card Is Top Nacho

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Just a quick note to say a Big Thanks to the Fabulous Ladies over at Nacho Average Challenge for picking my card for their top pick for Challenge #36. 

In case you missed it, here was my card-

Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! Till Next Time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe-

Shan
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A Little Hope, A Little Sparkle, and A Little Nacho's (Nacho's Challenge That Is) NAC #36

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Hey y'all. Happy Saturday! I hope you had a great week. Well, it's Saturday again and as usual that means I'm getting the Nacho Average Challenge card in just under the wire. I meant to get it in early this week but I had swaps to make, they'll be up later this coming week, and my mom's birthday card, did you see it, earlier this week? And I had my friend that's a realtor over to look at my house and we had a snow storm, and well you get the picture. LOL!

Well, the good news is I've got a card a card for this week's challenge that I'm so excited to show you, even though it's a color challenge, or maybe I should say especially since it's a color challenge. Many of you know those pose a particular challenge for me.  Here's this week's challenge card-

Card featuring Blooming with Kindness

Here's this week's challenge over at Nacho Average Challenge-

So it's actually a really pretty combination together. I had the whole card together and was really happy with how it looked but then I went back and let Tink have a moment. Not many people know this, but sadly, there hasn't been a lot of sparkle in my life lately. I don't know if you've noticed it in my cards or not, I just did, but even they haven't been sparkling much. :'(   I'm working on it and give me a month or so and hopefully it will be back where it should be. I'm really happy that I went back and added that extra touch-

You can see it a little here. It just glows in person. The flower is Certainly Celery and I tap-danced the Gumball Green marker over it, huffed on it and then stamped it, before cutting it out with my oval framelet and mounting it on dimensionals.

Here's the inside-

I kept it simple, but pretty. The flower is just the second stamping from the front and the sentiment is from the same set. Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you like it and I hope those fabulous ladies over at NAC like it too. If you like it or have any questions I hope you'll take a moment to leave me a comment in the space below. I love hearing from you and read all of your comments. They really do make my day! If you'd like to +1 or Pin today's card I've put to buttons on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too!

Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! Till Next Time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe-

Shan Pin It

Happy Birthday Mom, You're My Inspiration!!!!!

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Hey y'all. Happy Tuesday! I hope you're having a great day. :)

Today's a special day because it's my momma's birthday. Each year since I became a Stampin' Up Demonstrator and started having fun with cards and Papercrafting, I've been making my momma special cards for her special day. They don't usually make it to her in time for her special day, at least not by snail mail, but she always gets to see them on here and she kinda gets a kick out of that. This year is no different, but this year she's doing some traveling, so at least I feel like I had a little bit of an excuse. But only just a little.

For most of my childhood, my momma raised me by herself. She was a single mom and she did a great job! She started her own business, which was so amazing it started a trend and soon there were other businesses just like hers. She was also the one that let me know that there was nothing I couldn't do if I just set my mind to it and wanted it bad enough and worked for it hard enough. That still holds true today. She's an Amazing woman and I am so honored that God chose her to be my momma. I hope most days she feels the same about me. I really hope that she likes this card when she sees it here and when she gets it in person. Here's today's card-

Birthday Card featuring Feel Goods Stamp set and Print Poetry DSP

I used the sentiment from the Feel Goods Stamp set because it just fit how I feel about my mom, and how she make me feel about myself.

I used this sketch for the inspiration-

As you can see I flipped it, from it's original layout. Other than that, I kept very true to it. As many of you know, I'm very visual, so this is how I had to see it on my phone to work from it. :) 

Another thing many of you know about me is that I have a hard time mixing and matching patterns. Well, today was no different in that respect either. However, I'm gonna write how I chose it as much for you as for my sweet momma. (She's really more sassy, well maybe equal parts, than she is sweet) She likes pretty things, and lots of flash, boy I guess that apple didn't fall far from that tree, huh!?!  But, like most southern women she's got a steel backbone that's as hard and strong and cold as that little sharpshooter she likes to keep tucked next to it. (Like I said, The apple didn't fall far, 'ceptin I like mine a '45 with a magazine instead of a little 6-shooter pistol) Any-whoo I digress but you expect that from me by now, so when I went to pick the patterns I wanted something pretty and floral but I also wanted something a little stronger too, hence the florals with the paisley. 

I think it ended up being a nice mix and something that my momma will appreciate not only the look of but the significance of. Now if she could just figure out how to leave a message she'd probably even say so. :)

Here's a look at the inside-

 I kept it pretty simple but with just a touch of symbolism. A few years back momma came up to visit and we all (momma, me and my daughter 3 generations of us, why yes in case you're wondering that is a dangerous combination) went for a little family bonding at the tattoo parlor. Grandma wanted a little yellow rose on her ankle and she wanted us all to get matching tattoos. Well we did and so I thought I would put that pretty little flower in there to remind her of that.

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you like you card momma and I hope you have an Amazing birthday!  I hope y'all like it too! If you like today's card or have questions about it, I hope you'll take a moment to leave me a comment in the space below. If you'd like to +1 or Pin it, I've put the buttons on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. you are so appreciated! Till Next Time!

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, it's about Learning to Dance in the Rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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Happy Birthday's and Secret Surprises....

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! Ok. I know you're having a little bit of a shock right now seeing me so soon after Saturday night's post. I'm trying so hard to find a way to post more often, and if that means I have to start taking my laptop back to work and posting on my lunch break, well then, that may be what I use my breaks for. We'll just have to see. :)

My sweet darling had a birthday last week and I made him a special card. I didn't want to post it here ahead of time because he actually surprised me and said he reads my blog. Yep. Had me bawling like a stinking baby! And then, I got busy getting ready for the baby shower and what-not, but I wanted to share it with you today. It's definitely a step away from my normal style, quite a few steps actually and then I threw in a special twist that even my Special Agent with his mad Investigative Skills didn't see right off the bat. Here's today's card-

I started with the DSP from the Fan Fair collection and cut out this section of the map. Because Ireland is important to us both I made sure it was shown and then the Eastern Coast of the U.S. too. Originally I just roughed up the edges and for those of you that know me, that was hard enough, but yes, you are seeing this correctly, I crumpled the paper up. I misted it with the Stampin' Scrub and then crumpled it. I will say that I went back over it with the bone folder to smooth it down some but still, baby steps. I sponged over the edges and the top with some Early Espresso to add a little depth and bring out the wrinkles. This piece was adhered onto a piece of Bravo Burgundy with 9 Dimensionals. 

The fact that you cans see Ireland and America was surprise #1 for my darlin. If you look real hard at the bottom right hand corner of the DSP you can see the 2nd. Can you see "place to be"? Well, that's not part of the writing in the DSP. Nope it's something I added for my sweetie. Here's a better look-

It says "With you is my favorite place to be" It's from the For the Birds stamp set and I stamped it in VersaMark and then sponged over in with the Early Espresso and buffed it off with a towel. You don't really see it unless you know to hold the card at an angle. I thought he would enjoy the little hidden surprises in his card, and he did.

Here's the inside-

Well, I'm happy to report, my honey loved his card, and I hope you are happy with it too! That's all I have for you today. If you liked it or have any questions about it, I hope you'll take a moment to leave me a comment in the space below. I love hearing from you and read all of your comments. They really do make my day! If you'd like to +1 or Pin today's card, I've put those buttons on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too. :)

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! Till Next Time-

Remember- Life is often more bout the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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Whalecome Baby / NAC #35 / MDS Today

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Hey y'all. Happy Saturday! I hope you're having a great day and a fabulous weekend. Do you ever wonder how you manage to get things done? It seems like lately I seem to wonder that more and more.*SMH* Are you wondering where I'm gonna go with that? Well, I'll tell you quick cuz it's almost 9 pm and I'm one tired lady tonight.

Well, many of you know I haven't missed a challenge with the fabulous ladies over at Nacho Average Challenge yet and if an Emergency Surgery didn't stop me I wasn't going to let this week slow me down either. How is it that we have such high hopes of getting everything done and there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day and I'm even one of those make a list kind of people. Things that make you go Hmmmmmm. At any rate, Things have been super busy at work, they're talking furloughs  (how in the world you can talk about sending federal hospital workers home without pay when senators and congressmen are taking vacations and leaving for long weekends laughing and smiling is beyond me!!!), I finished my first cake decorating class and I was up till 3 this morning getting things ready for my daughter's baby shower, which was this afternoon. Needless to say, I was running a little low in the creative department even though I had hoped each day to get a chance to stamp. No stamping just baking.  So, I whipped out the macbook here to create a little something and here's what I came up with-

Here's the sketch I was working with-

I obviously still have babies on the brain. :) I love the Oh Whale set and the Sunshine and Sprinkles DSP set. They're seriously one of my all-time favorite sets. SO cute! 

Speaking of babies- Here's my beautiful baby girl at her shower today with some of her loot-

I can't believe my beautiful baby girl is getting ready to have one of her own

And here's part of the reason I haven't been able to stamp lately. I've been taking cake Decorating classes. I just finished Class 1 - The Basics, this week. It just went over Buttercreme's and basic frosting and flowers and stuff like that, nothing fancy like fondant. Nooooo, that's in class 4. But Me, I skip straight to the fun stuff. Never mind a timeline, I have a baby shower to make a cake for so here's what I came up with-

I just did Fondant cut-outs and not the whole cake it made it a little easier. It was my first time to do a double layer cake. The flavor combination was my idea, based on some of my daughter's favorites. The top cake was a Strawberry Nectar layer cake filled with Lemon Curd. It sat atop a Raspberry filled Lemon layer cake. Both were lightly frosted with homemade, lightly sweetened, Buttercreme icing and fondant that was custom tinted to her theme. It was well received and as there was less than a third of the bottom layer left after the party, I think it was pretty well enjoyed.  *Happydance*

That's all I have for you today. I hope you liked my card and I hope it inspires you to create even when your tight on time. I also hope you didn't mind indulging in my little show of pride for my little baby girl, or my momentary lapse from stamping. However, did you notice that cute ruffled ribbon? Yep, Island Indigo S.U. !!!! :) We used S.U. Markers for the showers to write and it's binding the baby book too. :)

Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to visit  my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! Till Next Time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan

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