A couple more challenges with another sneak peek

Today is Mother's Day.  Happy Mother's Day to all Moms!

Thomas has returned home from Disneyland and we are all so glad to have him home.  Three days is a looonnnngggg time.  We picked him up from the school at 8:30 this morning.  They left Disneyland at 11:30 last night and slept on the bus.  Lord, I admire the fortitude of his teacher and chaperons.  I'd be cranky, bleary-eyed and no one's friend by the end of the trip.  As I sit typing this, I can hear my children playing in the back of the house.  Lovely sound.  A wonderful present for the day.

In my last post I shared that Olivia and I had been using crafting as therapy for missing Thomas.  I have a couple more cards to share from yesterday.

This first card was a challenge card that Livi thought of.  She picked two colors from the Color Coach and we each had to come up with a card--without the help of layout/sketch.  The colors she picked were Chocolate Chip and Lucky Limade.  Thank God...finally colors that suit me!

Here is Livi's card.

If you have been a subscriber/follower for awhile, you will recognize that this color combo is way out of Livi's comfort zone.  She is a brights kinda gal.  She also has some vertical elements in her card, which is unusual for her.  Didn't she do a great job using the markers on the trees!

And here is my card.  I really like how this card came out.  I used the DSP from the retiring Nursery Nest.  The little owls are on the DSP and I cut them out.  

The sentiment is from a new stamp set called Itty Bitty Banners.  It's the perfect size. As I was making the card, I began to think of my dad.  His birthday is right around the corner.  He is turning 75!  Doesn't seem possible.  Hubby and I were talking the other day and figured out that my parents were our current age when we first started dating. (Did that sentence make sense? Not sure how to phrase that?) But anyway, if that is not a mind blower, I don't know what is.  But, I digress.  Thinking of my dad, an awful pun came to mind to put inside the card.  This kind of punniness is right up his alley.  Everyone else will groan.  He'll repeat it the rest of the day. 

There you have it.  Two more cards. 

Livi and I have spent some time today organizing my new stamps.  Being a former librarian, I tend to be organized.  Livi played secretary and did all the copying and filing of all the new goodies.  She's a gem.  She actually had a blast making the copies and getting everything into my personal catalog and placed on the shelves correctly.  There may be a wee bit of librarian in her, too. :-)  It helped her pass some of the time waiting for Thomas to take a shower and get himself refreshed from the bus ride. It's been good that Livi is keeping me occupied, too.  I have the overwhelming urge to constantly hug my son and just look at him.  I cannot tell you how hard it was to let him go on his own.  But I am restraining and not driving him bonkers.  I know a 14 year old boy/young man will only put up with so much huggin' from mom. :-)

Okay, enough time has passed.  Time for another hug! Watch out Thomas! :-)

Kristine

Playing with Olivia and a Sneak Peek

Note:  I have blathered a lot before getting to my card and the sneak peek.  If you are visiting just to see the sneak peek and a new product, scroll to the bottom.  If you don't mind a wee bit of blathering...read on!


I am so lucky that my daughter, Olivia, aka Livi, likes to paper craft with me.  She is 12, and I love that it makes her smile when we bring out the craft supplies and get down to a challenge.  This weekend we are missing Thomas.  He is her brother and my son.  He is 14 and off on a trip to Disneyland in LA with his school orchestra.  We miss him terribly.  I am very fortunate that my children love each other and consider each other best friends.  I know!  Can you imagine my surprise as each year they grow they continue to treat each other with respect and love!  It says a lot about who they are as people.  So we are missing Thomas and we felt a little paper therapy was in order.  So we have been doing some challenges.

Because Livi likes sketch challenges we started there.  She combed my bookmarked sights until she found a sketch she thought she could work with and like.  What she found was the Saturday Sketch Challenge at Stamping 411. Perfect! It's an older sketch, but that's what we used. Here it is:

Then to make the challenge a wee bit more difficult, we each picked a color from the Stampin' Up! Color Coach.  This had to be a focal color in the card.  Here's a picture of Livi selecting my color.  She's so funny.  Look at that cute face!

And wouldn't you know it, we each by happenstance picked colors for each other that we would NOT normally pick.  She picked Melon Mambo for me.  I picked Tangerine Tango for her.  We each gave a heavy sigh.  Oh the tortures of working outside a comfort zone! :-)  Then we got to work.  Lots of laughs, and Oh-my-gosh-this-card-is hard! later we had our finished cards.  One of the rules of our working together is no peeking at the other person's work.  We like the surprise of the finished card.  I ripped my card up a few times.  Livi sticks with her plan and is always okay with what she creates.  Say anything about our personalities?

First Livi's card.  Remember she had to use Tangerine Tango.  I love how she interpreted the sketch and made that color work for her. 

And here is my card.  Remember I had to use Melon Mambo.  I fudged a bit.  Although Melon Mambo is a main color, I think the Elegant Eggplant is more noticeable.

The stamp set used is a new stamp in the upcoming 2012-13 Idea Book called Betsy's Blossoms.  I received this set as a part of a bundle that Stampin' Up put together as an incentive.  If you reach a certain level in your title, you begin to get the opportunity to buy these bundles at a discount, or eventually you get them free!  I got my first discount bundle. Hehehehehe, grin.  Have I mentioned that I LOVE Stampin' Up! :-)  Love getting things for free or at a big discount. 

I think the set has a retro feel to it.  Yeah man...retro! 

Thanks for visiting today.  Thanks to you, my followers and subscribers.  You are da bomb.
Kristine

Mojo Monday 236 times 2!

My daughter, Olivia, is almost done with Spring break.  We have done some scrapbooking already this week, but we had not yet done a challenge.  Livi loves the challenges.  She decided a sketch challenge was what she wanted to do.  So we did the Mojo Monday sketch 236.  Funny thing...we did not look at each other's work until we were done.  We picked a very similar color palette! Like mother, like daughter.  Shhh, don't tell her I said that.  And without further ado, here are are cards.  Well, first, the sketch...

My interpretation.  I could not get a middle strip of paper to look the way I wanted, so I skipped it! And the ribbon looks pretty in real life.  In the picture...not so pretty.  Ah well.

Olivia's interpretation.  I would like to point out that she did all of her own cutting! Very cool.

Thanks for sharing some of your time with Olivia and me today.  Special thank you to my followers and subscribers.  I like the idea that I'm not talking to myself. :-)

Kristine