Ippity New Release Sneaks Day 4

Today is the last day of our Sneaks!!

Are you as blown away as I am with all these amazing new Ippity stamp sets???

You know you are going to want them all!!

And the best news is that

TOMORROW

you can have them!!!

And speaking of BEST NEWS... we have something exciting to share with you all today!

We enjoyed having Angie Blom as our Guest Designer sooo much that we have asked her to stay on board for another three month term!!  She is so amazing and her talents are so inspirational that we just weren't ready to see her go just yet!!  But we will be inviting a new guest for the Winter Release Term, so be sure to keep uploading your Ippity Creations into the SCS Gallery and participating in our Hops so we can see your talents.  You never know who will be our next Guest after Angie's next term is over!!

We love you Angie... thanks for staying on with us for another Guest term!!

Our NEW RELEASE PARTY is tomorrow!!!

Please come to SCS's and join us for the celebration!!

To see the last two sets we are revealing today

 and to start deciding which sets you are going to get,

 please start at the Ippity Blog!!

Then follow along the "Next Blog" icons to make it through all the DT girls' blogs for some more stampy inspiration with today's showcased stamps!!

The project I have for you today is a scrapbook layout!  (I know!!  I scrapbooked!!!  LOL!)

It uses the new Ippity Stamp set called

Here and Now

I chose to use the Sweet Moment Title/Journaling block stamp.  I stamped it in SU's Chocolate Chip ink to coordinate with the brown tones of the Bo Bunny Sophie collection papers.  It is hard to see it in this picture, but I added machine stitching to the layout as well.

Here is a closer shot of that cute stamp.  I love that you can personalize the date by adding in the month and circling the day!  I stamped it twice to allow myself a little extra room for journaling and to match the sketch that I was using.

Here is the Page Maps sketch that I created my layout from...

And because I added the scalloped border that is shown above, my layout also qualifies as a submission for Eva's "SCALLOPS" New Release Challenge!  (INRC2Fall2010)

You can see all the challenges for our New Release right

HERE!

We sure hope you will play along with us!!

Of course there are prizes to random winners!!!  :-)

 

I also should note that I stamped the corner embellishment from the Cherish Your Dreams set that we showcased yesterday.  I know I will be using that stamp A LOT!!  I love it!!!

So hop on over to Lisa's blog to complete your journey and be sure to be leaving comments along the way because we will be picking our comment winners tomorrow!  Each DT member will randomly choose one winner from all their comments during the Sneak Peeks!!  Good luck!!

Growing In Unity... 100% Happy

Welcome back to my blog for my final day of 

Growing in Unity 

and this week's 

Friends With Flair post!

I have been so happy to play with my Unity stamps more than usual this week and I strongly encourage you to sign up in the Unity Friends Forum at SCS for a turn at Growing in Unity!!  It is a lot of fun!  I can't thank you all enough for all the love you have shared with me this week!!  You guys are awesome!!

To start at the beginning of the FWF Blog Hop be sure to start at the beginning ... you will find the complete list of blogs to hop on the Unity blog.  And don't forget to look for the FWF blinkie for a chance to win some free stamps!  

I decided to make another scrapbook layout for my final post this week!

I had some pictures of my daughter and my great niece that were taken recently and were just begging to be scrapped.  Since there were strawberries on my great nieces bathing suit, I knew immediately what papers and stamps to use!!

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity: 100% Happiness Stampin' Store Kit August 2009, Distressed Dots
DP: My Mind's Eye: Quite Contrary
Stickers: October Afternoon
Border Punch: Martha Stewart
Ink: Memento Black, Copic Markers
Brads: Basic Grey

I colored the strawberries and frame stamp with Copic markers and then stamped the 100% Happy stamp with Ruby Red ink from SU. To border the picture of my niece, I stamped the Distressed Dots Unity stamp underneath the picture on the left upper corner.

The journaling says...

Tiffany and her second cousin Ava Marie spend some time together bonding at a family gathering.  They are so "berry" cute together!

Looking at that sweet baby face makes me 100% Happy... that's for sure!!

Now, to make you 100% Happy, how about some BLOG CANDY??

Tomorrow I will draw one lucky winner to receive the BLOG CANDY below.  To qualify to win, leave a comment on all of my blog posts for my week of Growing in Unity and you can have up to five chances to win the BLOG CANDY!!  

Good Luck!!

Thank you so much for all your loving support and encouragement  this week. It means so much to me to have so many crafting people that I can truly call my freinds!!  Have a wonderful weekend and may your bucket overflow with tons of Unity inspiration for the coming week!!

For more  blogs to hop to, visit the 

Unity Blog!!

I Am Becoming Me!

Welcome to my blog on this Monday where you are getting two posts in one!! 

 Today I have a a combination post including 

 my Hippity Hop 

and my

 my Growing in Unity post!

I invite you back every day this week where I will be sharing some Unity (and even Ippity) creations all week long!  I hope you will come back and leave a sweet comment because there will be 

BLOG CANDY 

drawn on Saturday from people who leave comments each day!

I will show you as soon as I get it all together what the BLOG CANDY is, 

but trust me you won't be disappointed!!

So Eryn is our fabulous hostess for our Hippity Hop this week and she has challenged us for this week's HH Challenge (IHHC25) to make something Faux!  How fun is that!!  We hope that you will play along with us for this week's challenge and upload your creation using Ippity stamps and something faux to the SCS Gallery.  You can win a prize randomly just for entering. More details are on the Ippity Blog.  

For the complete list of Hippity Hop Blogs to hop on today, please visit the Ippity blog HERE!!

FAIR WARNING!

From here on down things are going to get personal, so if you prefer not to get into that than just scroll down and glance at my project and hop over to the next blog.  But if you care to learn more about what I have been hinting at lately that has been going on in my life, then read on for some insight into my life these days!

About five weeks ago I had to ask my husband of only one and a half years to move out of my home.  We have been separated since that time and will be getting a divorce in the very near future.  Without getting into the gory details of our break up, suffice it to say that my husband was making some choices that could jeopardize everything that I have worked for and it could have put us in a very bad situation financially and certainly emotionally.  I know that many of you don't believe in divorce and I like to think that I went into this marriage not expecting to get one either, but my husband changed.  He is not the same man that I met five years ago.  And ever since he lost his job he has chosen the wrong way to cope with it.  I saw warning signs shortly after we were married, and I have given him multiple chances to get himself straightened out, but for whatever reasons, he just didn't do it.

I felt that my hands were tied and that all I had left to do was to protect me and my children from the consequences of his actions.  So here I am, single again and wondering how and why these things keep happening to me!  I feel like I am a nice person and that I deserve to have a loving and giving relationship but for some reason Mr. Right keeps alluding me!  I am a fighter and I won't give up, but I do feel that a little introspection into why I keep choosing men that don't work out for me is in order!  So I plan on taking things slowly and working on myself.  

I have learned that if people in a relationship don't make each other better people, then they probably aren't right for each other.  Well, neither Tom nor I were the best we could be in our marriage. I had gotten lazy with my own body, with household things and even with my kids.  I learned that my paper crafting was an escape for me because it always brought me happiness.  Now I know that I need to work on balance and moderation.  Those are the things my obsessive compulsive behavior always struggles with!  

I have decided to step down from the Whimsie Doodles DT a little early and my term with the SCS Clean and Simple DT is almost over too.  So all I will be left with will be my Ippity DT responsibilities.  And I am super excited about being able to give all my crafting energies to Ippity and to trying to get published more.  I have had to take on more of the household responsibilities with Tom's absence, so having a little extra time to do these things is going to be much easier.  

My apologies for the past five weeks or so as you may have noticed my distance. I used to try to make comments in the Galleries, and I was much better at visiting and commenting on all the blogs for our blog hops too.  I plan to be doing that again!  It is something that I enjoy doing and don't look at as a chore or a DT responsibility, but a way to stay connected to my Ippity and Unity buddies!  I really appreciate all of you and I wouldn't have shared all of this with you if I thought you wouldn't have a supportive comment or a shoulder for me to cry on.  I am always amazed at the loving friendships you can have with people that you may never meet in person.  I truly value each and every one of you and thank you for listening to my story.  I would so appreciate your prayers and concern as me and my family push through this and find our happy ending!!  

As part of my healing process I decided to make a layout about my current circumstances...  I used both Ippity and Unity stamps to complete the page!

Supplies Used:

Ippity Stamps:  Flourish and Butterfly (Now and Always); Polka dot tab (to created dots on "button" and butterfly) (A Moment in Time); Picture Mat (A Bit of Burlap)

Unity Stamps: Sentiments and Title (Brave Girls Melody Ross collection); Large flourish (Where You Are Donna Downey collection)

Ink: Stampin' Up: Really Rust, Bordering Blue, Creamy Caramel

DP: Bo Bunny (Mama-Razzi collection)

Flowers: Bo Bunny (Mama-Razzi) 

Brads: Basic Grey

Markers: Copics

Can you guess what item on my layout is for this week's Faux challenge??  If you guessed the button that is in the center of larger flower cluster then you are right!!  I used chipboard and covered it with paper that I stamped with the polka dots and then pierced two holes in it and then covered the top of the "button" except for the holes with Glossy Accents by Ranger!

Here is a closeup of the butterfly colored with copics and the flower that I placed over one of the stamped Ippity flourishes.

The journaling reads...

At 46 and after 3 failed marriages I AM FINDING that my life has Not turned out exactly as I had expected when I was younger.  As far as motherhood, I have NO DISAPPOINTMENTS. I always dreamed of being a mother even more than I dreamed of being a wife, and I LOVE it!  I am also happy by my choice of career.  My job fulfills me and has always been a means for me to support me and my children whether I was married or not.  For these things I am so thankful. But with the recent demise of my present marriage, I am forced to address why the poor track record. What needs fixing?

I AM LEARNING  as I get older that there are small things and BIG things Things you can compromise on and things that you can't!  With each relationship my list of things I won't tolerate, and my list of things that I definitely expect, keeps getting longer and longer.  So now, I AM SEEKING to learn more about WHO I am and WHAT I need and want in a relationship to ensure success and happiness (should I ever try marriage again!)

There you have it!  Just the beginning of a lot of healing and questioning I have to do!  It will be interesting to see how everything works out and what my future holds for me!  :-)

So sorry for the lengthy post!! Don't be afraid to come back tomorrow... I promise it will be shorter!!  Be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win blog candy later this week.  You can leave a new comment every day for a better chance at winning!!

Have a wonderful day and may your bucket overflow with the joy of knowing you have friends that will love and support you through all the trials and troubles of life! My bucket sure overflows with that! :-)

Ippity Spring 2010 Release- Sneak Peek Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of 

Ippity's Spring Release Sneak Peeks!!

I am super excited about the projects that I have to share with you today!!  But first I was wondering if you are loving all the new stamps that are coming out as much as I do!  Aren't they awesome!!  Be sure to contact your Ippity Chick about getting your favorites sent to you as soon as they are released!! I know you are going to want to ink them up as fast as you can!!  EVERY SINGLE KIT is AMAZING!!!

Same drill as the two previous days!!

Start the Hop HERE on the Ippity Blog!

If you got here by way of Karen's Blog then you are heading down the right blog hop path!

Leave comments on all the DT Members blogs each day of the hop and you will have a chance to win one of the sets that are given away each day.  The blogs that the commenters will be drawn from are a secret even to us!  We will announce the winners during Thursdays New Release Party!!

Speaking of the New Release Party...

It is going to be so fun so be sure to join us on Thursday May 13th on the SCS Forums for Challenges, Chatting, Games and Prizes!!  It is going to be A LOT of fun!!

Two new kits were partially revealed on the Ippity blog today!

One of them is called A Moment in Time.  It is the most amazing scrapbook kit and I just love it!!  So I decided I just had to put together a layout to showcase many of the stamps that are in that kit!

I scrapped a layout from Mother's Day this past Sunday.  I used one of the Unity Scrapbook Sketches (USCSSC04) that I hadn't had a chance to work with yet!  It was the perfect sketch for what I needed!

In total I have used FIVE of the stamps from the Moment in Time set.  I will point them out in some of the closeups I have for you below!  I know this is not your typical Mother's Day themed paper, but it was all I had to match all the bright blues that many of us were wearing.  So a few flowers later, I think I feminized it well enough!! LOL!

Here you can see three of the stamps from this set. One is the frame with the hearts, and then one is the "Love you yesterday" sentiment.  I used my Copics to coordinate it with my DP.  Then if you look to the right of the paper panel you will see to bracket shapes.  Well that is a portion of a "top note" style square that is filled with script writing!  It will be so versatile to use for many projects!

This is a gorgeous journaling block that was perfect for my family's  Mother's Day get together!

To create the scalloped border I used one half of one of the stamps from this set.  It is a cute little date stamp in a circle.  It is so cute with the tiny polka dots in negative space!  I used SU's inks to ink them in coordinating colors.  Shown here are Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, and So Saffron.

And here is the other half of that stamp!  It is the perfect sentiment to record the date of an event you are scrapping!  It says..."some moments you don't want to forget."

Here is one last peek at the whole layout!  I am so happy to be scrapping again!!  And what makes it even better is having awesome stamps to use on my layouts!!

Next I have my project using the Delightful Little Things set...

I was channeling Eva and Karen while I was working on this project!  It reminds me of some of their amazing projects which inspired me to try this!  I used Webster's Pages for all the beautiful decorations on the DP.  But the stamp that I used on this project is the sentiment.  It is such a wonderful phrase that I plan to keep right next to me to remind me of the darkness we sometimes have to endure to have true beauty!  I love that!

Here is s closeup for you of the sentiment.  I highlighted some of the words with a Copic marker.  Can you see how I also cut out some of the images on the DP with an exacto to allow them to be layered onto the frame that holds the sentiment?

To emphasize the words I created an additional frame using two nested Labels 11 Nestabilities.  The Kraft pearls are from Zva!

Well that is all I have for you today!!  Enjoy the rest of the hop! You are headed now to the amazingly creative Lisa Arana's blog!  Have a great day and be sure to come back tomorrow for the last day of our Sneak Peeks!!

May your bucket overflow with the right balance of light and darkness 

to enjoy the beauty that can come from both!

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

I hope you are having a wonderful Saturday and that you will make it even better by celebrating 

National Scrapbooking Day 

with Unity and {ippity}!  

Today we have a Blog Hop for you and are also issuing a challenge to you for a chance to WIN!!  

One lucky person who participates in our NSD challenge this week will win the newest 

Unity Scrapbooking Kit 

and also the upcoming 

{ippity} scrapbooking New Release!!

If you are arriving here by way of Heather then you are on the right track. 

But to start at the beginning of the NSD Blog Hop, 

please head over to the Unity Blog to start the Hop 

and then follow the links to the rest of the blogs from there!

Maria was kind enough to make an awesome sketch for us to use.  It includes two 12 x 12 sketches that could be used separately or together for a double page spread.

I chose to use the single layout on the right for my page.

This sketch was the perfect one to use for these recent pictures I got of my son. His name is Ricky and he has a very original pattern of freckles on his face. If you were to connect the freckles on the left side of his face (the right side in the photo) you would be able to form a half smile!

To create the title for this page I used Alphabetically Adorable by {ippity}.

The smile was created by hand!

Can you see Ricky's freckles in this shot? I repeated the theme of dots on the layout by stamping circles using the dotted  background stamp from the {ippity} Love in Return set. I also added buttons and clusters of buttons to continue the "dot" theme. I also added a border on top of the center strip using the same dotted stamp!

The original stamp comes from the Love in Return set also!

The journaling reads...

"Look closely at Ricky's face and notice the row of freckles that if you 

connect like a dot-to-dot it would form  half a smile.  He's Unique!

The sketch was great to play with (thanks Maria!) and we sure hope you will give it a try too!!

I am the last stop for the NSD Blog Hop,
but we would love for you to head over to the
{ippity} blog 
Where Eryn has flattered our fabulous DT member Maria Gurnsey!!

Have a wonderful Saturday and be sure to visit the
Unity Forum on SCS for the last day of their
2nd Anniversary Celebration!

April Showers Bring May Flowers!

But for today's post it looks like the May flowers are coming a little early!!  Today is Monday and that means that it is time for another {ippity} Hippity Hop!!  Our Hop hostess today is Lisa and she has challenged us this week with a new Hippity Hop challenge to add 3D Flowers to our project!

To start the hop at the beginning and to have a chance to visit all the blogs of talented {ippity} fans just Hop on over the {ippity} blog to find the complete list!!  We hope that you will join us in our challenge this week and create a card or project using 3D flowers that you have either purchased or made.  Upload them to the SCS Gallery using the keywords ippity and IHHC21.

The project that I made was actually for two challenges!  The first one was Lisa's Flower challenge, but then it also was for this weekend's Virtual Scrapbooking Night VSBN challenge that I hosted based on the Reality TV show called Extreme Makeover.  The idea was to use that show for the inspiration to create a BEFORE and AFTER type layout.  

To check out my challenge please visit my VSBN thread HERE.  There is still time to play along with a chance to win a free ippity stamp set!

Here is the layout that was optional for my VSBN challenge.  

And here is the layout that I created of my 2nd daughter Leah.  The Before was a picture of her as she received her acceptance letter for the University of Florida.  The After picture was taken on her graduation day after spending four years there!

Here is a closeup of one of the clusters of flowers that I added for Lisa's Hippity Hop challenge. I did some layering of the flowers and topped them off with rhinestones to add depth for the 3D effect.  Underneath the photo of my daughter I stamped the dotted background {ippity} stamp from the Love in Return set to help mat the photo.

And here is the next cluster of 3D flowers that I added to the layout.  The bottom corner has the verse from the Devoted {ippity} set that states " Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."  And as an accent coming from underneath the picture in the center, I used the swirl and flower stamp from the Love in Return Set.

The {ippity} stamp shown here is from the What Matters Most set.  You can read my journaling to see the joy that we had for Leah as we got her great news!  We are so proud of Leah and thankful that she is about to graduate with her Master's and will attending UF's Vet School in the Fall!!

Before you continue on the Hop, let me remind you that our sister company 

Unity Stamp Co. is celebrating it's 

2nd Year Anniversary all week long!! 

Head over to the Unity forum at SCS and the Unity blog 

to join in all the festivities that are happening today and all week long!!

Have a great day and may your bucket overflow with the desires of your heart as promised by God!  :-)  Happy Monday!!

Man's Best Friend With Flair!!

Man's Best Friend with Flair!

Ha ha!! How do you like that blog title??  Can you guess that my FWF project for today is going to include our dog?  Well if you did, you are absolutely right!!

I used this week's Simple Scrapping Sketch Challenge  (USCSSC03) at Unity this week that was given to us by Renee!  It is an awesome sketch and it was perfect for one of the layouts that I needed to make for Tasha's first year album!!  

If you are a Fan Club Member at SCS you can view the album cover that I made for our dog!  It was one of my last submissions as a Dirty Girl.  Click HERE if you want to see it!

Here is Renee's sketch...

I altered the sketch for my personal use because instead of a one page layout, I needed a two paged 8 x 8 layout.  So I stretched the layout width wise and added an extra panel.  I also flipped the circle embellishment to the left side.

The following stamps were used to make this layout

• Bitty Backgrounds (circles) were used to create the background that anchored the three pictures and also provided the background behind the doghouse.
• I Ruff You:  I cut away one of the paws from the strip of paws and stamped it along the rust border and under the title
• Le Chic Vintage scrapbooking Kit (SBC-100)

The DP I used for this layout is from the DCWV Pet Stack.  The colors worked perfectly with the colors of my puppy and her toys.  I enjoyed curving the lines instead of keeping them straight like the sketch.

I created the title by handwriting TASHA and then using rub-ons for TOYS.  The journaling states...

"We were so excited to get Tasha and couldn't help spoiling her with a lot of new toys.  She is so cute when she plays with her toys...BUT... She doesn't share very well!!"

So there are up to 50 blogs for you to visit today and one of them is hiding the flair blinkie that will get someone a chance to win 25 random stamps from Unity.  To begin the blog at the beginning, you want to stop by the Unity Blog to start at the top of the list!!  Enjoy your hopping!!

Have a great Friday and may your bucket overflow with friends of all kinds... furry or otherwise!!  :-)