At the end of the Rainbow & July Holiday List

I have been living in a major city most of my life so I am use to the fast pace and hustle that is the essence of city life. But I love when I get the chance to stop everything and enjoy God's creations like this rainbow that appeared recently. It is a rare thing to see in the city and created quite a buzz. My daughter works in a Supermarket and she said all of the customers were talking about it. It give me hope and is my inspiration for getting some crafty work done this weekend.

And since we are almost at the beginning of July here is your list of usual and not so usual holidays.
July 1 - Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day
July 3 - Stay out of the Sun Day
July 4 - Independence Day
July 5 - Workaholics Day
July 6 - National Fried Chicken Day
July 7 - Macaroni Day
July 9 - Rock n Roll Day
July 11 - Cheer Up the Lonely Day
July 12 - Pecan Pie Day
July 13 - National French Fries Day
July 14 - Cow Appreciation day
July 15 - I Love Horses Day
July 17 - National Ice Cream Day
July 20 - National Lollipop Day
July 24 - Parent's Day & Amelia Earhart Day
July 25 - Thread the Needle Day
July 28 - Milk Chocolate Day
July 30 - National Cheesecake Day

Have a great weekend blog family and stay cool!

Last Minute Lucy

I signed up for the June card challenge on Scrapbook.com this month and now 27 days later I am trying to catch up before the final deadline of June 29th. There are 8 themes and now I have completed four of them. The first card posted today is for the duct tape theme. That blue and white strip is actually some of the new decorated duct tape, can you believe that! I used embossing folders on the white card base and the black card stock. The butterfly was a raw chipboard shape I found in an assortment pack purchased from Michaels. I painted it white and added stickles for a little shimmer and a little strip of gray polka dot washi tape to finish it off. The sentiment is from a Papertrey Ink stamp set.

My second card for today is a Scraplift, another theme in the challenge. I used some pattern paper from my stash that I purchased from Oriental Trading a while ago. I was a little unhappy with the weight of the paper but I still like the patterns and it is good for card making. The stamped image and sentiment is from a MFT stamp set gifted to me by my bestie. I did a quick handmade flower and added some crinkle ribbon. I don't normally think about sewing on my cards but this is one time when I could envision some zig zag stitching around the edges, so maybe I will start giving it a try?

Flick of my Bic

So I am thinking in the interest of maximizing my time that during the week I can do cards or finish WIPs and on the weekends I can start new layouts. I don't know how long I can keep it up but last night I was able to make a card. I wanted to use a stamped image because I have a lot of really nice stamps that I have never used. These are Lizzie Anne Designs red rubber cling stamps. It has been a while since I have colored in an image. I only have a couple of copics, I have never really gotten into them but I do have a nice array of Bic colors. I love the look of blending colors. For this card I used three markers on the chair and three on the lamp. I think the paper is from Baisc Grey's Offbeat collection, I pulled it out of my pile of scraps so I am not 100% sure, lol.

A lil' Sumthin' Sumthin'

I didn't get to scrap last night but I did put together a diaper cake for one of my husband's assistants. I get home from work late and I did not have much time to work on it so I do not feel like it is up to my normal standards but it will do. Normally I would have decorated it more but I still think she will still be happy with the results. Below are the couple of cards that I was able to complete over the weekend.

A Cure for my Sweet Tooth

Would be some blog candy and I won a set of stamps (pictured below) from the Simon Says Stamps blog. My girl Tiffany was on the look out and let me know just as soon as she could! It was just the thing to perk me up, I have been feeling a little blue lately with so many changes and emotional things affecting my life right now, the timing couldn't be better. I was able to kick out a few cards this weekend that I can share tomorrow, but my to-do-list is growing everyday. I have a diaper cake to complete tonight and Netta has inspired me to include some washcloth lollipops so I have to get cracking as soon as I get home.

And thank you to everyone who stops by to visit and to those who leave comments, you all definitely help turn my gray skies blue! I appreciate your time and support!

A little Sunshine

Scrapbooking has made me love the color yellow . The bright and warm tones just makes me smile. I used Lily Bee's Buttercup collection from my June Scrap-room kit. I embossed the tag with a fiskars stamp and versmark ink and pure white embossing powder. I added a strip of yellow washi tape and I got the kite paper piecing from a scrapbooks etc. article by Valerie Salmon . The stamp is from the Pink Paislee Prarie Hill Collection, I think the flower ribbon is by American crafts and I thought I came up with the idea of the fabric sun using some material from a quarter stack that I purchased at Walmart, but then I saw it on Rochelle Spears blog and she said she got it from a magazine and I probably did too, lol. But the corner punch sun rays are my idea, I am certain of it, lol.

Oh and didn't I tell you that my daughter went on her Senior Prom on Friday. She was radiant! Here are a few photos -

WIP Monday

Uggh! I hate when I get stuck on a layout. This is what I am working on this lovely WIP Monday. I Like the Heidi Swapp Sugar Chic line and it fits all of my nieces personalities, they are very spunky, fashion forward young ladies so I will be using it on quite a few layouts. This is my youngest niece last year during the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. She is wild just like this paper, lol. I may just add a few more embellies and journaling and call it a day, lol.

Let Me Tell You About My Best Friend

HAPPY BEST FRIENDS DAY! I was so excited to see this on the calendar for this month because I have the bestest Best Friend in the world and that is Mika aka Tamika aka Jojorenee. I can remember the first time we contacted each other on scrapbook.com. I was so excited that our names were the same and she spelled it exactly like I do. She has been with me through some serious ups and downs over the years and I am thankful to have her in my life.I hope she knows she can count on me anytime, I am just a train ride away. Mika has a smile that is like sunshine, it warms you and makes you whole. It gives you the energy to keep going on and it is contagious, even through texts, email and the phone. Mika knows me better than anyone else and just like twins we share the same the same thoughts and parallel experiences. We met through scrapbooking so I wanted to share with you some of my favorite work of hers -

When I saw this picture of her Mom I felt like we could be related, she reminds me of my family members.

We finally got to meet at a crop in CT and she is soo silly, I had a blast!

This layout is just a snippet of her talent, this should be on the cover of a magazine.

This is Mika, all smiles able to make magic with a sketch and a pair of scissors.

Her mini-Mika has that same smile and this layout shows her attention to details.

And her mini-Man, he is so adorable and Mika captures his personality on film and through fantastic layouts

And this is my best friend! Simply one of the sweetest, most giving and thought people that I know.

Make sure that you find a way to celebrate your best friend today and everyday!

So Versatile!

One of the things that I love about Basic Grey is that their collections are pretty eclectic. The zig zag patterned paper {Basic Grey's what's up collection} is from my May Simon Says Card Kit . It does not really look like the other papers but it does coordinate with the others or can stand alone.

Cuttlebug Embossing folder

Papetrey Ink Sentiment Stamp

Zing Embossing Powder

Making Memories Butterfly die cut

I love tape Washi tape - chevron

Too Many Meetings

Sorry this has to be quick, I have a lot of meetings here today at work but I wanted to share another card using my May Simon Says card kit. I am looking forward to seeing what is next for July. Have a great day!

After the Rain

We had a great weekend visiting with our grandson. I forgot how amazing it is to watch a child grow and come into their own personality, he had me laughing all day. I did find time to make a few cards and I still have some other projects to catch up on. I was so excited to crack into my first Simon Says Card kit. This card came together virtually by itself and my card making mojo was in ful force so watch out der' now, lol!

Mini Haul and Holidays

I was possessed! I saw this post by my girl Tiffany and then without any control, I ran to Michaels on my lunch break and picked up a few things, lol. Here is my mini-haul:

Last year Oriental Trading sent me a fun calendar that noted those obscure yet important holidays that get little mention in the press. Unfortunately I did not get another calendar this year but I when I found my calendar from last year in my desk drawer I thought it would be fun to share with my friends in blogland the dates for June and kick start your creativity for the month. Maybe one of these "holidays" will inspire you to create a card, layout or just get a chuckle that someone even thought of this, lol.

June 1 - Donut Day
June 2 - National Rocky Road Day
June 3 - Repeat Day, Repeat Day
June 4 - Hug your Cat Day
June 5 - World Environment Day
June 6 - D-Day
June 7 - National Chocolate Day
June 8 - Best Friend's Day
June 10 - Children's Day
June 11 - Hug Day
June 12 - Red Rose Day
June 13 - Worldwide Knit in Public Day
June 14 - Flag Day
June 17 - Father's Day
June 18 - World Juggling Day
June 20 - First Day of Summer
June 22 - National Chocolate Eclair Day
June 24 - National Take your Dog to Work Day
June 25 - Log Cabin Day
June 27 - Sunglasses Day
June 29 - Camera Day

Have a Great Weekend!