Birthday Peek A Boo Box

TGIF!! It's been a crazy week in my world. I've been fighting off the illness going around the office and trying to keep the house together. Today I had to pick Jimmi up at the airport because instead of arriving last night, she was delayed until today. My sweetheart and I are going to try and go out on a special date, but we are expecting a snow storm (which is RARE around here) so who knows what's going to happen.

What I DO know is that I finally finished this cute Peek A Boo Treat Box I wanted to post yesterday. When I saw these on SCS, I thought they were pretty darn cute so I finally tried one. I must say, it was pretty darn easy too.
I think this could make a cute little birthday treat for a co-worker or neighbor. What do you think? The stamps set is Artful Inkables Birthday Best. I love this set and I think it is my favorite birthday stamp set so far. It's so cute. :)

Stamps: Artful Inkables Birthday Best
Paper: Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday; SU Pink Pirouette
Ink: SU Rose Red; Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: 1 3/8" circle Punch, Scor-Pal, Scissors, Ribbon, Nestabilities

That's all I have for today- hopefully I will get some stamping time tomorrow while I'm snowed in. ;o

Artful Inkables "Charming" Blog Hop!

This is the 2nd post for today- scroll down for the Friday Fun Challenge post. :)

Welcome to the Artful Inkables "Charming" Blog Hop. You should be joining me from Holly's Blog. If not, make sure you go to Kristin's blog HERE to start the hop. You will not want to miss a single project. There will also be a prize give away - just leave a comment on each blog and one comment will be chosen randomly to win.
Today's blog hop is focusing on charms. Did you know that Artful Inkables carries a wide assortment of charms? In fact, most stamp sets have a coordinating charm. They are a great way to accent your card or project without breaking the bank.
Today I used the stamp set Birthday Best. I love the cake, present and cupcake images- and it also has GREAT sentiments for birthday cards. I paired it with the butterfly charm- mainly because I love butterflies. I even have a butterfly tattoo. My layout is a sketch from the January/February issue of Papercrafts magazine (page 17).
Stamps: AI Birthday Best
Paper: Kraft, SU Old Olive, PTI White and K&Company Carolyn Gavin Greenhouse Paper
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa; SU Pink Passion
Accessories: Nestabilities, American Crafts Ribbon, Chipboard; Scallop Border Punch; Foam Tape....and of course my butterfly charm.

Your next stop on the hop is JEN! Have a great day!

Happy Birthday to my Sweetheart!

Sunday is my sweetheart, Jeff's 40th birthday! I love this man more than anything (even stamping) so I hope he has at least another 40 more years to spend here with me. He is such a wonderful, caring man who makes me laugh and appreciate every moment. This picture is of us at Alex's graduation. He was so proud of Alex and so happy to be there with us. Since I love Jeff so much I wanted to make him the most special card ever for his birthday. It is no secret (if you actually read my blog) that I have been trying to figure out the whole Prismacolor Pencil technique after purchasing the full set of pencils several weeks ago. Well, they came out again today for this card. Here are my supplies- although I used baby oil to blend on my last couple cards I pulled out the Odorless Mineral Spirits again today.

That's the jar I keep my Odorless Mineral Spirits in. My friend Jimmi and I split a container so we could try out the pencils. A little goes a long way- I don't see me needing to replace the product anytime soon HOWEVER I may need to purchase one of those nifty pump bottles soon.
I do think I prefer the OMS to the Baby Oil for blending although both work well. In trying to figure out the technique I have realized that less is more, simpler is better. I was trying TOO hard and achieving fantastic results with the pencils is actually relatively easy.
I chose the fruit image from Stampin Up's For Father set because Jeff is a farmer in addition to everything else he does. Currently, he only farms one acre but starting next year, he will farm at least 50. It's his first love, besides me, of course.
I also used the Faux Wood grain technique on the two panels that I placed following SCS Sketch # 234. I used a leftover scrap to stamp the sentiment on and popped it up with dimensionals. Here's the finished product:

Stamps: SU For Father and It's Your Birthday

Paper: Old Olive, Real Red, Night of Navy, More Mustard
Ink: Versafine Black Onyx, Close to Cocoa, White
Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, Brads, Dimensionals, Cuttlebug, Weathered Stripes Embossing Folder, Nestablities

I really hope you and Jeff like this card. Thanks for stopping by today and have a great weekend!