This card is for today's sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers. I love that site and how it motivates me with these challenges to get busy and stamp. I thought I'd make use of those wintergreen dp scraps from my "mint for you" bags. I think it will compliment the gift. I love these colors that are in this design paper. The background paper is not SU, but I found it in my stash and thought it coordinated well with my colors.

I call these my "Mint for you" bags. After a miserable failure at attempting to make candy for gifts, I went and bought a variety of chocolate mints. I punched out with the scallop punch and circle punch to make little covers for the mint patties. I love the wintergreen papers and thought they complimented this project well. The topper is blue bayou with a strip of the wintergreen dp. I stamped "Merry Christmas" on the back.I used the larger cello bags and cut my topper paper 6 inches by 6 inches.

Here's a sneak at one of the new sets that will be in SU's new catalog. It is called Embrace Life and I used it on the limited supplies challenge on Splitcoaststampers this week. I painted in the flowers with a blender pen.

Time is very busy during the holiday season, but I want to wish all my friends, family, and anyone who comes to visit this blog "a very blessed Christmas and a hopeful new year." I'm hoping our men and women in Iraq get to come home this year. I'm hoping to retire this year, and I'm hoping everyone gets to do the things that bring joy and contentment to their lives. I rejoice over the birth of my saviour and pray that His love, His mercy, and His grace reigns over the season.

This card is featuring the new hostess set "Time well spent" that comes out in January. I am loving the new wide ribbons that SU are offering. This is a little tea bag holder. This makes a quick and simple gift of thoughtfulness for someone at work.

Here's a sneak peak at a new hostess set that will be in the new

Stampin' Up catalog coming out in January. This set is called "Time well spent" and this is the biggest stamp in that set.

The weekly sketch challenge is one of my favorites on Splitcoaststampers' website. This is for today's challenge. I also challenged myself to use pieces of paper I had already cut from other projects without cutting a new piece of paper. This is what I found that seem to coordinate with each other.

I have made up my mind that after this school year I will be retiring from teaching in public schools. This is my 29th year of teaching and I decided it was time to do some other things I have always wanted to do. Now that Stampin' Up has changed their policy on placing handmade cards made with their products in established businesses, I would love to explore that avenue.
I have always wanted to live the life of an artist, but knew it might not pay the bills, but now with retirement it might be something I would get to try! I also would love to do what I love and share what I love with others, so I might be able to build up my Stampin' Up business as well.
I hope I will have more time to devote to learning more about blogging and getting to meet more of my stamping friends that are out there in cyberland!!! I've gotten my sales tax number and my business name is going to be Right Brain Madness as well. So, I hope to move from being kindergarten teacher to rubber stamp and paper craft artist (fulltime)!!! Instead of paying therapists.....I buy rubber!!!KWIM???

Wow, doesn't this remind you of the old days of black and white television. I made use of the new basic gray ink and paper on this card for my sister, Lynn, because she is my inspiration and encourager. This was made for a recent Inspiration challenge on Splitcoaststampers.com.

I've neglected my blog lately, but here's one of the reasons!!!I have a new little grandson, Ethan!

I wanted to try something with the new apple cider design paper. The leaves I cut with my cuttlebug and the pumpkin is paper pieced using the apple cider dp. The new wider grossgrain ribbon is a very nice addition as well.

Don't these colors look gorgeous together? They are blue bayou, certainly celery, and chocolate chip! I think that so swirly wheel is a great filler and so easy to use, of course!! This card look only about 10 minutes to make so it's quick and elegant---a combo hard to beat!!

This new design paper is just so fun! I made this card for today's sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers. The colors are so great and the dots just seem to coordinate with so many things. If you haven't tried those new large eyelets, you have to because you will love them.

Fall colors are some of my favorites. I love the new groovy guava added into my fall color scheme. I was just creating out of my scrap pile from my table where my paper cutter is. This was my end results. I just had to also try out my new 5 petaled flower punch and my new wider grossgrain ribbon.

These were the colors for the challenge on Splitcoaststampers'

color challenge for the week. Doesn't this taken with teal, always artichoke, and purely pomegranate make a great combo for Christmas? This is the Seasons of Joy set in the current mini catalog. It's time to get those Christmas cards crankin'!

Heather Pulvirenti was selected this week's featured stamper for this week on Splitcoaststampers.com. Here's my caseing of one of her lovely cards. I used two of Stampin' Up's new "in" colors: groovy guava and soft sky. I combined it with certainly celery. I'm finding that the "Priceless" stamp set is certainly fitting it's name. I find it to be very versatile and I have made many styles of cards using it. That guava stitched ribbon is a perfect match to the groovy guava paper, don't you think??

The color combination challenge for this week on splitcoaststampers.com is purely pomegranate, old olive, and pretty in pink. I put my new wheel to use on my card and combined it with carte postale. I've been super busy with school getting back into the swing, so I have had limited time for stamping but couldn't give up some of the challenges because they are just too much fun.

Wow, my body just hasn't quite gotten back into the swing of my back to work mode yet. KWIM?? Couldn't resist doing this Halloween challenge on Splitcoaststampers today, so had to get this together before I get to bed. Aren't these the cutest Halloween stamps from the Batty for You set?? It's time to get those fall themed cards going!! Hope all my stamping buddies out there who are teachers have a smooth beginning of year and a very successful year!!Remember you can say when asked what you do---I teach future lawyers, doctors, and engineers!! The bumper sticker on my car says,"I teach, so therefore I rule!"

I've got to go back to school today, but started the morning this morning with Emily's color challenge on Splitcoaststampers.com. We were to use groovy guava and soft sky. I love this combo and this eyelet idea I got from javagirl 984 CASEd from one of her cards. I decided to run the ribbon through to see how that would look. Gotta get to work. Have a great day too!

I used one of my new stamps from the new mini catalog coming out in September. This is True Friends and I used the new sanded background from the big catty. It looks great when you stamp over an image with a very subtle color. Here I stamped over with sahara sand. This card was made for today's color challenge on SCS. The colors are bayou blue, sahara sand, and chocolate chip.

That Splitcoaststampers is the most wonderful place out there. Michelle, aka "istamp31," recently sent me some already punched scalloped ovals, squares, and circles, because I whined on a comment on one of her lovely creations that I did not own any of these fabulous punches. She took pity and sent me some that she punched out for me. I made this card with some of these. Got the new boho friend wheel that is in the new mini catalog that all of my customers should soon be receiving. I also used the true friend set from that mini as well.

How excited all of my stampers are going to be to try out the new punch out images to mount from the upcoming mini catalog from Stampin' Up! Wow, it took only about 5 minutes to mount this set and I was stamping in no time. This card was made with the True Friend set. I also used the new In color purely pomegranate. Check out those new jeweled brads and that new ribbon in the new in colors that is double stitched. You're going to love these new things from Stampin' Up.

I made this card today for two challenges on Splitcoaststampers. The featured stamper this week is 88 keys (Deb) and I used her fabulous layout for this card. I also used a tole flower for the technique challenge of the week. I really liked the way the layered tag turned out. That new scallop punch is great and fits so many of the stamps and other punches well.

I can't believe August is already here. I've been trying to learn more and more about how to get some other interesting things going on this blog thanks to two great gals from SCS: Mercy and Dee. They have been so much help and I think this is going to be so much fun to have a place for my work.

Soft sky is one of the new IN colors that Stampin' Up has in the new catalog. This card is also using the new wintergreen design paper. I love the color combinations in this paper. Baroque Motifs is becoming a very popular set from the new catalog as well. I combined not quite navy with the soft sky and certainly celery on this card. I also did some paper piercing and SU's Mat Pack makes it super easy!!

I used the new hostess set, "Oh, how lovely" for one of the challenges I took part in today. It's a great set and it is one of the great level one hostess sets that is being offered in the new Stampin' Up Fall/Winter catalog.

I've been stamping all day playing as many of the challenges as I could. This is one of mine that I think came out the best. I stamped on misted watercolor paper. I used two of the new colors from Stampin' Up: groovy guava and bayou blue.
Isn't that a great ribbon SU has that matches the guava so well?

I didn't get to do all the challenges today on Splitcoaststampers but here's one of the ones I did enjoy doing.The challenge was to make a card and then make another one adding a few other things to it. I added the script background and the gold domes for my second card. I made use of two of my new stamps: Refuge and Strength and Sanded (a fabulous new background stamp).These little dominoes were a great find. I stamped the verse on them with Stazon Jet Black.

I have been having so much fun with the Dare to Go Dirty Challenges happening this week on Splitcoaststampers.com. Here is one of the ones I tried for the toile challenge. Challenges do two things for me: motivates me to stamp and helps me try new things.

I've been having so much fun with this new set from Stampin' Up. Being from Texas, I have kicked myself for not having bought some of the other cowboy sets that SU has had in the past, so I jumped on this one right away! It is going to make great guy cards, and I also made an embellishment for a page in my little grandson's scrapbook with this set.

A Summer of Fun

Because school is starting later this year, I have had a long, great summer. I've spent my time taking part in so many of the SCS daily challenges and it has been so fun. I've been so inspired by the great blogs so many of the SCS stampers have, and have wanted to learn how to make one for myself. Here is my humble attempt. I am such a old dog learning new tricks here.