Eat Cake Graphics | Catered Crop

'Cause I told you once, now I told you twice.
We gon' light it up like it's dynamite.
Dynamite lyrice by Taio Cruz

Hee hee . . . have you ever copied (CASE'd) your own card? This is a reprise of this card using one of my favorite stamps, Eat Cake Graphics' Toad Sister.

Once was nice, so I made it twice.

Catered Crop Follow the Recipe

Our inspiration for the Catered Crop Follow-the-Recipe #19, Dana's card, has such beautiful colors and textures, and I'm just crazy, crazy about all the entries we've gotten so far. I followed Dana's magical wizard theme and also picked up her jewel color tones, text background, markers, and glitter. Here's the rest of my recipe. Remember, you don't have to use all of Dana's ingredients – just pick and choose what works for you add your own magic.

Pattern Paper – October Afternoon Campfire
Cardstock– Stampin' Up! Night of Navy, Old Olive and Very Vanilla; Neenah
Stamps – Eat Cake Graphics 1188-K Toad Sister and 8194-E Toad Sister (text)
Color Mediums – Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Stampin' Up! Pastels, ColorBox Creamy Brown chalk ink
Embellishments – Calico Corners star hat pin, Stampin' Up! Waffle Paper
Misc. Supplies – Stampin' Up! Dazzling Diamonds glitter and Crystal Effects
Tools – My Favorite Things First Place Ribbon Die, Nestabilities, EK Success Scallop border punch
Challenges – Deconstructed Sketch #16 (DS16), Copic Creations #56, CCEE Stampers (CCEE1134)

I used some Stampin' Up! Waffle Paper for a little gold trim. To get it around the big round focal point I cut out two large scallop circles with Nestabilities and then trimmed them and fan-folded them to make a little multi-layered rosette. That owl scene/text is from the October Afternoon Campfire paper pack. I love how it turned out with the owl looking down at the sister frog. (Hope he's not hungry for frog legs.)

So, maybe my rerun will get syndicated . . . what a deal!

Tomorrow is my sister's birthday. You know what that means?! It's mine, too! Happy birthday to us. My family has some surprises planned – they won't even let me pinch the packages. I hope none of them involve toads!

August 28, 2011 | Filed Under: Copic Markers, Eat Cake Graphics, Follow the Recipe, Halloween Tagged With: Copic Markers, Eat Cake Graphics, Follow the Recipe, FTR19, Halloween | 5 Comments

If you must hold yourself up to your children as an object lesson,
hold yourself up as a warning and not as an example.
~ George Bernard Shaw

A parent's job isn't done until they've sufficiently embarrassed their children in public. Isn't that why we parents were put on this earth, after all? I think for me maybe it was when Dad wore his blue polyester "leisure suite," you know, the matching jacket and pants. Or maybe it was those black socks with shorts. I asked my kids when it was that I embarrassed them the most – there were too many to narrow down to one!

My job here is done.

So, I came up with the top ten most embarrassing parent moments. Disclaimer: Author cannot be held liable for your child's therapy bills – giggle at your own risk.

10. The spit wash – licking your thumb and wiping dirt off their face. Hey, and if it's chocolate, lick your thumb again and say Yum!

9. Ingratiating yourself with their friends by trying to talk teen slang. Groovy Dude!

8. Friend all their buds and post their baby pictures on your Facebook page. Bare Baby Butts.

7. Regale their friends with stories of cute little things your child said when they were little. Mispronounced words, like "pissgetti" and "Let's get Farching," will really crack them up and increase your child's popularity.

6. Pick up your kids from school with black workout Spandex. If they give you too much grief, just change into the leopard print ones.

5. Yell at the refs while they're playing ball. "What are you, Blind?!"

4. Give your husband a big 'ole smooch. But, hey, keep it clean.

3. Serve cupcakes with blue icing for their birthday. Blue teeth for all.

2. Take them bra shopping with you. Try on the bra over your clothes while passers-by snicker at how absurd you look.

And the number one way to embarrass your children:

1. Shout loudly as you drive by their school: "Don't forget to wipe properly, those stains will never come off, wipe front to back."

I made this for the Ribbon Carousel Challenge #15 – Getting Edgy. Jessica Diedrich wants us to get in touch with our “edgier side”. So rip your paper, distress your edges, use an edgy character or image . . . just do something “edgy”. I, of course, decided to make a card to make my children go over the edge, you know, because that's my job. Just remember that your creation must have ribbon, bakers twine, jute twine, lace, or basically, anything that comes on a spool.

Oh, and check this out! Corinna, the fabulous entrepreneur behind the Ribbon Carousel just got married! And the bride is giving US a wedding present. Everything in the store is on sale for 20% off until Friday, August 12. Just use the coupon code WEDDING when you check out. She'll be on her Family Honeymoon and won't be shipping until she gets back on Friday. Congratulations, Corinna!

Catered Crop Recipe

Don't you love this stamp image?! It's one of my favs over at Eat Cake Graphics. It's available in rubber, mounted and unmounted. Be sure to check out the rest of Holly's summertime selection. So fun!

Stamps – Eat Cake Graphics 1054-M The Parents
Paper – Stampin' Up! cardstock, Basic Grey Out of Print, Neenah
Color Mediums – Memento Ink, Copics, Stampin' Up! Pastes
Fibers – Yummy May Arts ribbon (Yay! Our sponsors for FTR18 Party)
Embellishments – Clear Button, Basic Grey Bow
Tools – Cuttlebug folder, Nestabilities, My Favorite Things Notched Tag Die
Sketch – Swet Sunday Sketch SSSC129

Mortify your kids enough, and you’ll help fuel them to do what they were put here for — to make their way in the world without us. So, have you done your job today? Let's hear it. What do you do that makes them cringe?

August 9, 2011 | Filed Under: All Occasions, Eat Cake Graphics, Ribbon Carousel, Summer Tagged With: Eat Cake Graphics, Ribbon Carousel, Summer | 7 Comments

At our age swimming is dangerous.
Lifeguards don't try as hard.
~ George K.

Can you see that hilarious sentiment on the inside of my card? It says: "I don't skinny dip. I chunky dunk." Yeah, I'm a chunky dunker, and there's proof.

Oh, and I found the perfect hankies to put in my matching tissue coozie.

Isn't that hilarious?

My chunky dunker is such a fashionable chick, don't you think, with that flower on her cap? Does anyone remember these?

That swim cap reminded me of the caps Mom used to wear. Now, Mom was not a skinny dipper (at least that she admitted to me) or a chunky dunker, but she was a bathing beauty. She was a synchronized swimmer in college and could kick my butt in the water even as a retired Grandma. Mom got her hair set and teased every week, so when we went water skiing on the weekend, she wore a lovely rubber swim cap to keep her hair pretty for church. I just couldn't resist putting a flower on the swim cap in honor of the vintage swim caps Mom wore.

This week's theme at the Ribbon Carousel Challenge blog is CAS (Clean and Simple) cards (RCC3). Well, dears, there's nothing clean or simple about me.

I love CAS cards, but, seriously, my last card (Ladybug Hugs) had at least 12 layers! So, I submit to you, that, while this is not a single-layer, embellishment-free, pure clean-and-simple card; with half my usual layers, it's clean-and-simple for me. And, if I can pull this off, all of you certainly can.

I followed Holly Ramer's instructions at her very fun site, Stitch Craft to make the tissue coozie. Here's the rest of my recipe:

Stamps – Eat Cake Graphics 1129-J Doris is Ready for Water and 8173-F Chunky Dunk; My Favorite Things Typewriter Alpha sets
Paper – Neenah; Stampin' Up! designer paper and cardstock (Pumpkin Pie and Bashful Blue)
Color Mediums – Copic Markers, Signo White Gel Pen, Memento Ink, Stampin' Up! Classic Ink (Pumpkin Pie and Bashful Blue)
Fibers – Stampin' Up! gingham ribbon and May Arts
Tools– Nestabilities, EK Success 5/8" circle punch, My Favorite Things Fishtail Banner and medium scallop Die-namics, Cuttlebug embossing folder
Embellishments – Making Memories metal flowers, Stampin' Up! eyelets
Challenges – My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club Sketch (MFTWSC19), Splitcoast Stampers CAS118 (Banners)