Russ Jones -- Don't Let That Dress Fool Ya!

Russ is a multi-talented comedian, actor, businessman and owner of this new and very original stamp company called Molly Stamps. This all began when he and his partner, Kevin Williams, made a mockumentary about scrap bookers. The commercials they made with Russ dressed as a woman became quite popular that he decided to make a stamp set of his "Molly" character. Thus, Molly Stamps was born!

His first stamp set, Let's Get Together, premiered in June and portrays his character, Molly McGann, a die hard, scrapaholic. This Monday, September 1st, Molly Stamps will be releasing three brand new sets. I will be posting a sample or two right here on my blog that day for you to view. Click on the video box below to play a video of Molly in action. You'll know more about who Molly is and see how Russ portrays his stamptabulous character so fabulously!

Pictured above with Russ is his adorable son. His wife is a powerhouse TV executive producer.

Thanks again for visiting and have a wonderful and safe Sunday!

Hanna Ribbon Holder

Today's Friday challenge over at Hanna Stamps!© Forum (keycode HSC32), is to make a 3-D object. This is what I decided to make for that challenge. I happened to have a mini paint can (about 3 in. tall) that I had been saving for a project just like this one. It can hold various types of ribbons and what better stamp to use than the Perfect Package Hanna stamp. I colored it in with Copics and then cut the image out. I simply slipped the image inside the container (no adhesive needed), added ribbons and Primas, and covered the top of the tin with a coordinating DSP. A very easy project!!!

Thanks for visiting and I hope you all play along!

Friendship "Scrap-Card" & Tutorial

When my daughter graduated from 8th grade, I thought of all the wonderful friends she had made throughout her years at Friends Christian School... from Pre-school through 8th Grade. Not only were they important to her, but they were important to me as well because their moms also became my friends. One of them became one of my closest friends and this project was made especially for her.

When I was at a restaurant in Maui, our waitress brought us our drinks with these really nice rectangle coasters. Since our waitress was especially friendly, she gave us extras. This is the first project I made with those coasters. She gave me 10, but now I wish I had asked for more! If you'd like to see how I made this, you can view it here.

Thanks for stopping by!

2-n-1 Challenge and "Look at 'em Raks!"

This card started out as a design I was working on for the OCC Color Challenge (key word OCCC), using Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red, Old Olive with Chocolate Chip as an optional color. Then I saw the SCS Faux Dry Embossing Technique Challenge (key word TLC183). I love that technique, so I decided to incorporate the two challenges together.

Stamp: Brocade Basic, Say It With Scallops
Ink: Whisper White Craft Ink, Ruby Red, Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Whisper White, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Bali Breeze DSP
Acc: Stamp-a-Majig, Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon, Square Scallop Punch, Distressing Tool, Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots, Dew Drops (Robin's Nest)

"NICE RAK" from Heather of Heather's Coffee Break
My sweet friend surprised me today with a package in the mail -- with one of the funniest card that I have ever seen! This girl is so amazingly talented and I knew it right away when I first visited her blog. Another thing that made me smile is the clear stamp that she included in the package. I'll make a card with it one day and post it... too funny, girl!!! Below are all the goodies in the package. Thank you so much, Heather!
















Introducing...My Bella Sistah, Katie of Paper Makeup
I was introduced to Katie thru Stamping Bella and today I received such a beautiful card from her and gorgeous ribbons, stamps, notebook, chalk and images of Bellas. Katie is expecting a baby boy any day now and I was so surprised that she even thought of sending this with all that's going on with having a baby. That's one of the things that makes her even more special. If you've ever visited her blog, you'll know what clean, crisp beautiful creations she makes. Thank you, Katie. Hope all goes well these next few days. I'll be thinking about you.

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Happy Monday and Another Christmas Card

What a busy week I had last week! I had so much paperwork to fill out for both of my girls' school registration; standing in long lines to change classes, buying books, etc... Then shopping for clothes, shoes, supplies... that was another fiasco. At least I was able to get away for the weekend with my husband for our anniversary. It was the first time we left the girls alone by themselves. We stayed overnight in Marina del Rey, a nearby harbor town. It was only for one night, but it was just what I needed -- to enjoy a relaxing dinner overlooking the marina (complete with fireworks!) and to be able to catch a good movie.

The night before I left for the weekend, I made a few Christmas cards. The one above is made with SU!'s new set called Snow Swirled. After stamping the tree image onto Very Vanilla, I attached it to the designer paper from the new Simply Scrappin' Kit, I Wish. I then placed a piece of Vellum card stock over it which I sewed into place. The brad, called Filigree, is also from the new catalog, but instead of using the silver brad in the center, I used a rhinestone brad. I wrapped the prongs of the brad around the ribbon to secure it.

Well, I hope you all had a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Ruby Blush Birthday (CC180)

This 5x5 card was for color challenge #180 on SCS -- Ruby Red, Blush Blossom and Close to Cocoa. To be honest with you, I did not care for this combo and I doubt I'll ever use it again. But, here's my card anyway. The butterfly was stamped with Close to Cocoa, but after I applied Stickles, it turned a little bit golden, which I wasn't too happy about. I should have been patient and grabbed my Dazzling Diamonds.

Stamp: All Holidays, Dreams du Jour
Ink: Ruby Red (I cheated and dabbed very lightly on Rose Red first), Close to Cocoa
Paper: Ruby Red, Blush Blossom, Close to Cocoa, Close to Cocoa DSP
Acc: Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon, Rhinestone Brads, Cuttlebug, Fiskar Edge Punch, Nestabilities

Thanks for visiting and let me know what you think of this combo.

Awards and a Christmas Card

I'm so behind with my thank yous for these awards -- OMGoodness!!! And I do apologize.

The first one is this BFF Gold Card Award. Now how special is this? But not as special as the BFF who presented it to me, who's a totally sweet girl, Heather from Heather's Coffee Break. She's not only beautiful on the outside, but beautiful and talented on the inside. You'll see when you visit her blog. Thanks, Girlfriend!

Here are the rules

1. Only 5 people allowed.
2. 4 have to be dedicated followers of your blog
3. one has to be someone new or recently new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. you must link back to whoever gave you the award.

Courtney - she's always a hoot 'n a holler
Kathie - my buddy I call "DD" (I almost couldn't remember her real name!)
Katie - my sistah who's expecting any time now!
Krista - she lives in my favorite European country!
Susanna - what can I say...she's an STH SB BFF

Thanks for being my friend!

Lisa from This 'n' That presented me with this award. Thanks so much, Lisa! She has some awesome cards on her blog, so go and check it out!

Rules: I have to pick 7 of my favorite blogs and…
1. The winner can put the logo on their blog
2. Link the person you received your award from
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you’ve nominated.

This was really hard to choose, but here are some sites that I love to visit:

Heather
Tami
Lisa
Kelly
card of the week.com
N.M.B.S.
Allison


Heather from Heather's Coffee Break (see, isn't she sweet?) gave me the following two awards. The first one is The Wylde Woman Award. Thanks, Heather! You're an awesome friend.

The rules of this award are:

1. You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it's up to you. Make sure you link to their site in your post.

2. Link back to this blogsite http://www.tammyvitale.com/ so Tammy (the originator) can go visit all these wonderful women and remember the Purpose of the Award: To send love and acknowledgment to women who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy.

I'm going to give this to Kristi, of Hanna Stamps. She has done so much for so many people -- right now, she's the first person who comes to my mind for this award.

The second award from Heather is the Stempel Award. You truly are one sweet girl and I'm so blessed to have you as my friend! To be honest, I'm not sure what this award is for... I even tried to Google it, but couldn't really get any answers. So, I'll just say this, that you mean a lot to me for always being so thoughtful and always being there for me. Thank you!

Okay... now for my Christmas card.

I made this card for a sketch challenge for OCC. Go check out their blog because there are some great challenges over there. If you'd like more detailed info about this card, I have more here.

Well, thanks for stopping by and have a Happy Monday!!

Birthday Card Quicky

My daughter and some of her friends had a surprise birthday party planned for today for their youth ministry counselor. Here's a card that I quickly made for her. This Cafe Hanna looks quite a bit like the birthday girl, so I couldn't resist using this stamp.

Stamp: Cafe Hanna, Everyday Sentiments (Hanna Stamps)
Paper: Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette, Basic Black, Whisper White, Background Paper (Making Memories)
Ink: Pitch Black (Adirondack), Copic Markers
Acc: 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon Old Olive, Large Oval Punch, Prima Flowers, Cuttlebug, Brads, Dimensionals

Trick or Treat Hanna

Here's the card I made for the Hanna Stamps Friday Challenge (HSC30) on SCS. It was for a Halloween themed sketch challenge and since I love love this image of Hanna as a pirate, I just had to use it!

Stamp: Pirate Hanna
Ink: Pitch Black (Adirondack), Copic Markers
Paper: Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Going Gray
Acc: Moss and Pumpkin 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots, Cuttlebug, Tulle

Thanks for visiting -- it's always a pleasure for me.

You're the Best!!

I love lace -- as a matter of fact, I almost named one of my daughters Lacey, but my husband wouldn't go for it. Anyway, this lacey card is for a very special lady...she'll know who she is when she receives it in the mail. I feel so fortunate to have been able to get to "know" her (well, through the www, that is).

Here's a closeup of the roses. These roses are from the Sweet Celebrations stamp set from Hanna Stamps. I use these roses a lot in other projects. For this card, I wanted it to stand out, so after stamping it on card stock, I stamped only the bud portion again on a scrap piece, colored it, trimmed it and glued the bottom of the buds to the original stamped image. This gave it a 3-D effect.

When it was time to attach the lace border, I wanted to sew it in place, but it was already 3 a.m. and everyone was already asleep and I didn't want the sewing machine to wake anyone up. What to do? Dew Drops! Use mini glue dots to glue the lace down and to cover up the glue dots, put those pretty glass beads on top! Very pretty, practical and quiet.

Stamp: Sweet Celebrations, Everyday Sentiments (Hanna Stamps!)
Ink: Pitch Black (Adirondack), Copic Markers
Paper: Whisper White, Blush Blossom, BG Paper (Ann Griffin)
Acc: White 7/8" Organza Ribbon (SU!), Lace (JoAnn's), Nestability Ovals (Spellbinders), Rectangle Hand Punch, Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots, Carnation Dew Drops (Robins Nest)

Thank you for stopping by and please let me know what you think of this card. Thanks and have a wonderful blessed day!

Personalized Christmas Card

I'm so glad to be back home from vacation. I missed my messy craft table so much! I have so much to take care of at home, but I was itching to make a card...

I decided to make a Christmas card today. The new hostess set from SU!, called Window Dressing, comes with really cute images that you can put looking in -- or out -- of the window. I thought about stamping the little girl peeking outside through the window, then I decided that it would be more special to me if I just put my own girls' pictures instead. The colors I used are the new In Colors and the tree is from the set, Lovely as a Tree, which I think I'll keep forever. I have a tutorial of this card on my other blog, Stampin' with Adela, if you'd like to see how I made it.

Thanks for stopping by and I'm so glad to be HOME!

Another Perfect Day

The girls and I decided to spend the day at the beach while their dad and his cousin went golfing. Who did we see riding the waves? Yup... Riley! Of course Sophie was watching him showing off from the sandy shore.

There were so many surfers and boogie boarders out today and some of them were really good! As I was taking a picture of Riley surfing, a surfer just happened to be riding a perfect wave just behind him. My camera caught him just in time, with Riley riding his own wave. Talk about perfect timing! The picture below might look like Riley was added to the surfer's picture, but I really did take this picture of Riley just as the surfer was riding right behind him! I didn't realize that until I viewed the picture later.
After a day at the beach, my family and I had dinner outdoors. The hotel was serving Teppan-style dinners by the pool and the smell was too tempting to pass up. And those chefs were absolutely amazing! We sat there with another sunset before us! A perfect end to another beautiful day.

Relaxing on Kaanapali Beach

My girls and I took it easy yesterday. Although their dad went surfing, us girls just hung out at the hotel grounds and just relaxed. You can see them here on one of the hammocks in front of our hotel. Riley thought he'd relax along with them, too! After a day of much needed rest, we met friends at nearby Leilani's Restaurant at Whaler's Village for a delicious dinner.


On our walk to the restaurant, I took this picture of my girls with the sun beaming behind them. I loved how the sky looked so I thought I'd share this picture with you. Thanks for stopping by and Aloha from Maui!!!

Hawaiian Wedding

I attended one of the most beautiful weddings this past weekend. A cousins' son and his fiance invited 75 guests to witness their wedding vows along with 13 groomsmen and 8 bridesmaids. The ceremony took place overlooking the Pacific Ocean just as the sun was setting on the warm Hawaiian waters. The picture above was taken right after the ceremony. The actual ceremony was held underneath a gazebo decorated with gorgeous flowers just steps away.

Riley and Sophie weren't on the guest list, but they had their own little event going on that day, too! I guess you can call them the "wedding crashers." Here they are under the gazebo.

And here they are on the beach just beyond the gazebo.

Thanks for stopping by and we'll see you again soon! Aloha...

Hanna, Riley and Sofie goes to Maui!

Hanna at Kahului Airport

Aloha everyone! I'm here in beautiful Maui for a wedding and vacation and look who tagged along. Not only did Hanna make it to this gorgeous island, but Riley and Sofie, as well!

Stay tuned as Hanna, Sophie and Riley continue to enjoy their week in "paradise."