Monday Morning Hellos

What a weekend I had here! The ceiling in my daughter's bathroom fell on Sunday! Ack!! A long story short: We had a leak last fall, the roofers came and "fixed" the leak, but left a bucket in the attic. I guess to catch anymore water or something??? Well, the bucket caught a lot of water apparently and then fell, hitting the ceiling of said bathroom, cracking the sheetrock and spilling lots of water everywhere. My husband went up and tried to stop the leak. The roofers were called. Almost a week later, when there was more rain and more water on the floors and walls in the bathroom(!!!), they were called again and finally came. The bucket was put back in place until they could fix the roof again. (Say what??) Then on Saturday we had VERY heavy rains...And sure 'nough the sheetrock was so soaked, that it fell, leaving a lovely view from the bathroom into the attic. Today I am still waiting on roofers and now sheetrock people to show up. Fun times. (OK, OK that wasn't *really* short, but hey, I tried.)

On Saturday, since it was too nasty to go out, I participated in a Mini Virtual Stamp Night (VSN) over on SCS. (yes, yes, that site again.) There were 6 challenges throughout the day. The theme was Viva Las VSN and so we had "Pit Bosses" who posted the challenges and each was based on a hotel in Vegas. Lots and Lots of Fun!! If you participate, for each challenge you have a set of rules specific to that challenge and you have 45 mins to create a card or project. I was able to participate in 5 of the 6. I did have a lot of fun, but by the end I was exhausted and my stamping area was a WRECK! It really pushed me to be creative and 45 minutes went by very quickly.

Are you curious about what I made?? Are ya?? Are ya?? Well, here they are then!

Challenge #1 Inspiration: Circus Circus. Special rules: Orange had to be used somewhere on the front of the card. I made a bird on a tightrope.


Challenge #2 Inspiration: The Bellagio's Lobby Ceilings. Special rules: Must use flowers somewhere and must use a transparency somehow. So I used a technique where I used a baby wipe and reinkers to make the background paper. It didn't really turn out like I had envisioned, but that's OK. Next time - when not under a time limit, I can play with it until I like the colors better. It's hard to see, but the transparency is on the outside of the celery card and the "heartfelt" is embossed in white on it. The ribbon holds it all together.


Challenge #3 Inspiration: The Venetian's Grand Lobby. Special Rules: Use the colors found in the lobby of Blue, White or Cream, Yellow or Gold, and Burgundy. Here is my card using the Soft Summer set that will be available April 1.


Challenge #4 Inspiration: Mandalay Bay's Shark Reef. Special Rules: Use a playing card somewhere on the project. It could be real or fake. I had to use a fake one, because I couldn't find a real one right then. And anyway, I ended up really liking the patterned paper that I used as my card back. This card was made for a friend who recently had a baby boy.


Challenge #5 Inspiration: The Paris. Special Rules: Make a View Finder Card. Wow! I had never made one before, but had seen several gorgeous examples on line. We were provided with a tutorial and it took me a little while to get it going. But now that I've made one, I think the next time will go faster. As you can see, I used the A Good Egg stamp set again. I am telling you I love this chick!!


Sorry the pictures aren't the best. It's hard to photograph when it's so dark outside. I don't have a professional type set up like some do. I rely on natural lighting and in times like this, I wish I had a better set up. Still, I hope you can enjoy them and I would love to hear what you think!!

Also, I am working hard to put the finishing touches on my Birthday to Go Kit. I hope to have it up by next week. Hope you have a Stamptacular Day!