A message from the fam, and introducing Bailey!!

Happy Tuesday evening!
These are our beautiful children Brandon, Olivia, Ashley, Ryan, and Michael in the back. They wanted to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
I hope your Holidays are going wonderfully! Ours have been really nice! I am glad they are winding down now though. I want to get back to a normal routine and just relax! I don't know about you, but I am NEVER ready for anything. I mean~ every party I went to this season I was putting things together and wrapping at the last minute (this is no different than any other year by the way). I should be in The Book of World Records for 'Biggest Procrastinating Living Thing'!! REALLY!! It's one of the things I dislike the most about myself.
ANYWAY....
I have a couple of cards to share with you, but first I want to introduce you to the newest member of the Bernardoni family~ this is Bailey!


Some friends of ours have a cat that had a litter~ long story short- we have a new kitten! Bailey is named after one of our favorite holiday characters~ George Bailey, from 'It's a Wonderful life'.




Come to think of it, I've never introduced you to Jack, named after the Great Jack Sparrow of 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. Jack is my big, beautiful Maine-Coon boy~ THE BEST cat in the world!! He was a bit taken-a-back and a little upset, but look how he is coming around to this cute little guy! I can tell they are going to be the best of buds!
Okay, on to the cards!

The first one is from Saturday's Inspiration Challenge on SCS, and it's also the Mojo Monday sketch from last week. Splitcoast's inspiration was from MacKenzie-Childs~ I chose this charming plate for the soft, delicate look, it reminded me of Stampin' Up!'s pretty Bella Rose dp which I thought would be perfect for my Lizzie with Muff stamp from Whiff of Joy. I water colored her with ink pads and a water pen, cut out her image and adhered her to my card with dimensionals. I added faux stitching with a paper piercer and a white gel pen.

The next card is from this week's Mojo Monday sketch, and the first Sweet Ebony @ Sugar Nellies challenge using lime and black colors in our projects. The closest I could come to 'lime' was my Kiwi Kiss from SU. I used my 'Picnics of Daisies' stamp from Sarah Kay, and the sentiment is from SU's 'Always'. Again I water colored the image with ink pads and a water pen~ isn't she cute?!
Well, this post has taken more time than I thought it would, so I'll say "Good night" for tonight. Thanks for stopping by, and keep on smiling! :)
Hugs and Smiles~ Denise

Two Sketches and a birthday gift!

Happy Tuesday!
My birthday was Thursday and I wanted to thank all of you who sent b-day wishes, hugs and smiles~ WOW!! And look at what my sweet hubby gave me-- another WOW!! There were also some beautiful roses included, and my kids had a gorgeous bouquet delivered to school! I don't know much that could top all of that! (Maybe a b-day call from Johnny Angel?!) ;)



My last post was a bit of a downer, I know, but thanks for listening and all your thoughts and prayers. I'm amazed at all the beautiful, caring people I've "met" here in blogland~ very special friends~ thank you from the bottom of my heart!
I do have a couple of cards to post tonight. The first is a thank you to my sweet hubby for my CUTTLEBUG! You'll notice I used my new toy for the first time on this card!
I stamped these 'Happy', smoochin' House Mice in black archival ink and colored them with ink pads and a water pen, and of course added Stickles for sparkle. This is also the sketch from Jen's Sketch For You To Try Saturday.


For the next card I used the sketch from PCP, and the colors are from Wednesday's Color Throwdown. Recipes are coming up!
Thanks so much for stopping by, I'm going to hit the hay and sleep in tomorrow~ the first day of vacation! Don't forget to keep smiling a lot!! :):)
Hugs and Smiles!
Denise

'Happy' Recipe:
Stamps: house mouse, it's all good (SU)
Paper: white, choc, chip, tangerine tango, kiwi kiss
Ink: black archival, tangerine tango, close to cocoa, choc. chip, mellow moss, always artichoke
Extras: Circle and scallop punches, white gel pen, cuttlebug, primas flowers, button half pearl stickers, Stickles

'I Love You' Recipe:
Stamps: whiff of joy, PSX
Paper: white, choc. chip, pink pirouette, riding hood red, bella rose dp
Ink: black archival, versa mark, riding hood red, barely banana, close to cocoa, choc. chip
Extras: Stickles, water pen, buttons, ribbon, white gel pen, paper piercer, Stickles, white ep, cuttlebug, half pearl stickers

Tourette Syndrome

Sometimes I really hate this disorder, like right now- this moment~ I feel like going in my room and shutting out the world. TS has come into our lives through our twelve year old son Brandon, along with obsessive compulsive disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. He has been struggling with these since he was two and a half, but didn't get diagnosed until about three years ago. Brandon has verbal as well as physical tics that come and go, but the most heartbreaking part of all this is the rage inside our son. Over the years we've had emergency services come to our home because we couldn't calm him down, he was arrested when he was nine for throwing a bottle at a friend who needed stitches in her head, suspensions from school, broken furniture, doors and holes in the walls. On top of the anger and behaviors, he has remorse and feelings of guilt and doesn't like himself very much, he really doesn't have any friends either because of these behaviors. We've been through years of counseling, individually and as a family, special programs, special education and meds. But none of that makes a difference if he doesn't do his part and use what he's learned. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. I won't even get into the effect all this has had on his nine year old sister, let's just say she's the peacemaker of the family. It's heartbreaking to love someone with all your heart, yet be so angry and feel so helpless at the same time. Sometimes it's hard not to say "Screw this- I didn't sign up for this, I GIVE UP!" But we love him too much and we'll NEVER give up on him. My prayers and wishes for Brandon are~
"Please God, please let him come to love himself, learn how to be a good friend so he can be blessed with friends and wonderful people in his world, and a chance to have a normal, healthy and happy life."
Don't know why I went into all of this here, it's just been a rough couple of days. But we WILL keep smiling~ I hope you do too! Thanks for dropping by and hearing me today.
Hugs and Smiles~
Denise

Enjoy!

Happy Wednesday everyone!
I hope you're all having a wonderful Holiday season. I have to say it takes time for me to get in the spirit, in fact, the past three years I haven't even sent Christmas cards. But this year my dear friend, neighbor and stamping partner in crime, Pam, helped me. She motivated me to put up the tree, put on the Christmas music and get busy on my cards. Thanks Pam~ I love ya! Hopefully you'll see her beautiful creations very soon!
I did however, take a break from Christmas cards to get in on the SCS Color Challenge. This week's colors are Basic Gray, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze and Not
Quite Navy. I used my new Willow stamp from Whiff of Joy and this sketch from Paper Craft Planet
All of you talented ladies and guys help motivate me too with your oh so gorgeous cards and gifts that I love to admire when I'm visiting your blogs and galleries! I'm so grateful for my stamping craft and all of you, my awesome creative blogger friends! Have a wonderful evening and keep on smiling! :):)

Hugs and Smiles to you~
Denise

Recipe:
Stamps: Lovely Labels (SU), Whiff of Joy
Paper: white, basic gray, baja breeze, not quite navy, kiwi kiss
bell rose dp.
Ink: black archival, close to cocoa, choc. chip, kiwi kiss, not quite
navy, baja breeze, tempting turquoise, versa mark
Extras: square scallop punch, oval cutter, white and pink gel pens,
white ep, pearl stickers, ribbon, flower rhinestone,
dimensionals

One Christmas, One Mojo and My First Sarah Kay

Happy Friday!
I have a few cards to share with you tonight. The first one is one of this year's Christmas cards. I used white, real red and kiwi kiss cs. I pierced the top corners of my white base panel and embossed the red panel using a Fiskars embossing plate. Someday I'll get a Cuttle Bug, the embossing plates work good, but when I have a good sized panel to do, my arm really feels the burn!! I stamped my tree twice on kiwi cs and cut them out. I adhered one image to a white punched oval matted with real red, and added part of my second image over that with dimensionals. I also added some
Stickles and dots to my tree for a fun look. I punched a strip of white cs with my Martha Stewart Lacy Scallop punch, stamped my sentiment with black ink on kiwi cs, punched it out with an oval punch and adhered it to the assembled card with dimensionals.


I used Julee's Mojo Monday sketch for my next card, along with this weeks SCS Color Challenge~ taken with teal, real red and baja breeze. I used my favorite snowman stamp (Holly Berry House), and broke in my new Martha Stewart snowflake punch.




And finally, my last card to post tonight features my 1st EVER beautiful Sarah Kay stamp!! I just love these sweet images she has created. This one is Picnic of Daisies. I colored her with stamp pads and a water pen and used a circle cutter for the panel. This card was made with this sketch from Jen del Muro.
Well, that's about it for tonight. Thanks for stopping by~ have a great week end and don't forget to smile a lot!! :):)
Hugs and Smiles~
Denise

Recipes~
Kiwi Christmas
Stamps: Fun and Fast Notes, Best Yet (Stampin Up!)
Paper: white, real red, kiwi kiss
Ink: black Archival
Extras: oval and lacy scallop punches, Stickles, white gel pen, red marker, paper piercer, Fiskars embossing plate, dimensionals

Mojo Snowman~
Stamps: Holly Berry House (snowman), Snow Swirled (SU)
Paper: white, real red, taken with teal, baja breeze
Ink: black Archival
Extras: oval, lacy scallop, snowflake punches, markers, white gel pen, ribbon, button, Stickles, Fiskars embossing plate, dimensionals

Thinking Sarah Kay~
Stamps: Picnics of Daisies (Sarah Kay), sentiment (?)
Paper: white, pumpkin pie, bashful blue, dp (?)
Ink: black Archival, barely banana, so saffron, pumpkin pie, bashful blue, taken with teal, close to cocoa, choc. chip
Extras: buttons, prima flowers, Fiskars embossing plate, circle cutter, dimensionals, markers, colored pencils

You Make Life Sweet

Hi and happy Wednesday!
I have been busy making Christmas cards and teacher gifts, and I have really slacked off on my favorite challenges and posting on my blog~ I'm not the best multi-tasker that's for sure! But I took a break to check out today's sketch challenge at SCS and dove right in! FUN FUN!!! I also broke in my new cupcake set from Impression Obsession~ YUMMY! I stamped the cupcake three times on kiwi kiss cs, and three times on white cs. I used the kiwi for the cups, and I colored in the white tops with ink pads and a water pen, cut them out and adhered them over the cups with dimensionals.
The white ribbon looked a little lonely so I added a red button with a glue dot.
Well, I think I'm pretty much stamped out for today~ time to get some sleep!
I hope you had a day full of smiles~ if not I'm sending you some now! Thanks for stopping by, see ya soon!
Hugs and Smiles~
Denise

Recipe~
Stamps: Impression Obsession
Paper: real red, kiwi kiss, white cs, EK Success dp.
Ink: black Archival, close to cocoa, choc. chip
Extras: markers, Stickles, ribbon, button, circle and lacy scallop punches, white gel pen, dimensionals