Easter and Prize # 3...

Hi! I hope everyone had a nice Easter. Thought I'd share what I gave my nieces and nephews. I bought butterfly nets and filled them up with some Easter loot...
I didn't get a chance to photograph everything in the nets because I snapped these as we were leaving but they were filled with hopscotch games, barrel of bunnies, jellybeans, bunny straws, play doh, and egg shaped paddle balls.

Here is a shot of all the tags I made for them...

a closer shot to show the initials...
and I couldn't forget about my sweet neighbor Betty. She loves Starburst jellybeans (like me!)...

And finally, the 3rd prize for the CARD DRIVE. A hero arts background stamp...

If you would like to be entered in the drawing for some fun prizes, make a card for James. You can find ALL the info. HERE. Hope you can make one or two! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Eighteen...

I'm not sure how it happened but my sweet Alex turned 18 last week...
(Those cupcakes were so yummy. From THIS local bakery. YUM.)



It is really difficult to put into words how I feel about Alex. Anytime I question anything in my life, I think of Alex. He is proof that God knows what He is doing and I need to trust the path He has for me. I've known Alex since he was ten and he is one of my greatest joys. He is proof that teenagers can be mature, sweet, and big hearted. He amazes me every single day and I know that he was put on this earth for great things. I'm one lucky girl to just be part of his life. Happy Birthday Alex. I love you more than you'll ever know. :)



So, for his birthday, Ted and I decided to surprise him with a t.v. for his room and let him play hooky from school (ssshhh..don't tell LOL) ....

Needless to say, he loves it...

We also celebrated with a birthday dinner with the family. To thank everyone for the gifts they brought, I whipped up these Thank You cards. Loving the new Jolee's embellishments! The guitars seemed cool enough for a teen...

A closer look...

I also finished off the inside with a "You Rock" sentiment and had Alex write the thank yous...

Okay. Must go pack up to get ready for a scrapbook day with Jennie tomorrow. More soon...

Hero Arts Card Set & Prize #2

As many of you know, I love Hero Arts. I love their high quality stamps and products and decided to pull just a few of my favorite things out and make a card set... To create this card set, I stamped THIS background stamp in THIS ink onto THESE cards. Then I stamped various greetings from different sets like THIS, THIS, THIS, and THIS in VersaMark ink and heat embossed them onto different colored layering papers and attached them to the bottom or each card... To finish the card off, I added pearls and gems...

Super simple. Since I love various greetings to make card sets I thought I would give this stamp set away for PRIZE #2 for the Cards for James Card Drive...

A big thanks to all of you who are sending in cards for the card drive. I really appreciate it. If you would like to participate and win a chance at some great prizes, click HERE for all the info.

Off to watch some mindless t.v. Night! :)

Cards for James Card Drive (and first PRIZE)

I think the reason I love cardmaking so much is because I believe that a card has a lot of power. It can give hope, encouragement, a pat on the back, or simply a smile in an envelope. :) I'm a big fan of card drives, especially those for kids. So when my sweet friend Shane told me about her son's classmate that we could help by creating a card drive, I was more than happy to help. This is James... This is his story (taken from his Care Page -written from his parents) ... "We wish that we didn't have a story, but the truth is we do. A few days after Christmas James experienced belly pain which was thought to be constipation. After visiting the pediatrician for an exam, we were sent for an x-ray. The x-ray confirmed a mass of some sort. At that time we were sent to Children's Hospital for an ultrasound which showed a 13cm tumor on the left kidney. The probable diagnosis is a Wilm's tumor. James was originally scheduled for a left nephrectomy, however, the plan ended up changing due to a finding on the MRI. James has a small spot on his right kidney. This could be a "rest" which would be an insignificant finding -or it could be a bilateral wilms tumor. Since we don't know for sure, he is being treated as though he has bilateral wilms tumors. The standard treatment for this is 6 weeks of chemo then surgery. James is a sweet, fun loving 5 year old with a big heart!" I need YOUR help to make this card drive a success and put a smile on James' face. All you need to do is create a card (or cards) with an cheery, upbeat theme (please no get well soon cards) and send it to my friend Shane at:

CARDS FOR JAMES

c/o Shane Rieder

862 Gorham Drive

Cincinnati, OH 45245

*PLEASE INCLUDE A PIECE OF PAPER WITH YOUR NAME, ADDRESS, and EMAIL and the NUMBER OF CARDS YOU SENT because there will be drawings for PRIZES!!!! We are also collecting cards for his family:

Sister- Grace (3 years old)

Parents-Matt and Heather

I also wanted to share a few card ideas with you. Looking through his Care Page, I noticed lots of race cars. I'm sure he would like a car themed card... and I always like joke cards for kids. Here is the set I created... I think James will get a smile from these. :) Here's some close up shots and answers to the jokes... Where do you weigh a whale? At the weigh-whale station!

Why did the lion spit out the clown? Because he tasted funny!

Why do fish swim in salt water? Because the pepper makes them sneeze! Why wasn't the giraffe invited to the party? Because he was a pain in the neck!

Where do penguins keep their money? At the snow bank!

What is a snake's fav. subject? Hisssss-tory! Why did the elephant quit the circus? Because he was tired of working for peanuts!

What do you call a sleeping dinosaur? A dino-snore!

A peek at the inside of a couple of cards...

Okay, now onto the PRIZES. I am going to have lots of prizes for this card drive. Here is the first prize (donated by the sweet Jennifer who happens to be my new boss! yea!-more on that another day)

She donated her class videos from Hero Arts. Hero Hues Technique DVD...

and Technique Garden Video DVD...

Thanks for reading and I hope that you will join me in bringing smiles to the Overbeck family. I'll be back soon with more prizes! :)

Cards Magazine-March Publication

I have a card published in the March issue of Cards Magazine! :) Perfect for Easter, which will be here soon. Here it is...

a close up of the flocked bunny tails...

I need your help! Does anyone have the March issue of Cards Magazine? I need to have a scan of my card in the magazine for something and do not have the issue yet. Please email me if you have a copy or an online copy. I will send some goodies to the first person that sends me an image of the page with my card on it. Thanks! (ETA: Nevermind, a sweet friend of mine sent it to me)

Speaking of publications, I just got an email requesting a layout I did of Alex to be in the Create magazine (a special edition of Scrapbook Trends Magazine) for their teen call coming out in the fall. I'm SO excited. I've never had a scrapbook page published before! Can't wait until it comes out!

Thanks for stopping by. Night!

Doodlebug Cards.

Have you seen the new Doodlebug Cards with matching envelopes? They just make me happy with their colors and cute design. I decided to pick up a few and added a dash of THIS stamp set by Lawn Fawn and a pinch of a few Hero Arts stamps to create this card set... This is for my hairdresser, Karen. You may remember the set I made for her in the past HERE. She loved it so much that I decided to make her another one to say thank you. Here's a closer look...

I used the scissors from the Lawn Fawn Set and used glossy accents on the black part and then "colored" the blades with pumice stone distress ink and sprayed it heavily with perfect pearls spray. It's so shiny in real life...

I LOVE the envelopes that you can get to match...

Here's a shot of it all packaged up. Thought the greeting from the Lawn Fawn set was the perfect touch on the tag....

I also entered these in the Moxie Fab World Challenge. Click HERE to play along too! Thanks for stopping by. Be back soon...