Prairie Paper & Ink

October Papertrey Release

This morning marked the release of 2 more Papertrey stamp sets - Piece of Cake and Snowflake Serenade. BOTH are fabulous sets (and really when have any PT sets NOT been fabulous?? Well.....uhh never? *wink*) and I had a lot of fun playing with them. Now I just hope I can get some MORE time to play around with them as there are SO many possibilities......

This first card I made using the Piece of Cake set. I stamped the cake with Cool Caribbean Classic Ink (retired from Stampin' Up! - sadly. I LOVE this color and I bought like 3 packs of CS and an extra re-inker or 2 of it so I'll never run out!), then the flowers in Chocolate Chip ink over top.

The little rhinestones are A Muse Twinkle Stickers. The ribbon is May Arts (their NEW sheer with brown polka dots and their satin brown ribbon - both of which are sooo nice!) and the large flower is Bazzill.

I really love all the sentiments in this set - the way they're set up gives a person TONS of options - and they're SO fun!!

I used my Marvy Giga Scalloped Oval punch for the sentiment.

The ribbon I got from Michaels, the flowers are Red Got Deux Prima flowers (both Papertrey and All That Scraps carry them - you get a TON in those little bottles!)

Now I actually went and did something I've never done before with this card - I went digital! Well a little anyway LOL!

I downloaded the Snowflake Serenade Digital Kit <----click! that Nichole designed for Papercrafts WCMD festivities and tried it out! (You can find detailed instructions on how to use those kits here)

All I did was print off the patterned paper from the kit (I JUST got a new Kodak Easy Share All-In-One printer (for free!) that I need to test out and do a review on - that will come later tho - so this was a great excuse to try out the kit) then cut up what I wanted for the card.

But man if **I** can use these kits anyone can. It really was super easy to do when following Nichole's directions.

I rounded the corners on the patterned paper and inked the edges with SU! Basic Gray ink. The sentiment was stamped in Basic Gray as well, then the snowflake in Palette Hybrid Ink in Waterlily (a perfect match to the color used in the digi kit) and punched them out with my Giga Scalloped Oval punch.

The ribbon is SU! Basic Gray Taffeta, and the brads are Bazzill.

I LOVE all of Papertrey's Coffee Bags and whatnot - they're CHEAP and yet high quality and easy to dress up and fill with goodies. What could be better?

I stamped the snowflakes onto the bag using Whisper White and Bashful Blue Craft (pigment) ink.

I then used the small snowflake and Fresh Baked stamp from PT's Holiday Treats set to make a label for the bag (the original idea was that I was going to fill the bag with fresh chocolate chip cookies that I had baked. Problem was the cookies didn't last long enough for me to do so - and it wasn't just me that ate them all either LOL! If there's one thing I'm proud of it's that I can make some REALLY good chocolate chip cookies!) out of Kraft and Bashful Blue cardstock.

I then attached the label by punching holes in it with the Making Memories Ribbon Slot Punch (using my MM Instant Setter) and threading through narrow White Organdy ribbon.

Don't forget to check out the Piece of Cake and Snowflake Serenade galleries on the Papertrey site to see what all the other Design Team members did with these sets - they did a fabulous job!!

Birthday Princess

I made this card the other day for the daughter of a friend of mine and after a LOT of fiddling I am really happy with how it turned out!

I used My Favorite Things Princess Birthday set (which I LOVE - I think it's so cute). You can get MFT sets either directly from the MFT site, as well as All That Scraps and eclecticPaperie.

I stamped the fairy onto Papertrey White CS then colored her in with Copic Markers. I used Grape Ice Ice Stickles on her dress, and Icicle stickles on her wings (the Stickles were still wet when I took this pic b/c I didn't have enough time to let them dry before I had to go somewhere).

And FYI even tho this picture suggests otherwise the purples on the card really DO match LOL! The camera really picked up the slight differences in shade and on here I think it looks quite bad! :o( The card has already been delivered tho otherwise I'd re-take the picture and try to fix it!

The big velvet blossom is a "Bazzill Bling Blossom" that I got from my LSS (Local Scrapbook Store). It was originally a lighter purple that DIDN'T match at all - but I really wanted to use it. SO ------- I pulled out the same Copic marker that I used to color the fairy's dress and colored the flower - and it worked!! So I'm thinking of getting more of them now (ATS carries some in a white shade) and then can just color them to match whatever project I'm doing! *wheels starting to turn*.........

STAMPS: Princess Birthday Set by My Favorite Things. CS: Papertrey White, Lovely Lilac, Bashful Blue. INK: Brilliance Graphite Black, Copic Markers. ACCESSORIES: Grape Ice Ice Stickles, Icicle Stickles, Bazzill Bling Blossom, Karen Foster Round Biggie Brad, Grosgrain Ribbon, 3/16" Corner Rounder Punch, Dimensionals, Word Window Punch.

Masking With Bella Stamps Tutorial

I've been promising a tutorial like this for a looonnnggg time I know - and I finally have it!!

WHAT YOU NEED:

Bella Stamp (huggybellas was used for this tutorial)

A Muse Oval Stamp (I used the Mini Oval bl sm for this tutorial - there are 4 different sizes available through A Muse. You can use other "shadow" stamps (oval-shaped or otherwise) as well - I just personally prefer the A Muse ovals and it's what I use all the time!) being in Canada A Muse stamps are pretty hard to come by - so I just order directly from them - I can either call or e-mail them (their contact info is on their website) and they ship out ASAP. They're really great to deal with - just tell them AmyR sent you!! :o)

Preferred Ink

Sharp Scissors (ones with fine tips made for detail cutting are best - I use Stampin' Up! Paper Snips for this - Cutterbee one's are similar I'm told but I've never tried them)

Either a Post-It note (the yellow one's pictured) or a piece of Eclipse Masking Tape (I just got this and it is FABULOUS - I always used Sticky notes before but after trying the Eclipse tape I won't be using Post-It's anymore - the one side of the tape is completely covered in adhesive similar to a sticky note and it stays in place better. And a roll like this will last FOREVER....) - which is the little white piece pictured.

STEP 1:

Stamp Bella image onto Eclipse Tape/Sticky Note (I used JUST the Eclipse tape for this tutorial). I only stamp the bottom portion of the stamp b/c that's all that's needed for this type of thing.

STEP 2:

Using detail scissors cut out the image. I cut slightly INSIDE the lines - this is what helps prevent any "white space" and is what usually has most people confused LOL b/c I make it look good! Keep reading tho to find out more tricks *wink*.

STEP 3:

Stamp bella image onto cardstock.

STEP 4:

Place mask overtop of stamped image and press it down - making sure it's lined up properly and directly on top of the stamped image.

STEP 5:

Ink up oval stamp and stamp it at the Bella's feet. I press the oval firmly onto the CS - not TOO hard mind you -  just good even pressure.

STEP 6:

Peel off mask.

STEP 7:

Now I get asked ALL the time how I get the image stamped so well with no white space around the feet - MOST of the time I have no issues b/c the mask was cut properly. However when there IS white space (and you can see a teeny bit along the bottom of the foot on the left bella - however something like that I'd usually just leave b/c it really is hardly noticeable) - I use the fine tip of a marker in the same color as I stamped (I generally use Stampin' Up! classic ins to stamp the ovals and then I have all the matching markers too) to fill in any of the white space. THAT's my "big secret"!! LOL

And here's the finished card. I used Copic markers to color in the Bellas, and you can't see it but I added glitter here and there with my Sakura Stardust pen. I stitched twice around the image - it didn't look right just going around once - the tension was off - especially when I was going through 3 layers of CS and the ribbon - not good!

The ribbon is May Arts  - I LOVE their new striped ribbon!

The sentiment is also from Stamping Bella - it's so cute!

STAMPS: Huggybella and sentiment by Stamping Bella. CS: Papertrey Stamper's Select White, Almost Amethyst, Bashful Blue and Rose Red (all Stampin' Up!). INK: Brilliance Graphite Black, Bashful Blue. ACCESSORIES: May Arts Ribbon, Prima Flower, WeR Black Snap, Sewing Machine, Bazzill Brads, Sakura Stardust Pen, A Muse Twinkle Stickers.

So there's my Bella masking tutorial!! If there's any questions just leave a comment on this post and I'll edit it to answer them. Have a great weekend everyone!

Winner of the Witchtacular Card

This is what random.org spit out:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

33

Timestamp: 2007-10-12 04:37:17 UTC

So the card goes to.......

Your cards are soo awesome.. and you make me want to order everything you use! LOL... I am searching for some Copic Markers right now... Have to tell hubby these are the markers I MUST have then my creations will look like yours! LOL (NOTTTT!!)
Thank you for giving for sharing your beautiful creations.

Posted by: Ellie Augustin | October 10, 2007 at 04:13 PM

Ellie please e-mail me <----click! with your mailing addy and I'll get the card out to you ASAP!!

Thanks for all your sweet comments everyone - I really appreciated them and I always read each and every one!! ((((HUGS))))

Witchtacular Bella

I was in a Halloween mood this afternoon so I pulled out my new WitchyBella stamp and made this card!!

All the patterned papers on this card are from the KI Memories Haunted Collection - and they inspired the colors used to color in the Bella.

I stamped her onto Papertrey White CS using Brilliance Graphite Black ink, then colored her in with Copic markers.

The oval "ground" is an A Muse stamp - their newer "mini oval BL" - I stamped it using an orange dye ink (I didn't bother masking her shoes since they're solid black anyway - it makes no difference) then went over that with an orange Copic marker.

The sentiment is from CC Designs Halloween set (was just too perfect for this Bella!!).

This was the first time I've ever used "baubles" - I got a couple of different colors with my last Bella order (then ordered a couple more colors with my order over the weekend! *wink*). I just used mini glue dots to attach them. I think they're neat little things!

The ribbon I got in a ribbon share eons ago - also went perfectly with this paper!

SO.............since Halloween isn't that big of a deal up here I have no one to send this card to! Do you want it? Leave a comment on this post and IF there's more than one person that wants it I'll use random.org to draw a name to send this card to tomorrow (Thursday Oct 11) night!

Congrats goes to Ellie for having her # drawn. Ellie please e-mail me <----click! with your mailing addy and I'll get the card out to you ASAP!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope all my Canadian readers had a great Thanksgiving weekend!! And ate lots of turkey! *grin* Speaking of turkey - I made a couple of turkey cards yesterday and today seemed to be a good day to share them:

This turkey stamp and sentiment are from GinaK's newest stamp release - you can see them all here.

I stamped the turkey onto Papertrey White CS using Brilliance Graphite Black ink (heat set it b/c I'm too impatient to wait for it to dry), then used my Copic markers to color him in.

The patterned paper is from the Grateful Collection by KI Memories - and I wish you could see the multi stripe paper (the one with the leaves) in real life b/c it's shimmery! A LOT of KI's papers are shimmery, it was a pleasant surprise when I got my order of them and pulled them out.

STAMPS: Turkey and sentiment by GinaK Designs. CS: Papertrey Stamper's Select White, Really Rust and Old Olive (Stampin' Up!), KI Memories patterned paper. INK: Brilliance Graphite Black, Copic Markers. ACCESSORIES: Marvy Mega Circle and Giga Scalloped Circle Punches, Dimensionals, May Arts Ribbon, Brads.

This card I made second - and it wasn't till I started this post that it hit me - the first card being a "live" turkey, then this one being......well.....stuffed. ROFLOL! It WASN'T intentional but I thought it turned out kinda funny.........

Anywho - for this card I used Gina's Thanksgiving Feast stamp and sentiment.

The card base is a Fabriano Note Card that I bought from StarLitStudio eons ago. I LOVE these notecards - they're really high-quality watercolor paper and are a dream to stamp on and color. I tend to keep any card I make with them simple and focus on the coloring.

I stamped the images using Brilliance Coffee Bean ink (heat set of course!) - I only inked up half of the sentiment at a time - and cleaned it REALLY well in between to make sure I didn't get any other marks on the card.

I used Stampin' Up!'s Watercolor Wonder Crayons to color in the (poor) turkey with a medium watercolor brush (also SU!), then added some May Arts ribbon (same as the first card).

STAMPS: Thanksgiving Feast and sentiment by GinaK Designs. CS: Fabriano Notecard. INK: Brilliance Coffee Bean. ACCESSORIES: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, May Arts Ribbon.

Another Hanna Card

Ooohhhh I'm really loving this stamp set!! FYI for those that asked yes there is only one Hanna Stamps! set so far - as of right now the plan is to release one new set a month. You can find out more about Hanna Stamps on Kristi's blog here.

Another thing I LOVE is this patterned paper by daisyd's!! I got the 6x6 pack a while ago and pulled it out for this card. The blue CS is a Stampin' Up! new In Color - Blue Bayou - it goes PERFECTLY with the blue in the patterned paper - score!! LOL

I stamped Hanna's dress onto one of the sheets and cut it out, I also cut out one of the shopping bags. I then proceeded to do the same thing with some of the other patterns and all the shopping bags.

I then stamped Hanna onto white CS, colored her in with Copic markers (and yes I had a little fun with her hair - it was originally more blond and then I kept adding brown streaks and then darkened it all to a more light brown/dirty blond color LOL!).

I was REALLY pleased with how it all turned out once I got all the different pieces of patterned paper adhered to the main image - I usually don't do this much paper-piecing - especially with so many different pieces - and I wasn't sure how it would turn out.

But you can see it all came together great *big grin*. I used a brown Copic marker on the trim of her dress and the handles of the shopping bags.

The ribbon is also daisyd's and I cut slits through the main image with my Basic Grey Notch and Die Cut Tool so that more of the ribbon would show through.

The scalloped edge was made with SU!'s 3/16" corner rounder punch, then I added some A Muse Mini Dot Twinkle Stickers to each scallop. The flower (another daisyd's goodie) was attached with a jumbo sei brad.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....

Did you get sucked in to ordering some Bella's when Emily offered FREE SHIPPING yesterday and the day before?

Or were you able to resist the temptation?

OR did you miss the free shipping info and are now kicking yourself??

NO WORRIES - Em decided to extend the free shipping offer to today as well!! Check out her post HERE <----click! for the free shipping code and tell her AmyR sent you when you order (you know you wanna!!)

Happy shoppin'!!         *evil grin*

It's a Jungle Out There!!

(you can click on this picture to get a pop-up window with a larger view).

Both of these cards use animals from the new My Favorite Things set - It's a Jungle Out There. I LOVE animal/critter sets - and this one is SO cute!! You can get it from MFT, or AllThatScraps, and eP carries it too.

I need to make more kids birthday cards to have in my stash so I pulled out this set along with another MFT set  - Happiest Birthday Wishes. I used one of the Happy Birthday sentiments on the front and then the matching verse on the inside.

I kept both cards similar and simple - "quick and cute" is my motto for MOST children's cards (every once in a while I go all out if it's for my own kids or a family member or friend's kid) as they tend to destroy them - but they are usually SO fun to make I can't help myself if I go overboard!

I used patterned paper from this DCWV stack - you can't really tell in the picture but all the polka-dots are dry-embossed - and the paper comes like that (some of it has glitter on it too!) - there's no way I'd do that all by hand! It's a quick and easy way to turn it up a notch tho - and I LOVE that.

Both animals were stamped onto CS (Going Grey CS for the elephant, and Apricot Appeal CS for the giraffe - both SU! CS), and then I re-stamped the elephant and cut out the head then mounted it to the body with dimensionals. I used a white gel pen on its tusks and toenails, and a brown Copic marker for the giraffe's spots. I then used the chisel tip of the Copic markers and scribbled some "ground" onto white CS and adhered each animal over top.

Did a little matting then added some ribbon (Basic Grey and Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbons from Stampin' Up!) and finished them off!

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Don't forget to check out the post below this for some World Cardmaking Day info!!

Happy World Cardmaking Day!!!

First off - ENABLER ALERT!! Orders placed TODAY (till midnight Toronto time - I have no clue what time zone they're in LOL) - at StampingBella get FREE shipping on orders of $20 or more!! The code for that is c76338 (and FYI even if the code doesn't work as long as you've ordered over $20 IF it charges you for shipping your card will be refunded  - Em said so!!)

I had no problem ordering a ton more Bellas (and some Baubles too - those things are so cool!) with free shipping AND I justified it since my b-day is the 19th I'll just get myself them for that! (see I told y'all I can justify almost any purchase!! *wink*)

EDITED TO ADD - the free shipping is available to EVERYONE - Canada, US and Internationally! For more info check out Em's post here <-----click! (and ignore the code in THAT post - the one I posted here is the NEW one she posted - use this one: c76338)

Happy shopping and tell Em I sent you when you order!!

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Another fun thing going on for WCMD is that the Papercrafts website has released several FREE digital cardmaking kits - you can see them here.

Now before you totally ignore that tidbit (b/c if you're like me you've been avoiding ANYTHING to do with digital - I am definitely one of those peeps who has to touch and feel everything when cardmaking - that's half the fun!!) - check out Nichole's blog post here. She's given step-by-step instructions how to download said kits and then how to USE them. She does make it look really really easy!!

After reading her instructions I really think I'm gonna try these kits out and see what they're like! The fact that I can actually print them out and then literally MAKE a real card is what appeals to me (and did you notice the fact that the three kits Nichole made also co-ordinate with the THREE sets Papertrey will be releasing on the 15th of this month?? Just wait 'till you see them! They rock!!  *grin*)

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Check out this post on the A Muse News blog - if you leave a comment on that post you'll be entered in to win some free goodies! Also check out their new clear stamps - they are SO cute! I got a sneak peek of them and have placed my order already!!

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It being WCMD hopefully I'll have a card (or two!) to share later today.

And to all my Canadian readers Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!!

My First Hanna Stamps! Card

My Hanna Stamps! finally arrived yesterday and I sat down ASAP to make a quick card with them!!

I stamped Hanna onto Papertrey White CS (using Brilliance Graphite Black ink), masked her then stamped the A Muse Large Skinny Oval to have a spot of "ground".

I used Copic markers to color her in, and paper-pieced a couple of the shopping bags with scraps of this Amy Butler Sola Paper (same paper used on the card base).

The ribbon is new by May Arts and I *think* that All That Scraps will be stocking it soon but I'm not 100% sure on that. EDITED TO ADD - yup she did get it in! You can see it all here - it's such cool ribbon!

To finish off the card I added 3 Bazzill Hershey brads and called it a day!

You can see the whole Hanna set here - and FYI Kristi is offering FREE shipping (to ANYWHERE!!) for the month of October on all orders of Hanna Stamps!!

Destiny....

I must admit that when I first got this Boho Blossom set from My Favorite Things a few weeks ago I was completely lost in terms of WHAT to do with it!

It is a great set and the images have some fantastic detail - but it was such a break from all the other MFT sets that it took me a while to "think outside of the box" and make something I liked with it!

FYI you can get this set from MFT, AllThatScraps, or eclecticPaperie.

I ended up making this card and I have to say I LOVE how it turned out!! I also have to say I had the hardest time getting a good picture of it - the card base is vellum CS and trying to capture the softness of that and not lose all the other detail wasn't easy - so this was the best I could get!

Like I said the card base is vellum CS - and this is the first time I ever made a whole card of vellum! I got the card stock weight vellum through Stampin' Up! - it's a decent weight for something like this - although I HAVE come across heavier-weight vellum - but I can't remember where!

I stamped the flower from the Boho Blossom set twice onto vellum using Brilliance Cosmic Copper Ink - then used my heat tool to set the ink (a person doesn't HAVE to heat set it - but I'm impatient and rarely (OK never) wait for things to dry!) I cut out both of the flowers and then used a Making Memories brad (they were given to me so I have no idea what they're called or anything) to attach them. The brad is pewter but that finish didn't go well with the rest of the card - so I used a brown Copic marker and just colored it all over - it ended up giving it an aged copper-look - VERY cool!

I used sticky strip to attach the Bashful Blue CS to the vellum card, then pierced around it before adhering copper CS on the inside of the card - which hid all the adhesive as well as softened the look as I didn't want the whole card to scream copper!!

Here's a picture of the card laying flat. I attached a piece of Bashful Blue CS to the inside of the card using Vellum adhesive (I think I got it at Michaels?? I don't use it that often b/c really it isn't as invisible as they say - I can still see it through vellum tho with thicker weights it's harder to tell).

I wasn't planning on putting ANY CS on the inside of the card - I thought it looked better without - but Tim was really nervous about writing directly on the vellum and didn't want to wreck the card (I'll get to that part of the story in a minute...) so I added the CS.

<----That's how the inside of the card looks - you can click on it (along with any other pictures on here) to get a pop-up window with a larger view.

The ribbon is Bashful Blue Taffeta and Copper Cord (retired) from SU!. I just cut a slit in the fold of the card with a craft knife to slip the ribbon through.

So anyway - I made this card as a wedding card for Tim to use. He's a salesman at the local GM dealership here in town and a couple of months ago sold a vehicle to a guy our age. That customer ended up referring other family members to Tim for vehicle sales and I guess they've gotten to know each other a little bit and it turns out the customer is getting married right away! So unbeknown to me Tim went and ordered them a gift to give to them - and I have to say I wish I could keep it!! 

Some of you know of my fondness for Willow Tree figurines - I have a couple of them and Tim ended up getting me the nativity set for Christmas (and his parents got me another part of the set for Christmas too) . And this one I LOVE! Isn't this a great gift?? I just think it was the sweetest thing for him to do and I really stressed out about making a really nice card to match so I hope they like it! 

My Think Pink Sample

OK here's the card I made using My Favorite Things new set called Think Pink.

FYI this set is rather special because 50% of retail proceeds from this set are are being donated to breast cancer initiatives. So yet another way to combine stamping with supporting a great cause!!

Edited to Add: You can get this set either from My Favorite Things, All That Scraps, or eclecticPaperie.

I pulled out my K&Co Amy Butler Belle paper pack for this card - I got both the Belle and the Sola packs weeks ago and this was the first time I actually cut into them - they're really nice papers!!

The main image was stamped onto Papertrey White CS using Brilliance Graphite Black ink (FYI I heat set this ink b/c I am WAY too impatient to wait for it to dry - I am REALLY liking this ink for stamping when I want to color with my Copic markers - I have little to no smearing issues with it. I still love my Palette Hybrid Noir ink for this as well, but I find the Brilliance works better with clear line image stamps (like the MFT sets) to get a crisper, darker image - so I save my Palette Hybrid ink for line image stamps made from rubber or other stamping projects) then colored in with Copic markers.

I stitched the main image to a piece of patterned paper, then adhered that to another piece of white CS using dimensionals.

The button I pulled out of my button jar - instead of holes it had 2 slits in it which was PERFECT to pull ribbon through - so that's what I did with the May Arts ribbon and then tied it in a knot to hold the button in place.

I used another piece of patterned paper that I adhered the strip of CS to, attached the Bazzill brads, and added the ribbon to before sewing it to the scalloped piece (that scalloped CS I got in a DCWV Box of Cards from Michaels - it came with 50 pieces of textured CS - some scalloped, some ric rac and some flat along with 50 envelopes - with a 40% off coupon it wasn't a bad deal!) then adhering it to the card base.

This card measures 5.5" square.

I've Been Keeping Quiet....

About something ---- but now the cat's out of the bag and it's time to share!! I had been hoping to have samples in hand to post but alas fate has been working against me and I don't have the stamps yet!

Which stamps am I talking about you ask??? Why it's Hanna Stamps, they're brand-spanking-new-not-yet-available-but-when-you-see-them-you're-gonna-want-them stamps!!!!

Seriously they're uber-cute - when I was approached with the opportunity to be on the Design Team I really hemmed and hawed about it as I am kept pretty busy with everything I do now - but then Kristi gave me a sneak peek of the first set and I was SOLD!!

As of right now the Hanna Stamps site is under construction - it's supposed to go live on Friday - and by then I'm REALLY hoping to have my stamps and a few samples made up - nevertheless I'll keep y'all updated on here.

And don't forget to check out the other designer's blogs and whatnot b/c some of them already have their stamps and have posted their samples - and OMGosh are they ever CUTE!!

Going PINK!!

Seeing that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month a lot of bloggers are turning their blogs PINK as a show of support.

Well pink being my favorite color I've followed suit......what do y'all think?? I have to admit I LOVE the fact that breast cancer awareness month is in October - my birthday is the 19th of this month and everywhere I go things are PINK!! I found a pink apron the other day I HAD to have (with proceeds going to support Breast Cancer research) along with all kinds of other fun things. I just love that I can find some awesome goodies in the bestest color ever, and that most of them are donating proceeds to cancer research - so it's like I HAVE to buy them (I know a totally twisted way to see it but that's how my mind works! I can justify almost any purchase......*wink*).

This blog might stay pink for longer than October tho - it was a lot of work to change it over and then I had to change link colors and all kinds of fun stuff like that - and I *think* I finally have it to where you all SHOULD be able to see everything without hovering over it or highlighting it - but if you can't just leave a comment on this post and I'll see what I did wrong!!

Oh and FYI the badge on this post is from this site: Badges, Banners and Buttons | Pink For October The one I chose was made by Lee Caglioti.