A birthday and an announcement!

Hello there. April 30th....wow where did the rest of the month go????!!!! Well I will start this post with the announcement. I am pleased and honored to announce that I have been asked to join the Creative Belli Challenge Design Team!!!!! I have been following and playing along with this blog for a very long time...actually I think I started back in one of the first few challenges...lol. This is a awesome challenge blog that encourages us to use stuff we already have. If you are like me you are always going out and buying the newest papers, brads, glitters, ribbons, and a whole bunch of other embellishments...and pretty much ignoring the ones that were last years latest and greatest. Well the Creative Belli blog is a great way to use that stuff up...and play along with some fun challenges. So...I am thrilled to be a part of this DT, and look forward to sharing my creations with you in these bi-weekly challenges. Don't forget to stop by the other DT ladies blogs and see all the talent on this team. (There are links along the left sidebar)

Well today I am playing along with the current challenge, which is Birthday Card. Easy right?...yeah don't forget the catch...we don't want to see the new birthday themed PP you bought yesterday...we want you to pull out the one you bought last year and finally use it...and don't stop at "old" paper...use stamps, brads, etc. Well here is my card I came up with.

I needed a birthday card for my nephew's party tomorrow. He is all into boy things and sports, so I found this sports paper in my stash. I think this PP is at least 2 years old...lol. It was from the Target Dollar Spot. You know they are really good there at making me think I need all the stuff in the Dollar section, after all it is only $1! So why I bought sports themed papers I don't know, but I figured now is the time to use it. The sentiment in the middle is from a SU set that I have had for a while too...think I may have used it once...lol. I used red CS for the base (4 3/4 x 4 3/4), layered the squares around the edge, and added the sentiment with foam tape to the middle.
Well, that is all for now. Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to stop by the Creative Belli Blog to play along every other week.

Sleepy Owl

Hello and Happy Thursday. As promised...I have a QKR Stampede card for you today. I decided to make this card for a challenge this week also. The Cupcake Craft Challenge this week is to make a card that is NOT square. So I decided to make this card in the shape of the moon to go along with the stamp I used. So here is what I came up with. Isn't this owl just adorable!!!!! I am an owl lover though. I have collected owls since I was a little girl, so when I saw this stamp, I had to have it! There are a few other really cute owls from QKR that I am hoping to get soon too! Anyway, this guy is called Sleepy Owl. I colored him with markers and cut him out in detail. I used my Cricut to cut the moon shape, and to cut the stars. The stars are cut from yellow glitter paper. I layered the glittery stars onto the moon, and then layered the owl onto that. Notice the blood shot eyes...that is sooo me in the morning...lol...well at least before the coffee. I added some crystal effects to his glasses for the "glassy" effect.
Last I added this sentiment to the inside. This is also a QKR Stampede image called Sleep Tight. There are so many great sentiment stamps in the QKR Stampede store as well...so be sure to stop by and check them out.
That is all for today. Thanks for stopping by...I am off to try to get mother's day gifts done in time...UGGGGGG I am running out of time!

Mother's Day Spa

Happy Wednesday to you all. I had a wonderful vacation last week, however I really missed my stamp room. I was able to spend some quality time with my neglected stamp room last night. I started a card using my May QKR Stampede DT stamps...and will hopefully be back with that tomorrow. Since every other Thursday is my day to post on the QKR Blog, I thought I would try to post on my blog EVERY Thursday with a new QKR card. Wait to you see some of the new stamps I got too....sooooooo cute!

Anyway...today I wanted to share a card I made using a new stamp set I purchased at my LSS this weekend. I thought it was just adorable, and also perfect for mother's day. So I made this card my my MIL.

This stamp set is from Inky Antics, and is called Spa Turtle...I bought the whole clear set so I got more fun stamps to play with. I stamped the tub on a piece of CS I pulled out of a magazine. It was actually an ad for some CS company, and I thought it was perfect to stamp on too (recycling!). It is hard to see from the photo, but it is a pearly, shimmery, cream color. I cut out the tub and added the little turtle. For the bubbles I used crystal lacquer to make them shiny. I colored everything with water color crayons. For the towel turban, I colored it pink, and added some sparkly pink fun flock I recently found at my LSS. I layered the tub unto some cream CS that I scored and clear embossed to look like tile. Last I used some of the different stamps from the set on the base to make a background. Here is a close up of the turban...OH...almost forgot about the eyes!!! I picked these eyes up at Bass Pro in Harrisburg, PA last weekend. A fellow stamping friend has mentioned these before, and since I was there I thought I really NEEDED them. Yes I spent $14 at Bass Pro on little eyes...lol. My hubby was a little confused when he saw the charge for Bass Pro...lol. Anyway...I have lots more of these little eyes I will be using on cards.

Well that is all for today. Hope to be back tomorrow with a very..."owly" fun card for you.

My Nephew's B-day Gift

So what do you buy for the kid who has everything? I often wonder that for my own children. They seem to have everything they need and then some. They get new toys for birthdays and holidays that they really NEEDED, and never use. Of course I guess us adults are the same way...lol. Well I am currently in this very dilemma. My nephew is having a birthday party this
weekend, and I have decided to attempt to make him a little chipboard album. Yes I said ATTEMPT...lol. I thought it would be fun to put the main part of the album together, and him and his mom can add the photos. He is currently into Star Wars (which is a another boy thing I wouldn't know a thing about...lol), so I found some Star Wars PP at my LSS. He also plays some sports, so I went with sports papers too. I made the album a 6x6 album, but the cover is 6 1/4 x 6. Here are a few pictures of what I came up with.

I used my cricut to make the little boy and the letters.

As you can see it is held together with a binder ring...I will be adding a 2nd ring too.

Little baseball stuff made with the cricut.

The lady at my LSS suggested black glitter paper with these PPs...so I went for it.

I used some little pieces/scraps of "lined" PP for the bottom of this page for journaling.

For both the front and back cover, I added some "lined" PP for journaling.

Well that is it. I am hoping he likes it. Now that I am back home I am hoping to get more time in my stamp room. And I am very excited because my new QKR Stampede stamps arrived today!!! Hoping to play this week with those. Have a great rest of your Monday.

QKR Blog Day

Hello all...coming to you from Virginia today. Today is my day to post to the QKR Stampede Blog. Here is a little preview of what I will be showing you over there today. So hop on over to the QKR Stampede Blog to see the rest of my card, and don't forget to take a look at the work some of the other ladies have posted over there too! Have a great Thursday!

A chance to win...

Hi again...I was looking at some blogs, and stopped by THIS one. This is the blog for the Stamp Scrap Art Tour that comes every year to my local Fairgrounds. They have a great show with lots of vendors, and on the Friday night before they show they have a really great make and take party. I went to the party last year, and it was awesome!!!! Well, they are giving away 3 prizes on their blog between now and April 27th. There are 3 ways to win one of the prizes. First...they are giving away a prize to the top referrer. So...if you go to the blog to enter to win from me...please leave your comment and let them know that I sent you. Then they are giving away a prize for the referrers friends...so...this is where you can win, and the last prize is a random winner. So...hop on over to the Stamp Scrap Art Tour blog and enter to win. Be sure to check out the great projects they have featured on there from the various vendors too. And make sure you tell them that Thebug415/Jessica sent you!
Good Luck!

Die Cutting Fun with my Cricut

Hello there. Today I had a chance to play in my stamp room...in between shopping and packing for my trip. I wanted to play along with a couple challenges this week. The first challenge I played along with this is week is the Creative Belli Challenge. The challenge this week is to use die cut shapes of some sort. So I decided to make my own using my cricut. Here is what I came up with.I cut the flower out using the home decor cartridge. First I cut the white one out and used some TAC stamps to add the little flowers, bees, and butterflies. I colored them in using marker and added some stickles to the wings of the bee, and the flower on the butterflies. I cut the shadow out with peach CS. For the center, I used a giant green brad that I have had FOREVER! I layered them onto this neat PP that I found...not really sure where it is from...lol, but the color was perfect, and I thought it kinda looked like a wicker fence behind the flower. Last I added the sentiment from the TAC set trendy greetings.

My second card today I made for this weeks Cupcake Craft Challenge. The theme this week was childhood memories. Here is my card.

Swinging...who doesn't remember swinging as a child. We used to have a tire swing in our backyard when I was really young. I remember it was hanging from the branch of a big tree in the yard. I thought this little girl swinging was so perfect for childhood memories theme. This image is a digi stamp from Whimsie Doodles called Swing Leah. I colored her with colored pencils, and cut her out in detail. I used my cricut to cut this branch out. I layered the branch onto some light blue CS, and attached the swinging girl to that. The sentiment is from TAC. The outside says "Hoping you day...", and the inside says "is simply delightful!".

Well that is all for now. Not sure if I will be around much this week with my trip and all. I am hoping to find a couple stamp/scrapbooking stores on my trip...maybe I will post if I find something good! Otherwise, stop back Thursday for a QKR Stampede card!

Ash's Card

Here is my youngest daughter's card for the Little Hands do Crafts Blog. She LOVES dinosaurs...so when I asked her which stamp she wanted to use she right away picked one of the dinosaur stamps.

She colored in the image with colored pencils. Not too bad for someone who just turned 3! She picked some dino paper for the background, and green CS for the strip. She said she wanted a green flower with a sparkly middle...so that is what she put on. Then she added some buttons of her color choice (pink, purple, yellow) to the top corner.

She was soooo proud to make this. I had a lot of fun stamping with my girls too.

Natalie's Card

Here is the card my middle daughter made for the Little Hands do Crafts kids challenge blog this month. This month is a sketch for the kids to do. Yesterday I posted the card my oldest made...well, here is my middle daughter's card.

She colored this digi image from The Greeting Farm using colored pencils. She wanted to cut out the image in detail, she did a pretty good job. Then I let her choose her papers. She really liked this piece of quilt looking PP I had left from another project. She layered a pink CS strip, and layered the image onto purple CS. She picked pink flower brads for the corner, and a big purple button for the bottom corner. Last, I let her add some sparkle using water and liquid pearl in a spray bottle. Here is a close up so you can see the sparkle.

Well that is it...be back in a minute with my youngest daughter's creation.

Picking Flowers Sketch

Hello, and Happy Monday! I had a LOT of free time in my craft room this weekend. We had a new roof put on, and basically I was kinda stuck home. I did escape for a bit to the grocery store, but otherwise I was here. So, I played around in the stamproom. I decided to play along with this weeks Sweet Stop Sketch. I had colored this image the other day to match the PP, so that part was done already. Here is what I came up with.

I used the Picking Flowers image from QKR Stampede, and colored her in with markers. I had picked out the PP for this one first, and colored her to go with it. I added some ribbon and eyelets. The butterfly brad I made using my I-top, so it matched the PP too. Last I added the flowers. Honestly I don't like the way the yellow flower looks, but I couldn't get it off...lol....I guess I used some strong adhesive. I used little green brads for the centers too.

Well that is it for me today...I will also be posting a couple cards my girls made. Yesterday I posted the card made by my oldest, and today I will post the ones made by my middle and youngest daughter. They were so happy to play in mom's stamproom.

40th Birthday Gift Bags

I mentioned earlier this week that my dear friend will be 40 next week. I wanted to get her something, even though she said not to...lol. So I made something instead. I used THIS tutorial from Splitcoast to make these 2, 5, 7, 10 boxes/bags.

After making each box with various PPs I purchased at Hobby Lobby, I filled each one with 40 pieces of candy. One has 40 M&M's, 40 Hershey Kisses, 40 flying saucers (retro candy), and 40 mini Hershey bars. I thought it would be a fun way to celebrate her 40th!

Moe's Card

Hi there...Today I am posting for my DD. Last month we stumbled upon a great blog with kids challenges. So my girls wanted to play along this month again. This month the challenge over at Little Hands Do Crafts is to create a card using the sketch provided. Well here is what my Morgan came up with.
She colored this digi image from Sweet 'n Sassy with colored pencils. She used some PP from Basic Grey, and added some brads and a flower. Didn't she do a great job? It is so fun to be able to share my hobby with my children.

GO TEAM INK TOSSERS!!!

Hello all. Great news...thanks to all your votes...team Ink Tossers made it through to week 3 of the 5 week challenge. Well, we will be needing your support again. This week's challenge was a scrapbook page. Team member Jennie K. aka...anna_chronistic came through with this week's submission. Here is a little peek at her page. Look at all those Ians! I will give you a clue...there are LOTS of Ians on this weeks Team Ink Tossers contest entry. This is where we need YOU! If you helped us by voting last week, then you already have registered at the TGF Gallery Site. If not...first thing you need to do is register. After you register, you need to confirm your registration via your e-mail. Then you can go back and sign in and vote for us. How do you vote? Simple! You sign in, go to team Ink Tossers photo, and leave a comment. Remember...you can only vote one time per week...if you vote more then once, it won't count. You only get 3 votes total per battle week...which means 3 different groups...but of course we would really like for one of your 3 votes to be TEAM INK TOSSERS! HERE Is the direct link to the week 3 gallery...simply scroll through, and find INK TOSSERS...and leave us a comment. You can also find the Week 3 gallery by clicking on Contest/Challenges -> TGF Royal Battle -> Week 3. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU in advance for helping us!

Here is one more peek at our team's page this week.

My Pink Stamper Challenge

Hello everyone and happy Saturday. I hope you had a chance to hop along with the QKR Stampede DT Blog hop yesterday. If not there is still time to play along. Just clink on this link HERE to start at the beginning.

Today I wanted to share a card I made for a challenge on the Pink Stamper Blog. The challenge is to create a card using your Cricut and the colors pink, green, and black. They are giving away a cartridge as a prize...which is a cartridge that I REALLY REALLY want! A friend of mine just got one, and she said it is the best cartridge ever. Well I need to stop rambling, and show you my card. I used the sunflower from the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge. I cut a shadow with black CS, the sunflower with pink, and layered it with the green silhouette. I added some pink liquid pearl to the center dots on the flower.
For the base, I layered pink CS onto a white base. I then used some green PP from SU, and cut into 1inch strips. Last, I used my sewing machine to add some black stitching. Very simple...yet looks cute!
Well that is all for now. I will be back later with some sneak peeks for this weeks Team Ink Tossers challenge.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony...QKR BLOG HOP!

Hello and Welcome to the first ever QKR Stampede DT Blog Hop! We are celebrating with a "Ribbon Cutting Ceremony". If this is your first stop on the hop, then you need to go back to the QKR Stampede Blog HERE...you don't want to miss any of this...trust me. If you are arriving here from Ceal's Blog then you are on the right track. So happy for you to stop by! And don't forget about the Awesome prize being offered. Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think, as well as you maybe entered in to win the prize.

QKR Stampede is a great new stamping company, if you haven't checked out all the amazing stamps they have yet be sure to stop there before you are done today.

We decided to celebrate the "grand opening" of our DT with a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, which means all of us have ribbon on our cards/projects. Here is the card I have to share with you today.

Isn't this little girl just adorable????!!!! The image is called "Picking Flowers", and is just one of the many adorable images that can be found in the QKR store. I actually built the color scheme for this card from the ribbon I had. My daughter had gotten a lollipop, and this was the ribbon tied on it. She asked me if I wanted it for my stamping, and I of course said yes. Well I have heard teal is the color for this year, so I thought it would be perfect. I started with a white CS base, added the teal PP, and the teal (recycled) ribbon. I stamped the image on white CS and colored it in with colored pencils. And I can't make a girly card without some sort of sparkle, so I added some stickles to her heart patch, and hat flower. I also used some gold liquid pearl on the flower centers. I hand wrote the sentiment with a teal marker...I chose this because I just kept thinking that from the minute I saw this image. Last I added some teal rhinestones to the top right corner for some extra bling.

Now I will send you off to your next stop on the hop which is Jerusha's Blog.

If you get "lost" at all feel free to hop right back to the QKR Stampede Blog for a complete list of where to go. I hope you enjoyed this stop, and all the others so far. Aren't the girls on the DT so talented?

Easel Card

So this past week the challenge for a contest I am in was an easel card. One of my teammates made the card for this week, but I really wanted to try an easel card. Here is what I came up with.I started with a yellow CS base, and added some DSP that I had on hand. I used the Smiling Flowers image from QKR Stampede, and colored it with colored pencils. I cut out the image and layered that onto some green CS. For the bottom 1/2 of the easel, I attached some yellow and green ribbon and some green buttons. I stamped the Rootin' For You sentiment (also from QKR) on green CS and trimmed it. I wanted my card to stay standing, so I added a little bit of scor-tape to help keep it in place.

Here is a side view. Not bad for a first easel card. I think I may try this again. Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget the "Ribbon Cutting Ceremony" for our QKR Stampede DT this Friday. You will probably want to start at our QKR blog HERE, but if you stop here first I will have a link to everyone's blog, and you will be able to get back to the start!

Homemade Shiney Flower Sketch

Things have been a little crazy lately, and I haven't been doing too many challenges. Well...today I was able to get a couple done...with one card! This weeks Cupcake Craft Challenge is homemade flowers, so I decided to make a folded flower. This weeks Creative Belli Challenge is Color Spray...which is hard to see in the picture...but I mixed mint green liquid pearl and water in a spray bottle, and added that. I took a couple close-ups that you can see it a little better. The lighting today is horrible since it is a rainy day here. And finally I put it all together using this weeks Sweet Stop Sketch. So without further ado...here is my tri-challenge card.I went with the teal color again...lol. I think I am being "taken with teal". I used some old SU DSP that I had for the folder flower. I put a beaded center on (which came with some other flowers I purchased). I also added a clear micro bead flower with a teal dew drop center. I used a teal base, certainly celery PP, another teal layer (which I stamped the word "bloom" from a SU set on), the some certainly celery ribbon, and the flowers. I sprayed each layer with the liquid pearl water mixture, and sprayed the folded flower. Here are a couple close-ups so you can see the flower and the sparkle/color spray.

Well that is it for now. I will be back tomorrow with my first ever easel card.

Birthday Mojo

Hello all. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Thankfully I was able to leave the house, and function! I really think my family has learned a little more about what I really do all day...lol. Now I have spent most of today catching up on laundry, dishes, and other basic cleaning...and I am still not done. Well I did take the time to sneak into my stamp room between laundry loads. One of my dearest friends will be turning 40 this month...or should I say she will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of her 30th. I wanted to make a really pretty card for her, and I really liked this weeks MOJO Monday Sketch...so here is what I came up with.
The image is from SU's A Kind Word set. I stamped her off, and then found all the paper. The last thing I did was color her. I wanted to make her go with this paper. The PP is from My Mind's Eye. I received it in a mystery box I had purchased last month...which I just purchased another one the other day since they were offering it again. It was such a great set of goodies in the box last time, I hope this one is just as a good. Anyway...I did all the PP layering, and added the ribbon...which the velvety ribbon was also in that box of goodies. The rhinestones were actually clear, but I used a purple Copic marker to color them violet. I used colored pencils to color the image to coordinate with the paper, and ink distressed the edges and around the image. The inside is blank so I can fill it up with all sorts of mushy words to my dear friend...lol. Well that is it for now.

Don't forgot to stop by...only a couple more days until our first QKR Stampede DT Blog Hop! It is going to be great...there is a rumor that there might even be a prize!

Happiness Comes

Happy Easter! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday. We are spending the day with extended family. Brunch with my hubby's family, and dinner with my mom and my brother's family. Should be a fun busy day. Of course we don't want to forget the real reason for this holiday...celebrating the Resurrection of our Savior! It was really cute on Saturday we were sitting around and my 5 year old said..."I can't wait until tomorrow when Jesus gets to come down from the cross, and be alive again."

Well I wanted to share a card I made using my QKR Stampede stamps.

I thought this heart was just so cute. The image is called Happiness Comes, and is just one of the many awesome images over at QKR Stampede. It reminded me of a quilt. I found this PP in my stash from who knows how long ago...lol. I colored the image to coordinate with the PP. And for the first time ever...I decided to machine sew on a card. I had my hubby take the sewing machine down to the stamproom the other day so I could play with it. I thought what a perfect card to try this on. I sewed around the green CS, around the heart (which is hard to see), and I sewed the lace to the card too. It is a very simple card, but being my first time using the machine on it, I needed it to be simple.

Don't forget to stop back on Friday April 9th for our first QKR Stampede DT blog hop!

VOTE TEAM INK TOSSERS!!!!

Hi...today I am here to beg. I am part of a team in a 5 week challenge over at The Greeting Farm blog. Each week we are giving a challenge and one of the team members must make a card for the challenge. Last week team member Trish took us into challenge 2 with her awesome retro car card. This week Joanne is hoping to get us into week 3 with an amazing easel card she made. Here is where I need your help. We need votes! It is votes that get us into the next round. The prize for this challenge is amazing...and my team mates and I would LOVE to have it. All you need to do it go over the the gallery on The Greeting Farm's site. Go to the gallery link for Contests/challenges...then the TGF Royal Battle gallery. From there go to Week 2...find team INK TOSSERS and comment on our card. You can only comment one time...and you will need to register as a user to comment...but it is super simple and quick, and our team will be soooo happy you helped us. I put the links to the gallery as well as to the Week 2 gallery for you...which ever way you have to get there just please stop over to vote for us. Here is a little sneak peak of the gorgeous card Joanne made for us this week too...just to tempt you to stop over and see the whole thing! Thank you thank you thank you for your votes!

QKR Stampede Sneak Peek

Hi there. Today is the first super nice day here...it is like 70 degrees. Now I don't know if this is the weather playing an April Fool's joke on us, or if this is for real now. Spring is my favorite season...I love watching the flowers starting to grow, the trees budding, and finally after a long Buffalo winter being able to get outside. Of course...all this nice weather, and I am sick. Oh well. I wanted to give you a sneak peek today, and remind you to stop back for our first QKR Stampede Blog Hop! On Friday April 9th we will be having a "Ribbon Cutting Ceremony" for this great new DT. I can tell you for a fact that there is some awesome eye candy coming your way! I have seen some of the other ladies projects, and there is a lot of talent on this team. You are going to want to start the blog hop at the QKR Stampede blog that day. From there you will find the links to each stop on the hop. Being the first time some of us have done this, there may be a couple glitches, but bear with us, and I promise you are in for a treat. These stamps are just fantastic and add that to the talent on the DT. In the mean time...here is a little sneak peek at my card for the blog hop.