Warm and Fuzzy

Hello all and if you are in the USA...Happy Memorial Day! If you have ever served our country in some way...THANK YOU! Well today I have a card I made to play along with the Sweet Stop Sketch. I haven't played along in a while, but I love these sketches for inspiration. If you are ever lacking in inspiration...stop over to The Sweet Stop Blog, and see the great sketches and DT samples. Well here is what I came up with using this week's sketch (SSS58).I actually colored this image a while back...well at the beginning of May. It is from QKR Stampede and is called Warm and Fuzzy . I colored him with marker, and added some brown fun flock to make him fuzzy...like the sentiment says. I layered him onto some green floral print PP that I bought probably 7 years ago...lol. I layered that onto green paper that was from the same 7 year old stack. So my goal this summer is to try not to buy too much new stuff, and to use up the 10,000 pieces of paper I already have. NOT EASY, but summer time is always a tighter budget then normal around here, so I have to try! Anyway...I used some red polka dotted PP to make a little heart and tucked that under the floral PP. Last, I added some white flower with green gem centers, and some white pearls to the corners.

Well that is it for now, thanks for stopping by! We are off to plant today...around here you have to wait until the end of May to be sure there isn't another frost...and that always isn't a guarantee...lol.

Father's Day 2010

So I may regret posting this so early, but I have a few people that I know want to see it. A friend of mine (Kristie) recently got a program to make word albums. We were at a crop a few weeks back and she showed me one she had made, and I thought it would make a WONDERFUL father's day gift for my husband. I asked her to cut me an album with the word DADDY. I then purchased a CS stack from my LCS that has all guy themed papers. We all know how hard it is to make "man" cards, but this paper is great for that. Well I covered each page with different pieces of PP from the stack, and then added some photos. Last thing I did was go to each page and add some embellishments. It is very simple embellishments, but I wanted something extra on the pages. I added stickers, brads, chipboard, and even some metal arrow looking things (that is the technical term...lol). Well here is how it turned out...page by page.So that is it...very simple, but I know he will love it. Now lets just hope he doesn't see this post...lol...keeping my fingers crossed.

QKR DAY!!!! N is for Night time...

Happy Thursday. Today is my day to post on the QKR Stampede Blog, and as always I post a QKR project here. Well today I am going to tease you... You want to see the rest of this project??? Well you need to head on over to the QKR Stampede Blog to check it out. I will give you a little hint that I used the Sleepy Owl stamp from QKR Stampede, and I strayed from my norm here a bit, and made a scrapbook page! I have decided to take on a little project that I was inspired to make from something I found at the CKC Convention this past weekend. Good news is, I am starting early, so I should have this little project/gift done by November...which is when my littlest nephew will turn one. Ok...now for real...hop on over to the QKR Stampeded Blog and check out the rest of my post as well as scroll down to see some other DT Ladies posts!

Black, Grey, and Yellow

Hi there...I have a quick challenge card for you today. I wanted to play along with this week's Cupcake Craft Challenge, which is black, grey, and one other color. Here is what I came up with.

While blog hopping today I saw a LO page with these colors, and wanted to try the same color combo. I remembered I had this PP left from a card a made a while back, and thought it would be perfect. The daisy image is a digi stamp from Sweet 'n Sassy. I colored just the center with yellow marker, and used a grey marker for the stems and leaves. I added some glitter to part of the petals. I trimmed it down, and layered onto black CS. I layered the PP onto a black CS base, and layered the image into that. I was going to put it straight on, but thought the tilted CS looked a little different. Last I added the yellow ribbon and bow.
Well, that is all for now. I hope to spend some of my holiday weekend (Memorial Day in the USA) doing some crafting to share with you too. I also finished my DH's father's day gift and will try to get that posted today or tomorrow. I have to find a time to sneak it upstairs to photograph it...I can't have him see it yet...lol. Have a great day!

Creative Belli Day! #92

Hello and Happy Wednesday! It is Belli Challenge day. This week we have kind of a double challenge for you. First we have a sketch...here it is.Now for the "twist" or Belli part of the challenge...a FLAT embellishment. We are looking for flat stickers, ribbon, felt, or whatever else you have laying around to spiff up that card. No knots, bows, jewels, or other 3-D bling...just flat to the card. Now...don't forget the "spirit of the Belli"...use something old on your card. Something you have laying around. So without further ado...I give you my take on this sketch and flat embellishment.I stared at this sketch for a big trying to decide what to do. I was looking at it a different way at first...I was seeing the top as the "front" layer of the card instead of the bottom. Then for some reason my brain saw it different. I saw water! Almost like one of those optical illusion things...lol. I used an old Creative Memories ruler/tracer for the waves on the darker blue CS. I layered that onto some lighter blue CS. Then I added my "FLAT" embellishment...this felt wave.
I stamped the fishes on white CS and cut them out. They are from an old SU set that I have had for a couple years now and honestly say I don't know the last time I used it if ever at all...lol. I colored the fish with colored pencil...notice the bottom right one is green and all the others are orange. I hand wrote the sentiments "Dare to be Different". I thought this would be a good encouragement type card, or just a general thinking of you type card. I also thought of sentiments like "Go against the flow", "Different is good", and "There is always one in the group that has to stick out." Last thing I did was add some stickles to the felt waves as well as the fish's fins. Now...it is YOUR turn! Head on over to the Creative Belli Challenge and see what flat embellishments the other DT ladies found. Then create your own using the sketch and flat embellishments and link them up to the Belli Challenge #92. Thanks for stopping by!

Morgan's May Card

Hello there. I don't know if you saw my post earlier, but I am sooo excited to have found a brand new kid's challenge blog. My girls love doing projects with me, and this is such a great way for them to do something with mom's stuff. So if you didn't see it, scroll down and check that out too!

Now the other kid's challenge blog my girls like...Little Hands do Crafts. They have monthly challenges for kids, and this month it is NATURE cards. Earlier this month I posted my youngest daughter's card...today I have a card from my oldest daughter Morgan. Here is her Nature themed card.

Morgan used a bird on a branch stamp from SU. She colored it with markers, and cut it out. She picked a blue piece of Coordinations CS for the base, and picked the flower embossing boarder. I then taught her the cool trick to using Coordinations CS...sanding to bring out the base color. She really liked playing with that, and even did some sanding to the edges too. She layered that onto a brown pre-cut scalloped card I got from SU a couple years back. We found some brown with blue dots ribbon in my stash to add to it. Then she learned how to set eyelets with the crop-a-dile, and added a little blue flower brad. Last I showed her how cool white gel pen looks on dark CS. She added some little dots, and traced the scallops onto the bottom layer/inside of the card too. I thought she did a pretty good job, and actually love her brown and blue color scheme too.

If your kids want to play along, they have until the end of the month to play along with the NATURE theme. There will be a new theme for June...Thanks Little Hands Do Crafts for such a great challenge blog!

Another Kid's Challenge Blog

I was blog hopping this morning and found this blog. My girls LOVE playing along with challenges...so this is perfect! They are just starting this blog, so they are offering some "candy" too! The challenges are for ages 3-17, but moms (or dads) are allowed to assist to some extent. I personally like to just show my kids the layout and let them go to town...CREATIVE LICENCE! Well I will be posting my girls work on my blog since I don't' feel they are old enough for their own yet...being 3, 5, and 7...lol. So go check out Kona Kid Krafter's!

Bubbling Over....QKR Stampede

Hello there. What a week so far. Yesterday we had the funeral for my DH's Grandfather, and the day before that was the 5 hour wake. It was a long sad couple days...however there was some happiness in celebrating such a great life. I was so proud of my girls too. The 2 older ones helped during the Mass, and my oldest lead the pray at the cemetery. I know her Great Grandpa would have been proud of her. Enough sadness for now...ha ha.

Well I did get a little time the other day to put this card together. I actually stamped the image and made the fish bowl a couple weeks back...then I sat and stared at it for what to do with it. Here is what I came up with. This image is called Gold Fish, and can be found in the QKR Stampede store. I stamped him on some orangeish CS, and trimmed him. I added some stickles for a sparkly fins, and a "fish" eye to him. I used my Cricut to cut the fishbowl from some clear acetate I had in my stamp room. I took a piece of velum and added some blue ink to it to look like water...it didn't turn out exactly like I wanted, however it looked neat. Last I added some sand. I purchased this stand stuff at my LSS a while back...I thought it would be fun, and hadn't used it yet until now. I was going for the "sand at the bottom" look...lol. Here is a close up.I used some PP I had in my stamp room for the BG. Not sure where i got it...lol. I thought the bubbles went well with the fish though. Last I added a piece of CS and hand wrote the sentiment...notice the sarcasm in the statement? I added a couple fishy brads too.

Well that is all for now. Thanks for stopping by. I am now in a time crunch to get a gift done for my FIL's birthday this weekend, and I will be volunteering at the CKC Convention this weekend.

A chance to win

Well...things have gotten crazy this weekend. Sadly we lost a very wonderful person this morning. My husband's grandfather passed away this morning. So needless to say, we will have a sad busy week. I don't' know how much time I will have for my own stamping. I did however want to share this great blog hop with you. Creative Cuts and More is celebrating their new store opening with a blog hop. You HAVE to see what the DT has created. Be sure to go to their blog HERE and hop along the hop...there are prizes too!

Hope to be back to my blog later this week.

It's A Boy Thing...QKR Stampede Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to our May QKR Stampede Blog Hop. If you did not arrive here from Jerusha's Blog then you need to go back to the QKR Stampede Blog to start from the top. Trust me you don't want to miss a bit of this! If for some reason along the way one of the links didn't work please head back to the QKR Stampede Blog and click on the next DT Ladies blog from there, but hopefully we already have any kinks worked out. Don't forget to comment on each DT members blog as you go...there is an AWESOME prize being offered during our hop this month. There is a $25 gift certificate up for grabs!!!! Who wouldn't want that????!!!!

Ok...now you should have already picked up on our theme by the time you arrived here, but we are going with "It's A Boy Thing!" So here is my take on that.

So this whole boy thing is always a tough one for me. I have a house full of girls, with the exception of my hubby...lol. I did however think this little guy was adorable...and it seemed like a boy thing to carry a frog around. Although my girls do catch little toads at our property in the country all the time. It always amazes me how they go from princesses to mud queens when we go to the land. Well I stamped this little guy called Little Boy onto white CS and colored him with markers. I trimmed him out and layered him onto the cute froggy paper from TAC. I sat and stared at him for a while before coming up with a sentiment for him. I had this punch to cut out the quote balloon, so I used that and hand wrote the sentiment. I thought the little play on words was funny...so did my 7 year old...lol. "I toadally froggot your birthday!" Now check out these froggy eyes!I am so glad I took the time to go in the Bass Pro Shop...these eyes were so worth the money and time going in the store. Such a simple thing that adds so much to the card.

Alright that is all I have for you...don't FROGGET to leave a comment on each blog...you may have a chance to get this adorable Little Boy stamp for yourself, and some of the other awesome QKR Stampede stamps.

Now hop along on over to see what Laralee has in store for you.

Don't FROGGET if you get lost along the way, just head on back to the QKR Stampede Blog for a complete list of our fablous DT blogs.

A Little Sunshine

Hi there. Today I have a QKR Stampede card for you. It is also my day to post on the QKR Stampede Blog...so be sure to stop over there so see what is going on there. If you haven't visited us there in a while, you have been missing out on some great DT creations. Also, tomorrow is our 2nd QKR Blog hop, be sure to stop by and hop along with us as we share with you our "It's a Boy Thing" cards.

Now onto today's card...I decided to use this card for a couple challenges too. First I used the Mojo Monday Sketch this week. I also added some buttons to my card, which is the challenge this week over at the Cupcake Craft Challenge.

I used the Patchwork Sun image from QKR Stampede. I stamped it and colored it with markers. I layered that onto some blue PP. Then I layered the various PP's onto some olive green CS. I got this PP the other day at a crop I went to. I just loved the PP with the circles. Instead of ribbon I used some other PP, and added some buttons to the top of each strip. Last, I added some stickles to the sun to make it shiny.
On the inside I used this My Sunshine sentiment from QKR Stampede. I added a little color to the flowers too.

Well that is all for now...and please join us tomorrow for our QKR Stampede Blog Hop!

Creative Belli Challenge #91

Hello there. Today is my first "official" week as part of the Belli Design Team...and what an honor! This week's sponsor is Sew Many Cards...stop on over and check them out. They have some great digi images for sale in their store. The challenge this week is "Hole Punches". You can use hole punches any way you want on your card or project. That means...you could punch a hole and put a brad or eyelet in it. You could punch a hole and thread ribbon through it. You could punch a hole with a boarder punch. You get the idea...just punch a hole some how and some where on your project. While you are punching holes...don't forget the "spirit" of the Belli Challenge...use what we HAVE in our crafty hands already...try NOT to use something new. Be sure to head back to the Creative Belli Blog and link up your project so we can all see your work too!

As you can see I punched holes and added some eyelets I have had laying around. I used this great digi image from our sponsor Sew Many Cards called Olliver the Owl Celebrates. I colored him with colored pencils and added some crystal effects to his balloon. (A little hard to see from the photo, but I wanted a shiny balloon.) The sentiment is from the same digi set. I added a little blue eyelet (hole) to the "i" in birthday too. This is a very CAS card, but I thought it was perfect for a man...which is who I had in mind when making this. My FIL's birthday is this month, and I thought a nice simple card was perfect for him.

We would love to see your "holey" cards too, so be sure to play along with this week's Belli Challenge and link your creations so we can see your take on hole punches.

Crop Challenge

On Saturday I had the joy of spending 12 hours crafting! I went to the crop at My Happy Place Scrapbooking which was in celebration of National Scrapbooking Day. We had a great day of cropping, stamping, chatting, eating, and just plain fun. Jenn, the owner of My Happy Place even included a wonderful 2 page layout class as part of the crop. We made a gorgeous spring colored layout...which was fun to make too. Jenn also gave us all a challenge. When we arrived at the crop there was a small pile of supplies at our seat. It was all color coordinated and included card stock, patterned paper, and embellishments. The challenge was to use at least a small piece of everything on either a layout of a card. I decided to tackle this challenge. At first I thought there was NO WAY I would get all the PP and embellishments on one card, I was wrong. I did it! I even was able to add the paperclip to the card...lol. Here is what I came up with.

I really wanted to use my create a critter cricut cartridge, and I thought the monkey was perfect for these colors. I thought it came out pretty cute, and was so excited that I was able to complete the challenge. I even got a prize for completing it! I won a free crop night...which I hope to be able to use soon.

I was thrilled to come home from such a great day with some accomplishments. I was able to finish all of January and February in my 2010 Year in Review album. I also got some of the stuff ready to put together the teacher's gifts for end of the school year. They turned out ADORABLE too...I will post them when I get them all done...only 6 more to go! Well thanks for stopping by, and I hope all you moms, grandmas, and aunts out there had a wonderful mother's day.

Mother's Day Gifts

So I can FINALLY share these with you. For Mother's Day this year I decided to make these little albums for the girls' grandmas. I found the chipboard albums and the PP at Target. They were in the scrapbook aisle...but they were only $.99 each! The set of PP was also only $.99 for 8 sheets. So I totally sound cheap now...ha ha. Well, I used some Mod Podge to add the PP to the chipboard. I then added photos. I used a group shot for the first photo, then each there is a page for each girl...with a single photo of just them. The back cover is another group shot with a Mother's Day greeting. I cut circles for the center of each "flower" page and put lines on them. The girls then wrote a few things or reasons why they love Grandma or Nana. They turned out much better then I could ever hope for. So I am just going to show you some various shots of the albums now. Preparing to layer the PP onto the albums.
Well that is them! Hope they like/liked them as much as I like the way they turned out. Happy Mother's Day to all of my blog readers too!

Chocolate covered....

On Sunday my girls will be celebrating Mother's day with a tea party for their grandmas and aunts. For dessert the want to serve chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels. I have to share these pictures with you because I am blown away with how well they turned out.

I had a Dove Chocolate Party at my house back in February. One of the things they sell is these cocoa butter transfer sheets. So I got some thinking I could use them for end of year teacher gifts. Well I decided to add them to the strawberries. WOW...they were so easy to use and turned out super awesome. When I say easy...my girls helped me do this. They put the transfer sheets onto the strawberries. You dip into the chocolate, place the piece of transfer sheet onto the warm/freshly dipped chocolate and put in the fridge. Once it sets you simply pull the sheet off. That simple! Ok...so I had to share because they just looked so professionally made, and I still get over the fact that I made these with my 7,5, &3 year old...lol. On the pretzels I used raspberry flavored dusting powder...which is also from Dove Chocolate. So here is a close up of the strawberries. I also made chocolate covered spoons and added the transfer sheets. I am using these for part of the end of year teacher gifts. Ok...now that you are all hungry...lol...I will stop. I sure hope these can all make it to Sunday for the Tea Party!

Mother's Day Gifts

Ok...so I can show you these gifts...but you have to wait until Sunday to see the ones for the grandmas. Since my mom reads my blog, I felt those photos should wait. These gifts I am sharing with you today are for my girls' Godmothers/Aunts. This is the preview picture I showed the other day. I found this colored chalkboard paint at my LCS. I painted just the heart with this. Oh, and I got the wooden heart/banner thingy at the LCS too for $1 each. I wanted to paint the top banner part white, but for some reason I couldn't find any paint in the house other then paint pens. So I had to do a little bit different on all of them. Here is how they turned out.

I figure they can hang them by the phone for little quick notes or whatever they want to use them for. Just thought they were cute little chalkboards. Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Mouse

Today I have a card I made for the Simon Says Challenge. The challenge blog is celebrating their anniversary with a great blog hop and contest. The challenge this week is to make a birthday/celebration card. Well here is what I came up with.

I used this cute birthday hat image from Sweet 'n Sassy Digi stamps. I colored it in with colored pencils. I layered him and another square onto some PP from SU...which is really old, so I couldn't tell you the collection it was from if I tried...lol. I stamped the sentiment on the 2nd square and added some little cupcakes (which I colored and added red stickles to the cherries). I rounded the corners of the squares and added some diamond stickles to the birthday hat.

Well be sure to stop by the Simon Says Challenge blog to see all the great DT samples as well as enter your own card.

Ash's Card for May

Hi there...my children just love this kid's challenge blog. They look forward to the start of the month when a new challenge is posted so they can play along. If you haven't already, check out Little Hands do Crafts blog...such fun for the kids.

Well this month's challenge is for the kids to make a nature themed card. I post their cards on my blog because I am not ready for them to have their own yet...lol. Well today I had a chance to work with my youngest on her card. Here is her nature creation.

So she said she wanted purple butterflies. She then "colored" them with colored pencils. She picked some garden printed paper to layer it onto. Last she cut out her butterflies with some scalloped scissors. Not to bad for a 3 year old...ha ha.

Thanks for looking, I know it means a lot to my girls to share their creations like mom does.

QKR Thursday

Hello and Happy Thursday. As I mentioned last week, I will be posting a QKR Stampede card every Thursday. So here is my card for today. I just thought this sentiment was funny. So I had to have it. Check this out...Now here is the rest of the card.I decided to try a "long" card for once. I have seen this layout before, and thought it would be fun to try. I stamped the image from QKR Stampede called Men... onto white CS. I trimmed it down and layered it onto red CS. I picked red to bring out the red in the PP. I picked up the PP at my LSS the other day to go with this sentiment. I thought it was perfect.

Well, I wanted to give you a "heads up" the QKR Stampede DT will be having our 2nd blog hop this month. Friday May 14th! So be sure to stop by the QKR Stampede Blog that day to see all the details about the hop as well as where to go next. Thanks for stopping by!

Whimsie Doodles

Today I decided to play along with the Whimsie Doodles Blog. They are celebrating their 1 year anniversary with a blog hop and some prizes...which includes a card contest. I stumbled upon this Digi company back in the fall. I was desperately searching for an image to use for a back to school card. I found a really cute digi set there that included a boy and girl bear with backpacks as well as a great back to school sentiment. Well, I have been checking out their blog ever since, and love their adorable images. They are very cutsie images that are mostly digi, but they do have some rubber sets as well. Well today I am playing along with the card contest part...which is to make a card using one of their images, so I chose to use Sow Leah. HERE is the link to their store if you want to check some of the digis out for yourself. Here is my card.
I colored Sow Leah with colored pencils, and layered onto some light purple CS. I added some floral PP from TAC, and last some gromlets. I have never used gromlets before, but had some on hand so I thought I would try them out. Interesting little gadgets...ha ha. Well that is all for now and be sure to stop by the Whimsie Doodles Blog to check out their DT ladies blog hop too.

Turtle Thank you

Back again today. I have put this thank you note off too long already, so I decided to finally get it done, and in the process be in a couple more challenges! I have been meaning to mail a thank you note to my brother and his wife for allowing my girls and I to stay with them a few weeks ago. I used this weeks Sweet Stop Sketch for this, as well as this weeks Cupcake Craft Challenge. Here is what I came up with.The Cupcake Craft Challenge this week was a "recipe", use 3 ribbons, 3 flowers, and 3 papers. I laid all these things out using the Sweet Stop Sketch HERE. I used 3 different papers from Paper Trey Ink and layered them. I used three ribbons along the middle , and 3 flowers with gem centers. This image is from QKR Stampede called In Love. I colored him with watercolor crayons, and added some flower soft to the flowers.

This was my first time using flower soft. I really like the way it turned out on here. Last thing I did was add the sentiment, which is from TAC.

Well that is all for now. Now I need to get this in the mail....lol...I am so bad at mailing out cards.

A digi Mojo

Hi there. Wow...I can't believe Sunday is Mother's Day already! We are doing our annual "Mother's Day Tea Party" for the grandmothers and aunts this year. My girls have done this for the past 3 years now. They love it...they get to make all sorts of cute little foods, and serve their favorite ladies in their life...with a little help from mom of course. This year we will even be serving chocolate covered strawberries for dessert! The girls have come up with a wonderful gift for their grandmas, but I can't share those with you YET...because my mom reads my blog. =) I can give you a little "neat peek" of the Aunt's gifts though. So check those out at the bottom of this post.

First I want to share with you the card I made for this weeks Mojo Monday Sketch. When I started putting this together, I was attempted to make it a combo sketch (for 2 different challenges), well that didn't happen. So...here is my MOJO Sketch.Sorry it is a little dark...it is raining here today, so the lighting is terrible. I used a digi image from Whimsie Doodles called Flowers for Leah. I colored the image with colored pencils, and trimmed it. I started with a white CS base, layered some polka dot yellow CS onto that. I used some printed velum next, and layered the image onto that. For the squares, I used some PP from SU as well as some white CS I put through the cuttlebug. I cut the little oval and hand wrote the sentiment, and rubbed it onto an ink pad for some color. Last I added 3 little flower brads to go with the other 3 main colors on the card already. Well that is it for the MOJO this week.

Now as promised...here is a little preview of the gifts for my SIL's for mother's day.

I found this chalkboard paint at my LCS, and added it to these little wooden heart plaques. We will be adding some sentiment to the top banner part, just haven't gotten that far yet...lol.