Sunday Challenges & A HOP PREVIEW!

I hope you've all got your blue inks and cardstocks out to work on the Stamptacular Sunday challenge this week!  :)

Since I've already done mine (hehehe), I decided to do a few other challenges!

Here's my card for the Doodle Dragon Studios sketch challenge:

 

What'd I Use?

Image: Dustin Pike

Markers: Copics

Sentiment: Printed by me

Nesties:  Labels Three

Cardstock: Bazzill

Papers: from my scrap pile

Rhinestones: from my stash

Now, for the big PREVIEW!!!  There's a HOP coming!!!

My dear, sweet, wonderfully talented friend, Heather - the mastermind behind Fresh Brewed Designs - is having a new release hop in just a few short weeks!  I know, I'm really early, but I just couldn't wait to use these awesome images!!  I sure hope you join us for the best hop ever on Feb 24th!  There's some serious talent lined up to entertain you and then, well, there's me!  :)  hahaha!  Here's a couple cards that I made today using these new release images and for a few challenges!

This is the soon-to-be-available new Hannah Belle Cooks, isn't she just adorable?  Check out the tongue!  I'm sure she looks just like me when I'm baking!

Challenges: 

Friday Sketchers (Sketch)

Stamp Something (Delightfully Delicious)

 What'd I Use?

Image: Fresh Brewed Designs

Markers: Copics & White Glaze pen

Sentiment: Printed by me!

Nesties: Labels Nine & Petite Oval

Paper: DCWV Sweet Stack

Bow & Border Punch: Martha Stewart

shiny, round things: from my stash

Here's Tommy in Space!  He's just too cool for words!  I just love his little alien friend waving Hi as Tommy flies past!

Challenge: Inspirational Card Sketches (Sketch)

  

What'd I Use:

Image: Fresh Brewed Designs

Markers: Copics & Glitter pens

Sentiment: Printed by me!

Cardstock: Bazzil

Embossing: Spots & Dots by Cuttlebug

Gigantic brads: American Crafts

Paper: from my stash

SSC #44 - Winter Blues

It's another Stamptacular Sunday!

This weeks challenge is called Winter Blues and we challenge you to create a project with a winter theme using only Blue & White!

Have fun with this one!  Our prize up for grabs this week is:
Winner's Choice of 4 Digi Images from:
In Style Stamps

Be sure to visit the rest of the Design Team to see their amazing creations!

Here's my card:

What'd I Use?

Image: My Favorite Things

Markers: Copics

Embossing: Snowflakes by Cuttlebug

Stickles

Fiskars Snowflake Border Punch

Ribbon and charm from my stash

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope to see your entries in this weeks challenge soon!

Thursday Challenges

Good afternoon!

I was pretty bummed out about the Greeting Farm relay challenge ending abruptly (although, with good reason), so I didn't get any stamping done yesterday.  I did receive my free relay image yesterday, though, and I knew that, even if the challenge was cancelled, I would want to create a card with Prince Ian, anyway.  Especially since I have my very own Prince Iain! :)  I used the sketch from Friday Sketchers.  I had to do faux stitching on this one, because my little guy was sleeping in my craft room and I really didn't want to wake him up with my sewing machine!

All 3 of today's cards fit in with the challenge this week at KL Stampin N Scrappin - which is Nesties, Punches and Dies, OH MY!

What'd I Use?

Image: The Greeting Farm

Markers: Copics

Nesties: Petite Oval, Petite Scallop Oval

Punches: Word Window, Scallop Edge

Papers & Cardstock: leftovers from a kit from my LSS

Buttons & Fibers: from my stash

Cute Card Thursday want to see Blooming Gorgeous creations... well, I don't know about Gorgeous, but I think I got the Blooming covered!

What'd I Use?

Image: Great Impressions

Markers: Copics

Sizzix: Top Note Die

Ribbon, Paper, button & Flowers: from my stash

Here's one for Sweet Sunday Sketch #53

and Spoon Full of Sugar (Freestyle) 

This one was fun!  Nutsy is soooo fun to play with!  Isn't he just the cutest?  He's got a surprise for YOU!

 

What'd I Use?

Image: Nutsy from Karen's Doodles

Markers: Copics

Nesties: Circle & Scallop Circle

Embossing: Swiss Dots by Cuttlebug

Ribbon, dots & Papers: from my stash

**By the way - what do you think of my new watermark?  My wonderful, sweet, amazing, awesome friend, Callie made it for me!  Isn't it cool!  She's just the bestest!!  Stay tuned, because you may be able to get one from her soon, too!  :)**

Tuesday Challenges

Good Afternoon!

For those of you who are playing The Greeting Farm Relay Challenge - has your mojo ever been this good?  :)

I've got 3 cards to share with you this afternoon!

The first is my Relay card, using todays image - Toby Cub:
I'd also like to show this card to the crew over at I Love Digi - for their Design Team Call (fingers crossed!)

What'd I Use?

Image: The Greeting Farm

Markers: Copics

Nesties: Labels 4

Papers & Chipboard: DCWV (Animal Crackers)

This card is for Totally Gorjuss, where the challenge is Dimension.  I used the amazing tutorial from Mercy to create this beautiful flower to add dimension to my card.  This one is also for Inspirational Card Sketches for their sketch this week.

What'd I Use?

Image: Gorjuss Girl from Sugar Nellie

Markers: Copics

Nesties: Labels 9

Papers: My Mind's Eye "Be Loved"

And my last card is simple, but I think it took the longest time to come together!  This is for a new challenge that I found thanks to a link from a friend.  This link lists "almost" all of the current challenges, so if you're looking for inspiration - check here!

Daily Dare 4 You

I found Tuesday Morning Sketches here and thought this looked like a fun sketch... it turned out to be a little harder than I thought!  LOL!

What'd I Use?

Image: Studio G

Nesties: Scallop Octagon

Embossing: Spots & Dots by Cuttlebug

Papers: DCWV Stack

Brads: from my stash

Thanks for stopping by!!

Cards, Cards, Cards - and a notebook!

I'm on a roll!  I've made at least 4 cards a day for the past 3 days!  I really hope my mojo stays around for a while because I've been having a great time!

And Digi Images - Wow!  I can't believe that out of ALL the cards I've made this week, I've only actually inked up a stamp once?  Sheesh!  And I even just got my new Unity kit of the month on Saturday!  I'm sure I'll get back to inking again, but this sure is fun!

We'll start with my Relay card for The Greeting Farm.  Yesterday I made THIS card using Mer Ian, a free image that we got to start the relay.  Since I did the card, I got another image today!  This is Charlotte, she's really cute!  Right when I saw her, I thought Rock Star!  She's just cool!

What'd I Use?

Image: Charlotte, The Greeting Farm

Markers: Copics

Paper: DCWV

Ribbon, Microbeads, Star, Brads: from my stash

These 2 are Valentine's that I made for the kiddo's.  These both also fit the challenge at Caardvarks - Red and Hearts.  I think there's plenty of RED here and quite a few hearts, too!

This one's for Bradley:

This one's for Emily:

 

What'd I Use?

Images: Precious Moments (coloring book)

Markers: Copics

Nesties: Large Curvy Rectangle

Embossing Folder: Conversations by Cuttlebug

White Doily, Ribbon: from my stash

And this last one is just a little notebook.  I just got this new image and couldn't wait to play with it!

The is for the challenge over at The Pink Elephant - Pink, Polka Dots and a Bow and I'd like to enter this one into the challenge at Twisted Thursday (S2G Challenges) where they would like to see our "Indulgence" - I Love coffee and a good latte is one of my favorite indulgences, not to mention the color pink - can you indulge in a color?

What'd I Use?

Image: Fresh Brewed Designs

Markers: Copics

Nesties: Petite Oval & Petite Scallop Oval

Embossing: Swiss Dots by Cuttlebug

Polka Dot paper and ribbons from my scrap pile

Another Fun Day of Challenge cards!

Hi All!

Even though I woke up feeling kinda crummy, think I'm coming down with a cold - and the kids, too :(  I did manage to get some Me Time in my craft room again today!

So, I went through more of my favorite challenge blogs and found some more that I wanted to enter this week!  I think this is a record for me!

To start with, I did the Day 1 CHA Relay Challenge at The Greeting Farm.  They gave everyone a free digi image to play with today, and if you make a card using that image, you get another free image to make a card with, then you get another... well, you get the idea!  I managed to get this one image printed before my printer ran out of ink today, so tomorrow I will have to run out and get more ink!

What'd I Use:

Image: Mer Ian by The Greeting Farm

Markers: Copics

Wave punch: Fiskars?

Eyelets: Crop-o-Dile

Ribbon, String, paper: from my stash

This card is for the sketch at Stampin' For The Weekend I've never entered a challenge here before, but I liked the sketch, so there's a first time for everything right?   

Hubby says this is his favorite... hmmm.. wonder why?

What'd I Use?

Image: Fresh Brewed Designs

Markers: Copics, Souffle and glitter pen

Nesties: Oval and Scallop Oval

Embossing: Meadow Lark by Cuttlebug

Ribbon, flowers, brads from my stash

This last one is for the Corrosive Challenge blog.  Their challenge this week is Fancy Folds - so I finally got a chance to make an easel card!

 

What'd I Use?

Markers: Copics

Papers: My Mind's Eye

Die Cuts: My Mind's Eye

Nesties: Circle & Scallop Circle

Brads & Images: from my stash

I sure had a fun time today - hope you like what I made to share with you!

SSC #43 - Pop-Up!

Welcome back to my blog!  I've been doing some work on the template, fonts and stuff.. I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out!  I'm learning lots about blog layout and setup and stuff!  It's pretty fun!   Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think!  :)

Anyway.... It's another wonderful challenge at Stamptacular Sunday!  I really do hope you can join us this week!

Our very own Sarah, from the Stamptacular Design Team is sponsoring our challenge this week and she is offering up a wonderful stamp set from Verve, "Swan Song"

Thank You, Sarah!

Our challenge for you this week is to make a Pop-Up card!  This challenge scared me a little bit... But I found this new tutorial on SCS for a Pop-Up Twirl card that looked fun!  I love the SCS tutorials - you just can't go wrong!  Every step is spelled out so simple and easy to understand!  Although, on this card, there was something to do with string to make the inside image spin, and I couldn't figure that out... but I still really like the card!

I made this one for a very special lady who's birthday was last week.  My Dad's Aunt Lorraine, who I have actually never met, but she always remembers us on important days!  She's so thoughtful to send cards to my kids on their birthdays, and she always remembers our anniversary!  So, I wanted to make her a special card to let her know how much she is appreciated!  Maybe one day, we'll take the kids on a road trip across the country to meet her.

Onto the card:

 

What'd I use?

Stamps: Studio G

Colored with Copics

Patterned Cardstock: DCWV Sweet Stack

Nesties: Labels Nine

Cuttlebug: Happy Birthday embossing

Pearls: Martha Stewart

One More Last Minute!

I made lots of cards today! This is my 3rd post for the day - please, please! Scroll down to see ALL the others!  Thanks!

Here's a card I VERY quickly made for the Dustin Pike/Doodle Dragon Studio challenge!

The theme is Lovey Dovey - using any Dustin Pike image, old or new.  I didn't have any Lovey Dovey images printed up and ready to go, so I "adapted" an image that I had ready!  This is actually the elephant that is wearing a party hat and holding a cupcake!  I cut off the hat and the cupcake and gave him a heart to hold instead!  Smart, huh?  Hehehe!

What'd I Use?

Image: Dustin Pike

Markers: Copics & White gel pen

Nesties: Labels

Patterned Paper: Daisy Bucket
Embossing Folder: Conversations by Cuttlebug

Eyelets, ribbon: from my stash

I think I have just under an hour before the deadline on this challenge! Hope I made it in time!!  :)

I Love Digi Challenge Design Team

Well, I'm going to try out for the I Love Digi Design team... this is a new challenge blog that goes LIVE on February 18th. 
I've been building up quite a collection of Digi images and I think this would be an amazing team to be on!  I'm excited and nervous!
So, I went through my digi stuff and found this kit that I had gotten from Pollycraft sometime ago.  I made a set of 3x3 cards to use as Thank You cards:

What'd I Use?

Every single thing here is from the Pollycraft Digi Kit "Home Sweet Home"

This was so fun to make!  I LOVE the papers and designs and even the little digi ribbons!  So cute!  I only used a small portion of what was available to me in the kit, but I LOVE the fact that I can always print up more paper when I need it!  So FUN!

Wish me luck on the Design Team!  They'll announce the new team on February 2nd!

I had a Digi Day today!

I was in a Digi mood today, so I made a bunch of cards using Digi images.  It was quite fun, especially as I haven't used many digi images before.  I'm very glad to learn that whatever ink is in my printer is "Copic Friendly"!!  Yay!!  :)

I am also entering all of these cards (except for the Lauren In Love card, as that's not digi) into the I Love Digi Design Team call - wish me luck!!

So, strap on your seatbelts, here we go!

This one is made for the Pollycraft Monday challenge:

What'd I use?

Free Digi Image: Pollycraft

Markers: Copics

Embossing folder: Conversations

Patterned paper: Daisy Bucket

Ribbon, Baubles, Charm: from my stash

This one is for the sketch at The Pink Elephant:

I flipped the sketch to accommodate the image.

What'd I use?

Digi Image: Karen's Doodles

Markers: Copics

Eyelet Border punch

Gold Paper: PaperZone

Nesties: Petite Ovals & Petite Scallop Ovals

This one is for Cute Card Thursday - which is to use a FAIRY and for the sketch at Cupcake Craft Challenges:

What'd I Use?

Image: Lauren In Love by Paper Makeup Stamps

Markers: Bic and Sakura glitter

Patterned paper: DCWV

Embossing Folder: Emily's Bouquet

Ribbon, rhinestone brads: from my stash

This one is for Heather's sketch, for her Fresh Brewed Designs blog hop.  I'm late, I missed the deadline, but I still liked her sketch so much that I wanted to do it anyway.  And, I love this image!

What'd I Use?

Image: Fresh Brewed Designs

Markers: Copic & White gel pen

Patterned paper: Daisy Bucket

Felt Flower, brad, spacer, baubles: from my stash

I didn't notice until after this card was completely finished that the words on the patterned paper aren't exactly "Valentiney"..... maybe I should read my paper first?  :)

I hope you likey!  I had fun today!

Big Stamp Sale and some candy for you!

Blog Candy is CLOSED - Will Announce Winner Soon - Good Luck!  :o)

 Hi All!

I have stamps that need good homes!  They just want to be inked and make pretty things :)  Please check here to see the sets that are available to purchase.  Currently, I have 59 Stampin' Up! stamp sets up for grabs!

Also, I am offering up some blog candy!

All you have to do to enter in my candy - is.....

1. Check out my stamps for sale here

2. Advertise my sale on your blog to spread the word - please leave me a comment here with a link to your blog.

3. Anyone who purchases something will be entered TWICE into the drawing for each set purchased!

So, here's what I have for a prize for now - I'm sure I will be adding to it as time goes on!

There is an assortment of cardstock (prescored), buttons and baubles, a few mini Stampin' Up! stamps, a bottle of Magenta Stickles, an Autumn ink pad (with 5 autumn colors), a spool of American Crafts ribbon, a package of Ribbon Brads, a box of purple Prima flowers, a Fiskars clear stamp set and a My Sentiments Exactly clear stamp set.

I'll run this candy for a month (until Feb 20th) - or until the stamps sell out!

Thanks so much for checking this out and helping to spread the word!  :)

Happy Birthday, Sweet Emily

It's Emily's 5th Birthday today.. So smart, so independent and so very, very stubborn!  But also, so very sweet - here's a photo of her at 2 days old:

Wow.... I remember her 1st birthday like it was yesterday.....

She was so sweet and little!

Here's her 2nd Birthday:

Just makes me smile :)

Her 3rd Birthday:

Can't keep her fingers out of the cake!  My Mom made this cake - it was beautiful!

Her 4th Birthday:

 

She had a Hannah Montana party - with a {gasp} store-bought cake

And... today - I can't believe she's 5 years old!!

She's such a fashion Diva!

This year, I baked and decorated her cake myself - not bad for a first go... I guess all those years of sitting at the dining room table watching my Mom decorate cakes paid off!  I need more practice, of course, but it sure was fun to make this one!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Emily - you're growing up too fast!

We Love You!

SSC - Friendship Color Challenge

Hello again!

Another hectic week around here!  I'm glad we haven't been hit with the cold weather, though!  It's been strangely mild around here for January!  For those of you that are in the snow and shivering - stay warm and drive careful!

Our challenge at Stamptacular Sunday this week is to create a Friendship card - BUT - you may only use the colors Black, White AND Silver - you must use all 3 and only those 3!  Remember, as always to STAMP something on your project, we are STAMP-tacular, after all!

Our sponsor is:

Simon Says Stamp

You could win a $25 gift certificate and Free Shipping!

My project this week is a nugget box.  It's the first time I've made a nugget box, and even though I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.... I was really sad that I couldn't get 6 nuggets in it!  I guess my box is smaller than the ones I see all over the internet!  Oh well - it's still pretty darn cute!

 I topped my box with some DCWV glitter carstock, and added a cute little tag that I had in my stash.  I stamped and embossed all the sentiments with silver powder.  I popped the tag to give the ribbon room to slide.  I needed nuggets that were silver (not gold) and I found these Double Chocolate nuggets - one word:  YUM!  They have a layer of Special Dark topped with Classic Hershey's chocolate.  Mmmmm... Soooo glad that I had so many left over nuggets!!

Hope you like my box!  I can't wait to see what you create!  Have fun and Happy Stamping!

2 Years Old...

Where does the time go?  How do they grow so fast??

This is 2 years ago TODAY:

And this is from his birthday "party" yesterday:

He's grown so much!

He's such a good little boy!  He's always eager to please, loves to give cuddles and kisses, and has the best laugh ever!  He's ALL boy - running and jumping and climbing, he loves his trucks, trains and cars.

Here's a look back at the past 2 years - just a few (dozen) of my favorite Bradley pictures:
(click on collage to see larger)

We love you, Bradley!  We're so proud of you! 

Thomas has arrived!

Tomorrow is Bradley's 2nd birthday - but we'll be celebrating today, because Daddy will be at work tomorrow.

I made yummy cupcakes (recipe), iced them with blue frosting (used the new kit that I got for Christmas from Mom and Dad from here), added some colored dots (also from here)- all to match the Thomas table cloth, plates, napkins and trains.  (Even the cupcake cups that I used came from here!  Love that store!

He's pretty excited and ready to tear into those cupcakes!!

 

 

SSC - Gettin' Sketchy!

Hiya!

You want a sketch?  Can you handle a sketch?  Well, we have a sketch!  A Stamptacular Sketch!  Here it is:

 And your prize is from Pixie Cottage!
$10 Gift Certificate 

Here's my take on the sketch:

I was so excited to use the new Unity stamps that Hubby got me for Christmas!  I just LOVE these stamps!  I colored the balloon with my Copics, and added a touch of glitter to the flower centers.  Of course, I had to pop the image up over the pleats on the bottom for dimension!  It's simple, but I like it!  I especially like this sentiment, a good thought for the beginning of the year, don't you think?

Here's a close-up of the pleating... which is something new for me, thought I'd give it a try, but it's a little uneven - or maybe, I did that intentionally?  :)