Meljen's Challenge #14

Red White and Blue!!!

God Bless the USA!  This weekend is the 4th of July - get those flags ready!  I know most people are getting their fireworks ready, but for us, it will be a quiet night at home - but our flag will be flying!

This weeks challenge at Meljen's Designs is to create a card using our patriotic colors!  There are also 5 new, amazing images just perfect to celebrate our freedom!

I wanted to showcase a few images, so I made a little 4x4 notecard set.  I will probably add to this and make a coordinating box to give as a gift.  It was sure fun to play with these images and colors!

And here's a closer look at each card individually

"Proud to be an American"

"Festive Firecrackers"

"Twin Star String"

Come along and celebrate with us at Meljen's!  We'd love to see your Red, White and Blue creations!

This card set also fits the challenge at 

Freshly Brewed Challenges: Fireworks

Wish List Wednesday!

It's been a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been looking for fun things to post!

So, here we go!

Melissa (owner/designer of Meljen's Designs) shared this with her Facebook friends a few weeks back - so funny!  Think I need these recipe cards!

Here's another fun T-Shirt that I found

I love the author Jane Green and she has a new book out

Long story, but I want a new coffee maker - I'm don't expensive tastes... this one will do!

And finally - there are a few things from the Tim Holtz line that I really want!

This bird case die is just cool!  I had to borrow it from a friend to make a card and now I want my own!

Another die for some scallopy borders

And my Mom just got this and says that I need it, too!

Meljen's Challenges

Did you see my post yesterday about all the wonderful challenges that Meljen's Designs is sponsoring this week?  Go ahead, scroll down, check it out - there's some fun stuff going on!

As promised, I have created a couple of cards to go with a couple of these challenges and I will work on more in a few days.

This one is for Cards for Men and is a super fun sketch

Image: Muddle Puddle Boy

And this one is for the awesome sketch at Sketch and Stash Challenge

My neglected stash on this one is the chipboard letters.  I got a box of these for Christmas, and I just always keep forgetting to use them!  They were just perfect for this challenge!

Image: Giraffe's Necktie (freebie)

If you haven't had a chance to play along with these awesome blogs, you should really get crafting!  Each blog has 4 Meljen's images (of your choice) up for grabs to the random winner!

Card Makin' Mamas meets Kenny K

Hi All!

I was surfing around the internet yesterday and found these new, fun, totally rockin' images from Kenny K.  Apparently lots of people know about him, but well.. not me!  So, I grabbed the freebie and a couple other images that I really liked so that I could play with them and see what I thought.   Well, they're pretty darn cool!

This one is called Miss Thang, and she's just all attitude and awesome!  I love her flippy hair and flirty little smirk!  Normally, I would have done her as a brunette, because I'm a brunette, but something today was telling me blonde!  I think she makes a perfect blonde!

The colors for my card come from the color inspiration challenge at Card Makin' Mamas.  Super fun colors to work with and they matched Miss Thangs outfit wonderfully.  The card is transparent with just the 3 bands of color.  I haven't done up the inside yet, as I don't know what the occasion is or who to send it to, but I like the way it turned out.  It's also a larger card than I normally work with, I made this one a 5x7 and I like that too!  I guess I just like my card!  :o)

Image: Kenny K

Are YOU playing??

Did you know that Meljen's Designs sponsors lots of challenge blogs?

We Do!!

And, if YOU play along, you can win FREE Meljen's Images!!

Below is a list of current and upcoming Challenge blogs that Meljen's Designs is sponsoring. Play along if you would like to possibly win some freebie digis of your choice from the store! Click on the links below to see the details of their challenges and how to enter to win!!!!!!

June 20 - Paper Sundaes 

June 21 - Cards for Men

June 21 - Sketch and Stash Challenge

June 30 - Creative Inspirations

July1 - Moving Along with the Times

I'm going to try to get some cards done for some of these this week, as well!  Hope to see you there and Good Luck!

Stamptacular Sunday #65

It's Sunday!  Time for another super fun challenge at Stamptacular Sunday!!

Our challenge this week is Stars & Stripes!

(you can use any colors, just as long as there are stars and stripes!)

We are sponsored this week by:

Susana's Custom Art & Card Designs

and the prize is...

One SHEET of Victoria Case SCACD Spring Collection Stamps
Yay!!

Here's my Starry, Stripey card!  I got just a itsy, bitsy, tiny bit patriotic with this one!

Image: Karen's Doodles

Love Love Luigi!

I just got this new stamp in the mail and couldn't wait to ink him up!  I've been wishing for him for a loooong time, and finally gave in and bought him!

I was inspired by another Easel card that I had seen made with the Labels 4 (I believe) Nesties, and thought that I would try it with my favorite Nesties, Labels 10!

I made this one for my Mom - because she's the best :)

A couple challenge for this one:

High Hopes - Anything Goes

Sew Many Challenges - Anything Goes

Shirleys 2 Girls Twisted Thursday - Something New (new stamp, Luigi)

Image: Luigi - High Hopes

Meljen's Challenge #13

This week's challenge at Meljen's Designs Thursday challenge blog is to create a bookmark and/or tag!  So much fun!

Here's the card that I made, using the new release image "Teacup Poodle" (isn't she just the sweetest??)  Don't forget, you can find Teacup Poodle, the other 4 new release images and many more Meljen's images in the Whimsy Stamps shop!

It's so hard to tell in the photo, but there really is coloring on the image!  I wanted a white poodle, and of course white cream... but I also wanted a white-ish teacup!  Wow, how to do all that white??

So, I basically shaded everything and kept the coloring super light.  Looks good to me, but looks much better in person!  The lace that I added is really nice, as well, at least, I think so!

Have you had a chance to play in this weeks challenge?  We'd love to see your creations, so don't forget to enter!

Croppin' with the girls

This afternoon, I wandered into the scrapbook store just to see what was happening and ran into a whole bunch of my scrappin' friends in the crop room. So I sat down for a few minutes to chat and decided to run home to grab some stuff so that I could stay and play for a few hours.  It was a lot of fun!  Turns out it was a friend's birthday, so we had lunch and cake and the whole shebang!  The birthday girl happened to have some of the new Tim Holz Sizzix dies and I just fell in love with them!!  So, I borrowed them while I was there so that I would have some to play with until I can get my own!  :o)

Here's the one card I managed to make in 3 hours!  Funny how I can make 6 cards on my own, but add friends and I can only get one done!!  LOL!

Pretty in Pink Princess

This card is an example of what I do when I have no idea what to do and just want to play around!  It was a fun card to make!  Hubby says "that's a whole lotta pink, but I like it, it's cute".  He's so supportive!

I'll enter it in some challenges, and see how it does!

Paper Sundaes - Pretty as a Princess

Freshly Brewed - Anything Goes

Oh, Alice - Daisy

Totally Gorjuss - Sugar and Spice

Images: Meljen's Designs

I Love Digi #10

Time for another fun challenge at I Love Digi!

This week we challenge you to EMBOSS IT!

either dry emboss or heat emboss, we're not picky!

Our sponsor is Bee Crafty and they're giving 3 digi images to our random winner!

Here's my embossed card, which I made for a high school friend to give to her parents for their anniversary.

I didn't get a photo of the inside, but it has the same embossed swirl panel, with the white Nestie panel and a small stamp that says "Happy Anniversary"

Hope she likes it - and hope you do, too!

Image: Meljen's Designs

A simple card & some Non-Paper projects!

I've been enjoying a "week off" while the kids are playing at Day Camp!  It's been lots of fun for all of us! And so relaxing for Mommy!!

I have agreed to do a couple of craft demonstrations for Day Camp later in the summer, so I have been working on projects for that.  I have come up with 2 that I think we'll be doing.  The ages range from 2 1/2 (my little guy) to about 13.. so I had to keep things simple but interesting enough for all of them... I hope I managed that, and I hope the kids like the projects!

First, I have a card - because I just have to use paper somewhere!!

It uses circle punches and I will probably use a crimping tool for the cone instead of my scor-pal, because that might be easier for little hands.  I also added a dab of glitter (for the girls, mostly!), some doodling and of course, a stamp on the inside!

This next project uses fun foam!  I tried it with paper, but decided that the foam would be more durable for rough and tumble kids!  I got the idea from my Stamptacular Design Team buddy, Sarah and her Cute as a Bug project :)  Thanks, Sarah!  I thought the kids would enjoy punching the holes out in the wings and playing with the brads... I will cut out the scallop circles with my Nesties, so that all the kids have to do is glue the pieces together.  My Mom had the idea to put the stick on the back, so the ladybug can "fly"!  Good idea, Mom!

And, this last project was just something that I did today.  I saw the idea in a crafts for kids book at a friends house and thought it was super cute!  Michaels had flip flops on sale for $1 and I got some ribbon from the $1 bin, grabbed small bunch of flowers for $1 and put together these super cute flip flops for Emily!  She LOVES them!!  They MIGHT last her through the summer... as you can see in the last photo, they're almost too small already!  I might have to go grab some more flip flops and make more for when she outgrows these!  For $3, why not??

So, that's what I did today!  :o)

Lil' Lolita Meets Mojo Monday

Happy Tuesday!!

I have just a quick post today to share this card with you!  I made a whole bunch more stuff today, but I have to wait to show you those!!  You'll have to check out I Love Digi and Meljen's Thursday Challenge on Thursday and Stamptacular Sunday to see what I worked on today!

Here's a card that I made to play along with the Lil' Lolita challenge and the Mojo Monday sketch this week.  The Lil' Lolita challenge is to use a photo of a beautiful wedding cake as inspiration.  So, I picked up on the soft pink of the roses and the brown from the ribbon.

Image: "Ivy" Lil' Lolita Stamps

SSC #64 - Cute As A Bug!

Time for another awesome challenge at Stamptacular Sunday!!

This week we challenge you to create a card or project that has a BUG on it!  AND - if you create it for A BABY, you will be entered TWICE to win a fabulous prize from Simon Says Stamp!

PRIZE: $25 Gift Certificate plus FREE SHIPPING

That's worth playing along, isn't it?  :o)

Here's the card that I made for this week's challenge

Image: Sorry, don't know who makes it - it is a foam stamp from my daughter's stamp pile!

Karen's Doodles Kids Challenge #8

Hi everyone!

I'm going to have to keep this quick today, as I am packing things up, getting ready to head over the mountains (and through the woods), to Mom & Dad's house we go!  :o)

This week's challenge at Karen's Doodles Kids is to make a Father's Day card!

Emily and I had a nice quiet afternoon (though quickly) while baby brother napped to each make a card for the challenge.  You can view Emily's card on her blog - remember to leave her some love, she loves reading her comments!!

Here's the card that I made - this one is for my hubby - wish we had trees this lush and green on the desert side of the state!  I hope he likes it!

Image: Karen's Doodles

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there!

New Baby Girl!

Good Morning, everyone!

Just wanted to quickly share a card that I made for my bestest friend from High School.  She called me and asked if I could make a card for a family member that's due to have a baby girl next month and, of course, I said Sure!

So, I thought an Easel card was definitely in order, so that it could be displayed proudly in baby's new room - and this is what I came up with.  My friend loves it and I hope the new parents will as well!

Now, to make an anniversary card for her parents and another baby card, for a boy this time!  So glad my friends trust me with their important cards!

{I smudged out Baby's name}

Image: Karen's Doodles

Sentiment: typed by me

Nothing Like A Good Book...

I love to read, for those "die-hard" blog fans of mine, you've seen my ever-updating list of books I've read this year towards the bottom of my sidebar... it's there, somewhere!! LOL!  I listen to a lot of audiobooks, but I also love to sit down with a good book and enjoy the smell of the pages and the quiet reading time.  I don't get to do that very much anymore... I can never seem to find any quiet time!  I did just pick up the Columbine book.  I'm eager to read it, I've gotten through the first chapter, but just haven't found any time to pick it up again in the past week!  I love all kinds of books, from the true stuff, like Columbine, to fiction, to sci-fi and fantasy.  I just recently read Level 26 - WOW!  Amazing book - for you serial killer, psycho-creep, vicious crazy fans out there - this one comes highly recommended!  I also just read an oldie by Jodi Piccoult, Plain Truth.  I love Jodi's books, as they always give an insight into another world that I have yet to visit.  This one takes you deep into the Amish country and I learned a lot about their beliefs and way of life, it was fascinating!  Her newest one, House Rules, was also very, very good! 

So - moving on... this isn't really a post about my reading habits, just thought I'd explain why I like this stamp so much!  And, if you like it too, you can get if from ME!  It's an {ippity} stamp set, and you can purchase it from my website here!  It's only $6 and would be a great addition to any book readers stamp collection!  I see "This Book Belongs To:" labels coming up soon!

Ok, ok, onto the card!

This one follows the sketch at Mojo Monday this week :)

Image & Sentiment: {ippity} "Books a Flutter"

Freshly Brewed Challenge

Hopefully Just In Time!!

This one is for the recipe challenge at Freshly Brewed:

2 patterned papers

1 ribbon

2 flowers

1 extra item

Think I got all that covered!!

Oh, and a Fresh Brewed image - just for good measure!

Image: Fresh Brewed

Simple Father's Day Card

This word art image is a freebie over at Paper Makeup Stamps AND they're having a contest!  If you make a card using this word art, you have a chance to win $25 worth of Paper Makeup Digis!!  Yay!!  I know I have an ever growing shopping card of digis, so that $25 could go a long way for me!!  :)

So, I made this simple card to spotlight the word art!

Also entering challenges:
If the Shoe Fits... - Color Challenge (Navy, Dark Green, Tan - all of which are in my patterned paper)
Totally Gorjuss - For the Boys
Drunken Stampers - Father's Day

Stamptacular - A Tribute to All Fathers!

Time for a Tribute to All Father's challenge at Stamptacular Sunday!

Our challenge is to create a card with a male image on it - AND if you create it FOR your Dad, you'll get 2 entries in the drawing to win a wonderful prize from:

We have 2 sponsors this week!  Here are the prizes you could win!

MELJEN’S DESIGNS

Winner’s Choice of FOUR Digi Images

AND

WINK, WINK, INK!

Winner’s Choice of THREE Digi Images

I've used an image generously provided Wink, Wink, Ink to create this simple Father's Day card:

Now it's your turn!  Come play along and share your Father's Day cards with us at Stamptacular!

I Love Digi #9 - Anythign BUT a card!

This set is special!

Father's Day is coming and I wanted to make a something special for my Dad.

Now, to tell you a little about my Dad... 

He's not a sports fan, yea he likes a little baseball here and there and he can get excited about a football game, but he's not one of those "Leave me alone the game is on" type of guys.

He's not a hunter, or a fisher.

He's not exactly a couch potato - he does like to kick back and watch his favorite tv shows, but not to the potato level... 

I've always had a hard time finding the traditional Father's Day gifts, because he just doesn't fit "the mold".  So, this year... I'm looking at ALL the Father's Day stamps and images out there and nothing fits!  NOTHING!  I just didn't find anything that made me think, ok, That's my Dad!

So, I emailed my good friend, Heather, owner and designer of Fresh Brewed Designs and asked if she could help.  I told her I needed an image FOR my Dad.  I told her a few things about him.  He loves his family, he loves his dogs, he loves coffee and he loves photography.  He's always been a picture taker, but these past few years, he's really gotten into it.  He's gone on retreats and seminars and "photo walks".  He's in meet-up groups and joins them for tours and outings at least once a month.  He really loves it!  He says he's not a photographer, he's "Just a guy with a camera" but he takes some amazing photos!

So, after telling Heather all of that, I sent her some photos.  Here's what I sent her:

And here are the images that she created for me and the card/candy set that I made using it... 

My Dad has a huge sweet tooth!  He loves to have candies by his chair so that he can nibble away :)
So, I made him a little candy jar... this is a little candy jar - meaning, he won't be able to eat too many candies in one sitting!!  LOL!
This is also my DT project for this weeks I Love Digi challenge - Anything BUT a card!

Thank You, Heather!  They are amazing and I love them!  I hope Dad loves them, too!

These are custom images from Fresh Brewed Designs and will not be available in the shop, who would want an image of my Dad other than me, anyway??  If you are interested in a custom image, just visit Heather at the Fresh Brewed Blog and send her a message.

UR Tweet

I made this card using this weeks Mojo Monday sketch.  I really love how it turned out!

I flipped the sketch a bit, because I wanted the scallops on the top to look like clouds, somewhat :)

 I even used some red felt as my matting pieces, you can't tell in the photo, but it adds awesome texture!  And, my Nesties cut through it with no problem!

Also entering this one at
Caardvarks: dry embossing

Hope you like!

Image: Tiddly Inks

Ooooh, Lovely hÄnglar!

There's a couple new challenge blogs in blogger town!

The first one is called Lovely hÄnglar Only and it's for anyone who loves hÄnglar!

Ok, I love hÄnglar!!  I am not one of the fortunate few to actually own any, but I do have wonderful stampin' buddies who are kind enough to share with me!  So, I've gotten some images from Leonie and had a chance to play today.  Thanks, Leonie!!

I created this card for the very first Lovely hÄnglar Only challenge which is Pink & Green.

The second new blog I found is the Waltzing Mouse Sketch challenge.  Waltzing Mouse has some awesome stamps, if you haven't checked them out, you should!  I just ordered a set that is specially made to fit in the Heart & Star Nesties and I cannot wait to get them!!  BUT!  Waltzing Mouse Sketch challenge allows you to use any image!  So, needing a sketch to go with my pink and green hÄnglar, I chose Waltzing Mouse!

I hope you like!

Image: hÄnglar & stÄnglar

Dazzle me with Cupcakes!!

I made this card for the inspiration post at the Meljen's Blog.  I used this weeks awesome freebie and went just a little crazy with the cupcakes!

And just a few more challenges to enter it into:

Cupcake Craft Challenges: Dazzle (do I get extra points for every cupcake I used?  LOL!)

Drunken Stampers: Birthday

Image: Meljen's Designs - Monday Freebie - Triple Treat Cupcakes

Father's Day Card

Here's a quick card that I made yesterday.  I plan on giving it to hubby as a card from Bradley this year for Father's Day.  Maybe next year, Bradley will be able to make his own cards!

I used a technique that I just watched a video on at Stamp TV about "Reverse Nestabilities"  I wanted to try it out and I like it, although you can't tell that my Nesties are reversed in the photo!

I'm entering this one into the challenges at:

Cards For Men: Father's Day

Tuesday Throwdown: Nautical or Water Theme

Corrosive Challenge: Die Cuts

My Time To Craft: Xtra Special

Image: Whimsy Doodles

Whiff of Joy Blog Candy

Ok, no one can enter this candy, because I want to win!  LOL!

No, really, you should go check it out, it's pretty awesome!

Katharina is offering up 2 sets of "Blooming Spring" illustrated by Elisabeth Bell!  Each set has 16 stamps, and since she has 2, there will be 2 winners!  Yay!  Thanks Katarina!

I'd like to wish you good luck, but remember, I'm winning, so I'll wish you good luck on the 2nd set!

Now, I'm off to explore more of this amazing blog, as I've never seen it before and it looks amazing!!

Do YOU Believe in Fairies?

I love the sentiment inside this card!

This card was a lot of fun to make, too! 

I just love to color in these fairies and I love any excuse to use my border punches!

I made this card for:

Paper Makeup Stamps: Sketch
Rosie-D's Challenge: Fairytales

Image & Sentiment: Paper Makeup Stamps