Stamptacular Sunday #84

Happy Sunday Stampers!

Wow- do we have a FUN challenge for you this week!  :O)

This week's challenge is called…

DESIGN TEAM INSPIRATION…!

For this weeks challenge you will choose ONE of the projects created this week by ONE of the Stamptacular Design Team members and create a card or project using it as your inspiration! Please be sure to mention which DT member inspired you in your post and why! …Oh, and don’t forget to STAMP! Afterall, we don’t call this STAMPtacular Sunday for nothing!

For my project, I've done a card with some new (new-to-me) folds and a new ribbon tie idea that I found while surfing the blogosphere.

I've also used a couple of Meljen's Designs images because they are sponsoring Stamptacular Sunday this week!  You've got a chance to win 4 free digital images if you play along!

Or, you could win an adorable Magnolia stamp from our very own teammate, Marianne!

So, come on, play along with us!  I'd love to see if you chose me for your inspiration!!

Crafty Creations - Starring Meljen's Designs

Meljen's Designs is sponsoring the awesome Crafty Creations challenge blog this week and a few of the Meljen's Design Team were invited to join in as Guest Designers!  

What a THRILL to be able to join these talented girls and showcase Melissa's beautiful images!

In addition to myself, my good buddy Jess is a guest this week and my new friend, Melissa is part of the oh-so-talented Crafty Creations Design Team!  Go check them out!

The challenge theme is Fables and Fairy Tales - which really couldn't be a be a better theme for Meljen's!  There are SO many super cute images that could be used for this challenge!

I've chosen Woodland Fairy and I've dressed her up in Cinderella style, since she is my little Princess' favorite!  Also thinking of my sweet Emily, I've used a whole sheet of glittery paper!  Yes, I gave this card to her and she loves it!  "It's beeeeeeeeautiful, Mommy!"

I hope you can play along at Crafty Creations this week - and if you use a Meljen's Designs image, we'd love to see it!!  I'll be checking in to see your entries!  If you don't have any Meljen's Designs yet - PLAY ALONG!!  You could win FOUR free images!

But... You can't WIN it if you're not IN it!!  So come on!

Happy Crafting!

Karen's Doodles #35 - Giving Thanks

Hello Monday!

There's a new challenge at Karen's Doodles today!

Our challenge for you this week is to Give Thanks!  This could be a Thanksgiving card, for those of us that celebrate Thanksgiving, or you could create a card showing something that you are thankful for.

I've created a card to send to a friend, as I am always so thankful for all the wonderful friends that I have in my life!  (I'm also thankful for my i-Rock, which is just awesome!  LOL!)  And, I'm thankful for Karen's Doodles as well, it's so easy to create with such fun images!

Image: Ballerina Doggie

Also, we have an announcement regarding the Kids challenge blog.  With school back in swing and sports and other activities taking up so much of our little ones time, we have decided to put the Kids challenge blog on hiatus for the school year.  We welcome any kid creations to be posted along with adult creations on our challenge blog at any time!  The Kids Design Team will be back to inspire everyone in a few months.

Stamptacular Sunday #83

Sunday Sunday Sunday!!!  It's another Stamptacular Sunday!!!

This week, we'd like to play a little game of Hide and Seek with you!

All you have to do, is create a card or project that has a hidden sentiment!  Tags, flaps, however you wanna hide it!

I've created this super cute Tealight Candle Card (such a fun card!!) with a hidden tag sentiment

Image: Meljen's Designs

We have 2 sponsors for you this week!

ROBYN’S FETISH

PRIZE: Winner’s choice of FIVE Digital Products!

AND

Little Ol' ME!  :o)  I'm offering up an {ippity} stamp set, just in time for the Holidays "Kissmas & Mistletoe" and an assortment of Holiday ribbon.

Come play along with us!!  I'd love to send my prize to YOU!

Fresh Brewed Designs DT Call!

Hi All!!  I have a quick announcement that I wanted to make tonight - my good, sweet friend Heather - the artistic talent that runs Fresh Brewed Designs is having a FULL Design Team call!  She's looking for 10+ creative people to use her wonderful images for challenges, blog hops and other super fun events!  The term is 6 months, with the option of reapplying if you want to stay on.  As a Fresh Brewed member, you would be creating samples for the weekly challenges, blog hops and new releases!  And, of course, as a special perk Fresh Brewed members receive free images to play with to help them spread the word, as well as a discount to use on every image in the shop!

Fresh Brewed Designs is currently working on expanding their presence by creating a new website, a Facebook fan page, a Papercraft Planet group and much more!  This is an excellent time to join in and be part of the team!

If you're interested in appying for the team - visit the Fresh Brewed blog or Heather's Coffee Break to learn more!  All you need to do is email 2 cards (if you have a Fresh Brewed image, she would love to see it, but it's not required) along with a list of Design Teams you are currently on and a link to your blog.  It is required that you have a blog to be on the team.

I, actually, have not quite decided if I am going to apply yet... but I need to hurry and make up my mind as the call is only open until November 10th!  The new team will be announced on November 13th!

Here are a few cards that I have created using Fresh Brewed Designs - you may have seen them before, but this will remind you of how cute they are!  Good Luck to everyone who applies!!  I can't wait to see the new team in action!

Lil Lolita Birthday Bash!

Sigh... this is my last post as Guest Designer at Lil' Lolita Boutique.. so sad!

But, it's a Birthday Bash and we're here to have FUN!!

What's a Birthday without a Birthday Card?  So this weeks challenge is to create a Birthday Card!  And, there's a BRAND NEW Lolita that we are all showcasing today as well!

Meet Lil Birthday Lolita Kellita!

Isn't she pretty??  She's got some pretty rockin' boots, too... but I wanted more of a close up of her, so I printed her bigger and cropped her a bit.  I just love her hair and her big, sweet eyes!

I hope you join us at Lil Lolita this week!!  It's been such a fun month playing along with the girls on the team - only wish it didn't have to end so soon!!  :o)

Hugs and Happy Crafting!

Stamptacular Sunday #82

Hello stampers!!

We have a new challenge for you at Stamptacular Sunday!!  Yay!!

For this week's challenge you will create a card or project that uses only these colors! 

Orange, Lime Green, White/Cream and Plum Purple. 

Oh, and as an added bonus in celebration of Halloween...feel free to add the color BLACK too! 

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO CREATE A HALLOWEEN CARD OR PROJECT TO ENTER THIS CHALLENGE! …Oh, and don’t forget to STAMP! Afterall, we don’t call this STAMPtacular Sunday for nothing!

I've chosen to create a Halloween card, as my craft room is an absolute disaster and all I could find was Halloween paper!  LOL!!

Image: Meljen's Designs "Cute Sitter Witch"

Go ahead and visit the rest of the amazing Stamptacular Design Team to see more about what they've created for you today!

MARIANNE - LISA - LEONIE - KARITA - GEMMA - DANIELLE - CHERI - CAROLYN - BETTY - ASHLEY - ANNETTE - ADRIA

I hope you get a chance to play along too!  We've got a wonderful prize from

Magnolia-licious!

See you soon!

Meljen's Challenge #30

Happy Day!!

It's time for another challenge at Meljen's!  And this week is an EASY one for you!!

ANYTHING GOES!!

That's right - anything you want, anything at all for your chance to win 3 free Meljen's images from the shop at Whimsy Stamps!

I've made up a cute little card for my cute little man for Halloween using one of the super-duper cute new release images!  This is "Little Frankie" and if he isn't just "Too Cute to Spook"!!

Come play along with us this week - there's no reason not to!

See you there!  :o)

This card is also being entered in the challenges at

Friday Sketchers - sketch

Fab n' Funky - Things that go "bump" in the night

A Spoon Full of Sugar - Boo!

Stamp Something - Halloween Somethings

Stampin' For the Weekend - Halloween/Fall

Lil Lolita Sketch!

I hope you're all having a wonderful day!

I'm so sorry that this post is so late - I read my calendar wrong and was about to post the wrong card for the Lil' Lolita challenge today!  Eeek!  I'm glad I figured it out, though and that I had time to make the correct card today - so at least I'm on the correct DAY, right?  LOL!!

There's an awesome sketch over at Lil' Lolita this week!  The design team have all made beautiful cards using the sketch and each one is so different!  That's what I love about sketches!  They start with the same base, but end up being so individual and original!

I went with a gate-fold card today, and I love the ribbon tie that I used recently on another card, so I did that again!  This ribbon is GORGEOUS and SO much fun to use!  I love it!  It's Shabby Wrinkled Ribbon from Prairie Bird Boutique on Etsy.  This is my first time trying it, so I only got one bundle... I see more purchases in my future!

Ok, here's Willow the Ghost in all her beauty!  She's getting a little Ghoulish tonight!

I hope you can play along this week, too!!

Happy Crafting!

Paper Sundaes Design Team Call

Hi there!!

Paper Sundaes is having a DT call and since I love their blog and their challenges and the DT looks like an awesome group of gals, I thought I would go ahead and submit an entry!

Here are 3 of MY favorite creations - including a brand new one that I've never posted here before!

This cutie spider is a card that I made for the Meljen's Designs Blog Hop earlier this month.  Such a fun hop and I really had a blast making this card!

This is a card that I made for my niece-in-law for her 18th birthday.  I really love the colors.

And here is a card that I made last weekend at my beach retreat using Halloween Witch from The Greeting Farm

I have so many cards that I really love, it is hard to choose just 3!!  

Good Luck to everyone who enters the DT Call - I'm excited to see who the new members will be!

Karen's Doodles Challenge

Good Morning!!

There's a fun new challenge going on over at Karen's Doodles and Karen's Doodle Kids today!

We're stressing about distressing!  Well, we're not really stressing... it's all fun!!  But it sounded good, right??  Maybe?

Ok, moving on!

Here's my distressed card (which was mildly stressing, as I was late and had zero mojo to work with......)

Such a cute image from Karen's Doodles - Apple Harvest, the apples are so much fun to color and I think I'm getting pretty good at shading blue jeans... at least I think so!  :o)  

For the distressing, I did some tearing and some crumpling and took some frustrations out on my paper and viola!  A distressed little card!

I hope you can join us this week!  The girls on the design team are all so good at distressing papers and their creations are all just stunning, so be sure to check them out!  Play along and I'll come check your creations out, too!

And, don't forget - Karen's Doodles Kids is new today, too!  Also distressing for the kids, so they can craft with you this week!  Have fun!

Have a wonderful Monday!

Stamptacular Sunday #81

Good Morning, everyone!!

It's time for another fun challenge at Stamptacular!

This week - NO CARDS ALLOWED!!  That's right... make something else!  Anything else... just as long as something is stamped and it's not a card!

I went to a friends house yesterday and made this super cute little Halloween treat containter, I just love it and I am looking forward to making lots more!

Isn't that sweet??

Our wonderful sponsors this week are:

Meljen's Designs - offering up a prize of 4 digital images of our winners choice

and

our very own DT Sistah - Leonie!  Offering up a grab bag of goodies!  Yay!!

I hope you play along!!  I can't wait to see what you create this week!

Lil' Lolita & Lil' Haunts Challenge

It's time for another Quirky lil' challenge over at Lil' Lolita!!

I'm so enjoying my time as a guest designer with this amazing team!!

These images are just so fun to play with and I just LOVE the new Lil' Haunts line!

Here's a card that I made for the SKULLS challenge this week - I found this awesome ribbon one day, would you believe in the $1 section of Target?  Pretty cool, huh?  And, I've had these little skull diecuts forever!  I'm thrilled to finally have an excuse to use them!

I've got Lillith all decked out in purple today, of course with some added sparkle - she is SO fun to color!

I hope you get a chance to play along with us this week!!  We'd love to see your skulls!

This card also fits the Freshly Brewed Challenge of Purple and Black, Card Makin Mama's Digital challenge and Cupcake Craft Challenge of Scary Creatures - Lillith may not be scary, but the skulls can be!

American Hero Quilts (LONG POST)

This weekend, I learned of an organization started here in Washington State that is making a big difference here, across the country and overseas.

This is an organization that is dear to my heart, and learning more about them, what they do and the lives that they touch brings tears to my eyes.

This organization is called American Hero Quilts.  One woman, Sue Nebeker, had a dream that each of our wounded soldiers that returned home from war through Madigan Army Medical Center (where both of my parents work) here in Western Washington and other military hospitals around the country would receive a "Hug" of appreciation.  These aren't just any hugs... these are amazingly beautiful quilts, pieced together with red, white and blue patriotic fabrics.  These hugs are painstakingly sewn together with heart by many loving hands.

I got a chance to meet Ione, a wonderfully sweet woman who was working at a small quilt-a-thon at the conference center where we were staying this weekend.  There were sewing machines of all types set up on tables, beautiful fabrics strewn about as far as you could see and stunning quilts on display.  There were ladies happily sewing away on their machines, and you could just feel the love flooding the room.

I was a bit behind the rest of my group when we went to see what was going on that day, and when I walked through the door, I heard "Is this Mom?"  So I looked up and saw my sweet little girl with Ione, who was holding a board with gorgeous patriotic quilt pieces.  Ione told me that Emily had built this quilt square and it was going to be sewn together and included in a quilt that would be delivered to a wounded soldier on his way home.  She asked if she could take a photo of Emily with her quilt square to be shared on their blog.  I said, of course!  And, I even pulled out my own camera and started snapping photos.  Emily was so proud of herself and all the ladies there treated her like royalty!  I then had a chance to chat with Ione and listen to some of the stories of soldiers who had received the quilts.

(Ione and Emily)

It was truly an amazing experience and I am glad that we took the time to walk around and see the quilts, meet the ladies and learn about this organization.

There are more quilt-a-thons on the calendar already and I would love to participate in one, so time and location willing, I'll be there one day.

I just wanted to share this experience with you, spread the word about American Hero Quilts and let you enjoy some photos that I took.

Thank you for reading this long post and I hope that you always remember our heroes, not only on holidays and remembrance days, but every day.  Without our heroes, we wouldn't be where we are today, we wouldn't have what we have and we wouldn't be who we are.  We are American, we are Strong, We are FREE - and Freedom IS NOT Free.  If we can do one small thing to say thank you, we must do it.

Please take a moment to visit the American Hero Quilts website HERE and their blog HERE.  Help if you can, spread the word and Thank a Hero.

Karen's Doodles Challenge!

We're cooking up some fun at Karen's Doodles this week with a fantastic RECIPE!

All you have to do to play along is use:

  At least 3 Embellishments
  2 Patterned Papers
  and 1 Karen's Doodles Image

I've chosen to use the Oh-So-Cute Bigsby - Apple of my Eye and I created this gate fold card that ties closed with a ribbon (embellishment #1), I added a little red eyelet for the ribbon to go through (embellishment #2) and I've used some pretty red rhinestone corners for some sparkle (embellishment #3).

I can't wait to see what you create with our recipe!

Play along, there are prizes to be won!