Giveaway news!

Two wonderful bloggers, Georgiana at Carson's Creations and Carri at Doubleclick- AKA Busybee are celebrating reaching 1,000 followers!  Each blog will be picking a winner for some blog candy- and each winner will get candy from both blogs.  That means two winners will each receive TWO packages of fun goodies!

If you're not a follower of these blogs, you should head on over and check them out.  And if you are already a follower, make sure to enter!

Easter card

Since Easter is this Sunday, this is probably my last Easter card for the year.  When I was little, the "Easter bunny" brought me games and toys more than candy, and I had about 3 straight years when my basket had a cute stuffed lamb in it, so lambs are very Easter themed to me.

I started with a card cut from the card feature on Birthday Bash.  I embossed the green layer using a polka dots 5x7 Cuttlebug folder, put some cute polkadotted ribbon around it, and then stuck it to the card.  The lamb I cut from Create a Critter and the basket and eggs are from Doodlecharms. After I had them stuck down I realized that it needed something more, so I hand-cut the banner and traced it with my versamark pen, then stamped on the sentiment from Jaded Blossom's "Simple Sayings."  I finished it off with a few gems. 

This card is being entered into the following challenges: 
Pile It On Challenges- Dots                                                                                          

Exploring Cricut- Happy Easter                                                                                  

Fantabulous Cricut- Easter Greetings                                                                     

Bitten by the Bug 2- Card Feature                                                                            

Cut it up Challenges- Lion or lamb                                                                            

Die Cuttin Divas- Embossing and Ribbon               

Thinking of you

When I saw the inspiration photo for this week's Paper Smooches SPARKS Picture Perfect Challenge, I immediately thought of their freebie flowers.  I printed the freebies in five different sizes, colored them with colored pencils to match the soft colors from the photo, and then cut them out and arranged them on the card.   The photo felt really clean and simple to me, with just a white background, so that's how I made my card too. 

I added the sentiment with my Paper Smooches Alphadots stamps.

 

Testing

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Easter Wishes

Today I've got a totally non-traditional colors Easter card (as opposed to yesterday's card which was oozing pastels).  I used the color palate from this week's Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge, which was called "fiesta."  I may have continued yesterday's Stickles craze to today.

The card is tan, although it's a little hard to see in the picture.  There's a layer of orange cardstock with a piece of patterned paper from Echo Park (I think the Country Drive 6x6- it's the backside of the paper I used on yesterday's card.)  I also used a piece of yellow ribbon and a yellow button that reminded me of wicker that were both from my stash.

The main image on this card is one of Paper Smooches' freebies.  I colored the basket with an orange sharpie and the eggs are also colored with sharpies.  Then I used Stickles to match the colors of each egg- Firefly, Orange Peel, and Yellow.  I took about 9,000 pictures trying to show that there is also Easter grass in the basket, but you couldn't ever see it in the pictures.  Here you can just barely see a shimmer right next to the green egg, if you know to look for it.

The sentiment is stamped from Paper Smooches' "Alphadots" stamp set.  I started with the R and worked my way backwards.

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Paper Smooches SPARKS- Cool Shades Fiesta
Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog- Easter/Spring

Hippity Hoppity- Easter's on its way!

Have I got an Easter-filled card for you today!  I had a ton of challenges this week that all were related to Spring/Easter kinds of themes, and I had such a fun time getting them all to work with one card.  Also, I may have gone a little crazy with Stickles.  As in I had to go downstairs and eat lunch while I was waiting for every.single.thing that I made for the card to dry.  

Ok, so I started with a kraft card, with some pink cardstock and a strip of paper from an Echo Park 6x6 pad (I think it was from Country Drive).  Then, I cut the little Easter bunny from Create a Critter 2 at 3.5 inches and also cut his basket at 3.5 inches.  I cut the eggs from the same page at .75 inches.  The bunny got some cotton candy Stickles, the basket got lime green Stickles, and the eggs got both, as well as a few dots of lavender Stickles on the polka dot egg.  

Next, I cut the kite from the Create a Critter (it is on the giraffe page).  I can't remember the final cut size, I just kept upping it by one notch until the stamp I wanted to use fit.  :)  The stamp is from Pink by Design's "Artisan Tags 2," which is such a great and versatile set.  The kite also got a little lime green Stickles- it couldn't be the only non-glittered thing on the page, right?  To finish off the kite, I used three pieces of twine and tied itty-bitty bows for its string. 

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Pink by Design Stamps- Easter
Fantabulous Cricut- Spring is in the air (kites/balloons)
Bitten by the Bug 2- Eggceptional Easter Eggs
Die Cuttin Divas- Use a bunny
All That Stickles- Lime Green
Craftin Desert Divas- Easter Eggstravaganza
My Paper Crafting- Spring
Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog- Easter/Spring

Thanks a latte!

Hello!  It's challenge day again at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges and this week's theme is one everyone loves:

Anything Goes!

That's right, this is the week to really let your creative juices flow, because there are no rules!  As you may know, I've been working on building up certain parts of my card stash that get used the most.  So for me, this was a great week to make a card that had been "brewing" (get it?  haha) in my head ever since I got Love you a Latte for Christmas.  My very favorite image off of that cartridge is this coffee cup, hands down.  So I started there.  I originally cut it too small, and then upped the size a little and pieced it together.  It turned out to be good that I had the smaller cut on the top of my garbage, because the bigger steam from my actual cut didn't fit on the card, but the bigger steam from the smaller size subbed in just perfectly, 

Next, I found this awesome paper from Echo Park's "This and That" 6x6 stack and paired it with a cream card base.  I distressed the edges of the cream card with some Vintage Photo distress ink.   The ribbon is some that I had in my stash.  Then I hand cut this banner from the same cardstock as I used for the heart, inked the edges with the same ink, and stamped my sentiment using Jessie's ABCs by Lawn Fawn.

All my love

Hi friends! It's been a crazy week, but I had some time today to create and it felt great!  I made this card for the Simon Says Stamp Challenge, based on Sketch 2.  It's a 4x4 square card.  All four of the patterned papers are from the My Mind's Eye "Love Me" 6x6 paper pad.  I arranged them based on the sketch, with the knowledge that they would all go together- that's why I love 6x6 paper pads!  They're basically pre-determined to match. 

I stamped the jar from Pink by Design's "Fresh Goodies" stamp set and colored the lid in with a colored pencil.  Then I filled it up with hearts from the same set.  The label and sentiment are stamped on vellum, which was...interesting...because I don't have any Staz-On ink.  I just used Memento Tuxedo Black, gave it time to dry as much as it could, then turned it over onto a piece of scratch paper and rubbed it like crazy with the back of my scissors to get any excess ink off.  The jar is on foam dots for a bit of dimension.

Good Luck

 One last (?) St. Patrick's Day card today.  I made it pretty quickly, because I have a pretty busy week between work stuff and life stuff this week.  Plus, I'm finding more and more that I just like the look of more simple cards better.  I had a four leaf clover cutout left from Create a Critter 2 (from the day last week when I used the shamrock cut- both images cut together) so I just stamped on a face from Pink by Design's "Orange you Awesome" stamp set, inked a little bit around the edges, and then put it on a piece of paper from my 6x6 SNAP pad.

The ribbon is some old ribbon I had in my stash, and then I used Pink by Design's "Scripted Year" to stamp the sentiment.  I finished it off with three dots of Gold stickles in the bottom corner.

Although this is totally a St. Patrick's Day card, I think it could pull off being used as a "Good Luck" card throughout the year, since four leaf clovers don't stop being good luck when March ends.

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Exploring Cricut- Luck of the Irish
Fantabulous Cricut- Luck of the Irish
Red Carpet Studios- Leprechaun (Two Shades of Green)
Die Cuttin Divas- Green and Gold
More than Favors- Something Green

PS: Back in February I won the Pink by Design Valentine's day blog hop prize and the Orange you Awesome set was one of the stamps included in that prize.  Look at all the stamps they sent me!

Jelly beans

I love the Jaded Blossom monthly challenges.  Possibly because they inspire me to make a treat or something other than a card, and possibly because I just love using their stamps.  :)  At any rate, this month their challenge is to do something Easter themed. 

I don't have any special treat bags, so I improvised and used a zipper lunch bag filled with jelly beans.  I cut the topper from the 8x8 Basics stack by Paper Studio and then punched along the border with a border stamp.  Next, I cut the basket from Stretch your Imagination at 3 inches.  Did you know there are no jelly bean Cricut cuts?  At least, I couldn't find any...so time to improvise again!  I used George and cut the ovals at 1/4 inch a bazillion times, then glued them all onto the basket so it would be filled with jelly beans!

The scalloped circle is from Elegant Edges- I cut it at 3 inches using the main image and the shadow.  I lightly inked around the edges of the shadow, and then stamped the Jelly Bean Prayer from Jaded Blossom's Simply Blessings stamp set.  I don't know if you can read it from the picture, but it goes through each color of jelly bean and what they stand for...just make sure you get a bag of classic jelly beans and not one of the fancy ones! 

Smiling Bees

You probably think I've been a busy bee this week- so many days of posting in a row!  Get it, busy bee?  Hahaha!  Anyway, the Trend Watch challenge this week at Paper Smooches Sparks was "Smiles."  I thought of the smiling bee free digi that they have, and that's where the idea for this card came from.

First I used grey cardstock (actually, that was my last step, but I like to start out with the nitty gritty details) and a piece of green cardstock embossed with the Honeycomb cuttlebug folder.  Then I cut the beehive from Create a Critter, and cut the heart off of the top because I didn't want it for this card.

I printed the freebies at two different sizes- the bigger bee was printed at wallet size, and the smaller ones were printed at contact sheet size.  I colored them all in with sharpies, and cut off the antennas that they already had.  Next, I colored some white twine with black sharpies, cut it to the right size, and then taped it to the backs of their heads.  I adhered them with foam squares to the green paper using the thinnest foam squares I had for the small bees and the thickest ones I had for the big bee.  To finish them off, I used some recollections black rhinestones as the bumps at the end of their antennas.  You can't really tell from the picture, but the rhinestones are only sticking to the twine- not to the card- so the antennas kind of move around.  That's why their antennas look kind of like they're going in all sorts of crazy directions in the picture. :)

You're my pot of gold!

It's my second St. Patrick's day card!    This one has a grey card base and patterned paper from the Classics stack by KI Memories.  Then I put across some washi tape that reminded me of gold coins- from Target of course!

The worm was cut from Create a Critter 2 and his bowtie and hat are glittered up with green Stickles.  The pot of gold is from Simply Charmed-cut without the face- and the gold is glittered with goldenrod Stickles.

The shamrock was also cut from Create a Critter 2 (I used the shadow feature to cut it) and the sentiment I stamped on it is from Cardz TV's St. Patrick's Day stamp set.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
Simply Create Too- St. Patrick’s Day (or mostly green)                                   

All That Stickles- Green                                                                                                

Bitten by the Bug 2- So lucky Shamrock                                                                 

Celebrate the Occasion- Luck of the Irish                                                             

Craftin Desert Divas- Anything Goes                                                                      

Paper Playtime- Anything Goes
My Paper Crafting- Irish Eyes are Smiling
Simon Says Stamp Challenge- Simon Says...Bit O' Green

Bunny

There's a "bunny" challenge going on over at CASology this week, and I literally got this stamp set in the mail earlier this week from Pink by Design- purchased with a gift card I had won as a prize- and I thought it was perfect! It's technically a Halloween set, but a cute little bunny is just so spring!

I stamped the bunny three times- once on white cardstock, once on grey cardstock, and once on computer paper.  On the white cardstock I colored the feet and carrot with some colored pencils.  I paper pieced on the grey bunny costume.  On the computer paper, I colored the face in with a sharpie and then paper pieced that in too.  I wanted the face to be on thinner paper so it would look just slightly like the costume was on over top of it. 

The square mat was just cut with my paper trimmer and then rounded with a corner rounder.   Both pieces of paper are from the Echo Park 6x6 "Country Drive" pad. Then I put them onto a cardstock base that I had punched with a border punch.  The cardstock is slightly thinner in width than a regular A2, because I had a pit of trouble with my first round of border punching and had to slice it off and try again.  ;)

Birthday Bird

I felt like making a festive birthday card this week, so I pulled together a few challenges and came up with this birthday bird.  I used a sketch from Die Cuttin Divas for the layout of the card.  I mostly used regular cardstock, with the exception of the Happy Birthday paper and the starburst blue paper, which were from a 6x12 stack I had in my cupboard, which I'm pretty sure was from Paper Studio.

I cut the bird from Birthday Bash and he came out a little bigger than I had planned, but I moved the balloon down a little and made it work.  I think since the bird alone was the main image, it sized it based only on the bird and the balloon was just extra inches.  Live and learn.  :)  The two black rhinestones are from Recollections.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
Cardz TV- Make a Wish (Child’s Birthday Card)
Pile it on Challenges- Happy Birthday
DL.Art- Birds
Fantabulous Cricut- Bye, Bye, Birdie
Die Cuttin Divas- Try a sketch

Pawprints

I've got a card today using Pink by Design stamps and a cut from Four Legged Friends.  I used some pink cardstock and stamped paw prints from Pink by Design's "Furry Friends" all over it as if it was background paper.  Then I put a piece of brown and pink ribbon on it and adhered the whole thing to kraft cardstock.  I cut the heart from Four Legged Friends- doesn't that paw print match PERFECTLY with the stamped one?  The actual cut has 4 layers, but I decided that the third layer was unnecessary and I liked it better using only three layers.

Inside the card, I stamped a sentiment from the same stamp set.  Then I used the negative image of the pawprint from the heart and put it in the cornere for a little decoration.

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
CAS-ual Fridays- Wallpaper

Pink By Design- Anything Goes

I have a new Blinkie!

When I first made my blog, Picnik was still open for photo editing and I loved a cute little doggy picture that they had- you know how I love dogs!- and put it into my header and button because it was free and I assumed that meant it was public domain.  It was pointed out to me today that the dog was close in appearance to a licensed character and after some thought I decided that even though it was probably different enough to not infringe on any copyrights, I didn't feel like it was fair for me to ask people to not copy my work without permission when I had something that appeared to be copying someone else's work right on my header and button.

I changed my header to not have any character in it, and my button to just include a pawprint that I got from a royalty free website.  They may go through more revisions because I don't love them like I did before and will probably keep looking for something cuter, but for now at least I can be at peace.  I'm really grateful that I found out, so I could make it right.  :)

All that is to say...if you have my old button on your website, it'd be great if you could just grab the new html and switch it out.  I also figured out how to get rid of those two weird characters that used to be underneath the button, so that was a bonus. 

Loads of fun

Happy Monday!  It's time for another challenge at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges!  This week, our challenge is:

For the Boys

This was a fun one! My projects tend toward the girly side of things, so this made me look through my cartridges for cuts that I might not necessarily gravitate toward initially, which can lead to so much inspiration.  I decided that this was a perfect challenge for the B is for Boy cartridge, and then picked out this dump truck.  I had gotten this "Diamond Plate" embossing folder for Christmas, which was a perfect fit.  I used gray cardstock to make it look like the silver plates I usually see this pattern on when I go to the hardware store with my husband.  To finish it off, I put some ribbon along the bottom that reminded me of a street.  :)

Since I don't really have any sentiment stamps that would go with this card, I made my own using Lawn Fawn's "Harold's ABCs."

Are you feeling inspired?  Head over to Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges and see the masculine inspiration that the rest of the Design Team has for you, and then make a project of your own for the boys.  :)

A great giveaway!

Just a note to let you know about a great giveaway going on right now.  Mee Chelle at Cards by Mee Chelle is hosting a $25 gift card giveaway- and she's giving the lucky winner a choice of three different craft stores to pick from!  She's celebrating giving her blog a facelift with a whole new design.  You should stop by and check her blog out!

Thanks!

I'm continuing to work on building up my "Thank You" card stash right now.  This card is on a hot pink base (why do so many cardstock packs come with so much hot pink?), with a layer of black cardstock and then another layer of white cardstock, which I embossed with the Chevrons folder by Sizzix.  Then I put a strip of We R Memory Keepers washi tape along the bottom (I like that it's leaves, and it goes with the flower on the stamp!)

The stamp that I used is by Hero Arts.  I stamped it a few times to make sure I had the dimensions right, then I got out my Accent Essentials cartridge to cut the circles.  In case you have this stamp set, the dimensions I used were:

Black scallop: Shift/Shadow of Accent6 @ 2 inches
Pink circle: Shift/Shadow of Accent1 @1.75 inches
White circle: Shift of Accent1 @1.75

I left the white circle on the Cricut mat and stamped the stamp directly on, so that it would stay in place.  Then I adhered the three layers together and put them on with a foam square!

This card is being entered into the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Challenge- Anything Goes                     

CASology- Circle