EtsyInspired #60 ~ Vivikas

This week's EtsyInspired shop is Vivikas. Now, I know I say this A LOT but I love this shop! I mean, I really really love this shop. It's one of those shops where if I had tons of money, I would just buy the whole shop out and arrange everything in it in my studio. They call the items in their shop "toy art" and it truly is art. I would NOT let my kids play with these plushies, they are too cute! These are the kind that sit on a shelf and get treasured! Everything is made from felt, stuffed and then 100% hand stitched. You can see how much love goes into each one of these creations. Along with traditional plushies, they also offer ornaments, magnets, keychains, and kitty toys.

This week, Vivikas is offering up BOTH the owlies pictured here to a lucky winner. I wish I could win! ACK! So cute! All you have to do to win is choose any item in a the Vivikas shop to be inspired by. Make any creation your little heart desires and link it up to the EtsyInspired #60 post on the EtsyInspired blog. Please have your creation linked by Friday Nov 6 at noon Pacific time. A winner will be drawn that day and posted on the EtsyInspired blog. If you upload to SCS or PCP, please use keyword EIC60.

As if that weren't enough, we have a WONDERFUL sponsor this week! Unity Stamp Co! Unity makes the BEST red rubber foam mounted stamps. Their images are super cute. The customer service is amazing. And the prices are fantastic! This week, they are giving away the awesome Birdie Inspiration set to one lucky winner! This set is so cute! I wish I could win. I really should resign from the team so I could play along and win! :)

Here is my card for this week. I was inspired by the ADORABLE Mr Penguin. I used Unity's Jolly Little Winter set for my card. The background paper is Cosmo Cricket. On the white "ground" part of my card, I used Frosted Lace Stickles to give the appearance of snow.

Please check out the DT:

Ashley Newell (that's me!)

De Swanick

Emily Niehaus

Heather Schlatter

Jackie Bowman

Joy Stagg

Kerry Angeles

Kristen Dyer

Lee Murphy

Mandy Chesire (Oct Guest)

Shannon Bracken

Tiffany Johnson

M's Sketch, Brady Style!

Savitri Wilder has a new challenge on her blog. Her daughter Emma draws a sketch for everyone to use. But not just that, they encourage people to have their kids make cards based on the sketch. There are prizes not just for the big crafters but also for the little crafters. :) For details on this challenge CLICK HERE.

Ok, I haven't gotten a chance to make a card for this sketch yet but Brady wanted to make a card this morning. He's quite the little card maker now, obsessed like mommy. I asked him what he wanted to use for the card and he told me "monkeys" and so I helped him stamp a monkey and he said "two monkeys." I let him pick out of some paper I have set aside for him and he liked these animals. Then I asked him if he wanted a blue or green card base, he picked green. Then he went into my embellishments and picked out some bling, ALL on his own. He is SOOOOO much like me! Clearly, he's been watching what I do.

Anyhow, Happy Halloween everyone!

FWF: Breast Cancer Awareness Hop(e)

Today, I have a very special post for you. Along with my usual Friday Unity Friends With Flair post, I joined a Breast Cancer Awareness Hop(e) started by my friend Michelle Phillippi, go to her blog to start the hop. As I'm sure you all know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. As it draws to a close, what better way to commemorate it than a Hop(e) with inspiration to keep it on our mind for the next year.

I'm dedicating this post to my Godmother, a breast cancer survivor. She is the epitome of kindness and all that is good. She is so positive and really helped shape the person I am today. So, I'm super thankful. This post is just a tiny little way to show how much I care and to celebrate my Godmother.


My card uses the Limelight sketch and product challenge from this week. The product we are supposed to use is butterflies. The prize is really amazing this week so I had to play along super quick. :) The butterfly on my card is from Unity's Bevy of Butterflies. The sentiment is from Unity's June 09 KOTM, it says "'Everyday holds the possibility for a miracle." Love Unity sentiments! The designer paper is DCWV Luxury Stack.

Next on the hop is my amazing friend Ryann. Thanks for joining me today and I hope that if you came for the Unity Friends with Flair, that you'll check out the Breast Cancer Awareness Hop(e). There's no prize or anything like that. It's just a bunch of us card makers spreading awareness and celebrating all the survivors.

My TOT's Got...Bling and Color

The other day, I was in my studio working on some cards for next week's QKD new release. Brady came in and started coloring with his crayons and coloring books. Then he came over and "helped" me color one of my images. YIKES! He had a red crayon.

Luckily, he just got the corner of my image and I was able to cut that off. However, I realized (with the help of my friend Carole) that coloring stamped images is a whole lot more fun than coloring in a coloring book. So, I gave Brady an image that I messed up on and he colored away. The image was so cute afterward that I decided we should make a card. He LOVED picking the papers, glueing and picking embellishments. We had a GREAT time!

The next day, lo and behold, I found the THIS TOT'S GOT challenge over at the Greeting Farm blog. So, today, we stamped and made cards again. Let me tell you, the hardest part was getting him to take his picture with his card. He would NOT look at me! (I should also mention that he picked out his outfit himself too and I did NOT buy this shirt.)

If you have kids and haven't made cards with them, you really should. I thought Brady was much too young to enjoy this kind of thing but it was a great time and really amazing for bonding.

Wow! This is going to be a loooong post from me. Just wanted to give you a quick overview of how we did our projects. First, I let him pick out of a couple images. Then I let him pick out of some scrap paper. I cut everything down to size for him. He colored the images with crayon, I am NOT letting THAT kid have markers for as long as humanly possible. Then I gave him a glue stick and helped him put the glue on. He got to pick where all the pieces went. I showed him the embellishments and he got to choose which ones he wanted and put them on the cards.

This is for the bling challenge.

This is for the coloring challenge.

Softpencil Thursday BOWS!

It's Thursday and that means another Softpencil challenge! How cute is the image we got to work with this week? I absolutely love it! I was so happy when I saw it! :D It's called I Will Cook For You Today.

This week's challenge was BOWS! YAY! Finally, something I can actually do! :) This is a pretty simple card but I really like how it turned out. I just colored in the image, matted it and added bling to the corners. Then I adhered it to the card base that I put a piece of white card stock that I CBed with the Swiss Dots folder on. I added the bow and done! Easy but it has the effect I was looking for.

Did you know that you can play along with our challenges? They are posted on the Softpencil group on PCP. You should play along and win some awesome prizes!

Please check out the DT too! They are in my sidebar. <<<<<

Random.Babies Anyone?

I don't have a card to share with you today, but have no fear, I'll have one tomorrow. I am SUPER busy with two sick kids and in my down time, I'm working on lots of projects for new releases. :) I'm guest designing for a stamp company next month and it's gonna be super fun, I have the new releases and you'll love them!

Here's a picture from a couple weeks ago when we went to the pumpkin patch. The boys are wearing shirts that say "Big Brother" and "Little Brother." I put them in those as often as possible since I think it's ADORABLE! I can't believe how big my boys are getting.

Happy Wednesday everyone! Check back later this week, I have lots of stuff going on!

AiFactory Challenge 9

Another Tuesday and that means a challenge over at the AiFactory challenge blog. This is going to be my last AiFactory post. My four month term is over and I'm saying good-bye. I do hope all you AiFactory people will still visit me from time to time.

This week, De challenged us to use Card Positioning Systems sketch #138, that you can see by clicking HERE. We were give this SWEET Bee and Flower image by Softpencil to work with. And it was optional to use Shimmerz Paint, which I did.

This is a pretty straight forward card. I'm still feeling really sick and very tired from taking care of two sick children. I colored the image, added Shimmerz in Opal to the flower, and Diamond Stickles to the bee's wings. I matted the image and added it to a card with the DP which is actually a double sided sheet. I don't know what the paper is, I got it in a grab bag.

I hope you all have a great day! Check out the AiFactory DT creations, their links are in my sidebar. <<<<<

Royal MONDAY(?!?) Blog Hop

That's right! Queen Kat and the Sr Royal Court have made a change to the Royal blog hop. Instead of one HUGE hop on Wednesdays, we are going to have two smaller hops. One hop will be on Mondays and one hop will be on Wednesdays. I think it's genius! I get a little overwhelmed by a long hop especially with two very small children because I have a very limited amount of time in one chunk to do something. I do hope you'll join us for these fun new hops!

You should have started your hop on the QKD blog. If you didn't, hop on over there and see all the amazing inspiration everyone has for you. If you came over from Sara's blog (my Sara Bear), you are in the right place!

This week, we were given a picture for inspiration. I pulled the colors from the picture and made this card with the lovely Star. I colored her with markers and added some Cotton Candy Stickles to her tail. I used the Perfect Paisley embossing folder on the dark pink paper. The designer paper is PTI. I finished with some dew drops, if you squint, you can see them here.

Now, stop on by the Queen Kat store and pick yourself up so CUTE stamps! :) While you're at it, don't forget to play my WIS challenge HERE to WIN yourself a cute stamp!

Here's the hop list in case you get lost:

QKD blog

Alex's blog
Vicki's blog
Kelly's blog
Helene's blog
Penny's blog
Meredith's blog
Linda's blog
Anita's blog
Sara's blog
Ashley's blog
Queen Kat Designs Store

EtsyInspired #59 ~ The Little Red Door

Super short post from me. We are still REALLY sick. My poor Parker was in the ER on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. All the info will be on the EtsyInspired post, written by De this week.

This week's shop is The Little Red Door. They make adorable little ceramic houses and awesome pottery items. The shop is darling and whimsical and perfect for holiday shopping!

This week, there are TWO prizes. This cute house shown here from The Little Red Door. AND one from our sponsor, Your Next Stamp! :) I love this stamp company! They are a newer company and the images are OH SO cute! Also, the customer service is AMAZING! It's the owner, Karen's, birthday tomorrow! Happy Birthday Karen! She is offering up the awesome Just Swimming By stamp set as a prize this week.

To play, just pick an item from The Little Red Door shop and make anything you'd like based on it. Link your creation to the EtsyInspired 59 post on the EtsyInspired blog by next Friday Oct 30, noon Pacific time to be entered in a random drawing. Now go be EtsyInspired!

Here's my card for this week. I used super cute digi stamps from Your Next Stamp. My card is based on THIS cute house from the shop. It is also for the Your Next Stamp challenge on their challenge blog, to make a shaped card.

Please check out the DT:

Ashley Newell (that's me!)

De Swanick

Emily Niehaus

Heather Schlatter

Jackie Bowman

Joy Stagg

Kerry Angeles

Kristen Dyer

Lee Murphy

Mandy Chesire (Oct Guest)

Shannon Bracken (has computer issues)

Tiffany Johnson

For Sale!

I will ship any way you'd like, just contact me and we'll work it out. Pictures available upon request. Everything is USED unless specified. Also, feel free to make me an offer. I accept Paypal.

Supplies:

~Nestibilities Long Rectangle Full set (used ONCE, FREE SHIPPING!) $50 (pending)

~Stampin Up Chalks $8

~Stampin Up Stampin Around handle, 4 wheels (Baby Talk, Star, hot to dot, swirl), and black ink cartridge $10

Stampin Up:

$5 sets:

For a Friend

Birthday Whimsy

Delight in Life

So Many Sayings

Hugs and Wishes

Love It

Itty Bitty Backgrounds

Much Appreciated

So Many Scallops

$7 sets:

Loads of Love (sold)

All About Occasions

Very Punny

Greetings Galore

Polka Dots and Paisley

$10 sets:

Simply Said

Heartfelt Thanks (sold)

$15 sets:

Baby Talk

From the Kitchen Of... (sold)

$20 sets:

Punch Pals

Unity Stamps

Singles $4 each or 3 for $10: ALL NEW

Lucky Journal Box (new in package)

Floral Frenzy

Tulip Duo

Cheer Santa

Horn Honker (sold)

Horseshoe Story (sold)

MFT

Here's the Scoop $7 (sold)

GinaK

Comfort & Peace $9 (sold)

Paper Makeup Stamps (on EZ mount)

Buggy Sayings $5 (sold)

Swirlie Tree $3 (sold)

What Lies Behind Us Quote $1 (sold)

QKD Royal Wednesday Blog Hop

Wow! It's Wednesday again and time for another Queen Kat Designs Royal Blog hop! If you are just stumbling in today, please go back to the QKD Blog to start the hop. This week, the challenge is a color challenge. The colors are orange, purple, black and white.

I know that this is a semi common Halloween color theme so I wanted to do something a bit different. My card uses the gorgeous Anenome. I colored her and then accented her with some Spica pen (it's hard to see but Spica pens are my new loves.) Then I matted her on some pale purple paper, added a ribbon tab and adhered her to this dark purple card base that I covered with Colorbok DP. I just finished with some Darice bling.

Ok, now hop on over to Katarina's blog to see what lovely things she has in store for you. And don't forget to stop by the QKD shop to get yourself some cute stamps! The clearance section is 55% off!

And here's the blog list if you get lost:
QKD blog
Shannon's blog
Jules' blog
Penny's blog
Vicki's blog
Maria's blog
Kelly's blog
WIS blog
Bev (SG's) blog
Andrea's blog
Victoria's blog
Lara's blog
Anessa's blog
Helene's blog
Nina's blog
Alex's blog
Meredith's blog
Linda's blog
Nancy's blog
Anita's blog
Sara's blog
Stephanie's blog
Ashley's blog (you are here)
Katarina's blog
Queen Kat Designs Store

Soooo Sick

Parker and I are sick. AGAIN. I feel so much worse this time. I'm gonna be away from my crafting and blogging for a while. I'll miss you guys!

Whimsical Ink Sorority Challenge Issued by ME!

I'm super excited to tell you all that I'm now hosting the Saturday Challenge over at the Whimsical Ink Sorority blog. There is something going on everyday over at the blog and Saturday just happens to be the day of the challenge.

This week, I'm challenging everyone to make a card with something shiny, shimmery, or blingy. Super easy, huh? You don't have to use Queen Kat Designs Stamps to enter, you can use what you have on hand. If you have Queen Kat Designs stamps, use them and you'll get TWO entries into the drawing. This week, the prize is Nivia. It's the same stamp I used for my card. Link up your entries on the Whimsical Ink blog post HERE.

For my card, I colored Nivia with my Copics and Bic Markits. I added Spica pen to her rhinestones on her head and arms, her stars, and the seashells. The DP is Deja Views Fresh Prints, the purple ribbon is American Crafts, the sheer ribbon under is from Joann Fabrics, and I finished with some bling.

Also, today, I wanted to share the cards that got me my spot on the design team since I haven't posted them yet. We were emailed these watermarked images to create new cards with. The first one features the beautiful Lani. The card is pretty simple. I just colored the image and mat it. I covered a card base with some SU DP. Then I added a couple flowers with some dew drops.

The next card features the Magic Flamingos stamp. I had issues with this card, I won't lie to you. This is actually the second one I made, the other one ended up in the trash. Here, the DP is Sassafrass from the Sunshine and Lollipops pack. The ribbon is May Arts. And that's pretty much it, a simple card.

EtsyInspired #58 ~ Linkel Designs

This week's EtsyInspired shop is Linkel Designs. They are a mother/daughter design team named Linda and Kelly, Linkel, get it? So cute! Now, I know that I tell you every week that I love the shop. But this shop is probably one of my very favorites. Everything about it is perfection. I love the banner, the jewelry designs, the pictures, the way they write the descriptions. If I had lots of extra money, I would buy out the WHOLE shop, that's how much I love it! It's absolutely beautiful and deliciously girlie. They make handmade gemstone, vintage, and nature inspired jewelry. They have necklaces, earrings, rings, and bracelets. Enough from me, you MUST check out this shop!

This week, Linkel Designs is offering up this gorgeous pair of earrings as a prize. All you have to do to win is go to Linkel Designs and pick any of the amazing items to be inspired by. Make any creation that you'd like ie card, tag, cake, jewelry, song, etc... Post a link to your creation on the EtsyInspired #58 post on the EtsyInspired Blog and you'll be entered in a random drawing to win. If you upload to SCS or PCP, please use keyword EIC58. Now, go be EtsyInspired!

Here's my card for this week. I found my inspiration from these gorgeous Bye Bye Birdie Earrings. I Cuttlebug embossed some metallic silver paper. I pleated some sheer organdy ribbon and stapled it. The sentiment is SU. And the bird is a clear stamp from Tiff so I don't know what it is. Also, this is for Cath's ruffle challenge.

Please check out the DT:

Ashley Newell (that's me!)

De Swanick

Emily Niehaus

Heather Schlatter

Jackie Bowman

Joy Stagg

Kerry Angeles

Kristen Dyer

Lee Murphy

Mandy Chesire (Oct Guest)

Shannon Bracken

Tiffany Johnson

FWF: Cocktail Tin

Welcome to my Friends with Flair Unity Friday post! Hooray for Friday and Hooray for the return of a hip hop style celebration! Did you see the sale over at Unity? 30% off everything and lots of freebie!

This project was made for last week's Unity Bachelor challenge. Have you checked out the contest? It's super fun! You can enter this current week's competition HERE.

For my entry, I altered a little tin. I thought it would be fun to have a tin full of yummy cocktail recipes for when friends come over. I used the very appropriately named Cocktail Party set. I made this first recipe card using Bro's favorite cocktail recipe, the 007 cocktail. Sounds yummy! The black and white paper is Me and My Big Ideas. The textured paper is Paper Adventures.

Happy Friday!

EIC Joins Limelight for a Sketch Challenge!

***Second post for today, please scroll down for Softpencil***

Seriously, it's like when two of your favorite shows do a cross over. ;) The EtsyInspired Challenge team have joined with the awesome Limelight design team this week to help make samples for the Limelight Sketch and Product focus. The product this week is ribbon! I've attached the sketch below so that you can all play along. It's a fun one!

This is my card for this week. Eeek! It's so not me! It's more trendy than I am but what can you do? Sometimes inspiration just strikes. The designer paper here is Autumn Leaves given to me by my sweet friend Kristen. And here are the Limelight items I used for this card; the sentiment is from Unity's Tiny Trinty, the black and white polka dot ribbon is May Arts, the flowers are from my Prima Bitty Bag (which is the BEST Prima thing I've ever gotten, so many flowers so little money!) and the red rhinestones are Kaisercraft.

I hope you will all play along with the Limelight sketch and product challenge this week. Link your creations to Mandy's blog.

The Details:
**Use the sketch above and dress it up with your favorite RIBBON!!
**Key word for SCS upload is LLPC032
**Post a comment with a link to your card on Mandy's post HERE by
Sunday, October 18, at midnight (or before winner is drawn Monday a.m.).
**PRIZE ~ One lucky winner will receive a package of Pink Paislee
Tinsel Town Ribbons!

Limelight Papercrafts DT

JenMarie
Lisa
Ryann
Sarah
Amy
Lee
Mandy

EtsyInspired DT as Guest DT's for Limelight Papercrafts Challenge!

De
Emily
Heather
Jackie
Joy
Kerry
Kristen
Shannon
Tiffany

Softpencil Thursday Pop Up Card

It's Thursday and that means time for another Softpencil challenge! :) This week's challenge is to make a pop up card. Again, Kerry is trying to kill me. I'm sure you all noticed that I'm VERY much inside an A2 box. Actually, this card is an A2 but I'm not one for technique challenges. What can you do?

This week, our image is Snowy Day. Super cute! I cut it out but it actually has some cute snow for a background too. This is my first pop up card so I didn't know what the dimensions should be. Next time, I'll make the image larger so you can actually see it. ;) I left the house white to kind of show that it's been covered by snow. The ground is covered with Frosted Lace Stickles. And background is made using Liquid Applique. I know huh? I even pulled out my heat gun. It must be a blue moon!

Just in case you didn't know, you can play along with these challenges and win a prize! Just link your creation up to the Softpencil PCP Group and you could win some CUTE Softpencil stuff for your collection.

Queen Kat Royal Wednesday Blog Hop

It's my FIRST Royal Wednesday hop! :) If you are just stumbling onto my blog today, be sure to go back to the Queen Kat blog to start the hop. If you are here from Katarina's blog, you're in the right place.

This week, we were given a sketch by Maria. I tweaked it a little to fit the limited stamps that I was able to borrow. I used the Hooters Stamp set, teehee, what a fun name! I colored with my markers, matted it on a scalloped circle, and paper pierced the edges of the scallop. The DP is from the Target $1 spot. And I finished with dew drops. Alright, now hop on over to the Queen Kat shop and pick yourself up some CA-UTE stamps that are on sale.

Here's the blog hop list in case you get lost:

QKD blog

Shannon's blog
Jules' blog
Penny's blog
Vicki's blog
Maria's blog
Kelly's blog
WIS blog
Bev (SG's) blog
Andrea's blog
Victoria's blog
Lara's blog
Anessa's blog
Helene's blog
Nina's blog
Alex's blog
Meredith's blog
Linda's blog
Nancy's blog
Anita's blog
Sara's blog
Stephanie's blog
Ashley's blog
Queen Kat Designs Store

My Torendi Order Came!!

Ok, so it came a couple days ago but I finally got to ink up my Hellobot. Eeeeek! Isn't it cute? I love this little guy (I don't KNOW it's a guy but I'm guessing.) I think the versatility of this robot will be perfect for me since I have the kids and robots are well loved by boys, little and big actually.

My card is super simple. It's a smaller card, 3.75 inches by 4.25 inches. The designer paper is Sassafrass, Sunshine Lollipops. The sentiment is from Unity's Tiny Trinity.

Check out Torendi for cute stamps like this and lots more! Shipping was super quick and of course the customer service is the BEST. :)

AiFactory Challenge 7

Hello everyone and welcome to another week of AiFactory challenges. This week, De gave us a sketch from Clean and Simple Stamping seen HERE. The design team could use one of two sets for this challenge; Hand Drawn Wings or Sweet Pea Fairies. I used the fairies since I've used the wings on my blog before.

This card is really colorful in the background because I don't have fine enough pens to color the image at the size I wanted it to be. I know, I know, I could have made the image bigger but then it wouldn't the the proportion that I wanted. I did use Star Dust Stickles of the entire image panel to give it some zing. The card is DCWV and the DP is from the SU prints pack.

Please go to the AiFactory challenge blog for details and check out the DT!

Angie
Ashley
Carole
Elizabeth
Erin
Kerry
Lola
Mia
AiFactory Challenge Blog (LINK POSTS HERE)

Your Next Stamp First Challenge

Your Next Stamp is hosting a challenge over on their challenge blog. It's the very first one so be sure to enter and help them kick off with a bang! You know how I love to support challenge blogs. :) This first challenge is to use Pink and Yellow! I love pink and yellow so it was an easy one for me!

I used this adorable Fhiona for my card. I love Fhiona, she's so cute! This set it called Just Swimming By Mermaid. I colored her in and gave her some Cotton Candy Stickles for her bikini top. The DP is from Target's $1 spot. The "hi" is some alphabet stickers. Hope the Your Next Stamp girls like my card for their challenge!

Happy Monday everyone!

Alex's Blog Candy

My new friend Alex has yummy blog candy over on her blog. :) You could win this sweet little Halloween set just for spreading the word! So easy peasy! Post it on your blog, email your pals, post it on Facebook, Tweet about it, etc... You only have to do one of those things to be entered to win. There's only TWO people entered right now so chances of winning are good! :) Details HERE.

PS Check out the sale over at Queen Kat Designs!

27% off of all QKD stamps (excludes separates and customs)
15-20% off of all Past Kits (royal, get inked!, The findings and Take 3)
10% off of all paper packs
55% off of all clearance
10% off of all acrylic blocks
10% off of all grab bags
20% off of the scrapbooking kit section (does not include royal kits)

The Rest of My WCMD Cards

For some crazy reason, I thought that I should spread these out just in case I didn't have time to craft and I could show them all to you one at a time. Well, I guess I forgot that I have FOUR DT days on my blog. Whoops! Then I like to do FWF on Fridays and I think I'm gonna have something special starting next Sunday, so that leaves me with just Monday as a free day on my blog. Long story short, here's the WCMD challenge cards I made before they become super old news!

This was for the Flourishes challenge. Julie gave us a sketch.

This was for the MFT challenge. The challenge was to use black, pink and white.

This was for the Hanna Stamps challenge to use a sketch.

I have a lot of creating to do to get myself ready for this week! :) Have a happy Sunday!

Unity Grab Bag Winner

Random.org choose #31! That's Ky! YAY Ky! Please email Eryn@unitystampco.com and tell her you won the grab bag! Thanks to everyone who left me such lovely comments!

EtsyInspired #57 ~ Kharlie Bugs

This week's awesome EtsyInspired shop is Kharlie Bugs. Toni, the shop owner, makes different kinds of bags out of fun and trendy materials. She makes a couple different handbags and cute little cosmetic bags. One thing I really like about these bags is that you can put them in the washer and let them dry. Being a mom, I get ALL sorts of stuff on my bags so it's really nice to be able to just throw them in the washer at home and have them come out clean. Also, since the bags contain interfacing they can stand up on their own. But they are also lightweight so they don't add to all the weight you already have to carry around. Plus the fabric is cotton so it won't dig into your shoulder and hurt. There's also a super cute bag that comes with a matching bow on it that you can take off and wear as a scarf! How fun is that??

To play along with the challenge all you have to do is to go to the Kharlie Bugs shop and pick an item to be inspired by. Make any item you wish and post a link to it on the EtsyInspired 57 post on the EtsyInspired blog by Friday Oct 16, noon Pacific time. A random winner will be chosen on Friday and posted on the EtsyInspired blog. If you upload to SCS or PCP, please use keyword EIC57.

This week, we have a GREAT prize for you! It is sponsored by Limelight Papercrafts! Limelight is one of my FAVORITE places to shop! I love all the stuff in the store like Unity, Basic Grey, Stickles, Pink Cat Studio, and the list goes on and on. On top of that, it's $5 flat rate shipping so I save money over buying from a bunch of different places. The prize this week is a 6x6 Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg paper pad and a 6x6 Nutmeg Chipboard set. :)

ALSO, Toni is going through a hard time right now so let's cheer her up! If you make a purchase from the Kharlie Bugs shop, you get 5 entries into the drawing for this awesome Cosmo Cricket prize!

What are you waiting for? Go be EtsyInspired!

Here is my card for the week. I was inspired by the bag shown above. I am also using this card for a challenge over at Paper Makeup. The challenge is to CASE their team member Randee. THIS is the card I chose. I changed the stamp set, colors, left off the sentiment and some layers.

And don't forget to check out the DT!

Ashley Newell (that's me!)

De Swanick

Emily Niehaus

Heather Schlatter

Jackie Bowman

Joy Stagg

Kerry Angeles

Kristen Dyer

Lee Murphy

Mandy Chesire (Oct Guest)

Shannon Bracken

Tiffany Johnson

FWF: Autumn Blessings

Happy Friday everyone! Are you ready for the weekend? I am! We are going to the pumpkin patch tomorrow to pick out our pumpkins for Halloween. :)

In honor of the pumpkin patch and all things fall, this is the card I have to share with you today. I actually made it for WCMD, the challenge was to use the colors pumpkin, chocolate, and vanilla. YUM! I wanna eat those colors/flavors! This card uses the pumpkin from Sept 09 KOTM, Go Ahead Wish... The words are from the old Birds of a Feather set. I de-stressed the Cuttlebug background with some brown ink to give it a more earthy look. I have NO idea what the DP is, but I LOVE it so I'm guessing it's Basic Grey. :) Then I just finished with a couple brads.

But WAIT! There's more!!

Leave me a comment and I'll draw a winner for the AWESOME grab bag of 25 random Unity stamps. Woot! Woot! I will post the winner right here on my blog AND on the Unity FWF Sign Up thread Saturday morning! Good luck!

Softpencil Halloween Card

I love Thursday because I love Softpencil! :) It's time for another challenge and DT project! This week, Elizabeth gave us a color challenge, I've included the picture of the colors below. And it sure was a challenge for me since I usually only use a couple colors per card. But hey, that's why they call it a challenge. All the DT members are using the ADORABLE Michu Flying on a Broomstick. Did you know if you buy 3 Halloween digi stamps over at Softpencil, you get one for free?

Ok, my card is kind of more technique-y than usual this week. LOL! Though I'm not sure sponging is really a technique. I colored the image and then sponged around it in blue to give it a glow coming off the moon. Then I sponged some black around that to make a spooky Halloween sky. Then I added some Star Dust Stickles to look like stars. I finished with some ribbon. The sentiment is from Unity's Trick or Treat Peeps.

Happy Thursday everyone! Don't forget to check out the rest of the DT, they are in my sidebar. <<<<<<

EXCITING News and Another WCMD Card

Eeeeeek! I'm sooooo excited!! I found out late last week that I am a new Whimsical Ink Sorority sister! :) I'm super thrilled about this whole thing! I can't wait to start sharing my Queen Kat Designs stuff with you all! And pretty soon, you'll see me posting over at the Whimsical Ink Sorority blog, so pop that in your reader and you can see all the fun we'll be up to!

Ok, another card from WCMD. I made this card for the Stamping Bella challenge. The challenge was to make a card using the theme "girls just want to have fun" and add some 80's flair to it. Basic Grey's Euphoria reminds me of the 80's so I used that. And I used this RAK image I got. My girlfriends and I love to watch movies and have snacks when we get together. The little chipboard piece says "Joy is not in things, it is in us." I thought that was appropriate for this card since when I hang out with my friends, I'm full of joy! :)

Happy Wednesday everyone!

A WCMD Card and a TORENDI GIVEAWAY!!

****Second post for today, please scroll down if you are looking for AiFactory post****

This is my FAVORITE card I made for WCMD. I love Sugar Nellie's Gorjuss Girls! I really really wanted to win this one but I didn't. Oh well, one day I'll be able to afford these stamps. The challenge was a sketch and it has LOTS of layers. If I didn't want to win the Sugar Nellie stamps so bad, I would have skipped it. It's so not me!

I used this image of Gorjuss and Foxy that was RAKed to me. I love her! And all the paper comes from my Sassafrass mini pad. I just finished with some Primas, dew drops, and some bling.

My girls (they really are a couple of my besties) over at Torendi are doing a HUGE giveaway right now! You can win the ENTIRE October kit and it is FABULOUS! There's some yummy yummy Cosmo Cricket in there so you better hop on over to THIS post and enter!

AiFactory Challenge 6

It's Tuesday and that means another challenge from the AiFactory Challenge blog. This week, Erin has challenged us to make a masculine card. GULP! I'm more of a glittery and pink girl myself. :) So, this was a HUGE challenge!

I used the Cowboy set to make this digi card. I think it would be a fun one to send to a boy or young man. Seriously, how cute is this little guy? I love his chaps! They make me smile. Ok, to be honest with you, Dustin made the gradient background for me. Ok ok ok, to be REALLY honest with you, Dustin made the whole card while I rocked the baby and told him what to do. See, digi card making could be a fun activity for the WHOLE family. :)

Please check out the AiFactory Challenge blog for all the details on this challenge including the giveaway. And check out the rest of the design team. They are in my sidebar over there. <<<<<<<>

WINNER! Opps! I Forgot to Blog!

For some CRAZY reason, I thought I had blogged today already! Where is my head?? Brady drew names out of a bowl for the winner for my Limelight game and the winner is JANET! YAY Janet! Please email me (there's a link in my sidebar <<) your address and we'll get that set to you.

Here are the answers:

Mandy- D. Sang national anthem at a soccer game

Ashley- K. Fav number is 16

Lisa- A. Shares birthday with twin and child

Sarah- B. Half German

JenMarie- C. violin from 6-16

Lee- F. has 2 tattoos

Ryann- E. hates watermelon

Amy- J. Labor and Delivery nurse

Crystal- H. hubby threw up on her on their first date

Misti- I. traveled to 8 countries outside US

Becky- G. Auditioned for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

Thanks for playing everyone! I heart you all!

WCMD Version 2.0

The adorable Kelly Marie (lawnfawn) was joking about how we should make today WCMD v2.0. I think she's right! We shouldn't have World Card Making Day, we should have World Card Making WEEK! I love this holiday! :)

These cards are from the SCS WCMD challenges. Oh my goodness! I had so much fun! Jimmi did such a great job making this WCMD super special! It was fabulous! I'm just showing my Unity cards today.

My first card is for Jimmi's Unity challenge. The challenge was to make a card that prominently featured a quote because we know how much Angela loves quotes. I busted out Love Builds a Home for this. I wanted to do a quote that had some image to go with it so this stamp is perfect. I made a super simple card and I think it could also be used as a masculine card.

My second card is for Jenn Balcer, Beate Johns, and Lori Craig's challenge. The challenge was to make a thank you card based on Beate's sketch that also included a shade of brown. I used Unity's Gratitude = Joy (which you can win by scrolling down the my post below this) for the image and SU's Everyday Flexible Phrases for the sentiment that just says "thanks." I also used the darling Dawn McVey's (who I love) Raspberry Suite challenge for the colors on this card. I'm only kind of happy with it.

Ok, LOTS more creations to share this week but I'm gonna pace myself. Who knows when my mojo will run out? And I have like 50 more cards I want to make for all the amazing challenges going on. Happy Sunday everyone!

WCMD!! Limelight Game W/ PRIZE and a Limelight Sketch Card

Hello fellow card makers! It's our special day! YAY!! I love World Card Making Day! And I'm super excited because Mandy from Limelight Papercrafts asked me if I could host a game for her! YAY! :) You'll also want to check out all the Limelight DT and special guests blogs for their games and they all have awesome Limelight prizes for you! Just click on their names below and it will take you to their blog where you can continue the fun and games!

Here's my game. Kinda simple really, you just match the person with their little factoid. :) The prize for my game is Unity's Gratitude = Joy stamp set. The set is pictured here. This is a pretty and versatile set! Just leave a comment with your guesses by Sunday Oct 4 by midnight Pacific time. I will draw a random winner on Monday morning. :) Don't worry too much about getting it right, it's just for fun!

1. Mandy

2. Ashley (That's me!)

3. Lisa

4. Sarah

5. Jen Marie

6. Lee

7. Ryann

8. Amy

9. Crystal

10. Misti

11. Becky

A. I share my birthday with two family members, my twin and one of my kids.

B. I'm half German

C. I played the violin from age 6-16.

D. I sang the national anthem at a soccer game.

E. I hate watermelon.

F. I have two tattoos

G. I auditioned for Who Wants To Be a Millionaire with my hubby while in New York.

H. My husband threw up on my on our first date.

I. I've been to 8 countries outside the US

J. I am a Labor and Delivery Nurse

K. My favorite number is 16

I also made a card, since it's World Card Making Day after all. I used the Limelight Sketch and Product challenge for this week. The challenge was to use texture. I used the Swiss Dots embossing folder and the pleated ribbon for some texture. The stamp is from Unity's June 09 KOTM. The designer paper is Basic Grey Urban Prairie. And I finished the bees with some Diamond Stickles. There's still time to play and win the awesome prize for this too!

Also, don't forget to check out the sales going on at Limelight right now! All 12x12 paper is buy 3 get 1 free. Stampendous stamps are buy 3 get 1 free. Shimmerz and Shimmerz Blingz are buy 1 get 1 free (excluding Spritz.) And they just got Unity Store kits, new Basic Grey lines, and new Shimmerz colors! :) Fun stuff!

Happy World Card Making Day everyone! Have fun!