The Beeez Kneez Customer Hop

Morning everyone! Welcome to the Caffinated Cropper customer hop for The Beeez Kneez kit! Everyone's posts should be up by 10am Eastern. You should be arriving from my friend Carole's blog. If not, please go back to Amy's blog (Caffinated Cropper) and start the whole hop. There's a prize to be won! Amy is giving away a mini kit to one lucky person who completes the hop and leaves comments.

Ok, onto my project. I really wanted to make something with these fabulous glassine envelopes that came in the kit. I made little goodie bags for my family. :) The only things I added that weren't in the kit are the alphabet stickers. I would have used the ones that came in the kit but they were a bit big for this project. Do you see how I curved the sentiment to go around the bee? That's one huge thing about clear stamps that you can't do with rubber. You can position them a little differently. Cool, huh?

You're next stop on the hop is VICKI!

Retro Greeting Farm

I told you all earlier this week that my team (Stampin Divas) for TFG Royal Battle got together and made cards last Friday. We choose the best card of the group to submit in the contest, which was Diane's card. But I thought I would share my card with you.

This Anya is from the Dress Me set. I still haven't gotten the wardrobe for Anya and Ian but that's ok since it comes with one outfit for each of them. I decided to make my Anya look like a hippie/flower child. Not too sure I succeeded but it's still a pretty card. The patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket. All the card stock is from Close to My Heart (my first time using this stuff, it's awesome.) The polka dot ribbon is American Crafts, the other ribbon is generic. And the red panel Anya is on is CBed with a square embossing folder.

Don't forget today is the LAST day to vote! I'd really appreciate any help to move on to the next round of the contest. Vote for my team by leaving a comment on THIS CARD. Thanks!

Getting Sketchy With Ippity!

Happy Monday, peeps! Is there such a thing? ;) We are doing pretty good. It was a BUSY weekend. And today, my mom's group is having our Easter party. You KNOW there will be pictures later on.

Ok, here's my card using sketch #31 from Get Sketchy. All my elements, other than the stamps are from my Caffinated Cropper The Beeez Kneez kit. I still have a TON of the kit left and I've made a bunch of cards! The branch stamp is from Ippity's Devoted and the birds are from What Matters Most. These are both religious sets, but as you can see, you can use them for all occasions. I also made this card with Moxie Fab World's paper piecing challenge in mind. The birdhouse is fussy cut from Jillibean Soup paper. The birds are stamped on all different papers and cut out.

Alright love bugs, you have a happy Monday! :) Easter's on it's way. You know what that means?? I can shop again!! :D

PS PLEASE leave a comment on my team's card to vote for us HERE! We'd love to move on in the competition!

Please Vote for My Team!!

Some of my friends and I entered into The Greeting Farm's Royal Battle Contest. Our team is called Stampin Divas and we need YOUR vote to make it to the next round! Pretty please!! You can vote HERE by leaving a comment for our card. You do have to register for the site to vote, but it's super simple. I'd REALLY appreciate it!

This week's challenge was to use the colors from a jar of sugar scrub that was posted on TGF blog AND make a retro-esque card with that. My team decided that everyone should make a card and we would vote on who's card would be entered into the contest. We got together at Diane's house and had a fun afternoon of crafting.

We choose Diane's card pictured above to represent us this week. She did an AMAZING job! I love her Cheeky Rockabilly stamp! And look at that hardware! This card is more fabby in person!

Please vote for us! It would mean so much to be able to move on in the contest!

EtsyInspired #81 ~ Ponder and Stitch

As you all may have noticed, I'm on a "half-break" from EtsyInspired. LOL! It means that I'm not writing the main posts, dealing with shops, handling sponsorship, picking winners, and contacting people right now. EIC is A LOT of work. Luckily for me, I have TWO amazing coordinators that help me a WHOLE lot on this challenge, De and Kerry. I'll write an in-depth post on me later, nothing to worry about though.

ON WITH THE SHOW! This week's EtsyInspired shop is Ponder and Stitch. They have amazing cuffs, bags, and headbands. There's a whole bunch of fun patterns to choose from and the colors are fantastic! I really love the triple strand design that is signature for them! You can also have your items personalized for special gift giving. How cool is that?

Here's what you need to do for your chance to win!
- Visit Ponder and Stitch and find an item that inspires you
- Make your creation and post a link to it on the EtsyInspired #81 post on the EtsyInspired blog by next Friday, April 2nd by noon Pacific time
-Everyone will be entered into a random drawing to win.

-If you upload to SCS or PCP, please use keyword EIC81.

-And PLEASE remember to give credit to the shop that you found your inspiration from.

This week we also have a wonderful sponsor, Digi Stamp Characters by Heather Ellis. Her images are absolutely precious and a perfect compliment to our shop this week! Heather will be giving the lucky challenge winner 3 digital images. She sent over some super cute images for the DT to work with. :) You may recognize her Pure Innocence girls, they are so sweet!

Here is my card for the week. It is inspired by the cuff shown above. The DT got to work with adorable images from Digi Stamp Characters! :) My first Pure Innocence. How cute, huh? This was made using the current sketch from Card Positioning Systems. I flipped the sketch. The paper is Cosmo Cricket's Material Girl. The sentiment is Unity. The chipboard was painted with Creative Inspirations Paints, in Sunshine.

Check out the DT:

Ashley (you are here)

De
Emily

Heather
Jackie
Joy
Kerry

Laurel (March Guest)

Lisa (March Guest)

Shannon

FWF and The Beeez Kneez Hop

I'm feeling slightly better today which I am thankful for. Dustin's sister came to help us out a bit. It's nice to have family close by! But enough about me.

Today, I get to combine two of my FAVORITE things on the face of the planet; Unity Stamps and Caffinated Cropper's The Beeez Kneez kit! Quite the perfect combo if I do say so myself.

This first card is inspired by my friend Andrea and THIS CARD she made for the All Things Unity challenge. I ADORE how she used all the little pieces of paper so I wanted to try my hand at it. All these amazing papers are from The Beeez Kneez kit. I'm gonna let you in on a secret. I cannot pair papers or patterns to save my life! The only way I know how to do it is to use papers within the same line. BUT with kits, I just use everything in the same kit and it all matches. The super cute stamps here are from Unity's Spring Unity kit. Everything else is from The Beeez Kneez kit.

My second card is made bases on Laura's Sketch 48 over at 2 Sketches 4 You. I am REALLY digging the super clean sketches I'm seeing on the challenges these days. Again, all my materials, other than the stamps and ink, are from The Beeez Kneez kit. The stamps are from Ippity's Regal Greetings. I used black ink for the sentiment and Versamark for the flourish at the bottom.

Ok, don't forget to check out the Unity blog for all our Friends With Flair! And check out The Caffinated Cropper blog hop for a chance to win a prize as well!
Amy (where you can buy the kit)
Amber
Christi
Sherry

Have a GREAT weekend everyone! Hugs!

Blogging With the Stomach Flu

I've been battling the stomach flu ALL day. I'm hoping the worst of it is over. I was doing ok in the morning with the kids since Parker went back to sleep before Brady woke up. But as soon as it was both of them, I had to call for reinforcements. Luckily, my mom was able to telecommute for the latter part of the day.

This is a card I made YESTERDAY before the dreaded flu came about. Remember last Friday's card? When I went to paint the doily, I placed in on a piece of white card stock first to see if I'd be able to use it as a stencil. Guess what? I was! How cool is that? Now, some of the places are kind of smudged but I went with a shabby chic feel so I was ok with it. The doily is from the Beeez Kneez Kit from Caffinated Cropper. The paint is Creative Inspirations Paint in Turquoise. I promise to start using other colors soon! The lace is recycled from a gift I received and the stamp is Ippity Just Wanted to Say (available in my sidebar.)
I took another picture in hopes that you could see the shimmer from the paint. Can you see it? I'm not sure. Well, can you see ANYTHING other than my messy desk? ;) The Creative Inspirations Paints are AMAZING!! Look at how vibrant the colors are! I love that! They are opaque unlike some other paints I've used before. They are super easy to use too, just a regular old paintbrush (I used one of Brady's.)

Alright everyone, happy Wednesday night! Hugs!

EBTKS Card

A few of my online card making friends have a challenge called Everything But The Kitchen Sink. It's super fun! Once a month, they have a challenge using a household item. And then the other half of the month, they offer a sketch challenge based on something within the home.

This is a card I made for the current challenge. It's a sketch based on my pal Kelley's craft room. It's a super clean sketch and I took it pretty literally. She has a sewing machine and buttons in her picture and I have them on my card. The sticker and DP are from Cosmo Cricket's Material Girl. The buttons are Papertrey Ink. Now, I have a bit of an issue with these buttons. Half the ones I got in my sampler say "Nike Golf" on them. Ummm, yeah, not so much the vintage buttons I was hoping for. So, what I did here was layer buttons on top of each other to cover the words. Also, the top buttons are turned backwards so that the logo doesn't show.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Bling Flower

I made this card a long time ago and I kind of forgot about it. At CHA, I met a super local company (like 20 mins away) and I'm making a few samples for them. The company is called Deco Bugs. They make adorable stickers! They have sentiments, alphabets, numbers, and blackboard stickers. The blackboard ones can really be used with chalk and erased. Super cool!

Here, I used the Chalkboard Flower Stickers. I layered two flower stickers for this card. I used Sakura Gelly Roll pens on the flowers and look at how well they pop! And the bling colors just pops on the black! The paper is DCWV.

I actually made a card today so I'll have something NEW to share tomorrow. :)

One More CAS Halloween Card

Oh my goodness, it was such a full Saturday and then today I just crashed. Well, not really Dustin was tired and I seriously just fed off the lack of energy. And now I feel really sick. Who knows what's going on?

Anyhow, here's a reject for the last Paper Crafts call. Dustin is trying to tell me that less is more. So, I figured I'd give it a try. I'm not thrilled with this but it's clean right? The stamp set is The Paper Company Studio, Jeepers Creepers again. I'm not sure if you can tell but the middle owl is popped.

Alright, I'm hoping the mojo kicks in this week. Hopefully, I'll have new and cute stuff to show. Have a great week friends!

EtsyInspired #80 ~ Designs by Cathy

I am so sorry my post is so late! I had roughly a BILLION things to do yesterday and I decided to let my post wait until I got home last night. However, I didn't get home until 1am and I was running on 5 hours of sleep so I went to bed. :(

Ok, this week's EtsyInspired shop is Designs by Cathy. I am seriously in love with hand stamped jewelry! And this store is so exquisite! I love that all the pieces are layered. The motto is "jewelry that tells your story" and it sure does. The quotes and the images are just fabulous. The jewelry also comes in copper which is an interesting twist on the norm.

To play along with our challenge, all you have to do is go to Designs By Cathy and pick any item to be inspired by. Make your creation and post a link to it on the EtsyInspired #80 post on the EtsyInspired blog by next Friday, Mar 26th by noon Pacific time. Everyone will be entered into a random drawing to win. If you upload to SCS or PCP, please use keyword EIC80. And PLEASE remember to give credit to the shop that you found your inspiration from.

Our wonderful sponsor this week is The Digi Kitty and they will be giving our winner the Easter Bundle which includes 8 great stamps! The Digi Kitty offers more than just digital stamps so be sure to check out their site for other unique products like German Dresdens!

Here's my card for this week. I was inspired by the necklace featured above. The stamps are from Unity Stamp Co. The black is dry embossed but you can't really tell in this picture.

Before you go be Etsy Inspired, be sure to check out our talented group of designers!

Ashley (that's me!)

De
Emily

Heather
Jackie
Joy
Kerry

Laurel (March Guest)

Lisa (March Guest)

Shannon

FWF: A Green Challenge

Woohoo! It's Friday! And it really is Friday (I usually write this post on Thursday but the day just got away from me.) We have a PACKED weekend again. But I kind of love it. :)

Alright, today is the SECOND ever All Things Unity Challenge! The challenge this time is to create a GREEN card. But green can mean different things. 1. You can make a card that's green in color 2. You can make a card that's recycled or reusing product 3. You can make a card only using scraps. OR you can do all three!

I choose to make a card using only scraps and some re-purposed items. The doily and flower are from the Beeez Kneez kit available at Caffinated Cropper. (Hurry, there's only 9 sets left!) The flower is actually made from an old dictionary. How cool is that? I love the way it looks and I love that it isn't "new." I painted the doily, the button, and distressed my sentiment with some Turquoise Creative Inspirations Paint. I'm gonna talk more about this paint later on this week. :) I stamped the background (Unity's Distressed Dots) in Versamark. And the sentiment from Ippity's Just Wanted To Say is in Memento Tuxedo Black. I also wanted to make this for the Moxie Fab doily and lace challenge.

Check out the rest of the DT:

Sara

Andrea

Ky

Ryann

And don't forget to check out the Unity blog for all the Friends with Flair! :)

Hallo-scream! and Vicki's Blog Candy

Another day, another Halloween card. My Halloween cards were made for the Paper Crafts magazine call. I'm not really in a Halloween mood so maybe it show. Hmm...

Ok, this card uses my Jeeper Creepers set again from The Paper Company Studio. The designer paper is some old SU I got from my friend Kim Jackson. (Thanks Kim!) The punch is EK Success. The little orange eyes are half pearls from Recollections. My FAVORITE part about this card is the Sparkly Fluff from Our Craft Lounge I used on the cat. I did the fur in black and the little nose in pink. It makes it super cute!! :) The little glittery piece is a scrap off yesterday's card.

Ok, happy Thursday everyone! I'm hosting Bunco for the first time tonight, wish me luck!

OHHHH, and Vicki has blog candy, check it out HERE.

Boo!

I realize I have the wrong holiday. I really do. But I didn't make anything for St Patrick's Day. I thought about it. But then I didn't follow through. I lose mojo after a publication call, does that happen to anyone else? I put all my energy into it and then I'm spent. What does that mean for you? A Halloween card on St Patty's Day. Better than nothing, right?

Ok, so here's my card. It's rather CAS. The stamps are from The Paper Company Studio, the set is called Jeeper's Creepers. The glitter paper is Colorbok. The DP is Basic Grey. And that's all there is to it.

Happy St Patrick's Day/Wednesday everyone!

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

So, yesterday, Parker went to the doctor and we got his stats and NO SHOTS! YAY! He's a big boy, but back on the charts. He's 90-99% in everything and cute as a button but that's not a diagnosis. ;)

I totally forgot that Monday was coming and to sign up for the Ippity blog hop. But I did make an Ippity card yesterday so I thought I should post it. I'm actually really quite happy with it. I made this card with the Ippity Just Wanted to Say set and a DCWV Latte mat stack. I used a bunch of circle punches.

And don't forget, I am still running the fundraiser for Tyler. $5 of each set purchased will go to his medical fund and they really can use the money. :) Thanks for reading this!

Summer Fun This Way

Wow, that was a BUSY weekend! We had a birthday party, Tyler's Fundraiser, a crafty date, and dinner with the in laws. Next up, Parker's 9 month check up today. I'm hoping it goes well and that shots aren't too hard on him.

Ok, so this card is A LOT louder than I had originally imagined. First, I was going to make the card base white then I thought blue would be better. Then I think I made the DP too thick. And the May Arts ribbon just kind of took it over the top. The punch is EK Success. The DP and chipboard sticker are American Crafts Heat Wave. Both ribbons are May Arts.

Ok, happy Monday everyone! Also, I'm still donating proceeds to Tyler from all the Ippity sets that I sell this month. I saw him on Saturday and he looked pretty well but it's gonna be a long road. If you would like to make a direct donation, I can help you do that as well.

Are We There Yet?

So, I'm having the HARDEST time every with the Paper Crafts call. I think it's because I'm just intimidated by the magazine and the people who submit there. Sigh...wish me luck! I hope that I'm actually able to make something I'm happy with.

Ok, here's a quick and simple card I made with Cosmo Cricket's Mr Campy set. It just uses paper, a journalling spot, and the Strip Tease from the collection. I got this on sale at my friend Kalla's store, Timeless Paper Arts, when it was 50% off. GO CHECK OUT HER STORE, EVERYTHING IS 60% OFF!

Happy Sunday everyone!!

The Beez Kneez Card :)

***Second post for today, if you are looking for my EtsyInspired post, please scroll down!***

I'm so excited to share my first Beeez Kneez project with you all! (I know the post below this has another card from this awesome kit but I made this one first so go with me on this.) Amy asked us all to post a sample of our work today.

I am TOTALLY in love with this kit! It has so much to offer! For this post, I made a slightly more embellished card (as opposed to the clean one in the post below) so I could show you a little variety. Everything on my card comes from the Beeez Kneez!

The Nikki Silivis stamps are awesome! They give a great, clean impression! I had no idea HOW good clear stamps could be until just last month! And the Pink Paislee glitter alphas are to die for! The two flowers I used came from that set! I glued the pom pom ribbon on with my Glue Arts ribbon adhesive and it turned out pretty well if I do say so. The only addition I made to my card that wasn't in the kit is some Stickles on the bee's wings.

You HAVE to check out the Caffinated Cropper blog today for some BLOG CANDY and a challenge with an AMAZING PRIZE!!!

And check out my fellow DT girls (I'm still pinching myself to be among such amazing talent):

Amber (doesn't have her kit yet, she's in Japan)

Christi

Sherry

EtsyInspired #79- 3 Dots Jewelry

Ok, since I didn't have to do the whole huge EIC post today, you'll get a short post from me. :) We'll see how well I can stick to that.

This week's EtsyInspired shop is 3 Dots Jewelry. I love this shop because it is so unique! The jewelry made here is unlike anything else I've seen before. I like how they combine the wood, metal, and beads. The clean lines are very modern and chic. I wouldn't mind adding some of these to my jewelry collection! :)

To play along with our challenge, all you have to do is go to 3 Dots Jewelry and pick any item to be inspired by. Make your creation and post a link to it on EtsyInspired #79 post on the EtsyInspired blog by next Friday, Mar 19th by noon Pacific time. Everyone will be entered into a random drawing to win. If you upload to SCS or PCP, please use keyword EIC79. And PLEASE remember to give credit to the shop that you found your inspiration from.

Our fabulous sponsor this week is Stretch N' Bubbles, a fun digital stamp site. Personally, I am in love with THIS little rocket image. Alison is generously giving away 4 prizes!!! So your odds of winning this week are great! :) The first winner will receive 4 free digital images and 3 runners up will receive one digital image of their choice from Stretch N' Bubbles.

Here is my card for the week. I was inspired by the photo above. It reminded me of leaves, flowers and these colors. EVERYTHING I used (except the white CS and ink) can be found in the Beeez Kneez Kit from Caffinated Cropper! (Check out my new watermark, my friend Sara made it for me!)

Check out the DT:

Ashley (that's me)

De
Emily

Heather
Jackie
Joy
Kerry

Laurel (March Guest)

Lisa (March Guest)

Shannon

Running Behind

I'm just about to run out the door and the thing about having plans on a Friday night is that I totally forget to do my EtsyInspired post! I was out ALL day with the kids so I didn't have time to get my post scheduled. It will be up when I get home tonight. But Kerry will be taking care of you on the EIC Blog if you want to get a head start on your project.

FWF: Bright Colors

Happy Friday everyone! Are you all ready for another Friends With Flair post? You can go to the Unity Blog to see all the participants and try to find that flair. In honor of the wonderful weather we are having here in California, I've decided to share some BRIGHT cards with you all today. :)

The first card is one I made for a VSN sketch challenge. I have NO idea what set these trees are from. I tried looking it up on the Unity site but I couldn't find it. I think it's a past KOTM. The background is the Woodgrain stamp which I LOVE! :) I added Stickles to all the trees in different colors, because I love Stickles. The ribbon here is May Arts.

This second card is made with Feb 2010 KOTM. I love the quotes in this set! They are so inspiring! This one says "May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day." Isn't that beautiful? I made a bright cheery card for this awesome quote. The paper is DCWV Citrus Stack and the ribbon is from Joann Fabric.

Also, don't forget to enter the first All Things Unity challenge for a chance to win that free set that Sara is offering up!

The Sky's the Limit

It's another beautiful day in California! YAY! :) We'll be going out to run errands today. I had forgotten how much a baby can eat and drink! I constantly need baby food these days.

I made another Practicing Creativity Designs card for today. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE these stamps? They are so cute! For this card, I used the balloons and sentiment from Look Up and the clouds from You're Dandy. The designer paper is Basic Grey June Bug. And the clouds are all covered in Frosted Lace Stickles. I love the different sizes of the balloons since they are great for depth!

Happy Thursday everyone! :)

HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!

I've been sitting on this news for about a month now and I want to EXPLODE!! I'm so glad that I get to tell you today!!

My friend Amy Castellano emailed me and told me that she was opening a BRAND NEW store called Caffinated Cropper (misspelling intentional.) ;) AND she wanted me to be on the design team! WOW! You could have knocked me over with a feather!

Amy has put together an AMAZING kit for you all to kick off the opening of her store. It's called The Beeez Kneez! And let me tell you, the name doesn't lie! Here's a list of the contents that Amy sent:

"The Beans"

Paper 6x6 3 each/ 27 sheets total

Basic Grey Origins Parrafin

Basic Grey Origins Cucumber

Jillibean Soup diced Tomatoes

JIllibean Soup Head of Cabbage Cabbage

Jenni Bowlin Lemonade

Jenni Bowlin Green Crosshatch

Bazzill smoothies cardstock

Pineapple Bliss

Kiwi Crush

Chocolate Cream

The "Whipped Cream"

Pink Paislee Glittler Limeade Chipboard Alpha

EAD Designs Exclusive 8x8 sheet of vinyl rub ons (bee sentiments)

3/4 yard yellow pom pom trim

1 yd copper irridescent ribbon

1yd green grosgrain ribbon

1 yd brown hemp

1 jar of cinnamon stickles

1 set of Nikki Silivis willowbee stamps

1 package Jillibean Soup Kraft 8 cards and envelopes

strip of 20 Kaisercraft pearls

2 handmade dictionary paper flowers

2 4 inch paper doilies

1 vinyl bookmark cover

3 glassine envelopes ( these are about 2x3 )

6 Jenni Bowlin vintage sew on buttons 3 green/3 cream

4 Jenni Bowlin antique ecru rhinestone pins

2 asst shaped ribbon brackets )there are squares,rectangles, ovals, hearts each kit will get a big one and a small one asst shapes

1 Tim Holtz fragments acrylic tile

10 assorted handpunched bumble bees and crowns

Wow! That's a lot of stuff! Can you believe it? Amy has it for you at an AMAZING price! You can purchase it directly off her blog right now. She has a website coming too! (Here are some more pictures of the kit)



AND if that wasn't enough, Amy has a giveaway on her blog right now to celebrate new big news! :) Go leave a comment on her blog post for today by 10pm Eastern time and you could win a pack of Jenni Bowlin Antique Ecru Pins. I wish I could win! :D

A Little Toot

Teehee! I took a screenshot. Have you seen the 2 Sketches 4 You blog recently? That's ME! Little old me on the 2s4y Loves this Blogger! :) How cool is that?!?!?!

I have a funny story to tell you.

I met Kazan Clark at CHA. She told me that she had been to my blog and thought I was a talented card maker. To which I responded "No, you're talking about the other Ashley Newell." And she said "No, Ashley is on my DT, I'm talking about you." I got goosebumps! I could not believe that she knew who I was and had been to my blog! :)

Have a happy night everyone! PLUS, I have a BIG announcement in the morning!! :)

Basking in the Sunshine

A couple days ago, we went to the park to enjoy the sunshine. You should have seen it! The sun was out. The grass was green. The sky was full of fully white clouds. I'm really really enjoying this weather and I'm hoping it sticks around for a while. Today, I'm sharing a couple more fun sunny cards with you all.

Here's a card I made with my Practicing Creativity set, You're Dandy. I love this set! It has sold out TWICE! Love these stamps, they are so easy to use! The DP here is all American Crafts Heat Wave, as is the chipboard sticker sentiment. The ribbon is from Joann Fabrics. The die cut is Nesties Label 8.

The next card I made uses a super cool Hambly screen! I used Love My Tapes adhesive to attach the screen to the cardstock and you can barely see it. The ribbon is from Joann again. The stamps are Unity Stamp Co. And again, the chipboard sentiment is American Crafts. I did the edge on this card with a decorative scissor. It's kind of a tiny pinking with waves in it. That's probably a horrible explanation. I think it's kind of edgy so I used it on this "boy-ish" card.

And a few pictures from the park. Just in case you were starting to forget what the kids look like. ;)

Beautiful park by our house.

Parker watching Brady play

Parker's first time on playground equipment

Brady on the slide, look at that static hair! :)

Even More Challenge Cards

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

Honestly, I'm out of ideas for title names. I might just learn new languages so I have new titles for you. :) But I just have a couple more challenge cards to show so I thought I'd be straightforward.

This first card is for the challenge over at GetSketchy, to make a shaped card. I did the Paper Tole technique on this card but I'm not sure you can really tell. The middle house is popped twice, the others only once. Maybe I didn't do the technique right, I'm not sure. The card base is Nesties Lables 8. The stamp is Ippity from What Matters Most (available in my sidebar.) The ribbon is May Arts. The stickers are Making Memories. I added some faux stitch with Sakura Gelly Roll pen in white.

My second card is for a challenge over at SRM Stickers. The challenge was to make a baby card using stickers. Sadly, I don't have any SRM Stickers so I used Deco Bugs ones which I love. The paper here is all October Afternoon from Ducks in a Row. the punch is Martha Stewart. The lace was given to me by a friend. The rhinestones are Kaisercraft.

Have a great Monday night everyone! :) Also, check out the blog candy/new release over at Victoria Case's blog, click HERE.

Ippity Hop With a Spokesbaby!

Oh my goodness! The weather was GLORIOUS on Sunday! We went to the park and had a picnic! :) Maybe all those sunny cards I've made gave the weather a hint. ;) First, I have to share this picture with you. I had all my Ippity inventory in a box on the floor and Parker decided he wanted to stamp too. Teehee. That is the Just Wanted to Say set. I might have to discount this set, there's a tiny bit of drool on it now. LOL.

Up next are the rest of the cards I made for VSN challenges. Can you believe I've held off on blogging them for this long? My blog has been kind of busy lately, which is GREAT!

This first card was for the challenge to use the faux metal technique on your card. I've never done this technique before. I have to admit, I don't use embossing powder a lot. It's messy and I'm not good at it. But I figured I should give it a try. This card uses Regal Greetings. You can kind of see the sentiment on the right side, it says "thanks." The paper is My Mind's Eye Lush and the ribbon is SU.

My next card was another technique challenge. Again, I don't do a lot of techniques. I guess, I'm just not very techy. This was for the Rolling Marble technique. It reminds me of doing art in elementary school. I did it on the Kraft paper here, the punch is EK Success. The teal paper was sprayed with some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. The stamps are from Fishy Philosophy. I covered the fish in Sakura Glaze pen, my new favorite thing. Then I added some teal dew drops to finish.

Some Torendi Goodness

Do you ever find inspiration in totally weird places? I was talking to my friend Jenn Coker the other day and inspiration hit. Jenn owns a store called Torendi. And I had some UN-INKED stamps from the store! Crazy, so I figured I should use them. It's not like Jenn told me to use them, talking to her just reminded me that I should use them.

Ok, so I made a bright cheery card because quite frankly I am done with winter. :) I need some sunshine! Not that I want it to be summer here, just spring. I'm not ready for the 100 degree weather yet. My card uses Bam Pop Cloudies stamps. I love me some Bam Pop! It makes me happy. The rainbow is from Sassafrass Snack Attack Felties. The paper is DCWV Citrus Stack, the ribbon is American Crafts, and the letter stickers are from My Little Shoebox.

On an unrelated note, I have a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT coming this week! Stay tuned!!!

EtsyInspired #78 ~ Fantasy Art of Maigan Lynn

This week's EtsyInspired shop is Fantasy Art of Maigan Lynn. I'm so thrilled to be showing of the beautiful artwork of one of my close friends this week! Maigan is a sweet person and an amazing artist. I love her whimsical designs! She has mermaids (which are my favorite), fairies, pumpkins, mushrooms, seashells, and snow mermaids. I love the beautiful colors she uses in her artwork! I feel that they are unexpected. And they are even more beautiful in person. The colors are vivid. The coloring has a lot of shadows and depth. I often try to mimic Maigan's amazing shading skills in my own creations. These little gems are available in originals, several different sized prints and even puzzles! How fun is that? They are perfect for anyone in your life who loves fantasy art.

To play along with our challenge, all you have to do is go to the Fantasy Art by Maigan Lynn shop and pick any item to be inspired by. Make your creation and post a link to it on the EtsyInspired #79 post on theEtsyInspired blog by next Friday, Mar 12 by noon Pacific time. Everyone will be entered into a random drawing to win. If you upload to SCS or PCP, please use keyword EIC78. And PLEASE remember to give credit to the shop that you found your inspiration from. This week Maigan is offering up a PRIZE too! One random winner will get to choose three (3) 4x6 prints of their choice! Lucky ducky, I wish I could win!

We also have an AMAZING sponsor this week! It's GLUE ARTS! They have the most awesome (and affordable) glue runner with a handle. I love it! It's so easy to use and not bulky at all. The cartridges come in all different kinds of adhesive ie permanent, repositionable, squares, etc... They also have fabulous ribbon adhesive. You can stick it on to ribbon and it will make the ribbon lay flat on your card. Glue Arts carries a whole line of amazing products! You should check them out. They are offering up a prize pack this week, shown in this picture. How cute is that tote bag?

This is my card for this week. I used Maigan's mermaid for QKD called Hearts On My Sleeve. Isn't she pretty? I was experimenting in coloring darker skinned people. How did I do? The background paper is SU. The ribbon is from the Target $1 spot.

Here's another card I made with the same stamp. This one uses My Mind's Eye Be*Loved paper.

Check out the DT:

Ashley (that's me)

De
Emily

Heather
Jackie
Joy
Kerry

Laurel (Mar Guest)

Lisa (Mar Guest)

Shannon