Lawnscaping Challenge 15

Hi friends! Happy Monday! I hope that you all are doing well! Today will be Brady's first day of preschool so I'll let you know how it goes. Hopefully, it will go well and that I will be able to get some good pictures to show you as well. Keep your fingers and toes crossed. I'm guessing that there will mostly be crying pictures.

Ok, it's the first Monday of the month and that means that we have a new Lawnscaping Challenge for you all! This challenge is Distressing Mania! You can use ink, crinkling, or sanding the edges on your creation. This was kind of a hard one for me but I worked it out so you can too!

We have a fabulous sponsor this week! Simon Says Stamp is returning as our sponsor. I love this store, they have so much fabulous stuff including Lawn Fawn Stamps! They are offering up a $25 gift certificate.

Here's my card for this week. I used Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Forest and Sophie's Sentiments for this. The paper is Cosmo Cricket's Odds and Ends.

Check out the DT:

Laurel

Lynnette

Britta

Christiana

Ayana

Vera
And our special guest: Jenny Suchin

Submit your project: Lawnscaping Challenge 15

Text Butterfly

Hi friends! I hope you are having a great day! I am SO tired! I've been non-stop go this week to make up for the past couple weeks and it might just be killing me. I made FIVE cards to submit to Scrapbook Trends magazine and totally forgot to submit them yesterday. GAH! Enough about me being a scatter brain!

Here's another card I made at my friend Gina's house the other day. I think she has magic mojo air over there. :) I made this with some more of that awesome Colorbok paper and elements I got. I borrowed the butterfly stamp from Gina, it's from Inkadinkadoo. I also "borrowed" and by borrowed I mean stole that trim from Gina. (Don't worry, I gave her some ribbon the next day to make up for it!) I rather love this line! It's very inspiring to me and I'm having a lot of fun making things for me and not just because it's what I feel I "should" be making.

Have a great day everyone!

Vintage Bird

Hi friends! I hope you are having a great week! We are having a busy week. Today is our only day without plans and we are laying around the house. I told the kids that pants where optional but they both opted to wear shorts. :( I was really hoping Parker would hang out in just a diaper. Oh well...

While Gina, Suzy, Marie and I were hanging out on Monday, we made a trip to Joann Fabrics and I found some super cute stuff from Colobok! The collection is called Flea Market and I LOVE it! I got a paper pad, dies and doilies from this. I made this card with it adding some twine I stole from Gina and using her Tim Holtz stamps. I kind of love this card. I might have to go back to Joann and see if they have more fun stuff from this line! Super cute!

Have a great day everyone!

Avocado Arts Cards

Hi friends! I hope you are having a fabulous week! I've spent the last few days crafting with a couple AMAZING friends (Gina Lideros, Suzy West, and Marie Rameriez) and let me tell you when you get that much inspiration into one room, the mojo just flows. It was amazing!

I decided to make a couple cards for the Avocado Arts challenges that were going on. There was a color challenge (red, blue, yellow) and then there was a sketch challenge. Now, these were CHALLENGING for me and probably my least favorite of the cards I made over the last few days but I like them enough to share them here. Both cards are made with Echo Park Country Drive.

Have a great day everyone!

Apple of My Eye and a Giveaway

Hi friends! I hope you had a great Sunday! The kids finally seem a bit better and we went to the zoo. We had a pretty good time but the kiddos got grumpy by the end. What can you do? There was a very minimal amount of tissue usage today so I count it as a win! :)

Here's a clean and simple card that I made for a call that was rejected. Again, I like it. I mean, there are definitely times after a call where I look at my work and think, I don't like it anymore but not really this time. Perhaps, I could have made this into a mini card. Oh well. The stamps are Lawn Fawn from My Silly Valentine and the baker's twine is Black Licorice Divine Twine.

Speaking of Divine Twine, there's a Facebook giveaway running on the Whisker Graphic Facebook Page right now. Just go to THIS PICTURE, it should look like the one shown here and leave a comment. The prize is 50 yards of twine and the contest ends July 25. Good luck!

Have a great day everyone!

Some Paper Smooches Cards

Hi friends! Hope you are having a great weekend! We are STILL sick here. :( I might just start taking everyone out of the house with runny noses, coughing and all. What can do you do? It's been over a week and I don't feel like anyone is making any progress towards getting better. However, it seems to be just a virus so I don't want to waste co-pays just to hear that there's nothing they can do for us.

A couple weeks ago, I was at my friend Gina's house, who happens to be my neighbor (yay for crafty neighbors), and she let me use her stuff to make some cards. I literally brought NOTHING over and she let me borrow ALL her stuff. These cards are made from kits that she got from Scarlet Lime and I used her Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler (which I also have.)

Have a great day everyone!

FWF: Christmas in July

Hi friends! Happy Friday! We are still down with a cold. :( I'm hoping it will be gone soon. I just bought a Living Social deal for 4 tickets to the zoo sanctuary, a train ride and some drinks for $17. I was hoping we could go before another heat wave hits.

Here's another card I made for submissions that was rejected. I rather love this card but it's not gotten any love for quite a few magazines. Oh well. What can you do? I made this card with some Webster's Pages Christmas paper and me Unity/Webster's Pages stamps. There's some white paint, a doily, seam binding and distressing on this card.

Have a great day everyone! Hope your weekend is great!

Always on My Mind

Hi friends! I hope you are feeling well! I was up all last night with all the coughing, sneezing and ickiness going on in my house. :( The dumb cold won't go away and I'm getting sick of it! Ack! Hope you all are doing MUCH better than us!

Ok, here's yet another card I made for a call that was rejected. What can I say? Maybe last month wasn't a great one for me. I made this with some Basic Grey Hello Luscious paper and Unity Delight in Beauty. I used Stickles on the butterfly bodies and Scrappers Floss to make their antennae. There's also a butterfly stamped in pale blue behind the sentiment.

Have a great day everyone!

Great job, Robot!

Hi friends! I hope you are having a great week! We are getting by. Brady told me this morning "I'm still so sick!" We are staying in the house and I have to tell you, I'm going a little stir crazy.

Here's a card I made for a call that was rejected. Poor little robot! The robot stamp is from October Afternoon. I couldn't resist this cute stamp set. So perfect for my cute little boys! I paired the robot with a sentiment from Lawn Fawn's Just My Type Too! The paper is from My Mind's Eye Lime Twist Out of the Blue. And the baker's twine is Divine Twine in Blueberry.

Have a great day, everyone!

RCC12 Button It Up with Sparkle Smith

Hi friends! Hope you are having a great week so far! We are still battling a cold around here. Seriously, who gets a cold in the summer? Blah! Anyhow, it should pass soon. :)

I'm on this week with Ribbon Carousel Challenge and it's a super fun one! My pal, Sparkle, gave us this week's theme of using BUTTONS! Easy peasy, right? ***Don't forget, when you play along with the Ribbon Carousel challenge, you need to use ribbon, twine, trim, lace, or something that comes on a spool to be entered!***

This week, we are being sponsored by Ribbon Carousel! Woohoo! I know I'm biased but I LOVE LOVE LOVE Ribbon Carousel! I love my Ribbon Carousel! It's FABULOUS, holds TONS of ribbon. And I love all the beautiful ribbons that are sold in the Ribbon Carousel store! Whoever wins this challenge will get a $10 gift certificate to spend in the store! Woohoo!!

Here's my card for this week. I decided to go with a little Echo Park Sunny Days for this card. I used some yummy Orange Sheer Ribbon on the card base and then some fun Orange Divine Twine on the buttons as my "spool elements." Obviously, I used green buttons for the button part of the challenge.

Now go over to the Ribbon Carousel Challenge Blog to see the other designers's awesome creations and link up your projects too!

Happy (Late) Birthday Kate!!!

Sigh...why does time still go by when you're sick? ;) My friend and I {heart} Papers owner, Kate, celebrated her birthday on July 16. I actually had this card made but I was too tired to get up, take the picture, edit it and get it blogged. Seriously. I was wiped. The kids and I have a cold now too. I don't know HOW we come into this many germs. I really truly don't.

So, here's Kate's late card. It's based off last week's Card Patterns sketch but I'm late for that as well. I used some stamps from I {heart} Papers exclusive line of stamps, Chicken Girl Designs. These stamps are cute, funky and very me! ;) The paper is My Mind's Eye Lime Twist Life of the Party.

Have a great day everyone!

Ippity Link Up

Hi friends! Hope you had a great weekend! We are still in the midst of our weekend. :)

I've decided that I'm going to join in on the Ippity Linky Party this week. I made this card a while ago for a call and haven't shared it on my blog yet so I figured today would be a good day to share. I used some fun Cosmo Cricket Matilda papers and Ippity's That's Creepy to make this card. The label is Nesties Labels 8.

Have a great week everyone!

RCC11 Inspiration With Laurel

Hi friends! I hope you are having a great weekend! I have a bacterial infection and it is really taking a lot out of me. It is NO fun to be sick in the summer especially with the lovely cool weather we are getting right now. I want nothing more than to take my kids to the zoo or the state fair since the weather is just lovely but I've been in bed. :( I'm on antibiotics so I should be better any day now. Enough about me! How you are better!

Ok, so I was off this week for the Ribbon Carousel Challenge however I just HAD to play along. I'm a few days late but I still have until July 18 at 11:59pm EST to play along. Remember, all creations made for the Ribbon Carousel Challenge need to have ribbon, twine, trim or something that comes on a spool to qualify! :)

This week's sponsor is a favorite of mine, Your Next Stamp! They just had a new release and it is SUPER cute! The World Kids Collection is just my favorite! They are adorable! I decided to combine my card with the Your Next Stamp Challenge #46- Button Up! I love buttons so that's easy peasy! I used last week's Card Positioning Systems sketch for this card. I'm late. I've been too sick to blog.

Here's my card using Rainy Day Fhiona. I used some fabulous Cotton Candy Divine Twine. The patterned paper is Echo Park's Little Girl. I colored with Copics and accented with Stickles.

Have a great day everyone!

FWF: Lollipop Cover

Hi friends! Happy Friday! I hope you all had a great week and have a great weekend ahead of you! I'm hoping to just get some relaxing in this weekend. I'm kind of spent.

Today, I'm sharing a project I made for a call that didn't get picked up. What can you do? I used Unity's I Ruff You stamp set for this lollipop holder. The patterned paper comes from Echo Park's Little Girl. I thought orange would be a fun and unconventional color for a Valentine treat. Of course, I used my own kids's names on this. ;) I kinda had too, they are just so darn cute! I finished this with a couple strands of Orange Divine Twine tied into a bow.

Don't forget to check the Unity Blog to see everyone participating in today's hop! And LEAVE COMMENTS at every stop! You never know where that blog candy is hidden! Have a great weekend everyone!

Bon Voyage

Hi friends! I hope you are having a good week. I'm not feeling so good. But some antibiotics and some vitamin supplements and I should be as good as new! Let's hope, right! :)

Here's a card I made a while ago for a call that was rejected. I think it's pretty and I still like it. I used some Graphic 45 On the Boardwalk paper, Making Memories alphabet stickers, seam binding and a button.

Did you all see my OTHER news? You can CLICK HERE to see it! But if you don't want to run all the way over there, I'll just tell you. I'm on the Love My Tapes Design Team now! YAY!!

Have a great day everyone!

Fun Announcement!

WOW! Did you see THIS announcement on the Whisker Graphics Blog?!? I'm pleased as punch to announce that in addition to doing Social Media for Whisker Graphics, I am also serving as their Design Team Coordinator! Not only that, but I get to work with a TRULY spectacular team of talented crafters. It's amazing!

Here's the team:

Ashley N Newell (Design Team/Social Media Coordinator)

Ashley Harris

Carly Robertson

Jenny Dixon

Keisha Campbell

Lauren Donaldson

Michelle Philippi

Love This Life

Hi friends! I hope you are kicking off your week well. I had a great couple days with a couple of SUPER crafty girls and it's been absolutely amazing! I went in for blood tests for today and we'll see what comes of that.

Ok, so over the last couple days I've spent some time with some TALENTED ladies that I met via the GCD Studios Blog who are actually local. It makes me so happy that I have friends to craft with who really understand the kind of crafting I do. It's pretty exciting. :) I figured that I would show a GCD card in the spirit of this. I decided to fussy cut this elephant from the paper and the banner as well. Then I added a SRM sticker and some Stickles.

Have a great day everyone!

Flashback Friday 13.0

Hi again friends! It's nearly Saturday so I figured I would sneak in another post. I'm SUPER tired right now. I'm up working on some projects to send to CHA and sorting some stuff out to sell on Sunday at Our Paper Place in Newark. I might be a little giggly from lack of sleep at this point.

I just checked out Amy's Flashback Friday challenge. The current challenge is Non Traditional Shaped Cards. Oh boy! I didn't think I would actually be able to find one on my blog! I am a very "rectangle" card maker. I know, it's crazy! So, here's a card from MAY 2008! WOW! I made this for a friend's baby shower and I have to say, it's not too horrible. The picture is horrid but the card isn't that bad. Dare I say that I would still give that card today.

Alright, I hope looking at one of my OLD cards has made you as giggly as it made me! Happy weekend, friends!

Make a Wish

Hi friends! I hope you are kicking your weekend off well! I'm doing ok. My doctor ordered my blood tests so I can take those on Monday, I'm hoping that this will clear some things up. Maybe. Who knows. Sigh.

Ok, here's a card I made a LONG time ago but never got around to blogging. I still love it. It was based on one of the sketches in the PC Go To Sketches call which I'm guessing should be coming out soon. This is, obviously, a reject or I couldn't post it. I used PTI cardstock, stickles, and an SRM sticker for this card.

Have a great weekend! Ohhhh! And check out Claudia and Company's CHA sale! They have things for 25-40% off!

House Congrats

Happy Friday, friends! I hope you had a great week! I haven't felt that great all week and I'm hoping my doctor will order more tests for me. We shall see.

Ok, here's a card I made with Mojo Monday sketch 197 and Gallery Idol. Gallery Idol results will be posted first thing in the morning, wish me luck! This card uses a Hero Arts house stamp and a sentiment from Mint Motif. The paper here is Echo Park Country Drive and I finished with some Divine Twine.

Have a great weekend everyone! OOHHH!! And if you are in the Bay Area, come visit me at Our Paper Place in Newark on Sunday! I will be there purging supplies at their garage sale!

Congrats Balloons

Hi friends! I hope you are having a great day! It's HOT here. I need to figure out some fun things to do with the kids on these hot days. Mostly, we've been staying home.

Not too long ago, I won these CUTE Feathered Friends Stickerz from EAD Designs. I decided to whip up a quick card for Gallery Idol. I was going to do more with this put these Stickerz are just so darn cute! I grabbed this congrats sentiment from Lawn Fawn's Plus One set and stamped the balloons. Seriously! Beyond cuteness!

Ok, so I have a few blog candy posts I need to share with you. First up, my friend Lisa at Paper Grace is having a Grand Opening Blog Candy. It's awesome! Go over there and enter! Second, Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker is having a CHA sneak peek on her blog. Go to THIS POST and you can enter to win the whole release! Wow!

Pirate Party Pictures

Ok, last month we had a birthday party for the boys. We combined their birthdays into one party since their birthdays are only 5 days apart. They like the same things and they have the same friends so this is just easier for everyone involved. Here I'm just highlighting a few of the DIY things we did for the party. I'll probably post more pictures on Facebook.

Let's start with the invites again. Made in Photoshop by Dustin, photo by me.

The BIG hit of the party, the watermelon pirate ship. Dustin carved it and made the wooden things, I just made the sails with stamps from Unity's Pirate Madness.

Here's the food. I had little pirates holding up signs of what kind of food we had. The food card things are stamped with The Cat's Pajamas Arrgh! Piratey set. Here you'll see the "octopus" dip and the deviled "eyeballs."

We had a game where the kids searched for treasure, whoever found the special marked ones were the winners. The little markers are made with my Cat's Pajamas stamps again.

Here's the dress up station. We didn't really make it, just set it up.

Here's the treasure map. I distressed the paper and Dustin drew the map using landmarks from our yard.

Here are the cupcake picks I made. I colored each one with Copics and highlighted with gel pen. The images are from The Cat's Pajamas.

Here's a further away shot of the dessert table.

And here are the loot bags made with a Unity image.

Have a great day everyone!

RCC10 Paper Piecing With Jessie!

Hi friends! I hope you had a great 4th of July! It was HOT here! :) Guess that's what summer is all about!

I'm on this week for the Ribbon Carousel Challenge. This week's theme is Paper Piecing and our hostess is the lovely Jessie Knight Rone who I LOVE LOVE LOVE. :D And just like Jessie, I love paper piecing! So, this challenge was an easy peasy one for me. Just remember, anytime you play along with the Ribbon Carousel Challenge you need to use ribbon, twine, trim, lace, or something that comes on a spool!

Here's my card for this week. I used Mint Motif Cake Shoppe and Cake Shoppe Too. I used sheer ribbon as my spool element. The paper is Bo Bunny.

Please go to the Ribbon Carousel Challenge to read up on the rules and link up your creations!

Lawnscaping Challenge 13

Hi friends! I hope you all are having a great weekend. Happy 4th of July to my US friends! I hope you all have a great day! We have a block party later on tonight. It will be our first with our kids so I'm hoping that it will be fun. I think they will enjoy it!

Today is the first Monday of July and that means it's time for another Lawnscaping Challenge! This time our theme is "Don't Forget the Inside!" Just to let you know, this was a HUGE challenge for me. I NEVER do the insides of my cards and I had the hardest time with this challenge! It took me FOREVER to make this and figure it out!

The sponsor for this challenge is Karen Burniston who designs for Sizzix! They have all sorts of awesome products! The winner will get the 3-D scalloped circle pop up die!

Here's my card from this week. The Lawnscaping team got to work with some die cuts of the die the winner will be receiving. The outside of this card is based on PWCO sketch 87. I used Lawn Fawn's Swimsuit Season and Echo Park's Splash.

Check out the DT:

Laurel

Lynnette

Britta

Christiana

Ayana
And our special guest: Niki Estes

Submit your project: Lawnscaping Challenge 13

Stork Twins

****For my Young Crafters Unite post please CLICK HERE.****

Hi friends! I hope that you are all having a good weekend! I'm having a bit of a rough weekend here but I think it's starting to turn around.

This card managed to find itself on THIS POST on the Lawn Fawn Blog before I even blogged it here. :) You gotta love that! I uploaded this to Lawn Fawn's Flickr group and they liked it enough to feature it. Thanks Lawn Fawn!!

I had this idea while I was making a baby boy card. I figured that you'd have to send out 2 storks for twins because storks are kind of small and babies are kind of big, two babies would be WAY too much for one little stork. ;) And then I thought it would be fun if they were boy/girl twins with the alternating colored stickers. This card uses Lawn Fawn's Plus One set which might be my favorite stamp set of the moment. The clouds are PTI dies and flocked with OCL's Sparkly Fluff. The stickers are Cosmo Cricket. The background paper is Nikki Sivils and the little baby bundles are Echo Park.

Have a great day everyone!

Young Crafters Unite Blog Hop (and Unity FWF)

Not too long ago, my pal and Lawnscaping DT mate Britta Swiderski started a website called youngcraftersunite.com with another young crafter named Marie. They are both YOUNG crafters, age-wise and wanted to connect with other young crafters. They had the idea of having this blog hop and they even got some fun PRIZES so leave comments along the hop!

WHAT MAKES ME A YOUNG CRAFTER: Wow, isn't that a loaded question? I'm actually a relatively young crafter. I'm 28 which isn't THAT young but it's youngish. I also feel like I have a very young at heart attitude when it comes to crafting.

To START the hop go to the Young Crafters Unite Blog. You should be reaching my blog from Jillian Vance's blog. She's REALLY young, actually. She's 12 and oh so talented!

The theme for this blog hop is "My Favorite Things" and I struggled with this a lot since I have SO many favorite things especially when it comes to card making. I finally decided to go for a few things that I REALLY really love that are stand-bys for me all the time. First up, this color combo. Pink, black and white. Actually, I like black, white and any color. It's just easy and has a great impact. The second, Echo Park Paper. Ever since this company came out, I just love everything they've made! Third, one of my first stamp loves Unity Stamp Co. And lastly, one of my favorite things to make a card with a SKETCH. This sketch is for Jen over at Deconstructing Jen. And it's her sketch #8. I also used Copics to color, string, buttons and rhinestones...all favorites of mine.

Alright, off you go on your next stop which is the SUPER talented DANIELLE DAWS! Don't forget to comment! There's lots of awesome prizes!!!!

I'm also entering this in the Unity Friends With Flair link up. Please check out the Unity Blog to see all the people in that hop and comment there for prizes as well!

Furbaby

Hi friends! HAPPY FRIDAY! YAY!!! I read on Facebook that someone said that Friday should be called FridYAY! And I agree! :)

I just wanted to sneak another post in to blog my card for this week's Card Positioning Systems sketch. I kind of love this cat from Unity Stamp Co. It's just so cute! I thought I'd give Gallery Idol another shot and make a card congratulating someone on their new cat. I mean, furbabies are babies too! I used some Basic Grey Max and Whiskers paper, Cosmo Cricket alpha stickers, May Arts ribbon, and Orange Divine Twine. I added a bit of coloring with Copic markers too.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!