EAD Blog Hop: Happy Halloween!!!!

Hi friends! I hope you are having a GREAT DAY!!!!! It's Halloween! YAY!!! My kids are SO excited to trick-or-treat today! I can't wait!

Today is my last day as a guest designer for EAD Designs and I'm so happy to have had the chance to join the team over the month of October! I adore these girls and all the products! But you know that I'll be around doing some social media with EAD! You can find me joining Emily on the EAD Facebook Page, the EAD Pinterest boards, and I'll be posting on the blog on Fridays too. :D

You should have come to my blog from the ever lovely and talented Joanna's blog. If not, please go back to the EAD Blog to start the hop.

I have a very simple and easy project for you today but I have to say, it's the BEST project EVER! Ok, maybe not ever but it's pretty darn fun! I used the Mustache Rub-ons to make these props for my kids. I figured it's Halloween so I made an element that could be used as part of a costume or at a costume party. I just took the rub-ons and applied them to white card stock. Then I fussy cut them and adhered them to some chopsticks that came with some Chinese takeout.

So, here are my boys with the mustaches.

And here's a photo that's slightly out of focus but SOOOO much cuter because it captures their personalities better. Brady lost interest in me and Parker is looking to see what Brady is up to.

Your next stop on the hop is the fabulous LAUREN'S BLOG!

HYCCT: Inspiration Challenge

Hi friends! I hope your having a great weekend! We had a fun weekend. We went out with some friends and we carved pumpkins.

I've made a couple cards for Hope You Can Cling To on SCS and I need to blog these. I need to make a few more though. This card was for my friend Lee's challenge and it was an inspiration challenge. I used a sketch from Clean and Simple Stamping 162. The stamps are from Paper Makeup and the paper is Echo Park's Be Mine.

Have a great day, friends!

EAD New Co-Brand

Hi friends! I hope you are having a great weekend! I meant to blog yesterday but Brady had his school Halloween party (which I attended with Parker), then my mom came over and then we had a double date in the evening. I didn't get around to doing much. We have NOTHING planned for today so that will be nice.

Did you see THIS POST that Emily made yesterday on the EAD Blog? EAD Designs is teaming up with 2 Cute Ink. You can check out all the adorable 2 Cute Stickerz HERE. I also made some samples with the Fall Friends Stickerz.

Have a great day, friends!

Swimming for Katie Challenge Winner

Hi friends! Sorry about the delay in getting this blog candy announced. I got a little distracted this week.

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:1Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Random.org picked SAVANNAH!!!! YAY Sav! I'll get this mailed out to you!

Brady's Halloween Gift Bags

Hi friends! I hope you are having a fabulous week! We are doing pretty good. It's finally starting to feel like fall around here. Usually, Halloween is when it starts to get cold in the Sacramento area. Is that weird? It does seem a little late in the year for fall. I was outside today and I noticed that the air smelled like fall, yay!!!

Today, I want to share a project I made for the Whisker Graphics blog. I used the Striped Bigger Bitty Bags, Halloween Divine Twine and the FREE Whisker Graphics Halloween Printable. I made these bags for Brady to hand out at preschool on Monday. Now, I *MIGHT* have gone overboard this since it's the FIRST time we've ever made goody bags for class. Inside is a little coloring book, the pencil, a ring, eyeball bubbles, a dum dum, a sheet of stickers, and a bag of fruit snack. I hope his friends like it! :D I'm also entering this into the Simon Says Anything Goes challenge.

Have a great day, friends!

Chicken Adobo Recipe

Hi friends! I'm beginning to feel like I want to take my blog in a different direction. I still want to post my paper crafting creations but I also want to start posting home decor, recipes and a bit about couponing. Hope that's ok with all of you and you'll still follow me!

Here's a recipe I got from my friend that I LOVE!! It's so yummy and my family really enjoys it.

Chicken Adobo (based off a recipe in the SF Firefighter cookbook)

1/3 c apple cider vintage

1/2 c soy sauce

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

3 bay leaves

1 tbsp black peppercorns

3 pounds of dark meat chicken, bone in and skin removed

2 tbsp brown sugar

Combine first 9 ingredients in a pot and bring to simmer. If you like more sauce (which we do) double the liquid ingredients. Add chicken to pot and use spoon to cover with sauce, bring to boil. Reduce to medium heat, cover and cook for 30 mins. Uncover and cook for 15 more mins. In the last few mins add brown sugar (I use double because I doubled the vinegar and soy sauce) and stir in. Serve with white rice. (In my photo, the rice has the sauce from the chicken stirred into it.)

Fun News!!!

Hello friends! I have some super fun news to share with you that I'm REALLY excited about! :)

Over the last month, I've gotten the absolute pleasure of guest designing for EAD Designs. Emily is one of the most kind and generous people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and I LOVE all the wonderful products that EAD has to offer! Sooo...I will now be working with EAD doing their social marketing/public relations! :D

That means, you will see me on the EAD Facebook page, chatting it up and giving things away! You'll see me posting on the EAD Blog, sharing the latest news and showcasing customers and more. Also, if you are looking for cross promotions and other social media things, you can email ME at ashley at eaddesigns dot com!

I'm REALLY excited to have the chance to be working with such an amazing company and to be introducing people to these products that I love so much! Here are a couple pictures of EAD Designs items that are in my home:

I would LOVE if you would join me on the EAD Facebook page!

RCC26 BOO with ME!

Hi friends! I hope you are having a wonderful day! We are having a pretty good week over here. We are getting REALLY excited for Halloween!

Today, is my last challenge on the Ribbon Carousel Challenge team since my term is up. I can't believe it's been 26 weeks! WOW! This has been such a wonderful team and I'm so honored to have been on a team with SO much talent! I need to extend a HUGE thank you to Corinna for having me on this awesome team! But I'm sure I'll be playing along with this challenge ALL the time since it's such a great one!

This week's theme is to be inspired by Halloween! You can make anything you want; a costume, a hair piece, a card, an altered item, home decor, etc... The only RULE is that when you play along with the Ribbon Carousel Challenge is that you need to use ribbon, trim, lace, twine or something that comes on a spool!

This week's sponsor is EAD Designs who we all know that I LOVE! They have fabulous paper crafting stickerz and rub-ons as well as all sorts of Wall Art for your home! This week's winner will receive a EAD Designs prize pack!

Here's my card for this week. I really wanted to go back to doing vintage, I haven't been doing it as much lately. For my spool elements, I used Halloween Divine Twine, black/orange center stitched ribbon, and some orange net ribbon that sold out super fast. The cat and orange circle are from a kit of ephemera I got from Vintage Street Market. The paper is Echo Park. Then I added bling, a vintage button, and Stickles on the cat.

Be sure to check out the Ribbon Carousel Challenge Blog to see all the other amazing creations from the design team and to link up your creations!

EAD Blog Hop: Elegant and Cute

Hi friends! I'm back for another Monday Blog hop for EAD Designs. I love guest designing for EAD the month! You should have come here from the lovely Joanna's blog. If not, please go back to the EAD Blog to start the hop. Don't forget to leave comments on all the blogs on the hop, there's a GIVEAWAY out there!

This week, I wanted to show you how versatile EAD Stickerz can be. First up, I made an elegant card with the Vintage Furniture Stickerz. I love these shelves! Isn't that a great idea? For this card, I used the Card Positioning Systems #241. The paper is Authentique Uncommon.

For my next card, I decided to make something CUTE. You know how I love cute things, right? Did you know that EAD has a co-branded line of Stickerz, Rub-ons, Wall Art and Cling-Its with Softpencil Studios? You can see them all HERE. Did you also know that I used to be on the Softpencil design team?! It's always a treat to work with Elizabeth's adorable designs. I used the Cupcake Stickerz for this card. This is based off the SCS sketch from last week. The paper is My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy.

Next up on the hop is the amazing Lauren's blog!

FWF and Free Whisker Graphics Printable

Hi friends! I hope you had a great week! Today, we'll be heading to the pumpkin patch for a field trip with Brady's class. The kids are really excited to be going! I can't wait to take pictures of them!

Here's a tag I made with the Ippity alphabet set. The spider card is a free printable from Whisker Graphics, you can find it HERE. I misted the tag with some shimmer mist and added some black cardstock and bling. The tassel is made from Halloween Divine Twine and Black Licorice Divine Twine.

Be sure to check out the Unity Blog to see everyone participating in today's hop. LEAVE COMMENTS on each blog because there's a prize hidden! Have a great weekend everyone!

Tape Banner Tutorial

Here's my post from the Love My Tapes Blog yesterday:

Hi friends! It's Ashley here to share a project with you today. I'm sure you all know how popular banners are and I just wanted to show you how simple it is to make a banner from fabric tape.

To make the banner, you use have a select what size you'd like your flags and cut the tape pieces to that length. I used Mini Check Fabric Tape in Taffy, Sherbet, and Lemon Bar. Then cut the Vs into each end and stick them to the paper using either a piece of twine or string as the rope for the banner. I used Divine Twine.

I'd like to point out the stamp in this card. It is a Swimming For Katie stamp from i {heart} papers (an online store that sells Love My Tapes.) These stamps are to benefit my friend and fellow crafter, Katie Renz who is battling gastric cancer. If you can, please purchase a stamp. I have an incentive for you. I'm hosting a challenge for anyone who uses these stamps. Challenge details HERE. Love My Tapes has graciously donated 3 packs of fabric tape, 1 fabric sheet, and a double sided adhesive runner to my $200+ prize pack. (I love designing for these generous people!)

Have a great day!

Sept CARDS Magazine Pub

Hi friends! I hope you are having a great day! We were having a lazy morning until Brady was goofing off and standing on the chair. He fell off, hit his face on another chair and put two teeth through his lower lip. GAH! This is the life of a mom with two rough and tumble boys!

Ok, today, I'm sharing a card I had published in the Sept 2011 issue of CARDS Magazine by Northridge Media. For more details, check out the issue! You can still get it online or through their website! :D

Have a great day! Hope it's not as traumatic as mine!

EAD Blog Hop: Color Challenge and Kate Harper

Hi friends! I'm back for another Monday Blog hop for EAD Designs. I love guest designing for EAD the month! You should have come here from he lovely Joanna's blog. If not, please go back to the EAD Blog to start the hop. Don't forget to leave comments on all the blogs on the hop, there's a GIVEAWAY out there!

First up, I made a card for this month's EAD Color Challenge 17. Did you know that the EAD challenge is the only one where EVERYONE wins? Each person who enters gets a coupon for the store! And one person wins a $20 gift certificate to EAD! How cool is that?! Here are the colors for this month, to the left.

Here's my card. I used Card Patterns sketch #137. I used EAD's Be Thankful Stickerz for this. The papers are from My Mind's Eye and Brown Sugar Divine Twine.

Also, there's a new co-brand over at EAD that I haven't made a card with yet so I wanted to show off these cute Stickerz from Kate Harper. I used the Christmas Block Design Stickerz. I used some Basic Grey Nordic Holiday papers and some Holiday Divine Twine for this card.

Next up on the hop is the amazing Lauren's blog!

A CAS-ual Halloween Card

Hi friends! I hope you had a fabulous weekend! We had a wonderful one! The kids went to my mom's house from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning so that was lovely! I got to clean, redecorate a little, have date night, and relax. Then today when they came back, we went Halloween costume shopping. Both my kids want to be Batman. Sigh... :)

Here's a card I made for the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #24. The challenge is to make a Halloween card with NO orange! Not even a speck! Can you believe that? It's near impossible! Ok, maybe not impossible but I'm REALLY dependent on orange when it comes to Halloween and fall cards!

Here's my card. I decided to go with just black and white. All the papers are from My Mind's Eye Meadow Lark and the stickers are Making Memories.

Have a great night, everyone!

More Swagbucks Goodness

If you are new to Swagbucks, please read THIS POST to find out why EVERYONE should join Swagbucks!

If you wanna earn more Swagbucks, I have a couple suggestions for you.

First up is by using Special Offers:

For those who enjoy using Swagbucks reward points to get free stuff, there are lots of ways to earn - have you tried Special Offers?

Special Offers gives you a way to rack up Swag Bucks quickly by taking actions ranging fro surveys to free trials to making purchases to liking a Facebook page or simply watching videos. Take the action, get the bucks. It's that simple.

There are plenty of free offers as well as those that reward you for buying something - you have complete control over your Special Offers experience. The Special Offers page has hundreds of offers from recognized brands through a number of different providers, and the Swagbucks Team works hard to ensure that only the most honest and rewarding offers make it to the page.

You can visit the Swagbucks Special Offers page or look for offers on the rotating images in the Swagbucks homepage. From time to time, Team Swagbucks will send you an message to your Swagbucks inbox containing a limited time offer, so check there frequently! If you ever have reason to believe that an offer is not what it promises, please send an email to offeralert@swagbucks.com so their team can take the appropriate actions.

Try it out today!

Next up, a great way to earn more Swagbucks is to get some referrals! They are currently running a fun promotion for referrals right now:

If you are new to Swagbucks, sign up NOW! I have a code for you to get you an additional 70 Swagbucks but it expires on Monday Oct 17 at midnight. So HURRY join and use code 5for5 during sign up to get 70 extra Swagbucks!

- Get at least 5 new referrals who are NOT members of your household or sharing an address with you.

- Each referral must earn 50 Swag Bucks after joining, not including any bonuses they may get during sign up.

- Once your 5 (or more) referrals each earn that minimum of 50 Swag Bucks, you've qualified for a bonus of 500 Swag Bucks, which will be applied at the end of each month, so if you've get it done in October, you'll earn your bonus early! If you earn it in November, you'll get your bonus then. Only one bonus per person. This is in addition to the 1000 in matching search bucks that can be earned from each referral.

If you sign up, please use my referral link: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/HeartHugs

A Halloween Card and a Cause

Hi friends! October is a really hard month for the stamping and paper crafting community. I find that I just can't walk about from these causes especially when such a small contribution is asked from you.

Not too long ago, I saw a post about the owner of Simply Betty Stamps and how her son has cancer and needs surgery. Though Christian should make it through his surgery and be just fine, the family needs some financial help getting him the surgery. As a mom, I couldn't turn away from this. If one of my kids needed a surgery, I wouldn't know what to do. We don't have the means to cover that. I bought a digi stamp to go into their fund. Though it was only a few dollars, I hope it helps a bit. For more info, go HERE.

Here's the card I made with Simply Betty's Pumpkin Mickey Hat Betty. I LOVE this super cute image! Isn't she a doll? I combined this card with a couple challenges. I used Paper Works Co sketch #101, Wee Memories Challenge #71 to make a Halloween card, and Shop Our Stash #21 to use black and orange. The paper is Doodlebug and I colored with Copics.

Have a great day, everyone!

Thanks for Your Support!

Hi friends! I hope you are having a wonderful day! I've been dealing with a bout of insomnia so I'm super tired. Other than that, we are doing good.

Today, I'm showing a card I made for a couple challenges. First is the the Breast Cancer Awareness and Thank You challenge for Ellen Hutson, next is the SCS sketch for this week, and third is the Link Up for Pink linking party to support breast cancer awareness. I ALWAYS pull this sassy stamp set from Paper Makeup Stamps out for breast cancer awareness month. Nothing says support quite like good undergarments. The patterned paper is Authentique, the lace tape is from Love My Tapes, and I added stickles to this as well.

Have a great day, friends!

Swimming for Katie Challenge ($200+ PRIZE!)

***For my Ribbon Carousel post, please scroll down***

Have you all been Swimming for Katie with us? There is some AMAZING inspiration on the designers's blogs! Are you ready to help out too??

I've decided to host a Swimming for Katie Challenge! All you have to do to enter this challenge is use one of the stamps that were designed to benefit Katie and her family. All the proceeds from these stamps are going directly to the Renz Family. Make anything you want. Enter as many times as you want. Have your kids make something. It doesn't matter to me. But YOU MUST USE ONE OF THE SWIMMING FOR KATIE STAMPS! I will delete any entry that doesn't follow the rules.

What do you win?!?

From me:
~ A Cabochon sampler bag from my Heart Hugs Designs Etsy Shop
~ hand dyed seam binding
~ a 6x6 My Mind's Eye paper pad
~a Girl's Paperie On Holiday clear stamp set
~a Papertrey Ink Fly Away mini clear stamp set
~chipboard alphabet
~2 sheets of rub-ons
~$5 gift certificate to i {heart} papers

From my AMAZING sponsors:

Digital Delights by Louby Lou

~$15 gift certificate

Paper Smooches

~Hope stamp set (my set is in the photo, Paper Smooches will mail a set to the winner)

Color Me Creative Classroom

~ one class of winner's choice

EAD Designs

~Fight Like a Girl for a Cure vinyl set

~$35 gift certificate

Lawn Fawn Stamps

~On the Mend stamp set (MY set is in the photo, yours will be BRAND NEW)

Love My Tapes

~fabric sheet

~3 rolls of fabric tape

~double stick adhesive

Please enter your project in the Mr Linky by Tues Oct 25 at 11:59pm Pacific time to be entered in a random drawing to win this most excellent prize! :D Thanks for helping Katie!

RCC24 Sparkle and Bling

Hi friends! I hope that you had a great long weekend. We spent it being sick so that wasn't terribly fun. But at least we had some time to recoup because having to go to school/work. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.

This week, I'm on with the Ribbon Carousel Challenge. This week's challenge is using Sparkle and Bling. Remember, when you play along with the Ribbon Carousel Challenge, you MUST use ribbon, lace, trim, twine, or something that comes on a spool. Link up your creation by Oct 17, 2011 at 11:59pm.

This week, our sponsor is the awesome Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps! These stamps are super high quality and super cute! The prize is Broomstick Lucy.

Here's my card for this challenge. For my spool element, I used Oyster Divine Twine. The paper and sticker are from Comso Cricket and the sparkle element is Stickles.

Check out the Ribbon Carousel Challenge Blog to check out the other design team members' creations and to link up your creations.

Swimming For Katie Blog Hop

***For my EAD post, please scroll down***

Hi friends! Today, I'm participating in a hop that is extremely close to my heart. I hope you will take the time to go through and read this post. I have my own story to post and it will be under this text I'm going to share with you written by Kate Baldwin of i{heart}papers.

TOMORROW, I will be posting a challenge in honor of Katie where you can win a big PRIZE! Please come back and check that out!

Here's the info about this hop from Kate:

From October 10-12 some of the best stampers are joining together to support and encourage our friend and fellow stamper, Katie Renz, who is currently battling inoperable gastric cancer. If you're not familiar with her, Katie’s cancer story started just before Christmas last year. This young, beautiful, healthy, vibrant mother of 3 with her infectious smile was suddenly diagnosed with an inoperable cancer, virtually overnight. A few tummy aches and then stage 4 gastric cancer. Her first post about it is here. The idea of “Swimming for Katie” came from her recent post here.

This exclusive stamp used in my sample, designed by Becky Oehlers is available as a clear stamp, as well as a digis or a dig and SVG cut file. 100% of the profits go to Katie's fund to help her and her young family. Her husband Kevin and her three young children need our help and support. In addition to the Keep Swimming Octopus, Marianne Walker and True =D Doodle Designs both also donated digis that are for sale. Direct donations are also being accepted (on the left sidebar). Information central is HERE. This is a permanent page that will stay active at i {heart} papers with current information and the full 3 day blog hop listing, as well as the donation button.

Here are all the items available for sale.

Keep Swimming Octopus
Peachy Clear stamp
$5.50 with free shipping

Keep Swimming Octopus DIGIstamp
$3.00 with instant download


Keep Swimming Octopus DIGIstamp with SVG cut file
$3.50 with instant download


Keep Swimming Mermaid DIGIstamp
$3.50 with instant download


Keep Swimming Ribbon Fish DIGIstamp and DIGIpapers
$5.00 with instant download

I hope you will join me in supporting Katie through a purchase or donation. The donation button is on the left side of my blog.

The following is a list of everyone who has projects posted today. I hope you will be inspired by them and moved to purchase or donate. If you would like to send Katie a card her mailing address is:

Katie Renz
PO Box 5913
Bellingham, WA 98227-5913

I met Katie Renz through Splitcoast Stampers as I'm sure many stampers meet their online friends. I followed her work because I loved the companies she designed for and we became Facebook friends. We got to meet up in Jan 2010. This is a picture of Katie and me at CHA-W 2010. This is the first and only time I'd met Katie in person and her sweetness is so apparent.

My heart broke in half when I learned about Katie's cancer. It hit close to home, she's a mother of 3 young boys. I have 2 boys myself. My heart aches for her and her children and her husband. I wish there was more I could do.

Katie and I have become a little closer over the last few months and I've seen how strong she is. She is an inspiration to me in so many ways. Every time I see a picture or video of her, she always has a smile to share with us. Even in all her pain, she is ALWAYS putting her children first. The epitome of an amazing mother. And she's still taking the time to create her beautiful cards for the special people in her life. She's grabbing life by the horn and taking motorcycle lessons. She inspires me at every turn.

Katie, I pray for you and your family with all my heart, everyday. Thank you for blessing me with your friendship! Let's make it a goal to see each other next Jan and we'll take this picture again. This time, I'll savor each minute more.

Here's the card I made for this hop. I bought the clear stamp and it works beautifully! I used Jen del Muro's Oct SFYTT for this card. I asked Katie how she wanted the octopus colored and she said "aqua with a blingy crown." I used Copics, Echo Park Paper, and Lemon Divine Twine.

If you'd like to make a donation, here's the button to do so.

Here are the people on today's hop:

AJ Otto
Beate
Carolyn Mustopa
Dawn Burnworth
Deb Felts
Gretchen Belknap
Heather Jensen
Jen del Muro
Julie Ranae
Kate - i {heart} papers
Kendra Wietstock
Lisa Johnson
Loretta Lock
Lori Tecler
Lynn Mercurio
Marianne Walker
Michele Gross
Stacy aka Twinshappy
Tracy Schultz
Debbie Olson
Cindy Lawrence
Cindy Haffner
Julie Koerber
Christine Okken
Tammy Hershberger
Danielle Kennedy
Barbara Anders
Makiko Jones
Ashley N Newell (You are HERE!)
Shannan Teubner
Taylor Usry
Jen Tapler
Jenn Balcer
Jenny Chesnick
Jess Larsen
Jessica Knutsen
Jimmi Mayo
Joan Bardee
Joan Ervin
Julia Aston

Julie Day

Julie Ebersole

EAD Blog Hop: Merry Christmas!

Hi friends! I hope you are having a great day! I'm back this week with the fabulous EAD team for another awesome Monday blog hop! I love these girls and they are SO fun to work with! You should have come to my blog from the amazing Joanna's blog, if you stumbled onto my blog today, you should head back to the EAD Designs Blog to start the hop. Don't forget to leave comments since there's a giveaway on the hop somewhere!

Here's my card for today's hop. I used some newly released Christmas Stamps Stickerz. How cute are these images? I love them! I'm also entering this into the Jingle Belles Use Pink Challenge (they are donating $2 to the Susan G Komen foundation for each card entered.) I used Echo Park paper and Divine Twine on this as well.

Next on the hop is the super fabulous LAUREN!

Operation Julie's Smile Blog Hop (over $2500 in PRIZES)

***This post has been moved to the top of my blog until the end of the hop on Sunday night. Please scroll down for new posts.***

Hi friends! Boy, do I have a special event for you today! I am honored to be a part of the Operation Julie's Smile blog hop to benefit my friend Julie Ranae. You should have come here from Jennifer Rzasa's blog. If not, go back to the Sweet Stamp Shop blog to start the hop. LEAVE COMMENTS along the way, there are SO many prizes to be won!

Here's the reason we are hopping today:

“The creative blogging community is coming together this weekend to help one of our friends, Julie Ranae. You may know her as the Design Team Coordinator for many wonderful companies from bakers twine, die cuts, rubber stamps and more. What many people don’t know about Julie Ranae is that she has had some pretty major dental surgeries in her lifetime due to medication she had to take as a child. It was in her plans to think about having all of her teeth replaced at some point in the next 5 years, a decision that was pretty easy to plan out. But then it happened…she chipped her front teeth on a weekend a month ago. The dentist told her there was no way to save them & that it was his recommendation that she give in and have them all her teeth removed soon, but for that day, they needed to get her front teeth done so her gums could begin to heal. He said he would 'work out payments with her to have ALL this work done...but when she called to make her appt for the first step of impressions, they told her the amount of money that was needed and that the 'payments' applied only to the two teeth that were extracted that day. Her husband Paul was with her & that too, was his understanding as well. So this is how she has found herself in this situation…Needing at least $4000 to get started and another $3000 to finish the process…a total of $7000.

Nicole Rixon, owner of Sweet Stamp Shop put together this benefit after finding out about this situation and before Julie Ranae knew it, it took flight!

Because she is an event organizer by trade, she has taken on the job of organizing all of the blogs in this hop as her way of ‘working overtime’ for what she needs, the same as if she were able to work overtime at an outside job to pay for the work to be done.

It is the goal of all of these generous friends & sponsors to help make this situation more do-able for our friend so that she can share a brand new smile with all of us soon.

If there is anything you can do to help with a financial donation, there is a donation button ready for you to click. Any amount is appreciated and ALL DONATIONS will be eligible for prizes from our sponsor pool of over $2500.”

Here's my card for today. When I think of Julie, I always think of her joining her hubby at Barnes and Noble for a cuppa so that's where I got the inspiration for this card. I used Paper Smooches new Hot Concoctions for this card along with some new Free Bird paper from Authentique. The little roses are from my Etsy shop, Heart Hugs Designs. I used Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch 137 for this card.

MY DONATION: I'm always trying to teach my children to give what we can. For this event, I've donated 1 new in package Ippity Stamp set, a couple sets of cabochons from my Etsy Shop and some seam binding that I dyed myself.

I hope you enjoyed my card! Next up on the hop is MICHELLE MATHEY! Don't forget to leave comments on each stop of the hop for your chance to win one of the amazing prizes! If you can, please make a donation (button is in my sidebar) to help our friend get her smile back.

Dreaming of a Pink Christmas (and a Cure)

Hi friends! I hope you're having a great Friday! We are ok. Dustin and I are sick so we had a slow day. We did head over to the Macaroni Grill to use a free lunch coupon. I LOVE free lunch! YAY! I had some soup and pasta. It did make me feel better!

My pals over at the Jingle Belles are hosting an AWESOME challenge this week! They are donating $2 per card entered into this challenge. The challenge is to make a Christmas card with pink on it! Go HERE for challenge details.

Here's my card for this challenge using some Doodlebug papers and some Stampin Up ribbon. I added a stick pin and done. Easy peasy! I'm also link this card up to the Link Up for Pink linking party for breast cancer.

Have a great day!