A bunch of good stuff!

A few things to share today....

First up - head over and check out Paper Smooches DT Blog Hop...be sure to stop by all the designer's blogs and leave a comment for a chance to win one of there not yet released April stamp sets...

FINALLY FRIDAY CHALLENGE @ TWOPEAS

The Finally Friday challenge this week was to create a card that has a removable bookmark...what a cool idea!! Wish I would have thought of it!! I guess that's why we have galleries like at twopeasinabucket.com...for inspiration and creative sharing! I also used one of Kimber's older card sketches for inspiration:

Anyways, here is my card for the week's challenge:

For the bookmark...there are two magnets (one on either side of the bookmark) so that it folds around your book pages and "clicks" together....so cute!

Supplies used: Cardstock - Bazzill; Patterned Paper - BoBunny Shabby Princess (Sophia Worn Dots), Pebbles Fresh Goods (Rain Check), Basic Grey Origins 6X6 Paper Pad, Doodlebug Petite Prints (Bumblebee). LilyBee Designs Head Over Heals (Dreamy) & Memorandum 6X6 Paper Pad; Unity Stamp Co - Hodge Podge of Happiness & Favorite Sentiments (co-Branded with Jillibean Soup); Memento Ink - Tuxedo; X-Press it Cardstock; Copics- R24, R29, R39, Y21, Y26, BG01, BG05, B01, YG11, YG61,YG63, YG67,C1,C3, W00; Tim Holtz - Mini Paper Clip; Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Vintage Photo; Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher; Divine Twine - Cherry; Spellbinders - Labels No.22

UNITY STAMP FWF FRIDAY & KOM SKETCH CHALLENGE

I created this card for the March KOM Sketch Challenge at Unity Stamp Co.

I used my March KOM stamp set that just arrived!! This time around I wanted to make a more masculine card...definately more challenging for me. I am happy with all the fun stars and the grey and yellow color palette.

Unity Stamp Co: March 2012 KOM; Twinkle Twinkle Itty Bitty; Authentic Man - Ippity by Unity

Other Supplies Used: Carstock - Bazzill; Patterned Paper - October Afternoon Farmhouse (Gravel) & Seaside (Sandcastle); Divine Twine - Lemon; Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Pumice Stone; Jenni Bowlin Ink - Fountain Pen & Weather Vane; Tim Holtz wood grain embossing folder; Stickles by Ranger - Stardust; Buttons - Misc.

Thanks so much for checking out what I have been up to!

October Afternoon Weekly/2 Peas Sat Card Sketch Challenge

I chose to combine two challenges into one this week.....I've been wanting to play with my new Sasparilla papers from October Afternoon and when I saw Kimber's Card Sketch Challenge this week I immediately envisioned circles with stars in them. This affect worked well for the negative/positive challenge at October Afternoon too...so it just made sense to combine them both.

So here is the sketch I based my card on:

And then October Afternoon challenged us to use both the positive and the negative space from a die-cut shape...this is what I came up with:

To create the little circle/star embellies...I punched my star out of the center of my circle and then using dimensional adhesive I attached it to a second circle of pattern paper (making a mini shadow box, basically). Then I added a mini staple for added design and texture.

October Afternoon Supplies Used: Patterned Paper - Sasparilla (Wide Open Spaces, Giddy up, Stage Coach) ; Holiday Style (Toyland); Campfire (Sleeping Bag); Campfire Word Stickers 

Other Supplies Used: Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher; Tim Holtz Distresss Ink - Vintage Photo; Sentiment - Stampin' Up - FYI; Star Punch - EK Success; Spellbinders Nestabilities - Classic Circles; Photo Corner - Misc.

Thanks for looking!

Weekly Challenge at Two Peas

This week's Two Peas challenge was to scraplift a Garden Girl. There are soooo many great layouts by the garden girls...it was hard to choose. I did manage to narrow it down, but you never know, I may end up doing another layout or two before the week is over.

Here's the layout I scraplifted:

This amazing layout was done by Wilna. I just love all the little cameras she stamped on the squares of patterned paper. Any excuse to get lots of patterns on a layout works for me. And I have been wanting to incorporate my stamps into my scrapbooking more and more. These two factors made this the perfect layout for me to scraplift. 

Well, here's my take on Wilna's layout:

I cut out the "lots of love" phrase on the Cricut using the Birthday Bash cartridge....I used the negative space on the tag the same way that Wilna did on her layout....

Supplies Used: Cardstock - Bazzill; BoBunny Back to Basics (Sugar Dot); Echo Park Playground (Heads Up 7Up), Style Essentials (Yellow Flourish), For the Record (Borders); Fancy Pants Love Birds (Kissame); Crate Paper Random Collection (Victorian & Textile); Doodlebug Petite Prints (Swimming Pool); Studio Calico Alphabet Soup; Jillibean Soup Pasta Fagioli Paper (Clove Fresh Garlic); Ki Memories Color Me Happy (Rainbow Stripe); Pink Paislee Sweetness - Metal Badges; MME Stella & Rose Gertie "Little One" Label Stickers; October Afternoon Seaside Label Stickers; Jillibean Soup Homemade 6 Bean Soup Alphabet; October Afternoon Farmhouse Found Alpha; Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher; Ek Success Heart Punches; Manilla Tag - Ranger; Birthday Bash Cricut Cartridge; Unity Stamp Co - We Treasure You; Ippity Stamps - Loads Of Love & Straight From the Heart; American Craft Dear Lizzy Date Stamp; Jenni Bowlin Ink - Fountain Pen, Chilli Powder & Seed Packet; American Craft Slick Writer; Pebbles Fresh Goods Chipboard Flowers; Pebbles Mini Clothes pins; October Afternoon Sprinklers - 5 & Dime (Red Wagon); Studio Calico Mister Huey's - Clay & Atmosphere

Phew...that's quite the supply list....love digging in my stash and using up a mish-mash of goodies. I had loads of fun creating this layout.....a big thanks to Wilna for her amazing inspiration!

Two Wins in the Last Week!!

Is there anything more exciting than meandering over to your favorite blogs to see who the winners of the monthly challenges are and seeing your name?? It's completely unexpected and it happened to me...twice!!.....this week!! In both instances it made my jaw drop in shock...which was shortly replaced with an excited grin!!! I love playing along with challenges, and I always hope I'll be picked but I never really expect to be picked. This has been very exciting for me and I feel honored to be chosen. There are soooo many talented ladies out there....so thank you for the recognition. 

Here are the winners circle posts for the two challenges I won:

Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge

Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge is a bi-monthly challenge based on inspiration from a posted image....you get the creative freedom to interpret it how you would like....for more info on the newest challenge click here. The deadline is April 4.

My Mind's Eye Blog Card Challenge #33

There isn't a new challenge posted yet for MME, but keep checking back here. They do them every month! They have layout and card challenges...both are usually based on a sketch.

I encourage you all to join in the challenge fun! It's a great way to get your creative juices flowing...and sometimes it gets you thinking outside the box....plus you never know...you could win a prize!

October Afternoon Sketch Challenge

This week's sketch from October Afternoon:

This is my take on the sketch:

October Afternoon Supplies: Farmhouse Collection - Word stickers, label stickers, shape stickers, Found Alpha, & Patterned papers (Kitchen Cupboard, Gravel Road, Church Social, Sunday Dinner, Attic Trunk); 5&Dime Collection - Sprinkler - Lemon Drop; Sasparilla Collection - Buttons; Rocket Age Collection - Patterned paper (Space Station); Mini Market Alphas - Gray & Cream

Other Supplies Used: Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Pumice Stone; Mister Huey's - Clay; Unity Stamp Co - Worn Grid; American Craft Slick Writer; Divine Twine - Oyster; Spellbinder's Nestabilities - Classic Circles; Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher

I stamped the background using my gray mister instead of ink...then I dropped yellow splotches on top of the grid pattern....I then built the rest of the page. My photo had this large white area from the way the sunlight was coming in the room so I ended up cropping it a lot more than I wanted to. But I am happy with how the layout turned out. Phew...it's been a while since I've scrapbooked...been on such a card craze lately....Thanks for looking!

My Mind's Eye Blog Challenge #33: Card

I have wanted to participate in the MME challenges since I discovered them last month.....I just never got my act together in time for the last one...so this month I decided that I definately HAD to do it!

For more info on the challenge click here. But the main idea is to use this sketch.

Here is my card. I did not have any MME chipboard or die-cut shapes (I will have to remedy this in the future), so I cut out one of the hexagon's from the "Honey Pink" patterned paper. I think the papers I picked out are very romantic so this will definately be a perfect wedding card for someone.

The word happy was already on the paper....so I just added to it by stamping the word "together" to create my sentiment.

I made the banners using a mix of punched out circle shapes from the "Honey Pink" paper and the decorative buttons (which have these sweet little chipboard banner and button pieces).

My Minds Eye Supplies used: Patterned Paper - Follow Your Heart "Be Happy" Be Joyful & Honey Pink, Kraft Fun-day Everyday Fun "Fun & Games"; Follow Your Heart decorative buttons; Miss Caroline "Best" pins & buttons

Other Supplies used: Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher & Vintage Photo Distress ink; Studio AE Family Circle stamp set (together); Jenni Bowlin ink - Fountain Pen; Pearls - Kaisercraft; Burlap Twine - Papertreyink; Lace-misc.

Make sure to keep watch on the MME blog for the next month's challenge. I know I'll be playing along! 

Thanks for looking:)

I won second place in the Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge!!!

I was so excited for Friday to finally be here.....I knew they were announcing the winners for the SPARKS Challenge at Paper Smooches! I held my breathe a little as I opened up the laptop and headed straight to their blog.....and to my absolute delight, I saw my card!!! Thank you so, so much Paper Smooches! I had so much fun playing in this challenge! And I will definately be putting my new stamp sets to good use! This just made my week! 

Make sure you check out the new SPARKS Challenge. Such a fun way to get inspiration...and you never know, you may even win some awesome Paper Smooches stamps!

Saturday Card Sketch Challenge with Kimber @ TwoPeas

This week at Two Peas in A Bucket, Kimber came up with this great little sketch for the Saturday Card Sketch Challenge.

I wanted to play along so I came up with a couple cards this week...I was playing with my new SEI Field Notes Collection...so many beautiful butterflies. I just had to fussy cut the butterflies out of the Butterfly Collection paper....they are all just so pretty.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill; Patterned Paper - SEI Field Notes (butterfly collections, & kaleidoscope); Clear Vellum; Staz-On ink - black; Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Black Soot; Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher

For this card I used my score-board and made little square block frames for my color blocking pieces....got this great idea Tami Mayberry from the American Craft/Score-Pal Blog Hop.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill; Patterned Paper - SEI Field Notes (butterfly collections), October Afternoon Holiday Style (Toyland) & Farmhouse (Gravel), Echo Park For the Record (newsprint); Clear Vellum; Staz-On ink - black; Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Pumice Stone; Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher; Red Rhinestones - Kaisercraft; Martha Stewart Score-board

Thanks for looking!! Make sure to check out the challenge too!! It's always fun to play along!

Finally!! I Made an Asian Inspired Card!

I've had this paper stashed away for a while now. Next came this adorable stamp from The Greeting Farm...and then most recently the little charm from BoBunny's new Serenity line. So here is my long 

awaited Asian creation.....

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill; Patterned Paper - Kaisercraft Sakura Park; Spellbinders Nestabilities - Lacey Circles & Classic Circles; Stamps - Hero Arts - Arigato Clear Stamp & The Greeting Farm - Geisha Anya; Memento Ink - Tuxedo; X-Press it cardstock; Copics - R24, R29, R39, C3, C5, C9, R20, E00, E01, E50; Stickles - Xmas Red; Glossy Accents; Tim Holtz Distress ink - Pumic Stone & Black Soot; Black Rhinestones - Kaisercraft - Charm - BoBunny Serenity Buttons; Ribbon, Lace, Photo Corners - Misc.

Isn't she sweet?? I can't wait to do some more Asian themed cards. I've been hoarding my supplies long enough...time to use them! Thanks for looking!

Playing with my 'New' Stash

Went to Calgary recently and of course, I had to stop in at the LSS's. I was so excited to finally get my hands on some of the new CHA goodies I've been drooling over ever since the sneak peaks.....I've been playing with some of my new stuff, along with some of my Unity stamps, and I managed to come up with some cards I am super happy with.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill; Patterned Paper - Echo Park This & That (Flower Box & Wooden Nickel) & Doodlbug Petite Prints (Bumblebee); Unity Stamp Co - Better Together; Memento Ink - Tuxedo; X-press it Cardstock; Copics - R20, R24, Y00, Y02, Y21, E00, B000, C1, C3; Glossy Accents; Stickles - Stardust; Flowers - Prima Marketing (Songbird) & Petaloo; Leaves - Petaloo; Spellbinders - Lacey Circles & Circles; Brads - MME; Trinket pin - Prima Marketing; Pearls - Kaisercraft; Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Vintage Photo; Ribbon, trim & doily - Misc.

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill; Patterned Paper - Basic Grey Picadilly (Three Layer Cake) & Life of the Party (Candy Bag); Unity Stamp Co - Party Party Party (cake) & Blossom Stackers (sentiment); X-Press it cardstock; Memento Ink - Tuxedo; Copics - R24, R29, B21, B23, Y02, YR12, YR16, B000, G02, G05, RV00, RV02, Y21, Y26; Spellbinders - Labels #22; Tim Holtz Distress ink - Pumice Stone; Stickles - Yellow & Waterfall; Glossy Accents; Divine Twine - Cherry; Flower Trinket Pins - Maya Road; Button, photo corners & Seam binding - Misc

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill; Patterned Paper - Echo Park A Boy's Life (Suave), MME Lime Twist Out of the Blue 6X6 pad, Basic Grey; Unity Stamp Co - Love You Tons & Hearts of Old (Background); Memento Ink - Tuxedo; Copics - C1, C3; Jenni Bowlin ink - Weather Vane; Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Chipped Sapphire; Divine Twine - Oyster; Espirit Flowers by Prima Marketing; Heart Punch - EK Success/Stampin' Up; Buttons - Misc.

I had so much fun making these cards. I hope you enjoyed them too! Thanks for looking!

Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge

This month's SPARKS challenge at Paper Smooches was to draw inspiration from this Pinterest photo.

I love the textures and the subtle colors on this wall hanging. And the handmade, organic feel it has.

Right away I thought of burlap when I saw this photo. 

So for my first card, I just knew I had to use it. I drew inspiration from the texture of the layered flowers as well. I love how my card turned out. Simple and clean is more of a challenge for me, but I really felt that the inspiration piece called for this type of look. I really like how the simple tone on tone look of the flowers and the embossed white background gives my card layers and texture while remaining simple. I also feel that the burlap helps give it a bit of that organic feel.

Supplies: Paper Smooches Stamps - Sentiment Sampler; Dry Embossing folder by Crafts Too; Tim Holtz Distress ink - vintage photo; Flowers by Petaloo; Burlap and buttons - Misc.

For my second card, I drew inspiration from the subtle colors in the inspiration peice. I wanted to mimic the white on kraft with a hint of color. So this is what I came up with. Again I added some interest by dry embossing my card base. And I also kept this card clean and simple. I enjoyed this challenge as I had to really work outside my comfort zone. I feel that it pushed me to try something really new.

Supplies: Paper Smooches Stamps - Chit Chat (Sentiment) & A Little Lovin', Perpetual Bliss, Boob Tubes (Hearts); Bazzill kraft cardstock; Versamark ink; American Craft Zing white embossing powder; Dry Embossing folder by Tim Holtz; Buttons & photo corner - Misc.

Thanks so much for looking! Good luck to all the participants this month. I'm already looking forward to next month's challenge.

Webster's Pages Giveaway! Plus a fabulous new commercial!

Webster's Pages "The Delivery" from Webster's Pages on Vimeo.

Check out this amazing chance to win $500 in Webster's Pages product!!! So generous!

The Cat's Meow!

We went away for the weekend and my angel of a neighbor took care of our four cats for us. This was VERY much appreciated! It also gave me a chance to use my "Hugs & Kitties" stamp set by Unity Stamp Co. Here's the cute little thank you card I came up with.

 Supplies: Bazzill kraft cardstock; The Pet Stack - DCWV; Walnut Stain distress ink by Tim Holtz, Punches - Stampin' Up/EK Success; Jenni Bowlin Brown Sugar ink; Staz-On Jet Black; Clear Vellum; Tiny Attacher by Tim Holtz; Eucalyptus Stickles by Ranger; Unity Stamp Co - Hugs & Kitties; Ippity by Unity - Just Wanted to Stay; Twine - Papertreyink

Normally I leave the inside of my cards blank, but the little paw stamp needed to be used. It's just so cute....and I am happy with the little detail this added to the card.

This card was also very loosely based on the Saturday Card Sketch by Kimber at Two Peas in A Bucket. I love sketches. I find that they often get me going and a lot of the time my final product looks nothing like the original sketch. But it sure is nice to use a sketch to get you moving when the creativity needs a little push. Thanks for the inspiration Kimber!

Thanks for checking out my card!