Quiet time...

You'll find it kinda' quiet on my blog this week, and that picture above tells you the reason why! Just had to share... my oldest daughter, Kaylie graduated from high school on Sunday, and this coming Saturday we're having her party. There's SO much to do in preparation for this shindig, so I'm taking a stamping break for most of the week.

But in the meantime, don't forget to check out the Timeless Tuesday challenge still carrying on as usual over at Flourishes! Silke is the hostess this week with a Father's Day challenge for you. We have a new Guest Designer for the month of June, the incomparable Pat Adam! And we have a new member of the team to make welcome, the talented Heather Jensen! And I want to give a shout out to another huge talent, Iwona Palamountain who is filling in my blank space this week!

Happy stamping, everyone! I'll see you on (Bellarific) Friday!

Stamping Bella and a Sketch for You to Try

The June Sketch for You to Try this month is being sponsored by Stamping Bella, so I pulled out the newly released Lulu's Morning Fix to create this card with the sketch as inspiration. Since Lulu has such gorgeous, big hair I ended up having to make my focal image an oval instead of a circle, as shown in the sketch. (Lulu does her hair like we did back in the 80's... the higher the hair, the closer to God!) I paired my image with some papers from the Lime Twist "Life of the Party" paper pad from My Mind's Eye, and some hand-dyed seam binding.

Here's a close-up of the glitter I added to Lulu's dressing gown... a girls gotta' have some bling no matter what time of the day it is!
And on the inside is the sentiment... a perfect card to send to a good friend!
If I were you, I'd stop over at i {heart} 2 stamp and check out the challenge details, because I'm sure than Em is probably offering a fabulous prize for the month! The sketch is awesome too, so I know I'll be playing along several times this month!

Happy Saturday... thanks for stopping by!

Bellarific Friday

Hooray for Friiiiiiidaaaaayyyy!! And it's Bellarific Friday, as usual so that makes it twice as nice! This week, the Babes are being manly and doing masculine-themed cards for the challenge, so be sure to hop over to Blogabella and check out all the testosterone we've got going on! LOL

I picked up this Karen Foster paper with fishing lures all over it back in April when I visited Monkey Business Scrapbook Lounge in Erie, PA to teach Copic classes, so I thought I'd pair it up with Fishafella for my card today. My Fella is colored with Copic markers on Bella's Bestest Cream cardstock (LOVE that cardstock!) and I used a Nesties oval to cut him out. The "quite a catch" sentiment is computer-generated.

The Bella Babes would love to have you play along with us next week! One lucky player wins some Bella Bucks to spend in the online store, (and also don't forget to leave comments on the Bellarific blog post, because another lucky person wins Bella Bucks for that, also!) Next week's challenge is paper-piecing! Let's see what you can do!

Happy stamping!

Morning Coffee

I had the chance to play with some newly released sentiments from Verses Rubber Stamps last night, and made this card using the Clean & Simple sketch #142 for the layout. This sentiment is the new "All the Coffee" stamp (#MC0651-D) from Verses Rubber Stamps and the paper I used here is from the Coffee Beans digital paper pack from My Time Made Easy. I printed the coffee cups here on Kraft cardstock for a litte more muted background.

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your visits and comments!

Color Throwdown #144

Hey everyone, it's time for another Color Throwdown challenge! Cathy is our hostess this week, and she has chosen these lovely Spring/Summer colors for you to try! I pulled out my fabulous Occasional Labels stamp set, and the coordinating Sentimental Occasions stamp set from My Time Made Easy to create my card. The wonderful thing about these stamps (designed by our own CTD'er Kristin Eberline!) is that you can also download the Occasional Label cut file and use your Cricut to cut out the frame and oval for the stamps! I was lucky enough to get a used Cricut last month for a really reasonable price, and just LOVE being able to cut out the frames to use with these stamps! I'm hoping to have more time over the summer to explore what else I can do with this wonderful little machine!
My rolled roses were made with the Mini Rolled Rose die from My Favorite Things.

Stop and see what my Throwdown sisters have created for today, including our new Guestie for June, the beautiful Betty Wright!

Barbara Anders

Broni Holcombe

Carole Burrage

Cathy Rulli

Danielle Kennedy

Kristin Eberline

Laura Pryor

Betty Wright, June Guestie

Thanks bunches for stopping by!

Timeless Tuesday #120

Wow, it's so hard to believe we're up to challenge #120 for Timeless Tuesday! The days just fly by! This week, the Uber-Creative Cindy Haffner is our challenge hostess and she has a color challenge for you this week... use Cranberry, Caramel and/or Dark Grey and Brown. Stop on over at the Flourishes blog for all the challenge details on how you can enter your own creation. We give one lucky participant $10 each week to spend in the Flourishes online store, so check out the challenge rules and play along!

I decided to create a Father's Day card for the challenge, using the wood-grain paper from October Afternoon for my dark grey, and Kraft for the caramel (because I LOVE my Kraft cardstock!) This stamp set is the new What a Catch set, and has a bunch of wonderful images and sentiments that are perfect for the fishing sons, fathers and grandfathers in your life! I talked my hubby into digging through his tackle box and finding me an old hook to embellish the twill ribbon! For safety, I had him cut off the barb! :)

Check out the fabulous creations today from the other Flourishes bloggers for more inspiration...

Betty Wright

Cindy Haffner

Makiko Jones

Silke Ledlow

Brenda O'Rear/Benzi - May Guest Designer

I can't wait to see what you create with these colors! Happy stamping!

Better Get Better

My three-day weekend has been so delightful... unlimited stamping time, combined with unlimited family time! It doesn't get better than this!

Sorry, I don't normally like to do too many posts in one day, but I just thought I'd share with you this Bella card I made today. This is a Tiddly Inks image from Stamping Bella called "Nurse Nellie to the Rescue." I colored her up on Bella's Bestest White cardstock with Copic markers and used the May Sketch for You to Try for the layout. The papers I used are Echo Parks new Dots & Stripes.

Nothing says "get better" better than a little girl with an injured teddy bear, right? :)

Have a fabulous evening!

Memorial Day 2011

Just a quick card, clean and simple, that I made this weekend using this Will Rogers Quote (#QQ-0849E) stamp from Verses Rubber Stamps. This is going to get sent to my cousin's son who is in his third week of basic training at Lackland AFB in Texas to thank him for being our hero!

The layout is loosely based on this week's Card Positioning Systems sketch #220, and the starry designer paper is from October Afternoon.

To all the HEROES out there serving in our military, past and present... THANK YOU FOR OUR FREEDOM! And to the families of those who serve, I thank you too for the sacrifice you make!

God bless you all!

Color Challenge - TSG109

It's time for another challenge with There She Goes, and this week we have a color challenge for you... Ivory, Red and Teal. I think this combination makes for some great designs, as I hope you'll find out if you decide to play along! If you play, you could win $5 to spend in the TSG store, and you may also find yourself in the Trendsetting Spotlight that shines on the TSG Blog every Thursday. We will be on the look out to find challenge cards that stand out and show Trendsetting qualities. TSG stamps are not required to participate in the challenges but are appreciated :)
I decided to make a fairly clean and simple card using the new Freeze the Moment stamp set that was just released on Saturday! The gingham paper I used is October Afternoon, and my layout is based on Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch #119.

Stop by the TSG blog for all the challenge details, and to link up your own creation!

Happy stamping!

CrAzY for Vacation - C4C89

It's time for another cRaZy challenge this week! Joanne is hosting for the last time this month, and since summer is almost upon us (hopefully!) our thoughts turn to getting away and enjoying some vacation time! So everyone is creating cards with a favorite vacation theme or summer activity!

I am using the Beach Life stamp set from Flourishes for my card, and stamped this heavenly scene using five different stamps from the set, then colored with Copics. This striped ribbon reminded me of a beach towel, or maybe a cabana so I added it to my card along with some distressing and crazy stitching.

Let's see your vacation-themed cards! Check out the C4C blog for all the details, and Mr. Linky is there so you can link up your creation! And check out the other Crazies for more inspiration...

Barbara Anders

Cindy Haffner

Frances Byrne

Jessie Rone

Joanne Grzelak

Jocelyn Pelkey

Lynda Benden

Maria Bell

Silke Ledlow

Silke Kittman

Vicki Garrett

Happy Saturday, and happy 3-day weekend!

Bellarific Friday

TGIF!!! OH. MY. GOSH! T.G.I.F! And especially since it's Memorial Day weekend! Woohoo! I NEED this 3-day weekend SO bad! How about you?

Since it's Friday, it's time for another Bellarific Friday challenge, and this week we're getting manly with a color combo... navy, green and Kraft! My "manliest" Bella stamp is this Ethan Lollipop image, so he was my choice for today's card. He's got his skateboard handy and is getting ready to go grind some rails! (Aren't you impressed with my skateboarding slang?) I colored Ethan on Bella's Bestest Cream Carstock with Copic markers, then cut him out with a Nestabilities Curved Rectangle. The plaid paper is from October Afternoon, and I embossed the navy blue piece on the right with the Diamond Plate embossing folder. The sentiment is stamped on a Sentiment Flag die from Lil' Inker Designs, and the layout was inspired by the May Sketch for You to Try.

Stop over at Blogabella and see all the manly creations today from da' Babes, and check out what the Bella Sistahood has created as well! One of those lucky sistahs is going to win some Bella Bucks to spend, just for playing along! And one lucky commenter will win as well, so be sure to leave some love! And while you're at it, check out next week's challenge and play along... we're continuing the manliness by created masculine-themed cards!

Once Upon a Time Blog Hop Challenge

Are you needing a fairy tale moment? Let this Prince and Princess escort you to a land far, far away! These wonderfully illustrated image from Di Carubia were designed to create a number of different scenes that you will enjoy using time and time again.

Once Upon a Time is a 4x8 stamp set that includes a total of 15 stamps and will sell for $18.

For my card, I decided to create a Princess birthday card with these gorgeous papers from My Mind's Eye. For the layout, I borrowed Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch for this past week, turning it on the side to fit my image. The sentiment circle is backed with a little ruffle made from a bit of gathered seam binding.
Would you like a chance to win this Once Upon a Time stamp set? Here's what you need to do... go to each of the Trendsetter's blogs and leave a comment on their Once Upon a Time Blog Hop Challenge post. (Hopefully you just arrived here from Melyssa's blog. If not, you'll want to start at the beginning with Angela's blog!) After you have finished checking out the eye candy and have left some love, return to the TSG blog and add your name to the Mr. Linky at the bottom of the Blog Hop Challenge post for this set. A winner will be chosen randomly to receive their very own Once Upon a Time stamp set! The winner will be announced on Saturday, May 28th during the Release Party Chat in the TSG forum. So now, you will want to hop on over to the blog of our Guest Trendie this month, Terrific Theresa!

If you've had these bad storms in your neck of the woods, I pray you and your family are safe! We had lots of wind, rumbling and lightening here through the evening Wednesday but made it through safely! Whoever ticked off Mother Nature needs to apologize to her, and soon! :)

Happy stamping!

Forever Blog Hop Challenge

This new set "Forever" from Torico showcases her flawless and realistic illustration of these beautiful flowers and is paired with several sentiments that coordinate with the image. This set is a must-have for any flower lover! "Forever" is a 3x4 stamp set that includes a total of 5 stamps and will sell for $7.
For my sneak peek today of this set, I used the Color Throwdown challenge for today to create my card. Laura is our challenge hostess today and she was inspired by the colors in the Springtime paper from Echo Park. For all the challenge details, please stop by the Throwdown blog. The flowers were stamped in black ink on this solid pink paper from the Springtime paper pad, then I just shaded them a little with some Copic markers (RV10 and RV11) and colored the stems green .
Would you like a chance to win the Forever stamp set? Here's what you need to do... go to each of the Trendsetter's blogs and leave a comment on their Forever Blog Hop Challenge post. (Hopefully you just arrived here from Melyssa's blog. If not, you'll want to start at the beginning with Angela's blog!) After you have finished checking out the eye candy and have left some love, return to the TSG blog and add your name to the Mr. Linky at the bottom of the Blog Hop Challenge post for this set. A winner will be chosen randomly to receive their very own Forever stamp set! The winner will be announced on Saturday, May 28th during the Release Party Chat in the TSG forum. So now, you will want to hop on over to the blog of our Guest Trendie this month, Terrific Theresa!

And for more inspiration with these colors, visit my Color Throwdown sisters blogs...

Laura Pryor

Barbara Anders

Broni Holcombe

Carole Burrage

Cathy Rulli

Danielle Kennedy

Kristin Eberline

Jen Mitchell, May Guest Designer

Happy stamping!

Freeze the Moment - There She Goes Blog Hop Challenge

Wishing for a hot summer day? This gorgeous stamp set designed by Melyssa Connolly will get you in the mood with it's deliciously delightful, summery sentiments and images! Freeze the Moment is a 4x8 stamp set that includes a total of 29 stamps and will sell for $18.

For my card, I used these delectable scoops of ice cream, all perfectly topped with fruit, sauce, whipped cream and SPRINKLES! I kept my design pretty clean and simple, otherwise so the ice cream would be the star of the show!
Would you like a chance to win the Freeze the Moment stamp set? Here's what you need to do... go to each of the Trendsetter's blogs and leave a comment on their Freeze the Moment Blog Hop Challenge post. (Hopefully you just arrived here from Melyssa's blog. If not, you'll want to start at the beginning with Angela's blog!) After you have finished checking out the eye candy and have left some love, return to the TSG blog and add your name to the Mr. Linky at the bottom of the Blog Hop Challenge post for this set. A winner will be chosen randomly to receive their very own Freeze the Moment stamp set! The winner will be announced on Saturday, May 28th during the Release Party Chat in the TSG forum. So now, you will want to hop on over to the blog of our Guest Trendie this month, Terrific Theresa!

Thanks for "hopping" by!

Timeless Tuesday #119 - Box it Up!

Welcome back for another Timeless Tuesday challenge! This week Dee is our challenge hostess and she wants us to decorate a box or a bag using our fabulous Flourishes stamps! You can stop over at the Flourishes blog to get all the challenge details, and then play along with us, won't you please?

I put my new Cricut to good use, and cut out this little handled box for my project today. I stamped the bride and groom image from the beautiful new "Wedded Bliss" stamp set in Versamark ink on Flourishes Classic White cardstock, then heat embossed with silver embossing powder. The image is mounted on some Nestabilities ovals, and embellished with some KaiserCraft black pearls. Some elegant ribbon and silver cord was added to the handle along with the sentiment stamped on a Petite Nestabilities oval. Inside is some translucent "shred" where you could tuck a gift card to take to a wedding!

I encourage you to visit the Timeless Tuesday designers for more inspiration today!

Betty Wright

Cindy Haffner

Dee Jackson

Makiko Jones

Silke Ledlow

Brenda O'Rear/Benzi, May Guest Designer

And please stop by the Flourishes blog for all the challenge details! You wouldn't want to pass up the chance to win some spending money from the Flourishes store, would you?

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

TSG108 - Happy Birthday, Jessica!

Surprise! It's a Birthday Blog Hop for our most-favorite Trendsetter, Jessica Knutsen! (Actually, her birthday is tomorrow but we wanted to celebrate today since tomorrow we begin sneak peeks for the next new release!) Hopefully you just "hopped" here from Sandra's blog. If not, you'll want to go back to the beginning with Angela's blog so you don't miss any of the birthday fun!

I combined my birthday card for Jessica with today's TSG challenge, which is to make an easel card. You can find all the details for the challenge on the TSG blog, including how you can be eligible to win some moolah to spend on There She Goes stamps and/or be featured in the Trendsetting Spotlight!

My card uses the My Little Friend stamp set, and some fabulous papers from My Mind's Eye Lime Twist. I found directions for making my easel card here at Splitcoaststampers. My sentiment is stamped on a Sentiment Flag from Lil' Inker Designs.

From here, you'll want to hop over to Theresa's blog to see her birthday creation for Jessica, then just keep going! You're almost near the end, and you can then stop by Jessica's blog to wish her a BIG Happy Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESSICA! HOPE YOUR DAY IS FABULOUS!

C4C88 - Goodbye Earl!

Remember that old song from the Dixie Chicks a few years ago, Goodbye Earl? OMGosh, I always loved that song... the lyrics are SO funny (but also a serious subject, too!) Our Crazy for Challenges challenge today is being sponsored by Totally Stampalicious. Jocelyn graciously provided everyone on the team with a stamp set to use today, so when I went to browse what was available and saw this one, I knew I had to have it! The sentiment reminds me exactly of that song!

This stamp set is Misery Stella, and I paired her up with some papers from Jillibean Soup "Dutch Mustard Soup" and used the May Sketch for You to Try for the layout.

Stop over at the C4C blog for a ton of chuckles with all the stamp sets the team members have used today! Or just breeze by their blogs...

Barbara Anders

Cindy Haffner

Frances Byrne

Jessie Rone

Jocelyn Pelkey

Joanne Grzelak

Lynda Benden

Maria Bell

Silke Kittman

Silke Ledlow

Vicki Garrett

Thanks a bunch for stopping by today!

Bar's Birthday Blog Hop (on Bellarific Friday!)

How many of you can say you have a bestest friend who also shares the same passion that you do for a particular hobby? I am lucky enough to have such a friend in Barbara Anders! We both LOVE papercrafting so much, and are each other's cheerleaders day in and day out! So it was only natural for me to honor her today on her birthday with a Birthday Blog Hop!!! I gathered together as many of her stamping friends and fellow design team members today as I could find, and asked them all to help me wish her a very special Happy Birthday! So I hope you'll take the time today to check out the hop list at the end of this post! Or if you want to just hop from blog-to-blog, you can go from here to Broni Holcombe's blog, and keep following the links in each post!

For my birthday card for Bar, my Mavis Builds a Sandcastle image from Stamping Bella was a natural choice (plus today is Bellarific Friday, of course!) If you didn't already know it, Bar is a mommy to eight cats (and I've met them all!) Plus, she just got back from a little trip to Myrtle Beach (where I'm sure she looked just as cute as Mavis in her swimsuit!) so I thought this'd be a perfect card for Bar. Our Bellarific Friday challenge today is a sketch from Paulabella, so I used my new Lime Twist "Happy Go Lucky" papers for my design. The sentiment is computer-generated.

Stop over at Blogabella to check out all the other delicious creations using Paulabella's sketch, and leave a comment while you're there! One lucky commenter can win some Bella Bucks! And then play along with us for next week's challenge... a navy, kraft and green color challenge... for another chance to win!

And if you'd like to check out all the birthday creations today for Bar, here is the complete list...

Tammy Hershberger

Broni Holcombe

Kristin Eberline

Laura Pryor

Kisa Peters

LeAnne Pugliese

Carole Burrage

Betty Wright

Jody Morrow

Makiko Jones

Cindy Haffner

Silke Ledlow

Julie Koerber

Jessie Rone

Frances Byrne

Lynda Benden

Vicki Garrett

Christina Fischer

Jodi Collins

Kim van der Sanden

Taylor Van Bruggen

Kirsty McIntyre

Iwona Palamountain

Wendy Bond

Jessica Diedrich

Lynn Put

Jackie Pedro

Joanne Basile

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BESTEST FRIEND! I HOPE YOUR BIRTHDAY IS AS FABULOUS AS YOU ARE!!!

There She Goes Dollar Find Friday

Please stop over at the There She Goes blog today for my Dollar Find Friday post! I'd love to hear your comments on my fun project!

Thanksabunch!

Color Throwdown #142

I'm a little late to the party this week, but finally got a creation done for the Color Throwdown this week! We're up to challenge #142, and Broni is our hostess this week. I initially thought "what am I doing to do with that?" when I saw these colors, but OH. MY. WOW! This combination creates some awesome, stunning designs! I hope you'll give the challenge a try this week!

For my card, I decided to use Kristin's Occasional Labels and Sentimental Occasions stamp sets, for my card and also successfully used my new Cricut to cut out the shapes for the frame and ovals using the Occasional Label cut file! The gray papers I used are from the new Echo Park Dots & Stripes "Metropolitan" collection.
See what my Throwdown sisters have created for the challenge as well! You'll be inspired to play along, I just know it!

Broni Holcombe

Carole Burrage

Cathy Rulli

Danielle Kennedy

Kristine Eberline

Laura Pryor

Barbara Anders

Jen Mitchell, May Guest Designer

Thanks for stopping by!