Happy Monday to all! =)

Hello everyone!  Well, this is my last week of freedom before I go back to school!  I've got lots of crafty plans for this weekend, and also plan to work on cleaning up the house and whatnot.  It's been a super busy but AWESOME summer! 

This past weekend was a TON of fun!  It was my hubby's birthday, so we went out to BRGR (the best burger place ever) for dinner and had a great meal!  Then we went to the State College Microbrew Expo on Saturday with some friends.  It was AWESOME!  So many amazing microbrews!  It was really neat to get to try so many delicious beers and talk to the breweries about how they got started, how they decided to make certain types of beer, etc...  Finally, Sunday the hubs went golfing and I got to see my Dad perform in the local Senior Follies music and talent show!  It's a huge fundraiser for his Aging Agency, and it's always a great time!  We all met up for dinner after too, for a perfect ending to the weekend!  =) 

Ok, so onto the card!  I made this last Friday, but didn't get to post it until today!  This card uses several stamps and stamp companies, and I LOVE how it turned out: 

Can you spy all of the stamp companies on this card?  There's FOUR: Hot off the Press (scroll and border), Studio G (butterfly), Papertrey Ink (Circle), AND Lawn Fawn (sentiment).  I also love that I once again got to use several of my favorite techniques -- distressing and embossing!  The middle strip is embossed with clear powder and then covered with Mustard Seed Distress Ink -- I LOVE this particular stamp/color combination here!  So vivid and pretty!  I also heat embossed the sentiment and used watermark ink for the borders.   I also added some teeny tiny pearls and embroidery floss to finish off the card.  =) 

So, this card was also inspired by a couple of my favorite challenge blogs: 
CR84FN #36 - Yellow, Kraft and Neutral Colors

CAS-ual Fridays #16 - Embossing

Also, don't forget to check out my BLOGOVERSARY GIVEAWAY!  There's only four more days to comment for a fabulous $25 giftcard to your favorite store!  =) 

Have a WHALE of a Time!!!

Honestly, I think that should DEFINITELY be the idea on your birthday - to have a whale of a time!  =)  Anyhow, that was the inspiration for this Lawn-Fawny creation today!  Here's my card:

This is one of my absolute favorite cards I've made in awhile!  I love the colors, and I love getting to use Critters in the Sea - which I haven't really put to good use for a long time and it's one of my favorite Lawn Fawn stamp sets!  =) 

I started by punching the edge and cutting out the seahorses and whale.  Then I used Tumbled Glass distress ink on the paper just to add a little extra coloring. Then I stamped the spouted water and sentiment onto the green cardstock, adhered down the embroidery floss and then the whale.  Then, I adhered the punched blue piece and the seahorses.  I then added the bubble stamps around the seahorses!  I finished the whole thing off with a few pearls (which you should know by now are one of my favorite embellishments) and some glossy accents to the bubbles (doesn't that make them look fun?!?!) and there you have it!  =) 

This card was inspired by three different challenges:
1. Lawnscapings #12 - a fabulous sketch (shown below) 

2. CAS-ual Fridays #8: Getting Edgy - I used my favorite border punch and the seahorses to create a CAS but funky edge to this card! 

3. CR84FN #32 - Use Aqua, Yellow, and Green as your main card colors

Wow I posted twice in the same day!  =)  It's been a long time since I've done that, but I'm feeling really great about all of the fun, crafty creations I've had time for lately!  =)  I'll be back with some more fabulous fun tomorrow! 

Bugs and Critters!!! =D

Hello everyone!  Yes, that's right, I'm posting twice in two days!  Haha!  I'm so ready for the school year to be over so that I can post alllll the time again!  =D 

Ok I have two cards for you today!  One of them is a card with some little sea critters on it, and one of them is a buggy beauty!  Here's the first one:

Since I got Hats off to You, I've had dreams of putting this little graduation cap on the whale from Critters of the Sea and creating the illusion that it was being raised off with spouted water!!!  I just thought it would be so perfect for that sentiment, and as a graduation card!  Now with graduation season upon us, I knew I had to do it!  And what better time than for the current Lawnscapings challenge - Calling all Critters!!! 

I love that little sun too from Partly Cloudy.  Adding the stickles just made it shine perfectly to show a bright, sunny day on the sea!  =) 

Next, I just love PTI's Little Lady stamp set!  I haven't inked it up in awhile, so I thought today was the perfect day!  Here's the card I came up with:

Aren't these colors just a great combo? Also, I wanted the ladybug's wings to stand up and out, so I stamped an extra ladybug and cut out the wings so that I could fold them up to make them look like they were helping the little lady fly!  Here's a close up of the wings:

I was super inspired when I made this card, with inspirations from:
1. CR84FN25 - Aqua Blue and White
2. Make it Monday #12 - Line Frame 101
3. Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes

    

It's finally starting to get warmer here!  I'm getting ready to think about planting our garden and herb garden!  For those of you that garden, what are your favorite things to plant?  Our new thing this year is going to be butternut squash and cucumbers!  =) 

Well as always, thanks for checking out my blog!  I can't believe that I'm up over 30 followers and have so many great people checking out my blog on a regular basis!  You guys all ROCK and I am so glad to have gotten to know so many wonderful people in this past 9 months!  =D 

Fun cards and news!

Hello everyone!  Well it has been some time since I blogged!  I've been working on lots of crafty goodness, but much of it is not ready to share with you yet!  I've been *gasp* actually scrapbooking instead of making cards a lot this week!  =)  Pics will come soon when the scrapbook is ready!  =D

Next, I was so so SO excited to get chosen for the Froggin Fantastic Four over at Lily Pad Cards!  Have you checked out their website yet?  They have lots of fun challenges and tips and tricks for card makers everywhere!  It's such a fun, new site and I'm honored that they chose me!

Ok, and now onto today's cards:

I'm really happy with the way this card turned out!  I started with this incredible paper from Paper Source and then used PTI's Tag-it's #1 and #2 to make the great Mother's Day tag!  The pearly rose was handmade with my new molds from mold muse on Etsy!  If you haven't checked them out yet either, definitely do that too!  =)  Here's a close-up of the card:

Also, I'd like to give credit to Britta Swiderski for the great twine-wrapping idea!  She used it a few weeks ago for her card on her Video Tutorial Monday, and I felt that this card needed a little something more!  Then I remembered her twine idea, and voila!  =)  This card was inspired by:
1. CR84FN #24: 

 

2. Etsy Inspired #135 - The Creating is Fun Shop.  I was inspired by this picture with the beautiful pearly buttons:

UPDATE: I'm also entering this card for consideration over at the Practical Scrappers blog for their Challenge me Tuesday challenges!  This week's challenge is twine so it was perfect!  I'd never been to their blog before, but it's fabulous!  Check it out here! 

And now, onto the next card:

 

Wee Memories is having an "All Things Adorable" challenge this week!  In my world, there is little that is more adorable than my little dog, Lucky!  I recently saw this stamp set on clearance at my local Michael's and I couldn't resist all of the cute cute pupples!  I especially liked this one because he reminds me of our little guy when he's on alert:

Hehe!  I also love this Max and Whiskers paper pack from Basic Grey and thought that this all went just perfect together!  =)  Again, this card was inspired by the current Wee Memories Challenge:

Ok everyone!  Well, I hope that you are all having a wonderful week, and that those of you celebrating Easter have a lovely Easter weekend!  =)  Enjoy! 

Our Friendship is Forever!

Hello friends!  I hope everyone is having a lovely week!  I've been having a great time with my crafty self, and hoping a LOT for the weather to get better!  =) 

Anyhow, I was so so SO excited about the new Lawnscapings Challenge!  I love making my own patterned paper using fun stamps!  I also loved the colors this week over at CR84FN's Challenge, and so here's what I came up with:

The stamped image is the big raindrop from Lawn Fawn's "Partly Cloudy" stamp set, and it just makes the most fun image!  I matted that down and used some shabby sheer green ribbon to tie a bow!  I added a sentiment and a button on the ribbon for an added touch!  =) 

This card was inspired by:
1. Lawnscapings #7 Challenge - make your own patterned paper
2. CR84FN #22 Color Challenge

      

 =D  Yay fun craftiness!  I hope you'll choose to play along with each of these awesome challenges!!! 

Finally, I promised about a week ago that I'd put up a picture of the hardwood floors that we found under the carpet in our dining room!  Here's a picture of the floors after I polished them with Orange Glo:

 

Why would you EVER cover these up?!?!?!   They are fabulous, and our dining room looks SO much better now! 

Ok well it's time for me to get to bed!  Have an amazing night everyone!  Be back tomorrow with more cards with doilies (I know I'm obsessed!  hehe!) 



Paper: 
* Kraft Cardstock - Recollections
* Brown Cardstock - PTI
Stamps and Ink: 
* Lawn Fawn - Partly Cloudy and Hello Friend
* Versamark Watermark Ink
* Ranger Adirondack Espresso Ink
* Ranger Distress Ink - Peeled Paint and Antique Photo
Other:
* Shabby Sheer Green Ribbon
* Brown Twine
* Cream Flower Button

Have a WONDERFUL Day!!!

I hope that all of you are having a wonderful day!  I know I'm having a pretty wonderful day!  As a matter of fact, I am feeling better and have LOTS of fun lined up for this weekend with friends and family!  I hope you have a similarly great weekend!

Anyhow, I just love LOVE Tiffany Johnson's Sketchy Sundays!!!  I've only been able to do a few of them, but I really REALLY love this week's sketch!  I also recently stumbled upon the CR84FN color challenge too, so I combined the two for this card:

I'm mostly pleased with how this card turned out!  I used a distressing technique on the chipboard for the sentiment, and I definitely need some work there!  Speaking of the chipboard, that's the new coaster board from PTI!  It diecuts, stamps, and distresses really well!  Here's all of the challenges that this card was inspired by:
1.  CR84FN Color Challenge #18
2.  Sketchy Sunday Sketch #10
3. Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes

   

Well, that's my card for tonight!  I really like the colors and had fun making this card!  Have you all tried the new Lawnscaping challenge yet?  I've got a card for that one in store for everyone tomorrow!  AND this Sunday is the DeNami Floral Frenzy Blog Hop too!!!  SO much crafty fun! =) 


Paper: 
* PTI - Kraft, Orange Zest and Summer Sunrise Cardstock
* American Crafts - A La Carte Patterned Paper
* PTI - Vintage Cream Coaster Board
Stamps and Ink: 
* Versamark - Watermark Ink
* Whispers - Clear Embossing Powder
* Memento - Tangelo Dye Ink
* PTI - Flower Fusion #1
Other:
* Orange Satin Ribbon
* Yellow Button
* Yellow Floss - DMC