Guest Designer at From the Heart Stamps

Hello, everyone!

I hope you are having a wonderful day! I am very excited, as this is my first post as Guest Designer for From the Heart Stamps! Woohoo! You may remember my announcement from a while back......I will be Guest Designing each week on their blog, alongside some very talented ladies, for the months of June and July! I can't wait to show you all the goodness!

Not only does From the Heart Stamps have some incredibly adorable images, but each week at From the Heart Stamps Blog a sketch challenge is held. It is called a Sketch Challenge with a tWiSt: a sketch is provided, but so is an additional requirement. Don't worry.....no need to feel overwhelmed with rules and restrictions! You can choose to use the sketch, OR you can create using the tWiSt....or you can do BOTH! :)

Here is this weeks sketch:

Sketch with a tWiSt #069

tWiSt: ONE for the KIDS

Here's a really cool thing about this sketch challenges: EVERYONE IS A WINNER! You can earn a $1 discount code toward any digi image in their store. No, not by being a random winner, but just by entering! And even better, yet.......you can use multiple codes toward purchases in their store! So, if you play three weeks in a row, you can buy a new digi for only $ .50! Play four times in a row, and "buy" a new digi with all four of your codes without spending a dime out of your own pocket! 

See......I told you that everyone is a winner there! :)

Here's another cool thing about From the Heart Stamps.......they also run a month-long challenge in addition to their weekly sketch challenges. "Why is that cool?" you ask??? Because if you use the monthly image, you will be emailed next months image 

FOR FREE!

Okay....now that I've explained my excitement about this great digi-stamp company, let's move on to my card for this week.  As you can see, I used the sketch, but not the tWiSt this week.

Click Image to Enlarge

I chose to play with the adorable little Thimble Bouquet image on my card. I also used the included sentiment. I have colored my image digitally, in PSE. I used my Spellbinders Classic Squares dies to cut out and emboss my image, and an additional white mat for it. I set up a cutting file in my Silhouette Portrait machine to cut my circles on the white background, then created a "shadow" layer to cut them on the pink paper. The floral layer is actually my base layer. I added one of the pink negative cuts (the pink circle) on the top of the white, but below my image, and used a scissor charm to play off the thimble and spool of thread in the image. The green strip of paper was a piece in m scrap box.

  

I hope you enjoy your day! I appreciate you stopping by, and would love it if you'd leave a comment!

I hope you'll join us for the sketch challenge!

Thanks for stopping!

Happy Crafting!

Challenges Entered:

Animal Friends Challenge - Hobby

CCC DIgi Creations - Dig/Use a Die Cut

Glitter n Sparkle - Cute

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - Layer it Up

From the Heart, Have a Happy Day!

Hi, everyone!

This is my second post today - if you are looking for my Bugaboo Stamps, Oldie But Goodie, post please scroll down!

Here's a sketch that I used to create a a card for From the Heart Stamps Sketch No, 63 w/a tWist this week. It uses their Thimble Bouquet image.

Click Image to Enlarge

I pulled some old Stampin' Up papers out of my stash for this card. I used my Cheery Lynn Die for the Mini Fanciful Flourish, and a Marvy punch for my tiny flowers. My main image is on pop dots. Pretty CAS, as has been my preference, lately. I hope you like it! :)

Here's the sketch for you to follow along!

Here's the cool thing about their sketch challenges: EVERYONE IS A WINNER! You can earn a $1 discount code toward any digi image in their store. No, not by being a random winner, but just by entering! And even better, yet.......you can use multiple codes toward purchases in their store! So, if you play three weeks in a row, you can buy a new digi for only $ .50! Play four times in a row, and "buy" a new digi with all four of your codes without spending a dime out of your own pocket! See......I told you that everyone is a winner there! :)

I hope you're enjoying your day! I appreciate you stopping by, and would love it if you'd leave a comment!

Thanks for stopping!

Happy Crafting!

Card Recipe

Paper from Stampin' Up Stash

EK Success Punches - Tiny Flower

Cheery Lynn Die - Mini Fanciful Flourish B117S

Pop Dots

Challenges Entered

A Song in Your He(ART) - Happy

Crafty Little Fairies - Furry Friends

Little Miss Muffet - Anything Goes

An Oldie But Goodie at Catch the Bug

Hi, everyone!

Thursday's are Oldie But Goodie Days at Catch the Bug Blog! 

I love OBG day because I can break out some of my favorite Bugaboo Stamps to play with, and have an excuse to show them on my blog! lol! (As if I need an excuse, right?!)

Today I am using the Fat Mice Flower from Bugaboo Stamps.  I have used him before, but colored him a bit different for todays card. He just puts a grin on my face every time I see him! :)

This is a CAS, clean and simple, card. I grabbed a piece of paper from my scrap box.  I layered the dp on a solid color, then added a punched chevron/zig zag shape for the bottom border. I cut my 'smile' sentiment on my Silhouette cutter. My image was colored in PSE.

That's it from me today, folks! I'm still recovering from my shoulder surgery earlier this month, and while it is moving along, I am glad I had 99% of my blog posts pre-scheduled for the next month! Phew.....you can't imagine how much longer things take with only partial use of your dominant arm!

Click Image to Enlarge

You can check out all the great images that Jodie has to offer, at the Bugaboo Store here.

Thanks for stopping by today! Make sure to check out the other OBG creations over at Catch the Bug, and visit the Design Team....you can click on their blog links located in the left side bar of my blog for great Bugaboo eye candy! <<===========

Please feel free to browse my blog, I'd love to be your inspiration for your next project! :0) If you're not already a follower, and like what I create, please consider following me! :0) ====>>

Challenges Entered

Addicted to Stamps - Anything Goes

Crafters Cafe - CAS

Fab n Funky - Flowers

Paper Shelter Challenge - Spring is Here

Scrapper's Delights - Bloomin' Lovely

Simon Says Stamp - CAS

Happiness Is........a Bingo Challenge with Bugaboo!

It's Saturday, which means a new challenge over at Catch the Bug today! We are hosting our monthly B-I-N-G-O Card Challenge! 

Without further ado , here is this weeks Catch the Bug 

Bingo Card:

Isn't this BINGO Card the coolest?! So many choices!

You may choose three squares: horizontal, vertical, or diagonal!

I chose the diagonal squares of requirements for my card this week (Starts with G (glaze on my balloon balloon, or Gemstones), Die Cut, Twine). 

My card features the Bugaboo Stamps,  Fat Mice Balloon. I am trying to dig through my Bugaboo archives to use some of the older images that I had not ever colored up. Isn't this one fun?!

 It, and other great images, are available in the Bugaboo Stamps Store! 

Hop on over and check them out! 

Click Image to Enlarge

So, let's see your card this week! Pick your BINGO daubs (you can go horizontal, vertical or diagonal), whip up your project and head on over to enter it into the Mr. Linky!

By entering your project

 you could win up to TEN Bugaboo images!

Head on over to Catch the Bug to play along!

Please check out the rest of the Design Team goodies while you're there! These peeps are filled with talent, full of good tips and ideas......and loaded with eye-candy-inspiring ideas! I am so honored to be part of the group!

<=====Their blog links can all be found in my left sidebar! :0)

Pick up this cute Bugaboo image, and others, over at the Bugaboo Stamps Store, and make sure you also jump over to the Catch the Bug Challenge Blog: it's where you can find out all the lastest "dish" on what challenges are happening and what other challenge sites that Bugaboo is sponsoring (more chances to win some free Bugaboo!). It's also where you can check out all the other fantastic DT projects, including the OBG (Oldie But Goodie) stuff, the ABC (Anything But a Card) items, and the Tuesday New Releases......plus so much more!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

If you enjoyed your visit, please consider following me ======>>

This card has been entered into the following challenges:

Addicted to CAS - Birthday

Alphabet Challenge - G for Gems or Glitter

CAS-ual Fridays - CAS

One Stop Craft - Anything Goes

Our Creative Corner - Anything Goes

Finally!

Hi, everyone!

I have been working on a scrapbook layout for a bit.......at least a week, I'd say! Mr. Mojo seems to have taken a hiatus, again, and this layout has been a true work in progress for many, many days! I finally put the last details on it this morning, and took the pictures. I seem to be having a bit of trouble photographing my bright pink with polka dots, so the color on this is not nearly as nice in the pictures as it is to hold it in your hands!

Here is the double layout

Click to Enlarge

Here is a closer look at the left page of the layout

Click to Enlarge

And one of the right page

Click to Enlarge

I used a Kristi W. Designs SVG file that I had picked up from KaDoodle Bug Designs before she quit offering Kristi's files (you can find Kristi's web store here now). I added some punched flowers, brads, an svg vase by me, some die-cuts and a few other details before calling it done. I think this will make a nice "any photo" page for my niece's book that I'm working on.

Thanks for stopping by today!

I have entered this layout into the following challenges:

Artistic Inspirations - Flowers

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Girly

MIM - Anything Goes

My Grafico - Anything Goes

Paper Playtime - Anything Goes

Valentine Sweets for a Sweet Friend!

Hi, everyone!

Here's a cutie-patootie mouse I made for a friend of mine for Valentine's Day.

He is a Fresh Brewed Designs image, and I won him recently in a challenge on their blog. This card is going to be entered into their Hearts and Dots Challenge this month.

Click to Enlarge

I had a lot of fun with this guy - he is resting on a paper heart doily that I picked up at my local JoAnn last time I was there. I like to browse aisles other than the paper craft ones to see what I can find for use on my cards, and these were in the baking aisle. They are actually doilies for presenting small cakes or candies. A word of caution when using these, though - the papers used to make these are thin, so when using a liquid glue to adhere them, make sure you are only gluing an area that will be covered by another piece of paper so you don't see the glue bleed-through. A tape runner or ribbon tape would work best; even pop-dots! :0)

I made my sentiment in PhotoShop, and added two little rhinestone hearts to it.  The inside of my card reads, "because I already ate the treat!" Snarky, isn't it?! lol!

The pretty border is two punches - a Stampin Up Eyelet Border Punch and a Martha Stewart double-edged punch (sorry, I don't know what this one is called).

If you enlarge the picture, can you see the teeny=tiny heart pattern on the base pink layer?? Aren't those cute?! ah, simply enthused this morning, I am! lol!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Feel free to look around at some of my other recent creations, and please leave me a comment so I can come by your blog to do the same!

If you like my art, please consider following me! ====>>

Happy Crafting!

This card has been entered into the following challenges:
Fab n' Funky - Valentines/Hearts
Inky Impressions - Love
Jen's Digis - Love
Paper Pretties - Valentines
Papercraft Star - Love
Simon Says Stamp - Have a Heart
Stampotique Designers Challenge - SDC86 Pink, Red, White
The Perfect Sentiment - Red, White + Love

Tutorial Wednesday at Catch the Bug

Hi, everyone!

Today I am going to show you some simple steps that I take, as I learned from Kittie Kraft, for shipping my dimensional cards through the mail. This helps protect those pretty layered and dimensional elemts we all like to add to our cards!

Here's the card I am working with in this tutorial (you may remember it from a post I made a few weeks ago.) This image is a Bugaboo Stamps image called Candy Cane Critter - Mouse. My flower on this card stands off the face of the card approximately 3/8", so I am using a 1/2" thick strip for my packing. If I had brads, dew drops or similar, a 1/4" strip would have sufficed.

Materials you need:

Padded Envelope (I like to recycle mine :0) )

1/4" or 1/2" strip of card stock

Flat piece of card stock approximately the  size of your card

Adhesive (dbl-sided tape, glue, staple, etc)

Step 1

Glue your strip of card stock to create a circle.

Tip: You can pinch off four corners to create a square or rectangle if you wish.

Step 2

Place your circle around your embellishment.

Note: If you have several dimensional embellishments on your card in several areas, create a larger circle to encompass all of them within.

Step 3

Place your flat piece of card stock on top of your circle.

You shouldn't need to tape this down because the padded envelope will hold it in place, but to spiff it up some, try wrapping it in a pretty piece of tissue paper before putting it in the envelope.

Step 4

Place your "sandwich" in the padded envelope, seal, and ship!

I always mark both sides of my enveloped "Hand Cancel Only, Please!"

to help avoid any machine squishing at the post office.

That's it, folks! Pretty simple, huh?! 

Thanks for stopping by!

If you enjoyed your visit, please consider following me ======>>

This Creature is Stirring......a New Challenge at Catch the Bug!

It's Saturday, which means a new challenge over at Catch the Bug today! 

At Catch the Bug we are having a

Things with Tails Challenge

We'd like to see your creations that include

anything that has a tail!

I chose one of the older Christmas images for my card. This is one is the Candy Cane Critters - Mouse image.  There are several different Candy Cane Critter images, each with a different kind of critter! If you haven't seen these, you need to check them out!

There are a ton more digital Christmas images in store that you can use, as well - just follow me over to Bugaboo Stamps to check them out! It's not too late to start making some cards to hand out for Christmas, if you haven't done so already, that is! :0) I don't know about you, but I have to start my Christmas cards on Dec 26 in order to have them all done by the following Christmas Season! Hahaha!

Click Image to Enlarge

Supplies Used

Cloud9 Design Specialty Papers

Velvet Flower Embellishment

Sizzix Christmas Flowers Embossing Folder

Spellbinders - Lacey Circles, Lacey Squares (for my edge of the corners)

Cheery Lynn - Pine Branches Die

Stickles

Pop-Dot

Stampin Up Scalloped Oval Punch

Sentiment Font - Squirrel Tracks

So, let's see your card this week! Pick a favorite image, or try something new from Bugaboo Stamps, whip up your project and head on over to enter it into the Mr. Linky!

By entering your project, you could win up to TEN Bugaboo images!

Head on over to Catch the Bug to play along!

Please check out the rest of the Design Team goodies while you're there! These peeps are filled with talent, full of good tips and ideas......and loaded with eye-candy-inspiring ideas! I am so honored to be part of the group!

<=====Their blog links can all be found in my left sidebar! :0)

Pick up this cute Bugaboo image, and others, over at the Bugaboo Stamps Store, and make sure you also jump over to the Catch the Bug Challenge Blog: it's where you can find out all the lastest "dish" on what challenges are happening and what other challenge sites that Bugaboo is sponsoring (more chances to win some free Bugaboo!). It's also where you can check out all the other fantastic DT projects, including the OBG (Oldie But Goodie) stuff, the ABC (Anything But a Card) items, and the Tuesday New Releases......plus so much more!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

If you enjoyed your visit, please consider following me ======>>

This card has been entered into the following challenges:
DL Art - Any Holiday from Oct/Nov/Dec
Forever Friends - Anything Goes
My Heart Pieces - Anything Cute
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes
Southern Girls - Christmas
Divas By Design - Cute
Holly Jolly Christmas - 3-2-1 Challenge
Just Keep On Creating - Christmas
My Mum's Craft Shop - Sentiments
Penny's Paper Crafty - Lots of Layers
Stamp N' Doodle - Use a Digi
Sweet Stamps - #90 Christmas
Tanda Stamps - Anything Christmas
Whimsy Stamps - Traditional Christmas Coloring