FOREVER & ALWAYS - CARD

Now that Valentine's Day is over I can share with you all the card I made for my dear husband.  How cute is this image?!?!  I swear this image is hubby and I exactly, which is why I was drawn to this stamp from Stampendous the moment I saw it at Hobby Lobby.  Oh and did you notice the smoochie lip buttons???  I love love love them and really had to scale back the number of them that I wanted to include on this card. 

I hope everyone is enjoying their week thus far.  We are currently in the process of painting the interior of our home.  Which is a HUGE pain due to the vaulted ceilings.....and the fact I hate painting.  I will have to share pics next week once we're done.

A BITTERSWEET VALENTINE PROJECT

Today I am sharing with you a very bittersweet project that I made for my oldest daughter, who moved out and into her first apartment this past weekend.  While I am very happy for her that she is becoming such an amazing adult and is spreading her wings, I am also very sad.  The thought that I will not see her face every day or sit across the dinner table from her every night has turned me into a hot mess.  :(  

My husband and I surprised her with a Keurig for Valentine's Day.  I made a k-cup holder to present the coffee in.  I found a really great tutorial at VIRGINIA'S SCRAPPY PLACE.  She provides wonderful directions and photos. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday!

TOON TOWN - LO

This has got to be one of my favorite LO's to date.  Not because of the LO itself, but because of the wonderful photos my husband was able to capture.  These photos were taken during our family's dream vacation to Walt Disney World over 10 years ago. The smiles on our girls' faces say it all!!  I love that my husband was able to capture Caitlin's and Brittany's laughter during this roller coaster ride.  I love the look of Caitlin's face when the ride suddenly drops on her and I love her big sister's face as she is laughing at her.  Most of all I love the memories it brings back of this perfect vacation!!

 At the time, however, I was not loving my husband sitting in the front car of the roller coaster holding the camera while turning to face the girls with the ride in motion.  I was so afraid that he was going to drop the camera as the ride was pretty wild.  I have to say though that these photos make me laugh each and every time I look at them and remember how much the girls LOVED this ride.

A SWEET VALENTINE

A really short post today.  I wanted to share some super simple matchbook treat holders that I whipped up for some of my toddler buddies to celebrate Valentine's Day. You can find the tutorial by visiting Mickey's blog, STAMPING WITH THE STARS.

Nothing says I love you to a toddler like M&M's.  :) 

YOU'RE AWESOME ALYSSA - CARD

WARNING: Proud Auntie brag moment ahead.  Last weekend my niece, Alyssa who is only 10 years old, had competition team soccer tryouts.  Per my SIL it was a very full and intense weekend of tryouts....and guess what, she made the team and was presented with an offer.  We are so proud of her and there was never any doubt in my mind that she would make it!!

To congratulate her I whipped up a very simple card letting her know just how awesome I think she is.  The cute little bear stamp is from WHIPPER SNAPPER DESIGNS and the sentiment is from LAWN FAWN. 

Thanks for stopping by,

COLORING EGGS - LO

I must be subconsciously ready for Easter as I am posting yet another LO of the daycare kids coloring their Easter eggs.  I haven't even started my Valentine's yet, so there is no way I should even be thinking of Easter....but yet I am.  :)

This LO served two purposes.  #1 - get a lot of photos on one LO and #2 use up some buttons from my HUGE button stash.  The eggs were hand drawn and I used my poor neglected Cricut to cut out the title.  The word "coloring" was cut with the Street Signs cart at 1 3/4" and "eggs" was cut using the Storybook cart at 1 1/2".

I hope everyone has a terrific Monday!!!

TIME TO GROW - CARD

I am a creature of habit.  I tend to create the same type of cards using the same type of stamps from my favorite companies.  I always reach for my Anya stamps from the GREETING FARM or my WHIMSIE DOODLES digi images.  I think it's because I am more comfortable with coloring these images with my Copics as I have had more practice with them.  Give me something new and I freak out a little, stressed that the coloring is not going to be up to par.   I told myself that this year I was going to broaden my horizons and venture out and try new stamp companies.  So when my LSS had a sidewalk clearance sale I decided to seize the day and purchase stamps that I might not normally purchase....and at a fraction of the cost, I might add.  ;)

You know what??  I didn't freak out... and I am actually in love with this stamp.  The image is from the SWALK (Sealed With a Little Kiss) line from Santoro.  I just love the sweet little faces of these images. 

So tell me, what stamp company or technique is your go to? 

SUGARPEA DESIGNS CHALLENGE #1 - ANYTHING GOES

How stinking cute is this image from SUGARPEA DESIGNS?  I am so excited for my friend Wendy who is the owner of this new stamp company.  I wish her all the best on this new adventure.  With stamps this adorable her company should be very successful!!

SUGARPEA DESIGNS is currently holding their very first challenge and it's an anything goes challenge.  You can find out all the information HERE on how to participate.  For my entry I used the adorable PIZZA MY HEART stamp set.  This image is perfect for my hubby who is the biggest fan of pizza I know.

BIRTHDAY WISHES - CARD

Hi everyone, it's Thursday which means one day closer to Friday, which is one day closer to the weekend!!  Wooo hooo!!  I plan on getting lots of crafting done this weekend so I am really looking forward to it.

A quick birthday card to share with you all today using a freebie image I downloaded from WHIMSIE DOODLES.  They are another one of my favorite stamps sites! She was super fun to color using my Copics and I added a little detail to the hem of her dress and sleeves with my white gel pen.

It appears that Blogger once again is being a pain and won't work with the links that I add to my blog posts.  Is anyone else having this problem?  Or am I just Blogger challenged.  I swear I think I'm doing it right.  :D 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY - CARD

 

Happy Monday everybody!!  I hope everyone had a restful and relaxing weekend full of crafting.

For those of you that have followed my blog for a little while, you know how much I hate trying to create boy/masculine cards....hate with a passion!!  No sparkle, no bling and well, they just aren't as cute in my opinion.  However, I am really happy with how this birthday card turned out.  How cute is this digi image from BUGABOO?!!!  I just loved coloring him in and I think he will work well for a toddler's birthday card, don't you?  The sentiment is from LAWN FAWN, a newly discovered company to me.  Love all of their stuff...LOVE! 

Thanks for stopping by and as always I am looking forward to checking out every one's blogs to see what you all have been up to. 

EGGS TO DIE FOR - LO

Another Easter LO of photos of past daycare children and coloring Easter eggs with them.  It's bittersweet to look at these older photos of them and realize that they are now in the 4th and 5th grade and that I don't see their faces on a daily basis anymore.  At the same time it's great to see them now and again and see what amazing little people they are becoming.  Time goes by so fast.

Happy Wednesday!!

EGGS OF MANY COLORS - LO

 

 

 

 

This year I am challenging myself to complete more scrapbooking layouts.  I can not even begin to tell you all how far behind I am on my scrapbooking.

This LO is a little step back into memory lane for me.  The little boy in the picture is no longer in my daycare as he has been in school for many years, however I now have his two year old brother, whom I absolutely ADORE!!!  I have many of the same pictures of his little brother that I need to get to scrapbooking soon....like before he starts college :P

CUPCAKE ANYA BIRTHDAY - CARD

Does my blog avatar look familiar?  Right now this Cupcake Anya image from THE GREETING FARM is my new favorite!!  She's  too cute and easy to color.  If I do say so myself, I think I am getting slightly better with the whole brush stroke thing in the coloring of her hair.  I still need ton more practice but I think the coloring of this image is greatly improved compared to my much earlier colorings using Copics.  If anyone has some great Copic coloring tutorial videos that they can suggest, I would certainly appreciate it.  There are so many great sources of inspiration out in the crafting world and I am always looking for ways to improve.  :)

So blogger is being a serious pain and will not link up the Greeting Farm website.  You can find a link for them to the right of my blog under "Blogs I Love to Stalk" and "Places I Love to Shop"...sigh.

A COLORFUL BIRTHDAY - CARD

 

Yep, I'm back again.  There seems to be a pattern to my blogging activity.  I start off really great at the beginning of the new year, and then totally die off between May and June.  Then nothing again until January.  This year I'm going to challenge myself to be active until at least July.  LOL  We will see how that goes.  ;)

Super quick and easy birthday card for you today.  The idea for this card was CASE'd from Michelle of PRETTY PERIWINKLES blog.  She has a lot of really adorable cards on her blog. 

It's great to have my crafting mojo up and running again.  I'm looking forward to checking out every one's blogs to see what you all have been creating!!

RAIN OR SHINE - CARD

Happy Monday!  I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend!!  I have a quick card to share with you all.  I purchased this stamp set last weekend while at my LSS.  I could not wait to get the chance to play with it.  I'm also really digging paper piecing images lately.  Makes for a quick card.

The stamped image is Puddle Jumper from MY FAVORITE THINGS.  The patterned paper is from my scrap stash and the pearls are from K&Company.  I didn't like the look of the white pearls so I colored them with my Copics to make them match my patterned paper.  I also didn't have the right colored twine, so I colored it as well. 

Well I'm off to spend more time in my craft studio.  I hope everyone finds a little time to create today as well.

JUST A LITTLE FUN COLORING - CARDS

Just a quick post to show you all what I completed this weekend.  I took my first ever Copic class on Saturday and completed these simple cards.  I am looking forward to taking another one real soon that hopefully is a little more advanced.  I was hoping to learn about shadowing, coloring hair and skin, etc.  However what I signed up for was Copic 101.  The class did have a few good tips but was not what I was looking for. Oh, and taking a Copic class WILL NOT help you learn to color inside the lines...don't look too closely at my cards.  ;)

The stamped images were pre-stamped and were given to me in a kit, so I am not sure who they're made by.  I think the instructor said it's a stamp/die combo set. Anyways, it's a gorgeous set and I think I need it. 

Happy Tuesday!!

LATTE FUN - CARD

I have been wanting this Latte Anya stamp from THE GREETING FARM forever.  Every time I went to order it, it was on back order.  Then I requested it for Christmas, alas on back order again.  I finally got her for my birthday several weeks ago and I LOVE her!!  She is my new favorite stamp.  I should mention that I did find her two weeks ago at my LSS, after trying for months to buy her on-line.  Go figure :P

You can find the tutorial for this k-cup holder created by Lori Tecler HERE.  The tutorial is for a 2 k-cup caddy. I wanted mine to hold 4 so I made two holders and then glued the backs together.  Here is a LINK for the  template for the card fold I used.  All of the patterned paper used for both the card and the holder is from the Paper Studio.

I am so excited for this little gift and card pairing.  I love how they turned out and can't wait to give them away!!

Challenges that I am entering this project into:
*THE GREETING FARM: FFF PAPER PIECING

HIP, HIP HOORAY!! - CARD

A quick card that I whipped up for one of my neighbors who is having a birthday this weekend. 

The image is called "Birthday Bear" and is a WHIPPER SNAPPER DESIGNS image.  I have had this stamp FOREVER and I believe this is the first time that I have inked it up.  Because the image is so large I decided to keep the LO of the card very simple.  The image was colored with Copics, a little bit of stickles and I added a few strips of glitter ribbon from American Crafts.  Doesn't get any easier. 

Happy Saturday!!