Just Magnolia Monthly Challenge and A Spoon Full of Sugar meets Summer!

Hi all - don't you just love scheduling your post ahead? Yea.. working to get it done ahead so you don't have to worry about it being posted late. Then you come to check it later and it isn't there! Yep happened to me 4 times in a row now... sorry - but here it is now :0) -

It is a Distressing Just Magnolia Inspirational Challenge! And to keep things organized and easier to find we have separate challenge blogs for the regular weekly challenge, one for our Monthly challenge and one for our tutorial/inspirational challenge - And prizes on all!! Today kicks off our Tutorial/Inspirational Challenge with a Distressing Challenge - Distress a Magnolia card in any way - tearing, inking, chalking whatever you like! We just want to see some sort of Distressing technique on your card - This challenge blog is sponsored by 7 Kids College fund - Thanks!!!

For mine my new Pet collection came and as soon as I saw it I knew what I wanted to do - I wanted to make a safari card - sort of like a vacation photo shoot card!

I started with the monkey and the auto stamps from Magnolia - and then added the Alota Rubberstamps Camera frame!! I stamped out the camera and colored with my Copics - then stamped the two Magnolia images and colored the same - The lens of the camera was cut out and the monkey cut to fit inside - I just LOVE this stamp! I then cut the camera out as well so it would look more "real". Core'dinations paper is my base that I sanded heavily. The pattern paper is a map - from K&Company Cut-n-Paste collection, as well as the vintage postcard Greeting sentiment. I added some twine, flowers and buttons -

I hope you will take a minute and take a look at all the Distressing Cards on our new Challenge Blog! JUST MAGNOLIA TUTORIAL CHALLENGE

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Now A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge! And it is HOT! yes this week we are taking on the Summer! And with the average temperature here this week being 102-104 degrees... I feel like these House Mouse guys have the right idea!


I colored this with my Copics and I soooo wish you could see it in person as the ice has dimensional glaze on them and they look so cool.. no pun intended! LOL
My card is pink and green Bazzil Bling card stock with I believe Making Memories papers.. they were scraps so I didn't have the name - but I just love them whoever they are. I sewed down everything and added some of my very favorite dark pink satin ribbon - I so hope this roll never runs out! I stacked some Prima flowers with mini brad and jewelry spacer. The sentiment is from Cloud 9 and is an epoxy sticker on card stock. I love the wording "This is Paradise" seems perfect for these mice on ice!!

I do hope you take a moment to see all of the hot cards on A Spoon Full of Sugar - they really are smoking good this week - HA.. just full of puns today aren't I???

Have a great Tuesday!!

InStyle Method Monday - Embossing with what you have!

Hello again all! I apologize to those that don't like more than one notice in a day for post -but today was just one of those days where I had lots of business to take care of... not normal.



Today it is my turn to share a Method Monday technique on the InStyle Stamps DT Blog - and you know if you look back at all of the wonderful past Method Monday post it is getting really tough to come up with new stuff to show off! There are some GREAT ideas and inspirations there!



For my "method" today I went back to something I use to do all the time, before I had the goal of owning every embossing folder made that is... use what I have - make do with the supplies I already own. And you know sometimes that makes a better, and different project that I am more proud of!



For all the details on this tutorial please visit my post on the InStyle blog HERE

This tutorial shows how to use punches and die cuts to make your own embossed card stock. Like the stars on my patriotic card with InStyles Stamps Retro Stamp DEB -

I just love Deb... I know you could make her be anything on any type of card - but every time I see her I think of a 1940's USO girl - and then I hear that music and bands in my head. Love it!

Again I do hope you will visit the Instyle Blog to see all the details of how I made this card - it was really alot of fun to put together!

HUGS and have a great Monday afternoon!

A Recipe for a Stampavie Card Challenge!

It is that time again - for the twice a month Stampavie Challenge!! And this week is a "Recipe" for a great Stampavie card!

3 Flowers
1 Ribbon
2 Buttons
Embossing

Put them together all with your favorite Stampavie image and your favorite pattern papers and it is sure to make a card you will love!

For my card I pulled out Picnic of Daisy's Sarah Kay image (my new SK had not arrived at the time I made this card.. LOL ) I colored with my Copics and doodled the edge. My card base is white card stock and that pretty pattern paper - that is just one layer! Love those K&Company Cut-n-Paste papers! The band across the bottom is a Core'dinations card stock that I ran through my Cuttlebug embossing folder - "With Love" then sanded - (first ingredient -check) I sliced just to the sides of embossed section and ran a satin pink and brown ribbon through the band. (second ingredient - check) two buttons to cover the entrance points of the ribbon (third ingredient - check) the three large flowers down the right side of the card - (final ingredient - done!)

It went together very quickly - and I just love the colors -

I do hope you will visit the Stampavie DT Blog and join in yourself!! It really is fun to follow a recipe, and then join the challenge. YOU could even win one of the unbelievable Stampavie Surprise packages! Really gorgeous stuff there! Hope you will give it a go!

I'll be back a little later to show you my InStyle Method Monday project - Having to do double post for a couple of days to fit in all my required DT work - hope you don't mind ;0)

HUGS and-

MichJay Challenge #2 AND a BRAND NEW SARAH KAY PREVIEW!!!!

JayJay and I had a special request for our MichJay Challenge!! We were so thrilled with the response we got from our first challenge HERE - and then the people from http://www.create4fun.nl/ asked us to work with something special this time, and once I saw what they asked up to work with I was really excited to add an extra challenge this month!! I just adore Hearts!! And this is the cutest little 3-d heart box, super simple to put together and I think just perfect for anyone!
Now it was hard to photograph, I need to add something to hang things from in my photo tent! Anyway I cut out the template (again from http://www.create4fun.nl/ ) from I believe My Minds Eye papers, the only name I can find now on my scraps is TresJolie - I think that was a line of theirs.

I used the backside solid and cut a smaller heart, then again the pattern side for a stacked even smaller heart, that is all sewed together with a zig zag stitch. The lace is sewed on around the edge of the box before I put it together. I added a small piece to the sides as a handle, and then a band across the middle of the heart to have my image sit on. One of my MIL crocheted flowers matched PERFECTLY, with a jewelry spacer mini brad and two Martha Stewart frond leaf punches. The sentiment is from Heidi Grace, an epoxy sticker on white card stock then cut out.

Ok... I can hear you squealing... yes THAT IS A BRAND NEW SARAH KAY IMAGE from Stampavie!!!!! How adorable is she??? You will be seeing previews from all of the Stampavie DT the next few weeks and they will be appearing in stores really soon!!!!! She is so new I don't even have her name yet - but I was just dying to color her up and use her as soon as she arrived!

I hope you liked my MICHJAY Challenge, I adore the 3-d heart box - You now must visit JayJay and see her box, it is just so precious! Then why not join the http://www.create4fun.nl/ newsletter/blog and set the template yourself!! Super easy and Super cute!

Have a great Sunday!

HUGS and -

Yes it is Donkey/Libbie Saturday!

HI - well this was a fast week wasn't it? Other than the heat here.. yesterday was 103 degrees, the only new thing in our little donkey world is that Mirta and Vicki went into the big pen with all of their buddies - Had just a few stressful moments. I am such a worrier when we let them loose. Vicki was so upset about being "locked up" and away from her best friend Ellie Mae that when we opened the gate for her to go out she took off and forgot Mirta.... We had to literally pick Mirta up and carry her out to Vicki. Then she realized what she had done and loved all over her. Later in the morning Vicki was grazing enjoying the pasture grass and well... Patti stole Mirta. Yes.. stole her. Sometimes the older "Momma" donkeys want babies so bad they will try and take new Moms babies. They don't hurt them, usually they love all over them. I watched carefully for a few minutes as Patti walked Mirta across the pen and away from Vicki - after about 5 minutes we went in and got Vicki's attention and she realized that Mirta was not following her. A little "talk" between Patti and Vicki took place - and she got Mirta back. Poor Patti, she is still months away from having her next one, she loves the babies.

Vicki has been a great Mom ever since, very protective. Which I really like to see.


Here they were coming up for lovin' last night when we went into the pen. I just love the little pounce that the babies take off with!


Cali is getting so big! She is so pretty, just always dirty

And Mirta is still so tiny, her coloring is really much darker than Cali's -

I don't know why but I love the way this photo came out.. Then "Dad" got down and gave equal attention to the babies Cali and Mirta -Well then then everyone wanted attention.. Ellie has a way of making sure you pay attention to her too - Adorable or what?



And Macie keeps getting wider... :0)
And Jazz is finally getting her little pooches on her sides too!


I tried to get Libbie to pose for her weekly photo... well she got new raw hide rings on her chew toy..... sorry guys she wouldn't stop "working" for nothing - very serious work getting the raw hide chewed down!
Look at those tiny little teeth working!!! Needle sharp teeth I might add - LOLThis has been the best toy I have gotten her. Well besides her baby Purple Dog. This thing keeps her from eating the furniture, the corners of the wall, the rugs, the door to bathroom, the edge of cabinet... I think you are getting idea here. This thing is great! The "bones" spin off and you put these raw hide circles on and then tighten them back on - she works hours at it. And the rubber parts clean her teeth.



Well I hope you enjoyed Donkey/Libbie day - I gotta get a move on I am so late this morning.. I'll be back tomorrow with the MichJay Challenge #2!!!

HUGS and I hope you have a great Saturday!

YEE HAW!! It is a Western InStyle Stamps Blog HOP!

Last Friday of the month and that means it is the InStyle Stamps Blog Hop!! And a new stamp release! This month we are going western baby! I love western stamps! Not that I am a cowboy or anything.. my donkeys ain't for riding they are for hugging! :0)

So for my Yea Haw western item I got a chance to use one of the Anime Collection - a real treat for me, cuz I normally only work with the Retro line - I just adore those eyes in the Anime people.

This is TOMMY - is he adorable or what!!! I colored him with my Copics - I just had so much fun with that cowboy hat - I shouldn't tell you what we call a hat like that around here. A dusty, dirty, grimy well loved straw hat - is you "Go to heck Hat" ( subbed a word there for public viewing ) ... meaning you don't care what anyone thinks of it - you love it and you keep on wearing it! I tried to capture that feeling when coloring his hat here - LOL I also put just a dot of Dimentional Glaze on his eyes.. in the photo here is is shining back a bit and looks a little odd, but in person it is really cool!!

I found some perfect papers in my stash to go with Tommy - A Daisy D's western cowboy paper and a denim paper. The cream card stock is a white wash card stock from Core'dinations. Then in my scraps I found the gingham red paper and the bandanna paper! Just tooooo perfect! YEE HAW!

So Tommy was cut out with my Nesties - then a large circle out of the denim paper. And I just had to do some doodling around the edge. I created a band out of the red papers - and then gel pen stitched the edge of the western paper. Do you love that zig zag border around that??? It is my New EK Success embossing border punch! I just laid it out to create a mat around the paper - I sanded the core'dinations paper a bit to show the embossed stitching - really is a cool look in person but hard to capture in my photos-

I did a bit on the inside of the card - just a few scraps inside and then one of my all time favorite sentiments -

"Sending you a big ol' Texas hug!" I love this stamp - I purchased it at a local stamping store - to perfect for me huh?

Now to the details of the blog hop.... On my side bar you will find all of my fellow InStyle team members - please hop around and visit them and see all the cowboy/cowgirl fun they had with their projects - THEN Hop on over to the Instyle Blog ---- this is the important part - we both want to win a prize right??? Well if you pop over there and vote for me... then I win a prize... then leave a comment in the comment field of the blog hop post and you may be drawn to win a prize as well! Only kidding about voting for me.. vote for whoever's project you honestly love most... but I will love you forever if you vote for me :0) LOL!

So again - InStyle DT members on my side bar - then InStyle Blog Hop Post - Vote and have a chance at winning that simple! Hope you have some fun hopping around and remember to scream Yee Haw while doing it!

HUGS and see you tomorrow for Donkey/Libbie Day!

Just Magnolias Time with a great sketch from Bev!

Time for Just Magnolias!! And this week there is a GREAT sketch from Bev! I held off my card until the very last minute this week cuz I was just dying to get my latest order of Magnolias! Oh I was getting so sad, cuz I didn't think it was going to come on time - But then in came Hubby with the mail and there they were!!! My stamps from the animal/pet collection were here - so out came the ink and I was coloring!

I knew I wanted to color up the lion first - you see I am a Leo... always loved Lions - just not with my donkeys :0)

So he is all colored up with my Copics - then I used a Rubber Stamp Tapestry grass stump to add some blades of grass - The sky is chalk - he is cut in a circle with my Nesties, and a larger mat as well. Then I doodled the edge.

Following Bev's sketch I used all Heidi Grace pattern papers - I think they all go together... they are all the same collection - LOL but now that I keep looking at it I am not sure that they do.. HA! Isn't if funny that happens. I used a Doily Lace border punch for the lace border. I inked the edges of everything, and then white gel pen stitched the edge of some of the pieces. I punched the flowers with a EK Success Retro flower punch, button centers tied with twine.

I LOVE the sentiment... great size, font and well it just fits this lion don't you think? It is Magnolia as well.

I do hope you will go and see all of the DT cards this week, and then give Bev's sketch a try.. it is a super fun sketch and well - as usual there is a GREAT prize up for grabs!!

I'll be back a little later for a InStyle Blog hop... :0)

HUGS and-

Joy Love and Happiness

Wow.. I am still in shock over the fabulous comments from my Blog Candy! And Congrats again Susan for winning! (Yes.. she did contact me so she is the actual winner!)

For my card today I just has some fun... pulled out a Greeting Farm Anya stamp and used my favorite colors and just put a card for fun together - Anya is colored with my Copics and then doodled around the edges. For my papers I used all scraps! I put together all pinks, brown and kraft paper for this one. Pulled out Martha Stewarts' Doily Lace border punch and made a white lace for one side. A piece of brown ribbon with pink thread for a band across the middle. I sliced just before the lace and ran the ribbon through the paper. I have a punch coming to do that... I hope it gets here soon :0)

Love the sentiment - just a fun one - it is from inkadinkadoo.

I enjoyed making a simple card just to relax. Then I could get busy on lots of DT work. Well short post today - Hubby is home and we had a bunch of trees delivered to plant here and the neighbors. BIG trees... so lots is going on around here today. But I have LOTS for tomorrows post in fact two post for tomorrow! So that should make up for the short one today - Hope you have a wonderful Thursday-
HUGS and-

And The Winner IS.......

WOW I am so happy that 512 of you were interested in winning my Blog Candy!! I do hope you will all continue to visit me... :0)!!

So I went and did the Random.Org number generator and it came back with this as the winner!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:161

Timestamp: 2009-06-24 22:28:52 UTC

So who is the winner???

Congrats to -

SUSAN from Lil Bit Of Me

"I enjoy your daily posts....seeing your creations and I love reading about the donkeys and Libby. Thanks for the blog candy opportunity. I have posted a link on my blog sidebar which you will find here: HERE’S MINE "

So Susan, if you will email me at michelleo@hughes.net I can get your address and get your yummy candy out to you ASAP!

If you know Susan... email her and tell her she won! I'll wait three days if I don't hear from anyone by then I will pick a new name and announce it on Donkey Day Saturday.

Again thanks again to everyone who helped me reach this number - I'll try and do another candy real soon this time -

HUGS to each of you!

Celebrating 75,000 Hits with some Big Blog Candy!

THIS CANDY IS NOW CLOSED... THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO COMMENTED!

This post will remain ontop until the end of the candy - for newest post please scroll down ;0)

YEA! I finally got all my stuff for my blog candy together - I know I have been telling you it was coming! Well here it is and I have to say I am wishing I could win it! LOL!

So what we have here is:

1- The NEW HARD TO FIND Core'dinations 12x12 Whitewash card stock stack

2- FIVE sets of Pink Cat Studios Stamps - YES FIVE FULL NEW UNCUT SETS!

Hearts, Doodle Garden, Baby, Background and Crafty Kitty!

(A special thank you to my wonderful, generous, friend that donated these to my candy!)

3 - A Uniball Gel Pen - yes the same pen I use for all of my Gel pen stitching I do so much of! Well except this is a brand new one! LOL

4- TWELVE of my MIL's crocheted flowers! Ouch that one hurt to put in.. I had to beg and then didn't want to share them LOL! But so many have loved seeing them on my cards to I decided to add them to the loot! Isn't she sweet to have made these for the candy? Thank you MIL!

5- FOUR bottles of the New product SMOOCH by Clearsnap - I have heard so many wonderful things about this new must have product - I got it special in for the candy - well and a few more for me too ;0) Can't wait to try this stuff!

6- and then a pile of jewelry spacers! Another must have for embellishing your flowers on your cards.....

So what do you need to do to win all of this?

Spread the word of my Candy with a link to my blog on your blog.

If you don't have a blog then please let the world know by telling your friends or shouting out on whatever forum you belong.

Leave a comment here with a link to where you spread the news

If you would like to be a follower that would be great - if you already are - Thanks so much! But not necessary to winning ;0)

And that is it! I'll ship world wide so no worries there -

I'll do a random number generator on June 24th and announce the winner that evening!

Hugs and Good Luck!

Wedding cards this week at A Spoon Full of Sugar!

This weeks theme at A Spoon Full of Sugar was perfect timing for me this week. An old friend's daughter is getting married on the 4th of July - so I was really needed to make a wedding card! Love when the card is made for a special person, and I can really think about the person it is for and what I want for them.

I knew I wanted to use The Alota Rubber Stamps "Mr and Mrs Wedding Couple" they are one of my favorite newly married couple images.

I colored with my Copics... and I wanted to make sure you could see how cool the brides dress looks... I used the new Smooch to color in her dress... it looks so neat in person, like a satin fabric! (Yes this is the product that is in my Blog Candy!!! well but my own bottle I didn't dip into the winners bottle LOL) Then for the background color I used one of my chalk inks from Memento and a sponge and filled in the color... the white was just too much once I put it with the pattern papers.

For my card I started with a white card stock base, then use the absolutely yummy Graphic 45 Baby/Wedding papers. These papers are so beautiful, and two sided. I picked a striped piece, and plaid piece and then the roses. I then punched a border with a EK Success border punch, then sewed everything down. OH almost forgot I used a piece of twine around two of the corners of the image.

The sentiment is also from Alota Rubber Stamps, it is part of the Pretty Circle Essentials set, love the wording..

I hung two heart charms with a fine little chain - and a pretty little heart brad.

And look don't be shocked, but I also did a bit on the inside!!! :0)

I hope you like my Wedding card - Make sure to visit A Spoon Full of Sugar today - Wow there are some really gorgeous cards by the DT, and this week again their is a great prize by

our sponsor this week is Bunny Zoe's crafts (Yes.. our very own Nikki has opened her own store!!! You just must go and visit it and see all the wonderful goodies she has available!)

Well have a wonderful Tuesday... and we are only one day from my Blog Candy give away!!! I am so excited!!!

HUGS and-