July's InStyle Stamps Blog Hop!!

It is the last Friday of the month and that is time for the InStyle Stamps Blog Hop! And this month there are some really fun images to show off! A Fantasy Theme!!!

I was assigned a wonderful "Magical Unicorn"! I think I was given the unicorn.. cuz of my love of donkeys... they are close friends you know.. LOL

When I saw the unicorn I knew I wanted to do something different, something cute... little girl fun - well that brought me back around to the wonderful little gift box from Lauren Meaders and Papertrey Ink's template - perfect size for this "Magical Unicorn"! (these templates are sold for $5.00 each.. just and FYI)

Ok - so with a white unicorn there isn't a lot of coloring... but what I did do was with my Copics. I then cut him out so he would show and pop off the front of the little box. I also added three tiny Prima flowers with leaves and stickles centers.. a unicorn likes to play in pink flowers right?

The paper I used for the box is two sided - perfect as it is made to match! And I thought the castles and carriages were perfect for the unicorn. I inked all of the edges of the paper with a light green ink. And used the edge of one of my border punches to make a scalloped looking handle... ain't to sure how that turned out as it wasn't as scalloped as I would like, but oh well....


Here you can see the side of the box, and how the sides close it all together, I punched two Stampin Up Slits in the handle and ran a wide satin ribbon through to give it a bit more fun.

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 Fantasy 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 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 a Magical Time!

HUGS and see you tomorrow for Donkey/Libbie Day!

Distressing with Just Magnolia!

Today is Friday and I will have another post later in the morning so please come back -

But first it is Just Magnolia Friday and today it is just so Distressing!!! yes we are asked to distress our card in some way. So it is a pretty easy request so I hope you will join in!

My card -

I went with ink and sanding as my distressing tools - Funny I started out with the Core'dinations card stock as my starting point. Really odd for me, but I new with the challenge I wanted to have the chocolate box brown and yellow paper as my sanded focus. I used my Cuttlebug embossing folder then sanded until the yellow really showed through. Then that gave me my colors, a yellow card stock base, then more of the core'dinations, a scrap of yellow and white gingham pattern paper. I sanded the edges of all of the card stock. Then I picked my image -

I have always used greens and blue with this image, and for some reason I thought she would be pretty in yellow and brown. I colored her up with my Copics, then high lighted with white gel pen. I then used a sponge and light brown ink and rubbed the edges of the image, a vintage "distressed" look don't you think? I then matted her with a piece of the brown card stock punched with a EK Success wave border punch, then sanded. Matted again with yellow. The sentiment is wonderful don't you think? It is from Greeting Farm, and is a new set of wonderful sentiments by my buddie Jessica... love them!
Then I added a satin brown ribbon, and one of my new Prima roses. How fabulous is it? WOW I know I am going to have to order lots more of these! I then added a few Martha Stewart frond leaf punches.

Now hop over and see all the other DT cards... WOW I am really finding it tough to keep up these ladies talent... they are sooo talented and their cards are just amazing! Then distress up a card yourself and join us ok? Great prize again!

I'll be back later with another post... Today is the InStyle Blog Hop...
Hugs and Later :0)

Loving these new Sarah's!

You all know I adore my Sarah Kay images - and I am just loving these new images.. and I haven't even gotten a chance to play with the new Noel Sarah Kay's yet! I really think I may have a stroke with excitement of overload Sarah Kay... but oh how fun!

This is "Spring is Back" she has the same floral feel as my original favorite Rose's Garden (she is in my banner) but this one also has the gorgeous hat.. love those big floppy hats. I colored this one with my Copics as I always do :0)

For my card I went with fun bright colors and pulled out my Making Memories Chloe's Closet. Love that stack, and I forgot I had it, that little stack just got buried and I found it again!

I started with a pretty yellow card stock. then found FOUR of the patterns I liked and sewed them down in a random pattern with a Zig Zag stitch. When matting the orange dot pattern for the back of the image, I made sure to save the border of that paper... don't you love that tape measure? I then used matching Making Memories ribbons and brads from the same collection.

The sentiment is from Hero Arts and is punched out with a Stampin Up label punch and inked.

Have you gotten your new Sarah Kay's yet???? They are selling fast - if you need some help finding them click the one of the links below - this will take you to the Stampavie store locate page and you can then find LOTS of stores that carry the images, with the Google Map direction, phone numbers and those all important Web Addresses and email address.

Australia Austria Belgium Canada Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Korea, Republic of Netherlands Norway Poland Reunion Russian Federation Singapore Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan United Kingdom United States


Better get my "work" done.. Hubby is actually starting my Craft room today!!!! Yes we have a trailer full of lumber sitting out front of the house and today he starts the building!!!! I'll make sure to take some photos!

Have a wonderful Thursday!
HUGS and-

Pam and Buster from InStyle go for a walk -

How cute are Pam and Buster from InStyle? I just love this image.. Buster has such a proud attitude.. LOL - all colored with my Copics.


My card started with a white card base. Then I found this wonderful pattern paper from Reminisce that is two sided... love both sides! perfect for Pam and Buster don't you think? I then found a piece of dark red card stock to use as mats for everything. I then sewed the edges of the pattern paper. Now I really wanted to do that fun random wavy sewing... I just don't do that well. I stress about getting it right... not that I sew perfect straight lines, but why do I have such a hard time doing wavy free sewing! LOL
I saw in my stash this thin satin ribbon that matched perfectly so I tied it around the one pattern with a knot. The sentiment is from Cloud 9 epoxy stickers - a wonderful sentiment for a dog lover - "Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole" SO TRUE! Especially when they unroll the toilet paper all over the house!

Now today is the InStyle Challenge - which is Travel.... I think this if you stretch a bit might qualify... maybe Pam and Buster are traveling? HA! Make sure to pop over and get an order in.. there is a free stamp the month of July!!!

Ok... now I need everyone in the world to think hard all together for me.... Hubby says he is going to start my craft room and our front porch this week!!! He is going to work on the supply list and measurements today!!!! OH I soooo want to get this done! I am trying to not pressure too much... well nag... but I am sooo excited!!

Hope you have something fun today and have some crafting time!
HUGS and-

A Spoon Full of Sugar... GREAT Sketch and another Helz image!!!!

Tuesday = Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge! And today's challenge is a wonderful sketch by fellow DT member Caryn -

I of course had to start off with another brand new image sneak peek from Stampavie!! This is another from Helz Cuppleditch... cute or what? This little dog is all packed up and ready for the big move - I colored with my Copics with Chalk sky and grass.
I cut the circle with my Nesties - the base of my card is a dark red card stock, that I used to make mats for everything.... the circle I cut a scalloped circle with my Nesties - The pattern papers are Cosmo Cricket - again, I found some really pretty papers from them at a LSS - love the double sided! No thinking! I sewed all the pieces down with a dark red thread and straight stitch with my sewing machine - The flowers are Prima's stacked with jewelry spacers and mini brads. Punched Martha frond leaves. The "Celebrate" was black ink on white card stock - was really bright... didn't look right at all - so I took a light beige ink and ran over the entire thing to tone it down some.

This weeks challenge is a wonderful sketch and another great prize - so please pop over to the Spoon Full of Sugar site and see the other DT cards (I saw them... WOW!) then please do join us in playing!

I do hope this post actually showed up ~ I had to schedule it as I have an early morning appointment for Hubby's business. Does the scheduler ever go wonky on you and not work? Does me all the time! But I guess if you are reading this it worked! LOL If not I'll find out later in the day and post it manually - Have a wonderful Tuesday... me starting out with a business meeting.. yuck...

HUGS and-

Stampavie DT Blog Challenge #9 - Bag it up! With another Helz image!

Today is the Stampavie DT Blog challenge, and it was a really fun one to play with! We were asked to use a template from fellow DT member Lauren Meader! I love her templates they are just so fun and cute! You’ll find the tutorial here. And trust me... this is a fun template that you will want to use again and again!
I used a piece of Cosmo Cricket two sided pattern paper, for the bag - My handle is punched with a SU label punch and I used a Fiskars corner rounder. I ran a piece of satin yellow ribbon around the bag - punched a whole in my image with another SU slit punch. The flower is one of my MIL's crocheted flowers, with Martha frond leaves and a sewed on blue button. Now how about that image?

This is again one of the new Helz Cuppleditch images that will be released from Stampavie. I just love these images! This is Ruffles Party... how fun!

I stamped the image on a new paper for me, Papertrey Natural paper. This paper has a more organic look to it, the color is not bright white and it has specks of darker papers in it. I used my Copics to color the image, other than the sky and ground, which is chalk. Then I went back with my white gel pen and colored in the bone. That is why it really pops - cool huh? I doodled the edge and then cut out a scalloped mat out of a scrap of yellow card stock with my Nesties.

I do hope you will visit the Stampavie blog and check out the challenge. As you know we are offering secret prizes with every bi-weekly challenge! It’s so much fun and who don’t love secrets? So come on and join us today or until August 9th 12:00 am blog time (means French time) at the latest to be entered for our next secret prize!


Fellow DT Member Lauren, did this one day on her personal blog and I thought it was a fabulous idea.. so I am copying her idea... thanks Lauren!

If you ever want to know where to purchase Stampavie images, there is a page on the web that has a list of all of the stores that sell the images... but here is direct links for you to use...

Australia Austria Belgium Canada Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Korea, Republic of Netherlands Norway Poland Reunion Russian Federation Singapore Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan United Kingdom United States

Just click where you would like to purchase from.. this will give you a list of stores, with their name, address, phone number, emails and if they have them web addresses. There is also even google map links to help you find the store! Hope this helps you get all the new images that are out and the ones that will be out real soon!

Well better get a move on.. running a few errands then got to get home and get some work done! It is Monday again... sigh....

Have a great day-
HUGS and-

A Simple old fashioned General Store

Yes.. how wonderful is a Sunday afternoon to visit a Simple Old Fashioned General Store? I just love this image from Alota Rubber Stamps!


Now this is a larger image (5.25 X 4 inches) So not a lot of room to add stuff to a card - But the Boy with Dog and the Girl with Flowers also from Alota Rubberstamps are just perfect to pop off the front of the General Store! Everything is colored with my Copics - then I matted with a dark red card stock - I used the same for the card base. I added one piece of the new Basic Grey June bug paper. Love this collection.. really great bright fun papers. I just had to add some flowers to the corner.. so I tried to match the flowers on the porch of the store - red satin flowers, punched Martha branches with mini brads.

Hope you like country Sunday card - it was fun to just create something just for fun. And I think this one was fun.

Have you have a wonderful crafty Sunday!
HUGS and-

Donkey/Libbie Day - early in the morning

Well I messed up this morning - I didn't get out with my camera before "Dad" fed breakfast - what does that mean? Well not many donkey faces to snap photos of... just this....

None of the adults were interested in looking at me at all... it was the same in every pen. OH well... the two babies were playing so I got to snap a few of them...

Cali was trying to get a hold of their new ball they got this week... then Mirta saw that "Mom" was snapping photos... so she headed over to get some love.

She is really a stunner! She has these two hair tuffs under her eyes.. they are so cute. You can just see them in this photo... And she seems to be staying pretty small - but she keeps up with Cali, actually most of the time out runs Cali -

Cali is a stunner herself, just much lighter in color. Her ears are much larger - well she is larger all over, but not too big - just normal. She too had to come over for love, and dropped the ball to get a hug from me.

Libbie... well I took almost 40 photos trying to get a few of Miss Libbie... she is just so active - here she is watching the donkeys - one of her favorite things to do. Most of the time this morning she was herding... no I don't let her out with the donkeys. She was herding grass hoppers in her pen. It is really cute watching her gather them all up in the center of the pen, and it is also pretty funny to see her when they jump through the fence.. she gets so mad. Yes she has a horrible temper.

Oh one more thing in this photo... she is really filling out and her adult coloring is really showing. She is a beautiful Blue Merle color - with dark spots... but I think one of my favorite things is her adorable Australian Shepherd "Butt Skirt"... LOL Hubby keeps saying we should cut off her little hiney fluff.. but no way!! I love it!

I called her name... watch out she is running full steam!

But still my sweet beautiful baby! Sorry she is squinting the sun was in her eyes over my shoulder... But you can really see her ice blue eyes -

Well hope you enjoyed the photos - next week I snap before they are fed! LOL

Have a wonderful weekend!
HUGS and-

Just Magnolias - A fun sketch by TAB!

Friday!! And that means time for Just Magnolias - today there is a really fun sketch by DT member TAB
Me... I decided to go with simple, clean lines - which isn't always me. In fact it ended up really being hard. But I wanted the Tilda to be the focus and POP off the card - so I kept at it. I used Making Memories papers on a cream colored card stock. I sewed down all of the pieces onto mats of the same color.

I used a vintage piece of lace as my band across the middle, and three dark red buttons for the dots.
Another challenge for me is to not just play with my newer Magnolias... so I am trying every other week to use some of my older Tilda's... this is one of my favorites. I colored her with my Copics, really heavily - remember I wanted her to POP. I doodled around the edges with a Copic multi liner. Also high lighted with white gel pen. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and is punched out with a SU tab punch. Looking at it now.. it really needs some flowers and some bling. But at the time I did this I was really trying to do a more clean and simple look.... sigh... I just don't do it well.

I do hope you will pull out one of your Magnolias and join us this week - a great prize..... which is any C.C. Designs stamp set of your choice!! And oh my! There are some fabulous sets for you to choose from. Love when prizes are your choice don't you?

Hope you have a wonderful Friday - that pile of laundry I was going to tackle yesterday is still staring at me... I got the worst headache yesterday and laundry just fell of my list. So there it is again today.. and no matter what it will be done!! Sound like a super hero huh? I think sometimes I need one to keep up with this house.. and there are only two of us! Well Libbie and Gato for sure add to the mess!

I'll see you tomorrow for Donkey/Libbie day -
HUGS and-

Showing off a NEW Tina Wenke Stampavie image

They are coming!!! Yes you should start seeing these new Tina Wenke images really soon in the stores, and oh my they are just adorable. Stampavie is really proud to release these images by Tina Wenke, the details are wonderful, they stamp out really clear and crisp.. and again they are just adorable!

This is "Mouse and Rabbit with Sunflower" I just love the little dresses they are wearing, oh and that little birdie on the leaf, oh and that little tiny watering can! LOL I really like this image! I colored up with my Copics and then matted with scrap green.

White Card Stock is used for the card base, green card stock as a mat for my favorite DCWV Nanna's Nursery Girls Glitter papers. The orange satin ribbon is from Martha Stewart, and then prima flowers, with Martha Steward branch leaves. I found these really pretty bridal sprays at the craft store, I cut them apart and used the little pieces for the centers of the flowers. The sentiment is a "hello" cut with my Making Memories Slice.


Can you believe all the wonderful images that Stampavie is coming out with? New Sarah Kay, Tina Wenke, and Helz Cuppleditch and then New Noel Sarah Kay and just last week they announced another new artist Gillian F Roberts Christmas Collection!! If you click on each name the link will take you to the Stampavie page showing each new collection. So get you pocket books ready cuz that is FIVE new collections between NOW and Mid September!!! How exciting is that?


Well today is tidy up day, laundry (why does this pile never go down?) some "work", and then end the day with some crafting.... any day that ends with the crafting ends up a good day! Especially if the pile of laundry is down!

What you working on today?
HUGS and-

Alota Music for PCP Challenge 15

Hello - there is a new challenge on the Alota Rubber Stamps PCP group - and this one is a technique I wasn't sure how to do... Spotlighting - basically to pop a spotlight of the image on your card - you can do it black and white then color the spotlight or how ever you see it.


Me... I did mine as a grey and white image to go better with the colors of my papers. Then I stamped a second image and then with my Fiskars circle the wonderful horn playing bug - that I colored with my Copics. After I laid it down on the "plain" image... it just didn't do anything for me at all.... So I decided to give it that smokey... vintage look by coloring with my Prisma pencils. Then putting my Copic circle on top. I kind of like that!

For the card - Sorry I did it again!!! I glued down the name of the paper! Duh... Sorry but it is pretty isn't it? The base is white card stock, I punched the bottom of the pattern paper with a EK Success border punch. Then found a really skinny American Crafts dotted ribbon and ran bands across the bottom and above the punch. Then in my scraps from last week I saw the button paper I used last week. And the row of green buttons just jumped off the paper at me. I cut that row off and ran it above the ribbon. Then it just needed to be finished with another band of ribbon.

I had a circle on my desk from another project and again it just jumped off the desk at me! I felt it needed something around the circle so I wrote around it with my white gel pen... "Toot your own horn" over and over. I think it is pretty darn cute.. And glad this challenge made me try something new -

Maybe you can give the challenge a try? And there is a prize too - :0)

Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday -

A Spoon Full of... Swirls! and another peek of a new Heltz image from Stampavie!

Yes, Tuesday the Spoons come out! Today is A Spoon Full of Sugar challenge - and today we are swirling - use Swirls on you project. And this also gave me a chance to show off another new Heltz Cuppleditch image from Stampavie -


So first the image: This is "Ruffles Birdwatching" I think I am falling for Ruffles.. he is just so darn cute! I colored with my Copics...Now for my card I started with a white card stock base, then found a pretty Bonnie Blue pattern paper, this is a two sided pattern, so I used both sides with a scrap of yellow card stock. My swirls or flourishes are cut with my MM Slice, then I doodled on them.. not so happy about that now.. oh well, they were glued down. I used the brown side of the pattern paper and punched out the little duckies with the Martha Stewart border punch! then layered more yellow card stock below.. chickies are yellow you know! The sentiments are Heidi Grace epoxy stickers.

Make sure and run over to A Spoon Full of Sugar and see all the SWIRLS the DT have put together and maybe work up a swirl or two yourself.. another great prize this week.

Now must fly... I am going shopping with my Mother and my Sister today... we don't do that often - so I am looking forward to spending the day together.

Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!
HUGS and-

MichJay Challenge #3 - Papertrey's Ready, Set Wrap!

Hello and Happy Monday... today is the 20th, and on the 20th of every month is the MICHJAY Challenge!! A reminder what the MichJay Challenge is "a personal challenge between me and my Buddie JayJay (http://www.stempelelfejayjay.blogspot.com/), we were chatting at how wonderful it is so many can do the wonderful 3-D items so easily - and after a while decided that we just needed to step out of the box of cards and challenge each other. So once a month we will hold the MichJay Challenge!"

This is challenge number 3... and I am very excited about this one. I so loved this template - fellow Stampavie DT Lauren Meader designs templates for Papertrey Ink.. "My Timeless Templates" and the one we chose to purchase and use for our MichJay Challenge is "Ready, Set and Wrap" ... really cute, and I was amazed at how easy it was to use the template and put together.

Cute or what???? I found this gorgeous paper in my stash from Graphic 45 Playtimes past collection, this is two sided paper that is just luxurious. Being two sided is a must when you are planning to see the inside of the item, and I just love the contrast between these two patterns.


Now I planned to use one of the new Stampavie Sarah Kay images for my art on the front of the little box. This is "A lollipop for Suzan" - cut with my oval Nesties. Then matted with a red larger oval. I found these cute little flower in my box of flowers, and they just seemed perfect to match. I then punched one Martha Stewart frond leaf punch and cut it apart and used each individual leaf for the tiny little flowers.

Here you can see the box opened up the two pieces are attached in the center... and yes it is perfect for sending that perfect little gift to a friend.. like a new Sarah Kay stamp!!

I inked the edges of my template to give it shadows. So what do you think? I am so excited to see what JayJay made!!! he he we don't go and look at each others item until we have posted our own... So lets go.... and see hers.... HERE


Oh and if you want to join our little challenge please do!!! With today's challenge you will need to purchase the template from Papertrey.. but they are only $5.00 and I am sure you will use it over and over!! And then please leave a comment so we can come and look at what you made. I am so happy we are doing this - I am not nearly as nervous to jump out of my Card box and give 3-d items a try and that was the whole point!

Hope you have a wonderful day... Now I am running over to Jay Jay and see if she has posted hers...

HUGS and-