Melinda with Bouquet - FBW

Yippee, it's Wednesday - time for another Flutter By Challenge. I look forward to creating my card each week!! One of the requirements to play along is to use either a butterfly or a fairy. To me, a fairy can be just about anything - if it's got wings it can be a fairy. I wanted to create a card using one of my new WOJ stamps, So I choose Melinda with Bouquet.

My card is 5.25x5.25. I used Doodlebug DP and Bazzill cardstock that matches. The challenge this week was to use brads or eyelets along with your butterfly or fairy. I have TONS of eyelets (remember when they first came out, I had to have like ALL of them!) but I'm not very good about using them. Brads are much easier for me. I found this sketch at Inspirational Card Sketches and knew it would work perfectly with my image.

I applied Diamond Glaze to the roses and Stickles to the wings. Here is a close up where you can see that better.

I colored her with Copics (hair & body) and pencils with OMS (outfit, headband and flowers). I REALLY like how it turned out - and I love the colors of her outfit. I hope this cards brings a smile and some peace to a friend of mine going through a rough time - the inside says "to lift your heart".

So what do you think? I'd love to hear your comments! If you have a butterfly or fairy why don't you play along? Just visit Danni's blog for all the details. You can link your creation on her blog. We'd love to see what you create!! While you are there check out our featured team member, Harriet. I haven't gotten to know Harriet very well yet but her work is FANTASTIC and she recently had surgery so hope she's doing better! You can see the other DT members creations by clinking on the links to the side. This week we say good bye to two team members, Heather & Ashley. We hope to see them again in the future - they are both very talented!

Today, Abby and I are going to KC to see our friends visiting from Memphis. Abby is beyond excited - she hasn't seen any of her Memphis friends for over a year!! Hopefully, I'll get some good pictures to share. I hope you have a great day!! Thanks for stopping by today!!

I love you

Yes, it's true - I love YOU, my readers! Seriously though today's card is for my HUBBY!! Saturday the 30th, we celebrate 11 years of marriage! This year we are actually going to celebrate our anniversary since grandma & papa have agreed to keep Abby for the weekend!! WHOOHOOO!! This time last year we were packing all of our belongings into a Penske truck and moving from Memphis to Lawrence. Boy, was that a LONG and HOT weekend!! We moved everything into my parents house and then 2 months later did it all again to move into our house in Topeka. I was hoping we'd get to take Abby and go to Disney World to celebrate our anniversary (that's where our honeymoon was) but no go. We will do that though - one year!

For my CAC Yahoo Group, I was given a sketch to use. I'm pretty sure this is a PageMaps sketch. When I saw the flowers I thought that would be neat to do with hearts. I hate it when I vision something and it doesn't turn out quite like I'd hope.

My card:

Lucky for me my camera sucks or you'd see how bad the red heart clashes with the red cardstock. I used these die cut stickers from Making Memories that have adhesive on both sides. The red heart is flocked. The silver hearts have glitter on them. I was originally going to go with red glitter but realized that I'd then have 3 different color reds and knew that was not good! There was no stamping done on this card {{gasp}} - the I love you is a rub-on. Here's a close up:

I added black dots around the glittered hearts. I REALLY wanted to sew the stems with my sewing machine but just couldn't bring myself to do it. I NEED to do that soon - I'll get better with practice so I should start now!

So it's not the best card I've ever made but you know what - hubby is going to LOVE it!! I have no doubt and he'll be extra impressed that I stitched the stems and that the heart is fuzzy!! Yes, after 11 years I kind of know him :o) He'll treasure it, thank me and put it in his special drawer that holds all the cards, letters & gifts I've ever given him. It's ALL good!!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!!

Jolly Holiday

Happy Monday! First, let me take a moment to thank any and all veterans of the United States Military. I'm grateful for all you've done and continue to do for us! This day's for you!!!


It's also time for another Christmas card. This week is a sketch challenge week. The sketch was provided by the very talented Maria.

and here's my card:



Now these papers wouldn't normally be my first choice for a Christmas card BUT the image reminds me of my Christmas tree and well there would be a lot of color on it! I made red be the main color which is a normal Christmas color. It's kind of nice to have a different color scheme of just red and green though. I hope we have more color challenges on this blog (if you missed last week, check out Debbie's color challenge).


Check out the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog to play along and see the other team members cards. We'd love to see what you'd come up with!!


We don't have much planned for today. We spent yesterday doing some much needed deep cleaning in the house and yard work. I'm hoping to spend quite a bit of time in my room creating away...keep your fingers crossed!


Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by!! If you've got time, leave me a comment. I so enjoy reading each and every one of them!!

Teacher Gifts

I made a gift set for Abby's teacher and thought I'd share. I finally used some of my JustRite stamps and man, those are awesome!! LOVE how you can personalize them - it looks so professional.

First up is the post it note holder:
Next, is a little treat bag filled with chocolates:

And last is a card holder filled with cards and envelopes:
To make the card organizer, I used Lauren's templates from PTI - it made it so easy and looks so awesome! I bought a few other templates that I haven't tried yet but am looking forward to! The papers are from The Angel Company - it's the Mimi SWIC collection. It's one of my favorite lines and I love how everything coordinates. I stamped the pink paper with Be of Good set from TAC using VersaMark ink. You want to know something else cool - I made everything in about 2 hours! Who can't find 2 hours to make this gift set for someone special?

Hope you enjoy and thanks for looking!!

Flutter By - Fairy style

Today is Flutter By Wednesday and I decided to use a fairy image instead of a butterfly. Why? Well I got this AWESOME Rachelle Anne Miller image from a friend that I've been dying to use. At first I thought I'd use my Copics but honestly, I have trouble doing certain colors since I don't have that many. I had already found the paper I wanted to use so I decided to use my colored pencils and OMS. I REALLY like how this turned out! I think she's FAIRY cute!

See...don't you think it's cute? She was a lot of fun to color. I also put Stickles on the outside of her wings. I put ultra fine glitter and Diamond Glaze on the heart. It looks so cool! I hope you can click on her and see the detail. I used Mojo Monday week 74 sketch but decided not to use the ribbon & circle. Instead I put Dew Drops in the corners. I have like a gazillion of them so I should use them, right? The paper is from Imaginisce.

So do you want to play along? It's really easy! Just go to Danni's blog to link your creation. The challenge this week is to use at least 2 Designer/Pattern Papers AND a butterfly OR fairy. While you are at Danni's blog be sure to see her creation, Stef's creation who is the featured team member this week and Jodi Collins card who is the guest designer. You can see all the other team members creations simply by clicking on the links to the right.

Today is the big day - we say goodbye to Preschool FOREVER!!! I'm not sure what to expect today at the end of year sing a long but I hope I can keep my emotions in check. Abby "graduated" from Preschool when we were in Memphis last year. I got emotional then because I knew we were moving - our 4 year chapter coming to a close. This year though it will be because I know Abby is for SURE attending Kindergarten in the Fall - riding the bus and all. I get a little teary eyed now so I know it's going to be a rough day in August when it all happens!! I plan on spoiling her rotten tomorrow though and enjoy the day - just her and me.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a GREAT day!!!

Cakeabella

Happy Tuesday! The sun is shining and I'm ready to go into my room and create something! Today I wanted to share I card I did for the CAC (create-a-card) yahoo group. I participate on their sketch team and for the last few weeks haven't been able to play. This week I was all ready. I decided to use a stamp from my stash that I'd never used before! I present to you CAKEABELLA:

It's really a fun sketch and I can see myself using it again. I went with the bright summer colors - doesn't it just scream HAPPY?!?! Recognize the pattern paper? It's from that KI stack that fell into my arms at Hobby Lobby! I like that I went with pink/red top and orange pants. I find myself when coloring trying to be "proper" but in the world of card making anything goes!!

Thank you for all the wonderful birthday comments and emails that I received yesterday! It was so fun to read them all and Abby got a real kick listening to the comments about her card!

Hope you have a great day and you are able to enjoy some sunshine. Today is Abby's last regular day of preschool and tonight she has T-ball practice. Did I mention that she was pretty darn good? Funny thing - she's a lefty. For soccer she's one of the few left footed kickers and she writes left handed. BUT for T-ball - all righty! We practiced this weekend and I had her use her left and she didn't do so hot. Use the right and she really throws the ball and her batting is great! I'll try and take some pictures cause all the kids are so cute at this age - you can see the determination on their faces as they bat and run for the ball.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Happy Birthday

to me!! Yep, today is my birthday and even though we don't have anything really planned, the day still feels special. We celebrated over the weekend with my family by going to dinner and having cake. Jay has promised me though that he will be doing the cooking and cleaning tonight so I get to sit back and relax! Plus there is still cake so you can bet we'll be eating that!

Today is also Christmas Card Monday and this week our challenge comes from fellow team member Debbie. She gave us the challenge of using sage, peach and chocolate. When I read those colors, I instantly thought of snowmen. My blogging buddy Anna, used the Snowman Nativity set from The Angel Company on a card recently and I knew it would be perfect for these colors.

Of course, the picture looks dark (I told you I'm having trouble with the camera & computer). If you click on the picture you should see the colors better. The background is actually my sage and I stamped on it using VersaMark ink. Just a subtle pattern for the card. The peach I used is the closest I could find in my stash of paper. I colored the image with colored pencils and OMS. I actually made two of cards. The second one is the same except the rhinestones are the peach color, my bow is bigger and I didn't pierce around the image. This was my favorite of the two.

I tell you it feels good to have Christmas cards already done. I'm really hoping this means I won't be scrambling at the end of the year to send out cards AND they'll be on time. Two years ago, I didn't even send out cards (shame, shame) and last year I was late (I know!).

So how about playing along? Why not get a head start on those holiday cards? You can see all the details at the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog. While you are there check out the other team members wonderful creations!

Before I go I have to share a birthday card from Abby. She woke me up by shoving this under my face while still sleeping and was just grinning ear to ear. She's very proud of it...and I am too!

Hope you have a wonderful Monday!!

Overdue Thank You's

Good Morning everyone! I wanted to pop on real quick and give some much deserve THANK YOU's to some wonderful friends!! Please forgive me for not posting pictures - between my OLD camera and my even OLDER computer I'm having some technical difficulties. Simple things like loading pictures should not take as long as they do. The good news is, I think (crossing my fingers here), that we are getting a new computer. Believe me when I say, it's something we really need!

I received wonderful GET WELL cards from the following friends: Danni, Ann, Nancy, Chris and Lori. Each one of them brought a smile to my face and was just what I needed!! Danni also sent images to color and I got a beautiful pack of butterfly paper from Ann. Thank you for your thoughtfulness, girls!!

My birthday is Monday (WHOOHOO!) and I've received some wonderful birthday cards. I'm telling you just about everyday this week as been an awesome mail day! I've received cards from: Nancy, Stef and Danni. Thank you for thinking of me and for sending such wonderful cards!

Last shout out goes to my friend, Linda. Linda was super sweet to send me a birthday card as well as some stamps. I met her through a swap on PCP and she is just the sweetest! Thank you for your generosity - the stamps are adorable!

Thank you again and thank you to those who have had me in your thoughts and prayers and who have checked on me via email. It's amazing how even though I've never met most of you in person, you can touch me so deeply. You are very thoughtful and kind and hold a special place in my heart!

All for you

Good Morning! I'm so happy to be posting again...maybe I really am getting my act together! Yesterday was Abby's last extended day at preschool. This means that I will not have a good 6 hours to myself for quite a few months. It also means that her first day of Kindergarten will be here soon and although I'm so ready for her to go, it's the official start of BIG GIRL status and a whole new chapter. It makes me realize that my baby is growing up way to fast!

Since Abby was gone all day, I decided to relish in the quiet and make a few cards. I received some great images from a blogging friend, Tammi (thanks again!) that I really wanted to use. Plus there was the new paper that I found while at Hobby Lobby. It's a new stack of KI paper and I swear somehow it just FELL into my hands!

see what I mean - all CA-UTE! But this brings up another issue for me. This card isn't perfect {insert gasp here} and I almost threw it out BUT I'm trying something new and decided to IMPROVISE and make it work. Now being the wonderful person that I am, I'm going to point out my mistakes....No wait that's crazy! YOU tell me the mistakes... See what I deem as a mistake you might not even notice - that's my point! It's a HANDMADE card so there's always room for HANDMADE mistakes, right!?!?! Well like the song goes, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

The wonderful sketch was provided by OCC. Yes, folks I even participated in a challenge AND met the deadline {insert another gasp here}. Wow, I'm just full of the sarcasm today, huh?

Thanks so much for looking! Feel free to leave me your thoughts on the card or on anything else as I'm in a chatty mood! Today, if the weather cooperates, will be Abby's first official T-ball practice. I still can remember playing T-ball when I was little! Matter of fact I'm sure somewhere I've got pictures!! Now that would be fun to see, huh?

Card Details: KI paper, Making Memories Rub-ons, Phoebe Ketto from Stamping Bella, JudiKins fine glitter, Colored Pencils, OMS

Awesome Giveaway!

Ok have you seen what's up for grabs over at Susana's Custom Art & Card Design??? A new stamp line by Victoria Case will be revealed on Friday, May 15th and to celebrate you can enter to win 9 new stamps from this new line AND a colored and signed image donated by Victoria herself! How cool is that! Head over to Follow Your Heart Blog to see all the details and to enter!!

Fluttering Again

Happy Wednesday to you! Time for a Flutter By creation, yippee! I have to tell you that it felt really good to create a card - one that I'm very happy with. This week, our challenge was one that you probably already do on most of your cards, it was to add a sentiment or quote to your butterfly or fairy card. I really wanted to participate in the photo challenge last week so I also used that as my bases for my card this week.



I'm skipping ahead though. I need to first welcome two new team members, Lelia and Christine. I've added their blogs to the list so be sure to stop by and say hi! Also, Kristie will be leaving us for a while but plans on returning later in the year. She will be missed!! The featured team member is Nicola. She is so very nice and comes up with some beautiful creations!



Okay on to my card! As I mentioned, I used Danni's photo from last week's challenge for my card this week. I just LOVED the colors and how the flower and butterfly were the main focus. I learned that Danni is not only a very talented card maker but also an awesome photographer!! I pretty much duplicated her photo completely!




I LOVE the gerbera daisy stamp from TAC. The butterfly is a retired GWP stamp from TAC. I inked it with orange and rolled a little black ink on the edges. After stamping it, I covered it in Diamond Glaze and added a little glitter to it. Once it was dry, I cut it out and layered it. Below is a better look at the butterfly.

I wish you could see the glitter. It's not a lot but enough that it stands out IRL. So what do you think? Be sure to visit Danni's blog to see her creation and to play along. You can link your card there so we can all check it out! I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Thanks for looking!!

Details: Watercolor Pencils, Dove Blender Pen, Gerbera Daisy & Ordinary Greetings stamps from The Angel Company, MME DP, Diamond Glaze, corner punch and Judikins fine glitter

I'm finally back!!

WOW - it's seems like a long time since I've posted! Thank you to everyone for all the kind words during my recovery! I'm happy to say that I'm feeling MUCH better and am expecting the surgeon to give me a full release this afternoon! Good news as I am so ready to get back in the swing of things but I'm so VERY far behind that it may be awhile...

Things are already changing for me - Abby will be out of school next week (YIKES) and starts T-ball tomorrow. Just when I get the hang of a schedule it totally changes!! PLUS Abby has been sick so I took her to the doctor this morning and she has bronchitis - no school until the fever goes away!! Speaking of Abby - Mother's Day was wonderful! Even though she was feeling yucky, she said the sweetest things and even made me cupcakes. I can only hope that she didn't lick the spoon or cough in the batter as I'm not really wanting to get sick after all I've been through! I hoping that my Mommy defenses are up and in play, protecting me from all evil germs!! (I know wishful thinking!!)

With it being Monday, I have a Christmas Card to share but I have to tell you it was hard creating a card! I don't know what happened but it seems as though my creative juices are still recovering, LOL! Although the card is nice - it just seems to be missing something. Problem is I have NO IDEA what that could be!! Oh well - it will get better, right?

This week on the Christmas Blog, Vicki issued a challenge for us to use bling. Also, Maria provided a sketch for us if we wanted to use it but I didn't.

Sorry for the poor lighting...maybe I should ask for a new camera for my bday :o) Here's a close up

I added tiny pearls to the center and put Crystal Stickles on it. I then used Lime Green Stickles for the leaves. I can't really give any details of the card as I'm not sure who makes what - I know I got the stamp at Archiver's and the paper from Hobby Lobby. I used colored pencils to add a little color to the flower and leaves. Honestly it looks better in person, trust me!

Be sure to stop by the Christmas blog to see the team members creations and to play along! We'd love to see what you come up with - and who doesn't have some bling just lying around waiting to be used!!

Hope you have a wonderful Monday and thank you so very much for stopping by!