Well, here I am, finally!

Hello everyone! I have been absent from my blog for awhile.  Things have been hectic and chaotic.  My husband was diagnosed with a serious illness and I've been kept busy caring for him.  Things are starting to settle down some and I've found a little time to craft and relieve some stress.

I took inspiration from the Inspiration Challenge at the Altenew blog.  I've used some of the colors from their inspiration photo, but mostly I used the feeling of a "relaxing vacation," that I took from the inspiration photo.  My husband keeps telling me I need a vacation getaway to recoup from all that's been going on.  I agree, but, with me having been out of work to care for him, we cant afford a vacation right now, and I've exhausted all my vacation time and FMLA time, while I was off caring for him.  So, for now, my Spring Like vacation getaway will be in my mind, and depicted in this card. Any place tranquil and quiet would do just fine!

Along with the photo inspiration, I've used the Birch Land stamp set from Altenew, to create this tranquil vacation scene.  I fell in love with this stamp set as soon as I seen it, but I admit, once it arrived, I felt a little intimidated by it and all the elements.  I  am very happy with how it turned out though, for a first attempt.  The tree was stamped with Versafine Black Onyx ink and has been colored with Arteza watercolor brush markers.  (My first time using them - There is a learning curve, which I'm still riding! LOL!) I stamped the lovely array of leaves in various gorgeous colors of Altenew crisp dye inks.  (LOVE thier inks! So awesome!)  I sponged the bottom with green ink to create a hillside.  I drew the birds by hand with a Versafine black marker. The clouds were done with a stencil and Altenew crisp dye ink. .This was my first time using the cloud stencil and I struggled with figuring out the positioning of the stencil.  All in all, I think it turned out decently and is the perfect getaway vacation in my mind.

I'm still deciding if I'm going to turn this into a card, or frame it.  What do you all think would be the best choice?

This is my first time entering challenges this year! I have just been so consumed with RL, that crafting got away from me! It's so good to be back into crafting again!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

March 2018 Inspiration Challenge at Altenew

Challenge #136 Use Green at Simply Create Too

Anything Goes at Whoopsi Daisy Challenge

Challenge #3 Anything Goes at Corrosive Challenge

Challenge at Crafts Galore Encore

Challenge #135 Anything Goes at Creatalicious

Challenge #102 Spring Is In The Air at Sparkles Forum Challenge

Challenge #276 Spring at Brown Sugar Challenge

Challenge #363 Anything Goes at Crafty Creations Challenge

Challenge #162 Anything Goes at Crafty Gals Corner

Challenge #147 Anything Goes at Inspiration Destination

Ready For Spring at Mod Squad Challenge

Challenge #373 Anything Goes at Penny's Paper Crafty

Challenge #48 Anything Goes at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

Any Occasion at Creative Inspirations Challenge

Challenge #22 Photo Inspiration at PINspirational Challenges

Challenge #137 Anything Goes at Scrapbook Stamp Society

Challenge #64 Anything Goes at lemon Shortbread Challenge

Challenge #292 Spring at Hanna and Friends Challenge

Challenge #80 Anything Goes at Crafty Friends Challenge

CARDZ TV Challenge #40 Anything Goes 

4CC #396 Anything Goes/Crazy Egg at 4 Crafty Chicks

Be Bad Ass - Growing In Unity - Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of my Growing Unity week for Unity Stamp Company.

My inspiration for today's card is someone who is very near and dear to me and is going through very tough times.  Everyday, I am inspired by the courage, the fight and the strength they show.  I've made this card especially for this special someone, to show how much I believe in them and as a reminder to never give up - To keep the strength, to keep fighting and to continue to be brave. I honestly don't know how I could go through what they are going through and keep the positive attitude - This person is truly BADASS - Every day!

I am using the Itty Bitty Stamp, Badass Every Day, from Unity Stamp Company.  I've used papers strictly from my stash. I went with black and white with pops of color, to make the perfect masculine card. I've kept it simple since it's all about the Strength, The Bravery and the Inspiration this special person brings to me.  I hope this card will serve as a reminder, to everyone, every day, to never give up.

Remember to leave a comment on my Unity posts every day this week. I'll be choosing two randoms winners from those who comment every day this week - And those two lucky ducks will win a grab bag of stamps from Unity Stamp Company!

For another chance to win, leave comments every day for Teresa, at Purple Bunny Paper Crafts. She is an  experienced Unity girl so she is super talented! She has two Unity grab bags up for grabs, as well.

I am entering this inspirational card in the following challenges:

Challenge #125 Anything Goes at Inspiration Destination
Anything Goes at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

Tag It For Christmas In July

Phew, have you all been keeping busy playing along with us in our Christmas In July challenges and our blog hop! Hopefully you have, because, if not, you're missing out on fabulous prizes from Bugaboo Stamps! There is still time for you to play along, if you hurry!  Come check out the details at Catch The Bug

Today I did a card shaped like a tag for you, since that is today's Christmas in July challenge.  My tag uses the image AKV Christmas - Girl tree, from Bugaboo Stamps, colored with Promarkers. All papers are from my stash.  I used green pearls to embellish. The sentiment, punched with oval and scalloped oval punches, is from Sentiment 4 You.  Of course, I had to add some pretty metallic red and silver ribbon, to add some sparkle and shine.

 I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Challenge #71 Favorite Colors (Red and Green) at Fairytale Challenge
Challenge #138 Anything Goes at Crafts And Me
CHNC July at CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra
Spots, Stripes or Both at A Gem of A Challenge
Challenge #172 Use A Digi at One Stitch At A Time
Challenge #178 Shape Up at The Corrosive Challenge
Inspired By Ribbon and Bling at Creative Inspirations Paint
Challenge #48 Use Something Spooled at The Squirrel and the Fox
Challenge #28 Anything Goes at 613 Avenue Create
Challenge #97 Tic Tac Toe at Digi Makeover Challenge
Challenge #36 Christmas In July at Platypus Creek Digital Stamps
Challenge #48 Christmas In July at Eureka Stamps
Challenge #24 Ribbon at Songbird Challenge
Use Your Markers at Whoopsi Daisy
Challenge #156 Anything Goes at Tuesday Throwdown
Challenge #62 Anything Goes at LEJ Designs
Challenge #97 Anything Goes at Anything Goes Challenge
Challenge #177 Anything Goes at I Love Promarkers
Tags at Divas By Design
Challenge #121 Clean and Simple at The Paper Shelter
Challenge #53 Clean and Simple Plus Ribbon at Crafty Ribbons
Challenge #176 Pimp Something at Hanna and Friends
Challenge #186 Favorite Color Combo at Sassy Studio Designs

Snow Man Gift Card/Tea Bag Holder

Hello everyone! We hope you've enjoyed our 12 Days of Christmas festivities at Shelly's Images! It was so wonderful to share things with you everyday and to see so many of you playing along with us and joining in the fun!

Now that the 12 Days of Christmas is over, it's time for a new challenge, and back to our weekly challenge schedule. This week, is the ever so popular "Show Us What You Got" challenge! We know it's everyone's favorite and you're all knee deep in Christmas preparation, shopping, baking, wrapping and all that other fun stuff, so we wanted to keep it easy for you this week. You can make anything you want and link it up with us for your chance to win!

Come over and play with me and the rest of the lovely DT girls at Shelly's Images!

Before I show you my project today (and GASP! It's NOT a card! LOL), I want to show you today's featured image at Shelly's Images. Meet Santa's Old Faithful. How cool is this image?! Santa and one of his reindeer! Perfect for Christmas cards, and it is on special, today only, for a special price, in the Shelly's Images' Store. Check out the Shelly's Images Blog for lots of awesome inspiration from the DT using this fabulous image! You will be SO inspired!




Okay, now I'm excited to show you today's project! This is my DT week, so it means I can use whatever image I want for my project. I've chosen to use the Snowman set and one of the freebies Shelly has offered in the past, for my project. All images used in my project are by Shelly's Images and are available, now, in her store. I colored my images with Promarkers, of course, because you all know how much I love them!

I made this fun gift holder than can be used for gift cards or tea bags! How cute and fun is this?! I'm sure you could think of other things to put in it as well. (Sorry I forgot to actually put the gift cards in the holders before I took the pics -Duh! Guess I had a brain malfunction but its not the first, and certainly won't be the last! LOL)


This gift card holder is for my brother.

Here is the front of my gift card/tea bag holder. The images have all had glitter and sparkle added with my trusty clearstar gelly roll pen. The sentiment is part of the snowman set, and is punched with oval and scalloped oval punches. The image and sentiment are both attached with foam mounting tape, for dimension. The pockets are held inside the booklet with two heart shaped gold brads, seen on the side spine of the book. I used a couple scraps of ribbon from my stash to hold the book closes, but you can also use thin velcro. I just liked the look of the ribbon.




And a pic of the first set pocket and inside panel. You can see where the striped paper pockets have notches punched out so that the gift card (or tea bag) would be visible if I actually had slid them into the pocket before I took the pics.





A pic of the next pocket, decorated. The center strip of striped paper was not part of my tutorial - I added it after the fact, to hide the prongs of the brads that were used to secure the pockets.




Lastly, a pic of the last page of the booklet, showing where I left a writable space, to leave a personal message for the recipient.






I hope you enjoyed my project! I apologize for the post being so pic intensive, but it really is necessary for you to see how fun this gift card/tea bag holder is!


I am entering this gift card holder in the following challenges:


Holiday/Winter at The Stamping Boutique
Challenge #120 Christmas Fun at Pollycraft
GL30 Christmas and Winter at Gingerloft
Challenge #14 Photo Inspiration at Jay Gee's Nook
The Queen's Royal Digi Challenge #3 Christmas and Winter Wonderland at The Scrapbooking Queen
Challenge #86 Anything Goes at Cooking It Up With Katie
Cold and Frosty at Crafty Calender
Christmas/Holiday at One Crazy Stamper
Challenge #57 Christmas at Bee-Crafty
Christmas at Bizzy Becs
TPE128 Snowflakes and Sparkle at The Pink Elephant
Tis The Season at Creative Card Crew
Challenge #129 Mega Challenge - Celebrate- at Passion For Promarkers
Christmas Images and Colors at Truly Madly Crafty
Challenge #132 Winter and Christmas at Creative Belli Blog
Challenge #43 Winter Holiday Sentiments at Aud Sentiments
Challenge #21 It's Cold Outside at The Crafty Purple Frog
Challenge #35 Christmas at Card Makin Mamas
Show Your Christmas Bling (Gold brads on sides to hold pages in) at Stamping With The Dragon
Challenge #69 Christmas at 2 Sisters
Christmas at Paper Crafting Journey
Challenge #35 Snowmen at Craft your Days Away
Challenge #65 Traditional Christmas at Crafty Emma's
Challenge #75 Let It Snow at My Sheri Crafts
Let's Celebrate at Squiggle Stamps
CHNC Traditional Christmas at Crafty Hazel Nut's Christmas Challenge
Challenge #92 Use A Digi at One Stitch At A Time
Challenge #149 Photo Inspiration (Snowman) at Cupcake Inspirations
Challenge #22 Christmas at Dream Valley Challenges
Challenge #85 Santa's Getting Ready at I Did It Creations
Challenge #7 Christmas at The Squirrel and The Fox
Challenge #172 Don't Look At The Light at Cupcake Crafts
Challenge #97 More Than One Fold at Crazy Challenge
Sparkle and Shine at Whoopsi Daisy
Challenge #61 Happy Holidays at Lollipop Crafts
Challenge #22 Red and Gold (gold ribbon) at House of Gilli
Challenge #14 Christmas at Hooked On Crafts
Use Ribbon (to close gift card holder) at Paper Pretties
Challenge #12 Christmas at Crafty Boots
Challenge #7 Sentiment at The Cutie Pie Challenge
Challenge #28 Snowflakes at Heartsong Inspirations
Challenge #30 Gift at Fairy Tale Challenge
Glitter at Frosted Designs
Photo Inspiration at Crafty Sprouts
Challenge #16 Family Christmas (gift holder for brother) at Little Claire's Designs
Challenge #68 Merry Christmas at Penny's Paper Crafty
Challenge #141 Winter Wonderland at Digital Tuesday
I'm Dreaming of a (Red and Green) Christmas at Papertake Weekly
Challenge #28 For Someone Special (Best Friend) at Tuesday Throwdown
Challenge #87 Get Booked (Gift Card Holder Booklet) at City Crafter
PTT#46 Red And Green at Party Time Tuesdays
Challenge #100 Anything Christmas at The Pixie Cottage
Anything Goes at The Paper Variety
Challenge #13 Christmas at Little Darlings
Challenge #16 Christmas at Crafting For All Seasons
Challenge # 133 Christmas With Removable Item (Gift cards) at C.R.A.F.T
Challenge #50 Christmas at Paper Play
Challenge #50 Winter at Do You Stack Up
Challenge #103 Christmas Song (Frosty The Snowman) or TV Show Inspired at Sassy Studio Designs
4CCC068 Christmas at 4 Crafty Chicks
Anything Goes at Delightful Challenges
Challenge #38 Anything Goes plus ribbon at Really Reasonable Ribbon

A Stocking in My Pocket

Good morning everyone!

I've been crafting like a fiend, again, and have some new projects to show you today. (Only one for this post, though)

Any of you who frequent my blog know that I go through phases where I make a lot of one kind of thing! Well, this is no exception! My new obsession is pocket cards! I made my first one and now I'm on a roll!

Here is my first pocket card. I made a little shaped tag sticking out of the pocket. The shaped tag is made using this cute little bear in a stocking from Bugaboo Stamps. He's colored with Promarkers, I used a scrap of ribbon through his hat. My card layout uses the Sketch at Skipping Stones Designs. I cut out these cute christmas trees to embellish the upper right corner and then decorated them with my I-Rock tool. (My first time using this tool, and I love love love it!) The pocket in the bottom left is covered with a scrap of crackle look designer paper, and then I attached a sentiment from Sentiments 4 You, punched with oval and scalloped oval punches. The sentiment, pocket and christmas trees are attached with foam mounting tape, for dimension.


I used this teddy bear photo from Just Inspirational Challenges as inspiration to include a teddy bear.





I am entering this pocket card in the following challenges:


Pocket Cards at Catch The Bug
FF#96 Try Something New (Pocket Card) at If The Shoe Fits
Challenge #67 Christmas at Wags 'n Whiskers
Challenge #8 Christmas Cards at Floweret
Holiday/Winter at The Stamping Boutique
Challenge #106 Christmas Traditions (Stockings) at Totally Gorjuss
Challenge #81 Favorite Technique (New Favorite - Pocket Cards) at Speedy The Cat's Friends
Challenge #65 Anything Goes at 2 Sisters
Challenge #46 Whatever Lights Your Candle at Crafty Hazelnut's
Challenge #138 Punch It at Stamptacular Sunday
Challenge #46 Traditional Christmas at Pile It On!
Challenge #81 Everybody Love Teddy at I Did It Creations
CIC39 Red, Green, Gold and White at Clearly I Stamp
Circles at Bizzy Bec's
Challenge #12 Holiday Wishes For Kids at Paper Creations Ink
Challenge #60 Tags (On Card) at Top Tip Tuesday
Challenge #12 Something Punched at Hooked On Crafts
Challenge #137 Christmas Time at Digital Tuesday
Challenge #92 Christmas Trees at I Love Promarkers
Challenge #84 Die Cut A Tag For Christmas at Cooking It Up With Katie
Challenge #36 CAS Christmas Plus Ribbon at Really Reasonable Ribbon
Challenge #71 Dots at Alota Rubber Stamps
Sketch at Skipping Stones Designs
Challenge #5 Bears at The Cutie Pie Challenge
B-I-N-G-O (Tag, Ribbon, Punches) at Delightful Challenges
Challenge #3 Photo Inspiration at Just Inspirational Challenges
Challenge #75 Lots of Circles at Tuesday Throwdown
Challenge #83 Red And Green at Digi Doodle Shop's Best
Challenge #13 Christmas Green at The Emerald Faerie Garden
Challenge #18 Christmas With Pearls (Liquid Pearls) at Bunny Zoe's