The Whole Sha-Bang!

How's your summer going?

My kiddos are definitely keeping me busy, but we're having a great time!

Just wanted to pop in today to announce the new challenge over at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long.  This week we're being sponsored by

I have quickly fallen in love with Perfect Presentation. The owner, Leigh Ann, is such a wonderful gal and her templates are fantastic, affordable and easy to use. Be sure to hop on over to the shop and check em' all out when you can.

Our challenge this week is a big one.
Only for the serious crafters.

This week I want the Whole Sha-Bang!
I want to see it all!
A package, a matching card AND a gift tag!
Here's the gift set I came up with using a template called "Able Gable".

With three sheets of Kiwi Kiss cardstock and one sheet of patterned paper by My Mind's Eye, I had this whole set done in under an hour!

I used one of my favorite Stampin Up sentiments on the front of the box and embellished with lots of orange jewels.

Instead of adding patterned paper to the top of the box, I just scored at every 1/4" inch.

For the card, I cut my papers with a slight curve, added a sentiment, and finished if off with some faux stitching.  By keeping the layout super simple and the stamping to a minimum, this was a 10 minute card that could easily be mass produced.

For the gift tag, I did a similar layout as my card and added a felt snowflake and big eyelet to the top.  Don't you just love when things are matchy-matchy?! 

Thanks for stopping by today!

If you'd like to play along with the new challenge, be sure to hop on over to the CSAYL blog for all of the details.  Have a great weekend!

Hugs,

Happy Birthday Amber Ink!

Amber Ink just turned 1!

If you haven't checked out their store before, hop on over for a visit.  They have a variety of digi stamps, clear stamps and digi papers to chose from.

And the best part?

Amber Ink is sponsoring our new challenge over at CSAYL today! 
The new challenge is "All about You" - create a holiday themed card or project using your favorite color.

Here's what I came up with using my favorite color, purple.

This image is from a set called "You're the Perfect Package".  I absolutely love this set!  It comes with loads of great images to play with.

I had fun putting together the tiny packages and adding the bows.  I even added a bow to her head for a little fun.

I'd love for you to check out what the rest of the CSAYL team did this week.  Hop on over to the challenge blog for a bit of inspiration and the challenge details.

Feeling Sketchy

It's time for another challenge over at Christmas Stampin All Year Long!

This week I was feelin' a little sketchy, so I doodled up a little something for us to play with.

  Here's my take on it...

I used my favorite image from SU's "Winter Post" set.  I have NO idea why, but I just can't seem to get enough of this skating couple for some reason. (?)

I stamped the image with Sahara Sand ink and kept the rest of the colors clean and simple with a combo of Kraft and Very Vanilla.  I threw in a bit of gold cording and some pearls to finish it off.

I hope you'll play along with us this week.  There's a guest dt spot up for grabs!  For more inspiration, check out what the rest of the design team did with the sketch by clicking here.

Have a great weekend :-)

Something for teacher

MFT posted a new sketch challenge and I snuck in a little "me time" to play along.

This cute teacher image is from the "You Rule " set in the a' la mode collection by My Favorite Things.  All of the cute papers are from the "School Spirit" collection by Crate Paper and the chipboard embellishment is by American Crafts.

School starts in 37 days and I aways like to have a little something for "Meet the Teacher Day".  Even though I always have all summer to prep, it still sneaks up on me every year!

Heavy Metal Holiday

Hold on to your Christmas stockings, because CSAYL has a new sponsor today!

Digi and rubber stamps from KennyK are a fun and edgy way to add the perfect dose of attitude and style to all of your creations! Kenny and Elena were generous enough to donate digi images this week to three, count em' THREE, lucky winners!! First place will get their choice of 3, Second place will get their choice of 2 and Third place will get their choice of 1!

This week we're going "Heavy Metal".

I want all you rockin' ladies to bust out that metal hardware and use it on your holiday card or project.  Metal frames, tags, brads, eyelets, pins - whatever floats your boat!

Here's what I came up with...

This uber-adorable image is called "Xmas Shopping" and I just love her!

She was so much fun to color with my Copics.  I popped up a few parts of the image with dimensionals for some added layers and *pop*.

Check out that little pearl earring - love it!

For the "Heavy Metal" part, I used silver brads to frame the main image and a mini library clip on the sentiment.  Be sure to check out KennyK's FAB shop and then hop on over to the CSAYL blog to play along with us!

After I did this card, I did some perusing around the web and found some new challenges that I could enter with my card.  Holy-Moly!  There are a bunch of really great challenge sites out there!  I've never done this before, but what the heck, here goes....
Art Impressions Stamps - use something from your stash (brads and clip)
AUD Sentiments Challenge - use at least 2 words
Craft Us Crazy - Christmas in July
Moving Along with the Times - Christmas in July
ABC Christmas - No designer paper
The House that Stamps Built - Christmas in July
The Little Red Wagon - Christmas in July
The Paper Shelter - Lots of dots
OWH Stars and Stamps - Christmas in July
The Paper Variety - Christmas in July

Wednesday Stamp Club with MFT

My Favorite Things posted another fabulous sketch challenge and I actually got to play along!  It's a miracle.  Entertaining 2 kids all summer can really cut into a gals stamping time! 

Here's my take on it, using their "Miss You A Latte" set.

I cut a strip of flowers with a decorative border punch and separated them with scissors.  Then I adhered three of them behind the main image.

I stamped the sentiment with white ink and embellished the top strip with some green dimensional stickers that are super sparkly.  I finished off the card with some faux stitching along all four sides.

That's it for me today.

The munchkins and I are off to the Farmer's Market!

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long

Another Friday and another challenge over at CSAYL!

This week our challenge is called "She's Krafty".  The requirement is to use kraft cardstock as the main cardstock color on your holiday card or project.

Our sponsor this week is Pink Cat Studio and I used one of their free sentiments for my card.

I picked up these cute cupcake embellishments and I've been dying to use them.  When I saw this PCS sentiment, I knew they would work perfect together.

We've got two guest designers joining us today and lots of inspiration from the CSAYL team.  Hop on over to the challenge blog to check it out and play along!

Fit For a Knit Wit

It's challenge day over at Christmas Stampin All Year Long and this week I have an inspiration photo.

Well??

Are you inspired yet?

I saw this photo on the JoAnns website and couldn't resist.

Here's what I came up with using the inspiration photo quite literally...

Now I know this doesn't look like your traditional  holiday card, but it's going to be perfect for a certain yarn lover that I know.

When in doubt?

Jewels, jewels, jewels.

Here's a peek at the inside...

Ta-Da!

I added a gift card holder to the inside. 

Now all I need to do is grab a gift card to her favorite knitting supply store and stash it away for 27 more weeks!

Hop on over to CSAYL and join in on the fun!

Pink Cat Digital Release Day!

Any cat lovers out there?

Holy-Moly....check out the new release from Pink Cat Studio!

Ahhh....so many cute kitties and so little time! 

I was hoping to have more than one sample for you today, but a kidney infection pretty much made me useless all week.  Oh....and did I mention that I've had three kidney stones in the last five days?!

That's gotta be some kind of record, no?  Geez, how much can a girl take?!  Okay, I'm all done complaining now :-)

Check out this cutie!!

This is "Retro Kitty" and she's fabulous! 

I popped up her glasses and clothes with dimensionals and added all kinds of sparkly goodness.  The sentiment is from the Lily & Billy Accessory set and could be used for a variety of occasions.

Oh, and did I mention that you can get this cutie for FREE today with any purchase from PCS?

Hop on over to the digi shop and check it out!

She's out of your league

Well, the kids are definitely keeping me busy this summer, but I had to sneak in some much needed "me time"!  I just got this beauty from The Greeting Farm and have been dying to ink her up.  To get a little inspiration, I decided to play along with a couple of challenges on this one.

Farm Fresh Challenge Blog - "Get Sentimental"

The Deconstructed Sketch - current sketch #6 (love it!)

The black card base is a 5.25" square and the patterned paper is by Creative Imaginations.

After I adhered the patterned paper, I wrapped some gold cord around the card front.

Then I added these fun green glitter leaves by Jolee's.  They're super SPAR-KA-LAY and remind me of seaweed.  To finish it off, I added a sentiment from the TGF Creeper Set. 

Since the Farm Fresh Challenge involved a sentiment, I tried to be clever.  I was thinking, leagues of water, out of your league......get it? 

A little mermaid humor....

Thanks bunches for stopping by today!

I'll be back tomorrow with a HUGE digi release from Pink Cat Studio!