The Shabby Tea Room Challenge #212

Hello everyone and welcome to another fun week over at The Shabby Tea Room! This week we have a brand new to us sponsor - DRS Designs. They specialize in wood mounted stamps. They have some really great images...check them out :)

I chose a DARLING little flower border stamp and decided on a fun summer theme...wishful thinking for warmer weather on my part, lol!! I don't sew on cards, but if I did, I would certainly have added it to this card. The green gingham paper is screaming for some cute uneven sewing around its border isn't it? maybe I'll get me one of those little handheld sewing machine thingies...wonder if they actually work?

I stamped the border 2 times and fussy cut them out to make the long border strip. Then I stamped it again and cut out a little portion of it for the little accent on the corner of the postcard. Speaking of postcards, I made that one from scratch! I started out with a piece of cream colored cardstock and used the Vintage Holiday Postcard set from Paper Sweeties to make a plain basic postcard then added a Paper Sweeties sentiment. I finished it all off with some fun Paper Sweeties flower and flat sequins that I added rhinestones to.

items used:
vintage holiday postcard by Paper Sweeties
bubblegum sequins by Paper Sweeties
best wishes by Paper Sweeties
flower border by DRS Designs

That's it for me. Be sure to check this weeks challenge over at The Shabby Tea Room and join us for a chance to win a great prize!!

Happy Birthday chalkboard card

Happy Friday everyone!!! I hope this weekend goes a little slower and gives me time to rest unlike last weekend!! Last Saturday I spent the day running errands and cleaning house then on Sunday my BFF and I taught a glass fusion class (she owns an art studio). This weekend I hope to just veg out a little ;)

Today I have another chalkboard card for you....

It's no secret that I have a little fondness huge addiction to 6 X 6 paper pads....SWOON! The main reason I love them is because they are so easy to use.  I would have never pulled these patterned papers off a shelf and mixed them together but since they were in a little 6 X 6 pad I can be assured that they go together well. I added a little solid color for contrast and well-ah, a fun little card! I wanted the sentiment to take center stage as I did with my last chalkboard card but I also wanted to use some cute little stamps to go with it. I pulled out a couple of favorite DeNami stamps...happy birthday & garden accents stamp set.





That's it for me today, I'll see you back here on Monday with another fun challenge for The Shabby Tea Room!! Have a great weekend!!!

Interactive cards....

Hi everyone...how's spring coming along in your neck of the woods? Here in Missouri it's not! :/  Monday was in the 40's and we had snow & drizzley rain then overnight it dipped below freezing so Tuesday we woke up to cold and a little ice and reached a high of 40. Today we have strong spring winds but we're only going to reach mid fifties for our high...what happened to "warm" Spring weather?? 

I'm really enjoying teaching card making classes at the little shop in Kimswick, MO called The Stamp Pad. All the gals are just so nice and we have a great time during the classes. I thought today I'd show you what we did for my last class a couple of weeks ago. Each month when I teach a class I try to have a common theme for the four cards we make, this month it was "interactive". 

 baby themed shaker card

I LOVE that The Stamp Pad carries a nice selection of different shaker pieces (clear plastic cups) and colored overlays to match, it makes making shaker cards easy peasy!! No cutting or punching and using foam tape to make the "shaker"!

 manly themed belted card

I've always liked this little card layout and it lends itself to gals and guys. You can dress it up for a girl by making different paper choice of course but you can also make the inside panel a little wider and scallop the length with a border punch so that it peeks out when the card is closed.

 flowerpot card 

This is such a fun little card. It can be a tad tedious if you use pieced flowers like I did here but totally worth it. To open it you simply pull up on the flowers and they along with your sentiment panel slides up out of the flowerpot. I've made this card quite a while back using the DeNami daisy stamps - small daisy blossom & large daisy blossom. That was a lot of fussy cutting but OHHHHHH so worth it!!

waterfall card

I just love fun little waterfall cards and believe it or not, they are EASY to put together!! I have a soft spot for Paper Smooches and couldn't resist using this cute little kitty set. Each panel shows a kitty related item as they flip up. I would have LOVED to use a DeNami kitty and the kitty related Petit Four but I can only use products that are sold in the shop. 

If you'd like instructions or measurements on any of these cards just send me an email!

Well that's it for me today. I'll be back here on Friday with yet another little chalkboard card. I used a bold DeNami sentiment along with a cute little Petit Four and a fun mix of pattern papers & cardstocks!

The Shabby Tea Room Challenge #211

Hi everyone, are you ready for a new challenge at The Shabby Tea Room? Last weeks "anything goes" theme was a blast wasn't it? Well, this week it's my turn once again to pick a them. I fell in love with this inspiration picture...

We are to include: Flowers, Buttons and Print or a Sentiment

This week our sponsor is a wonderful little Etsy store called Digital paper by Janet on Etsy. She has a ton of the most AMAZING printables!!

Quite a while back I bought a full little matching collage called Super Cupcake Set from Janet's little store. It comes with papers to use as backgrounds, focal point images and even some borders. It's a perfect little set :)

Here's what I made...

I printed these right off my home computer on a normal home printer. The images and colors come out great don't they? I added a little sentiment from DeNami and the darling little flower sequins are from Paper Sweeties!

Out Comes The Sun...

Hi everyone and HAPPY FRIDAY!!! Officially spring arrived yesterday afternoon (someone forgot to tell the state of Missouri) so I hope you're day is full of sunshine and sweet flowers :)

I FINALLY had a little "me" time so I thought I'd enter the monthly challenge over at Paper Sweeties. Here's the inspiration picture....

Isn't it cute?? I picked a few things out of the picture and color palette (I looked at the picture on my phone and the teal looked light blue and the girly pink more rosish pink, hence my use of light blue and rosish pink...sigh) and came up with this....

As soon as I saw the little rain boots I knew exactly what stamp I wanted to use. It's a set from Stampin' Up! called Bootiful Occasions. I paired up my little rain boot with a few Paper Sweeties stamps - the rain drops and sentiment are from the Live Love Grow set and the cloud was a free gift ages and ages ago that I received with a purchase but it comes from the Rainbows and Roses set. 

That's it for me today, I hope you have a WONDERFUL and warm weekend!! ;)

I'll see you here on Monday with a new challenge for The Shabby Tea Room!

Hope Blooms chalk board card

Hi everyone! Did you survive St. Patrick's Day? I was a stick in the mud and didn't wear green this year. Honestly I don't own anything green at the moment that fits me properly. Last week I bagged up 2 sacks of clothing that's too big for me (woo-hoo for loosing weight!) and I had plenty of green in there, go figure. To bad I didn't save something, lol! Anyway, today I have a pretty little card that I want to share with you AND add to the gallery of hopefuls for DeNami's new blog segment "Inspired by". 

Last year the whole chalk board style really took off and hasn't shown signs of slowing down just yet. I've made several chalk board themed cards but I cheated by using regular black cardstock and heat embossed with white embossing powder then swiped on a little white ink. Recently my local stamping store that I teach classes at started carrying a large supply of chalkboard goodies and I thought I'd play with the actual chalkboard papers and make up a class on the whole technique. I'm rather happy with how this turned out and bonus...no dreaded/hated heat embossing!!

I'm so smitten with this little DeNami sentiment; Hope Blooms Where Flowers Grow. I think it's pretty versatile, you can use it for sympathy, friendship, feel better or as an everyday just because card. Well that's it for me today. I'll see y'all back here on Friday!

The Shabby Tea Room #210 - Anything Goes!!!!!

Ohh my goodness do we have a surprise for you this week at The Shabby Tea Room!! This weeks them isn't a beautiful picture or even a sketch....well, that is it could be if YOU wanted it to be....

This weeks theme: ANYTHING GOES!!!

This week we have no rules as far as what you make or include on your project...woo-hoo for free play, right?!?!? So what are you waiting for...go create!!!

Ohh wait, you wanna see what I made and of course find out who our sponsor is this week to see what prize is up for grabs don't you, lol?

Well, our sponsor is the one and only Bugaboo Stamps! They have the most ADORABLE images and I always enjoy working with them :)

With this weeks theme there's no excuse not to play along at The Shabby Tea Room!! And who knows, you may be one of the winners and score a few Bugaboo images!!

I found this little image, Birdhouse - Beehive, that reminded me of my hubby since he's a beekeeper. Because it's kind of a tall image I decided to pull out a tried and true layout that's a favorite of mine. I made a little polka dot background with one of my top 5 favorite DeNami stamps and added a fun sentiment from DeNami's Heartfelt Greetings set.

Creations By AR - March 2014 blog hop - Spring Time Fun

Hi everyone!! Are you ready for a blog hop featuring an adorable little template from Creations By AR? This month we are focusing on spring & Easter with a darling little carrot patch treat box but a lovely little cross in a stand.

Here's all the important details:

WHEN:

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Post to go live:
Pacific:  3:00 AM
Central:  5:00 AM
Eastern:  6:00 AM
GB:  11:00 AM
Costa Rica:  5:00 AM

PRIZE:

Choose one:

Carrot Patch

Standing Cross

HOW TO QUALIFY TO WIN:

Leave comments 

• On each DT blog (see full list below!)

• AR Facebook page

Comments accepted until Friday, March 14, 12:00 noon Eastern

One random winner will be announced March 15 here:

AR Facebook page

AR Website

All righty, now that we have all that out of the way, are you ready to see what the darling little carrot patch looks like...well, my version of it anyway, lol??

It's a mini garden treat box!! How cute is this...I'm so in love with this little cutie :) It comes with the carrots, grass, fence, (dirt) inside panel and a little sign for you to embellish how ever you want. I couldn't resist running my fence posts through a wood grain embossing folder before I distressed it with a little ink. For the dirt I used burlap patterned paper and chocolate cardstock. Since my green polka dot patterned paper was only one sided and I didn't want white on the underside of the leaves I simply swiped on a little green ink with a sponge. I finished off my little treat box with some ribbon and bunny with sentiments from Paper Sweeties. 

 I can't wait to fill this up with some M&M's for my hubby!!

Even though I didn't make the little standing cross, I wanted you to see what it looks like, here's a sample picture...

There are soooo many possibilities with this file! I can see it done in wood grain using either patterned papers or an embossing folder,  make a little grape vine wreath to hang on it, a little sign to hang on it, add flowers around the bottom with a little vine wrapping up it...ohh the possibilities!!! I think this is not only perfect for Easter, but confirmation as well!

I hope you enjoyed my little Carrot Patch and the little sample that Adela from Creations By AR made of the Standing Cross.

Here's a full list of Blog Hop participants, I hope you can hop along and remember to leave comments for your chance in the random drawing to win this cute little file for yourself!!

•  Adela
• Doris
• Jak
• Julia
• Lisa E
• Lisa S
• Lori
• Lyn
• Monica
• Patti
• Sue
• Tina <----------- you are here!

Thanks so much for stopping in for this months Creations By AR blog hop! I'll see you back here next month with a fun and adorable new file!!



The Shabby Tea Room #209 - spring flowers

Hi everyone and welcome to another fun challenge over at The Shabby Tea Room!! This week we have such a beautiful inspiration picture....

Told ya...it's gorgeous isn't it?? Here's the rules for this week:

• use baby blue
• use spring flowers
• include birds

Our sponsor this week is The Cutting Cafe

Ready to see what I made? I went a little on the cutsie / whimsy side with my take on this weeks challenge...

I started out using the little printable from The Cutting Cafe called "Wheelbarrow Deliveries". This printable is actually a little set...it not only comes with the wheelbarrow and grass but comes as a plain wheelbarrow in a cut file, lots of goodies to fill it with like easter eggs, flowers, presents, hearts, leaves, stars, pumpkins, apples etc and even a bunch of sentiments too! What a perfect little all year round image...I'll be getting a TON of use out of this one little image!

 I couldn't help but add a few little DeNami touches in there along with the darling little wheelbarrow, can you spot them?? I paired up the brand new sentiment, Hope Blooms, with that little cutie pie little Single Tweety and a retired single birdhouse stamp. You can easily use the still available Birdhouse Trio stamp and fussy cut just one of the houses if you wanted.

That's it for me today...hope y'all have a wonderful day!!

DeNami March 2014 blog hop - Fuzzy Friends

Do you know what time it is...time "sprung forward" one hour while we were sleeping ;)

Are you ready for another fun filled blog hop hosted by DeNami?? I sure am ;)

As usual, Paulina has picked a fun and adorable theme!!!

Here's the deets:

When: The blog hop starts on March 9, 2014 at 6 AM, PST. However, you have until March 10th, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs (to be eligible for a prize).Why: To be inspired by fun DeNami Design creations and also the chance to win mini shopping sprees on the DeNami Design website!

Prizes: We are giving away THREE $20 gift certificates to our website! We'll be giving away one gift certificate to a random participant (DT members not eligible) and then we'll also be giving away TWO gift certificates to TWO people who comment along the hop!

Okay, with all the necessities out of the way let's get started?? You should have arrived here from the talented, Donna Bowman's blog but if not that's not a problem because you can head on over to the DeNami blog for the full list of participants. 

 

I had such a hard time picking a fuzzy little friend...there are just too many cuties to choose from!!! in the end I decided to use a couple of new images (spring 2014 release) and a older image that's a favorite of mine.

For my first card I have to credit my yellow lab, Moe. I was taking a picture of something and he photo bombed me, lol! What a little ham he is, he actually will pose for pictures!! What's cuter than being photo bombed by my dog...being photo bombed by a chickie!!! 

I used a little photo frame from 3 Twenty Crafts and built a little scene using a few older stamps and 3 brand new ones. Have you ever heard of Fluff? It's a great little medium that you can add to critters (and other things like chickies&  flowers) to give them a little fuzzy texture. Here's a close up of my little beaver...

See how he's a "fuzzy"? I simply colored him in with my quickie glue pen then sprinkled on some Fluff (both can be found at DeNami) then patted it down a little with my finger to get it stuck in the glue fairly well then tap off the excess. It's pretty much the same as using glitter only I pat it a little to make sure the Fluff goes into the glue...easy peasy!!

Stamps used: 

woodland chickie

woodland logs

little beaver 

medium pine

mini grass

everyday greetings stamp set

For my next card I wanted to show you that just because you use a little animal that you don't necessarily have to make something "cutsie". 

I just love a grey & yellow color palette and couldn't resist using it for this card. This card was super fast to create and the layout can be used for any occasion with some of DeNami's larger stamps that have the bigger scenes like the brand new Irish Chickie scene or the darling Woodland Friends scene.

Stamps Used:

elephant

small baby script

Well that's it for me and it's time for you to visit with Tammy Hobbs!! I can't wait to see what she has for us...her talent knows no bounds!!! Don't forget to leave comments along the way for your chance to win a DeNami gift certificate!!

Sparkles and flowers

I went a little sparkle-licious with this little creation...when I started glittering, I just couldn't stop! All that glitter and iridescent cardstock, this card  just sparkles and shines and makes me smile :)

Not only do most of  DeNami's stamps all work well with each other, but DeNami has several little "series sets" of stamps that all go together so perfectly that takes all the guess work out of it when making your projects. For this card I chose to use 2 from the "ornamental" series...Ornamental flower stamp set and the ornamental centerpiece set. I made a little flag that will tuck in under the bow and extend part way across the card, however, I couldn't decide on what sentiment to use because this little card could be used for a birthday or a just because or a get well or even something like Mother's day, so in the end I decided to not add a sentiment quite yet. What do you think about this color combo...I'm anxious to bring out some fun and bright colors!

The Shabby Tea Room - Challenge #208, spring polka dots

Well hello everyone...you are you today?? My goodness I'm ready for spring, here in Missouri we've had the WORST winter on record for many years!! Spring keeps popping up in the cards I've made lately...unconscious yearning maybe???






This week our challenge over The Shabby Tea Room plays right into my yearning for spring time....

I'm so smitten with this little Easter Tree that Debbie has chosen for us this week!! Too cute :)

This weeks rules are right up my alley...y'all know how I feel about polka dots!! "Use Polka Dots" It doesn't get much easier than that, right?? So what are you waiting for...go create something with polka dots!! :)

Well, I guess you're waiting to see what I created hunh, hehehe....

As you can see, I didn't go with the Easter feel of the inspiration picture. I went with the tree theme and hanging bird houses instead. I used the Home Sweet Home stamp set by Paper Sweeties and papers from a darling little 6 X 6 paper pad I had in my stash.

This week we are brought to you by:

Paper Sweeties is owned and illustrated by Debbie Marcinkiewicz, and offers  high quality, on trend acrylic stamps and metal dies.  Our heartwarming images allow paper crafters to create adorable dolls with interchangeable outfits and accessories! We also have a wide variety of wonderful all-occasion sentiments, labels, frames and accessory sets - perfect for every paper crafted project!  The Paper Sweeties boutique carries tea-stained seam binding too!  The Sweeties dolls, accessories and sentiments are so much fun to play with and are sure to bring back fond childhood memories!  You'll enjoy using the Sweeties stamps and dies to create projects for card making, scrap booking, party invitations and favors, home decor, gifts and so much more!


Winner will receive a $20 gift certificate from the Paper Sweeties boutique!

Please link your creations below by Sunday, March 9th to play along. Winner and Tea Time Terrific Top Three will be announced Monday, March 10th. We will have an all-new challenge for you to play along with on the 10th as well, so please come back and visit with us again for another chance to win!