Happy 4th Of July!!!!

Can you believe that it's July 4th already?? What have you got planned for this fantastic 3 day weekend? Me...well, in my house we generally play it pretty low key and just hang out.

I have another fun little celebration card to share with you....

I started off by making my own patterned paper by stamping a piece of white cardstock all over with the teeny star background then building it up by randomly stamping the brushed stars and the teeny star. For my focal panel I once again stamped the teeny star background then added the God Bless America sentiment. 

I hope that y'all have a safe and fun holiday and I'll see you back here on Monday with a new challenge for The Shabby Tea Room. Don't forget to enter for the DeNami Addict birthday giveaway for your chance to win a DeNami Design gift certificate!!

The Shabby Tea Room - baby Love

Hi everyone, how are you on this Monday...yuck...I hate Mondays!! My weekend went by WAY too fast and Monday means back to work. Why didn't I marry for money ;) hehehe!

 Anyway, today I have a special surprise, I will be having 2 posts today. This regularly scheduled post for The Shabby Tea Room AND a blog hop for a newish company I'm designing for called 3 Twenty Crafts that starts at 3:pm eastern time. Hope ya'll come back by for a visit :)

 Now then, this weeks challenge over at The Shabby Tea Room is soooo fun!! The theme is baby shower.

How pretty is this little inspiration picture?? just one rule...make a card or project with a baby theme!

Our sponsor is Creations By AR...yes, lol, I am on her Design Team too...how fun is that??? As soon as I heard this weeks theme I knew exactly which template I wanted to work with...Lil' Bear.


Creations by AR: Lil' Bear 
Paper Sweeties: Cupcakes & Sprinkles, Sending Sweet Thoughts
DeNami Design: teeny star, polka dot background, all star greetings,  outer space stamp set

This little template is ment to be a non openable card...just a little bear with a stamped sentiment on the bib, however, I took it a spet further and cut out 2 bears for each one and made it into an openable card....

I scored the 2nd bear I cut from plain card stock just under the ears and attached it with my ATG tape runner then stamped another sentiment inside. Now their ready for my little twin nephew & niece that will be turning 2 right away :)

Creations by AR is all about paper crafting specializing in 3D templates, cutting files and digital images. Visit Creations by AR for inspiration!

I am pleased to offer The Shabby Tea Room participants a challenge discount of 10% off entire purchase during the week of my sponsorship.  The discount code is challenge10.

TSTR - Special Friend Blend

Hi everyone and welcome to another challenge brought to you from The Shabby Tea Room! Before we get to today's post, I must tell y'all that I am having an amazing time at The Shabby Tea Room. I'm learning a lot of new things since I'm using cut files and digi stamps...what an experiance. :) The great thing about the cut files from our various sponsors is that they not only come in SVG, but also come in a PDF for gals like me that don't own a compatiable cutting system! With that being said, check out my little card I made for this weeks challenge....

Challenge rules: Use Pumpkins and Glitter

I used a TON of stamps on this cutie,. First time I've ever made anything like this, but I'm seriously loving the fun shaped cards! I've done a little "subway art" before, but just on a small focal panel, not the whole thing...I'm pretty darn happy with the results :)

From Paper Sweeties:
You Are Fablous
Thanks Berry Much
Sweeties Wagon
Tea For Two

From DeNami Design:
teeny star
small dot border
garden accents stamp set

This week our challenge is brought to you by The Cutting Cafe.

The Cutting Cafe is your one stop for affordable cutting files and printable stamps. We offer a huge selections on just about any occasion.

Rocket Man....

Hello everyone and welcome to the last day of 4th of July inspiration week! I totally have Elton John's Rocket Man song stuck in my head, hehehe!! I'll refrain from singing and you can thank me later for that! My Daddy always said I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket...but hey, I never let that stop me!! ;)

I saved my favorite creation for last....

I made my own little chickie by using the Fuzzy Ball and a little face from the Animal Faces petit four set and I added a little hat from the new Everyday Hat set too...how cute is he?!? Does the Rocketship he's riding look a little familiar?? It's the DeNami Rocketship, but it was way too small for my Fuzzy Ball so I stamped it then copied it at 100% enlargement on my home printer/copier. A little fussy cutting & coloring later....a chickie on a rocket! After coloring the rocket I ran into the issue of not having any card stock or patterned paper that matched it. I did however have an ink pad that did so I did what I do best....I made a background (and the little strip with the stripes too)!! The stripes are actually DeNami's Blue Washi and for the background I sponged the blue ink onto white cardstock then using the same ink pad stamped the Brushed Stars. To fill it in a little I stamped the Teeny Star in red and yellow.

 

With all of these themed weeks we have been way off schedule. Ill be back to normal posting next week and have decided to start the week off with a fun little tutorial so make sure to check back in bright and early Monday morning!!

Well that's it for me today! I hope ya'll have a great weekend :) I'm going to be busy playing with my stamps for some fun floral and summer creations that hopefully bring a smile to your faces!

Stars and Polka Dots??

I know the ole saying is Stars & Stripes, but this little creation is all stars & polka dotted goodness, lol!

For today's card I feel like I went back to my roots so to say. All of the elements of this card just scream "me". I created my own patterned paper, have a pretty little punched edge, lots of layers and of course a pretty little fluffy bow / button combo. Yup, there's a lot of me in this one :)

 

If I redid this card I think I'd have to make a small change to my popped up panel. First off I'd make it a little smaller, it's just too large. I'd make it small enough that it would fit nicely on the top portion of the card instead of coming down over the red polka dots too. And second I'd add a layer of red between the white and Navy panels. Yup, thinking that would look so much better! I liked it well enough when I made it. I also liked it when I edited my picture, but now....not so much. :(   Easy enough to change up and make adorable though!!

That's all for today, I'll be back here tomorrow with my final 4th of July inspiration card! It's adorable and involves a little home made chickie ;)  you won't want to miss it!

God Bless America

Well hello and Happy Wednesday to you! Are you ready for another little patriotic card this morning??

Right off the bat let me tell ya'll that I totally cheated with this card...it's from last year. I just really like it and couldn't resist bringing it out of retirement. ;)

 

When I made this little card I had decided to reverse what I would normally do. I used the sentiment as my background and the sparkles as my focal point. It's really fun to use your sentiments in different ways. Did you by chance see my Tips & Tricks post on different ways to use your sentiments, it's well worth checking out.

 

That's it for me today, I'll see you back here tomorrow with another fun 4th of July card!!

There's a little surprise inside

Wow, I have more Halloween cards than days before Halloween, oops, lol! Well, that just means ya'll have to put up with me showing you yet another card today! ;)

This is a little buckle card that I like to make. It's fun because there really are no special measurements...it's all just basically "eyeballed". The only measurement is a panel to cover the back so the ends of the two little flaps are covered and pretty. Hope you enjoy....

 

 

I haven't used this little layout in forever...forgot how much fun it is. Thinking I need to break it back out, what do you think?

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you back here tomorrow with my final Halloween card!



King of the road...

Have you gotten any stamps from the new release yet? I just love love love Nami's new designs. And seriously, can you ever have enough chickies????

When I saw this little race car chickie, I just knew the first thing I'd create is a cute little scene.

I was going to stamp the sentiment over in the bottom right hand corner but then got to thinking how cute it would be trailing from the car itself. I just used a colored toothpick as a flag pole and attached it to the little banner and glued it to the car with a drop of Crystal Lacquer. I then attached the car using foam tape to give it a little dimension.

Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by!

The red, white and blue...

 Happy fourth of July everyone! I'm not going to get all political or anything, but even with the issues our Government is having, weather we always agree with them or not, we still live in a wonderful country and on that, I think we can all agree! Our Government strives to have our best interest at heart, our troops put their lives on the line to keep us safe & snug and we as Americans have proven that we can rally together like no other.

Today in honor of the 4th of July I have a little card dedicated to everyone....

I've never used such a large sentiment before and was truly stumped with it for a while, then thought, "why does the sentiment have to take center stage?"....background paper it is. It needed a little filling in in spots so I added the solid stars using one of my favorites, the teeny star stamp. The edge punch I used reminds me of patriotic bunting so I layered them in red white and blue. I finished it all off with a "firework" that I added stickles too for a little glittery action, a big fun red bow and button. :)

Hope you have a wonderful Holiday!

Wanna go fishing?

I'm sure that by now ya'll have seen the new chickies from DeNami's spring release. If you haven't, you seriously need to...ohh my gosh, it's cuteness overload!!

Here is one of the new little guys hanging out doing some fishing...thinking about Fathers Day for this card.

I was going for the look of a taped-up poloroid. Notice the "tape" I made that using white cardstock, blue ink and the teeny star stamp. After I cut the pieces to the approx size I wanted, I simply tore the ends using a tape dispenser to get that "tape edge" look. In person the little fishie really pops...I added Crystal Lacquer to make is shine like a little rainbow trout.

I'm thinking my Father-In-Law is really gonna love this little creation!

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!