Challenge #15 - Tellen's Place: Mother's Day

Greetings lovely bloggers!

I hope you are all having a wonderful week!

With Mother's Day quickly approaching, I wanted to make something sweet to give to someone. If my mother were here, I know she would enjoy what I've made, as yellow was one of her favorite colors.

Since Mother's Day is such a well known and acknowledged day here in the states, the Tellen's Place challenge is to "Show us your flowers." The floral companies make a lot of money on this day as flowers are the cutest to send and so well received.

Don't you just love all the frilly lace and cute bows? This box came from Michael's dollar bin and will be filled with chocolate for someone special. I love to make gifts and give to people.

When you get a chance, do stop over at Tellen's Place; would love for you to join in the challenge. Don't forget to stop by the DT's blogs and see all the lovely creations they've been busy making.

I'd like to wish all mothers a Happy Mother's Day! :-)

Sweet Sketch Wednesday #47

Hello there lovely bloggers,

Can you believe it is already the end of April? Didn't we just get into the swing of spring? Well, no worries, you can easily get into the swing of this new sketch by our ever talented Arlana from Sweet Sketch Wednesday.

Isn't this one a beauty? If you are like me and need a little assistance in organizing your card space, Sweet Sketch Wednesday is the place for you! You just need paper to get started! Arlana makes it fun and easy! ;-)

This week, Busy Beauties Boutique is sponsoring us and the winner will receive a $10 voucher! Isn't that a sweet deal? There are some very lovely images that you will just love.

I picked out this lovely bear, "Teddy with Sign". There's a blank space so you can put something there yourself, so I stamped, "Hi!" Isn't it cute. My sentiment also says hello - what a cute way to be greeted, huh?

The rest of the design team has been busy crafting some goodies for you, so why not go take a look. It's a great way to start your day!

Thanks for joining us! :-)

Tellen's Place Challenge #14 - Ink Distressing

Greetings fellow bloggers!

This week at Tellen's Place, the challenge is ink distressing! I've been getting into that act a bit lately, what with the many swaps I've gotten involved in, so my inking has become a little more organized and smooth.

I inked up Ally and her teddy with Copics awhile back, hoping to use this image but didn't. It's nice to have an image already ready to go and just set up the design of the card/project, isn't it? I added a flower that was part of a RAK from a blogger friend in the UK. I used my MS flower border punch, added pink polka dotted ribbon and a red bow. I put both images up on foam dots, as well as the chipboard (which I stamped "hello" onto). I ink distressed all my edges.

It was an easy card for an easy challenge. I hope you'll stop by and join us and see all the fun things Tellen's Place Divas have come up with.

Thanks for stopping by! :~)

Swaps

Hello there fellow bloggers,

I am a member of Life is a Scrap Beach, which was created by the lovely Kathryn and within this lovely crafting space, I've met and found some of the world's best crafters. You've probably seen some of the videos on You Tube, been inspired by their crafts and felt inclined to make things out of your own comfort zone. I know that I have.

So, I joined some of the swaps there and let me tell you that recently, I've been floored.

I received goodies in a mini album swap with Faye Rai. She included this beautiful tag. Don't you just love it? I was so in awe of her talent that I just oooh'd my way through the video. I'm so inspired to make these for my design team that I'll be out getting alphabet stamps for this project.

I joined a swap in which Belinda A. was my partner and it was her first paper swap. We only needed to swap patterned paper, card stock, send a little embellishment and a sweet. Well, she, like Fay Rai, went way past that, gave so much more! Look at the beautiful tag she made. I think she made that flower - isn't it GORGEOUS! Plus, she made another one that coordinated with the papers - I'll be making a mini for myself and show you later. It is going to be fabulous (my favorite color scheme - light blue with green, yellow and violet).

These two ladies really made my day, inspired me to higher levels of creativity and instilled in me the spirit of "super giving" in swapping! They are both sweet and amazing - check out their pages from the link in their names - you'll be amazed at their talent!

Thanks for stopping by! :-)

Sweet Sketch Wednesday #46

It must be Wednesday because we have another sweet sketch for you from Arlana at Sweet Sketch Wednesday.

This week, Digi Stamp Boutique is sponsoring us with a delicious prize of 10 FREE digi images. How awesomely sweet is that? Sally Ann is a very talented artist and her digi's are just the cutest. Do take a moment to stop by (click here) and have a look - you'll just love all those wonderful creations!

In fact, she just released a batch and guess what, I got to ink up this little cutie.

Isn't she the cutest little sweetie? I inked her up with Copics but used pencils on the skin tone. I'm not too thrilled with the results but I'm still working on skin tones with Copics (not an easy task). I hope you like it.

It would great if you could stop by Sweet Sketch Wednesday and join in the challenge. Also, stop by my team mates' blogs as they've done some great creations, as usual.

Happy Crafting!

By George...I think I've Got it!

Greetings lovely bloggers!

Our challenge this week with Glue, Scissors, Paper is to create a project that is very English to celebrate with our English friends, St. George's Day. St. George is England's patron saint, who, according to legend, was a soldier in the Roman army, killed a dragon and saved a princess.

This was a challenge for me because I couldn't think of anything "English" except tea, Big Ben and the London bridge. But....I checked out Wikipedia and found a lovely image, which I printed out and put on a tag. I smudged the tag, made some glimmer mist (thanks to the lovely package from my good friend, Pam), added some gold accents and glitter on the...er...um...blood (poor dragon).

I hope you enjoy this little treat as much as I did making it. I'm told April 23rd is seen as England's national day and since I've been honored to have some blokes as blogging buddies, I hope they find joy in this little post. By the way, do check out Glue, Scissors, Paper blog, as those darling little team mates of mine, have made some sweet little goodies for St. George's Day as well.

Chop, chop, cheerio and all that sort of rot....er...trying to remember I Love Lucy when she went to England and was trying to chase foxes on a horse...having a spot of tea... :-P {I'm sure I've gotten the phrase wrong, as I've not seen that rerun in ages...}

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - #45

Good morning sweet bloggers!

This week, Arlana's sketch is filled with a round about way, shall we say? Tee-hee! Sweet Sketch Wednesday is the place to be if you're in need of a starting place for making cards - this is the place!

This week, my blogger friend, Heather, of Heather's Coffee Break is sponsoring us with her exciting images that you can find at Fresh Brewed Designs. Heather is such a wonderful person and I'm just so blessed to have made a friend in her.

The winner of this week's challenge will receive $15 worth of digital images - what a sweet prize!

I chose Hannah Belle and her little friends to ink up. Aren't they adorable little girls? You will find more treats at the store and you will enjoy inking up these beauties.

I hope you'll find time to join us in the challenge. Don't forget to check out the rest of the design team as they have some sweet goodies to show you!

Thanks for stopping by! ;-)

Challenges....

Hey y'all,

You know, the weather is such that I'd rather avoid the wind, the impending rain and just craft today (in between the usual chores, vacuuming, folding laundry, ironing, mopping, etc.).

This is such a simple card, it actually qualifies for a few challenges:

*Sketch Saturday - I used their sketch
*Sweet Stampin' Challenge - I used three of their colors (blue, light blue and pink)
*Pollycraft Monday - Anything Goes

I'm thinking about sneaking it into the challenge over at Tellen's Place for their challenge (All about you - anything goes). Teehee!

I also wanted to say a special thanks to Nancy of Mulberry Station. She's really the sweetest woman ever. She really touches you with her sweet comments. We're on the same design team, though I'm envious because she's crafting with her two sisters, Arlana (she is the blog mistress for Sweet Sketch Wednesday and has her own crafty blog, Sweetberry Designs) and Judi (she has a blog, Sweet Bloomin Scraps. They just visited each other and scrapped and then went to the Scrapbook Expo USA for more fun! They're all so sweet and it's so nice to be amongst such sweetness!

Have fun y'all! :~)

Self-Improvement: Your Biggest Flaw

Remember what Joan Rivers always said as she prepared to give us the latest gossip, "Can we talk here?!" Well, All About Me is having a wonderful blog hop and the challenge is always about "me" but this time, the theme of the layout is "Your biggest flaw."

As I hopped along, one designer changed her flaw to "challenge" and I thought, you know what, that sounds better. After all, improving a flaw is a challenge.

Mine...forgiving. *sigh* I know, in church, we learned at an early age that we are to forgive others in order to be forgiven. I pray a lot and often, when someone has wronged me, I have to ask God to forgive me because I have a hard time forgiving them. If it's really bad, I can quickly think of things to do to that person to get back at him/her. I know...even at my age, I need to let go and let God. :-)

I was so inspired as I hopped from blog to blog in the hop. You will love this challenge - go check it out.

I also had a glorious reason to use my new buttons from Charlene's Button Box, that I won and just received. How cool is that? I love her buttons and I hesitated to put them on a project that isn't for me (how selfish am I...add that to my list). :~)

I hope you like my layout and will find some time to visit the All About Me blog. The designers are awesome in their creations. It's a great way to learn to scrap if you aren't already one. Melissa's video alone will want you to join the hop - she's so cute and such fun! Go on...give it a whirl! I'm glad I did! I love AAM...yeah...cos it's all about me (for a change)! :D

Happy Crafting!

Sweet Sketch Wednesday #44

Hello everyone!

I hope you had a wonderful Easter and loads of goodies from the Easter bunny.

Today's Sweet Sketch Wednesday's sketch comes from our gifted Arlana again, who has two beautiful and talented sisters who craft with her on her blog, by the way. How cool is that? Here's our sketch for this week:

Isn't this a marvelous sketch? I know you're just fired up to get on this challenge, aren't you? I don't blame you.

The Stamping Boutique is sponsoring us this week and the winner of the challenge will have her choice of 3 free digi's. How sweet is that?

I was fortunate to get "Audrey Spring Cleaning" to ink up and it was appropriate since that's what I've been doing since spring has sprung itself upon us. Taking winter wear out of the closets and dresser drawers, getting the lighter clothes on the hangers, cleaning this and that...whew...this is me, y'all! I even added glossy accents to the puddle beneath her feet and half of the mop - pretty cool, isn't it? The Stamping Boutique have a lot of digital images of Audrey, as a nurse, on her horse, cooking - so many things; check it out for yourself.

When you get a moment, if you can stop by the Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog and check out what the rest of the design team has been up to, it'll be a real treat. Don't forget to leave some sweetness because we just love hearing from you.

Happy Crafting! ;)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!

I'm excited to have been asked to remain on the Designer team at Glue, Scissors, Paper for another term and this week, with Easter only moments away, we have a challenge to decorate an egg. Oh, not your ordinary decorating - no traditional dye is to be used! And, you have to use a real egg. How cool a challenge is this?!

So, I took an egg and let it get to room temperature while my brain tried to come up with a technique without going into the cupboard and getting that food coloring out.

The first egg was a flop - an Eggs Benedict disaster even. Tissue paper never had a chance.

But Martha Stewart saved the day when I opened up my daily e-mail from her site to see something about decorating eggs! I came upon this Hyacinth Topiary and thought...hmmm...I will have to improvise but it'll certainly be a treat. I added pretty little Prima flowers and a pearl in the center...yeah, time consuming but what a great reward when finished.

Now I couldn't just do one egg, now could I? Feast your eyes on my thread-wrapped Easter egg. Martha Stewart had over 50 ways to decorate for Easter!

Last, but not least, I dressed my egg up after seeing Martha's cute little egg bunny.

What a great day to do some crafting, huh? While you're at it, check out what the rest of the Glue, Scissors, Paper design team has made - you will love what they've done! These ladies are so very crafty!

Have fun!