Miss You

What a crazy weekend! This past Friday and Saturday I attended the Standard and Intermediate Copic certification classes and had a blast! I learned lots of new tips and tricks and am even more excited about coloring. In fact, I'm taking a break from coloring right now to write this post! Later this week I'll post about my experience at the Copic classes for those of you who are curious. :) 

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you a card I made for this week's Use What You Have Challenge over at Sweet Stamp Shop!

The purpose of these challenges is to use what you have in your stash! I have a small stash of CTMH stamp sets that come with the exclusive CTMH Cricut Cartridges (Art Philosophy, Artiste, and the soon-to-be-released Artbooking, although I haven't decided I'll be getting that yet!) and while I loved that the cartridges came with coordinating stamp sets, they don't necessarily get used as much as I thought they would. So, I pulled them out and found a stamp I wanted to use for this week's challenge:

Using the flower from the set on top, I made a CAS 'miss you' card:

The card is 5.5 x 5.5, and all I did was stamp the flower multiple times using Picked Raspberries, Ripe Persimmon, and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Inks by Tim Holtz. I wanted the card to have a bright, summery look, and I think that desire was achieved! I think it could almost pass for neon, too! 

I used some enamel dots from My Mind's Eye to serve as the centers o the flowers. The 'Miss you' sentiment is from Sweet Stamp Shop's "Simple Sentiments" set. It's one of my favorites!

Thanks for stopping by! I'm off to finish up some coloring and watch the premiere of the final season of "Dexter" - I love that show!

Star Spangled Cupcake

Happy Friday! Just a quick post today since I'm drafting this ahead of time... guess where I am right now?! COPIC CERTIFICATION CLASS! Woo hoo! I'll blog next week with pictures and what I thought of the two certification classes. :)

For now, I'd like to share the card I made for the Red, White, & Blue challenge going on at Get Inky! Stamps.

The cupcake is a stamp from Get Inky's "Sew Sweet Cupcakes" stamp set that I paper pieced on some patterned firework paper and white cardstock. I added some red star pearls to act as sprinkles. :) The "snap, pop, bang, boom" sentiment is a sticker from SRM Stickers. 

And the cupcake is on an Action Wobble!

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to link up those patriotic projects you've been working on! You could win a 4x4 stamp set from Get Inky!

Got Snow?

...Definitely not here in Illinois! It's FINALLY starting to feel like summer. The first half of the month was weird, we spent a lot of day's in the low 70s and it felt way more like spring then summer! Now we've got some 90 degree days in the forecast, which is much more fitting. :)

It's fun to make out of season projects sometimes, so for the new ATC (altered trading card) challenge at Whimsical Designs, I decided to make a wintery ATC:

This was my first time making an ATC, and it was a lot less intimidating than I thought it would be! The papers are from Recollections, and I added some lace, pearls, and Liquid Pearls as embellishments. The "Got Snow?" sentiment is from Whimsical's "Snow Fun" stamp set. 

Here are the Copics I used to color Mr. Snowman, who happens to be a digital stamp from our sponsor this week, SK Digis.  Sorry for the messy background in the picture, by the way! I was in the midst of making multiple projects that day. :)

Hope to see you playing along in the challenge! You could win a $6 voucher to SK Digis!

Peachy Pinwheels

Nothing inspires me more than a Peachy Keen challenge! I'd have to say this week's photo inspiration challenge is one of the most inspiring so far:

Even though I love bright and bold colors, I'll admit this color combo was a bit intimidating at first! It is VERY bright. I wondered "how the heck am I going to find paper to match these colors?" After going through my 6x6 stash and coming across the "My Girl" collection by My Mind's Eye, I knew I had something:

A table centerpiece! The colors match relatively closely (although I didn't include green) and the pinwheels represent the 'Play' part of the picture. 

I filled a mason jar with sand to give it a summery/beach feel, and adhered the pinwheels and butterflies to orange paper straws. I also adhered some lace around the jar to accent it, and thought the "cottony" look of the lace represented beach towels and summer dresses.

All papers aside from the solid cardstock centers are from the My Girl collection, and the faces are stamped on Recollections cardstock. I used faces from set PK-943, and the 'Happy Summer!' sentiment is from the June Stamp Club of the Month set.

The butterflies are accented with Liquid Pearls. I used White Opal, Daffodil, Flamingo, Pumpkin, and Mint Green.

I moved the centerpiece inside so it wouldn't get ruined, and I'm loving how it brightens up my dining room table. :) It's definitely a keeper!

Heartstring Designs Mustache Challenge!

Happy Monday! I had some extra time last week, and thought it'd be fun to play along with the current mustache challenge going on at Heartstring Designs! I'll admit I never hopped on the mustache bandwagon, but I still had a great time coming up with a card for the challenge!

It had to be inspired by this sketch, and be masculine while featuring a mustache:

Here's my take on it:

I LOVED working with this sketch! I love all the detail it has. Papers are from the Fancy Pants "Swagger" collection, which worked perfectly for this challenge!

The #1 and "You're Amazing" stamps are both from Close to My Heart, and the DAD letters are some alpha stickers from my stash. The gears are by Tim Holtz, and I added some green pearls to bring out the green in the polka dot paper. I also added a strip of crinkle ribbon from 3 Girl Jam.

To give the card a more "manly" feel, I distressed and tore the edges of the paper. Distress Inks I used include Chipped Sapphire, Pumice Stone, Walnut Stain, and Broken China. 

If you have a mustache fetish this challenge is perfect for you! One random winner will receive 3 rolls of washi tape AND a special mustache surprise. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday: Washi Tape Style

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I lucked out this weekend and had Saturday off, which doesn't happen often when you work part-time! It was so nice to have the whole day yesterday to craft and be kind of lazy. I think we all need that once in a while. :)

One of the projects I worked on was a card for this week's Use What You Have Challenge at Sweet Stamp Shop! I played along last week and won (yay!) and couldn't wait to play along again.

I may or not be a washi tape addict, even if it doesn't get used as often as I think it will when I buy it. :) So for this week's challenge, I decided to use some washi from my collection:

While it's not a huge collection, it's definitely a lot! Especially considering how much tape is on each roll. Reverting back to a card idea I saw on Pinterest a long time ago, here's what I came up with:

I used 5 different tapes from my stash and cut them all at different lengths so that they could layer on top of one another to form a cake. I cut the cake stand using my Cameo, and added some pearls in the corner of the card to match the colors of the tape.

The 'Happy Birthday' sentiment is from Sweet Stamp Shop's 'Simple Sentiments' set. These challenges always get my creative juices flowing and I love that! It's fun to go searching for supplies you don't use a lot and then make a project with them - you should give it a try. :)

The Paper Nest Dolls Summer Release Blog Hop

Looking for the Craftin' and Stampin' Birthday Blog Hop?
Please click here :)

Welcome to The Paper Nest Dolls' Summer Stamp Release Blog Hop!

Today the very talented and creative design team of The Paper Nest Dolls has put together this hop to share with you projects made using our 14 new stamps!

Top Row: All American Oliver, Angel Ellie, Bunny Love Avery, Dandelion Wishes, Diver Owen

Second Row: Dollhouse, Girl Talk

Third Row: Sparkler Ellie, Groovy Owen 

Bottom Row: Sailor Owen, Hammock Owen, Picnic Ellie, Farmer Owen, Bubble Fun Owen

Digital versions of these stamps regularly sell for $3.00 each, but from today through Tuesday June 25th you can get ALL 14 images for only $25 here in our shop! AND all rubber stamps are 20% off! In order to get the discount, please email your rubber stamp order Christine at papernestdolls@yahoo.com and she will invoice you for 20% off your rubber stamp order.

I made a card using the new Diver Owen stamp!

The fun papers used on this card are from Fancy Pants' "Down By The Shore" collection, which I absolutely loved! The anchor and paper clip are accessories from the line as well. The blue and white cording is from Recollections.

I colored Owen using Copics (below) and computer generated the sentiment. I also inked the edge of the stamp with Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink by Tim Holtz and added a tad of Star Dust Stickles to the coins in the treasure box. :)

I also used R22 - somehow it escaped from the picture!

And the rest! They all wouldn't fit in the bucket. :)

We couldn't host a blog hop without fun giveaways! One lucky winner will receive our entire set of new images, one lucky winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to our shop, and another lucky winner will receive the summer prize pack pictured below!

Participants must comment on every stop of the hop and be a follower of our blog for a chance to win! We also encourage you to become a fan of our Facebook page!

Winners will be announced on Wednesday June 26th over at

 The Paper Nest Dolls blog!

You're next stop is Valerie's blog!

Here's the complete lineup:

The Paper Nest Dolls

Ashley

Valerie

Lydia

Nikki

Lori Ann

Kelly

Jasmina

Tina

Michele

Katrina

Ilene

Jane

Thanks so much for hopping with us! :)

Craftin' and Stampin' Birthday Blog Hop!

Hi All! 

Welcome to the Craftin' and Stampin' Birthday Blog Hop!

You should of arrived here from Sarah's blog!If you have not, please start at the beginning HERE! 

We are so excited that you could hop along with us to celebrate Jessica's (AKA Craftin' and Stampin') Birthday!

Some of Jessica's crafty friends have come together to show off their AMAZING talents and to create a fun filled hop for her birthday! Jessica always loves to make birthday's a special day for her friends and family, so we decided to make a special day for her! Wait until you see the amazing projects we have for you today!

WAIT JUST A MINUTE! What would a blog hop be without any prizes?! Look what we have for you today!

THE SCRAPBOOKING QUEEN ROYAL CASTLE SHOPPE

2 Scrapbook Kits (Robot & Space Layout Kits)

LOVEBUG CREATIONS

$15 Store Gift Certificate

SVG CUTTING FILES

$10 Store Gift Certificate

 

RIGHT AT HOME SCRAPBOOKING

A total SCRAP KIT complete with:

 Paper, Alpha Stickers, and an Embellishment Kit.

A Smash Book Mini &

 A $20 Giftcard to either Michael's or Joanne's! Winners Choice!

In order to win one of these awesome prizes from our sponsors, you need to follow each of the hop participants, and you must comment along the way! Winners will be picked from Random.org on Wednesday and listed on the Craftin' and Stampin' blog!

But first, here's a little something from me about Jessica.....

Jessica is a former design team member of mine and we've been good crafty friends ever since! I love her enthusiasm and her projects are always super cute! Happy Birthday, Jessica! :)

So, here is what I created for her:

A cupcake treat box!! Isn't it cute?! It's a file from the Silhouette store that I couldn't resist adding to my cart! It's about 4 inches high and can easily be filled with candy if desired. :) The adorable "Sprinkles of Love" sentiment is from Jaded Blossom's "Miscellaneous Fun" stamp set.

The cupcake "wrapper" is DCWV paper, and the top is white cardstock embossed with the Divine Swirls embossing folder using my Cuttlebug. I used CANDi pieces for the sprinkles, and used Red Ice Stickles to give the cherry some sparkle. :)

Now, its time to go on to Theresa's blog!

Here is the lineup in case you get lost along the way!

Candace- www.papercraftsbycandace.com

Michelle- www.scrappinwithmybug.com

Diana- www.daisylovecreations.blogspot.com

Lori-  http://scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/

Pam- http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com/

Janet- http://janetscreativeworld.blogspot.com/

Miranda - www.nanasscrapspot.com

Ashley - http://theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com

Lisa - http://honeybearzdesigns2011.blogspot.com/

Sarah - www.sarahbiswabic.blogspot.com

Ashley - http://especiallymade.blogspot.com <--- You're Here :)

Theresa - http://www.thescrapbookingqueen.com/ <--- Next Stop!

Jessica- www.craftinandstampin.blogspot.com

Thank you all so much for hopping along with us!

2 Year Blogoversary Hop Winners!

Wow! Thank you SO much to everyone who hopped in my 2 Year Blogoversary Hop this past weekend! It was a HUGE success and the girls in the hop made some amazing projects! I was even able to reach 700 followers on my actual blogoversary, which was really exciting!

Without further ado, here are the winners from the hop! Winners should email me at especiallymadeblog@gmail.com with subject line "BLOG HOP WINNER" to claim their prizes. :)

The Paper Nest

3 Copic Markers of Winner's Choice!

WINNER: JULIE ODIL

AND A SECOND WINNER WILL RECEIVE...

Doodlebug Designs Polka Dot Paper Pack!

(Assorted colors - 4 6x6 sheets of each color)

WINNER: KAREN SCHROEDER

Freckled Fawn

10 Rolls of Washi Tape!

WINNER: LYNN

Miriam's Crafting Supplies

$5 Gift Certificate!

WINNER: VALERIE (VALBYDESIGN)

The Cutting Cafe

$20 Gift Certificate!

WINNER: SHERRIE K

My Craft Spot

Winner's choice of 5 Bundles of Twine!

(10 yards of each color, over 50 colors to choose from!)

WINNER: ABUSYBEE (CARRI)

Scrapping Fun with Tonya

3 Pack of Stickles!

WINNER: SHER

3 Girl Jam

$15 Gift Certificate!

WINNER: MAMA W CINDY

Here's to many more years of blogging, creating, and making new crafty friends! :)