From: Santa's Bakery

October is nearly here, which means it's almost time to get into the Christmas spirit! I don't start shopping/decorating until after Thanksgiving usually, but I do like to plan ahead as much as possible to make the process smoother. Makes enjoying the holiday season a lot less stressful. :)

Today I'm sharing a recipe card I made for this week's card challenge at Peachy Keen Stamps. It looks like a normal card, but on the inside, there's a recipe for some yummy hot chocolate!

I stuck with a fairly simple layout and love how it makes the bold Christmas colors pop. Papers are from Recollections, I think I actually used these papers to make Christmas cards two years ago. 

The coffee mug stamp (which I interpreted as hot chocolate for this card) is from Peachy Keen's September stamp set of the month. I colored it with Copics R22, R24, R29, R59, E35, E37 and E39.

The sentiment is a combination of stamps from the September set of the month, and also the July set. 

Inside a card is a hot chocolate recipe. Where I put a bow I also thought of putting an additional place for a small, handwritten note to go along with the card. 

I am off to get some more crafty projects done; there is lots going on behind the scenes here at Made Especially For You! Things are busy, but definitely exciting. :)

Happiness Is...

Happy Tuesday! Just a quick post today as I've got a lot of running around to do, but I'm really excited to share with you the project I made for this week's 3-D Potluck challenge at Peachy Keen Stamps! (By the way, have you seen their new, fabulous website?!)

For my "potluck" creation, I borrowed a few Chocolate Chip Reese's Muffins my sister made (YUM!) and made some toppers and a place card for display.

I used papers from My Mind's Eye "Reunion" collection. Even though the muffins weren't necessarily "fall" themed, I still wanted to give the display a fall touch. I used a Cuttlebug die to cut a leaf, and inked the edges with Rusty Hinge and Walnut Stain Distress Inks by Tim Holtz. I couldnt' resist giving that little leaf a Peachy face, so I used one of their new faces from September's stamp set of the month. The "Happiness is" sentiment is from the same set as well. 

Here's a close up of the place card. I distressed the sentiment with Scattered Straw Distress Ink, and also added some Hot Chocolate Liquid Pearls to the corners. 

I also have a super exciting announcement!

Today I am very excited to announce that I am now a member of The Scrapbooking Studio design team! 

The Scrapbooking Studio is a series of scrapbooking stores located in Bloomington and Moline, Illinois, and they recently opened another location in Davenport, Iowa. You see, I just moved about 45 minutes North of Moline/Davenport, and when doing some research on local scrapbooking stores, I came across theirs and found out they were having a design team call! I applied and was so excited when I received an acceptance email! I've never designed for a brick and mortar store before, and I'm really looking forward to this experience and think it's so cool that my creations will be used as inspiration throughout the store! (Can you tell I'm a little excited?!)

Starting in November I will also be putting my Copic certification to use and teaching Copic card classes at their Davenport location! I'm still in the planning stages but will definitely post more as soon as I get my ducks in a row and put some information together. :)

I'm also excited to get to know my fellow team members! Say hello to the other wonderful ladies on the TSS design team:

Shelly Maxwell

Janet Ball

Sesil Cratin

Melissa McNaught

Cathy Harper

Christine Meyer

Peg Robinson

Tamara Batista

Chelsea Schroeder

Stacy Rodriguez - DT Coordinator

The Scrapbooking Studio Blog

Be on the lookout for projects I've created with their products starting in October!

Psst.. They are also finishing up adding an online shop to their website, so be sure to check that out! They're also on Facebook!

Don't Worry, Bee Happy!

Hey everyone! It's my design team day over at Get Inky Stamps and I thought I'd share with you the card I made for their current "Birds and Bees" challenge!

I'm in love with this CAS card! Both the sentiment and the bee are from Get Inky's "Buzzing Bees" stamp set. I colored the bee with Copics Y13, Y15, Y19, Y26, and added a bit of B00 to the wings to make them appear translucent. 

I adhered some twine for the bee's "trail," and lastly, used my Silhouette to cut hexagons out of honeycomb paper. For a final touch, I inked the edges with Scattered Straw Distress Ink by Tim Holtz. 

On a side note, things have been crazy busy around here! I start a practicum this coming week where I have to spend a couple mornings in a third grade classroom every week. It's definitely exciting, but another thing to add to my schedule. 

I also finally started Project Life! I purchased a kit during an HSN special back in March and made the decision to wait until I moved to start using it, and now that I have, I've been collecting/printing pictures from the past few weeks to start putting the first pages together. Hoping to have something to share with you all by next weekend! :)

Chill Out

Oh how Mondays come so quickly! I'd be perfectly okay if someone decided to add a third day to the weekend. :) Although not much got done around here, turned out what I thought were allergies is actually a cold, so I'm still fighting a stuffy nose and some head aches. I did have a bit of time to play in my crafty space, though, and created a card for this week's sketch challenge at Peachy Keen Stamps:

I am absolutely in love with this sketch! So many ideas went through my head when deciding what to make, and I definitely think this will be a sketch I refer to in the future. In the meantime, I chose to make a card using Peachy's new "Retro Fridge" stamp set:

I cut circles at .75" 1" and 1.5" and using Bella Carta's new "Rough and Tumble" collection, and computer generated the sentiment. For the teeny tiny circles on the sketch I used rhinestones and enamel dots. Love the look! The fridge stamp is colored with Copics C1, C3, and C5. 

I'm going to go have some breakfast and get ready for class, just wanted to make sure this got posted before the craziness of the week begins. Thanks for stopping by!

Furry Friends Blog Hop

Welcome to the Furry Friends Blog Hop brought to you by the All that Stickles design team!

Cute, cuddly, soft, and sweet, having a pet is quite the treat! This month we are honoring our furry friends with a dash of Stickles!

 If you have just come across the hop and are looking to start at the beginning, please stop at All that Stickles!

My hop project is rather simple since I was fighting what I thought was a cold earlier this week (thankfully it turned out to be just allergies) so I didn't make anything too detailed in case I wasn't feeling well enough to finish it. Nonetheless, I think these little guys still turned out pretty cute!

I struggled a bit with what to make for the hop (we had to put our dog down in February, so I'm currently 'petless'), but once I saw these little treat holders in the Silhouette store, I knew they were perfect! They have quite a few animals to choose from so I added some others to my cart as well, but stuck with the cat and dog for the hop.

These guys are tiny, they're probably only about 1.5 by 1.5 inches! They work perfectly for small treats, though, like these yummy Cookies 'n Cream Hershey's Kisses that I'm hopelessly addicted to. The faces on these cuties are from Peachy Keen's August stamp set of the month. I was so happy to see how perfectly they fit! As for Stickles, I used Cotton Candy on the kitty's ears, Brushed Pewter Distress Stickles on the tail, and I used Cinnamon on the puppy's ears and tails. I love how Stickles can give such a simple project just the right touch!

We have blog candy for those who are a follower of All that Stickles and leave a comment on every stop of the hop! Winners will be announced Wednesday September 18th at All that Stickles.

Fresh Brewed Designs

$15 Gift Certificate

Unity Stamp Co.

2 Itty Bitty Stamps

Bugaboo Stamps

10 Digis of Winner's Choice

Digital Delights by Louby Loo

$5 Voucher

Your next stop is Tonya's blog.

Here's the complete lineup:

All that Stickles

Ashley

Tonya

Myra - Featured Fan

Karen S. 

Sonia

Ann

Karen N.

Laura

Angeline

Chas

Cathy

Cathie

Thanks for hopping! :) Don't forget to check out our Fall Harvest Linky Party!

Trick or Treat

I've been feeling quite a bit of the Halloween spirit lately! Today the heat index is 100+ degrees, but by this weekend we're only supposed to have highs in the 70s, and I'm looking forward to finally feeling fresh, fall air. :) My anticipation for fall led me to create a Halloween card for this week's Anything Goes challenge at Peachy Keen Stamps:

I love the bright, bold colors on these Halloween papers by Recollections. The pumpkin is a die cut from Create a Critter 2, and his face is from Peachy's Pumpkin Faces stamp set. The Trick or Treat sentiment is actually a rubber stamp, I individually stamped each of the words to separate them. I embossed the white circle with my Cuttlebug. 

Sorry for such a short post today, I'm actually waiting for class to start (shhh) and have other homework to finish up before my afternoon class. But don't worry, I'll be back later this week with more projects to share. :) Have a great rest of your day!

I Only Have Eye For You!

Happy Monday! Did you all have a good weekend? Mine was super busy. Friday night I saw a movie with a friend, and Saturday I went to a retirement party for my former boss. Thankfully I was able to squeeze in a bit of crafty time!

Anyways, today I am very excited to be guest designing for SKdigis! Sonia and I have been great crafty friends for a while now, and I was thrilled when she asked me if I would like to guest designer! Her digis are so cute and fun, and match my style perfectly.

I chose to use SK's "Double Head Monster" digital stamp. Isn't he adorable?!

I started by choosing the papers of the card, which are from Authentique's "Celebration" collection, and then I colored the monster to match the paper. I used Copics R02, R05, R08, BG72, BG75, BG78, and W3. He was really fun to color!

As for embellishments, I used a few enamel dots and also some Twinery twine to make the colors in the background paper pop a bit more. The sentiment is from Get Inky's 2013 Halloween set. I thought it worked perfectly since each of the monsters only had one eye. :)

SKdigis also has a FANtastic Linky Party going on every month! Sonia provides free digis for you to work with (unless you already have some SKdigis in your digi arsenal), and then you get to link up your creations for a chance to win - how fun is that?!

Thanks so much Sonia for allowing me to be a guest designer, I had a blast working with your stamp! :)

Fall in Love

Happy Labor Day! Did you all enjoy your holiday weekend? I spent mine hanging out with family, catching up on homework, and also doing a bit of crafting. :) One of the projects I got done this weekend was a card for this week's photo inspiration challenge at Peachy Keen:

The gorgeous colors in this picture inspired me to make a fall card. It's still pretty warm here in Illinois, which makes it hard to believe fall is just around the corner! 

Unfortunately I didn't have the right purple paper to match the purple in the photo, but I was able to use  the green, yellow, red, and orange. The papers I used are from DCWV's Fall & Halloween collection, which has some really fun papers for this time of year. 

I cut the leaves at about 2" using the Simply Scarecrow Cricut Cartridge, and brought them to life using face stamps from PK-493, which I've come to find is my go-to stamp set for small die cuts. They fit perfectly! I distressed the edges of the leaves to give them some dimension, and added pearls, ribbon, and lace as accents to the card. The 'fall in love' sentiment is from Unity Stamp Co, and worked perfectly for these little leaves in love. :)

Thanks for stopping by! :)