When Life Gives You Lemons...

...grab a beer and some salt!

This is the card I created as DT inspiration for the new masculine challenge going on over at the Get Inky! Challenge Blog. Creating a masculine card usually takes me a bit longer since I don't make them too often, but as soon as I saw that awesome blue and yellow argyle paper from Recollections, the card basically created itself. :)

The beer mug is a file from the Silhouette store and is adhered to the card with pop dots. I distressed the edges of all the papers and added some pearls in the corners of the card as a final embellishment. 

Hope to see you playing along in the challenge! One lucky winner will even receive a 4x6 stamp set for playing along!

Happy, Happy Birthday!

Hey crafters! Today I'm super excited to share with you a 3D cake.. yes, a 3D cake.. made for this week's 3D birthday challenge at Peachy Keen and Jaded Blossom's food challenge!

I'm in love with it! It's a file from the Silhouette store, and it took a while to put together. Thankfully I was able to find this tutorial to help keep me on track and make sure I was gluing things in the right places. :) 3D objects are so fun to make, but they can be a bit tricky and stressful sometimes. Solid cardstock is from Recollections and the patterned paper is from The Paper Studio's "Birthday Extravaganza" collection.

The candle isn't part of the cake box file, one of my good crafty friends, Tonya from Scrapping Fun with Tonya, actually created the candle file for me. It turned out great! The 'Happy Birthday!' sentiment is from Jaded Blossom's "Miscellaneous Fun" stamp set, and I used some wire to act as the wick and hold the flame. The flame is inked with Ripe Persimmon Distress Ink by Tim Holtz and the face is stamped from  PK-943 Funshine Face Parts. 

And wait... there's more! The cake is actually a treat box - twice! You can remove both the top and middle tiers to reveal hidden boxes. How fun would it be to stash some candy or a gift card in there?!

Hope you enjoyed taking a peek at what I created today! 

Avery's Sixth Birthday Blog Hop!

Welcome to Avery's Sixth Birthday Blog Hop! We're so glad you could join us.

Avery is one of our dolls and she has just happened to have a birthday! In honor of her sixth birthday, the design team put together a hop to share projects made with the brand new "Avery's Birthday Surprise" stamp now available in both digital and rubber!

What a fun stamp! Avery was sure excited to see it. :)

Now onto the card I created... I just love how it all came together!

I used papers from the "Dolled Up" collection by My Mind's Eye along with some Kraft cardstock for the base and Neenah cardstock for the digi. For the balloons I used a Cuttlebug die cut and cut the balloon shapes using scraps of paper from the same collection, and used twine from The Twinery as their strings. 

I also added some Antique Linen crinkle ribbon by 3 Girl Jam and some star pearls from Miriam's Crafting Supplies as embellishments on the card. The "Happy Birthday To You" sentiment is from Whimsical Designs "Everyday Sentiments" stamp set. 

And of course we have some super fun blog candy to thank those who come and hop with us!

To be eligible to win, you must comment on EVERY stop of the hop!

1 winner will receive this scrappy prize pack:

1 winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to our online shop:

And 13 winners (one from each hop stop) will win the Avery's Birthday Surprise digital stamp!

Blog hop winners will be announced at The Paper Nest Dolls blog on Tuesday June 11th.

And now for your next stop of the hop - Michele's blog!

The Paper Nest Dolls

Ashley

Michele

Nikki

Lydia

Jasmina

Valerie

Jane - Guest DT

Kate - Guest DT

Lori Ann

Kelly

Katrina

Tina

Happy Hopping! We also hope you join us again in two weeks for our SUMMER RELEASE BLOG HOP!

Sending Hugs & Lots of Love

Happy Wednesday! First off - I can't believe it's JUNE already! Where is this year going?! Although I can't say I'm not happy it's summer, it feels so good to be able to walk out into the warm sunshine without a jacket on. :)

Anyways - onto my card for today! It's design team project for the new challenge over at Whimsical Designs. This week our challenge is all about creating a vintage project!

Let me just start by saying that vintage is not my style - I can try, try, and try, and my brain struggles with having to think that way creatively, if that makes any sense. So, I decided to put a bit of a modern twist on this vintage challenge and use a digital stamp - Washboard Ellie from The Paper Nest Dolls.

The sentiment on the card, Sending Hugs & Lots of Love, is from the 'With Love' stamp set, available for sale at Whimsical Designs.

Aside from the Kraft base and Neenah paper the digi is printed on, papers on this card are from the Market collection from My Mind's Eye.

I colored little Ellie with the following Copics:

Then, I took some ivory colored flowers and added Star Dust Stickles to give them a bit of sparkle.

Here's a close-up of the distressed edges. I used a Tim Holtz paper distresser to rough up the edges of all the layers. It was my first time using the tool and I absolutely loved it! As for Distress Inks, I used Worn Lipstick, Antique Linen, and Evergreen Boughs.

Our sponsor for the vintage challenge is Scrapping Memories! One randomly chosen winner will receive 5 files of their choice.

Have a fabulous day!

Celebrate!

Hey crafters! I hope you all had a great start to your week. :) Earlier this weekend I was able to get a TON of crafting done, which was super nice. The past few days, though, I've had an ongoing stomachache, and have just been taking it easy and getting some DT work done. It started to feel better tonight, so I think I'll be back into the swing of things tomorrow. :)

One of the cards I got done this weekend was a graduation card for the current sketch challenge going on over at the Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge Blog! I always love playing along in their challenges - they're so inspiring!

Here's the sketch:

And here's my take on it:

How ca-ute is this little graduation piggy?! He's from the Create a Critter 2 cartridge and I of course gave him a face using the PK-754 Critter Faces stamp set. Couldn't resist! And because he's so smart I couldn't help but give him a tassel and honor's stole using some twine from The Twinery. :)

He even slides back and forth! I was intimidated by the idea of a slider card when I first saw it, but it is SO easy to put together and SO much fun! The entire template for the card was cut using the slider card template from the Silhouette store. 

Papers on this card are from the Alphabet Junction collection by Carta Bella. Such a cute collection! I added some pink and orange CANDi to match the dots on the sketch, and the Celebrate stamp is from Close to My Heart. 

I had such a fun time making this card during my weekend "crafting spree" and can't wait to share more of what I made with you later this week and into next week! Have a wonderful day. :)

Exciting, Whimsical News! Bookworms... This Is For You!

Whimsical Designs is starting a book of the month challenge!

...A book club?! For crafters?! Are we going to be reading craft books? Nope! We're going to be reading regular novels and creating projects inspired by what we read!

For those of you who love to read and craft, this monthly challenge is for you! 

Here's how it will work:

- The first Monday of each month we will announce the book we are reading for the month and what the prize is for that challenge

- You will have the entire month to read the selected book

- You will then create any type of crafty project inspired by the book or a certain part of the book

This month, we are reading "Alex Cross, Run" by James Patterson:

On July 1st, the new book we will be reading for July will be announced, DT inspiration projects will be posted, and a linky will be included so you can upload your book project for "Alex Cross, Run." You'll have two weeks to link up your project, and then a random winner will be chosen.

This month our prize is $50 worth of Copic markers! The winner chooses the colors.

Exciting, right?! It's always exciting to start something fun and new. We do want to hear from you, though! Head on over to Whimsical Designs and leave a comment letting us know what you like to read - particular authors, genres, etc. Have you created a summer reading list? If so, what's on it?! We'd love to hear all about that, too. :)

Get Inky! Stamps "Repeat" Blog Hop

Welcome to Get Inky! Stamps "Repeat" Blog Hop!

Welcome to the first ever Get Inky! Stamps Blog Hop! Our theme for this hop is REPEAT, in celebration of National Repeat Day, which is this Monday, June 3rd! It is a day to repeat anything...such as eating the same thing for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner! Or, for repeating things you've said...are you ready for some blog candy blog candy blog candy? Yes? Well...great, we have some! Among the prizes, one lucky person will be winning a 3 set sample of our BRAND NEW, NOT YET RELEASED STAMPS!!! How fun is that!?! 

Along your blog hopping journey you will see some brilliant hand crafted works of art brought to you by designers from Get Inky! Stamps, and we know you're going to love each one of them! The first stop on the hop is Thia from Blue Moon Creation, so be sure to start there! We are THRILLED you could hop along with us! Have fun!

I chose to make a card with a repeating theme (polka dots) and sentiment:

Papers used on this card are from the Everyday Moments collection by Teresa Collins, which I absolutely love. Blue & yellow seem to be a favorite color combo of mine lately! The "Sew Sweet... Thank You" sentiment is from Get Inky's Sew Sweet stamp set. 

I cut the twine spool out of gray cardstock using my Cameo and wrapped some Twinery twine around the spool and used a MME pin. Buttons are also from the same Teresa Collins collection. :) The edges of the papers are distressed in Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink by Tim Holtz. The scallops at the bottom are circles cut with a 1" circle punch.

Here's the inside of the card. I'll be giving this card to a coworker as a thank you for a super sweet graduation gift she gave me. :) The twine around the paper is 'Ocean' from The Twinery - same as on the front of the card.

And of course we have blog candy! To be eligible to win, you must:

• Become a follower (if you aren't already) of the Get Inky! Stamps blog
• Become a follower of each design team member's blog (if you aren't already)
• P.S: I'm also having a 700 follower giveaway :)

1 Winner will receive the Joyful Jar stamp set:

1 Winner will receive a bundle of our 3 new stamp sets:

 

And THREE design team members have hidden gift certificates valued at $5, $10, and $15. Remember that commenting on every stop of the hop increases your chances of winning!

Winners will be announced on Wednesday June 5th 

at the Get Inky! Stamps blog.

Your next stop is Beth's blog. 

Here's the entire lineup in case you get lost along the way:

Thia

Ashley

Beth

Jessica

La-Vie

Ann

Sarah

Julie

Sue

Tonya

Tracey

Get Inky! Stamps

Happy Hopping!