Made Especially For You

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Sending Smiles Across the Miles with Aviator Ellie

We have a super fun challenge going on this week at Whimsical Wednesdays - it's all about bling! My favorite. :) Our sponsor this week, The Paper Nest Dolls, gave each team member an image to use, and I chose to do something a bit different with mine...

I made Aviator Ellie an actual plane! Thanks to the help of this airplane file from the Silhouette store. :) I used bling on the wings of the plane and also a little bit on her outfit.

Close up with the digi (she's propped up with a toothpick - shhhh).

Here are the Copics I used to color her:

Here's a close-up of the sentiment, from a Whimsical Designs stamp set, of course.

(Different lighting - original picture came out blurry and I had to retake it).

The Paper Nest Dolls is very generously providing the winner of this week's challenge with their choice of THREE COPIC MARKERS! You heard me right. :) And - if a Paper Nest Dolls image is used on your blinged up project and you win, you'll receive FIVE COPIC MARKERS! How awesome is that?!

Hope to see you playing along!

Monday, April 29, 2013

Bath Time Ellie

Hey crafters! Today I'd like to share with you the card I made for the new embossing challenge over at The Paper Nest Dolls Challenge Blog!

The card was inspired by this week's sketch challenge over at Peachy Keen, which I'll also be entering:

I used the brand new Bath Time Ellie digital stamp from The Paper Nest Dolls to make my card for these challenges.

All papers are from the Sweet Day collection by Echo Park - how fitting for bath time! I even paper pieced the tub to give it some flair. The rubber ducky was cut with my Silhouette and his eye is a Peachy Keen stamp from PK-573 Basic Paper Doll Faces.

Little Miss Ellie is colored with Copics and her "bubble" is distressed with Antique Linen Distress Ink by Tim Holtz. Here are the Copics I used:

I almost forgot the best part - the prize for the embossing challenge! One random, lucky winner will receive this scrappy prize package just for creating a project with embossing!

Hope to see you linking up! I hope your week is off to a great start. :)

Sunday, April 28, 2013

The Paper Nest Dolls New Release Blog Hop!

Welcome to The Paper Nest Dolls' first

"official" New 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 9 new stamps!

Top Row: Washboard Ellie, Bed Time Ellie, Bath Time Ellie

Middle Row: By Window Ellie, Flower Basket Ellie, Hippie Chick

Bottom Row: I Love Art, Old Time Owen, Ant Farm Owen

Digital versions of these stamps regularly sell for $3.00 each, but from today through Friday May 3rd you can get ALL 9 images for only $18 here in our shop!

I made a card using the new Flower Basket Ellie image... she's a cutie for sure!

All papers are from the Reunion collection by My Mind's Eye. At first I wasn't a huge fan of the papers in this collection but they grew on me as they came together so perfectly to make this card!

Little Ellie is colored with Copics. Here are the colors I used:

The sentiment is from the "Everyday Sentiments" stamp set by Whimsical Designs and is stamped in Memento ink.

Twine is from The Twinery and the pearls are from Miriam's Crafting Supplies. I used pop dots to give the card a more 3D effect.

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

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 Friday May 3rd over at

The Paper Nest Dolls blog!

You're next stop is Nikki's blog!

Here's the complete lineup:

The Paper Nest Dolls

Ashley

Nikki

Kelly

Valerie

Jasmina

Lori Ann

Katrina

Lydia

Thanks so much for hopping with us! :)

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Live Life - Outdoor Tag

It's finally Saturday! It's also the start of a new linky party at All that Stickles - Icicle! You can create ANY project using Icicle Stickles and link up for a chance to win prizes from our awesome monthly sponsors!

One of our sponsors is The Robin's Nest, and they very generously donated an Outdoors Tag Kit to each of our DT members to use for our linky parties this month:

What a cute set! Although I'll admit I was VERY challenged by it. I'm more of an indoors girl. :) Took me a while to come up with an idea for a project, but I decided to make a tag after being inspired by this tag sketch:

And here's my take on it:

I used the large green tag from the kit as the base, and also the oval sticker, the tree sticker, dew drops, ribbon, and a chipboard circle. The chipboard circle was really more of a gray color, but I distressed it with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink by Tim Holtz so it matched the brown in the polka dot paper - which is DCWV.

I used Icicle Stickles on these Prima flowers that I had in my stash. I love the enchanted look it gives them! Reminds me of a magical forest.

The lace trim is from my stash and the 'LIVE LIFE' sentiment is from the Joyful Jar Drinks stamp set by Blue Moon Creation, whom I happen to be DT Leader for! :)

I hope you all have a great weekend and that you link up at All that Stickles! It's supposed to be gorgeous here the next few days and I plan on spending as much time outside as possible! I've missed the sunshine and fresh air. :)

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

All Because We Fell In Love

Whimsical Designs is having a sketch challenge this week!

You can create any card or layout inspired by the following sketch:

How cute! Here's my take on it:

I stuck with the sketch on this one and made the card fairly simple. The background paper is from the My Mind's Eye "Blush" collection and I cut the heart from the Sweethearts Cricut cartridge and embellished with a bit of lace and bling.

The sentiment is from the 'With Love' stamp set from Whimsical Designs. I heat embossed it using soem blank embossing powder. I'm still working on my heat embossing (as you can tell - there's powder flecks) but I actually like how it gives the sentiment a bit of a shabbier look. I also distressed the edges with Black Soot Distress Ink by Tim Holtz.

One lucky winner of our sketch challenge will receive their choice of 5 digis from Whimsy Stamps!

Before I go... Whimsical Designs is having a design team call! The call will be open from April 24th - May 8th, and new DT members will be notified by May 13th. More details can be found on the Whimsical Designs blog!

Thanks for reading. :)

Sunday, April 21, 2013

PKS 13-16: Anything Goes!

Happy Monday! I hope you all are having a great start to your week! My weekend was pretty low key, worked all day Saturday and relaxed Saturday evening, then spent nearly ALL day yesterday in my crafty space! It was lovely. :) Since I had some extra time I decided to play along in this week's anything goes challenge over at Peachy Keen Stamps!

Mother's Day is just around the corner, so I took this opportunity to make a card for my mom:

This was my first time making a swing card! The cut from the Silhouette store made it super easy. :) The base is purple DCWV cardstock and the patterned papers are also DCWV, from their Glitter Stack. Picked this stack up at Michael's for $5 a couple of weeks ago - such a great deal!

I am in LOVE with the center of this card! The scallops are also cut with my Silhouette and the 3D flower file is from the Silhouette store as well. I used Star Dust Stickles on the orange petals to match the treatment in the glitter paper - although it's a bit hard to see here. The adorable face is from PK-943 Funshine Face Parts and is stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento ink.

Here's the card flat and folded, it's about 5.5" tall.

I found this sweet Mother's Day poem/sentiment here. I wasn't looking for something sappy, just something sweet and kind that I know will make my mom smile. I think this will do the trick! I also have another Mother's Day project planned using some good ol' Peachy Keen Stamps - can't wait to get it made and posted!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful week. :)

Linking Up Here:

PKS 13-16 - Anything Goes
Catered Crop - Just Add Glitter
Crafts 4 Eternity - April Showers
Platypus Creek Digitals - Flowers & Pearls

Baby Blog Hop

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

Bring on the bouncing babies! It's time for a Baby Blog Hop filled with all sorts of cute, fun, and of course, sparkly, baby themed projects!

For my project I made a baby block using Baby Blue and Cinnamon Stickles!

The block stands about 2.25" high and is made completely out of paper. I found a cube file in the Silhouette store along with the templates for each side of the cube. The letters on top are Thickers - I didn't Stickle those. :) They match well though, don't they?

I used a teddy bear and a rattle image for two sides of the block, each side is bordered with dots of either Cinnamon or Baby Blue Stickles. Papers are Recollections.

Other two sides of the box - I also added a stroller and a rattle. It was a fun project to make (what project isn't fun to make when you use Stickles?!) and pretty easy, too!

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 April 24th at All that Stickles.