Hats off to [Tom's] Mom!

I have a very feminine card to share with you today! At first I was going to make this into a graduation card for my daughter Leah, but decided it was more fitting as a Mother's Day card. So this card is going to go to Tom's mom for Mother's Day. (My mom reads my blog every day so I won't be able to show you her card until after she gets it!)

Aren't those just the cutest stamped images ever??

The stamp set I used is from Unity's April KOM! I love this set!! But what don't I like about Unity stamps and the new Unity community called My Unity Place? I hope you never get tired of Unity stamps, because you will be seeing lots of it around here!! It may seem a little more than usual but that is because they are in the middle of celebrating their one year Anniversary over at SCS and there are a lot of challenges and games that I have been participating in. So, be prepared to see lots more Unity this week!!

The Fine Print: DP: Making Memories (Lizzie Chandelier); CS: Stampin Up (Baja Breeze, Ruby Red, So Saffron), Nature Preserve (Kraft); Stamps: Unity (April KOM Dress Form and Hat); Ink: Amuse (Black); Markers: Copics, Zig MilleniumSentiment: Computer generated (Font: English 111); Ribbon: Basic Grey (Color Me Silly collection); Flower: Heidi Swapp; Button: source unknown; Bellas Baubles: Stamping Bellas; Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Textile Texture); Border Punch: Martha Stewart.

I combined two challenges to make this card. The first one is a sketch that was given by Jen del Murro for Monday's Sketch For You To Try. She always has the best sketches!!

The second challenge was the first challenge that Unity gave us in celebrating their First Anniversary! It was a color challenge to use Kraft, Baja Breeze, Ruby Red, and So Saffron. They are giving challenges all week long and if you participate in all of them you can have a chance at being the Grand Prize winner to get a full year of their wonderful Kits of the Month for FREEE!!!

That is such an awesome prize and I would love to win it!! I am going to get all their kits one way or the other, but I would so love to get them for FREE!

Here is a close-up of the detail of my card...

It is not to late to start entering the challenges and have a chance to win the Grand Prize, so head on over to SCS in the Unity Forum and check it out!

Also, today is Thursday which means it is Hip Hop day at the Unity Blog. Click HERE to start hopping around some wonderful blogs, have a chance to win prizes and be inspired!!

Have a great day and may your bucket overflow with lots of inspiration!

Sheetload of Cards Submission Challenge Blog Post

I am so excited about this opportunity that I am going for!! Lately I have been hinting around to you that I was applying for a DT position. Well today I will finally let you know that I am hoping to be chosen as one of the new DT members for Sheetload of Cards!

As you all know, I just love doing challenges and many of those challenges consist of working with sketches. It seems to be a perfect fit for me to work with SheetLoad because every month they release a new sketch to work with. I hope that they think it would be a perfect fit too!

As part of my application process, I have to create this blog post that includes a total of four projects using a SheetLoad sketch. The assignment given was to create three cards and one project (other than a card) from any one of their current or past sketches.

The sketch that I chose to work with comes from the January 2009 Issue of SheetLoad that was sponsored by CC Designs.

My first card is called "You + Me = Happy". For this card I kept the sketch in its' original format.

You + Me = Happy

The Fine Print: You + Me = Happy

Designer Paper: Imaginisce Twitterpated (Mushroom Fancy and Colorfall); Card Stock: Stampin Up (Riding Hood Red), Colorwin (Teal); Card Base and White Card Stock: Georgia Pacific (120lb white); Stamps: Unity (You + Me = Happy); Ink: Amuse (Black), Embossing Ink: Top Boss; Embossing Powder: Stamp n Stuff (Red Tinsel); Brads: Doodlebug; Flower: Prima; Ric Rac: JoAnn's; Markers: Copics.

Mushrooms are so hot right now and I just love this adorable stamp set from Unity. Here is a close up of the way that I tied the Ric Rac into the flower center to make it have dimension...

My second card is called "It's all About the Presents." Since CC Designs was the host for this sketch, I thought it would be great to use some of their stamps on my card. For this card I rotated the sketch vertically so the ribbon is at the bottom. I chose to place the monkey in the space where the sentiment could go and included the sentiment in with the main image.

It's All About the Presents

The Fine Print: It's All About the Presents

Designer Paper: Crate Paper Lillian Collection (Blissful and Home); Card Stock: Georgia Pacific (120lb White); Stamps: CC Designs (It's My Birthday); Ink: Amuse (Black); Flowers: Prima (Pink), Bazzill (White), Petaloo (colored Yellow with Copics); Brad: Bazzill, Ribbon: DCWV (Plaid), Joann's (Yellow Twill Tape); Machine stitching; Markers: Copics; Pop Dots.

I stamped and colored the presents and the monkey several times and then layered them into a grouping that worked for this layout. The original stamp pictured in the grouping above shows how the presents actually go with the dog stamp. I added three layers to some of the presents and two layers to the monkey to add depth to the card. I purposely let the balloon image go off the top of the card for effect!

My third card for submission is called Friends are Like Flowers. For this card I turned the sketch vertically again, but this time I placed the ribbon on the top. The sentiment for this one is incorporated into the image, and then I added an additional sentiment off to the side as well.

Friends are Like Flowers

The Fine Print: Friends are Like Flowers

Designer Paper: Three Bugs in a Rug Chalk Garden Collection (Laugh and Listen); Card Stock: Georgia Pacific (120lb White), The Paper Co. (Black); Stamps: Unity (Floral Friends), Cracker Box Palace (sentiment: Friends Like Flowers); Rhinestones: Studio 18; Ink: Amuse (Black), Signo Uniball (White opaque); Ribbon: Michael's; Embossing: Cuttlebug (Bloom Dots).


Finally may I present to you my special project! I decided to use one of the fabulous quotes from Unity's Quote Bundle Pack. I decorated a plain unfinished wooden desktop picture frame into an inspirational piece suitable for a prominent place in one's home.

I used the same sketch that I have for the last three projects but this time I left the sketch in it's original format, but tipped the image panel and matting on an angle for interest. A butterfly replaces the sentiment. I call this project Becoming a Butterfly.

Becoming a Butterfly

The Fine Print: Becoming a Butterfly

Unfinished Frame: Michael's; Paint: Making Memories (Pink), Heidi Swapp (White); Designer Paper: American Crafts (Bookshelf Collection); Card Stock: Stampin Up (Elegantly Eggplant, Really Rust), Georgia Pacific (120lb White); Stamps: Unity (Butterfly: March KOM, Sentiment: Quote Bundle Pack, Flower Silhouette: Gratitude = Joy), Rhinestones: Studio 18, Michaels; Ribbon: Organza (JoAnn's); Butterfly Ghost Shapes: Heidi Swapp; Ink: Amuse (Black Ink), Stampin Up (Elegant Eggplant, Really Rust); Markers: Copics, Stardust Gelly Roller; Corner Embellishment: American Crafts.

Here are a couple of closeup shots that might help you see the ghost butterfly shapes and the dimension of this project.

So that is what I came up with for my DT application submissions. Now the decision is in the hands of Alicia and the crew at SheetLoad of cards to decide if I would be a good fit with their DT or not. Wish me luck... I really hope I can make it!!

Have a great night and may your bucket overflow with lots of opportunities to grow and expand!

Go Fly a Kite!

Today was a fun challenge for me! The card I created actually combines two challenges! I am really starting to like (yet continue to be challenged by) the Clean and Simple Challenges that are hosted on Mondays over at Splitcoast Stampers.

We were challenged today to use "Little Bits of Ribbon" on our cards! Those of you who know me know that I have a rather large collection of fibers. Many years ago my favorite type of swap was to swap fibers/ribbons with other members of the forum that I belonged to. It really helped to build up my collection! I just can't seem to pass up a sale on ribbon. Have you been loving those adorable, and inexpensive ribbons that Michael's has been selling lately??

Anyway, on to the challenge card. Today's card was also inspired by a challenge given by Asela over at Stamp TV. Every Friday she gives us a new batch of colors to work with. This week's colors were so bright and vibrant. I loved them. They were like a breath of fresh air!

Here is the color inspiration...

And here is my Clean and Simple card that I made with these colors...

The Fine Print: DP: Colorbok Friendly Forest paper pack; CS: Georgia Pacific; Stamps: Unity (Kites and sentiment April KOM); Ink: Amuse Black; Markers: Copics; Ribbon: Michael's; Cuttlebug embossing folder: Frills; Technique: Paper piecing.

This card is going to my niece Cassidy who turns 14 this weekend. I am trying to decide on a comment relating to Kites to put on the inside.

I was thinking something like "Hope you have a high flying time for your birthday!" But I don't want it to sound like she should get high as a kite, if you know what I mean! LOL!!

Any suggestions? I would love for you to leave me a comment on this post about what I should put on the inside of this card that would relate to kites and be appropriate for my niece. Thanks!!

I did find a really nice quote that I will definitely be using with the great Unity Kite stamps in the future. Lauren Bacall was quoted to say "Imagination is the highest kite that one can fly. " I think that is really inspirational!

I have finally finished my projects for my DT application. I hope to have my blog post with all my projects done tomorrow or at least Wednesday at the latest.

Talk to you soon! May your bucket overflow with bright colors that make you happy!

I Received an Award!!

Sonia Kertzus who is an extremely talented cardmaker and scrapbooker shared with me a special award! It was such a wonderful surprise that she chose me and my blog to honor with this award! What's neat is that I actually think that she has a blog that makes me smile! I am always inspired and motivated when i visit her blog! She is definitely one of the blogs I follow on a regular basis! She is uber talented!!

I would like to pass this award on to a new friend that I met on My Unity Place. Her name is Stephanie and she is amazingly talented! I am in awe of her work and think it is wonderful at creating and I like how versatile her work is!

Please take a look for yourself! You won't be disappointed! Thanks Stephanie for making me smile when I look at your creations!

Stephanie's Blog

Sorry for not having any cards to share with you this weekend, but I have had a fabulous weekend spending time with my family. My Aunty Cindy was still in town and so was my daughter Leah who graduates from UF on this coming Friday. All four of my kids were actually under the same roof again! It is always a treat when my four kids are all together with me! We spent some time shopping for Leah's graduation dress, listening to my mom's band playing in a local festival and doing some household projects!

I have been working on some projects for the DT position that I am applying for, but can't show you them until I get them all done. I still have one more project to complete, then I will be posting all of it for you and them to see! I am really nervous but also excited about it!! Even if I don't get chosen, this is a very good learning experience for me. I won't give up, I will keep trying until one day I make a DT position. Remember that is one of the things on my Bucket List!

Have a great night and may your bucket be overflowing with blogs to visit that make you smile!

Unity Colors My World!

Well actually I color their stamps! Ha Ha, but that was the name of the challenge that I entered my latest card into. The challenge was posted on SCS Unity Forum for today's Hip Hop!

The challenge was to use colors of the earth... specifically blue, green and a neutral color which could be brown. I pulled out my BG Archaic line of papers and it spoke to me and led me to Unity's February Kit of the Month which contains that adorable Snail image with the sentiment Snail Mail!

The sketch for this card comes from a brand new stamping network created by Unity called My Unity Place. In that network, there is a new Group of Sketch Lovers. Amber created this sketch for us to use...

Here is the card I created using the HH colors with the sketch turned on it's side and followed loosely.

I think it turned out kind of cute! I didn't have a lot of time to spend on it, so it doesn't have a lot of detail. But I think leave it with a more earthy quality!

Some lucky participant from the Hip Hop Challenge will win a stamp from Unity. Wish me luck!!



I had a horrible day at work and my body is aching. Taking a bit of time to make a card was just what I needed tonight, but I am going to call it a night early. Signing off til next time!


Have a great night and may your bucket overflow with enough advil to take away your aches and pains! (Just a little humor tonight!) My advil isn't working yet!

Happy Earth Day!

Today I made a card to give to a special someone who inspires me on a daily basis. In honor of Earth Day I wanted to use a stamp with a tree in it. The stamp set that I used is from Unity. It is called "Plant a Tree" and it is available for purchase at their store here.

Here is the outside of the card...

The Fine Print: DP: We R Memory Keepers (Grandma's Kitchen line); Stamp: Unity (Plant a Tree); Ink: Amuse, Copic Markers; Buttons: SEI; Twill tape and twine: Joann's; Machine stitching; Punch: EK Success.

The sketch I used for this card comes from April's 2009 Issue at Sheetload of Cards. This month the sketch is hosted by The Greeting Farm stamps, but I don't have any of their stamps yet. If I am lucky I can possibly win a set of their stamps if my entry gets chosen!

You should check out Sheetload! They have great giveaways going on right now! And their sketches are wonderful and make it possible for you to make a bunch of cards with limited supplies and limited wastage of paper. They provide all the measurements to cut your paper, and you just have to put your card together and embellish it!! Try it... you will love it!!

So, more about the card!!!

I believe that recycling, repurposing, and reusing items is a wonderful thing for our community. I also believe in the benefits of planting trees, conserving paper, and protecting our ozone layer. However, while I believe in those things and LOVE the new stamp I got, I couldn't really see myself giving the stamped image away on a card to celebrate Earth Day. Earth Day just really isn't an occasion that I think of to send a card for.

Here is a closeup of the tree that I colored with my Copics and popped up in layers for added dimension.

Since I didn't want to send a card for Earth Day, I decided to turn the sentiment's meaning into another theme! So this is what I put on the inside of my card to make it appropriate to give to someone who inspires me!

The outside says,

"He who plants a tree plants a hope"

and the inside says,

"He who plants a seed inspires!"

Here is a picture of the inside sentiment and stamped image...





I masked off the tree and other words to just keep the flowers and the grass on the inside of the card. I searched handwriting fonts to find one that I felt most closely matched the sentiment's font on the stamp. I think it is pretty close! The font I used is called "A Little Pot" and can be downloaded for free here.

This card will be going out in the mail asap... I hope the person who gets it learns how much of an inspiration I feel she is to me and to others!!

Have a Happy Earth Day and may your bucket overflow with inspiration to do your part to help improve our earth!

I haven't forgotten!!

Sorry for the delay in blogging!! It was a busy weekend and now a very special Aunt of mine is in town and I rarely get to see her. So I have had very limited time on the computer.

With the little bit of time that I have had in my scraproom, I have been working on something that I can't quite share yet. But I can tell you that I am trying out for a DT and will let you know more about that here soon!

I do have a card that I made a while back and haven't shared yet. It is using an adorable image from Sweet N Sassy stamps! It is a digital stamp. You can purchase it here. The digi stamp printed really nicely and my Copics worked great on it too! Digital stamps can be an economical way to stamp, but I think I would miss using red rubber and would not be able to go all digital ever!

Here is a closeup view showing some of the Sakura Gelly Stardust pen I used on the wings!

These are the Copics that Iused to color the image with! I think it is a darling image!!

Gotta run for now... I have a delivery still tonight ! I promise some more in the near future! And some sneakpeeks at my DT work!

Have a great night and may your bucket overflow with happiness!!

Here's a Sweet One For You!

Just a really quick post tonight! I hope to get some time over the weekend to produce some more cards and maybe even a layout! I am on call this weekend so we will see how my days go!

I have one card to show you today. I made it following a color challenge that my friend Asela (stamp designer for Gina K Designs) gave to the Florida Group on Stamp TV. Every week she challenges us with new colors for inspiration.

Here are the colors she chose...

Here is the card I made following her colors... Of course I couldn't help but think about girls with all that pink she gave us. So I made this card to celebrate the birth of a baby girl!

The DP I used is from DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Girl collection. The colors seemed to fit perfectly with the challenge. I also added some cardstock from Bazzill and SU to coordinate. The sentiment stamp is from the SU set called So Many Scallops.

I knew I wanted to use a onesie stamp on this card but the only ones I have are really small. So I found a template online and then printed it out onto paper and cut it out along with my DP to make the polka dotted onesie that you see on the front. HERE is a link to that template. This site has some really great templates that I encourage you to use.

To frill up the onesie a little bit I cut two scalloped ovals with my Nestabilities and attached the smaller one on top of the larger one and then just cut out the neck to match the onesie's outline. I love how it looks! I used Regal Rose SU ink for the Sweet One sentiment. The ribbon comes from the dollar spot at Target. A Martha Stewart punch was used to fancy up the accent piece on the card front!

I have a niece who is having a baby in September. Rumor has it that she is having a girl. This card could possibly end up in her hands one day!

Thanks for looking! Have a great night and may your bucket be overflowing with lots of pretty pink things!!

It's Hip Hop Thursday!

Today is a good day because it is Hip Hop Thursday with Unity Stamps! Every thursday they have blog hops and challenges in their SCS forum. They give away a ton of stamps and also have lots of specials and sales going on in their store!

If you haven't gotten my message yet this week, let me tell you again...

I LOVE UNITY STAMPS!!

They are wonderful! They stamp perfectly, have awesome quotes, trendy images and are great for both scrapbooking and cardmaking! (They don't endorse me for saying this-- I just really love their stamps!)

To start in their blog hop, click HERE to start at the Unity Blog!

To see the sales going right now, click HERE!

To join in on the challenges on the Unity Forum at SCS, click HERE!

I made two cards for the Hip Hop challenges for Unity today. Of course all stamps are Unity stamps.

For this first card we were challenged to use paper piercing on our card. Both the image stamp and the sentiment come from Feb KOTM (Kit of the Month). The ink used was Amuse black ink for the image and Stazon opaque white for the sentiment. The DP is another paper I got from Luxe Designs. I love that flowered ribbon I used that I picked up by the yard at Joann's.

For the second card I decided to go CAS (Clean and Simple.) As you know this isn't my comfort zone, but I do like how it worked out. I used a brand new stamp set that arrived in the mail today called Gratitude = Joy. I love the simplicity of the image stamped in one color and that is why I chose also to use that sentiment for the card too! I added just a touch of ribbon and a bow which was the challenge for this card. The paper is from Crate Paper and my LSS hadn't even gotten this on the shelves before I snagged it up! The line is called the Lillian Collection.

Well, I am going to head back over to the forum and see who is winning some stamps!! Wish me luck!! Hope to see you over there!

Have a great night and may your bucket overflow with happy mail like I got in my mailbox today!

Fun with new Designer Papers!

As much as I appreciate the wonderful meaning of Easter, I have to say that from a card making standpoint I am very glad it is over. I was sooooo ready to move on to brighter colors that don't closely resemble those that you dye eggs with! LOL!

I recently have visited two of my LSS and picked up (too many) new DP's to play with. Usually when I buy paper I buy at least two of each kind so I could make a double paged 12x12 SB layouts with them, but this time was different! I actually shopped for paper just keeping card making in mind! I had so much fun grabbing up just one page of all those wonderful new releases!

The colors out there are so bright right now!!! The first card I am going to show you uses DP from Luxe Designs, from their Polo Shirt line. I love how they all coordinate so beautifully together! (I think I still have enough leftover to do a SB layout too!!)

Check out this card that I made for a dear friend of my husband's who had a birthday over the weekend. (I know, the card was late... shame on me!) This card was cased from this card in Inge's SCS Gallery. She was Sunday's Featured stamper at Splitcoast! I changed the colors, and the stamped image, but kept her layout.

The Fine Print: DP: Luxe Poloshirt collection; CS: GP white; Stamp: Stamping Bellas Surpriseabella with Hat (Image) and Anna Wight's WSD Happy Birthday (Sentiment); Ink: Amuse black and Copic Markers; Flowers: Michael's Brides flowers, and ? Primas? (Colored with Copics); Brads: Bazzill; Nestability die.

The Next card tones it down a little bit and is currently my favorite card I have ever made! Of course it uses a stamp from my favorite company--- Unity!! The new DP for this card is from Cosmo Cricket's Girl Friday Tuesday collection. The inspiration is from this image from the Grandin Road website which was Saturday's Inspiration site for IC175. The sketch is from Technostampers Monday's Lunchtime Sketch challenge.

This card is going to go to a special lady on one of the forums that I frequent to thank her for all she does!

The Fine Print: DP: Cosmo Cricket; CS: World Win, GP white; Stamp: Unity Topiary from the March KOTM, Merci sentiment from SU; Ink: Amuse and Copic Markers; Ribbon: Ebay purchase; Paper Clip source unknown; Bellas Baubles: Stamping Bellas.

Here is a close up of the dimension. I stamped and colored the topiary balls two times and layered them on top of each other. It added some needed depth to the card and allows for nice shadowing too!

Thanks for taking at look at my creations! I am chopping at the bit to dig into some more new papers and some more uninked stamps!!

There are more Unity stamps in the mail... I can't wait to get them!!

Have a great day and may your bucket overflow with lots of patterned papers and stamps to play with!

Happy Easter! FREE Downloads for You!

Hope you all have had a wonderful weekend and a very Happy Easter! I want to publicly thank my best friend Tiffani who spent over twelve hours yesterday helping me finish Leah's Graduation announcements. You are the best friend ever Tiff--- I love you!!! They need to get in the mail ASAP! The majority of them are finished and will be mailed tomorrow!

Needless to say, there wasn't a lot of time to make other cards or scrapbook layouts this weekend, but I have spent some time getting my disaster area of a stamp room cleaned up. I can finally see some counter space again, so that is good!!





Quickly I wanted to show you that last few cards I made for Easter. No Fine Print is being listed, so if you have any questions about the stamps or supplies used, please leave me your question in the comments section.



This first one comes from the Wacky Wednesdaay color challenge on the blog called 365 Cards which was to use the colors orange, purple and green. Surprisingly these colors actually worked for an Easter Card! The sketch is one of Lauren Meader's My Time Sketches (#29)

This second card is probably my favorite one this Easter. I gave it to my mom and she loved it! It is the only one that truly talks about the real meaning of Easter with the resurrection of Christ. My mom is a wonderful Christian woman and I knew she would appreciate this type of card. The sketch for this card is from SCS Sketch Challenge 223.

For good measure I threw in a couple of other challenges into this one too! One is from the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog's Be Inspired challenge 26 where we were to use vellum on an Easter project.

This picture depicts the inside of my mom's card which shows that I also decorated the inside which was a challenge given to us on the ABC Challenge Blog for the letter I that stands for "inside."

Remember this card with the Easter Chick Cutting file that I made recently? You might recall that I told you that I would give you the cutting file and the downloadable digital stamp file for FREE? Well, I finally got them ready for you to be able to download (see below.)


I also decided to make a card from the digital stamp file of that cute little chickie coming out of the egg. I really like how it turned out! What do you think??

Click HERE to get the FREE Easter Chick Digistamp

Click HERE to get the FREE Easter Chick Cutting File in GSD, KNK, WPC, AI and SVG formats

Sorry for getting these to you so late in the game as far as Easter is concerned, but maybe you can use them for next year!

Have a great night and may your bucket overflow with thankfulness for the fact that He lives!

Ecology Minded

I absolutely love [one of] the new stamp sets I got from Unity last week! It's called Eco Chic and it has a theme of being green and earth friendly. This is the stamp set that I included in the Blog candy give away that Grammy is getting.

When I saw this set and when I think of ecology and being environmentally responsible, I can't help but think of my cousin Bobby's wife Anne. Way back when, before being green was cool, Anne was already concerned about recycling and conservation of earth's great gifts to us. Part of her email address is even Ecogal... cause that is just the kind of gal she is! She is not only environmentally friendly, but she is also an incredible stamper with a stamp collection that is to die for!! She leads a very busy life and doesn't have a lot of time to stamp right now, but trust me if you could see her creations, you would see what I mean when I say she is talented!

I made this card with our Earth and Anne in mind and will be sending it to her to let her know that I am thinking of her.

Here it is...

The Fine Print: DP: DCWV; CS: GP; Stamps: Unity Eco Chic; Ribbon: American Crafts; Flowers: Prima; Ink: Copic Markers and SU Chocolate Chip; Nestabilities; Brads: Marcella by K and MM; Word Window Stamp: SU.

The sketch for this card comes from Julee Tilman's Mojo Monday Blog HERE, and the color combination comes from KWerners Design Blog's Color Inspiration HERE.

Don't you just love those stamps??

Check this out about how environmentally friendly the Unity Stamp Co. is.

• Right now they are offering 15% off all orders over $15 in honor of Earth Day which is coming up April 22nd.
• Their wood mounted stamps use less wood from trees because they are 1/3 the thickness of regular wood mounts.
• Their packaging is made from 100% Windpower and their paper is 70% recycled
• They have a specially released stamp in honor of Earth Day
• All their Tree stamps are 20% off right now!

Take a look at how Unity is packaging their stamps now...


You know how much I love Unity, so I just had to tell you how much I love their new set. Rush over to Unity and get some stamps... you won't be disappointed!

One last thing before I close. I had the pleasure of blurfing onto a blog of a very talented lady named Erin Bigler. She is on the DT for Clear Dollar Stamps and she creates some really incredible cards. Her coloring with Copics are fantastic and I thought I would share a link to her blog! Not only is she really talented, but she is super nice too and gave me some really great tips on how to get my cards published someday. (That is one thing on my Bucket List!)

Please go by and see her beautiful work and leave her some love in the comments section. If you say hi, be sure to tell her that Kelly sent you!

Here is the link to her blog called PaperRamblings

I am still working on a few more Easter cards that I hope to post next. Thanks for looking at my creations!

Have a great day and may your bucket overflow with good things you can do for our environment!

More Easter Cards and some CAS Cards!

Why does time fly by so quickly? And you know it doesn't just fly by only if you are having fun!! LOL! I have been spinning my wheels here lately, but I am getting caught up with some stuff that needed doing. Thankfully I have been able to steal a few minutes in the scrap room to produce a couple of cards!

First of all I have been promising to post a couple of Easter cards that I had previously made. I am interested to see how they appeal to my stamping friends because they don't use a lot of stamps. :-)

The first one is made from a die cut that comes from one of the VIP files that we gave away while we ran the Wishblading Well. It is an adorable image that our DT member Pam found for us that was on some wrapping paper. So we turned it into a cutting file and I think it makes for an adorable center stage appearance on this Easter Card.

The sketch for this card comes from the Truly Scrumptious Blog posting HERE. I did turn this digital cutting file into a printable digital stamp that I will get ready and share here with you.

Keep your eyes open during this week for a FREE cutting file and FREE digital stamp of the above image!

The next Easter card came about serendipitously as I was going through my embellishment drawer for Easter. I found these ceramic 3D eggs that I bought from Joann's last year that are made to hang on an Easter tree. It just so happened that the size of the eggs fit perfectly with the egg body of the Oogaloo Happy Easter stamp I have that shows the image of an egg with legs and the words "Happy Easter" on it!

(I just realized after uploading this that the bow that used to be on the right hand side fell off!! ) :-(

When I showed it to my DH he said "How in the world are you going to mail that card?" It is really thick... I won't be mailing it... it will go to one of my own kids! Here is a side view of the dimension. It is really heavy!!

Finally, I have two CAS (Clean and Simple Cards) to share with you. They were inspired by a challenge at The Cuttlebug Challenge Blog HERE which was to use make a CAS card using Kraft, Black and either white or cream and of course also the CB.

As I have told you before I am not a CAS kind of girl by nature, but they do work well for masculine cards... so that is what I did with them. It was the perfect inspiration for some masculine birthday cards I needed this week.

This first one uses my SU set called Loads of Love. I blended Copic markers to try and match the Kraft color. That was a little challenging in itself with my limited number of markers. I drew in with a marker using a ruler the road lines. The CB was used just for the zig zag line on the left. It surely could use some embellishments, but with respect for the CAS challenge, I refrained!

The second one uses a stamp called Road Rider from Artful Inkables. The CB provides the background texture. I used the distressed wood embossing folder. To color the bike I only used grays and the colorless blender.

Drop a comment if you have any specific questions about anything I used on any of these cards. I am a little short on time today to give you all the Fine Print for each photo!

Have a great day! I will check back in ASAP with some GIVEAWAYS! May your bucket be overflowing with Clean and Simple tasks for today!

Weekend Recap!

I did hear from our lucky BLOG CANDY winner Grammy, so her goodies should get mailed out by tomorrow! I wanted to let you know that there won't be a drawing for a back up winner on Wednesday since she did get in touch with me! Congratulations again Grammy!!!

I had so much fun hanging with my girls over the weekend! I haven't laughed so much in a long time! It is a wonderful thing when your kids grow up and even though you remain their parent, you also become friends. I love all my kids so much and am so thankful for them!

The boys didn't have the best of weekends because no fish were caught, but it does sound like they got in some male bonding nonetheless! Maybe they should have come to Gainesville with us... we had a blast!!! LOL!

Our task for the weekend was to prepare Leah's UF Graduation announcements. Unfortunately all we could do was get some prep work done because Mom (aka me!) left without her Nesties, tape and envelopes, all of which were in the bag that remained in my scraproom all weekend instead of making it to Gainesville with us!

We were able to get a lot of pre-cuts made that will make the actual assembly process quicker, but there is still a lot to do.

Here is the prototype of the announcement we are making...

The announcement has a blue base which is placed on the white card. The white layer with the corners notched also is embossed and printed on with the words "Class of 2009." Then there is a gold circle with a white circle on top of it that has been printed with the UF logo and also embossed.

There are a lot of steps to complete one card and we need 60-70 announcements so we are going to have to get busy since her graduation is under one month away! Wish us luck!!

I promise to upload some photos of more Easter and other cards that I have made recently, but I don't have much time for the computer today!

Have a great day and may your bucket overflow with fun time spent with your kids!

We Have a Winner!!!!

Today is the lucky day for one of my blog readers!! Many of you took advantage of the opportunity to have three chances to win by leaving a comment about something on your bucket list, becoming a follower and also linking your blog readers to this BLOG CANDY chance. I am happy to say that it was one of you who did all three things that won the candy today!

Here is the bowl that my daughter Leah chose from...

Here she is stirring the bowl with all the names in it...

And here is the lucky name she picked....

LINK submission: http://justcallmegrammy.blogspot.com

CONGRATULATIONS Grammy!! You are the winner of all this wonderful BLOG CANDY!!

To claim this prize Grammy please email me at sownsew@tampabay.rr.com with your contact information. Please include your name and mailing address (which will not be shared) so I can mail your package out to you. I will not be back home to check email until this evening, so don't be alarmed if I don't reply immediately.

If you don't claim the prize by Wednesday I will choose a back up winner!

Thanks so much to all of you who have played along with this blog candy. I hope you will stay a follower of my blog as I try to continually provide you with eye candy, some inspiration and even the occasional BLOG CANDY!

Have a great Sunday and I will be back tomorrow to post the Graduation Announcements that my daughters and I are making today!

May your bucket overflow with laughter and happiness like mine is today spending time with my girls!