Spring has Sprung!!

Spring really has Sprung in more ways than one!!  

For starters, I have tons of pollen building up on my car and causing allergy attacks that you can't believe and everything is turning green and finally getting warm again!!  But secondly, I also have a card to show you that literally has some SPRING to it!!

Today is Wednesday which means that the Whimsie Doodles Paper Craft Planet Group has issued a new weekly challenge!!  This week Joni has challenged us to make a Spring Card!!  They are really cool and not too hard to make.  All the directions on how to make them (along with a video) can be found HERE in the SCS Resource center!  I hope you will give one  a try and share it with us on the PCP Forum HERE.

Here is a shot of the card when it is almost flat.  The way it would be inside the envelope!

And this is what it looks like when it is sprung into action!!

I used the Easter Basket stamp from Whimsie Doodles for the image and then added the adorable Basket Case sentiment from the Easter Sentiments set.  Both of these stamps are available only in rubber form.  I colored the basket in using Copic markers to coordinate with the Bo Bunny paper from the Kitchen Spice line.

I added two rows of grass from a MS punch, one under and one over the basket to add dimension.  Then I also added an accent ribbon using MS's dotted blue  ribbon.  I popped the basket up a bit using pop dots!

Here is a better view of how the card pops up when it is fully opened.  Isn't it so cute?  I had never seen this fold technique before and really love how it looks!! I will definitely be doing this again!!

If you want to play along with us, please check out the SCS Resources page I linked above and then load your creation to the PCP and/or SCS Galleries using the keywords, whimsiedoodles and WWC25 (Whimsie Wednesday Challenge 25.)

Some exciting news for Whimsie Doodles is that the 

new releases for April 

will be revealed NEXT WEEK!! 

So be sure to come by starting on Monday for some Sneak Peeks of what is to come!!

Also, be sure to stop by tomorrow when we will be 

celebrating Hip Hop coming back to Unity!!  

Both Unity and Ippity DT members will be involved!! 

There will be lots of prizes, chatting and fun so be sure to check it out!!  Woot woot!!

Have a wonderful rest of the day and may your bucket be overflowing with the beauty and promise of Spring!

Happy Birthday Michelle!

Technically yesterday was my oldest daughter Michelle's birthday but today is the day I am going to celebrate it on my blog!! LOL!   Twenty five  years ago I became a mother for the first time and I will never forget that wonderful feeling and the overwhelming amount of love you can feel for a human being.  It is such a special feeling and one that hasn't diminished over time.  Michelle is such a wonderful daughter and is turning into a beautiful woman.  I am so proud of where she is in her life right now and hope and pray for her continued happiness and growth in life!!  I love you Michelle and hope you had a wonderful birthday!!

She and her boyfriend Matt left yesterday on a cruise to Mexico so we celebrated her birthday on Friday of last week.  We went out to lunch at Ruby Tuesdays and had the salad bar and sliders. Here is a picture of Matt and Michelle while we were at lunch!

I made a birthday card for her using some October Afternoon paper and the adorable Unity stamp kit called It's Your Day.  You can purchase this stamp from retailers near you and to find out who is selling it, just click HERE to get the list.

I love the cute and whimsical look that this set gives.  It is so versatile and comes with numbers too!! I used SCS card sketch SC15 for this card.  It was fun to do a shape other than an A2 card for a change! :-)

I stamped the cake once on plain white cardstock and colored it in with Copic Markers.  Then I stamped it again onto the text background paper.  I cute the cake and candles out excluding the flames and glued it to the stamped image on the background.  Then I just colored in the flames and it looks like it is all together again!!

For the word CAKE, I stamped it on plain cardstock and colored it in with Copics too.  Then I paper pieced it onto the stamped image on the card base.  I think the ribbon is from an older MM set I had!  I love the way it came out.  It is fun and festive and girl enough for my feminine daughter!!

I finally decided to give scrapbooking a try again.  It has been way too long and I really do have a lot of photos to scrap!

Unity Stamp Co. has started issuing weekly scrap sketch challenges

 that they call Simple Scrapbook Sketches.  

They are given out on Sundays.  You can see the thread on their forum HERE!

Here is the first sketch that Latisha Yoast designed...

And here is my take on that sketch...

This is also of my daughter Michelle.  She made me promise that I would make a layout of her because she swears that she doesn't have as many as the other kids do!  LOL!! So I had the perfect number of photos to go with this sketch and I just love the candid shots of her.  I chose the DP from the colors that you can see in her bathing suit.  It is from Black Market Paper Society.  You just have to ignore the bright yellow and black life jacket she was wearing while playing water sports!!  LOL!

It might look to someone who doesn't know her that she is angry or upset, but I actually caught her just looking out over the lake with a bit of a squint in her eyes because of the sun.  I think she is just beautiful!!  The title stamp "Fun in the Sun" is from Unity Stamp Co's Beach Days and Sun Rays set.  The text strip below the larger picture of her says "Good Times-Unforgettable Moments-Special Memories-Priceless-Cherish" and it is from Scrapbooking kit called SBC-104 called Unforgettable Moments (also only available from retailers).

The journaling block is made to look like strips of paper which is so fun... and it is from Unity's very first Scrapbooking kit SBC-100 called Le Chic Vintage.  I used the embossing lines on my Crafter's Companion to make the waves.  I embossed and then cut close to the embossed line three times.  Twice with the light blue CoreDinations paper and once from the coordinating dark blue side and then I layered them to make them look like rough water!

Finally I stamped Summertime across the bottom of the page to finish off the border strip.  It is also in the Beach Days and Sun Rays set from Unity.  The flowers were cut from the DP and then placed on top of the matching twill tape from Joann's.

I had so much fun scrapping again.  I will be trying to do these scrapbook sketches each week!! And what I love about Unity and {ippity}  is that they make stamps that are perfect for scrapbooking!!

To see the scrapbooking kits from Ippity, please visit my sales blog HERE.

If you made it through my very long post today then THANK YOU!!  Please have a wonderful day and may  your bucket overflow with the warmth of a summer day on the lake!

Happy Spring Hippity Hop

Happy Monday!!

It's time for another H{ippity} Hop! 

To start at the beginning of the hop, please visit the 

{ippity} blog 

for a complete list of today's participants!! 

I have two cards to share with you today that were inspired by two  different challenges.  

The first challenge is this week's {ippity} challenge IHHC17.  Maria has given us the theme of Easter or Spring to use on our cards.  

The second challenge is for this week's CAS challenge CAS60 on SCS which is to follow the sketch for the amazing card made by fellow DT member Carly that you can see HERE.

I felt like my first card wasn't as Clean And Simple as it should be!   I love the way it turned out, but think it has just a bit too much detail for true CAS fashion...

I used stamps from {ippity}'s Sweet Thoughts of Spring and stamped the floral images three times and then colored them in with Copic markers.  Then I cut out them out and placed one in each of the three squares.  I also used the Spring text collage stamp to add to the background at the bottom.  (You have to look closely to see it!)

I made the sentiment panel using a Nestie that I stamped Happy Spring onto and adorned it with dots I made by hand and a butterfly sticker that came with the pack of Kioshi paper.  The purple border that was punched with a MS punch and the yellow ribbon finished off the card!!

So my second version is much more Clean and Simple!!  And it still used the same stamps from the Sweet Thoughts of Spring set and the same pack of paper too!

For this card I had no images, just the sentiment, collage and scalloped border stamp.  I stamped the sentiment stamp once into each of the three squares.  I stamped the collage stamp onto the flower and used the spring border punch for the bottom. 

I think it is cute, but I might just add an image before I send it off to someone!!  I think the little chickie would be cute on this don't you??

Do you have the Sweet Thoughts of Spring stamp set yet?  

Visit my stamp blog to see the sale I have on it today 

ACT Now and you could have your set before Easter!  

I have two sets in stock ready to mail out today!! Don't delay!!

Visit my Sales blog HERE!

TGIF!!

Thank God it's Friday!!

Not only because it is Unity's FWF Friday, 

but because I am finally off call after a nine day stretch on!!  

Woohoo!!  

I have a couple cards to share with you today.  The first one is one of the CAS DT cards I made for a recent challenge.  It is challenge CAS58 from the 15th where we were to be inspired by the colors of chocloate mint chip ice cream (Miss Boo's favorite!)

Here is what I made...

I used Unity's set called Leap For Life which can only be purchased from a retailer.  Keeping it clean and simple I stamped the cattails on the cream card base with Close to Cocoa SU ink.  Added a strip of BG Origins paper that I border punched and then paper pieced the frog on the lily pad and set him on top.  The sentiment was stamped with SU's Old Olive.

Here is a closeup of that cute little froggie...

You can click HERE to find a list of retailers in your area.  

And did you hear the fabulous news that Unity 

is now being sold at Archivers's? 

  

Isn't that amazing?  I just wish I had one in my area!  Sniff, sniff!! LOL!

I have two more cards to show you, but they are the same!  Remember about a month ago that Taylor VanBruggen held a drive to collect Dragonfly sympathy cards for parents who have lossed babies during pregnancy or infancy?  Well I made the girl cards and shared them HERE. But I had never finished the boy cards.  So I finally did.  

Using Unity's dragonfly from the Oct 09 Stamping Store Kit (only available at retailers)

and the sentiment from the Nov 08 KOM I created these two boy cards to send in...

The baby footprints are from a Paper Trey Ink's sympathy set.  I used DP from DCWV Baby boy Nursery and added lots of machine stitching.

The sketch I used is from SCS Sketch Challenge Master list.  It is SC20. 

I did take the liberty to add an additional layer of matting and also the vertical ribbon from Martha Stewart.  But I think it totally still looks like the sketch!

Here is a closeup of the dragonfly.  I just love this! I think my friend Kelli Caslow designed it too!  I let my Copics go outside of the lines for this image because I was going for a soft staining of the paper almost like a watercoloring.  I was simply trying to accent the images.  I also added a fine line of stardust Gelly roll ink to the edges and body of the dragonfly to make it sparkle.  You can see the shine from the angle above the best!!

So to start at the beginning of the hop and not miss one bit of inspiration, 

CLICK HERE 

to find the complete list of today's participants!!

Don't forget to be on the lookout for  the flair blinkie too

and a chance to win 25 random Unity Stamps!

Have a wonderful Friday and may your bucket overflow with lots of time to sit back and relax this weekend!!

Paws I Care... that's why!!!

Thank you all so much...

for the sweet comments on the projects I made for yesterday's Mega March Blog Hop with JustRite Stamps!!  I hope that your efforts will yield you some fabulous JR Prizes!!  :-)

Day Three of the Mega Hop is going on today so please stop by the 

JustRite Blog 

to find the list of today's participants!!  

Everything I have seen has been amazing!!

To see my projects from yesterday's Hop simply scroll down.  You can still leave a comment until Friday night at 6pm EST to be eligible to win one of the many prizes offered!  Good Luck!!

 So, on to today's post which is near and dear to my heart!

There are so many things that I just love about Melyssa Connolly, owner and stamp designer of Whimsie Doodles stamps.  Not only is she super sweet and super talented, but she also has a soft spot in her heart for animals!!  As you know we rescued Tasha (our puppy) almost a year ago from a shelter and so animal shelters are something that we in our family feel strongly should receive support from us!

Melyssa has designed a special stamp set full of wonderful stamped images of cats and dogs and whimsical sayings too.  And she is graciously donating ALL of the proceeds from the stamp sales to a local SPCA.  

So why don't you do your part and buy the set today!!

Are these not the cutest images ever!!!  

And the best news is you can get them all in digital format for 

only $5... for the whole set!!

Click HERE to go to the WD store! 

Isn't that a wonderful bargain?  Please help us help homeless pets!

Here is a card that I made featuring the Dog Years image which has this cute dog wearing a birthday party hat!  The DP I used is from the DCWV Pet Stack.  It is the same paper that I am using to make the 1st year album for Tasha!!  I love it!!  I colored in the image using Copic Markers and cut it out leaving a small border of white.  Then I matted it with coordinating Bazzill paper too.

The sketch I used (flipped horizontally and vertically) is the one for the challenge going on over at Paper Crafts Planet that Whimsie Doodles is sponsoring.  You can enter the challenge for a chance to win a $10 gift card for Whimsie Doodles.  So if you are interested in playing along (even if you don't have WD stamps) just click HERE to check it out!

For the sentiment I had to get a little creative in Photoshop and erase the dog and heart images that you see in the digistamp above.  I filled in the missing lines with a black fine tip marker.  I then altered the size of the sentiment to fit inside the bone and ran it through the printer again .  I subtly highlighted the sentiment with a pale BG marker from Copics.

For added dimension I popped up the dog on some foam tape then added the golden yellow twill tape and three coordinating brads!!  Finally to finish it off I added a frame of machine stitching to the outer edges of the card!!  Whatcha think??

I hope your week is winding down nicely.  Tomorrow is Friday already and on top of that I am off call too!!  Please have a wonderful day and may your bucket overflow with the desire to help homeless animals!

JustRite Stamps Mega March Blog Hop- Day 2

I am so honored to have been chosen to participate in this blog hop and I can't thank JustRite Stamps enough for inviting the Dirty Dozen to participate and for letting us use their fabulous stamps!   I made two projects to share with you today and just loved working with their stamps sets.

For my first project I created a 5.5 x 5.5 inch card with DP from MME as my background.  I stamped the Daffodils in the pitcher from the JustRite Stamps Breath of Spring Set. I cut the image panel with a Nestability oval and then also placed behind it a scalloped oval.  Underneath that is also the Fair Isle Pendant die that I popped up on top of a free hand cut base for it out of a contrasting gray color. 

I colored the image in with Copic Markers and also added airbrushing to the image panel. To make the borders I airbrushed, I simply cut out a smaller oval to place in the center and then sprayed only the outer edge of the oval without spraying over the image.

For dimension I added pop dots to the image panel and to the Pendant layer as well.  I added a large cream satin ribbon that I scored at the dollar store in my area and added Studio 18 rhinestones and some machine stitching to add the finishing touches.

The last project I have to share with you today is a quick little gift idea for a loved one.  I couldn't pass up using this sentiment from the JustRite Loving Thoughts stamp set.  (Did you notice that the name of my blog is My Bucket Overfloweth?)  It was super quick and easy to add some lace and ribbon to a small bucket filled with Hershey kisses and pair it with a card decorated in coordinating Pink Paislee DP and matching ribbon.  I stamped the sentiment and the scalloped border from the Merry Little Christmas set in Real Red ink from SU.  I added a Nestability scalloped circle to fit behind the image panel.  I think it is a really cute way to send some love to others!!

Below are all the details you need to know about the Hop!

30 designers, FIVE shopping sprees each day.  No one knows where the prizes will be!  Each day of the hop JustRite will have five Mystery Blog Candy Prizes hidden along the hop with a total retail value of  $600.  JustRite will randomly select five mystery blogs each day of the hop and randomly allocate each of the shopping sprees.  For your chance to win, simply leave a little love (a comment) on each designer’s blog including the JustRite blog.  The more designers you leave comments with, the better your chances of winning.  Each day’s comments will remain open for three days.  A winner from each of the mystery blogs’ comments will be randomly chosen using Random.org.  Consult the listing of designers at the JustRite blog each day (each day’s designers will be different) and start out on your way!  Beginning Friday, March 26, summaries of all the winners will be posted on the JustRite blog.  Good luck to everyone and enjoy all the JustRite eye candy along the hop! 

Today during the JustRite Mega March Blog Hop (Day Two) JustRite and its sponsors will be giving away the following five prizes:

· $200 JustRite Shopping Spree
· $100 Spellbinders Shopping Spree
· $100 Stamp Simply Ribbon Store Spree, and
· Two additional $100 JustRite Shopping Sprees!

Blog comments for Day Two will be open until Friday at 6pm EST.  On Saturday, JustRite will announce on their blog which five blogs have the mystery candy for Day Two.  You will need to go to the JustRite blog to determine where you need to go to find out if you are one of the five lucky winners.

JustRite Inspiration Blog
Sharon Harnist
Sankari Wegman
Marianne Walker
Michelle Wooderson
Linda Duke
Barb Schram
Eva Dobilas
Liz Weber
Jeanne Streiff
Lori Craig
Sharon Johnson
Michelle Woerner
Sherry Cheever
Keri Lee Sereika
Lauren Meader
Michele Boyer
Lucy Abrams
Janine Blackwelder
Edna Morrisedie
Deb Saaranen
Melody Rupple
Charmaine Ikach
Michelle Giraud
Amy Crockett
Lydia Fiedler
                                 Kelly Landers  You're Right HERE!
Amber Hight
Margie Higuchi
Mary Pfaff
Debbie Seyer 

Spring in NYC

Good Tuesday Morning!!  I hope that your week has started off in a good way.  Mine is doing well.  I feel so great that spring is finally on it's way.  The house has been cleaned and we had our carpets done yesterday so things are all fresh and ready to bring on the new season!

Today I am sharing with you a card I made for this week's CAS (Clean and Simple) challenge CAS59 on SCS where we were inspired by photos taken in New York City.  I just love being on the CAS DT and find so much inspiration from my fellow DT members.  I hope that you will check out the link above and see what has been created for this week's challenge.


I found this beautifully inspiring photo HERE that shows just one single daffodil from a garden in Central Park.  It reminded me immediately of this gorgeous daffodil stamp I have from Flourishes.

Because I am from FL, we don't get chilly enough weather in my area to allow bulb plants to blossom like they do up north.  But from what I understand when you start seeing these beauties all over you know that spring has sprung!!  I so wish I could plant a row of these to enjoy at my house, but I guess I will just have to settle for stamping them instead!  The stamp set this comes from is called Signs of Spring by Flourishes.  It is one of my favorites of theirs.

I used my Copic markers to color in the image and I did some airbrushing on the white space to take some of the starkness away.  If you look at my inspiration photo (link above) you will see how the background is kind of blurry and dark.  That is why I chose the deep colors of the BG Origins paper for my card base and also softened the white space. I used my Nesties Label Eight to create the card base and the image panel. 

That's all for today, but have a wonderful morning and may your bucket overflow with wonderful signs that spring is coming!

Another Hippity Hop Challenge!

It's Monday which means it is time for another H{ippity} Hop using amazing {ippity} stamps!  Do you have any {ippity} stamps yet?  If not, please visit my sales blog to get some today!!   

Michelle is in charge of issuing this week's challenge.  And she asked us to incorporate Chipboard on our creations!  I think this is a great challenge...and the best news is that I already had a card ready to go.  You see, I submitted this card to a recent magazine call and it wasn't picked up.  So I thought now was the perfect time to share it with you!

I used the cute house stamp from the Devoted set and placed it on a "wood plank" with wheels that I made free hand using chipboard, a fine black marker and my Copics for shading.  The DP is all from October Afternoon.  I attached a piece of twine to the plank so it could pull the house to its' new location!  :-)

All the images were paper pieced.  I love the way the clouds look in the printed DP.  And to create the grass, I used a green OA paper and punched the grass border punch from Martha Stewart.  The wheels were also created using a punch and OA paper.  The sentiment was made with Just Rite Stamps.

Here is a closeup of the chipboard plank I created.  I used small pop dots to lift it up slightly from the card.

So are you interested in playing along in this week's challenge?  Just head on over to the {ippity} blog where you will find all the details and information on the prize too!  If you create a card be sure to use the keyword IHHC16.

While you are at the blog make sure that  you follow along the list of this week's blog hop participants.  Simply visit each one of them to be completely inspired with {ippity} creations!

Have a great Monday and may your bucket overflow with things to make your week start off wonderfully!

Artful Inkables Birthday/ Color Challenge Card!

Happy Sunday blog buddies!!

With yesterday being the first day of spring I decided it was time to start my spring cleaning this year.  I spent many hours yesterday deep cleaning parts of our house with intentions to do the same thing today!!  It is no fun doing it, but sure wonderful when you can sit back and relax and enjoy the fruits of your efforts!!

So I finished this card earlier this week and hadn't had a chance to post it yet.

It combines a Think Ink #16 challenge on the  Artful Inkables blog to make a Birthday card and this week's SCS Color Challenge (CC262,) to use Elegant Eggplant (or Rich Razzleberry), Old Olive and Orchid Opulence.  At first I wasn't sure I would like those colors together, but in fact I really do love that combo.  And what was even a greater surprise was that those colors are some of the colors in the new line of Kioshi papers by Basic Grey.  So it was nice to use some of those papers for my creation.

I used the AI stamp set called Fairy Whimsy.  I thought these flowers and butterflies were so pretty to wish some one a magical birthday!  The birthday sentiment on the ribbon tag is actually made on the computer, but the rest of the words and images are all from Artful Inkables.  I colored the images in with my Copics.

The butterflies were stamped twice with the second set mounted on top of the first with dimensionals to give it depth and dimension.  I created the background effect by sponging on inks and then spritzing with Tattered Angels Shimmer Mist.  The color challenge had a "dessert" option to add swirls which I did by using my paper piercer adding a trail for one of the butterflies!

I hope you have a wonderful day and may your bucket overflow with blooming flowers, flittering butterflies and other reminders that spring is here!!