April Showers Bring May Flowers!

But for today's post it looks like the May flowers are coming a little early!!  Today is Monday and that means that it is time for another {ippity} Hippity Hop!!  Our Hop hostess today is Lisa and she has challenged us this week with a new Hippity Hop challenge to add 3D Flowers to our project!

To start the hop at the beginning and to have a chance to visit all the blogs of talented {ippity} fans just Hop on over the {ippity} blog to find the complete list!!  We hope that you will join us in our challenge this week and create a card or project using 3D flowers that you have either purchased or made.  Upload them to the SCS Gallery using the keywords ippity and IHHC21.

The project that I made was actually for two challenges!  The first one was Lisa's Flower challenge, but then it also was for this weekend's Virtual Scrapbooking Night VSBN challenge that I hosted based on the Reality TV show called Extreme Makeover.  The idea was to use that show for the inspiration to create a BEFORE and AFTER type layout.  

To check out my challenge please visit my VSBN thread HERE.  There is still time to play along with a chance to win a free ippity stamp set!

Here is the layout that was optional for my VSBN challenge.  

And here is the layout that I created of my 2nd daughter Leah.  The Before was a picture of her as she received her acceptance letter for the University of Florida.  The After picture was taken on her graduation day after spending four years there!

Here is a closeup of one of the clusters of flowers that I added for Lisa's Hippity Hop challenge. I did some layering of the flowers and topped them off with rhinestones to add depth for the 3D effect.  Underneath the photo of my daughter I stamped the dotted background {ippity} stamp from the Love in Return set to help mat the photo.

And here is the next cluster of 3D flowers that I added to the layout.  The bottom corner has the verse from the Devoted {ippity} set that states " Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."  And as an accent coming from underneath the picture in the center, I used the swirl and flower stamp from the Love in Return Set.

The {ippity} stamp shown here is from the What Matters Most set.  You can read my journaling to see the joy that we had for Leah as we got her great news!  We are so proud of Leah and thankful that she is about to graduate with her Master's and will attending UF's Vet School in the Fall!!

Before you continue on the Hop, let me remind you that our sister company 

Unity Stamp Co. is celebrating it's 

2nd Year Anniversary all week long!! 

Head over to the Unity forum at SCS and the Unity blog 

to join in all the festivities that are happening today and all week long!!

Have a great day and may your bucket overflow with the desires of your heart as promised by God!  :-)  Happy Monday!!

Hip Hop is Back!! No Fooling!!

OK ladies... the long awaited day has arrived!!  

Hip Hop is back!!

If you are new to Unity or are an {ippity} fan, you are going to love Hip Hop!!  Basically it is a day full of inspiration as the DT members share projects with you.  Plus, there will be chatting, prizes, challenges and lots of fun happening on the Unity Forum at SCS.  

Stop by and visit between 10-1 and 5-8 CST 

to have a chance to chat with the Unity and {ippity} DT members!

The {ippity} DT  is so excited because we are now a part of the DT Hip Hop Blog Hop too!

To start at the beginning of the Hop, 

go to the Unity Blog 

HERE. 

If you arrived at my blog by way of Eva's blog, then you are on the right track! 

We were given a sketch to use today for our first new Hip Hop.  

We hope that you will play along with us too!  

If you upload a card using this sketch, please be sure to include the keywords, 

Unity and/or Ippity and HHSC01 (Hip Hop Sketch Challenge 1)

The bunny and sentiment for my card come from the {ippity} set called

  Sweet Thoughts of Spring.  

I colored the bunny in using Copic markers and popped it up on pop dots!  I stitched around the panels and zig zagged down the edges of the card base.  I stitched a basting stitch onto the cream satin ribbon and then gathered it allowing it to twist and turn.  

The DP is from the new line of October Afternoon that is supposedly being shipped as we speak!!  Yeah!!

Need some {ippity} of your own?  

Check out the list of {ippity} chicks on the {ippity} blog or you can visit my sales blog to see my sale!

Be sure to leave a comment on each of the DT blogs you visit today because tomorrow you might be the lucky winner of a prize package from {ippity} that will be announced on tomorrow's Fresh Idea Friday post!

Next stop on the Hip Hop is

Lisa Henke

Have a great day and may your bucket overflow with lots of Hip Hopping fun!!

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!

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!

Happy Spring!

Hi Everyone!  

Did you know that today is the first day of Spring?  

I wish I could believe it from a weather standpoint here in FL! I hope that this may finally mean that warm weather and flowers and green grass will be coming our way soon!

Fitting for the First Day of Spring, Joanne Basile, one of the Dirty Dozen Alumni has challenged all past and present Dirty Girls to make a card with spring in mind!  We were to use either Birds or Bees on our cards, and we were restricted from using a border punch!!  What?  No border punch!!  That's horrible!!  LOL!!  But somehow I managed...

 

 I knew immediately that I wanted to use this momma bird feeding her baby birdies image from Unity's Spring Unity set.  I just think it is so adorable.  Plus, it was created by my good buddie Heather Rolin who designs many stamp sets for Unity and Ippity and is also the Guest Designer for Ippity stamps for the Winter Release term.  The cloud and sentiment are from the Sweet Thoughts of Spring Ippity stamp set

The colors from this sweet Bo Bunny paper that I bought while on my excursion with my Stamp TV Buddies were perfect to fit the bill for this springy card.  I just love the oranges, blues and browns in this set!  I cut away one of the floral branches and attached it to the image panel so it looked like the bird and its' nest was resting on it.  The images of the birds were colored with Copics, and the bird nest was paper pieced.  For a final touch I also machine stitched the base layers.

If you want to see what some of the other DD Alumni did with this challenge, just click on the link below and go to the SCS Gallery.  The keyword for this challenge was DCBB310.

Birds and Bees Dirty Girl Challenge Gallery 

Changing gears really quickly, I wanted to make you aware of a wonderful charity event going on involving Stamping and Whimsie Doodles stamps...

Join Whimsie Doodles and Paper Craft Planet for the 

'Paws I Care' challenge

Saturday, March 20th through Saturday, March 27th, 2010.

To play along you must create a card using this sketch:

The card must contain an animal, any animal from any company.

If you don’t have any pet images Whimsie Doodles has a brand new digi set called “Paws I Care”. 

All proceeds from the sale of this set will go directly to a local SPCA, and it is absolutely adorable!

Upload your card to the PCP gallery {HERE} using the tag sk032010, for your chance to win a $10 gift certificate from Whimsie Doodles Stamps.  A winner will be chosen next Saturday, March. 27.

Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with a sample of my card using the adorable stamps and the sketch above!! I really appreciate Melyssa making this event as rescuing animals is near and dear to my heart!

Have a wonderful day and may your bucket overflow with Sweet Thoughts of Spring and fur babies too!!

How Sweet It Is!!

How sweet it is

that I got to play along with the Sweet Sketch Wednesday sketch again!

It's been far too long since I played along with this great sketch challenge and I have missed it!  But this week is a special occasion because as an {ippity}Chick I am sponsoring this week's challenge. Please check out all the details at the Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog.  I hope you will decide to play along!!  

There is even a chance to win a FREE {ippity} stamp set for doing so!!

Here is the sketch for this week...

And here is the card that I made...

I used the Sweet Thoughts of Spring set from {ippity} 

and so did all the DT members from the SSW blog.  

The  stamps that were used to make this card include...

• The chick
• The thought bubble and sentiment
• The scalloped border

To celebrate my sponsoring the SSW sketch challenge this week I am offering a 

really SWEET Sale over at my {ippity} sales blog. 

To get this set at a great discount and 

for a chance to win a FREE {ippity} stamp set please visit 

There's Ippity in My Bucket

(my sales blog)

to find out all the details

How can you resist this adorable little chick!! Don't you just love him??  

I colored him (or is it a her?) with Copic markers.  The thought bubble originally came out of the wrong side of the cloud in relation to the chicks head, so I used my stamp-a-majig and masked it so it could be stamped on the opposite side!

Hope you like what you saw today!  

 

And don't forget to stop by my sales blog to buy this stamp set 

at a great sale price and to have a chance to win a FREE stamp set!

Have a great day and may your bucket overflow with the sweet signs of spring!!

Happy Hippity Hop!

Good Morning!!

Did you guys miss me this weekend?  I took some time on Friday night and Saturday to get my scrap room all organized again.  I had been not good about putting away my new stamps and wanted to get them all organized.  I am happy to say that everything is in its proper place and my scrap room is all in order again!

Leah also came home this weekend from UF and yesterday was Tom's birthday, so we had a nice day just hanging out and spending time together!

Today is Monday which means that it is time to H{ippity} Hop!! If you don't know what that is, it is when we all share our creations made with {ippity} stamps and hop around to all the different blogs that sign up to share their goodies!  Eva is our host today and she already has the list up on the {ippity}blog , so be sure to head over there to find out who all is participating!

Eva also is hosting this week's H{ippity} Hop Challenge IHHC14 which is to use Dry Embossing on our projects.  I love dry embossing!  So this one wasn't hard for me at all!!  I just grabbed one of my trusty CB embossing folders and went to town!  All of the DT members and our Guest Heather Rolin have made a card for today's challenge to share with you on our blogs today!

I used the bird and sentiment from the Music of My  Heart {ippity} set and coordinated it with DP from Scenic Route (dark teal) and SEI.  The dry embossing I chose to use was the musical score embossing folder from CB called Allegro.  I sanded the raised edges to give the embossed area some added contrast.  A little bit of Copics were added to give some dimension to the bird and to emphasize some of the words on the sentiment!

Be sure to head over to the {ippity} forum on SCS a little later today to find out who won the give away for participating in last week's challenge that I hosted which was to create a card for a boy!  Have a great time on your hop today and may your bucket overflow with lots of {ippity} inspiration!!

New Whimsie Doodles For You!!

Wohoo!! It is that time of the month again!

(OK, well maybe that doesn't sound right!)  It is however time for another 

New Release of  Whimsie Doodle Stamps!

Yesterday you got to see some sneak peeks of what was to come so are you ready to see the whole thing today?  All right well get ready to be excited because Melyssa has done it again!

My first card uses the new digistamp called Standing Baby Bear...

The DP is from the new DCWV paper pack called the Crafty Stack.  The musical score background stamp is from the {ippity} stamp set called Music of My Heart. 

I used the Baby Bear from the set called Baby Bear Standing, but you can also get the sitting version!.

Standing and Sitting Baby Bears

And some adorable sentiments like the one I used are also being released!

Baby Sentiments Digital Stamp Set

The next card I have to share with you is one I call Berry Sweet that comes from the new set called So Sweet!

I am not sure who makes the DP I used, but to create the layered border, I used my new Martha Stewart Pinking Scallop border on three coordinating colors and them layered them while staggering the scallops. 

I colored the cherries using my Copic Markers and the button I used is from the black package I bought while at CHA from Clear and Simple Stamps.  I paper pieced the towel that hangs from the jar.  The adorable label is interchangeable with the other sentiments you see below. 

And guess what??  This set is available in RED RUBBER!!

How Sweet Rubber Stamp Set

And finally how about a set just in time for St. Patty's Day?  In fact that is the name of this set!  

The DP is from the MME Home paper pack.  I colored in the pot of gold and rainbow with Copic markers.  I printed the image twice once to print the image with the cloud empty and then the second time so that the sentiment would fit inside the cloud.  I used the color combo from this week's color challenge CC260 at SCS which was to use Basic Gray, Crushes Curry and Always Artichoke and conveniently were the exact colors from the MME collection that I used.

St. Patty's Day Digistamp set

Like what you see?  Well then head right on over to the  

Whimsie Doodles Store 

to get yourself some!

Be sure to come back by 8am EST to see my Friends with Flair post for Unity!

My Baby Boy is Sixteen!

I really can't believe that this day has come!!  And without getting too sentimental on you, my baby boy is turning 16 years old today!  While he might be the last child of my four, preceded by three older sisters, Ricky is hardly a baby in stature!  He is pushing six feet tall and basically towers over his mommy!!

Here is a picture of us that I love from my wedding back in November of 2008...

And this is one of us from last August... I love that boy!!  What a sweetheart he is!! 

Ricky has a heart of gold.  He is loved by anyone who knows him and is passionate about animals and fishing.  He is definitely growing up too fast right now... he got his first girlfriend last month and will get his driver's license later this month!! Oh boy!!  Let the fun begin!!

Happy Birthday Ricky!

Today I was the hostess on the {ippity} Blog for this week's Hippity Hop Challenge.  And in honor of my sweet boy's birthday today I am challenging you to make a card or project using your {ippity} stamps for a BOY.  Enter your creations into the Gallery and label them ippity and IHHC13 for a chance to win. You have until next Sunday to submit!

Next Monday I will be drawing from the submissions in the SCS Gallery 

for one lucky person to win an {ippity} mug!

Here is the card that I created for today's BOY challenge!

To make this card I stamped the banners from the Winter 2010 Love in Return set onto the blue, green and orange papers.  Then I used rub-ons to spell HAPPY.  To make the Birthday I stamped the letters from the Alphabetically Adorable set from the Fall 2009 line and colored them in with Copics.  I placed a coordinating ribbon underneath the banner to make it appear like it is suspended.  All the colors were chosen to match the DP from Scenic Route.

Here is a closeup of the letters...

Need some {ippity} stamps to make your project for this week?  I have many of sets on hand and will be happy to sell some to you and get them in the mail right away!  I have two Alphabetically Adorable sets and three Love in Return sets in my possession for immediate release!

Visit my {ippity} sales blog for details!

Now, head on over to the {ippity}blog and use the list to hop to all the 

wonderful blogs signed up today to participate in our Hippity Hop!  

Have a wonderful  day and may your bucket overflow with joy for a boy in your life!!

We are Hippity Hopping Today!!

Happy Hippity Hop!!  

Isn't it nice that now that ippity has come along and that we have these awesome H{ippity} Hops planned, that we don't have to dread Mondays anymore?  Hippity Hops have turned Monday's from drudgery into a day full of inspiration.  Many ladies will be posting creations they have made with {ippity} onto their blogs today and you can find who is participating by visiting the {ippity} Blog HERE.

You are invited too!!

We invite you to sign up and join us next week for our H{ippity} Hop by visiting the Ippity Forum sign up thread at SCS which is usually up by the Friday before. Simply add your name and blog address to the list and we will make sure you show up on the master blog list!  

Eryn is hosting our H{ippity} Hop today which means that she gets to pick the challenge for this week!!  She picked a fantastic one... it is one of my FAVORITE challenges to do!!  Can you guess it?

It's a sketch challenge!!  Yeah!! I LOVE Sketch Challenges!!!  As you all know I am working my way through ALL the sketches on the Master Sketch list at SCS.  Not counting all the ones that I have randomly done over the past couple of years, I have finished the first 12 on the list and am working my way through the next 12.  I copy and paste the pictures of each sketch onto a letter-sized paper so that 12 sketches fit onto each sheet.  Then I print it out and leave the sheet in front of me as I create cards so I can use them whenever it strikes my fancy. 

The sketch that I used for my card today is SC08...

And here is the card I made using it...

At first glance you may think that I did not follow the sketch very closely, but keep in mind that they are just guides and that you can tweak them to make them work for you.  I did not use the two equal squares in the center as shown in the sketch, but you can see that I put them together to make one long rectangle in place of the two squares, or you can also see that the spring panel and the basket actually "represent" the two smaller squares.  Let your imagination be your guide and the let the sketches work for you! They are only inspirational... not set in stone!

 My card for today uses stamps that you will find in the Thoughts of Spring stamp set that is one of {ippity'}'s New Releases.  It is the perfect set to use for all your spring and Easter cards and layouts.

As of today you can still preorder this set from me for a discounted price!  Once my stamps arrive, which will probably be tomorrow, the price will go back to my regular sale price.


 

For today's card I used Basic Grey's Sugar Rush paper.  I loved how the plaid worked well on the basket to make it actually look woven!

The lace is a recent purchase from JoAnn's and the flowers are from Prima.  The cute pink half pearl is from Darice and was in a pack of several colors and only cost a buck!!

We sure hope that you will play along with us in this week's challenge.  Eryn will have all the details for you about it on the SCS {ippity} forum.  So be sure to stop by there and find our the deets and what you have a chance at winning!!

So head right on over to the {ippity} blog and start at the beginning

to be wonderfully inpsired by some more {ippity} creations!!

CLICK HERE!

Have a wonderful Monday and may your "basket" be full of fun new {ippity} stamps to play with!!