Bling it On Hippity Hop!

I am happy to say that I after my all day class yesterday, I am an official Copics Certified Instructor!!  I have some stuff to share with you about that, but it will have to wait for tomorrow!!

Today we have a H{ippity} Hop to blog about!!
Bling it on Baby!!

It's Monday and that means that is time for another H{ippity} Hop!!  My post today is going to show you how useful {ippity} stamps can be to bring some bling into your life and into your home!!  Eryn has challenged us to add bling to our {ippity} projects and I have an example of what I did with the Devoted stamp set, a candle and rhinestones!!

 

Isn't that pretty!!  It looks like it came from a store, but you can make it yourself right at home!  If you would like to participate in this week's H{ippity} Hop challenge, all you need to do is create a project using {ippity} stamps and some bling and upload it to the SCS Gallery using the keyword IHHC6.  Then go to thread on the {ippity} forum for this week's challenge and leave a reply with a link to your Gallery showing your project so we can all take a look and ooh and aah over it!! Sound like fun???  It is!!  I hope you join us!

I really love this technique of stamping on candles and it is so easy to do.  Here is a link to the resource showing the tutorial on how to do it at SCS.  You aren't actually stamping directly on the stamp, you are stamping onto tissue paper (like you wrap presents with) and then melting it into the candle just until the paper disappears from view.

Here is a closeup of the stamped sentiment from Devoted.  I also added the hearts from the same set to wrap around the candle.  The bling is from Walmart called Best Occasions and came in a packet with many swirls and flourishes!

So today we have a lot of {ippity} blogs to visit that will be showcasing these fabulous stamps.  And the DT will be sure to have brought some more bling for you to see too!  We sure hope you will hop along with us today.  

To start at the beginning of the H{ippity} Hop, please go to the {ippity} Blog to find the list.

If you are interested in purchasing the Devoted stamp set you see here today, please visit my {ippity} sales blog.  I have a special price for this week just for you!! And I still have one of the Kissmas & Mistletoe sets left so if you buy anything, you can still get that for the very low price of $11!! Go check it out!!

Have a great day and may your bucket overflow with things that add bling to your life!!

I'm at Copics Certification Class!!

I have been waiting for this day for so long!!  You know how much I love my Copics, well I am so happy that there was enough space for me to get into the class being taught in Sarasota by Sally Lynn.

I am going to be Copics Certified!! Woohoo!!

I can't wait to learn some new tips and techniques and to get some practice on this involved type of coloring!

I will be sure to share some of the wonderful things I learn when I get back!!

So, I have a little something I made with {ippity} to share with you.  I made this for a magazine call...wish me luck.  I would be so happy to get some of my cards showcasing {ippity} published!

This is called Family...

It uses the word Family from the Life's Little Moments kit, and the house and sentiment (which I masked and paper pieced) from the Simply Home set.  Both sets are {ippity}I really like the colors.  I based them off the K & Co. DP mat pad that I used.  It came with the scalloped edges and all.

I used my Stamp-a-majig and masking with post-it-notes to break the sentiment up like you see it here. I wanted it to fit down the whole side of the image panel.  The flowers are from Prima.  The brads from Basic Grey and MM.

I "colored" the house in by using both Copic markers and some paper piecing with some coordinating paper from the same K & Co. Mat Pad.  I also used my Copics to highlight the words LOVE and HOME in the sentiment. I topped the whole thing off with this pretty velvet ribbon from MM that I gathered on my sewing machine and adhered by stitching the ends and securing it with some tacky tape.   I machine stitched the image panel and the top and bottom edges of the card too!

Well that is all I have for you today.  Should you be interested in buying either of the {ippity}sets you see used here, please contact me via email (sownsew25@verizon.net) or visit me at my {ippity} Sales Blog.

If you want to see my favorite {ippity} cards  from this 

week's SCS Gallery, go check out the {ippity} Blog! 

Have a great day and may your bucket overflow with the kind of love that turns your house into a home!

Happy Friday Friends!!

My Friends with Flair that is!! 

Today is a great day because we get to visit the many blogs of the very talented Unity fans as they share their creations with us.  To start from the beginning, just visit the Unity blog for the list of today's participants!!

So, remember how a couple of days ago I told you that I gave myself a personal challenge to work my way through all the SCS Sketch Challenges skteches?  Well today I have another one for you!

The sketch for my card today is Sketch Challenge #2 (SC02)!  It also uses this week's Color Challenge (CC252) from SCS (Certainly Celery, Taken With Teal or Bermuda Bay and Hunter Green) and yesterday's Ways To Use It challenge (WT252)  which was to use something NEW on your card. 

My card uses a stamp each from Unity and {ippity} and it was super easy to make.  In fact I was also trying to sneak in today's SCS challenge which was to make a card in 15 minutes, but it actually took me about 20 to complete this!! The focal point is the awesome sticker letters by Colorbok that I found on clearance at Big Lots recently for a buck.  This is the NEW thing on my card!

The Unity stamp used is the cute sketchy flower from the August "08 KOM.  I thought the style of that went perfectly with my DP from SEI.  The {ippity} sentiment stamp, Birthday Wishes is from the Just Wanted to Say kit that you can purchase by visiting my {ippity} sales blog HERE.  The cost of the set is only $13.50 (plus shipping.)

I am trying really hard to increase my stash of Birthday cards at the beginning of the year so I can always have some ready to send out at a moments notice.  This one will find a home soon I am sure!! 

Did you check out all the great benefits for becoming a Unity KOM Club Member?  It is amazing!! Only something that Unity would do!! Be sure to check it out!! If I could only buy one stamp set a month, it would definitely be the Unity KOM!!  I LOVE them all!!  (Hehe... and I have them all!!   LOL!) I just can't help myself!!

Have a wonderful Friday and enjoy the FWF Hop!!  May your bucket overflow with lots of cards to give to your loved ones celebrating birthdays!!

REAL Hugs and Kisses!

OK don't even ask me to explain what has happened to my life, but it seems that just a few minutes ago it was Tuesday and all was well and then, well you know what they say.... All He** broke loose!!  I can't believe it is Thursday and that I haven't blogged in a couple of days!!  Man!! I hate when that happens!!

I finished this project late Tuesday night and after waiting for the stickles to dry, I just didn't have the energy to get my blog post ready.  And now here it is Thursday evening and I am finally getting the chance to do it!!

 I made my project today for the current challenge going on over at the Paper Craft Planet in the Whimsie Doodles Forum.  Kelli gave us the challenge this week and it is called Keeping it Real.  We were supposed to substitute something stamped with something real.!!  Like if there is a hair bow on the stamped image, instead of coloring in the bow, you could attach a real ribbon made into a bow!!  Get it??

Well my project involves chocolate, so I know all my lady friends are going to love this one!! I have put REAL Hershey Hugs and Kisses inside this cute container I found on line!!  I guess I didn't really substitute my candy for the stamped ones, but I did include REAL ones too!

I call this the Whimsie Doodle Kit and Kaboodle!!  It also qualifies for this week's challenge on Digital Tuesday Challenge Blog.  Their challenge was to create a Valentine's Day Card using a digistamp.  This isn't exactly a card, but it is still the right theme!

Kit and Kaboodle is the name that the creator of this project, Rochelle Wick calls it.  So I didn't want to change that.  You can see her blog post about her creation HERE!  And you can also get the instructions for the project from the ScorPal website HERE!

This little teepee shaped holder is the perfect container to hold six Hershey Kisses and Hugs!  Isn't it  just adorable??  I printed the XO border strip from Whimsie Doodle's latest release called Lil Cupid onto pink CS twice, so that when it was folded according to the directions, the border was right side up for both the front and back portions.  I then colored and embellished the digital  "Hugs and Kisses with Copics and Stickles!  The REAL Hugs and Kisses (the chocolate) are hidden inside!!  LOL!

I created the tag using the same Lil Cupid digistamp set and did some masking on the computer screen to alter the sentiment to say the phrase you see above.  The original sentiment in the stamp set just says "for my Sweetie."

From this angle you can see how the Stickles really makes the hearts (hugs) pop!! 

I colored the letters and candies in with my Copic markers.  Have I told you my really exciting news yet??  This Sunday I will be travelling to Sarasota to get Copics certified.  Woohoo!! I am so happy about this and can't wait.  I have all four of the Ciao Copic sets and the airbrush system, so I am stoked about getting to improve on my techniques.  If you look closely at my projects, you will see that I need some improvement!!  LOL!

Gonna call it a night!  I am happy I finally got to share this with you!  I will be back in the morning with some Unity stuff!! It is FWF Friday tomorrow!!

Have a great night and may your bucket overflow with all kinds of hugs and kisses...the REAL ones and the chocolate ones too!!

A Blog Hop Word Search!

Welcome to Whimsie Doodle's Valentine Inspired Blog Hop!

The DT is featuring some of the new Whimsie Doodles images being released today!!

Today we are sending you around to all the DT members blogs to be inspired by the new images .  But while you are visiting the blogs be sure to collect the scrambled letters needed to spell out a discount code to use on the website!  Good Luck finding all your letters!


My blog is the first stop on the list!  My project features the letter B, which is for Bow & Arrow.  you can see the Bow and Arrow in my project below... 

The adorable Penguin Cupid (Penguin 5), Stitched Heart and sentiment 

come from the new set called Lil Cupid!

I printed and heat set my images on GP cardstock and colored them in with my Copic Markers.  I chose my colors based on the DP from the BG Nook & Pantry line.  The heart stamp was enlarged  to match the sketch I used.  The black accent cardstock is from Bazzill.  The sketch for this  card is the very first Sketch Challenge from SCS... SC01.  Remember I told you yesterday that I had some personal crafting goals for this year? Well one of them is to eventually use all the sketches on the SCS Sketch Challenge forum!  So I figured why not start at number One!!  I will share more about this goal in a future post!!

Lil Cupid and two other new sets are available in the

Whimsie Doodles store, starting today!

Be sure to visit all of our Doodlelicious Design Team blogs today and comment on their projects and on the Whimsie Doodles blog for your chance to win some fantastic prizes! 

Kelly (You are Here!)

Linda

Dawn

Paula

Thanh

Joni

Sheri

Alicia

Denise

Donna

Nicole

Kelli

Nikki

So the first letter on your hop is the letter B! 

Have fun finding one letter from each DT member's blog.

Unscramble them and spell out your discount code for today's sale!

Edited to Add: Leave a comment here and on every blog on the hop for a chance to win a prize!!  :-)

Have a great time on the hop and may your bucket overflow with the kind of love that only Cupid can be responsible for!! 

A blog hop of Whimsical Proportions is coming soon!

To see my card for today's H{ippity} Hop please 

scroll down, or click HERE!

Ready for some new Whimsie Doodles stamps???

We've got something ever-so-Doodlelicious up our sleeves and we'd LOVE for you to join in the fun! Visit our Doodlelicious Design Team blogs on January 5th, starting at 7 am for a very special Whimsie Doodles blog hop and letter find that will be sure to get you thinking about your SWEETIES! Each Doodlelicious Diva will have a project on their blog that will feature, or be centered around, a certain letter (some might be tough, so be ready for a challenge!), and it will be your job to find all of the letters and solve the VALENTINE themed word scramble! The word scramble solution will be your special discount code for the Whimsie Doodles store!!

Here is a sneak peek at the creation I will be sharing with you tomorrow!!

We'll see you tomorrow!!

Have a great day and may your bucket overflow with happiness this New Year!!

Happy Hippity Hop!!

OK, so today is the first official day of the New Year for me where I am back on track and into my routine.   Boy have I missed having a regular schedule and some quiet time around my house!!  Sorry for the lack of posts recently, but besides being slammed at work, I have been trying to get my house back in order, and the Christmas stuff put away!

I am really looking forward to this coming year as I have given myself some small crafting goals that will make my designing fun for me and hopefully for you too!!  I will talk more about that tomorrow!!  :-)

Today is Monday which means we are having another H{ippity} Hop Blog Hop!! I LOVE Mondays now!!  It is so much fun to visit all the blogs showcasing {ippity} stamps!! I am always so impressed with what I see and can't wait to stamp when I am hopping around!!  Thanks to all of you for your inspiration!! Be sure to stop by the {ippity} forum and chat with us too!

To start the H{ippity} Hop at the beginning, please click HERE!

Maria is our hostess with the mostest today and she has issued another challenge for us this week too!  For our fifth challenge, IHHC5, she has asked us to incorporate BUTTONS into our creations!!  I also combined the H{ippity}Hop Challenge with today's CAS Challenge CAS48, which was to make a Valentine's Day card!  You know how I love challenges and combining them is one of my favorite things to do!!  I hope you will play along and upload your card into the SCS Gallery and post a note on the thread.  You will have a chance to win a prize too!

I first stamped the heart image from the Straight From the Heart kit.  I stamped the row of black and then stamped again in red on white cardstock and paper pieced the red hearts on top of the black ones.  I also stamped the same image again in both black and red and cut them apart to use down by my sentiment.  The sentiment is also from the Straight From the Heart kit.  Easy Peezy and it came together really quickly!

I hope this isn't too cluttered to still be considered CAS.  But as far as my designs go, I really limited the layering and didn't add the extra fluff like stitching, bows and bling!!  So this is CAS for me!! LOL!!   We will let Miss Boo decide if this qualifies for her challenge or not!  He he!!

I tried to keep this one masculine enough that I might be able to give it to my husband for Valentine's Day.  We will see if I can improve on one for him between now and Feb 14th!

The rest of the {ippity} DT will have some more cards using buttons to show you too!  Have fun Hopping and have a great Monday!!   We are experiencing a cold front here in FL and it is 40 degrees this morning!  It is really chilly for me!!

To get the Straight From the Heart {ippity} kit, please visit my {ippity} sales blog!  It is the perfect kit for your Valentine's creations!  I have three in stock and can ship them immediately!

Have a good one and may your bucket overflow with enough love to keep you warm!

Goodbye to 2009... Hello 2010!

Happy New Year!! 

I hope that all of you had a good time last night ringing in the New Year!  I had a quiet evening at home mostly alone, but did enjoy a yummy fish fry at our friends house.  I left my husband and son there to play poker and they returned home in time to watch the ball drop with me and to give my first kisses of the New Year!  I love the men in my life!!  :-)

I love it when a New Year starts because it is such a great time for reflection and projection all at the same time!  It is fun to reflect on all the things that have happened in the past year.  But it is even more exciting to think of all the things yet to come!  I am projecting a wonderful 2010 with goals to improve on myself personally in many ways, and also to continue to work on my time management so I can be sure to include all the fun things in my life.  My bucket really does overflow!  Mostly that is a good thing, but sometimes I need to keep the spillage from creating messes in my life!! And is and will probably always be my challenge in life!

I would like to take a moment to share some pictures from 2009 with you!  (Nothing crafty so you can stop here if you want to!!)

In January we had new kitchen cabinets put in!

In February we enjoyed camping with friends and family.  (My daughters Michelle and Leah are in the center)

We celebrated Tom's 44th birthday camping and kayaking on the Homossassa River in March

In April we enjoyed boating on the lake at my BFF Tiffani's home.

May was very busy as we celebrated Leah's Graduation from the University of Florida...

Mother's Day with my mom, sister and my kids in the back row and...

Ricky getting his blue belt in Karate!

In June we celebrated Father's Day...

Tiffany's High School Graduation and...

we adopted the newest member of our family, Tasha!!

For the fourth of July Tom roasted a pig....

and we enjoyed celebrating with our family and friends!

In August I had fun at CHA meeting the SCS crew...

the PaperTrey ink girls...

and the Unity Crew!!

And in August we welcomed my great niece Ava Rae into the world too!!

I have nothing to show for September!  :-(

But in October, Tasha celebrated her first Halloween!!

And my girls took me to the So You Think You Can Dance Tour for my birthday!

On Thanksgiving we celebrated my sister Michelle marrying her man Claude!

And December brought the joys of Christmas!! Here is my son Ricky...

My girls, Michelle, Leah and Tiffany...

and my step son Thomas and his GF Jessica with Tasha in the background!

So here is to a fabulous chance to start a new year fresh and rejuvenated!! I look forward to a year of personal growth, good health and happiness and hope that you will stick with me to share in that and all the crafty creations I come up with year!! 

Happy New Year! And may your bucket be overflowing with great memories from 2009 and wonderful plans for the New Year!

BitterSWEET Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!

If you have followed my blog for any amount of time you would know that on Wednesday's I usually post a card using a Sweet Sketch Wednesday sketch!  Well today is a little bittersweet because I don't have one for you.  I have had to make the decision to trim down some of my responsiblities a little so I can keep up with my own personal goals  involving my family and paper crafting.  I have decided to resign from the Sweet Sketch Wednesday DT!  :-(

To see this week's sketch, please visit the SSW blog!

I am starting this New Year with my DT work load lightened by two DT's.  As you previously knew, SheetLoad of Cards is stopping, and now I have resigned from the Sweet Sketch Wednesday DT also. I can't thank Arlana enough for allowing me the opportunity to design with all her talented ladies for the past six months.  I was always amazed with her sketches and plan to continue to use them for my personal card making, but decided that I needed to have a less regimented schedule for designing.

I am continuing with my {ippity} DT, and also Whimsie Doodles, and will finish my last three months as a Dirty Girl for SCS, but I realized towards the end of this year, that by designing for so many teams I was too busy to make cards for my friends and family members for their birthdays and anniversaries and such.  I need to have some days during the week where I can just created for fun like I used to, so I have decided to keep a cap on DT memberships.  I mean the whole reason I do this is to keep in touch with my family and friends.  So if I have been struggling to do that, then something had to give right?

I will be sponsoring a SSW sketch in the future with {ippity} stamps so I will still be involved, but I hope you understand my decision to scale back a bit! Thanks again Arlana!  It was really SWEET working with you!!

I also want to thank Alicia for everything she has done for me on the SheetlLoad DT .  She was the first person to have confidence in me enough to allow me on her DT.  I am so thankful for her and all she has done for me.  I am thrilled though to keep working with her on the Whimsie Doodles DT.  I  know she will fit in perfectly and am happy to continue to work with her! 

Before I close today's post, I wanted to share the last bit of  SheetLoad of Cards submissions that were in this month's final issue...  And yes... they are Christmas again, but sorry I just HAD to share them!!  LOL!  I promise (unless I find some more I forgot to share) that these are the last of my Christmas cards!!  He he!!

I made this for the final issue of SheetLoad of Cards as my beyond the Card project. I made a set of three tags for use on Christmas gifts.  The images are all from Doodle Palace who graciously sponsored our final issue.

Here is the last tag shown on a present!  It is so cute, it doesn't even need wrapping paper.  Don't you love it when your packaging and wrapping can be part of the gift itself?

Here I used the same Gingerbread people to make a card!  Aren't they the cutest?

Well that is all I have for you today! I am still enjoying having my daughter Leah in town from college. We have plans for some shopping and for watching some more Glee on the DVD! Season 1 was released yesterday and she had never seen it before!  It is so fun to watch again!! I love that show!

Be sure to go get this week's sketch from Arlana at the SSW blog and also if you haven't done so already, please go and download your copy of the December eZine from SLC's. They both are awesome sketches to keep in your collection!!

Have a fabulous Wednesday and may your bucket overflow with enough spare time to enjoy making memories with your family!!

Feeling Sketchy?

I hate to do this to you, but I have another Christmas card to share with you!! I know, I know... I don't want to see anymore for a while either, but I made this one before Christmas for a sketch challenge and didn't get a chance to share it with you yet.

The sketch for this card is from Sketchy Thursday.  And {ippity} is sponsoring their latest sketch. So, if you decide to play along, you will have a chance at winning the Because of You stamp set from {ippity}. You have until the 31st to submit!

Here is the sketch...

And here is what I came up with after rotating the sketch and changing the square to a circle!

I used the Kissmas & Mistletoe kit from {ippity} for the snowman which I embossed with white embossing powder that has some silver glitter in it.  The sentiment is from Unity's October Stampin' Store Kit and the flourish is from Unity's January KOM.  The DP is a mat stack from DCWV, the green CS is from The Paper Co.  I used SU's real red ink and added the machine stitching and three rhinestones from Studio 18. 

To purchase the Kissmas & Mistletoe kit you can visit my {ippity} Sales Blog HERE.  I hope you decide to play along with this sketch too.  It is a really great sketch to keep in your stash!!  Thanks to {ippity} for sponsoring the sketch!!  Good Luck!!