Before I get started on this post, I want to point you in the direction of my follower/birthday giveaway going on for the next few days.  Just click this link:  Birthday Giveaway
It has a really low number of entries...which kind of bums me out because, I mean, it's my way of thanking all of you fabulous followers for being here with me and yet no one seems to want to enter...anyhow, go over and enter now!

Onto my project today.  I needed to work on something other than cards this week.  Inspiration was lacking a bit on that front and I had started this project awhile ago and then let it sit.  So I decided to tackle it outright this week and officially finish it.  And I'm so glad I did because I'm so proud of how it turned out!

It's kind of been all over Pinterest lately to take all of your wedding cards and put them together in a book.  Since all of ours were just sitting in a large shoe box, I figured I would give this a go.  And with our 10 year coming up in just a few weeks, I thought it was the perfect time to get it done.

See!!  It's gorgeous!  I did my best to match my handmade flowers to the ones that were in my bouquet.  It sort of worked, but isn't quite exact...but I love them anyways.  I used a few of the card stock scraps that I have had for...yes...10 years...and made them into flowers, cutting them out with my Silhouette.  That's the downside of being a crafter for so long...I never let things go :)  But I always knew that I would want to use those scraps from our wedding on something wedding related...and I was right!  So I'm glad I kept them.

I used a piece of my grandma's lace under the image and for the large bow.  It just seems to match so perfectly with everything.  I also wanted to add pearls to the whole thing, but didn't have enough flat backs.  So I cut some pieces of wire and pulled out my beads and began making little pearl swirls with those.  They aren't exactly perfect but I'm happy with how they turned out and the way they add so much elegance to the whole thing.

I printed off the heart border from the Tiddly Inks Heartfelt Love digi set and lightly colored them in.  Then sprayed them with a silver shimmer mist and cut them all out so that the hearts would look like they were hanging from the photo.

The last thing I added was the little tag on the side of the picture with our names and wedding date, cut from a Spellbinders die.  This is one of my favorite pictures from our wedding.  We went out to the Gerber mansion after our wedding to take a few pics and this is the one we sent with our thank yous.  Can hardly believe it's almost been 10 years...and I still love Matthew more than anything <3

I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:
    Charisma Cardz #29-Make Your Own Embellishments
    Crafts 4 Eternity #134-Anything Goes
    Incy Wincy Designs-Read All About It  (Please let me know if this doesn't qualify in the "book" theme)
    The Paper Shelter #122-Anything Goes
    Pattie's Creations #72-Recipe  (Flowers, Pearls, Ribbon)
    There She Goes #217-Sketch
    Whoopsi Daisy-2 or More Die Cuts

Thanks for stopping by!! <3

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Hello again!!
I wanted to stop in real quick because I made this sweet little card to enter in the Tiddly Inks challenge and then completely forgot to upload it!  It got a little buried under my endless pile of papers somehow...oops :)

Isn't she sweet :)  I purchased this cutie a little while ago (Fluttering by to Say Hi) and hadn't had the chance to color her up yet, so I decided it was about time.  And I love her!  It's so adorable, I just want to scoop her up in my arms :)

I left off all the patterned paper for this card and just used card stock and washi tape!  Amazed?  I am!! :)  I love the simplicity that it has, but the little pattern in the washi tape helps to add some character to the card.  Touches of glitter were added to her wings and I dotted around some light purple liquid pearls to add some extra shimmery details.

Thanks for stopping by!! <3

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    A Creative Romance-No Designer Papers
    Artistic Inspirations #51-Dry Embossing
    The Paper Shelter #121-Clean and Simple
    Tiddly Inks #113-Fairies and Mermaids
    Whimsical Designs-Clean and Simple

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Helloooo!!!
Seems like it's been forever since I've been on here!  That's not a normal thing, but the last 2 weeks have been full of...stuff :)
June 29th was the day of Matthew's Tough Mudder race, which was amazing!  What a great event, for such a great cause too!  We loved watching everyone there come together as one large team and cheer everyone on.  It was so awesome, even with the massive downpour that swept through half way through the race.  We all ended up being "mudders" that day since the whole entire field became ankle deep mud...but hey, it was fun :)

So upon my return home I discovered that Tiddly Inks is having a design team call.  How could I pass that up!!??  There isn't a TI image that I don't seem to love, and though my collection is a bit small, they seem to be the images I turn to most often when I need to make a card.
And the image I used today is the one that seems to get used the most.  I love it.  It always seems to fit my needs and is so versatile.  Plus, I just love coloring her up :)

See!!  I told you she's a cutie :)  This is Wryn-Close to My Heart and she's just so perfect!  I've colored her up with a combination of Copic, Spectrum Noir, and ShinHan markers.  I'm having a battle between the 3 brands right now to see which one I like best...so far, ShinHan is winning :)

Back to my card!  While home this past week, I was able to pick up a package full of goodies that I had purchased and mailed home to my mother-in-laws place.  Shipping to the states is much cheaper and since we would be stopping in there, it worked out best that way.  So the papers I used are from the Summer Sorbet line from Little Darlings!  They are so fresh and fun!  I love the sweet colors and adorable patterns on these papers, and they worked perfect for this card.

I threw in a cute little doily behind the image and cut out a small little heart as well.  That was supposed to go behind the flower, but it just didn't work...so I tucked it behind the image.  The daisy is just a set of punches layered together and placed on top of a triple strand twine bow.

I completed the card by decorating the inside to match and adding my sentiment stamp.  I realized after I stamped it that I could have easily put it on the front...but I had forgotten I had this little stamp until the front was done...so it went on the inside.  And is so perfect for the card!

After having such a long break from making cards...and honestly being really disappointed with what I had been making, this was a fantastic way to jump back into it!  I love everything about this card, from the cute papers, to the soft pink, to the absolutely adorable Wryn with her heart.  I can feel the inspiration starting to surge back through me and it feels so good :)

Thanks for stopping by today!!  I truly love that you take the time out of your day to read my posts!  And I know I've finally hit the 100 follower mark!!  Woo Hoo!!!  That means I should probably get some sort of giveaway put together...hmm...let me think on that and I'll get back to you :)
If you aren't a follower yet, hop on board!  You can follow me by adding your cute little pic to the Friends list on the side, through my Facebook page, or through Bloglovin!  Lots of options for ya :)

Have a fabulous day loves!! <3

 Entered into the Tiddly Inks Design Team Call read more →

Seems like just yesterday I was writing up a post about my grandpa and how much I missed him.  Now it's sad that just over a month later I'm doing the same thing for my grandma...

Losing family is hard.  With Grandpa Veldink it hit me instantly.  The emotions rolled over me for days and I felt a part of me gone.  I'm not sure if it was just because I had mourned so much for both of them when grandpa died that my reaction was delayed or something, but it took a few days for the loss of Grandma Veldink to really sink in.  My grandparents...both gone...

I've sat here reflecting over the memories of Grandma and Grandpa Veldink the last few days.  They always made me feel like family.  Being adopted, sometimes there is a separation that may not be known, but is always there.  I never felt that way with them.  When we were together, we were family and that was the most important thing.

Grandma was an incredibly strong person.  She never complained about anything and always put other peoples needs before her own.  She loved to crochet and put that talent to good use making hats, mittens, and scarves for orphanages that were sponsored through her church.  That woman had talent!  It never ceased to amaze me the things she could make, and I'm thankful that I have a few of her masterpieces in my own collection to proudly display.

My memories of her will live on forever.  I know right now she is with grandpa again and they are both at piece together. 

I found this sentiment in my folder and thought it was perfect to go with this card I made to honor grandma.  It's from A Piece of Heart and reads "When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure."  And that is so true. 

I will forever treasure the memories I have of my grandma, and my grandpa.  Live off of the life morals and deep devotion they taught me.  Smile when I think of grandma's funny little sayings and how she always yelled at grandpa to fix his hearing aid.

Great memories of a wonderful person...a person that I am deeply going to miss...

I'd like to share this story at the following challenges:
    Crafty Catz #188-Anything Goes
    Creative Inspirations #220-Anything Goes with Option of Ribbon
    Deconstructed Sketch #106
    Sentimental Sunday #160-For the Girls
    Simon Says-Anything Goes
    Word Art Wednesday #86-Anything Goes

The heart border is from Tiddly Inks.  I trimmed around it and then added a piece of lace that I pulled from my grandma's sewing cabinet to the top border.  The hearts have been brushed with some MicroPearl Pearl Ex so they shimmer.

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TGIF!!  The weekend is here again and I'm so glad!  My weeks always start out strong and productive and by Thursday I seem to be at a snails pace...so I love when the weekend arrives :)

I made up another quick card this week that I just love.  It turned out so darn cute!

I really love all the browns in this card.  They blend together so well and are just lovely for a wedding card.  I used You and Me from Tiddly Inks and colored them in with my pencils.  All the edges are distressed with my scissors.  I kept the layers pretty simple so that the card is relatively flat.  Been trying to do that more for mailing convenience.

Lots of pearls have been added around to help add an elegant wedding feel to the card.  I have really fallen in love with using pearls.  Seems I shied away from them for so long and now I use them on almost everything.

The last little bit of detailing was the hand cut heart in the upper corner that I stamped to help pull everything together.  Simple and sweet :)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    A Creative Romance #1-Anything Goes
    Sketch Saturday #261

Have a fabulous weekend!!

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I've been doing a lot of crafting lately and it seems not a lot of blogging.  My pile of completed cards keeps growing, patiently waiting for me to share their details and file them away to their respective group.

I seem to do this a lot...work up a card to go along with several challenges, only to put it to the side and not share it with the world.  Need to stop doing that :)

Here are two of those cards that I've worked on recently and set aside.

This first one will be added to a collection of other cards to be sent out to my dear friend in Washington.  She has offered to help sell my cards through her sons girlfriend, who works at a dog salon.  So I've been working on dog/cat cards a lot lately.

This super cute image is Hanging Around Kitty from Meljen's Designs.  I loved this image as soon as I saw it, so of course it found it's way into my shopping cart.  I've colored the image up with my pencils and added glitter to the hearts and swirls.  I used a couple border punches on the 2 frames and a spellbinders die for the sentiment (which is from Create with TLC).

This was another one of those cards created from random scraps in my pile.  So happy to be getting rid of some of that stuff!  I love my papers, but I also know that I need to use what I have before I can justify buying more :)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Crafting When We Card #37-For the Boys
    Graphicat Sketches #21
    Stamp n Doodle-Bingo (digi image, ribbon, sentiment)

This next card is another one that I fell in love with right away.

This sweetie is Bugs and Kisses from Tiddly Inks, and is so darn cute!  I purchased her awhile ago and I'm not really sure why it took me so long to put her on a card!  Again, the image is colored with my pencils and detailed with glitter.  I love the black/white/red color combination, and I wasn't really aiming for a Valentine card here...but those colors together at this time of year just lead the mind in that direction.  But I left off any Valentine specific details, so it can still just be a love card any other time of the year :)

I made up a few little stick pins to tuck into the bow and then stamped a few one word sentiments and cut them out with my spellbinders die.  The large scallop frame is cut with my Cameo.  At first it was just the black layer, but after holding it up to the card, the black sort of got lost in the background paper.  So I made a shadow layer in Silhouette Studio (super proud of myself for that!) and cut that out in white to help it stand out.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    A Gem of a Challenge #66-Hearts/Valentines
    DigiStamps4Joy #60-Romance is in the Air
    Divas by Design-Love and Romance
    Sentimental Sunday #141-Love is in the Air
    Sketch Saturday #245
    The Squirrel and the Fox #37-Love
    Tiddly Inks #103-Love is in the Air

Thanks for reading through my lengthy post :)  I'll try to get better at posting my cards more often...maybe say, once I finish them :)

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Happy Thursday!!  Only one more day till the weekend!!  Woot woot!
I'd like to welcome all of my new followers, both on GFC and Facebook!  I'm so glad you are here!  I hope you will stick around and enjoy the fun items I share with you here :)

I wanted to show off 2 cards today.
This first one popped into my head right after I purchased the image yesterday and I got right to work on it...though I had to reprint the image and try to color it again as the first round didn't set well with me :)

Now I try not to be obsessed with these movies...but I do get a little excited at the thought of watching them...just ask my hubby :)  So when I found my sentiment, it sort of seemed perfect to go with the image...there are always moments where I feel this way.

This image is My Twilight Mama from Saturated Canary.  Honestly, I'm surprised it took me this long to purchase this image...I love it so much!  And it cracks me up...the over excited mom with the totally embarrassed daughter...how many times will you see this once the last movie comes out in a few weeks?  Lol...

I've colored the image in with my colored pencils...though I'm starting to get the itch to upgrade to markers...my pencils keep breaking and won't sharpen very well and it's just ticking me off...I might just have to make the leap into markers :)

I distressed all the edges with my scissors, and then printed off the sentiment and scallop cut around it.  Pretty simple, but I love it :)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
    Challenges 4 Everybody #5-Anything Goes
    One Stitch at a Time #136-Use a Digi
    One Stop Craft #201-Anything Goes
    Sketch Sunday #170

My next card is geared toward the holidays/coming winter.  I purchased this image a few weeks ago after seeing a few adorable cards featuring it..new I had to use it :)

I love light blue...I never seem to have enough paper of that color :)
Anyhow, I colored in my image (Inky Critters from Tiddly Inks) and then scallop cut around it.  Wrapped a few ribbons around and behind the image and then printed and flagged a sentiment under the bow.
The snowflakes are punched out and then covered in light blue stickles.  I added a clear gem to the centers as well.

I like that each square can be used individually, or all of them together...gives the whole thing diversity and lots of options for layouts :)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
    ABC Christmas-U for Up to You
    The Crafty Pad #193-Use Animals
    Fab 'n' Funky #144-Animals
    PanPastel #41-Animals
    There She Goes #178-Sketch

Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to check out and enter my giveaway!  Open till Nov. 4! <3

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Happy Thursday!
I've been holding off on sharing this card with you because I wanted to give it a chance to arrive at it's destination before putting pictures up on my blog.  It's for a dear friend/family of mine that I love so very much.  They recently lost their wonderful four legged family member and it has been heartbreaking.  I knew this sweet little pup since the day they brought him home, so losing him has been hard.  It was always a given that any time I visited, I would be covered in his kisses...crazy dog :)

So this card is for them (I'm hoping they received it by now...)

I love the way it turned out.  Captain was a black lab...which isn't the dog in the image...but the image was so precious that I knew it would still work wonderfully with this card.  The image is Girl's Best Friend from Tiddly Inks.  I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it and knew I had to have it!

Since Captain was black (and graying :) ) I stuck with a black and white theme.  I thought about doing a nautical card, but felt this worked out better.  I used a double sided piece of paper with dots on one side and a damask print on the other.  The frame is from spellbinders.  I had to really trim down my image...I printed it out at one size and then decided I wanted to use the die cut frame...so I had to make it fit...lol :)  I do that a lot...cards never seem to end up the way I originally plan them!

I quilled up some of my little roses and made a few buds with them as well.  Layered up some black and white ribbon and tucked a black bow under the flowers.
The sentiment flags are stamps from a Cardz TV set that I love!  Little sentiments that fit anywhere :)

So here is to Captain!  A wonderful companion, friend, and family member!  Forever in our hearts :)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
    The Corrosive Challenge #158-Animal Companions
    Digital Tuesday #179-Say it with Flowers
    Raise the Bar #112-Damask or Swirls
    Send A Smile for Kids-Anything Goes
    Stampin Sisters in Christ #158-Include Something Handmade
    Tiddly Inks #94-Make it Like Asa
    There She Goes #174-Sketch
    Word Art Wednesday #47-Encouragement

Thanks for stopping by!! read more →

I'm back again for a quick little post :)
I hope your Thursday continues to be well!

This card is simple but cute.

I love this Wryn image from Tiddly Inks!  It's so versatile and can be used for really any occasion.  And it's just so darn cute :)

I found this patterned paper deep in my stash...funny I always skipped over it because I thought it was a Christmas paper...huh!
I cut out the frame from my Cricut Lacy Labels cartridge and inked around the edge of the white with a red ink pad called port wine.  It doesn't scream red but has a more toned down pinkish burgundy so it goes with the rest of the papers perfectly!

Wryn is colored in with my colored pencils :)  I added some loose glitter to the wings and swirls at the bottom.  For the sentiment, I printed it twice and framed the middle wording of it with another label from Lacy Labels (also inked the edge of that one).

I made the buttons by gluing 5 layers of a heart punch together, used my eyelet tool to cut out the holes and then covered the top and sides with glossy accents.  Then I cut a few pieces of rope, strung them through and tied them in a bow behind the button.  I had trouble getting them to stay stuck to the paper, until I realized I have a few glue dots!!  Duh...so I cut one in half and pressed in onto the back of the button, then onto the paper!!  Tada!!  Perfect :)

This card is entered in the following challenges:
    Sketches by Carly #57
    Love to Create #17-Add a Sentiment
    My Craft Spot #57-Buttons and Bows
    Celebrate the Occasion #64-Anything Goes
    Ladybug Crafts #61-Something with Wings
    Ruby's Rainbow #29-Things with Wings
    Dilly Beans Designs-Friendship

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Happy Friday everyone!
It has been one of those weeks for me...I have hardly had time to make any cards and everything seems to be going wrong!
My card today was for the Sketch Saturday challenge...and I don't even know if I've posted this in time to enter the challenge...but I wanted to share it anyhow!

 I used the Tiddly Inks image Wryn-Close to my Heart for this card.  I love that image!  It fits so many themes and is just wonderful!  I colored her in with my colored pencils, and added glitter to the wings.  The papers are all digital papers that I printed off and mounted on pink cardstock.
I cut out a fluted rose with my cricut and staggered 3 layers.  Then put some gold paint in the center and covered with tiny beads.  I punched out some hearts and made 2 "buttons" and then put a couple of gold paint dots next to the hearts.
It's a simple card, but I think it turned out so cute!!
This card is entered in the following challenges:
    Sketch Saturday #202
    Totally Stampalicious-Celebrating Friendship
    Celebrate the Occasion #58-Just Because with pink

Thanks for stopping by!! read more →