Happy Friday!
I am so ready for spring to just get here...who's with me?  But wouldn't you know...it's snowing again this morning!  Grrr...Oh well.  It is still pretty to watch even if deep down I am despising it at the moment.

To help bring some spring into my day, I decided to use some fun pastel colors for my Sami Stamps card this week using the super sweet Whiskers and Petals image.

Yesterday was a very anxiety filled day for many reasons, so my progress on this card was quite slow.  By the time I finished, the sun had set and my room was quite dark, which made getting a decent picture of the card a little difficult.  But I think it turned out alright.

I started by pulling inspiration for the background from Kathy Racoosin's recent "starbucks inspired" card.  As you know, I love watercolors, so this background was super fun to put together.  I used distress inks in Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn, and Dusty Concord for the background and just swooshed them onto the paper.  I dabbed and swiped around to get it mostly the way I wanted and then set it aside.  As you know, watercolor always changes and gets better as it dries, which was totally the case with this background.  I love it!!

I decided to add some droplets of water to try and give it some texture and depth.  And it got a thousand times better!  I'm so in love!  I decided to use the same colors from the background to paint my image.  Using my wink of stella brush pen, I painted in the flowers.  Using the glitter brush made them super sparkly!

Since I usually do Cloud and Storm on my cards, I decided to change it up for this one and paint Ezio.  Never thought I'd be able to watercolor Ezio since he's so detailed as a tabby, but I absolutely love the result!  He's so sweet looking laying there in the flowers!

I finished the card off with a few watercolored butterflies that I stamped my simple little sentiment on and a couple coordinating flags off the side.

We still have our Add Green challenge running for a few more days over at Sami Stamps, so be sure to stop by and join in the fun for your chance to win some adorable images!!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Addicted to Stamps #137-Make Your Mark
    Crafty Cardmakers #135-Spring
    Creative Inspirations #306-Animals
    The Corrosive Challenge #220-Our Animal Friends
    The Paper Shelter #196-Blooming

Thanks for visiting! <3

This post is a really sad one for me to write...today we start our last challenge at Meljen's Designs.  I have loved this team from the moment I joined and it's so hard to see this wonderful business close.  But I know that whatever Melissa decides to do, she will smash it!  She's just an incredible woman and I'm so thankful that I had the chance to be a part of her team full of amazingly talented ladies!

Our theme this week is Easter.

I was asked by a very supportive family member to make up some Easter cards for her.  I don't normally do anything for this holiday because it can be a little tricky...and I get a little torn on what to make.  But I have had this Easter Cross image for so long and have been dying to put it on a card.  So I printed it off and set to work.

The background was inspired by a really cool background die that I saw from Taylored Expressions called the Ray of Sunshine.  I loved that it had divides between each section and wanted to replicate that for the background of this card.  So I went to my sunray cut file in my Silhouette Studio and tried a few things out.  I ended up just doing a little offset option which adds a frame around the cut lines, and did a lot of piecing together.  To make it easier on myself, I left everything on my cutting mat while I added the colors.  That way it was all stuck in place and I didn't get their placement mixed up when I went to assemble it all.

Since the background was so vibrant, I kept the rest of the card simple.  I cut the cross image out with an oval die cut and added a scallop frame behind it for some extra detail that wasn't distracting.  Printed off and die cut a fitting sentiment and it was all done!  I really love this card!  The background is so awesome and it's perfect matched with this sweet cross image!!

Be sure to stop by and join in this challenge!  And remember there is a 50% off sale going on at the shop until the end of March before the store closes.  So run on over and pick up all of Melissa's crazy adorable images!!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Artistic Inspirations #128-Anything Goes/Easter
    Creative Fingers #72-Anything Goes
    Inky Impressions #202-Bold and Bright
    Our Daily Bread #231-Easter/Spring Religious Inspiration
    Simon Says Stamp-Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by! <3

Hey everyone!
Stopping in real quick to share a gorgeous card I was able to put together today using the Sparkle and Shine Challenge sketch.

This card came together incredibly quick.  I really didn't expect it to go so well, but everything just sort of flowed and I had it done in no time!  I love that!

A few months ago I purchased a few stamp sets from WPlus9 - Pretty Little Peonies and Fresh Cut Florals.  I loved the little wisteria looking stamp in the Fresh Cut Florals.  Wisteria is one of my all time favorite flowers so I loved that I finally had a stamp for it.  But I never got around to using it the way I wanted to.  When I saw the Sparkle and Shine sketch, the idea just clicked.

I started by lightly sketching in a grid on my paper to sort of represent a lattice (I know I just did a lattice card last week, but it's spring time where lattice and flowers go hand in hand :) ).  I cut out a little square mask and used that to block off little sections so I could create that really cool hard edged shading with the grey.  I love how it turned out!

I then figured out where I wanted my oval die cut to be, marked that off and started stamping my wisteria and the leaves to go around it.  Cut out my oval panel and then added some tinted embossing paste to a stripes stencil.  While that dried, I worked on the sentiment banner.  I was going to make this a birthday card, but it was so elegant that I felt the Mother's Day sentiment the My Favorite Things Sweet Roses stamp set fit better.  I also added a scallop cut piece of vellum behind my oval die cut to help separate it a little, but still keep it tied in with the rest of the stamping.

A few thin stripes of silver glitter paper, and a couple of Simon Says Stamp Moonshine sequins and the card is done!  Love love love it!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Simon Says Stamp-Anything Goes
    Sparkle & Shine #2-Sketch
   

Thanks so much for visiting!! <3

Happy Tuesday!
Time for a fun new challenge at Tuesday Throwdown - Shaker Cards!
I've been a little addicted to these lately...can't seem to move on to other ideas...but that's okay because they are just so much fun to put together!!!  And who doesn't like to just sit there and shake the card once it's done to see all the fun bits move around?  Lol :)

Our awesome sponsor this week is Sweet n Sassy Stamps, and they have provided the team with adorable images!  I decided to use an older image in my collection called Morning Glory.  I cut my panel out with my Silhouette and lined the back with foam tape after adding my clear transparency for the window.  I almost forgot that part, which would have been bad :)

I added a variety of colored sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and Simon Says Stamp and then sealed everything in with a soft blue patterned paper.  The morning glory's are colored in with pencils and trimmed out to fit on my card.  I embossed a sweet sentiment in some silver embossing powder onto some vellum and tucked that behind my image to finish off my card.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Crafts 4 Eternity #218-Pastel Shades
    Crafty Cardmakers #135-Spring has Sprung
    Inky Impressions #201-Pastel Colors
    Simon Says Stamp-Spring Pinterest Inspiration

I hope you will join us this week!  Don't be afraid to make a shaker card, they are so incredibly easy!
Thanks for visiting!! <3

I'm late...eeek!!  I have the honor of being a guest over at Send a Smile 4 Kids for their challenge these next 2 weeks and I totally forgot to post my card!  So sorry, the weekend just sort of slipped away from me.

Send a Smile 4 Kids is an amazing little charity that collects handmade children's cards to be distributed to children's hospitals across the country.  I really encourage you to check them out, and consider sending them some cards.  It's so hard for a child to be in the hospital, but receiving one of your adorable handmade cards would surely put a smile on their faces.

So the challenge this week is to use Pastel Colors!  They have 3 amazing sponsors lined up: Milk Coffee Stamps is giving their winner 3 digis of their choice! The Cutting Café is giving their randomly picked winner 3 digi or cutting files!  And All Dressed Up Stamp’s winner gets 2 digis of their choice!

I got to work with a super cute image from All Dressed Up called Daddy's Little Helper.

He is such a cutie!!  Pastel colors for a boys card are always hard...well boy cards are just hard.  So I decided to stick with the blue/green/yellow combo and did some fun watercoloring for my background paper.

The image is colored in with pencils so that it stayed nice and soft.  I didn't do anything super fancy here...the background took the most work and the rest just fell together really easily :)

Hope you will stop by Send a Smile 4 Kids and join in the challenge!!
Thanks for visiting! <3

Hi everyone! Happy Friday!
We have a gorgeous new release for you today at Sami Stamps!  It's all about flowers and kitties!!  I just loved this release and wanted to play with them all!  But I contained myself, and chose to use the Rose Vine image for this weeks card.

This card goes out to all of you that visit here.  Everyone that has left me sweet supporting comments over the last few weeks...and ever!  It's been a rough month but your kind words have helped put a smile on my face and I am forever grateful that you are here with me!

As soon as I saw this Rose Vine image, I knew I had to use it.  So many ideas swirled through my head and it was really hard to settle down onto just one.  I loved the idea of having some sort of hanging rose "curtain" on my card...sort of like a backdrop to a wedding or something.  It took me a little bit to figure out how I wanted to lay it all out on my card though.

I lined up all my images in Word and printed them out.  They vary slightly in size from vine to vine because I didn't want them all to look exactly the same.  Coloring them in was both magical and painful.  The roses are really tiny and I don't have the steadiest of hands, so making sure to stay in the lines was a challenge.  But each time I finished a rose, I just sat there in aw, it was so gorgeous.  And when the whole thing was complete...I let it sit on my desk for a bit so I could just look at it beauty!

After much debate with myself, I finally decided to try and do some sort of lattice work trellis behind the rose vines for them to drape off of.  I took a chevron stencil from Winnie & Walter and placed it in the middle of my card.  One of the chevron patterns was the perfect width that I needed so I taped it down and added Tea Dye and Vintage Photo to get a shaded wood look.  Then flipped the chevron pattern and lined it up again to get the lattice look.  I love how it turned out!  To get some clean edges, I just used a couple post it notes to mask a thin strip on each side for me to ink up.

The image was finally hand cut out with lots of patience and care and mounted onto the card base with some foam tape.  I heat embossed the sentiment from Simon Says Stamps Autumn Blessings stamp set onto some vellum and wrapped that around the whole card, tucking one of the vines behind it.

So so gorgeous!!!  I hope you will stop by Sami Stamps to see the rest of the DT's creations with this super amazing release!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Addicted to Stamps #136-Anything Goes
    Caseology #138-Blossom
    Fussy and Fancy #135-Girly
    Word Art Wednesday #175-Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting!  <3

Hey Everyone!
Happy Friday!
I'm here with a quick reminder post for Sami Stamps!  Remember we have a fun "Add Green" challenge going on right now, so stop by and join in!  Just remember to use a Sami Stamps image!

My card today features the Asleep in Gold image.  I really love this image and had a lot of fun watercoloring him in...but realize now that my coloring isn't a nice as I thought it was.  It looks really splotchy..I need lots of practice with that stuff...ugh.  It still turned out cute but I'll have to try again I think :)

I just love that this cutie is tucked into a pot of gold.  Wouldn't that be so fun?  I used some really bright papers for my card in an attempt to brighten my mood.  The rainbow paper was a touch too bright though, so I toned it down with some vellum, which I also printed the sentiment on and embossed with some sparkly gold.

I cut out a bunch of shamrocks to line the top of the panel, and then put a layer of sparkly sequins behind those, just for some extra bling.

Thanks for stopping by!! <3

Hey Everyone,
I'll admit, it's been a bit of a tough week.  There are a few things that Matthew and I have been hoping and praying would happen, and earlier this week those dreams were, once again, squashed...It's been hard to just pull myself out of bed in the morning knowing that what we wanted so bad still isn't happening...and not having anyone to talk to has made it worse.

I'm thankful that I have such a wonderful husband.  Even though we are both going through the same struggle, he's been there for me to lean on and I know that together we will get through all of this.

As I finished up my card for this week's All That Glitters is Gold challenge at Meljen's Designs, I tried to turn my mind to the positive and just smile...like this cute little hummingbird (which we both mocked because at the time of me working on this card, we were both pretty down, and he just looked way too happy for us...)

If you follow me on Instagram (which you probably don't because I haven't really promoted that at all :) ), you may have seen this little hummingbird pop up last week.  I did 2 attempts at watercoloring this little cutie.  The first one was just horrible, so I tried again and it turned out much better.  Since the challenge is gold, I wanted it to seem like his wings were just fluttering off so much gold glitter dust.  Not sure I achieved that, but I still like it.

I watercoloring in Stitched Lotus flower as well and then used a border die to cut off the bottom.  I kept everything else pretty simple since there was a lot of watercoloring on the image.  I did tone on tone stamping with a sweet little Lawn Fawn freebie stamp and then embossed the border panel in gold to match the hummingbirds swirls.

Be sure to check out the Meljen's Designs challenge this week!  And remember that Melissa has decided to close up the shop so everything is 50% off!  Stock up on these adorable images before they are gone!

Would like to enter this card into these challenges:
    A Gem of a Challenge #139-Clean and Simple
    Fab n Funky #250-Focus on the Image
    Simon Says Stamp-Things That Fly

Thanks for visiting.

We have a new challenge for you today at Tuesday Throwdown - Good Luck.
Our sponsor is The Paper Shelter and they have provided us with some amazing images to use.

I chose to use Reach the Stars along with a sentiment from Ginger's House.  It's a nice reminder, even if dreams seem impossible.

The image was colored with my ShinHan markers and I've added lots of glitter to the stars.  I also added a few extra stars in the sky just to fill in some of the empty space.

Stop by and see the DT's creations, then join the challenge! <3

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges
    Sweet Sunday Sketch #259-Choose Your Own Sketch (I used sketch #236)
    The Paper Shelter #193-Away with the Fairies

Hi again!
I'm back with a quick share :)
I know, I know...I'm on a cat kick right now...bare with me.  I just love kitties so much that I can't help but put them on my cards, and Newton's Nook is just the cure for my addiction :)

I had this card design pop into my head late one night just as I was about to fall asleep...yeah it is kind of annoying that my best ideas usually come to me when I have nothing to jot them down on...so I had to try and remember it till I could make notes someplace.  Then it was time to get to work!

The idea came from remembering when I was younger and had new kittens around my house all the time.  They would run and play in my mom's flower beds all day long.  My sweet hubby was so kind in letting me purchase the new Gleeful Gardens stamp set from Lawn Fawn last weekend, and I thought this cute little daisy image would work perfect for my flower garden.

I did a bunch of masking on this card!  Since the challenge at Newton's Nook is one layer, masking was a must.  But who doesn't love masking?  It creates the coolest scenes!  I tucked my little kitty (from Newton's Antics) into the flowers, and colored him in like our sweet Storm.

My first attempt at this card was messed up when I decided to try and do a black glitter embossed frame around the whole image...which resulted in warped paper and a bunch of black dust around the edges...really irritated me.  So I tried again, and this time just used a black Wink of Stella pen for my border.  Much cleaner :)

So so sweet!!  And the sentiment just makes me smile :)  Can't help but think "aww!"

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    2 Cute Ink #124-Spring
    Addicted to Stamps #134-Clean and Simple
    Less is More #213-This makes me happy!  (Definitely the kitty, but the flowers too!)
    Newton's Nook #18-Just One Layer

Anyhow, thanks for visiting again today!  Have a great weekend!! <3

Hey Everyone!
Happy Friday!!!
We have another awesome release for you today at Sami Stamps.  It's all about those Lucky Hats!  And some kitties :)

I absolutely love it when Sami draws up some kitty images...they always steal my heart.

I have used the Covered in Kittens image for my card.  Those kittens are just so precious!  Of course I colored them in like my 3 little furballs...and stuck with a solid white for the fourth.  It's so sweet, I can just feel the love coming from this image!

Everything was kept simple since I wanted the image to completely take center stage.  I just added a few little gems and some twine, along with a purrfect sentiment :)

We are also starting a new challenge with this release at Sami Stamps - Use Green!  So stop on by, check out the other DT's jaw-dropping creations, and then join in the challenge!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Artistic Inspirations #126-Anything Goes w/Green
    Craft Your Passion #251-Anything Goes
    Deep Ocean #98-Our Furry Friends
    Word Art Wednesday #173-Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting! <3