Winter Wonderland w/ Alecia!

Hello there! This week at AiFactory, we are releasing Alecia! A cute little girl drawn by Mia, the owner of AiFactory! As soon as I saw this image, I knew what I wanted to make! An ice pond for Alecia to skate on! I took her image on my Paint program and flipped her and turned her upside down so that I have her reflection. Then I ran her through the xyron and adhered her to the underside of vellum. Very easy!!!!

Along with using Alecia for this week's challenge, we were also supposed to use something that we have been hoarding. So, pulled out my little snowflakes, and I found this cute little ice skate charm! Perfect for this card!!!!

If you would like to participate in our challenge, go to the AiFactory challenge blog here: http://aifactorychallenges.blogspot.com/. You could win Alecia for free!!!!!

Have a wonderful day!
Happy Stamping!!!

Etsy Inpsired Challenge!

Hello there! Today I just wanted to show a layout that I did w/ my Tim Holtz stamps! I have been hoarding them for a while, and thought I would play around w/ them to see what I could come up with! I really wanted to use the harlequin background and build off of that!

I decided to do vintage because I wanted to create a project for the Etsy Inspired challenge this week! You can visit them here: http://etsyinspired.blogspot.com/. Each week they choose someone's etsy store and the challenge is to create something that inspires you from that particular store! Well, this week the challenge was for a store that sells vintage type jewelry!

I love vintage stuff, so I HAD to partake in this challenge!

Have a great day!

Happy Halloween Crafty Secrets Style!

Hello there! Today I'm sharing a card I made for my weekly ABC Toys and Crafts dt submission. It seems like everyone is doing Halloween, so I had to do it as well! I just bought this Halloween Fun by Crafty Secrets, and haven't had a chance to ink it up! Well, tonight, I brought it out and have had so much fun w/ it! You should get it! You'll love this set too!!!! Well, here's a little enabling. If you would like to purchase this set, go over to www.abctoysandcrafts.net and use my code ABC15E and receive an instant 15% discount!!!!

Anyway, back to the card! I used my spiderweb CB folder, and cut the little girl out and popped her up on dimensionals. The tag is really a chipboard tag and I peeled off the top so I could make it work w/ my card! I love how it turned out! I added some ribbon and buttons for some color and detail. I think my little button spider is cute too! Don't you?! ;)

Well, off to bed! Have a spooky day! Haha!
Happy Stamping!!!

AiFactory Challenge Number 4!!!!

Hello there! Today I am sharing with you some versatility in the new Haunted Series Halloween Sentiment Tags! Well, I'm calling them tags! You can find them over in the AiFactory Store!

Our design team has created some fabulous creations using these tags! It's my week for the AiFactory challenge! I challenged the design team to create a unique item to show the versatility in this set. And now I'm challenging YOU! There's also a color challenge thrown in just for fun! ;) Go over to the AiFactory challenge blog and check it out!!!! Click on the link beside this post!

Today I'm showing a tag/bag and belly bands for the chocolate bars. These bars are minis! You don't need glasses! Honest! When I was trying to find a cool thing to make, I spied my Tim Holtz tags and thought about making a bag out of them to hold chocolate.

So, my versatility is to put a tag on the outside of a gift, and then make a belly band out of them!

What do you think? Can you make something cool with your Halloween stamps?! Let's see your best work!!!!

Submit your awesome creation by Monday night over on the challenge blog and I'll choose a winner and post it Tues. morning!

Happy Halloween Stampin!!!!

A gift for a godmother

Here's the bottom front done, not sure what to do w/ the top!

Ah! After some help from some stamping friends (you know who you are ;), I was able to finish the top!!!

I am really happy w/ the way it turned out!!!

Detail shot of the first part of "Recipes"

Detail shot of the second part of "recipes" Here's the inside tabs that I made! Labels One nestie (smallest)
I made 20 large recipe cards to go w/ the recipe box!

I couldn't stop!!!! I made these last! There's 10 of these. No sentiment, she

can use them however she wishes!

Once I finished the recipe cards, I got started on these cards.

I am still inspired from Linda Beeson's card using this Nesties from Labels One. Plus, can you find a card like this at Hallmark?!

I made two different versions, 5 each, so that she has a little variety!
And here's the whole ensemble together!

Ok! I'm done with the pictures!! LOL!

Elizabeth is getting baptized this morning, and I wanted to make a special gift for her Godmother, my cousin. I played around w/ several alterable ideas, and settled on a recipe box and some cards. My mom told me that if I'm making a recipe box, it would be nice to include recipe cards! DUH!!!! That WOULD be a nice addition! Good thing SOMEONE thought of it! And they were a piece of cake to make! I made 20, and it probably took me a total of 2 hours. I had to draw the lines. :( Only bad part!

For the box itself, I covered it in paper from Paris Nights - g c d studios. I found it at Michaels and thought it would be perfect! It's actually a tougher material than cardstock, which I found both easy to use, and very unique! I used some of my nesties to create the letters for "recipes", to add some cool details, and ribbon on the front to make it elegant.

For the cards, I used a bird from a Tim Holtz collection, and the flower from Fifth Avenue Floral. These cards came together really well and quickly! Good thing as I hit the wall last night at 3:30 AM!

Well, I have to finish the fruit salad and get some other stuff together.

Have a blessed day!

Happy Stamping!!!

Scary, yet funny Halloween card!

Hello there! Last week I wasn't really impressed with my card that I submitted for the ABC Toys and Crafts Design Team. Not a whole lot of inspiration for you! So, I pulled that circle flower stamp back out, as well as the flowery branch (both are wooden Inkadinkado stamps), and went to work! I drew the gravestone and wrote the epitaph. I had to do funny. I can't do sad. The "fog" is torn vellum, brushed w/ black inked sponge.

So, is this better than last week's? I surely hope you think so!
Have a great day!

AiFactory gets Witchy!

Hello there! It's Halloween time at AiFactory! This week our challenge is to work w/ this Little Witch! Isn't she cute! Well, I think she is! LOL! And the nice thing about her being digital is that you can change her size to make her super big like I did above in the belly band, or make her really small for this treat box!

I have to say that I totally "cased" SU!'s idea about the candy holder that they feature in the mini catalog! I figured out my own dimensions and did my own thing. But, I stole their idea. So, I really can't take credit for it! Haha!

I had these cupcakes sitting on my hutch for a few days and my kids wanted to eat them, and I kept telling them no because I knew that I could do something crafty with them! Then, when we received the Little Witch image, I knew what I was going to do with those cupcakes! I sound like Phineas and Ferb! "I know what we're going to do today!" Can you tell that I have kids in my house?! LOL!

Now, the little candy holder I had to adjust because I made that at night, and SO didn't feel like running to the store to get some candy. So, I made it into an "adult treat" and put tealights in there instead! So, just another idea for a teacher gift or something for an adult who would treasure it a whole lot more than a child would! Haha!

Well, hop on over to the challenge blog! The link is the second item down on my sidebar! I would love for you to come and join us! You don't HAVE to use digital stamps, although AiFactory offers free stamps! Easy to download too! Believe me, if I can do it, you can do it!

I forgot to add that if you win, you win this stamp! I used it above in the treat box! Again, resizable and easy to use! Good luck to you all!!!!

Happy Stamping!

I'm SCARY!!!!

Can I just start off by saying that my camera is making this picture look really grainy. I think I might have to start researching cameras. :( I really hate to shop! Especially big ticket items.

Oh well! You gotta do what you gotta do I guess....

Anyway, so this scrapbook page was made for the MFT Sketch Challenge. Natalie Dever created a scrapbook page for this challenge. Well, she does a lot of scrapbooking for MFT. And I finally decided that I need to work on my scrapbooking as well as my cards. So, I went through my Halloween pictures and I came across these pictures of me that were taken before I went to work on Halloween. My boss had issued a challenge to everyone in our office that he would pay us if we dressed up. So, I scoured the internet looking for the perfect Halloween outfit and came across the idea for a Prom Queen Reject!! I think it turned out pretty cool! LOL!!!

I enjoyed making this page today! My son was looking at these pictures and told me that I needed to brush my teeth more so that I don't have those teeth! Hahaha! I told him that they were fake!

Happy Stamping!!!

AiFactory Challenge Blog

Hello all!

I just wanted to give a little exposure to the AiFactory Challenge Blog!! Go here to check it out: http://aifactorychallenges.blogspot.com/

Every Tuesday, we post a new challenge. All you have to do is create a card based on the challenge requirements (like all other challenges!), and post to your blog and link it on the challenge blog so we can all oohh and aaahhh over it!!!! And, if we choose YOUR fantastic creation, you get a free stamp set! How about THAT little incentive!!!! This week we are giving away, that's right, GIVING AWAY Sweet Bugs in the Garden!

Now, these images are digital, and some are clipart. But, seriously, the cliparts are cool because then you don't even have to color them! The hard part is already done for you! What could be better than that??!!!

To participate in the challenges, you don't have to use AiFactory stamps. Use whatever you have on hand!

And, another reason to do these challenges is that I am now one of the Challenge Coordinators!!!! So come on over and join us each week for some inspiring challenges and maybe YOU could win some free sets!

Mia, the owner of AiFactory also has free digital images that you can download/unzip any time! It's always changing! You can find those freebees here:http://www.aivault.com/store/category/freebies.html

She also has a special going where, if you purchase $8.00 in stamps, you get a stamp set free! Not a bad deal there!

So, go check them out! And come and do some challenges with us!
See you over at the 'factory'!
Get stampin'!

Sew Seeds of Love

Hello there! Well, I finally had some time to do some stamping just for me! I decided to do the Card Patterns sketch for this week starting today. You can find their site by going to http://cardpatterns.blogspot.com. Every Sat. they post a new sketch! And they give away blog candy too! Fun fun site! Anyway, so I finally had some time, and I just received my One Click package from My Favorite Things for the September Release! This stamp set is called Sew Seeds of Love. It's designed by Annie LaPointe.

I was really inspired by this set when I saw was Amy Scheffer did w/ it HERE. Simply fantastic! So, those colors were on my mind as I began to design this card in my head. It really helped having a sketch to help lay the card out. Thank God someone invented that!!

Anyway, I colored everything in w/ Copics. I'm really trying to teach myself how to shade. It's hard when you don't have all 300+ to choose from! It really helped though using the MFT Panels! W/ my regular cardstock, I can't blend the Copics. But, with the panels, they blend SO well! Thank you Kim for designing those! They are wonderful!!!! I also used black, white and Brilliant Blue (SU!). Oh, and the leaves are Mellow Moss (SU!). I have no idea where I got the ribbon. Like everything else that I have acquired, it's just there! I can't remember when or where or how they accumulate! I just counted 52 My Favorite Things stamp sets that I own! 52! Holy cow! I think I'm addicted to MFT! I'm not saying that out loud to brag. I was just amazed that I had acquired that many!

Well, anyway, the main purpose of this card was for the sketch! So, thank you Card Patterns for another awesome sketch! I wish I could do these EVERY WEEK!!!! I started w/ the first one and then my life got a little busy!

Happy Stamping!

Oh, and I can't forget to give you my plug for the 15% off at ABC Toys and Crafts the whole month of Sept. if you use my code ABC15E!

Catcha later, gators!