Clean and simple...

I love clean and simple (CAS) cards...my customers are loving them during our Stamp Club, too.  I made this card several weeks ago for a Splitcoaststampers CAS challenge...and I think I got the idea from my friend Lydia (Understand Blue) to use punched DSP or embossed paper...how easy is THAT?!? I had scraps of it in and just punched out the squares and sponged it--I've used Wisteria Wonder, Tempting Turquoise and Melon Mambo (all Stampin' Up) here....sentiment is from Hope Happens.

 

You have to come back on Monday...my crafty twitter friends and I have put together a blog hop!

So be sure to see all the stampy goodness on Monday! ....and I'll have

BLOG CANDY again!!! SQUEEEE!!!!

The card that went around the world....BLOG HOP!!

Well....not quite around the world....more like around the Northern Hemisphere.  Literally...as in all over the US AND Canada....BOOYA!!!

I know you're confused....So, my blog is just one stop among many on our BLOG HOP for our Sweet Sue....and it all begins with Lydia who will explain it all on her blog which is also Stop Number ONE....so if you started on my blog, back up one to Lydia and see how this began....then come back here and see how our Progressive Card for our wonderful friend Sue made its way across the globe...errrr....Northern Hemisphere.

Here was my contribution to our Progressive Card...I added the dictionary page that included "Ireland"...since Sue is Irish....and was actually celebrating her mother's life in Ireland while we were making this card for her.

In celebration of Sue FINALLY opening her mail (LOVE YOU SUE!!!) I'm giving away BLOG CANDY!!! SQUEEEE!!! This is major for me...first time for a giveaway! So here's a little picture of just SOME of the goodies I'm giving away....stamp sets, Sizzix dies, ribbon, a carryall...and I'll throwing in some ink and paper and BLING (which isn't pictured)!! SQUEEE!!! 

How to win? Leave some comment love here before Sunday, May 8th at 9 pm CST and I'll randomly draw a winner! SQUEEE!!!

Here are the rest of my friends (the majority of I know through Twitter) I who participated in this awesome idea of our Progressive Card for Sue:

1.  Lydia (understandblue, my BFF (Bwahahaha-Friend-Forever!) she has the backstory...be sure to start at her blog first), Texas

2.  Dana (darthsunshine)...YOU'RE HERE :D, Texas

3.  Mary Dawn (mypinkmexico), Kentucky

4.  Leslie (crookedstamper), Maryland

5.  Lisa A. (papergrace), California

6.  Michelle (hanwayink), Nova Scotia, Canada

7.  Dreena (prairiepaperie), Alberta, Canada

9. Tara L. , British Columbia, Canada

and then to Sue....in Vancouver, BC, Canada :D

 

Best. Blog. Hop. EVAH! xoxo

 

Butterflies....

My wonderful grandmother collected butterflies.  Anything that had a butterfly on it she would enjoy as a gift. That made it easy to shop for her.  This involved REAL butterflies, too.  She had glass cases with butterflies mounted inside--this one particular tray she had mesmorized me with how beautiful they are, and when she passed away I asked to have that tray as a memory of her.  My kids were HORRIFIED when they saw it.  We all see beauty in different things (as I not think about how those butterflies were sacrificed for decoration...) GAH!!!

Ok...ok...this blog post is going downhill fast....lets get to why I'm talking about butterflies! Eva Dobilas is having a Butterfly Blog Linky Party today (and I'm fashionably late to the party HAHA!)

Here is my creation for her linky party...

I used Stampin' Up's Beautiful Wings Embosslit to make my kaleidoscope of butterflies

Cardstock used: SU! Craft, Ruby Red, Thoroughly Modern DSP

Stamps: SU! En Francais, Flight of the Butterfly

Thanks for stopping by! Check out Eva's other participants...like my friend Lydia's! I LOVE HER CARD!

Friends With Flair Blog Hop!!!

Sometimes it takes a friend to gently nudge...errrr PUSH you out of your comfort zone and today is one of those days. I vasilated between justatinybitof fear and SQUEEEEing to have agreed to participate in today's Friends With Flair Blog Hop sponsored by Unity Stamp Company ...my FIRST blog hop!!! SQUEEEEE!!!!

I have a plethora of Unity Stamps--which my stamp/foodie/SQUEEE buddy Lydia knows well when she tweeted me about today's blog hop and encouraged me to JUST DO IT.  I've been dying to get into my studio and create and I'd already decided I needed an excuse to do so because my children's extra-curricular activities are majorly messing with my ability to stamp!! Pfffth!

(Holy crap this was a long intro to just show my card! BWAHAHAHAHA!!!)

I used Unity Stamp's Hauntingly Sweet set and embossed with black embossing powder before coloring those lil' punkins and candy corn. The background is white cardstock dry embossed with the spiderweb embossing folder from Stampin' Up!, I then spritzed it with Tattered Angels sparkly spray then sponged some black ink to highlight the web a little better. The picture doesn't show them very well but there are 3 black rhinestones in the top left corner...had to add a little bling! Sooooo fun!!!! I might have used just a tad too much of that fun spritz. I freakin' love purple, can you tell?

There are over 50 of us participating in today's hop...so be sure to go to the Unity Stamp Blog to see all the entries for today!

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

Stamps: Unity Stamp Co. Hauntingly Sweet

Paper: Stampin' Up! and Tim Holtz designer papers

Ink: Versamark, Stampin' Up Basic Black (sponged on web)

Accessories: SU! Spider Web dry embossing folder, Tattered Angels spritz, Corner Chomper, distressing tool, black embossing powder, Copic markers, SU! 1/8" ribbon, SU! black rhinestone accents.

Get Ill Blog Hop!

Welcome to the GET ILL BLOG HOP! I'm the last stop on this fun play on the Get Well bandwagon! If you haven't already had the flu, maybe you'll get it soon.  I mean that in the BEST possible way! Or...if you're like ME, when you get your flu shot, you will for sure get sick!  I just spent the last week getting over a mini-flu (that's not a medical term for real)....I got my flu shot and about 24 hours later I wasn't sick enough to NOT WORK, but sick enough to take Theraflu and DayQuil.  ANYWAY...I digress!!!
Some of my Stampin' Sistas (from Twitter and real life) and I decided to have a little fun with a Blog Hop in the Flu Season....so here are the cards I made for the occasion.  In retrospect I wish I'd had a Pig Stamp, I'd have had a lot of fun with some little swine-y on my cards.  But--here's what I got:

This card (above) has the Medallion stamp embossed in white on Elegant Eggplant cardstock. The greeting is inked with a marker and comes from the Grateful Greetings set in the Holiday Mini catalog. The ribbon is Ribbon Originals-Mistletoe, also from the Holiday Mini catalog.

I am SOOOOO loving the sentiment from the Full of Life set...my hubby and I got a good laugh about how "perfect" this went with the Get Ill theme....don't you think? BWAHAHAHA

With this card I inked up a couple of the flowers from the Pretties Kit (Stampin' Up!) with Elegant Eggplant classic ink and attached them with silver brads. The rick-rack (can you even see it? it's in the middle of the card LOL) is from the Ribbon Originals-ORCHARD.

All papers are from Stampin' Up: Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive and Night & Day Decorative Series Paper (DSP), all inks are Stampin' Up as well: White Craft, Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Basic Black.

I used the Stampin' Up Jumble Alphabet for "flu" and Gina K Designs "Nurse Feelgood" for my syringe. The sentiments come from Stampin' Up's Full of Life or Grateful Greetings.

My friend Auntie Princess of Etsy fame is going to be judging our cards--all in good fun.  (I'm my own worst critic EVAH.)  But in tribute to my friend, please visit her awesome Etsy Shop for all things awesome and vintage.  She is amazingly talented!!!

Now...if you happened by my blog and this whole blog hop thing has you a bit confused, PUHLEEZ start at the beginning with my friend Leslie Hanna's site aka The Crooked Stamper and see how this GET ILL got started!!! SO FUN!!!

If you'd like more information of some of the great products featured above, please contact me through my Stampin' Up website