Firecracker Designs July Blog Hop!

It's time for the July Firecracker Designs blog hop! The theme this month is: FCD Gets Hot! We were all challenged to create a project/card using heat..such as heat embossing, using an iron for a technique, etc.. We just had to make sure we used some heat!!! For my card I used the FCD set "Mahalo". This set is absolutely GORGEOUS! The sentiment comes from the set "Phrases set 1". I just love the beautiful palm trees from the Mahalo set. They make a perfect background or focal image. For my card I embossed the trees with black embossing powder on Apricot cardstock. I sponged around the edges with Ruby Red ink. I was hoping for a tropical sunset look.

Thanks for stopping by today! This is a “circular blog hop” where the beginning is wherever you start!! You will know you are at the end of the blog hop when you’ve come back to the blog you’ve started from! (It’s not a huge circle…so it should be easy to remember where you started.)

There will be blog candy given away to 1 lucky blog hop participant. The winner will be chosen from the comments left on the blog of one of the FCD design team members...but which one? The blog candy hostess is a mystery! We don't even know who the blog candy hostess will be until the hop is over…so make sure you leave a comment on EVERY blog, so you don’t miss out on a chance at the blog candy!

****If you are the blog candy winner, you will be contacted by Pamela via e-mail (so be sure to leave it with your comment.) and you can also find out the winner on Pamela’s blog after the blog hop ends on Wed, July 29th at 8:00 PM (EST).****

Now, to continue the circle, hop on over the the blog of the incredibly talented LIBBY,
and keep going until you’ve come back to where you’ve started! Thanks so much for playing along with us and we hope you have a great time!

TGIF!

and I do mean TGIF! It has been a long stressful week and I'm looking forward to a little bit or relaxing stamp time this weekend. Seems like the weekends are the only time I get to stamp nowadays!

Today I thought I would share another of my DRS Designs new release cards. Here is another card I made with the newest Cutie Pie girl! I think she is so stinkin cute! The "Fun in the Sun" sentiment is a new release also. It works so well with several of the new releases! To see all of the new releases click HERE.


Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Be sure to stop by tomorrow for the Firecracker Designs monthly blog hop! You won't want to miss it!

Fun stuff going on at Firecracker Designs!

1st off I want to remind you all that Firecracker Designs is having a design team call! It has been an awesome year but our current design team term is coming to an end in just a few short weeks. I'm sad that our term is over but as I said yesterday, I'm looking forward to some quality time with my kids. Pamela carries a huge variety of fun images and she is a joy to work for! If you are at interested in her stuff I highly recommend trying out for the team! If you are interested in being on the new team that starts in September be sure to check out all of the details on Pamela's blog. You have until Aug 15th to submit you application!

Now...are you ready for som more FUN news?!! There are 2 brand new stamps sets being released at FireCracker Designs!! Pamela has REALLY outdone herself with these new sets!! They are awesome!! She also is also currently working on a couple more that should be out sometime next week. Here are the first two new sets:

Elephants on Parade

Horses of Courses

Pamela is taking Pre-Orders on these sets. She also has a special deal if you just have to have both sets. CLICK HERE for the pre-order special deal to see the full details of how to purchase BOTH sets at the pre-order discounted price.

**Also, don't forget that THIS Saturday, July 25th we will be having another FCD blog hop!! So please join me right here on my blog to start in on the fun!! You don't want to miss it**

And...I thought I would also share a FCD card today too! I used my absolute favorite stamp set ever "Fall Flowers" for this card along with Pamela's "Phrases Set 1" set.


Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful day!

Change...

I'm sort of a routine girl so change is always hard for me. Unfortunately, sometimes change is the only option. Life for me has been pretty stressful lately. I have been overwhelmed with work (I took care of this by resigning from my lab manager job), family and design team commitments. I'm sure a lot of you have noticed that I don't get around to visit your blogs much anymore. It is not that I haven't wanted to, I just haven't had the time to do everything. I appreciate all of you who have continued to visit my blog daily. All of your comments are what keep me going. In an effort to try and get some sanity back in my life I have decided to make a few changes. I have decided to step down from a few of my design teams. This was such a difficult decision to make because I truly LOVE the teams that I am on, but deep down I know this is the best thing for me. Part of (a huge part of) my stress is the fact that my baby girl is going to start kindergarten in a few short weeks. With fewer job and DT commitments, I'm planning on spending as much time with her as possible before school starts. I need all the extra time with her I can get because I'm not sure I can live through letting her go to school.
For those of you who are wondering....I'm not going to quit stamping (a couple of my design team contracts go through the end of the year)...but I might not be posting every single day anymore. I hope that you all still stop by and I'm hoping to be able to come and visit your blogs too! Thank you all for leaving me wonderful comments and giving me support when I've needed it!

I'm Hooked On You!!

Hope everyone is having a great week! Today I wanted to share a card made with another one of the newest releases from DRS Designs. The adorable worm image was released a few months ago and this month there is a fabulous sentiment that coordinates perfect with it: "I'm hooked on you". I absolutely love these stamps. Wouldn't they make a perfect Valentine's card for the fisherman/woman in our lives...

The background was made using the Interlocking Heart background stamp from DRS Designs. DRS Designs have a huge selection of easy background stamps that make a perfect background everytime! Check them all out HERE.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Jacksonbelle Embellishments Tuesday Challenge!

It's time for another fun Jacksonbelle Tuesday challenge. We have another great sketch for you this week! We'd love for you to play along. If you do, please leave a link to your project on the JB blog and use keyword JBE063 (even though the picture says 062) when uploading to SCS or PCP.

Here is this week's sketch:Here is my card:

I have to say that for the first time in a very long time, I really love how this card turned out. I probably wouldn't normally put these colors together but I worked off the colors in the designer paper. Supplies from Jacksonbelle Embellishments include Pink Paislee designer paper, Crocheted flower, Basic Grey brad, Basic Grey Pearls and Marth Stewart punch. The sentiment stamp is from DRS Designs.

Before I forget...ALL Inkadinkado is on sale this week 25% off at Jacksonbelle!!!

For more sketchy inspiration, check out the rest of the Jacksonbelle Rockstars:

Kristine Breach ~ Ink Something

Tobi Crawford ~ Tobi’s Place

Stephanie Hargis ~ Steph’s Stampin’ Stuff

Mitzi Koons ~ Stamps Jubilee

Loretta Lock ~ Love to Create

Jimmi Mayo ~ Stamping & Shopping

Bethany Paull ~ It’s Not All Black & White

Michelle Philippi ~ Inside My Own Private Idaho

Carly Robertson ~ Paper in Bloom

Shemaine Smith ~ Scraptastic

Lynda Benden: Stamp Act

Melissa Bove: Keepsakes By Melissa

Jennifer Buck: The Buck Stamps Here

Jill Dunn: Ink Genious

AJ Otto: The Willow Garden

Lindsey Botkin: Embellished

Trudee Sauer: Follow Your Bliss

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you all have a great day!

Shimmerz is Flourishing!

This is my 2nd blog post for the day. Please scroll down to see the Little Paper Shop Monday challenge.

The Shimmerz Design Team got a wonderful opportunity to do a little swap with the Flourishes design team! We had the privelege of using Flourishes stamps, and the Flourishes team played with Shimmerz :) The two together make a fabulous combination.

For my card I used the set "Home Tweet Home" from Flourishes. This set is absolutely gorgeous. The fabulous branch had me sold the second I saw it. I stamped the branch and cut it out. The leaves are painted with Green Olive Shimmerz. I sponged the cloud background and sprayed it with Baby's Breath Shimmerz Spirtz and then glue down the branch. The bird was stamped and colored and then cut out and glue down to the branch also. Throw in some Basic Grey pearls, May Arts ribbon and some Cuttlebugged cardstock and viola! I was really happy with how this turned out.
Be sure to check out the Shimmerz blog to see what the other design team members made with their Flourishes stamps!

Little Paper Shop Monday Challenge!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! It is time for another fun Little Paper Shop Monday challenge! This week we have a fabulous sketch brought to us by the uber-talented Cindy Haffner!

This week's prize on the LPS blog is another {Beary Best Katie}! Be sure to post a link to your project on the LPS blog in order to be eligible for the prize. Good luck to all and we'll let you know who the random winner is next Monday on the LPS blog :)


My card today uses the adorable {Katie Cupcake} set from Little Paper Shop.
Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you all have a fabulous day! Check back a little later for a special Shimmerz post.

Silly Stuff...

I don't have a card today but I thought I would share a picture of last night's dinner. We love alien pancake night at our house...


Hope everyone had a great weekend! Stop by tomorrow for the LPS Monday challenge and a special Shimmerz post.