A couple challenges...

This card has taken me 5 days to get done...pathetic I know. I've sorta been working on it a few minutes here and there all week long. I started it on Monday by picking out my cardstock and stamping my sentiment....then it sat until Wed when I picked the sketch...then I tinkered with it a few minutes on Thursday and Friday and finally put it together tonight. It is a combination of the Paper Makeup weekly challenge (this week the challenge was to use black, green and blue) and the Mojo Turns 100- Day 3 sketch. Not sure I'm totally thrilled with the end product but at least I finally got it done.

Here is the sketch:

I just finished this and took the photo in my stamp room at 9pm so you'll have to forgive the poor photo quality.



Some of you may be wondering why it took me a week to make 1 card....WELL...we spent the week meeting teachers, registering for school, going to the doctor, getting hair cuts, going to the Milwaukee zoo, seeing the movie "Ponyo", swimming the day away at the Kalahari , going to the WI Deer Park, going to Chuck E Cheese.....COMPLETELY EXHAUSTING. I'm lucky I found time for 1 card in there.

Thanks for stopping by today! We are taking the kids mini golfing tomorrow so you probably won't hear from me again until Monday for the Little Paper Shop Monday challenge! Have a great weekend!

A Little Bird Told Me...

Hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday! Today I wanted to share a card I made as one of my Firecracker Designs design team cards a couple months ago. For this card I used the set "A Little Bird Told Me" The full set looks like this:

The images in this set are beautiful and you can get the whole sheet of unmounted rubber for only $8.99!


I also wanted to send out a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY wish to my fellow FCD design team member Libby! Libby, I hope you have a great day!
I hope the rest of you all have a great day too! Thanks for stopping by today!

TGIF!

I hope you all had a great week! It has been a busy, exhausting, chaotic week around here and I'm looking forward to some major relaxing this weekend!
Today I have another "Elephants on Parade" card to share with you. "Elephants on Parade" is one of the newly released sets from Firecracker Designs and the good news is...it is now back in stock!

I just absolutely love this image. Isn't that elephant just absolutely gorgeous! Pamela really did an AWESOME job with this set. I love everything about it! The entire set is full of fun elephants and coordinating sentiments!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by today!

A quick post...

This week has been totally crazy for us...doctor appointments, school registrations, hair cuts, a trip to the zoo, etc. etc. All of this chaotic end of summer stuff before school starts next week. I haven't really had much time to myself at all which means I don't have anything new to share but I do have an old project that I haven't shown on my blog yet. So...

I made this card a few months ago and unfortunately I made it because I needed it. Sympathy are the absolute hardest cards for me to make when I need them. If I don't need one I have no problem making them.

I used PTI's "Out on a Limb" set along with some Stampin Up prints designer paper.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you are all having a great week!

Jacksonbelle Tuesday Challenge!

This week we have a super fun sketch for you! We would love it if you played along with us. If you do, be sure to let us know....leave a comment on the challenge post on the JB blog with a link to your creation and/or use keyword JBE067 when uploading to SCS or PCP.

Here is this week's sketch:

For my card I used Basic Grey designer paper, Basic Grey pearls and GORGEOUS reversible May Arts ribbon from Jacksonbelle Embellishments. The sentiment is from DRS Designs.

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

I also wanted to mention that Lindsey just got a TON of awesome new holiday themed Inkadinkado stamps in. These new designs are AWESOME. If I wasn't so poor right now my cart would definitely be full of these gorgeous new designs!

There is also a pre-order going on for a ton of adorable Stampavie Christmas stamps! Check them out HERE.

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

Little Paper Shop Monday Challenge (and August Preview!)

Where did the weekend go? Can't believe it is already Monday. We have a busy week of doctor appointments, hair cuts, meet the teachers and school registration. Yikes! Good thing I got my stamping for this week done early!

It is time for another fun Little Paper Shop Monday challenge! Today we have another fantastic LPS Sketch Challenge for you:We also have a fun August preview to show you: {KATIE CAROUSEL}, our newest 3x4 stamp set that will be released TOMORROW along with the new digis that you saw yesterday!

I didn't play along with the sketch this week but I do have a Katie Carousel card to share:
Be sure you check out the blogs of the entire LPS design team for more fabulous {Katie Carousel} fun!

Julia
Jessica
Bonnie
Cindy
Mel
Jen
Julie
Silvia
Allison
Sarah
Ann - guest designer

Would you like to win {Katie Carousel}? There are TWO ways to WIN! LEAVE A COMMENT today on the Little Paper Shop blog and Julia will pick a random winner who will be announced tomorrow on the LPS blog.

Another random winner will be chosen from anyone who participates in this week's challenge, so be sure to leave a comment on the LPS blog telling us you've played along with the sketch! This week's keyword is LPSC29 :) This winner will be announced next Monday on the LPS blog.

Thanks for stopping by today! Be sure to stop by tomorrow for another fun Jacksonbelle Tuesday challenge!

Little Paper Shop Preview Time!!!

Hello everyone! I can't believe it is already time for another fabulous Little Paper Shop release! Where does the time go? I can't believe we are already in the middle of August!
This month Julia is releasing some super cute digi stamps as well as an adorable stamp set. These will all be available to purchase on Tuesday. Today you can see sneak peaks of all of the digi stamps on the LPS design team members blogs. The design team was also challenged to use the "Spotlighting" technique. To see a tutorial on "Spotlighting" click HERE.

Here is my "In the Spotlight" challenge card using the new digi "Jena and Hank".

Make sure you check out the blogs of the entire LPS design team for more fabulous sneak peeks!

Julia
Jessica
Bonnie
Cindy
Mel
Jen
Julie
Silvia
Allison
Sarah
Ann - guest designer

You will also want to make sure that you check out the LPS blog. LEAVE A COMMENT on the Little Paper Shop blog letting us know you think about these new digis and Julia will choose THREE RANDOM WINNERS tomorrow-they will each receive TWO FREE DIGIS from the new collection!

Thanks for stopping by today! Check back tomorrow for another fun sneak peek!!

It's the weekend!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend. I was hoping for a fun, relaxing weekend and instead I got hit with another bit of vertigo. I had a really bad episode of vertigo that lasted 3 weeks last November and then had it again a few weeks ago but it only lasted a few days. Unfortunately I woke up this morning with my world spinning around and around. I've been relaxing all day and I'm hoping this goes away ASAP. In the meantime I have a couple cards to share that I managed to finish before I got too dizzy.
I decided to play along with the Taylored Expression sketch challenge this week. I actually made 2 different cards for this week's sketch.

Here is the sketch:

My first card uses this adorable "There never was a child" sentiment stamp from Paper Makeup Stamps. A friend of mine recently adopted a baby and I needed a card to send along with the gift. This sketch worked great with this sentiment.
My second card uses the "Fairy Tales are True" sentiment from Paper Makeup Stamps and this AWESOME dragon from the "She Dreams" set from Firecracker Designs. I couldn't wait to pair up the 2 stamps.


Thanks for stopping by today! Be sure to check back tomorrow for the first of the August sneak peaks from Little Paper Shop!

Jacksonbelle Dollar Days Sale!!!

There are a couple days left in the Jacksonbelle DOLLAR DAYS SALE and there are still some fabulous products left. You should definitely check it out. Lindsey has been adding new things everyday. There are still a bunch of cute Inkadinkado and Memory Box wood mounted stamps for only $0.99. There are also some Lizzie Anne cling sets marked down to $6.99 (these are normally$19.99). Supplies are limited so you will want to shop early!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Paper Makeup Challenge

The Paper Makeup Monday Blog challenge this week was to use stickers on your project. Some may say I'm a big fat cheater but I'm just going to say that I stretched the meaning of stickers....LMBO! I like to play along with the challenges every week and since I was making this card for something else, I tried to make it fall into the challenge theme since I wasn't sure if I would have time to make another card this week. SO....my stickers are actually little tiny black self adhesive rhinestones (they stick so they are stickers). They are actually really really hard to see in the picture but I put them on the centers of the brads in the 2 yellow flowers. Stickers...right?

A friend of mine sent me a tutorial on how to make this flower pot card and wanted me to make one to make sure anyone could follow the tutorial. Picking me as her subject was probably a good move because if I can follow something and have it turn out ok, anyone can...LOL.

So what do you think of my first ever flower pot card?

The flowers are white Primas that I painted with Shimmerz paint. The sentiment is one of the new digi stamps from Paper Makeup Stamps.

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

Lots of stuff going on at Firecracker Designs!

First off, I wanted to share another card I made with the new "Elephants on Parade" set from Firecracker Designs (it is currently sold out but Pamela is expecting more soon!). I just love the images in this set. Isn't this elephant just awesome!

I also wanted to pass on some other important info about the exciting things going on at FCD:


***DESIGN TEAM CALL is still open through August 15! And the term commitment has been reduced to six months! Check out the details here.

***NEW RUBBER - 2 brand new half sheet sets! Gorgeous Elephants on Parade (temporarily sold out) and an unbelievable Horses of Courses (specially designed to coordinate with Scenic Byways).

***CLEAR STAMPS - some of our favorite images are now available in clear singles!! Check out the Under $5 page!!

***Shimmerz - we currently carry 37 colors of these lustrous, glittery paints! New colors due SOON! Also check out the new Seasonal Collections!!

***Flower Soft - purchase them by the boxed set or by individual pots and add texture and dimension to your stamp art! JUST ARRIVED!!!! POLAR WHITE for all your Christmas & snow stamping needs!

***Need accessories? We have Acrylic Blocks, Tack it Over glue, Matching Die Cuts, Ephemera collections, CD cases (minus the fish), and even a Card Storage album!

***NEW cutting service! Fingers just not working like they used to? Need help cutting out your stamps? We are trying out a new cutting option!! For an extra fee, we will cut out your stamps before we ship them. Options are based on set size, please click here for more info.

***Or maybe you're looking for magazine subscriptions? Click here to subscribe to RSM or Just Cards!

***Need inspiration? Check out the art gallery with thousands of samples!!

***Want to learn new tricks? Click here to go to the tutorials page!

Don't forget, USA orders over 75$ in merchandise, receive FREE SHIPPING!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you are all having a fabulous week!

Check this out!

Yesterday I received an email from Scrapbook News and Review:

"Congratulations! Scrapbook News and Review, the leading paper crafting magazine on the internet, has noticed and is impressed by your blog. We appreciate the time, effort and creativity that you share with the crafting world and to show our approval, we’ve included this unique blog award for you to proudly display.

This award is possible only if you’ve been nominated by our staff or readers and have been approved by our editors. We thank you for all you’ve given to the blogging world and encourage you to keep doing so. We’ll keep watching and enjoying."
This totally made my day! Isn't it the most beautiful award ever!!! Thank you so much to Erika and the staff at Scrapbook News and Review!!!! You guys ROCK!

Jacksonbelle Tuesday Challenge!

We have another great challenge for you this week....NO STAMPING! That's right, there can be no stamping on your card. Use rub-ons, chipboard, flowers, anything but stamps! We would love for you to play along with us! If you do, please let us know. Leave a link to your creation in the comments section on the Jacksonbelle blog or use keyword JBE066 when uploading to SCS or PCP!

(Sorry for the weird photo angle, I'm just too tired to go find the card and take a new picture)...For my card I used a sentiment from my Cosmo Cricket 8x8 designer paper pad....No stamping!

I shared this 2nd card several months ago, but since it fit the challenge I thought I would post it again...For this card I used Daisy D rub-ons and a Shimmerz painted Prima as my focal point. Right now you can get some AWESOME deals on both Daisy D and Shimmerz at Jacksonbelle! All Shimmerz paints are on sale at rock bottom prices. Shimmerz original paints are only $2.65, Blingz are $2.79 and Spritz is only $1.99! WOW! These are amazing prices, but the price is only good while supplies last so you don't want to wait too long! What a great way to stock up on your favorite Shimmerz products!!!

For more "No stamping" 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! Don't forget the HUGE Jacksonbelle Dollar Days sale going on! Hope you all have a great day!

Exciting things going on at Little Paper Shop!

In preparation for a fabulous August release and a ton of fun new happenings around Little Paper Shop, LPS has launched their BRAND NEW website! It's the same LPS address, but it has a brand new look and some super new features so be sure to check it out!
As part of the celebration, LPS has a coupon code for you too! From now through August 31st, enter NEWLOOK and receive 15% off your purchase!

There is also a FABULOUS new Forum and Gallery!!! The forum will be a fun way for us to keep up with each other and hopefully get to know some of you better, too!
There's even a Freebie section, so be sure to head over there, too!

Now on to this week's LPS Monday challenge....

This week we have a fun challenge to celebrate the website's COLORFUL new look...
What's YOUR favorite color combo? We want to know, and we want to SEE! Create a card or project this week using YOUR FAVORITE COLOR COMBO.
We would LOVE for you to play along! Leave a comment on the challenge post on the LPS blog linking your creation and if you're uploading to a public gallery, please use keyword LPSC28. One random winner will be chosen to receive TWO FREE DIGITAL IMAGES from LPS! Good luck!

One of my favorite color combos to use is Black, yellow, + 1. My "+1 " usually tends to be green or orange. For this color combo I usually use bold colors but I thought I would try something more subtle this time. For my card I used SU Mellow Moss and Barely Banana.
The LPS stamp sets I used are {Garden Gate} and {Beautiful Things}Thanks for stopping by today! We have some fabulous LPS sneak peaks coming your way starting Sunday...you definitely won't want to miss them! There are some super cute digi's as well as an adorable stamp set being released this month!

Jacksonbelle Dollar Days!

I know I mentioned the HUGE sale at Jacksonbelle a couple days ago but I wanted to mention it again because Lindsey added a bunch more to the sale. You can get Shimmerz Spritz for only $2!!!! WOW! There are also tons and tons of super fun Inkadinkado and Memory Box stamps in the sale...most are only $0.99. The deals are incredible, but only good while supplies last! What a great time to stock up!

To see all of the awesome deals, click HERE.

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Paper Makeup Release Party Challenges

This is my 2nd post for today. To see my Paper Makeup Monday Challenge card please scroll down to the previous post.

Tonight is the August Paper Makeup release party and this month they posted the release party challenges early. I had a little time this afternoon so I thought I would get a jump on the challenges.

Here is the first challenge:

PMSRP12 – Paper Makeup “Recipe” challenge. The “paper makeup” for this challenge is:

Foundation: 1 fairy (PMS if you have it);

Powder: 2 patterned papers ;

Eyes: Bling (2 embellishments or just use stickles, glitter, shimmerz, etc.) ;

Blush: 1 sentiment ;

Lips: ribbon ;

You can add more – this is just to get started. The number of layers of “makeup” you use is up to you, as well as the color choices.

Here is my challenge #1 card: It is really rainy and dreary today and I had a hard time getting a good picture. The wings and waves have glitter added to them and the pearls along the bottom of the card are also glittered. This was my first time using one of the Paper Makeup fairies. He was so fun to color, I will definitely be inking him up again soon! The sentiment is from DRS Designs.

Here is the second challenge:

PMSRP13 - “I’ve got a CASE of PMS”.

CASE a card in the “PMS” gallery of SCS and changing at least 2 things.
For my CASE challenge I picked this GORGEOUS card made by Kim Stewart. Kim is an absolutely amazing stamper and I ALWAYS love her Paper Makeup creations. My card doesn't come anywhere near the beauty of her card. I CASE'd her card layout exactly and changed the colors and sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Paper Makeup Challenge

Hope you all had a great week! Today I thought I'd share a card I made for this week's Paper Makeup Monday Challenge. The challenge was to make your own background paper. For my background paper I stamped my cardstock with the little nut cluster for the Nuts About You set from Paper Makeup. Then I colored them with Copic markers.

If you aren't doing anything tonight, there is going to be a fun release party in the Paper Makeup Forum starting at 9 pm CST. Here are all the deets:

Thanks for stopping by today! Don't forget the HUGE HUGE Dollar Days sale going on at Jacksonbelle Embellishments!

HUGE SALE at Jacksonbelle Embellishments!!!!

I was going to post this tomorrow but thought I better post now so that you don't miss out on anything. Jacksonbelle Embellishments is have a HUGE (and I do mean HUGE) SALE!
In preparation for new CHA arrivals, Lindsey has slashed prices on tons of items. Basic Grey Buttons and Brads in several styles are less than $2. You can't beat that. She also has a TON of fabulous Memory Box and Inkadinkado wood mounted stamps that were originally up to $8 now priced at $0.99. There are several styles of Robin's Nest Dew Drops for only $1.99 each! WOW!
I just placed my order (I ordered a ton of BG brads and buttons!) and I highly recommend you check it out. At these prices, things won't last long so don't wait!!! To see all of the AWESOME sale items, click HERE!

Is it the weekend yet?

Seriously...I need some R&R. I thought with the kids having Vacation Bible School this week I would be able to get a few things done...wrong. Instead of getting things done, I managed to just create more headaches for myself. Yesterday was garbage day...I was running a little late getting the kids off to VBS...in an effort to not hit the garbage can in the driveway when I was pulling out of the garage I instead hit the side of the garage and totally smashed my passenger side view mirror off of the van...nice...then when I took the van to the Toyota dealership to have the mirror fixed, I stepped in gum....then it cost $384 to have the mirror fixed...SERIOUSLY! I'm determined that today is a new day....I'll let you know tomorrow if that is indeed the case.

Anyway...I do have a card to share today. It is another from the few remaining in my card stash. For this card I used one of the July releases from DRS Designs. I absolutely love this flower/butterfly stamp. It is so fun to color and so versatile!
Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Blog Candy Winner!!

I'm a little late getting this posted, but I had to get my treadmill torture in before I lost my motivation. Now that I'm done, here is the winner of my blog candy picked by random.org

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

5 

Timestamp: 2009-08-06 02:17:50 UTC

And the winner is....
Maria Matter said...

hope things calm down for you soon, sweetie!
I know you're enjoying your little ones before school starts!
take care Heather!
Blessings, Maria

we started school today, but with homeschooling there isn't much difference in our days...just a few more books! :)

August 3, 2009 10:09 AM

CONGRATULATIONS MARIA!!!!!

I will hopefully get this packaged up and sent out by the end of the week. Thank you to all of you who left comments for me!

The elephants have arrived!!

The elephants (and horses) have arrived at Firecracker Designs! 2 of Pamela's new sets are now in stock (and there are 2 more coming soon!). I was lucky enough to get to play with the new set "Elephants on Parade". This set is full of cute elephants are wonderful coordinating phrases.
Here is my first "Elephants on Parade" card:

I heat embossed the elephants with black embossing powder on Summer Sun cardstock. I then sponged Only Orange and Garden Green to create the grass/sunset look. The background dp is from DCWV. I finished it off with some Kaiser black pearls.

Thanks for stopping by today. I will be posting my blog candy winner tonight when we get home from swimming lessons. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Jacksonbelle Tuesday Challenge!

It's that time again...time for another super fun Jacksonbelle Tuesday challenge! This week our challenge theme is "Let's get PUNCHY-Martha Stewart style"! The challenge is to make a project using any Martha Stewart punch. We would love for you to play along with us. If you do, make sure you let us know. We would love to see your creations. Please leave us a comment on the Jacksonbelle blog with a link to your creation and/or use keyword JBE065 when uploading to SCS or PCP.

Jacksonbelle just got in a huge shipment of fabulous newly released Martha Stewart punches. There are some absolutely adorable fall and winter themed punches. Check them all out HERE. I just got my order from JB in the mail yesterday and I was in heaven. The new punches are awesome. There are some super cool border punches that have awesome coordinating corner punches. They are totally cool. The other really cool thing about the new punches is that they fold up so that they don't take up so much room for storage...this was definitely an added bonus. I can't wait to play with all of them (actually I opened them all up and tried them all out right away, lol).

Jacksonbelle also just got a big shipment of adorable Sarah Kay stamps from Stampavie. Lindsey is also offering a pre-order of the upcoming Christmas Sarah Kay stamps...OMG they are totally adorable!!! Click HERE to see all of the Sarah Kay.

Here is my JB Tuesday challenge card:

Supplies used: Martha Stewart border punch and butterflies punch, SU CS, Basic Grey designer paper, Basic Grey self adhesive pearls, Nestibilities, Stamp from DRS Designs.

For more Martha Stewart 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!

Little Paper Shop Monday!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! It is time for another fun Little Paper Shop Monday challenge. This week we have a terrific sketch courtesy of Cindy Hafner! Thanks Cindy!
We would love for you to play along with us. If you do, be sure to leave a comment on the Little Paper Shop blog and use keyword LPSSC27 when uploading to SCS or PCP. One lucky participant this week will win the LPS set {Beary Special Katie}.

Here is this week's sketch:

For my card, I used the adorable Little Paper Shop set {Swell News}.

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

Blog Candy!!!!

I know I said I would post blog candy yesterday, but life seems to be crazy here lately. After running non-stop all weekend, I'm finally getting a chance to sit down at the computer.
I don't have a picture of the blog candy yet but I can tell you that it consists of some fun Studio G clear sets, some rubber from DRS Designs, a couple funky Inkadinkado clear stamps and a clear stamp set from Firecracker Designs. I'll try and get a picture taken tomorrow and will add it to this post.
All you need to do to be in the running for the blog candy is leave me a comment on this post. I will pick a blog candy winner on Wednesday at 5 pm CST. Good Luck!

Check in tomorrow for a fun Little Paper Shop Monday challenge!