Butterfly Blog Candy

Want a chance to win this? Go HERE to read how.
Please scroll down for regular postings.

New TK Stamp

I LOVE this new TK stamp I just got. It's called A Perfect Yellow Rose and is from Cornish Heritage Farms. I won it during the TK Blitz last weekend! I made my roses a light pink...I was going for a vintage photo tinted colored look. I used Prismacolor pencils to color in the image and the key was light pressure! The sentiment is also from CHF from the Scripture Essentials set. The background was stamped in Antique Linen Distress ink with French Script Backgrounder and the flourishes are from the Rummage Bin set, Beautiful. (also CHF) Added some stitching and one of my Paper Blooms flowers and a snippet of lace. Have a wonderful day and thanks for visiting!

MDC Card Challenge Thursday

This week's challenge over on the Mother's and Daughter's Creations blog was to use Prima Paintable Paper. Can I just say YUMMY! Go check out the store HERE. This is the first time I've tried some and oh my, so much fun and pretty!! I water colored the image that was pre-printed on the paper and it is heavy watercolor paper that took the moisture perfectly! I used Prismacolor watercolor pencils and a water brush. The butterfly is chipboard that I covered in some BoBunny Paper added a Zva felt flower and some bling. I cut the sentiment apart since I wanted it to go with the curve of the flourish. I embossed with Swiss Dots on one side only and added some sewing to finish it off. I hope you have a day filled with joy...and remember it's the little things that make life happy!

CHF Kim Hughes Mix and Match Challenge

Over at Cornish Heritage Farms they are having a challenge to make a card using 2 or more different stamp sets by Kim Hughes. Go see the blog HERE. Well, for me that's not a problem, I have many of her sets as I just love her stamps! I used 3 different sets for this card. Spring Trees, The Birds and the Bees and Chloe the Deer. I paper pieced the tree and colored and hand cut Chloe. The mushrooms, flowers and stump were stamped and then colored with my Prismacolor pencils. I added some stitching for the butterfly trail and finished it off with a bit of twine. I love Kim's stamps, they always make me happy to work with. I hope you like it!

5 minute card...and a little candy

A typical card for me takes much longer than 5 minutes for sure! But I was short on time so did this card with a very short time limit in mind. I used some new Cornish Heritage Farms stamps, Perfect Poppies....and aren't they? The poppies were stamped 3 times and the bud on the far left one additional time. The sentiment is from PTI. I dry embossed the frame using a classic square Nestie and tied on some twine. Done!

How long does a card take for you to usually complete? Leave me a comment and I'll pick a random winner to send a few of my Paper Blooms flowers to! Link this post to your blog and you'll be entered twice. You have until Saturday and I'll draw a winner Sunday. Have a happy day!

First Sketch for Miss Hippy Chick!

Here is my card using the fab sketch from Miss Hippy Chick! I love the little tag in the upper right hand corner, something I probably wouldn't have thought to add on my own. This is the third card I made using one piece of 6x6 Chloe's closet paper from MM. The image is an Anna Griffith stamp I got on clearance at Mikes for $4. I just love it! The background was stamped with Cornish Heritage Farms Pretty Pattern Backgrounder and the Sentiment is from Vintage Butterflies. I used more twine and added a little cross stitch to hold it in place and a bit in the buttons. The flower is one of my own, availible at the Paper Blooms shop. (I take custom orders too so if you want all of one color etc. just let me know!) I hope your day is proving to be delightful! Thanks for visiting:)

TK Blitz

Here is my last card for the TK Blitz over at Cornish Heritage Farms. I used the Stonehearth image again and this time the challenge was to emboss. I would have never thought to use embossing powder with one of these images as they are so detailed. What I did was I first embossed the image in clear, heat set it, then went back over sections of the trees with my heat gun to warm it up and then sprinkled green powder and set that. I like how it turned out! Kind of like the green pine is peeking out beneath all the snow. I colored the cottage just a bit to give some definition. The backgrounder is also from CHF and is called Pretty Pattern. If you love the TK images you have unitl tonight to order them at 10% off! Have a great rest of your Saturday!

Thomas Kinkade Blitz!

Over at Cornish Heritage Farms they are holding a Thomas Kinkade Blitz and I've been playing along! I love the TK images but only have 2 right, Stonehearth Hutch and The Prayer Garden, so I'm really stretching ways to use the images I have. Here are the cards I've done so far...the challenges have been, Favorite Coloring Technique (mine is Prisma Color Pencils), Spotlight Technique, Mulitplie Ink Technique and Monochramatic. I will have one more to show you in a bit...embossing and I have an idea for it! I've never thought to emboss one of these images since they are so detailed. It's been a lot of fun joining in...if you get a chance hop on over and take a look at all the beautiful gallery submissions. See you in a bit!

Every day...

is a blessing, Every moment is a dream, Every moment is a possibility. Love the reminder to live in the present! So, here is another card using the MM Chloe's Closet paper. I paired it with two backgrounders from CHF, Lined Paper, and Pretty Pattern. I added some cross stitch accents, a few buttons, flower and a butterfly. I liked how the numbers on the paper went with the sentiment to represent seconds or minutes in a day.

I would love it if you checked out my Etsy shop and told me what you think! I am adding new product daily and am speciallizing in crochet flowers and other little special touches. Any feedback you have is welcome! Go HERE to visit my shop. And don't forget, you still have time to apply for the DT!

Have a wonderful day and don't forget to live in the moment.

MDC Card Challenge Thursday

This week's challenge over at the Mother's and Daughter's Challenge blog was to use lace cardstock in a unique way besides just gluing it down. As soon as I saw this pretty lace cardstock I thought of a bow, so that's what I did with it! I used BoBunny and Daisy Bucket papers, Zva bling and Daisy Bucket stamps. I used a tiny piece of ribbon in the middle of my lace ribbon and added some stitching. The butterfly was colored with Prismacolor pencils and popped up on dementionals. I hope you go check out the blog and play along with us!

Do Not Worry...

Good reminder isn't it? I took out my recently purchased MM Chloe's Closet paper and made 3 cards out of one 6x6 piece of paper. Not bad:) I also just got some twine (hemp) and am really loving it. Kind of a different look but different is good! This is a fairly simple card, just some dry embossing, used my MS butterfly punch and one of my crochet flowers. A bit of sewing, some twine and there you go! Hope you have a day that is worry free!!

Supplies:
Stamps: CHF, Scripture Essentials
Other: Paper Blooms Crochet flower, button, twine
Tools: MS punches, Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots, sewing

Sweet Baby

I just love the little bear images from C.C Designs. I use them frequently on baby cards. Here is a simple little card made for the local shop that sells my cards:) Apparently people now come into the store looking to buy one of my cards specifically! I am blessed to have such a great store to work with. I am in the process of developing packages of Baby Shower invitations for them to carry also. I hope you have a great day!

Supplies:
Stamps:C.C Designs, PTI, Friskars
Tools: Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots,Flower die, Cricut, label, Scor Pal, MS punch
Other: Buttons, Prima flowers, Embroidery floss, Prismacolor Pencils

Made it onto another DT!

I just found out yesterday that I made it onto another DT! It's another card sketch team but she'll be doing LO's too. Go HERE to check it out! It's a brand new venture for her so please play along with us!

And while we're on the topic of DT's, PLEASE still apply if you are interested in being on my Paper Blooms team. You've still got lots of time!! I want everyone to have a fair shot at it....and I'm thinking of incorporating Guest Designer too so apply!! Go HERE for all the details.

Nothing to show you today....been busy devloping product for my shop and DT stuff. I'll have a little something for you tomrrow. Oh, and please consider entering my blog candy...we need more butterflies! Have a great evening:)

IT's a SO SKETCHY Sunday!

Good Sunday morning to you! I hope you had a nice Valentine's. I am happy to be able to show you my card for the So Sketchy blog today. I LOVED this sketch by Ally and really enjoyed making this card. I recently got a Rummage Bin set, Time To Stamp(CHF). I love the images in this set and the sentiments. I went with a very vintage feel and like how it turned out. Hope you do too! Go check out the So Sketchy blog and play along!


Supplies:
Stamps: Rummage Bin, Time To Stamp, French Script, CHF
Ink:CTMH Vineyard Berry, Antique Linen Distress, Palette Brown
Other: Sewing, Bridal flowers, pearls, lace
Tools: Cricut, George, Storybook, Cuttlebug, Nestie Label 1

Butterfly Birthday and a Sweet Baby card

I've been using purple lately which is not a color I use very often but for some reason have been drawn to it lately. The Birthday Wishes uses an Inkadinkado set, Patterned Bugs. I heat embossed the image in white then dry embossed with Swiss Dots on top. A simple card but I think it came out pretty...I like the stitching detail.

This card was made entirely of scraps that I've had for quite some time and just wanted to use up. I actually sewed the button onto the folded point of the flower so it would stay put. Some piercing gave it some pretty detail. Otherwise it's pretty self-explanatory. I hope you have a great day! And keep those applications coming...I've gotten several and there are so many talented people out there!

Supplies:
Stamps: Inkadinkado, Patterned Bugs, PTI, Birthday Basics, Bitty Blessings
Tools: Paper Piercer, MS punches, sewing, Cricut for labels, Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots
Other: White Crochet Flower, Paper Blooms store, buttons, silk flower, sheer polka dot ribbon

MDC Card Challenge Thursday- ATC

Today's challenge over on the Mother's and Daughter's Creations challenge blog is to make an ATC. This was the first time I've made one! I used MF paper and Basic Grey Urban Prairie stamps. I did some masking on this so that the back flourish wouldn't overlap into the butterfly. I also heat embossed the butterfly and the sentiment in gold. To finish it I added some gold pen faux stiching. I hope you'll join in this week! Have a wonderful day:)

Supplies:
Stamps: BG urban prairie, $bin
Tools: MS punch
Ink: Antique Linen distress, Tattered Rose distress, Versamark
Other: Gold embossing powder, gold pen

The BIG Announcement!! a little early :)

Well, I have been thinking about doing this for quite sometime and finally decided to just go for it! First off, I opened my very own Etsy shop! The shop's name is Paper Blooms and it will carry mostly embellishments, like my crochet flowers (several of you have mentioned you like these:) stick pins etc.

But the really big news is I am am combining my shop with a new challenge blog and my very own Design Team!! Are you excited yet? You should be because I am holding an open call to add 2 more talented ladies to my team. I already have one fabulous Designer, Jacque over at Jacque4u2c but am on the hunt for 2 more. Could it be you? You won't know unless you try! So, here is the call...I can't wait to get your application!

Do you love embellishments? Then this design team call is for you! I am looking for two (2) talented ladies to design with products from my brand new Etsy shop, Paper Blooms and to be a part of the new Paper Blooms Challenge Blog!

*Compensation: As a DT member you will be sent a variety of embellishments that are carried in the shop to play with!

*Requirements:

*This is a three (3) month commitment.

*You MUST have a blog that you keep updated regularly.

*Must be able to complete and give ideas for challenges that will be on the Paper Blooms blog. Challenges will be posted once a week.

*You must promote the Paper Blooms blog and store whenever and wherever appropriate and give credit when using product from the shop.

*You must keep up with emails and respond in a timely manner as this will be the primary source of communication.

*Be reliable and on time in getting pictures of your projects to me for the blog and uploading to your blog.

To Apply:

*Send 3-5 good quality pictures of your favorite projects featuring the use of embellishments. These may be new or recently created and can be anything from cards LO’s or altered items.

*Include your:

Name

Location (state)

Short bio

Blog link

Email

and any DT’s you are currently on or have been on (please include links)

**DT experience is not necessary to apply. ALL applications will be considered equally.

Email your application to: lanipuakea@gmail.com In the subject line put PB DT Call. At this time I can only accept U.S applicants.

Applications are being taken now through March 4^th. New DT members will be contacted by March 6^th and announced on the Paper Blooms blog March 9^th.

Link:http:// paperblooms.blogspot.com

I have a BIG surprise to announce tomorrow!!

Hi everyone. Sorry I've been missing with posts of creations...I have been very busy but I can't tell you with what just yet. It is BIG though so make sure to come by tomorrow, you won't want to miss it!

It's CANDY time!!

This post will stay at the top of my blog until the contest is closed. Please scroll down for my normal postings!

I am giving away all this! This is very special blog candy as it is for a special cause and there are strict rules to being entered to win. But, it's not hard, I promise!

I am part of a wonderful charitable DT called the Lime Light. For our task this month we are making butterflies to remember all the children that died in the Holocaust. All the butterflies will then be collected and hand delivered to be displayed in a huge exhibition of hopefully over a million hand made butterflies from all over. Please go HERE to read more about it and to read the guidelines for making your butterflies.

Okay, so now the rules. To be entered into the drawing for this candy I want you to be involved and participate in making some butterflies!! For every 3 (THREE) butterflies you make and link here on my blog AND on the Lime Light blog, you will be entered into the drawing once. Doesn't that sound fun?! You will get to create something beautiful that will be in a huge exhibit for a wonderful cause and you have a chance at some free goodies!

Here is an example of a few butterflies I have made. You can make yours as simple or as elaborate as you wish.
So, are you up to the challenge?! Please link directly to your post where your butterflies are and link on the Lime Light blog too. Contest runs from now until February 28th. Winner will be drawn and announced March 2nd. I can't wait to see all your beautiful butterflies!!


List of candy:
*7 mini spools of ribbon
*3 sheets self adhesive chipboard shapes
*Glitter alphabet rub on pack
*Cloud Nine raindrops in pink
*Vellum metal rimmed tags
*3 hand crocheted flowers
*assortment of bridal flowers
*2 handmade felt flower paper clips
*Epoxy sticker set
*Heidi Grace flower rub on sheet
*Heidi Grace tab decoration sheet
*Sheet of Alphabet rub ons
*CM Filigree Alphabet stickers
**A special SURPRISE!

An Award!

I was given this lovely award this morning by a wonderful fellow blogger! Go check out her blog, she's got beautiful creations. http://jacque4u2c.blogspot.com So here is what I'm suppose to do:

1) Say one nice thing about the man in your life:*

My husband is the most supportive encouraging guy a girl could ask for! I love him to pieces!

2)List 6 ways you measure success in your life:

*My relationship with God
*My care and attention for my husband and kids
*My keeping in touch and fostering my friendships
*Pursuing new adventures
*Creating beautiful things

Now, to pass this award on to 5 fellow bloggers...this is not an easy decision! But here are my 5:

http://finkshappenings.blogspot.com
http://picklespatch-sonya.blogspot.com
http://pamcards.blogspot.com
http://mudmaven.blogspot.com
http://dailyscrappinspiration.blogspot.com

Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday!

A New Banner....and a little card

So how do you like my new banner?! I have been wanting to do this for some time now and I finally got it finished. Let me know what you think!

Here is a sweet little card for today...I took out my long neglected Paper Pups Cricut cartridge and made this little number. Over on the Cricut Message Board I am a Cricut Card Fairy. Anyone can sign up to be one and we get "missions"...people request that we send cards to various people for some extra joy in their life. It is rewarding to create something knowing it is going to brighten someone elses day...I think most everyone enjoys getting a card in the mail!

I have a couple of exciting things I am working on right now...will be announcing details for them both soon so check back often! I hope you have a wonderful Friday:)

Supplies:
Stamps: $1 Mikes stamp (love)
Tools: Cricut; Paper Pups,Wild Card, Cuttlebug; Swiss Dots, Flower die
Other: Pink yarn, Bridal Flower, chalk

MDC Card Challenge Thursday

Paper Piercing was our challenge this week at the MDC challenge blog. A very fun and easy technqiue! I was so excited to play with some more of my new stamps from MDC store, the Basic Grey set, Urban Prairie Wildflowers. These stamps are solid but I wanted to color them, so I stamped them in a very light grey and then colored right on top of the ink with my Primsacolor pencils, worked great! The paper is BoBunny and the sentiment is from Daisy Bucket. I hope you come play along with us this week and check out the store too:)

Cuttlebug Double Dry Embossing Technique

The other night when I was playing around with my Cuttlebug embossing folders the idea struck me that I could layer my embossing on the same card base or piece I was embossing. So I gave it a whirl and sure enough it works!! I call it Double Dry Embossing. I have left the pictures big so that if you click on them you'll get a really big picture to pop up so you can see the detail better.

What I discovered is that the Swiss Dots folder makes a very nice small overlay or underlay and it works best if you use a more "open space" folder for the first or second layer. On the examples here I used Swiss Dots and the Styalized Flowers folder.

You can achieve two different looks depending on what folder you emboss with first. The second folder you emboss with will be more prominent since the first embossing does get flattened a bit. On my examples here I used ink and chalk to highlight the more flattened embossing.

The first example (above and directly below) I embossed my card front with the Swiss Dots first, then inked it, then embossed the with the Stylized Flower folder directly on top of the already embossed and inked Swiss Dots. In the close up picture you can see that the flower embossing is more prominent than the Swiss Dots, though the Swiss Dots still do have demention to them.
Here is the second example. In this one I reversed the order, so I embossed with the Styalized Flowers first, chalked them, then embossed directly over the top with the Swiss Dots. In the close up shot you can see that the Swiss Dots are now the more prominent embossing.


As I mentioned before this technqiue works best with the Swiss Dots and a more "open space" folder. But, the look is up to you! I hope you enjoyed my discovery and will give it a try yourself. If you do link me your creation so I can come take a look. Any comments or questions please feel free to leave in the comments section. Thanks for visiting!

One Layer Card and a LO

Sometimes it's fun to challenge myself to design a one layer card with just stamping. I got some new Basic Grey stamps, Urban Prairie from the Mother's and Daughter's store to play with and I love them:) The flowers and stems are from the set. The adorable bee is from CHF, Kim Hughes line and the sentiment is an ancient $1 stamp that finally saw some ink! I lightly sponged some Palatte Ballet Blue for the sky, added some stickles to the bees wings and flower centers and finished it with a bit of sheer polka dot pink ribbon. These one layer cards are great to send in the mail since they don't need extra postage.
Got another LO done too! The sketch was from Inspired Blue Prints, I changed some things but that was my inspiration. I used up some alphabet letters I have...I have quite a bit of chipboard and such but always tend to use my Cricut for my LO titles...I'm trying to use up some of my stash. I used a MS punch on the border and my Cuttlbug embossing folder for the flower and red border. The journalling tag and blue panel was stamped with a CHF Lined Paper Backgrounder, which I {heart}.
I have a new technique to share with you, at least it's new to me! I need to get some photos and I'll post on it soon. Also... some blog candy may be coming in the near future so stay tuned for that! I hope you have a wonderful, creative day:)

So Sketchy- card Sista's reveal!

HI All! Thank you so much for all the congrats on getting onto the So Sketchy Team:) I am excited to be able to show you my first card with one of Ally's wonderful sketches. This sketch was super fun to work with. Go see it and what the other Sista's came up with and play along HERE.

I got out some of my hoarded K&Co. paper for this one and am glad I did! The strips are the same piece of patterned paper and since it was double sided it worked perfectly for already being coordinated. The white paper flower is from MM and I stamped on it using one of CHF's wonderful backgrounders, Spanish Script. The hydrangea flower is from the silk flower dept. at Mike's. To finish off the flower I added a pearl brad from MM, a tiny Cuttlebug tag and stamped LOVE on it with a PTI set, Mixed Messages. To adhere all my vertical strips I sewed on them and added some pleated and lace ribbon to the taller section, then stamped across all the strips with an Inkadinkado flourish.

Please play along with us and if you do link your blog here in the comments section so I can come look at your beautiful creation! Have a wonderful sketchy day!

I've Been Tagged...and a card:)

Okay, so I've been tagged a couple of times and am finally getting around to posting this! Pam is the last one that tagged me so I'm finally cooperating:) (So sorry if you tagged me and I didn't do it!) So here is my 6th picture in my 6th folder. My two miracles...they were in front of the Christmas tree. Oh how I love them!
Now onto my card for the day. I love when an idea comes to you clearly of what you want to do with a project and that's what happened for me with this card. I was in the shower and thinking about using this new beautiful stamp from CHF (artsy blooms) and the color scheme just came to me. I don't use red alot so I really like how it came out. And I used some of my pretty CTMH paper! Do you struggle with using up your really pretty stuff? I do! So I was proud of myself for cutting into this lovely paper. I hope you have a lovely day and use up some of your pretty stash!

Supplies:
Stamps:CHF, Artsy Blooms, French Backgrounder, Scripture Essentials
Tools: Long Rectangle Nestibilies, Sewing, SU! punch
Other: White detail embossing powder, Bling, $bin lace, Prismacolor Pencils

Exciting Announcment!

I am so excited to get to tell you I am joining the So Sketchy team as a "card sista!" Allision's sketches are wonderful and full of inspiration so I hope you'll all come over and join us! Also, go take a look and see all the other new Sista's being introduced. Thank you so much Ally for this great opportunity! I'm honored to be on your team:)