My Time Made Easy - Sneak Peak

Hi everyone! Were you up early this morning watching the Royal Wedding? I sure was! I watched the other Royal Wedding 30 years ago with my mom...no DVRs back then!

Today is the first sneak peak of the May Release for My Time Made Easy. You are going to love this release! The new template I'm revealing is Barrow of Blooms.Leave it to Lauren to come up with a wheelbarrow and make it look so adorable! I cut the template from Garden Green cardstock and decorated it with the Gardening Great Fallen Leaf digi paper.
The wheels were cut from Chocolate Chip cardstock and held together with flower brads from SU. The ribbon is also from SU (I think Wild Wasabi). I made a tag using the Simple Seedling cut file and Tending the Garden stamp set.

You can see more sneaks from Lauren, Katie, Tangii, and Catherine. Catherine designed another fabulous set for this month that I just love and I know you will too!

Thanks for stopping by! I have another post today for Christmas Stampin' All Year Long, so make sure you stop by that post.

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long

This week's challenge at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long is to use your favorite image. This image was given to me by Dawn Burnworth a while ago and I just think it's the cutest image.This is Woodland Santa from High Hopes. The dp is from the Holiday Vintage Prints collection from Papertrey Ink. It's paired with Always Artichoke and Real Red cardstock. The two panels of Always Artichoke was run through a Cuttlebug folder. I colored the image with copics and added some Star Dust Stickles to his hat trim. The sentiment is from Holiday Wishes stamp set, also from Papertrey Ink. Red grosgrain ribbon was added around the center of the panel.

Stop by the CSAYL blog and see what the other girls chose as their favorite images. If you play along, you could be chosen as a guest designer for a week in May. I hope to see your entry!

Thanks for stopping by. I have another post today for My Time Made Easy, so please take a look at that one too!

Easter Wishes

Happy Monday! Did you have a nice Easter weekend? I was off all week and now I'm back to work. I guess it's just one day closer to summer vacation for me! I have a quick Easter card to share with you today. This is the card I made for my mom and also for my in-laws (I made two of them).Real quick and easy card. I think the layout is from an old Just Us Girls sketch challenge. The paper is from a K&Co. paper pack called Madeline. The image is from Bold Botanicals from My Time Made Easy. I ruffled the ivory satin ribbon for a different look, popped up the flower, and added some pearls. The sentiment is also from My Time Made Easy called Sentimental Occasions.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Pretty Palette #6

Happy Easter! I hope you are having a lovely day with your family and friends!



Today begins a new week of the Pretty Palette challenge. These colors were inspired by the My Time Made Easy digital paper pack Blue Skies. I used one of the patterns for my card.
I was really busy this weekend and didn't have a lot of time for fussy crafting, so I decided to use this digital set called Some Punny Easter. I "colored" it digitally using Gimp. Gimp is a free software that is so easy to use. I picked up the colors from the Blue Skies paper to color my image so it matches perfectly.

Everything else is pretty self-explanatory. The sketch is from this week's Pretty Pattern challenge.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day!

Happy Birthday to my Mother-in-Law

Just a quick post today to show you the card I made for my MIL's birthday. Her birthday is just 3 days after mine and always jokes that she had the month all to herself until I came along! I made this card really quickly today because I didn't think I was going to see her until Sunday, but we decided last minute to go out for dinner and then have cake later. I chose this paper from a K&Co. pack called Madeline. The side was punched with a Martha Stewart punch. The doily is actually created with the Parisian Lace Doily die from PTI. I cut it out of white cardstock, then distressed it with Ranger's Tea Dye ink. The image is from Flourishes new set called April Showers. I stamped it on white cardstock, colored it, cut it out and embossed it with a nestie die, and then distressed it as well. The "Happy Birthday" sentiment is from a My Time Made Easy set called So Sentimental. The "Mom" sentiment is from another new set from Flourishes called Motherly Love. I die cut a Spellbinder's Fancy Tag for the sentiment. I added stickles to the tulips.

She loved the card and I hope you do too! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Warm and Fuzzy

Happy Good Friday everyone! I know it's only two days away from Easter, but I'm thinking Christmas today! It's my weekly Christmas post for Christmas Stampin' All Year Long. This week we are sponsored by Perfect Presentation.Perfect Presentation has a variety of templates you can use for all occasions. I chose the Tall Gable Box for my project today.
This template comes in a large and small (one sheet used). I used the smaller one, and it's still surprisingly quite roomy. I cut it out on my Cricut (the templates also come in a variety of files for whatever you're using to cut yours out) using Soft Sky cardstock. The patterned paper is from Memory Box called Bundled Birds. I love how soft and pretty the colors are, and I love non-traditional holiday colors too! The tag was cut with a Spellbinder tag and stamped with a sentiment from PTI's Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers stamp set. Love that you can't open it 'til Christmas!

I just purchased the new Bring the Bling stamp set from Gina K Designs and it's so cool! I stamped this pretty flourish in Versamark (it was very difficult to see the design on this light paper), then added Liquid Pearls in white for the pearl effect. I love those crystal and pearl flourishes, but have a very difficult time getting them onto my projects without them sticking to my fingers and such!

Also, the challenge this week at CSAYL is to use felt on your project. So I chose to use PTI felt in the red and green to make a flower. I used dies from My Favorite Things....the Mini Rolled Roses and Sheltering Tree and Leaves dies. I love the look of the felt...definitely warm and fuzzy. Here's a closeup of the flower and the flourish. So how are you doing on your Christmas cards and projects? If you start now you'll still get a lot done! And if you participate in our CSAYL challenge this week, you could win one free template of your choice from Perfect Presentation. Also, they have two free PDF templates for you to download now! Check out the CSAYL blog for more information and to see what the fabulous design team has in store for you!

Thanks for stopping by today! Enjoy your weekend!

Pretty Palette #5 - With Thanks

Today is the 5th Pretty Palette challenge from My Time Made Easy. I chose the colors right from the MTME logo. I wanted to make a Thank You card for all my wonderful friends who participated in a birthday blog hop for me yesterday. I was so surprised and felt so loved! So I made all of them a cyber Thank You card. I used the Pretty Pattern #5 sketch for this card. The digital patterned paper is also from MTME called Botanical Beauties Fortune Teller's Fallen Leaf for the orchid paper and Gardening Greats Fortune Teller's Fallen Leaf for the green paper. (The green is a little brighter than the challenge color...I don't know why I didn't us the green paper from Botanical Beauties paper pack!) The image and frame are from Tending the Garden stamp set. I just got this one and I love it! I added the sentiment from the same set and overstamped it with the top of the flower. The ribbon is from my stash and the butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch.

Please stop by the MTME blog and see what our new design team has done with these colors! They really rocked it! Thanks for stopping in today! Have a great day!

Just Us Girls #80 - Color Challenge with a Twist

Happy Saturday! I'm enjoying my first day of Easter vacation, although I'm not going anywhere this week. I'll have to wait until summer for that!

I'm hostessing the Just Us Girls color challenge this week and I decided on these pretty colors. I added a twist to make it a birthday card because there are a lot of birthdays in April...mine included! My neighbor celebrated his birthday last week, we had Elise's birthday last week as well, and there are four of us at work whose birthdays are within days of each other! Lots of celebrations going on! I made this card for my friend Eileen (who actually celebrated her birthday in March, but we are going out tonight to celebrate). I actually chose the colors from this paper pack called It's the Little Things from Fancy Pants. The image is from a newer set from Gina K Designs called Stenciled Spring. I colored the stamp with watercolor crayons, spritzed it with a mister, and then stamped it on watercolor paper. I love this technique. I did a tutorial on this technique while I was on the Artful INKables design team that you can find here.

The sketch is from April's Sketch for You to Try. I changed the three circles on the bottom of the sketch to the black crystal flourish and added the square crystals in the upper corner. I found that when I added them, it just made the card more visually appealing! I added the sentiment at the last minute...I forgot the challenge was to make it a birthday card! The sentiment is from Paper Makeup Stamps called Little Moments.

I hope you can play along with us this week! I'd love to see what you do with these colors! Stop by the JUGs blog to see the fantastic cards from the design team! Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long #7 - Put That Marker Down

Hey there friends! I had to put my markers down for this challenge over at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long and I just about nearly had a panic attack! LOL!!! But it's a challenge and I think I made it work! We are sponsored by InStyle Stamps. I chose this cute image (thank goodness cause there wasn't much to color!)! So did I go a little overboard with the staging? I had this idea in my head when I chose this image. I made it sort of look like a cookie that someone had taken a bite out of. I used an old Mojo Monday layout (#123) for it. Then I had this milk carton die from SU that I just had to make to go with it. I printed the image (Santa Snack from InStyle Stamps) on watercolor paper (which ran through my printer so easily, thank goodness!). I practiced the watercoloring on one image and used too much water and the image ran a bit. Then I did this one, used a little less water, and no problem! I just used the ink from the lids of SU ink pads in real red and close to cocoa.

The rest of the supplies are in my recipe below. Make sure you stop by the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog to see the design team's creations! I hope you can play along and get a head start on those holiday cards! Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe
Stamps: Santa Snack digi (InStyle Stamps), Secret Santa (My Time Made Easy), Fresh Alphabet (Papertrey Ink)

Paper: Watercolor paper, real red, soft suede, Christmas Cocoa (SU retired)

Ink: real red, close to cocoa)

Accessories: Nesties, taffeta ribbon, buttons, crochet thread, scallop punch, milk carton die

Happy Birthday Elise - Our New Jug-Head!

Today our newest "Jug-Head" is celebrating a birthday....Elise Durenberger! When she joined our Just Us Girls design team, she dubbed all of us "Jug-Heads"! It was so funny! If you've ever visited Elise's blog or had the privilege of having a comment from her, you know she is a hoot! So we are celebrating her first birthday as a "Jug-Head" with a birthday blog hop. All the JUGs girls are hopping along with some other friends of Elise. Here's my birthday card for you, Elise! I was inspired by Kristin's card using these two patterns in different colors. I love yellow and gray, so I used the sand digi paper from the Serenity pack and saffron digi paper from the Darling Dots paper pack. Both are from My Time Made Easy.

The birdcage is from a Paper Makeup Stamps set called Tweet Things. The sentiment is from Tending the Garden from My Time Made Easy. The ribbon is saffron grosgrain from SU. The string is some crochet thread. I did some faux stitching and I don't like the way it came out. I pulled out my sewing machine, but the needle came unthreaded and I have such a terrible time threading it so I faux stitched instead! I added some Star Dust Stickles on the birdcage. The sketch is from this week's Mojo Monday.

You can hop along with us and end up leaving some love for Elise on her blog! Happy Birthday Elise! Thanks for birthday hopping with us!

Pretty Palette Challenge #4

Today is Sunday and time for another Pretty Palette challenge from My Time Made Easy. I love this week's colors! My seafoam is more blue now that I look at it! LOL!! I used A Spot of Tea for the tea cup and sentiment and Argyle Amazement for the flowers on the cup. The actual tea cup is a cut file also called A Spot of Tea. The papers are from Once Upon a Springtime from Graphic 45. I added the bling flourish to mimic steam from the cup. The lace is from my ribbon stash and the pretty rose is a Prima. I used this week's Card Patterns sketch.

We've added a few more designers to our Pretty Palette team. Please stop by their blogs and leave some love.

Laurel Seabrook

Lori Kalus

Lynn Mangan

Romaine Rancier

Sharon Gregory (Shaz)

I hope you join us at the Pretty Palette challenge on the MTME blog.

This also qualifies for the Our Creative Corner challenge...It's a Tea Party. Thanks for stopping by!

Just Us Girls #79 - Technique Challenge

Happy Saturday friends! It's technique week at Just Us Girls. Maria loves her techniques and I'm so glad she challenges us to do them because they are really fun to do! She chose the Baby Wipe technique this week...a very fun and easy one to do! You can find a great tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers here. What you need for this technique is a stamp with lots of surface, so I started my search with my SU stamps. I came up with this older set called Flower filled. I've always loved these boots, too. They remind me of those rubber boots that are so popular now. There are some with funky patterns on them and I loved the look of mine when I stamped them! I took my colors from this paper called Madeline from Prima. I chose cool caribbean, certainly celery, and regal rose SU reinkers to create my "ink pad" on the baby wipe.

The layout of my card was loosely based on the Wednesday Sketch Club sketch from My Favorite Things. I liked the way the sentiment was placed in the sketch. The sentiment is from Everyday Classics by Papertrey Ink (this is one of their yearly free sets).

You can stop by the JUGs blog to see what the design team has created using this technique. Here are links to their personal blogs...they'd love to hear from you!

Andrea

Dana

Elise

Kathryn

Kristin

Maria

Pam

Teresa Kline, Guest Designer

Thanks for stopping in today! Have a great weekend!

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Cut It Out

Cut it out! Is it really time for another Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenge? Yes it is, and this week the challenge is paper piecing (cut it out...get it?). The team is using their own stamps...we aren't sponsored by anyone this week, so I can't wait to see what everyone has come up with. Here's what I did. I've had this cute little girl from Stampavie called Sweet Dreams. It was a little more difficult cutting out the pieces than I anticipated, but I love the way it came out. The paper is Basic Grey's Wassail. The rest of her is colored with copics. The candle holder was colored with a gold Spica glitter pen. I also put star dust stickles on the stars, moon, and flame from the candle. The sentiment is from The Gingersnaps by My Time Made Easy. The sketch is from Splitcoast Stampers. I added the gold glitter dots on the bottom. I feel like it needs something in that upper right corner. It just looks too bare to me. But they say sometimes less is more...I have a problem with that! LOL!!!

Stop by the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog to get some fabulous inspiration! It's already April girls...gotta get started on those cards! You'll be happy you did come the end of November!

Thanks for stopping by today! It's Friday...enjoy!

Paper Makeup Stamps April Blog Hop

Welcome to the April Paper Makeup Stamps blog hop! This is our "off" month, where we didn't have a new release, but we are showing off some fabulous previously released images! You should have come here from Michelle's marvelous blog. If not, start at the PMS blog. The theme for this hop is "SPRING". I went to the PMS store and looked in the Spring images folder, and I found this cute guy named Sourpuss. Great name, huh? This is one cute critter that I've never inked up! It's been raining here the last couple of days and I just feel like him! I know the "April Showers..." sentiment, but I need my sun! Sourpuss is colored with copics, and the raindrops are all covered in star dust stickles. The patterned paper is Salt Air from Cosmo Cricket. I added the buttons tied with coordinating twine. The sentiment (perfect for this guy) is also from PMS. The sketch is this week's Sweet Stop.

I hope you are going to hop with us. Your next stop is Lisa's lovely blog. If you just stopped by, please start at the PMS blog and follow along. We have a linky list on each of our blogs in case you get lost. You are going to see some fabulous creations!

Thanks for stopping by today! Enjoy the hop!

My Time Made Easy - A Year in Review

Hi everyone! Today the My Time Made Easy design team is posting our monthly Year in Review. We have each chosen something from MTME that has been previously released to share with you today. Being that it's April and it was raining today, I've chosen the It's a Shower template. I thought this would make a nice centerpiece or decoration for Easter. So I filled it up with some Easter jellybeans! I love how colorful they are! And I chose the cheery colors of yellow and pink. The tag on the handle was made using the new Occasional Label cut file and the Occasional Labels and Sentimental Occasions stamp sets. I also stamped one of the floral stamps in the Occasional Labels set in yellow. I added some yellow satin ribbon and some metal adhesive dots. The template comes with a file to cut decorative pieces for the umbrella. I used the paisley print from the Bringing Home Baby Girl digital paper pack. I thought the paisley would look pretty on an umbrella. I added the addtional scalloped edge around the perimeter of the umbrella and used small punched holes for added interest. (I saw Kristin did this on an umbrella she created when this was first released.)

Please stop by the girls' blogs to see what they've created. You won't be disappointed!

Lauren Meader

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Katie Cotton

Kristin Eberline

Monique Hansen

Tangii Crain

and Guest Designer, Amy Sheffer

Thanks for stopping by today!