I'm Really Pushing My Boundaries

by using patterned paper!

OK so I love it just as much as every one else. I just never know how to use it. ever. However, I am trying to do new things, so here I am. I also signed up for an ATC swap in order to branch out. First time I've ever made an ATC and I struggled a bit :) I'll share those once everyone in the swap receives them.

Back to the card. Here is my attempt at using that paper :)

I don't even know who makes the paper (yes it is THAT old). It's a leftover from my scrap booking days. I stamped the words in rosebud, tangelo, pear tart, and Bahama blue, all from Memento. The stamps are all from Hero Arts You & Me set.

I'm off to work. Thanks for stopping in. Hope you have a wonderful day!

P.S. You might recognize this layout from my lamps the other day. I actually made this card first but the lamps had a deadline and this didn't :)

I can finally share!

OMG! **Happy Dance**Squeal**

I'm so excited to finally share that I've been asked to join A Blog Named Hero's Design Team! Seriously I'm still in shock! It's funny how things work out. Just the week before I had applied for another DT position on a blog I loved and was passed over. God always has a better plan and I am so grateful! I really am so honored to be included among such a talented group of crafters. They are all simply amazing :)

Speaking of amazing, I want to give a BIG thank you to Linda and Mary Dawn for the opportunity!  If you follow me regularly you know I love me some Hero Arts. It is such a wonderful company, I can't believe I get to help showcase their awesomeness here in blogland. Added bonus we are sponsored by

 Simon Says Stamp, another company I simply love. Can you believe how fantastic this is?!

Honest, I couldn't have found a better fit for my craftiness if I created it myself!

The lovely Linda and Mary Dawn are introducing the whole team today. Here is a sneak peek of my card. You can see the whole shebang over at A Blog Named Hero.

Now head over and meet the rest of the team! They are all so talented you are sure to find boat loads of inspiration :)

Poppy Fairy

  So after my post earlier this week I decided to go on the hunt for a different kind of "Poppy" to play with. Wouldn't you know I found this adorable Poppy Fairy over at A Day for Daisies. I love their digital stamps, I frequently get them out when I'm in the mood to color. I just received *most* of my order of new copics on Monday so I was definitely in the mood to try them out :)

Just in case you forgot here is the inspiration photo for Virginia's View over at Lily Pad Cards.

and my poppy fairy

Isn't she just beautiful?! I kept a really simple layout. I wanted that gorgeous fairy to be the star of the show.

Make sure you stop back later  . . . .I have some exciting news :)



Quick Share

I'm just popping in with a quick share for the Paper Crafts April Gallery Challenge. The challenge is silhouettes and I knew I had these lovely Hero Arts lamps I had never inked up. It's shameful, I know. This picture is a little crooked but you get the idea :)

They came together really quickly. I used Hero Arts background stamps that *kind of* matched the lamp shades for the side panels.

If you'd like to play along you have until midnight tonight so get crafting! :)

Dogs and Butterflies

Good Morning!

I have a little vent before we move onto the card for today. I'm not sure if I've ever shared but I am the "Momma" to two dogs. Molly is a one year old mastiff/boxer/lab mix. Molly was found on street in the city where I work. The first day I met her she slept under my desk all day at work. I told my hubby she picked me :)



Samantha was "adopted" from my sister. My sissy moved and couldn't keep her so she came to stay with us. "Mana Banana" as I so affectionately call her is a eleven year old lab/chow mix.

So now that I have introduced you to my "children" maybe you can help me with my problem. Samantha cries every time we put her in her cage. Now, I love her but sometimes I want to strangle her! Every night I lay in bed waiting until she stops crying before I can fall asleep. I've tried covering her cage with a blanket, yelling, and simply telling her to knock it off. Nothing has worked. In fact, as I type this she is in her bed crying . . .grrrr. If you have ANY suggestions I'm wide open!

Thanks for sticking with me through my complaining :) Now on to the card. I'm throwing my hat in the ring for this week's Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab. The inspiration is beautiful but I struggled to make this card



this is what I came up with

I inked up my paper very lightly with my distress ink colors before stamping the background in versamark. Once I clear embossed I added more distress ink. I saw this on someone else's card but I'm not sure who, please forgive me. It gives a much softer look than just clear embossing on white which I really like. I stamped my butterflies in archival ink. Once they were dry I trimmed them out and adhered just the bodies to my white card base.

The overall look of this card is a little bolder than the inspiration photo but it's what came together for me after SEVERAL tries :) All the stamps are Hero Arts. I used Antique Engravings, Truly Appreciated and the Leaf and Floral background.

Happy Friday to you!

A new challenge . . .

well it's new to me anyway :)

Lately it seems like every blogger I visit is playing along with the Runway Inspired Challenge. So me being the nosy rosy that I am had to go check it out. Um, hello, the fun I have missed out on!! So today for the first time (certainly not the last) I will be playing too :)

Here is the super fun inspiration photo

Well I am not a fashion follower, in fact I'm pretty plain, but I do love the idea of being inspired by fashion. Lawn Fawn is the sponsor this week so it's only fitting I used some Lawn Fawn stamps right?

Nothing too complicated just lots of fussy cutting on this one :) I know some crafters don't get it but I just love the clean edges it provides. Everything was colored with copics C1, C5, C7 and YR04. The twine is Doodlebug.

I do have a little stamping confession to make. That black banner is there to cover up the curly tail on the string. I didn't mask before I stamped and the curls from all the strings looked horrid together. Needless to say it needed a crafty band-aid :) Even with my stamping faux-pas I think it turned out alright.

I have never been more miffed I didn't own a stamp set until I was making this card. Lawn Fawn has an adorable stamp set called chevron backdrops which would have been perfect, PERFECT, for this photo. Unfortunately, I don't own it (yet). The closest thing I had to that shape was the banner from bannerific so that's what I used. I mean is it really asking so much to have an endless amount of craft money so I can buy everything that I want?

On a personal note I have a hair appointment today. Thank God Almighty! I haven't had a hair cut since the end of January (eek). My bangs are non-existent and my highlights are a lot  little grown out :) I am in desperate need here lol

Thanks for visiting!



Simple Sketch

  Good Evening!

Stopping in to share a quick card for CAS-ual Fridays challenge. I was caught up house cleaning (eww I know) and almost forgot about it! Thank goodness I didn't because the sketch this week is super fun. So many directions it could be taken in!

Here is my take

Pretty self explanatory card tonight :) The goodies I used are: Hero Arts Envelope Pattern, Everyday Sayings and Antique Engravings. The inks are Versa Mark and Ranger Jet Black Archival. The butterfly was colored with copics Y11 and Y02.

Thanks for stopping in! I'm off to get some more crafty time in :)



Delicate Blossoms

  Hey all!

The wonderful Lily Pad challenges has the next installment of Virginia's View going on and the inspiration photo is lovely. Virginia always picks fantastic photos for us :)

As soon as I saw the photo I thought of Hero Art's Delicate Blossoms stamp set. If you own this stamp set and didn't use it to enter the challenge you are amazing! All I could see was that stamp so I HAD to use it, I had no choice. 



Kept it pretty simple with some copic coloring and paper piecing. Yes, I said copic. What?! A few weeks ago I owned ZERO copics but after the awesome Libby shared a groupon for a store that carries them I have finally started my collection. Exciting!! Thanks Libby!

The sentiment was originally stamped with Pear Tart (Memento) and Festive Berries distress ink but it just looked like Christmas to me. I decided to make it a colorful shadow. I think it worked out pretty well and thank God because I already had everything else adhered :)

I am officially off work for the next five days so I'm hoping for lots o' crafty time. Hope you can get some too!

A Positive and A Negative

Hello crafty peeps!

The blog make over is complete. What do you think? I love it!! Erin over at Designer Blogs was so sweet and easy to work with. I'd highly recommend them. They have several pre-made designs at many different price points as well as custom work. So excited it looks so pretty :)

Today I have a positive and a negative card to share with you. I always try to find some way to use both pieces if I can. First up the negative.

The Hero Arts monthly contest is Sunshine and Showers, and what falls in between you might ask? RAINBOWS! Which happens to be one of my favorite things :)

I started by cutting my strips of paper and stamping them with the chevron from My Happy, Hero Arts. Then I glued all the pieces down across a white card base. The window was cut with Spellbinders, Labels Two. I backed the window with a piece of blue and stamped my sentiment from Made with Love, Hero Arts. The clouds (Right at Home, Hero Arts) were stamped and trimmed then added with dimensional adhesive. A few faux stitching lines and some glitter completes the card.

Now the positive.

All I did was stamp a few more clouds and pop them up. The sentiment is from My Happy, Hero Arts.

Thanks for stopping over, Hope you are having a wonderful day :)

New Colors and an Old Sketch

Hey there crafters.

I'm stopping in to share my card for this week's colors over at The Play Date Cafe. I really love the combination of orange and pink, especially in these bright tones. So fun.

I also found this old sketch over at Paper Crafts Mag and knew I had to use it :) Sketches, old or new are always so wonderful when you are looking for a new idea.

Without further adieu

All the stamps are Hero Arts per usual. I love these frames even though they aren't "new". This particular frame is supposed to face the other way so I just stamped it upside down and trimmed another one out to pop up on top. I think I may be giving this to my sister-in-law for her college graduation. These colors match her personality big time! Super Bright and Fun :)

Thanks for looking, enjoy your Sunday!

P.S. My blog is getting a make over this week. It should be pretty painless and I'm so excited to see how it comes out.

I Love you New Lightbox

Happy Saturday!

I'm stopping in real quick before I'm off to work some overtime. The weather here is pretty blech so I might as well make some money right?!

So I am super excited because my sweet husband finally found time in his busy schedule to build me a light box! YAY!!! The wonderful Deborah Nolan had posted the directions on how to build your own Here if you are looking to take some better photos of your projects I would highly recommend it :)

Moving on, this card was created for The CASE study challenge and here is Laurie Schmidlin's lovely card

 and my take

BAM! Look and that beautiful photo! hahahaha I love it :) I think my set up still needs a bit of work. I don't think I had the lights close enough to the box so the front looked a bit dark. I had to make some adjustments with the photo editing but for my first photo I'm pretty happy.

Just for comparison purposes this is what they used to look like

One U-Haul box and some vellum makes a big difference :)

The heart and sentiment are from Hero Arts, Year Round Sentiments and the little polka dots are from Fruit Salad by Oriental Trading.

Have a happy weekend :)

Finally Delivered the Goods!

I finally got to surprise Angie with all her goodies! **WARNING LONG POST, CARD AT BOTTOM**

She was so overwhelmed with gratitude for all of you. I just want to say again THANK YOU!! I am so touched by all of you and your selfless giving for someone you have never met. Truly you are wonderful, amazing people and I am so blessed to know you.

I would also like to send thank yous to the spectacular companies and popular crafters for your donations and for spreading the word. If it wasn't for them sharing Angie's story I know we wouldn't have been able to reach nearly as many crafters. I am so grateful to all of you: Jennifer Mcguire, Libby Hickson, Michele Gross, The Hero Arts Team, Kelly Marie at Lawn Fawn, Kate at I {Heart} Papers,  Tim Holtz, Corinna at The Ribbon Carousel, Kim at Paper Smooches, The Simon Says Stamp Team, and last but not least The Paper Crafts Magazine Team.

For those of you following along with Angie's updates her and the boys are currently settling in at her Dad's house. After a few weeks they are finally getting into a routine. The apartment complex she lived in doesn't think they will have an apartment available until after August so once her youngest is done with school she is going to be looking for a new place. Fortunately her Dad lives in the same city and her youngest son can still catch a bus to his school from there.

Angie did have a bit of a rough road, in addition to the fire she hurt her back, had a tooth go bad that needed to be pulled, after they pulled it she got dry socket, and on her way home from work she hit a deer. :( She is fine and there was minimal damage to her car. She is taking everything with a positive attitude and faith in God. Please continue to keep her and the boys in your prayers.

So let's see some photos :) Shouldn't let me take too many because she said she was ugly from crying lol

This is everything I could fit in my car :) I still have 12 boxes at home I'm going to drop off for her. Crafty people are so generous!

Me and Angie :)

Super excited about getting her mags from Paper Crafts to browse again

Browsing the goods

Thanks so much!

Since this was also a card drive for Angie I thought I'd share the card I created for Angie. I'm also entering the card into CAS-ual Fridays Opposites Attract challenge.

Since this is the longest post ever I'll spare you the details lol If you have questions please leave me a comment and I'll answer ASAP.

Thanks again to everyone who donated and shared Angie's story. I am truly grateful for your generosity. God Bless each and every one of you!

Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Glitter

Hey there Crafters, happy hump day!

So I'm back today to share those cloud cards I talked about yesterday. After my day at work yesterday theses clouds now match my mood. We are having a meeting with the Chief to discuss regional dispatching for safety forces which ultimately comes down to having a job or not :(  I'm a firm believer that God's plan is always better than mine so I'm praying for acceptance of his will. Here's hoping :)

On a lighter let's check out these cards eh? I have two for you using the same technique.

I created a cloud mask using the single cloud in Hero Arts set right at home. I love getting more out of my stamps than just what they were intended to be, don't you?

I stamped the cloud over and over again until I had the shape I wanted. I trimmed out the center and added some repositional adhesive to the negative. Once I had the mask adhered to the card I rubbed on broken china distress ink. I moved the mask around rubbing on the ink using various pressures to create lighter and darker areas.

The sentiment is from another Hero Arts set called Truly Appreciated. I of course outlined the clouds with stardust stickles for some shine :)

For the next card I used the same mask for a different look

Once again I masked the card base but this time I rubbed on broken china along with shabby shutters, scattered straw, and festive berries. I really love the rainbow look :)

I stamped the sentiment then added some faux stitching around the cloud to "frame' it. You know my obsessive need to frame things lol. Lastly I covered the entire cloud in stardust stickles and rounded one corner. I am entering this one into the Less is More one layer with doodling challenge.

I hope this inspires you to try to use your stamps in different ways!
Wish me luck at the meeting, I think I'm going to need it :)

Smile Sunshine

Hello, Hello!

So I received some super exciting news this morning. Unfortunately I can't share it yet but let's just say there was some happy dancing going on at 9:30 this morning and I am not a morning person :)

I originally was going to share some masking/clouds card today but it didn't fit my mood. Some SUNSHINE definitely does! I created this card for the monthly challenge over at Hero Arts as well as Less is More. The challenge over there is a one layer card with doodling (eeek I know!)

Let's get to it :)

I started by splattering my white card base with some glimmer mist in yellow daisy. I know I never use this kind of stuff but I swear I own it :) I am trying to push my boundaries remember!

Once that was dry  I stamped the daisies onto my card base and colored them with my marvy markers. For the doodling I drew a straight line with my pen and ruler, added some faux stitching lines, and finally traced around a scallop edge scrap I had laying on my desk. I knew there was a reason I never threw anything away that had nothing to do with me being messy :)

The sentiment original said "smiles"  I masked off the extra S then hand wrote the Sunshine. I super extra hate my handwriting but in the honor of new things and all I decided to go with it. To finish it off I added a row of bright yellow pearls.

So excited to share my news with you guys but in the meantime I'm wishing your day is filled with lots of sunshine too :)

Me + Patterns = It's Complicated

Happy Monday Crafters!

I spent my weekend working and making bunches of much deserved Thank yous. Did you get any crafty time in? My sleep schedule is all crazy so I actually got in some bonus crafty time this morning. I spent it fighting with patterns lol

I see so many gorgeous cards with all these patterns that just fit perfectly together. Me? I struggle with patterns and I don't know why! But after looking through my gallery and seeing that every card I've posted in the past several weeks has a plain white card base I knew I had to do something to get out of my rut. So patterns it is :)

This card uses the colors from Play Date Cafe. I'm also entering it over at A Blog Named Hero where the challenge is windows. The layout is based on one of the sketches for Hero Arts monthly contest.

Before we start I just wanted to mention all the stamps are Hero Arts :)

I started by stamping all my paper strips (see bottom for colors/stamps used.) I then stamped the clouds, kite, and fence and trimmed them out. The fence I used my craft knife to get out the middle pieces. I adhered the strips of green, blue, and red down before cutting out my circle window (nestibilities).

I traced the inside edge of the window then opened up my card and stamped the kite inside. I added the patterned kite on top with foam tape. The clouds were also added with dimensional adhesive. Lastly I added my fence so it overlapped the window and stamped my sentiment. I felt like the window needed something to define it so I added some faux stitching then decided to add it to the bottom as well to make everything more cohesive. My need to have everything "framed" is a sickness :) To add some extra shine I gave my kite a coat of glossy accents.

Thanks for looking, Your visits really make my day!

The blue was stamped with the Zig Zag using Soft Pool shadow ink. The red was stamped with the chevron from My Happy in Punch chalk ink. The fence was stamped in poppy chalk ink using the wood grain circle from My Happy. Lastly the green was stamped in grass chalk ink using the Leaf & Floral background. The Kite, Fence, and Clouds are from Right at Home. The sentiment is from Essential Messages.

Hero Arts Sunshine

Happy Friday!!

I hope you are heading into a weekend of lots of fun and good weather :)  I'm working and they are calling for storm showers Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I figured I could make my own sunshine, the Hero Arts way hehe

Before we move on to the card I just wanted to mention for those of you who donated to Angie the plan to give them to her this past week did not work out :( She is such a busy lady we couldn't find time to get together. This week looks much more promising so hopefully by next Friday I'll be sharing smiley Angie photos :) Thank you again to all who donated! Wait until you see the photos of all the boxes I received. I'm so grateful my heart could just burst :)

So now onto the card. This Month's challenge at Hero Arts includes Sunshine and showers.  I really tried to push myself out of the box and I think I did pretty good!

I started by cutting that funky sun using my Cricut (Doodlecharms). I didn't use the actual sun, I just used the negative as a mask. I rubbed on scattered straw and stamped the magical background (Hero Arts) in poppy chalk ink. I stamped the background once on scrap paper without applying any pressure so when I stamped it over my sun it was variegated.

I stamped the clouds (Hero Arts, Right at Home) on white and trimmed them out. The yellow chevron (Hero Arts, My Happy) piece was stamped again using poppy chalk ink. For the bottom piece I wanted something soft and subtle. I have always loved a wood grain pattern but for some reason I have just not bought one yet. The My Happy set by Hero Arts has a large wood grain circle so I decided to capitalize on this. I stamped the wood grain in soft pool chalk ink, masking and stamping until the whole strip was covered. I rather like it :) Finally I stamped the sentiment (Hero Arts, My Happy) in versamark and white heat embossed it. Of course I couldn't leave out the stickles so I coated the clouds in stardust to really make them shine.

I had some scraps left over from this one so I created another card, Literally I created no new pieces :) This one sits perfectly inside my "box" :) So much for challenging myself lol

Thanks for visiting! Hoping your weekend is full of sunshine which ever kind you can get :)

Something a little different

Hello Friends!

Today I have something a little different for you. It's still a card just with a little more pattern then I usually use :) First I'm playing along with the wonderful new challenge A Blog Named Hero.  They say we can enter as many times as we want . . .oh boy are they going to be seeing a lot of me :) I also created this card for CASE Study. This month Laurie Schmidlin is the very talented muse.

Here is Laurie's gorgeous card

I really loved her color combo and that diagonal strip was calling to me :)

I haven't used any kind of pattern paper in for ever and I guess technically I still haven't since I made this strip :)

I started by cutting a 2 inch wide panel. I stamped the heart (Hero Arts, Year Round Sentiments) first in Poppy chalk ink (Hero Arts) then in London Fog (Memento) so that they overlap each other. The gray actual looked like a soft teal once I rubbed scatter straw distress ink over the whole thing. To bring in the white I added dots of enamel accents to the heart centers. I adhered this panel at an angle on my white card base then "framed" it with two teal strips. I don't know why but I always feel like my edges are unfinished if I don't frame it with something!

I stamped the Heart (Hero Arts, Four Hearts) twice. First in Splash Chalk ink and then again in Poppy. I trimmed out the poppy heart to be slightly smaller than the splash. For my banner I used a wide piece of grey then stamped the sentiment (Hero Arts, Year Round Sentiments) in London Fog.

If you haven't yet purchased Hero Arts Year Round Sentiments set I would highly recommend it. I'm using this one all over the place :) So another card finished without any stickles . . .I think I might be sick lol

Thanks for popping in :)