Merry Christmas!

Thank you for reading my blog over the past year and for all of your sweet comments...I appreciate it SO much! :)

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

xoxo

Hero Arts Blog Hop

Hi!  Welcome to my stop on the 2011 Hero Arts Catalog Blog Hop!  I am thrilled to share some cards with you that feature some amazing new stamps from Hero Arts.

This first card features the gorgeous Classic Fabric Design (CG245) background image...this stamp is definitely a favorite of mine and has already seen lots of love. :)  I stamped it using aqua acrylic paint and I love the result.  The texture, the subtle lines left from the paintbrush...love it!  The sentiment label is from another new clear set called Congrats (CL488).  It comes with three decorative labels and four different sentiments that fit inside. 

This next card features two new clear stamp sets.  The first one is called Find Joy (CL497) and includes a bunch of fun mixed-font sentiments.  And the second set is called Blossom Art (CL495).  It contains 6 different floral images that are perfect for coloring, paper-piecing or just creating a tone-on-tone background like I've done with my card.

There are lots of great prizes up for grab!  All you have to do is leave a comment on any of the 24 participating blogs.  The more comments you leave the more chances you have to win! :)  And remember, if you find a link that doesn't work, you can always hop back to the Hero Arts Blog for a list of direct links to all the blogs in the hop.

Your next stop on the hop is the super talented Sheri Reguly.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Caardvarks Challenge

Hi everyone!  Just wanted to pop in and let you know about the current challenge at Caardvarks.  It is sponsored by Clear & Simple Stamps and they have offered up an amazing prize...FOUR winners of a $25 gift certificate and also a spot as a Guest Designer!

Here's my monochromatic card I created using the Fancy Wishes stamp set and their new I'm a Princess Pink color story.

 
I'll be back on Friday with some fun cards to share featuring some brand new Hero Arts stamps!  Yay!!
Have a great day! :)

Big Hugs

Happy Monday! 

Just sharing a card I recently made for a super sweet friend.  A lot of Hero Arts stamps here as well as one of my homemade buttons on the butterfly die cut from felt.

And here are some pics of my kiddos from Halloween...Halle was Supergirl, Gage was a cowboy and Lexi was a black kitty.  And thanks to all their hard work trick-or-treating last night, mommy is on a bit of a sugar high today. ;)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! :)

Happy Halloween!

Just thought I'd pop in to say Happy Halloween!  I've got a Supergirl, Cowboy and Kitty to get ready here in a little bit and head out to go trick-or-treating.  I'll share some pictures later this week if I can manage to get them to sit still. ;)

No card to share, but I did decorate this cute little polka dot pumpkin.  I masked off the dots using masking tape, painted the pumpkin green, then removed the tape and spritzed it with a little perfect pearls. 

Have a good one! :)

Pairing Up Challenge: Day 3

Happy Friday!  Today I'm sharing a card for the last day of my Pairing Up Challenge with Stephanie.  We chose to each create a card using the Hero Arts Friend Definition cling stamp and the Everyday Sayings sentiment set. 

Thanks for stopping by and for all your sweet comments this week!
And a big thanks to Stephanie for sharing such a fun week with me.  I can't remember the last time I blogged three times in one week. ;)

Have a great weekend!

Pairing Up Challenge: Day 2

Hi there!  I'm back today to share another card for my Pairing Up Challenge with Stephanie.  Today we are using the Hero Arts Dots and Flowers background and Essential Messages sentiment set.

 

 

Make sure to check out Stephanie's card here.  And be sure to come back on Friday for our final card...it is my favorite card I created this week! :)

Have a great day!

Pairing up Challenge: Day 1

Today is the first day of my Pairing up Challenge with the sweet and talented Stephanie Klauck (also known as skermit12(Stephanie) on Flickr).  This week, we will each be sharing three cards we created using the same Hero Arts stamps.  We each chose some of our favorite background and sentiment sets to feature...and it turned out that we have a lot of favorites in common, so it was easy to choose. :)  Today we are using the Graph Background and Big Hugs stamps from Hero Arts.

And here's my card...

Now, go check out Stephanie's card here!  See you back here on Wednesday for Day 2 of our Pairing Up Challenge!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day! :)

Caardvarks Challenge

It's time for another Caardvarks challenge!  This time it is sponsored by Penny Black and they gave us some wonderful stamps to create with!

Here are a couple cards I created using the Giving and Receiving clear stamp set and the Joy.Hope wood mounted stamp.

Check out the contest details here.  Lots of great stamps to win...there will be 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes this time!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Embellish Color Challenge

Happy Monday!  Today I'm sharing a card I made for the current Embellish Color Challenge.  Such a fun color combo...something I would never have put together myself, but I love the end result.

  

And here's my card...

I used pink felt to create the cute scalloped border.  I just die cut some small scallop circles, cut them in half, then stitched them down in a row.  I added just a little pop of red with the felt heart.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

and the winner is...

Random.org selected lucky number 7 as the winner of my World Cardmaking Day giveaway.
Congrats Sharon!  I will be sending you an email shortly to get your address so I can get your goodies sent out soon!

Thanks to everyone for your sweet comments! :)

Happy WCMD!

Happy World Card Making Day to all my crafty friends!  I hope you all get a little time to be creative today!

To celebrate the day I wanted to have a little giveaway on my blog.  Here's a peek at the prize:

 One person will win the following:
     • Hero Arts Happy Halloween Clear Stamp Set
     • Fired Brick Distress Ink
     • one sheet in each color of paper from the Hero Hues collection
     • 15 sheets of vintage book paper

Just leave me a comment enabling me to your favorite crafty product -- it can be a certain stamp, ink, tool, anything!  There are so many wonderful products out there and I would love to hear what your favorites are.

And here's a card I made for all of you...to say thanks for inspiring me with all of your wonderful creations and for taking time to visit my blog.  All of your comments just make my day!

Have a wonderful weekend! :)

Happy Birthday

Hi!  Just sharing a birthday card I made with the Hero Arts Three Flowers stamp set.  I absolutely love this set.  The large flower is perfect for paper piecing!

My grandma asked me to make a card for her to give one of her friends who is celebrating her 90th birthday this weekend.  And here's what I came up with...

I also used the Hero Arts Dots & Flowers Background stamp.  I partially inked it with some Antique Linen Distress Ink for a subtle background.

Looking forward to the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy tonight!  Love that show!  This is one of the only shows that I have to watch each week.  Are you a Grey's fan?

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs! :)

Clean & Simple

Hi there!  Today I wanted to share a few cards I made for the current Caardvarks challenge sponsored by Hero Arts.  The challenge this time is to create clean & simple cards.  All of these cards were made with the Joy to All and the Swirl Christmas stamp sets. 

Have a great day!

Hugs! :)

Trick or Treat

Happy Monday!  This week on the Hero Arts Blog Jennifer is doing a swap with Creative Imaginations, where she is showcasing some projects featuring Luminarte's Twinkling H20's and Hero Arts stamps. 

I usually don't do much coloring of my stamped images...mainly because I'm not very good at it...but these paints are super easy to use.  They really do add fun touch to any card!


For this card I simply used them like paints.  I first embossed the pumpkin with black embossing powder...this made it very easy to stay in the lines.  Then I just used a paint brush to color in the pumpkin and also to create the green piece. 

And here you can really see the shimmer it adds...

Have a great day! :)

Butterfly Mobile

Hi there!  Today I have a little project to share that I've been trying to get finished for the past month.  But it really only took a couple hours to do once it was all said and done. ;) 

I've seen so many cute handmade mobiles and wanted to make one to hang in my daughter's room.  I used the Cuttlebug Butterfly Die on some papers from the DCWV Sweet paper stack.  Then I just sewed them on a piece of white string, hung from a circle wire and that's it.  Super easy!

I had some buttons and smaller butterflies attached in between the larger butterflies, but decided to take them off and just leave it very clean and simple.  And I'm glad I did...it looks much better this way. 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great one! :)

Hugs,
Kelly

Thank You So Much

Hi there!  Just a quick share with you today of some thank you's I made for Lexi's Baptism.  I usually get overwhelmed at the thought of making a bunch of the same card design, so I just give in and buy a pack of cards (which I always feel guilty about), but not this time.  I had these wallet size photos printed of Lexi and I was determined to use them. And I have to say, I really loved making these.  It went so fast once I figured out the design.

I created the sentiment myself and just printed it off...I love doing this! :)  I used two different stamps for the background...I did half with the Hero Arts Flourish Background and the other half with the Hero Arts Circle Pattern.  The flower was created using some yummy felt I bought from Janet's Etsy shop, Felt on the Fly.   She has amazing customer service and the 100% wool felt comes in so many different gorgeous colors.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Kelly

Embellishments

Happy Friday!  What a long week...so glad the weekend is almost here.  We don't have anything planned for the whole entire weekend...and I love it!  Hoping to get lots of crafty time in. :)

This week I've been busy over at the Hero Arts Blog sharing some amazing creations made by the girls on the Hero Arts Designer Team.  The focus has been all about making your own embellishments and today I shared my project.  I created some layered embellishments using handmade stamped buttons. I'm really starting to love button making...the possibilities are endless to the kinds of buttons you can make!  And Halle, my 5 yr. old daughter, loves to sit down and make her own buttons right alongside me.  I love that it is something we can do together.

Here's the embellishments I made...

And if you want to see the set of cards I made using some of these embellishments, check them out here on the Hero Arts Blog.

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

Christmas Tags

Hi there!  It's time for another challenge at Caardvarks.  I just love the theme this time...tags and minis!  The sponsor is JustRite Stampers and they sent us some fun Christmas stamps to play with. 

Here's what I created:

Hope you get a chance to play along...you'll have a chance to win some new JustRite stamps!

Have a great day!
Kelly

Hi

Hi there!  Just wanted to pop in and say hello!  I cannot believe it's been over two weeks since my last post...where has the time gone?!?!  Sorry I don't have a card to share today...everything I've been creating lately has been for assignments, but will be able to share them soon. :)

Next week I'll be hosting the Hero Arts blog along with the other Designer Team members.  We've got some fun things to show you, so make sure to check it out!

And since it just doesn't seem right to have a post without any pictures, I'll leave you with these...

Halle - age 5 1/2

Gage - age 2

Lexi - 4 1/2 months

...my three reasons why I don't get a chance to blog very often. ;) 

Hugs,
Kelly

Hello Monday

Hi there!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  I sure did.  We finally had a weekend where we didn't have a whole lot going on.  We got a bunch of stuff done around the house, spent a lot of time outside and got some professional photos taken of the kids.  (Can't wait to see how they turned out!)  My sister, Tami, and her family were down for a visit, so we ended the weekend with a big family supper at my parent's house.   My mom is such a good cook...I'll never pass up a chance to eat one of her home-cooked meals.

I even managed to squeeze in a little time to make a card.  I've been collecting quite a stash of patterned paper lately, but rarely ever use them.  So I was determined...I must make a card using some patterned paper. ;)  I ended up using some of my favorite paper right now from the Lily Bee Lovely collection....it's is absolutely gorgeous paper!  The perfect thickness and it's double sided....which is always a huge bonus to me.  I'm not very good at pairing up patterned papers that go together, so using papers from the same collection makes it a cinch.

I used a sentiment from the Hero Arts Truly Appreciated stamp set.  It fit perfectly inside the EK Success Journal Plate & Bracket Punch.  And that text paper is from the Making Memories Slice 8x8 Ledger Pad...it's a great staple to have in your paper stash.  I saw they have it here for a great price too. :)  And finally I embellished the card with one of my handmade buttons.

Hope your week is off to a great start!  Thanks for stopping by!
Kelly

Handmade Buttons

Hi there!  I've been in a little slump lately with making cards, so I decided to take a short break from it and do another type of craft.  I was roaming around Hobby Lobby the other day and decided to pick up a few supplies to make my own buttons.  I've always thought that Jane's buttons were so adorable, so I tried to create some myself. 

 I know they are a little rough yet, but it was really fun to do.  Hopefully they will get a little more "professional" looking as I practice more. ;)  Now I can't wait to use them on a card!  Maybe this was just the break I needed to get my mojo back.

See that blue one with the texture right in front?  That one is my favorite!  I used this Hero Arts stamp to create the texture.

Thanks for stopping by!
Kelly

Caardvarks Challenge

Hi there!  It's time for a new challenge at Caardvarks and this time the sponsor is My Favorite Things.  They were very generous and sent the crew several stamp sets to play with.  Here are a couple cards I created using them...

Hope you have time to enter the challenge...click here for all the details!

Have a great day!
Kelly

Sweet Baby

Hi there! I had a few moments this morning to spare so I decided to whip up a quick card for the Embellish Color Challenge.  It was a fun card to create...a little different than normal for me, but still fun.  All the stamps are from Hero Arts.  I just love that "sweet new baby" cloud.

Hope you are all having a great week!  Thanks for stopping by!
Kelly