10.29.2017

Mondays with The Project Bin ~ Limited Edition!

Hi friends!

Mondays are always fun-days on my blog since it's The Project Bin day!
But today is extra special as we have new Design Team members 
 Mondays will be myself and new design team mate, Tamie!
Glad to have you on board, Tamie :)



I switched up the fall theme with my cards from The Project Bin
as I need a plethora of birthday cards.
Jukebox Birthday is perfect for just this occasion,
as it's a fun, classic and can be personalized to just who you need it for!
The Jukebox stamp set also comes with matching steel dies
which makes card created easy.
Just stamp, die-cut and ta-da! 
 
 Here's another look at the stamp and die set in it's entirety:


  You can see more cards using this stamp/die set 
by clicking on the photo here in the shop!
And, of course, for more inspiration, you can follow 
The Project Bin blog ♥ 

 Thanks for stopping by today :)
Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly

10.26.2017

CCEE1743 ~ All about Cats!


Hi friends!

This is Frances' last week as hostess for the CCEE Stampers this month.
  Tomorrow is Black Cat Day (10/27) and Sunday is Cat Day (10/29)
  She challenged us this week to include a cat on our cards -- black or not :)
 



 Fun fact!  
Cats are the most popular pets in the US ~ 
There are 88 million pet cats (and only 74 million pet dogs)...
I was so sure dogs were #1  ~ surprise!
A group of cats is called a clowder. 
And while black cats are thought of as bad luck in the US,
they are considered to be good luck in the United Kingdom and Australia ♥
Meow!
 I was so excited to ink up a cat stamp that I've had for awhile
that I skipped right over all of my Halloween cat stamps!
I used the Penny Black coloring guide to color these two kitties,
and used my blender pen to 'wipe off' some of the color
 for a faux watercolor look. 
The card was a little busy (and big!) with the image and sentiment
so I gave it a simple gingham background and wooden dots.



Please be sure to stop in over at the CCEE Stampers blog
and see the wonderful cat cards!
And if you link up a card to a gallery for this theme, 
use the keyword  CCEE1743.
We hope you can play along!

Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥
~Kelly
 
I'm entering my card into the 2017 Cat Lover's Hop!
You can find the details here!

10.23.2017

Mondays with The Project Bin ~ Every leaf ...



Happy Monday, friends ♥


Autumn is such a favorite time of year for many of us ~
from the crisp change in the air to the falling leaves,
to the pumpkin patches and scrumptious baking ♥
It's still sooo very hot here in South Florida,
but I'm told cooler temps are coming Wednesday :)
By the evening, it is supposed to 'dip' into the 60's!
Oh I sure hope so!

Today's card, while simple in construction,
speaks volumes for me.
Denise, owner and designer for The Project Bin stamps,
truly has a vision for the perfect sentiments to go on handmade cards,
like this one.
My undergrad degree is a double major, including English Literature,
so naturally my eyes - and heart - fell in love with this stamp ♥

 Does this card design look familiar?
It might, as it is the fall version of this card I made in the spring, last year :)
I thought how beautiful it was and wanted to try one for the autumn ...
which means I"ll have to try one for winter! 




You can find this "Autumn's Calling" stamp set in the shop,
as well as many card samples to inspire you.


Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

10.20.2017

Which way to the ....... Starbucks!


Happy Fri-yay!


 Today's card is one I made for an Instagram hop
with my Florida gal pals!
We are a group of Floridians that met on IG
 and have bonded by having a hop every 'season'
 ~ like this one .... Halloween!

I'm using the very popular cute witch
 from MFT's talented Birdie Brown called Witch Way is the Candy.
I'm seeing this stamp on cards all over the place!
But of course, if *I* were trick or treating,
and if *I* were dressed up like this cute witch,
*I* wouldn't be going door to door for candy ~
I'd be at each Starbucks with my bag - hee hee!


I've got some hopping of my own to do!
In addition to driving around town taking kids to/from school(s),
I have to drop off paperwork at something in the works,
pick up my library books,
make sure my son packed correctly for his 3 day camp starting tonight,
and that's just all before noon!  LOL!

You can find me on Instagram HERE !
f you have a chance to hop along, there is a wonderful prize 
hidden on one of the stops!
Now that's a nice treat!

Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly

10.19.2017

CCEE1742 ~ Use Acetate



Hi everyone!


Quick post tonight to bring you the newest CCEE Stampers challenge
 this week ~ use acetate!
I confess, I got a little nervous when I saw the theme!  
I have used acetate a couple of times before
and it's definitely interesting!


My card today has an acetate front ~
and I stamped snowflakes in Hero Arts white unicorn ink onto the acetate.
Then, I added some super fine crystal white glitter before it dried to
give more of a snowy look.
The MFT bear was stamped out onto white cardstock,
then through my cuttlebug with the matching MFT die.
I was happy to finally ink up this stamp/die set ♥
Added a bit of twine and voila!
Instant snow day for me! ♥


Please be sure to stop in and see what the CCEE stampers DT
created with acetate -
some pretty cool cards and projects!
 If you create a card and add it to a gallery, like Splitcoaststampers,
please use the keyword CCEE1742 so we can find your card.

Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly

10.18.2017

RSG Challenge - Between the lines!


Do you know what skunks say when they go to church?
Let's us spray ........

:)


Mornin!

Today's the day when the new challenge is up for Ready, Set, Go!
This group is a spin-off of the 3M BUT the added challenge
is we come up with card challenges ideas that are not so typical
and more 'out of the box'.
So much so, I had all kinds of ideas for Jeanette's theme ...
made notes,
experimented ...
but in the end really, REALLY, wanted to ink up my skunk stamp 
from Your Next Stamp ♥
 I went with a tried and true technique that you have seen on my blog 
before with this card, which I loved! 

Here is Jeanette's challenge:
Between the Lines: choose an image you normally WOULD color.
 (In other words, not a sentiment or multi-layer stamp that lays down the color for you.) 
 BUT don't color between the lines!  
Instead, my challenge to you is to think of a creative way to use that image
 on your card WITHOUT COLORING BETWEEN THE LINES.

I love my card! 
It's fun and funky and whimsical ~
so hopefully I passed this challenge with flying colors - haha! -
or that would really stink!!!

And here's the inside, with the theme carried over ↓

I'll enter my card to the challenge #75 at Your Next Stamp blog -
here is the gorgeous mood board that inspired my color palette ♥


 You can see what Barb made and what Jeanette made with this challenge!
Thanks for stopping by my blog :)

Big hugs, bigger blessings! ♥
~Kelly


 

10.16.2017

Mondays with The Project Bin ~ Woo to the Hoo!


Whoooooo loves the "New Leaf" stamp set from The Project Bin?
Me!
I'll owl-ways love it!

 
 
Happy Monday!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend ~
Ours was SO busy - I was running circles around myself :)

Today's card from The Project Bin was such fun to create!
I was able to watercolor AND stamp -  a win/win!
I used my Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolors to create the base.
These are solid-pigment pan watercolors and just the yummiest!
They were a gift from my precious daughter, Victoria,
and I just treasure them ♥


 Since the card has such a bold and multi-colored background, 
I decided to just stamp right on the dried water-colored piece and leave it as is
without a lot of layers or extras other than a few enamel dots.

After stamping out the cute little owl onto the branch,
I had a vision of how bats hang upside on the branches.
Since the sentiment is so whimsical, 
 I decided to have a little fun with an owl, too.
What a hoot!
 
Here's the stamp set I used ↑

You can see more inspiration from The Project Bin at the blog,
as well as the New Leaf stamp set and more in the shop.
If you look beflow the stamp set, it will take you to the gallery
where you can see many cards with this same stamp.
 Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥
~Kelly

10.11.2017

CCEE 1741 ~ Old Farmer's Day!



Howdy friends! 
Time for another challenge at the CCEE Stampers 
and Frances has picked a great one!
Today is Old Farmer's Day!

I know, right?  Who knew?! :)


Fun Fact! 
 Did you know the United States had 2.06 million farms in 2016?

The state with this most farms?
Texas!
Texas had the most farms in 2016, 
 which was more farms than Missouri and Iowa combined!
   The US Census registered more than 241,500 farms in Texas alone,
which approximately 11.72% of the entire farmland in the USA!

I don't know about you, but I'd say that's a lot of cows! :)
Thank you, Texas!

 And here is my card representing Old Farmer's Day.
I've had a couple of wooden Penny Black stamps
for quite some time and wanted to bring them back out again.
I've paired it with a matching sentiment
for a very bovine birthday :)

 

Please be sure to stop by the CCEE stampers blog
and see the DT inspiration!
And if you link up a card with the Old Farmer's Day theme,
please use the keyword CCEE1741!

And that's about all the MOOs I have to share today!  
tee hee!
 
Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly


10.09.2017

3M: Which witch is which?!


Hiya friends!

This is my second post for today.
Two in a row ~ I'm on a roll! :)

The 9th of the month is the day the 3 Musketeers post our cards.
 Jeanette sent us this month's image and it's a riot!
 Not quite sure what she is implying with this adorable 
Whipper Snapper 3 witches stamp ....
hmmmmmm.
 
But after careful review, I'm pretty sure I'm the one with the green hair :)
Yes, green is my favorite color ...
 But since Jeanette just got some pretty new glasses,
and Barb was blessed with the gift of height,
by process of elimination, I must be the one with the green hair!

So I made sure my warts were on point!
LOL!!!



I really wanted to go with a 'storybook' look to my coloring
of these witches.
I had a small leftover swatch of water coloring and it was a really nice
compliment in the color palette, 
so I made the card base work around my image.
 Usually I make my cards the other way around.
Added a heat embossed Happy Halloween and ta-da!


Be sure to see what Barb and Jeanette made with this same image, too!
Barb is up next month and I'm sure it will be a fabulous image.


Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly
 

Mondays with The Project Bin ~ Shaking it up!


 Happy Monday, friends ♥
Today I'm shaking things up a bit on my blog!


 So!  I was recently in a restaurant 
and spotted those tiny take-out containers and lids.
Being the creative sort, I asked the sweet server
 if I could have a couple for an idea that popped into my head.

You know ... one man's trash, another man's treasure :)

Introducing, the *lid shaker card!*
I took a re-purposed lid, stamped out the gorgeous new sentiment stamp
 from The Project Bin "New Leaf",
some assorted colored sequins, the lid to the container, 
Hero Arts Serengeti Sunset ombre ink, the cuttlebug, circular die,
some paper, glue and twine and made a shaker card.

 

I went from this  ↑
to this ↓


I first cut a circular shape with my nestabilities die 
and cuttlebug into a white base of card stock.
I glued the lid to the inside of the card stock and poked it through the card,
like a mountain verses a valley.  
It looks like it's just stuck on there, 
but the circumference of the lid is slightly larger than the cut out (on purpose)
to push it through for better stability.  
Next, I cut a small piece of heavy cardstock for the back panel,
 just a hair smaller than the A2 size. 
After filling the 'shaker lid' with assorted fall colored sequins, 
I glued the back panel on and then layered it onto the Really Rust card stock.
Finally, I attached the entire shaker panel with a small twine to the 
patterned paper card stock base.
I also decorated the inside of my card and shook things up! :)


I had a lot of fun with this one and love the 'quirky-ness' of it!
As you can see, my stamps are well loved :)
The point it - it's fun to think outside the box with card making.
It's awesome to experiment and use what you have on hand -
you just never know what you'll come up with! 

You can see this stamp set and more in The Project Bin store,
and inspiration galore on The Project Bin blog
Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly

10.08.2017

It's *FALLIDAY Fest!* ~ Day 1



Happy Sunday!

Today's the first day of *Falliday Fest* over on Splitcoaststampers!
Yay!


What is Falliday Fest?
   I'm so glad you asked! :)

This is a two week period with daily challenges, 
TEN holiday craft tutorials, and four card drive destinations.
If you sign up at SCS for the master challenge list,
every day you can wake up to the new fun challenge.


 It's a great way to get your feet wet on trying something new,
like my card today.  It was great fun!
For as much time as I'm on the road all day,
this will indeed be a challenge but I'm looking forward to it!



My incredibly talented friend Shona introduced me to Yupo paper
back in March 2016.  I ran to the store and bought some and then ........
 never used it, until now!

One of the challenges for the Falliday Fest is to create a card
 using an alcohol ink card base ~
and I was crazy excited to use this darling new Christmas otters
stamp and die set from Lawn Fawn!
 i was soooo very lucky to win this set from
 the talented Kari Webster  in her giveaway.
Thank you, Kari! 

Are you playing along in the Falliday, too?
Let me know - I'll stop by and visit!
Yay for Fall!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥
~Kelly

 


10.07.2017

Happy World Cardmaking Day ~ 2017!



How fun to have a day to celebrate card making!
I am sooo grateful to be able to make cards with you all
and share the beauty and passion of this craft ~
and consider you all some of my sweetest, most treasured friends ♥

So my card today!
It was ONE OF THOSE SATURDAYS so I had to quickly shift gears ..
and improvise!
Which is good.

Since it's World Card Making Day ...
not World Stamping Day! :)
(for the record ... I do have a card coming, it's mostly done,
and SUPER adorable!  
Stay tuned!)


For the Crafters of Faith group on Splitcoaststampers,
our hostess Susan P. gave us this scripture and challenge:

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. ~Ephesians 2:10 NIV
this is the verse I would like to highlight with Oct card ---- so anything with a quilt, tapestry, artwork of sorts.

I went with the 'artwork of sorts.' 
ROFL!
I don't have any fancy die cuts to create a quilt
and sold off all my quilting/sewing related stamps,
so this is what I came up with .... faux stain glass
with a bold sentiment to mimic a quilted pattern!

Before I show you the card,
I have to give a shout out to my FAVORITE quilter - my daughter!
She's only 22 but the girl can quilt with the best of them!
She's self taught and is an absolute natural!
This one is one she made for me!
*squealing!*
I love, love, LOVE it so much!
She knows I how much I'm drawn to bright, vivid colors 
and she and her boyfriend picked out the perfect fabrics! ♥ 
Thank you, baby!


This 2nd quilt she made for her boyfriend's family ↓



Isn't she amazing AND talented!
I think so :)
 
Finally, here's my card!
It sort of mimics the quilt she made for me ♥



I hope Susan doesn't mind too much that I skirted a little close
to the challenge boundaries!

But I do like my card :)
What did you make today for WCMD?

Thank you for being one of my reasons for being happy,
crafty friends!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥
~Kelly