Vamos a Fiestejar ! :)

Hola!  Vamos a fiestejar! Let's Party!!!  {y si habla Espanol!}   My son's graduation was so very sweet!  Oh how my heart melted!  Had to wipe some tears, too :)  Hard to believe in 2 years our oldest (his biggest sister) will be finishing High School and heading off to college! Eeek!    Tomorrow she's dragging us to the Taylor Swift concert and I haven't stopped hearing about it for over 3 months, lol!  By this time tomorrow night, we'll be rockin' it up with Tay - wild lives we lead, eh? LOL!!

Today I bring you a Fresh Brewed Designs new challenge for the week!  We were challenged to make "cards for the guys!"  Well, for mine, I've used Pinata with Cafe con leche .... hee hee ......  just kidding!  I used Pinata with Coffee and he is available in the FBD shop!

The pinata was colored with prismas in bright and fun colors to match the colors I remember seeing in the vivid fabrics and blankets and trinkets I saw in Mexico while visiting.  I paired with some bright colored papers from Basic Grey and kept it kinda less embellished since it's for the hombres :)

Make sure to stop by the challenge blog and see what the DT have created for you and enter your card here at the blog!

Blessings!
~Kelly

Birthday time with Riley!

Good morning!  I hope your weekend was a long, wonderful one!  Ours was incredibly busy - no resting for us, but I was blessed to visit the National Veteran's Cemetery and placed a wreath on my dad's grave - gone 5 years now.   I'm so proud of his military service and that of all our veterans past and present in which we have this most wonderful gift of freedom.  My utmost gratitude, love and salute goes out to those serving!

Today starts a new challenge at the Riley and Company challenge blog!  Our challenge this week is to create a birthday card for  a child.   Our little guy is graduating from Kindergarten tonight and it's been a hopping weekend preparing everything - in fact - I leave at 6:45 am to get him to school before 8 and then set up their last day of school carnival - parte!   Hence, my card is a bit simple but fun and festive and commissioned by my own daughter for her little 11 year old friend's birthday.  Hope she likes it - all I heard was "anything with red and yellow!"  Okay, easy enough! :)

I used Balloons Riley to create this card, paired with Peebles dsp and misc cardstock that I had on hand (super thick, assuming it's GKD!)  I propped up the balloons with 3d dots and overall, I kept the design simple and added a little flower/button combo as it seemed a little unfinished without it :)

Thanks so much for stopping by! Be sure to stop by and see what the Riley DT have created this week and of course, stop on by the challenge blog and upload your kid's cards, too!
When uploading your cards to SCS or the gallery, please use the code Riley1111!

Blessings to you!
~Kelly

It's a Dueling Darling Diva's Calendar Two-fer! :)

Evenin'!   Hope your long Memorial Weekend is off to a great start!   Today is the day the Calendar Girls shows off their card posts, and in my case, it's also combined with a VERY belated Dueling Darling Diva posts .... so would that make it a Duelandar card?  Or a Carling? LOL!  Either way, today I bring you a two-fer card from two-fer of my favorite peoples evah, Carol and Barb!! {*muah!*}

Before I get to my card, I wanted to announce the Riley Blog Hop winner of a Riley stamp - Yuki!   Please contact me at Kelnkids@aol.com with your name/addresss and choice of Riley - congratulations!

On to the DDD/Calendar Girls card!  Carol was the Diva hostess this month and sent us the most appropriate Kelly kit ever!  COFFEE!  Omgosh, I wish you could have heard the squeal of pure delight when I opened up this envie!  And the sweetest part of all is that the divas and darlings were asked to say something nice about us, the "leaders of the pack" and my eyes were brimming with the one or two posts I've visited (then quickly refrained, much to my sadness, but I didn't want to see any cards until mine was done!)  Truly sweet words and I'm honored to have been thought of as inspiration for the card kit and guess my Starbucks addiction is pretty widely known, tee hee!  Secondly, our hostess for the Calendar Girls this month was the fabulous Barb!  She challenged us to make  a different shape/folded card and I have not made one of these hopskotch cards in like 4 YEARS!  Seriously!!  This was one of the first folds I made in a card class over 4.5 years ago!!  Old Skool :)   But the second she challenged us to make a shaped folded card, this was the first thing that popped into my head and I totally went with the idea!  I have shamelessly had this card done for well over 2 weeks and I won't bore you with all the absolutely unbelievable things going on here, but suffice it to say, I'm glad ONE of these cards is posted on time and hopefully they haven't thrown me out of the group that I know of since I haven't been able to get to SCS either - eek!

Being from a military family, I salute our veterns past and present and hope you take a moment this weekend of silence and prayer to reflect on the wonders of this country! I'm so proud of each and every one of our veterans.   My Dad has been gone 5 years as of March and every single day I miss him dearly.  I will lay a wreath on his grave tomorrow and treasure the freedom granted to us by the sacrifices of so many and treasure this gift called Freedom! x0x0

Blessings!
xoxo

~Kelly

From Carol's scrumptious Kit, she sent us this yummi stamped image from StampingBella and the DSP you see on the front panels of this cards. I call it a hopskotch fold/card though I have no idea what the fold is!  You take 4 identical papers and after making the right incisions, you fold them into each other until you have a 4 squares card with flaps and a wide base. 

She also sent a cache of ribbons and buttons and I used one of the flowers meshed with some I had on hand and her buttons to create the flower accents and in case you might not have  noticed, the flowers also include a coffee sleeve cutout flower I made with paper shapers!  Too cute!! (and a great way to "Go Green"!)

I paired it with some Concord Grape and Kiwi Kiss to bring out the colors of the dsp Carol sent, and the rest I had in my stash.  She was so generous with her card kit, stay tuned for another couple of cards in the near future!

Thanks for stopping by - be sure to visit the other Calendar Girls this month and see what Barb inspired them to create!

x0x0

Entered into:

ABC Challenge:  V is for Vilolets

**Riley and Company "Life's a Circus!" New Release Blog Hop!!**

"Riley's site had a "moosehap" this morning, but it's all fixed now! You can order your Riley Goes To The Circus stamps HERE.

Also,  the whole set is 10% off regular retail price and shipping is FREE on sets!!

Welcome to the Riley and Company *New Release* Blog Hop!

 Life is a Circus!

I hope you've enjoyed this week's sneak peeks all week long - today is the long awaited BLOG HOP with Riley's Biggest stamp release ever! 16 new stamps, an accessory set and a huge sentiment set, all with a wonderful circus theme!

And for one lucky commenter today, you'll win a Riley, too! All you have to do is leave a comment, and complete the hop and see what creative wonders the DT have made for you using the Circus Rileys!

I have two cards for you today!rst up is Riley with Animal Balloons ~ colored in happy colors and paired up with Echo Park's matching happy papers!


I decorated the inside as well to use the matching sentiment!





For my second card, I made a 5.5 x 5.5 card with many, many layers

using hula hoop Rileyof my favorite past-times!

I also decorated the inside of this one as well to include the sentiment!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Here is the entire Riley and Company DT line-up ...

Make sure to stop by and see what the rest of the Riley DT have made!

# Riley & Company Blog

Cindy Haffner

Juliet Huang

Sarah Gough

Frances Byrne

Heather Prince

Laurie Clout

Jovita Torres

Silke Kittmann

Margie Cortina

Therese Boyd

Michele L

Joy Stagg

Kelly Santi -- You're here!

Card #1:  Deets - Balloon Riley and sentiment stmaps from Riley and Company;  Cardstock = Turquise Sea; Crushed Curry; Pink Passion, PTI White;  DSP - Echo Park, Little Girl; Cuttlebug, nesties; prismacolor markers; SU Border punch; grosgrain ribbon, twine and Basic Grey Pink Button; 3d dots, Tombo

Card #2:  Deets - Cameo Coral; Green Galore; DWCW Glitter cardstock; PTI white; Hula Hoop Riley and sentiment stamps from Riley and Company; Trimmer, Scallop nestie, circular nesties, CB; prismacolor markers; 3 d dots; tombo, SU Ribbon; Kaiser bling

Riley Sneaks continue - Day 4!

Blast off!  You Blow Me Away! :)

Here we are, one day closer to the big Riley and Company Blog Hop!  Riley is heading to the Circus and this is Riley's BIGGEST release ever!  On May 26th, this Thursday, you'll see 16 fabulous new Rileys, a sentiment set with a huge amount of Moose-tacular sayings, and even a huge circus accessories set!  FAB-U-LOUS!!

For my card, today, I'm using Cannon Riley who is ready to blast his way into your heart! On the inside, I've stamped the coordinating sentiment "you blow me away" - cuteness!!  I've added this Cannon Riley to the Crafty stack of DCWV papers, pulling from the rocket's colors :)

Be sure to stop by the blog and see what the

DT have created today and keep the date!

We can't wait to see you there :)

    Blessings!
~Kelly

Card deets:  Creamy Caramel, Certainly celery; PTI White;  DCWV; Stamp - cannon Riley;

Sentiment: Riley and Company; Cuttlebug, nesties, Basic Grey buttons, twine; SU Fairy Tale ribbon;

Scallop nesties; prismacolor markers; 3d dots; tombo

Riley Sneak Day 3 - Stilt there?

It's Day 3 of the Riley and Company sneaks!  They have been

such fun and so festive!  Riley and his circus antics are going

to continue all week long until the GRAND hop!

Please make sure to stop on by on Thursday, May 26th!

Today's card is showcasing Riley on Stilts!  I used a simple, mini easle card (4 x 5!)

so I could use the sentiment at the same time. 

The papers are from Animal Crackers and it was fun using a

different color scheme for this one :)

Be sure to stop by Riley and Company

and see what the DT have created for you this wonderful day!

 Blessings!
~Kelly

Card Deets:  Cardstock:  SU Creamy Caramel; Pink, PTI white;  DCWV Animal Crackers dsp; Stilts Riley and sentiment; Momento Ink Black; Misc flowers; Cuttle bug, nesties, Fancy Pants buttons, Twine

Riley at the Circus - Another Sneakie Peek!

Life is a circus and our friend Riley is the Star! :)

I hope you have enjoyed the sneak peeks of the new Riley and Company upcoming Circus release as much as I have!   I am SO excited for this release and the circus is definitely coming to town!   Stay tuned for a fun hop on *Thursday, May 26th!*

For today's sneak peek, I bring you Riley in his clown car!  He had me smiling from

ear to ear the second I saw him :)  I colored him with prismas and added him to a bright, festive palette of papers that also reminded me of the circus!  And, of course, added the sentiment to the inside to finish up this joyful paper ensemble :)

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope to see you again, especially

for the Riley and Company blog hop!

Want to see more DT sneaks?

Check out the Riley and Company blog

here!

    Blessings!

~Kelly

Card entered into these challenges:

Crafty Sentiments - Cards for Kids!

Tuesday Throwdown #49 - Card for a Child

Stamp something - Beach Colors (sunset)

Cardstock:  All GKD, PTI white for the stamped image:  RIley and Company stamp: Clown Car Riley; sentiment stamp:  Riley and Company; Momento Ink; Prismacolor markers; DCWV Dots and Stripes Mat Stack; MM Brads, Cuttlebug, nesties, Aileens, Tombo, 3d Dots, Gingham green ribbon

Riley Sneak Peek - Day 1! Don't *Moose* out! :)

 Happy Weekend!  I'm excited to finally show you a card I worked on for the Riley and Company upcoming blog hop!  You won't want to "moose" out on this blog hop! 

Our May release is almost here, it will be our biggest Riley release ever!!!!!!!

As the Riley blog states, " Because it is such a big release we have brought our sneak peeks forward a couple of days.   So instead of waiting until Monday to see what is coming, you will get to see them on Saturday!"

For my card today, I used Carousel Riley!  This absolutely adorable Riley will be one of the new stamp releases you'll see at the upcoming hop.  I paired him with bright and fun colors that reminded me of the circus :)

I also decorated the inside :) 

The sentiment is also one of the new sentiment sets being released along with all the awesome Riley/Sophie stamps!

Here is the schedule for our upcoming Circus Riley release coming next week!

What: Sneak Peeks!

Where: All Design Team Member Blogs

When: Saturday, May 21st - Thursday March 26th

What: Blog Hop with FREE Blog Candy!

Where: All Design Team Member Blogs!

When: Thursday, May 26th, 10 pm EST, 9 pm CST

New Releases Available!

Where: Riley Web Site

When: Thursday, May 26th, 10 pm EST, 9 pm CST!

To see even more sneak peeks, be sure to check out the DT blogs, which you can find here,

on the main challenge blog!  They will be posting sneaks through-out the week up until the hop!

Blessings to you!
~Kelly

Card:  GKD Pure Poppy, SU! Bermuda Bay, Summer Sun; PTI White, Momento; Prismacolor markers; Cuttlebug, trimmer, nesties, 3d dots, tombo, Ribbon and Fancy Pants Button; Twine; basic grey brads.

Red, white and blue and a thank you! :)

  
Did you all see Willy Wonka funeral on Glee?   I told my daughters as I was teary eyed through that, too, that it's the funeral I want to have :)  It was sad, but precious at the same time.  Thank you bunches for the sweet words of comfort and peace - today is a better day and the only one shedding tears was me .... thankfully, the kids are better (aren't they always!)   I have to remind myself to celebrate the joy Brandy brought us, cherish the memories and and enjoy the remembrances ~  x0x0x0!

I tell you, this week at Fresh Brewed Designs, the uber fabulous Heather challenged us to use the color scheme of red, white and blue!  For some reason, I struggle with this color combo as much as I do black and white.  But I am lovin' this card - it came out rather cute, especially using this adorable Elvis digi that was gifted to the designers for the Beach Bash we had - Heather is incredibly generous!  Isn't he DELISH!  Lil Elvis is a delight as he's 1. making a sandcastle just for my blog!  Woot, woot! :) and 2.  so much fun to color and design with!   I paper pieced his lil swim trunks with the same dsp that I made the card with - slight deviation from the red, white and blue with a smidgen of green but it was in the same paper pack of Crate Paper - LOL!  It all came together so I knew I would never use it again and needed that wee 3rd piece of dsp ..........  that's my story and I'm stickin' to it! *huge goofy grin!*

I also decorated the inside - one of my favorite parts of cardmaking! - and found this wonderful sandcastle poem on literary site that I sometimes browse.  It fit, so I added it to lil Elvis and his fabulous sandcastle self :)   This card has layers on top of layers and between the heavy GKD cardstock and the heavy Crate Paper, it weighs a ton but it was fun to make and I'm actually happy with the end result :) 

Big hugs to you all!  I hope you can visit the challenge blog this week - show us whatcha got!
Bring on the red white and blue and we'll be by to visit you!  (woot, a rhyme - I'm on a roll!!)
*wink!*

You can find the challenge blog HERE!

You can find sweet lil baby Elvis HERE along with many of his friends and more!

  Blessings!

Card deets:  GKD Pure Poppy; PTI white; Bashful Blue by SU!; crate paper DSP; Fresh Brewed Designs - Baby Elvis; prismacolor markers; cuttlebug, nesties; 3d dots; American crafts buttons; SU twine; SU stitched ribbon; Tombo

Sad News .... Happy News

Hello blogging friends :*)   Wow,  it's been awhile since I've been able to get a post up.  It's been hard to wrap my head around blogging - and crafting -  as the Santi household has been a very, very sad household.  Our sweet doggie, Brandy, passed away early Saturday morning.  She's been battling cancer but doing so much better than anyone thought she would and then took a very sudden and fast moving downward spiral at the end of last week.  She was our sweet doggie that the kids have grown up with and loved so much and so closely resembled "Nana" from Peter Pan.  The kids are devastated and it's been pretty weepy around here and the mere site of her collar and leash make us all start crying all over again.   I do take some comfort in knowing she's resting in the Savior's arms and I know my dad was there to welcome her home.  She is greatly, greatly missed.   I know that many of you have been praying for her  - for us - and I have so appreciated all the thoughts and prayers - it has meant the world to me! x0x0

On a happier note, Riley and Company once again bringing you a new challenge this week by our very own super talented Silli!   Her challenge this week is to create a gift box.   I went with this darling schoolgirl Sophie with her cute lil plaid skirt on to create a gift card box for the end of the year teacher's luncheon.  Making this out of paper was defintely more economical, especially when they can all be different!  But it was a labor of love - I should have googled a template, I think, rather than plow thru 5 sheets of scrap dsp making my own! :)  

I filled the inside with tissue paper and a gift card and it was the perfect fit.

The end measurements of this accordion gift box are 4.5" x 3.5".

Thanks for stopping by today :)

Remember to stop by the Riley and Company blog

and see what the DT have created and also to link up your

own fabulous gift box creations! 

If you would like to play along with us,all you have to do is create a card/project and upload it to your blog and/or to your SCS Gallery using the keyword Riley1011

We'd love to see what you make and remember,

it's a 2 week challenge so you'll have plenty of time to play along :)

Blessings always

 and make sure to hug your furbabies super tight today :*)

x0x0x0

~Kelly

Card deets:  DCWV School Pack; School Girl Sophie from Riley and Company; PTI white cardstock, Momento Ink; Prismacolor markers; Ribbon from my Stash; American Crafts Button; Twine from SU!

Hey Chick! {Sponsor highlight - Altered Alice!}

What do you call a chick with no net? 

Me!!  :)    Oh the horrors!  Our internet has been down for a day and a half and I've been without the 'net - sad!  My dh is out of town and usually gets it back up and running - he even tried to walk me through it to no avail, until I realized while I was cleaning I unplugged part of the router.  And I checked it - twice!   Doh!  All's well that ends well, right?!

So today I bring you a brand new FBD challenge - this week's being a photo challenge - take a look!  Isn't it gorgeous and vibrant! 

For my card, I am forever trying new shapes and styles.  I really want to get out of the same "box-y" feeling I have with cards and have enjoyed making newer shaped cards!

This was is tinier than I would have liked due to the size of my nesties - I'm old school, and have all original nesties not the big huge ones! :) 

But it works - it's not as big, but Fun Sized!  LOL!

**Before you go, I wanted to remind you that FBD is sponsoring the Altered Alice Challenge Blog.  You can find all the information here on the FBD blog HERE and of course, on the Altered Alice blog HERE!  Even more exciting, FBD has Alice related digis that you can use to play along here in the shop!

Thanks for PEEP-ing! (lol, I just *had* to!)

Now that I'm back online, I'll be doing blog rounds.

x0x0

   Blessings!
~Kelly

*~* Happy Birthday, Tanya!! *~*

Happy Birthday to Tanya, owner of Riley and Company! 

Today Riley and Company Design Team are celebrating the birthday of our Head Moose, the super sweet owner of Riley and Company - Tanya Kostynuk!  What better way to celebrate then with a birthday blog hop!

For my birthday party post, I made a faux cake slice box with a matching birthday card with some yummilicious tissue paper scalloped flowers.   Those are always my very favorite part of the cake - the little icing rosettes - yum, yum!  I also used Baking Riley on the matching card wishing Tanya a very sweet birthday!

From here, you'll be hopping over to the absolutely amazing Sarah's blog where you'll be super excited to see her birthday post!

Here is the line up of the DT blogs if you'd like to stop by and see what Riley creations await you!  And of course, stop by the Riley and Co blog and wish our Head Moose, Tanya, a very Happy Birthday!  Thanks for stopping by and happy hopping!

Here is the line up:

Riley & Company Blog

Cindy Haffner
Michele L.

Frances Byrne

Silke Kittmann

Therese Boyd

Sarah Gough

Kelly Santi {you are here!}

Margie Cortina

Laurie Clout

Blessings!
~Kelly