Crafters of Faith: May Flower Baskets!

Hi there!!  It's the last day of the month which means the Crafters of Faith have a post for you today! :)  And this month, our hostess is none other than the wonderful Patti!


Before I get started, I have to say Patti is one of the sweetest friends I have met in blog land!  We started posting awhile ago and she answered 'the call' to join the COF over on SCS and I was so excited!  Little did I know then that I would be so blessed by her caring nature, her constant smile, unassuming gentle way and love of life. She is never without a kind word to share, a big hug to give, a hand to lend, and just all around one of the BEST gifts God has graced me with in my life!  A true blessing you are to me, Patti - and I thank you for being you! xoxo


So, off to our challenge this month!  I loved it!  Here it was her challenge for us is: 

"Ok I got it! When my kids were little they made May flower baskets. They would hang them on a couple of the elderly neighbor's doors, knock and run! It was so much fun! So I want to see May flowers in baskets... either stamped or 3D which ever you want! I can't wait to see what you come up with! {{{Hugs}}}"

Don't you just love it this challenge!  So I was a wee bit stumped on the basket part and had all these grand ideas in my head until I actually had to make them, hee hee!  I'm swamped this week with end of the school year and hope that I did okay by making a template of a flower pot (hanging on a picket fence) and my die cut stitched flowers with button centers using delicious dies from The Scrapping Cottage!  My card is fairly simple as I let the flowers be a focal point and propped them up on 3D dots for dimension.  

Be sure to stop by and see what the other Crafter of Faith sisters have created this month! You can find them off to the right in my side bar :)

Big hugs!

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

God Bless the USA!

Happy Memorial Day! 

God Bless our service men and women past and present for their sacrifices, dedication and love of our blessed nation - I thank you!

** Before I get to my Calendar Girl post, I wanted to announce the random winner of a free Riley and Company stamp from the Riley Blog hop ....

congratulations goes out to Kathy from Lucky Stamper!**

For a complete list of winners, check here!

It's the wonderful time when the Calendar Girls - a group of friends formed on SCS - post our monthly cards with a designated theme.  This month, our hostess was none other than the uber fabulous, Barb!

She gave us a theme of red, white and blue and showing our patriotric side since our posting lands on Memorial Day this year.

So naturally, I went with the new Riley called Grand 'Ole Flag Riley! 

He is an amazing representation of cuteness, glory, pride for our country and sure make you smile! :)

I paired Riley with a simple design of arrows, SU paper and of course, some buttons :)

And naturally I had to do the inside of my card - 

it's almost the best {funnest!} part for me!

Grand Ole' Flag Riley!

Barb also asked us to share what our favorite memory is of Memorial Day.

I absolutely love being mommy and always keeping traditions alive in my own family that I did with my own parents and brother growing up,

but we weren't stateside long enough to really celebrate as a country.

But I remember so strongly growing up that each Memorial Day, whatever AF Base we were stationed at, aside from 2 very remote locations, they always had a HUGE bash with music, bbq's, the Stars 'n Stripes playing,

heading to the pool to cool off and my mom stocking up on our clothes at the AAFES sale :)   I am so blessed to have had the childhood that I did and loved every minute, every hour, every year that we were a military family.

Now with my own kids, we host a BBQ and grill out and always make a trip to the beach on Memorial Day weekend with about a million other people! :)

Be sure to stop on over at the other Calendar Girl blogs to see what patriotic cards they made, too!  You can find them listed in my blog side bar :)

Big hugs!
Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Welcome to Riley's Blog Hop!

Hi there!  So happy you could join us this evening for the amazingly fabulous Riley and Company new stamp release Blog Hop!  I know you are excited to see all the new releases so we'll jump right in!  You should have arrived here from the amazing Frances' blog ... and if you need to start at the beginning, click here!


First up, I have a Recipe for Graduation card for you :)  It's an actual recipe card - a 7.5 x 7.5 cardstock filled with graduation paper, Graduation Riley ... the cutest Moose that ever was :)  I paired it with a graduation sentiment which makes for a wonderful keepsake - great behind glass in a frame or shadowbox.

Next, we have Marching Band Sophie with all her red and fancy finery!  I always tell my niece to march to the beat of her own drum :)  This card is so fitting!

Card inside, left blank :)

Now before you head over to Silli's blog, let me give you some details from Tanya's newsletter on some really wonderful news!!

Here is the scoop on the specials for tomorrow night straight from
Tanya's newsletter ....

All full sets will be 10% off from Thursday through Sunday!

You choose unmounted, cling mounted or wood mounted!

You can also get an entire set of Riley Notecards FREE

(a $6.99 value) during this release by simply placing an order

of $25 or more (before tax) in the first 24 hours of the release!

(One per customer please.)

But wait - there's more! As an added bonus, we are giving

EVERYONE FREE SHIPPING from Thursday night at 9 pm CST

until Sunday night at midnight CST!

Just enter FREESHIP in the coupon code section!

Thanks for stopping by today - remember to comment on the DT blogs as you hop around tonight!


Big Hugs,
Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Riley as a king - Sneak #5!

Hello blogging friends!  Have you have been enjoying the sneak peeks of the  Riley and company upcoming new stamp release?!  He is such a cutie pie and I'm delighted to share another new Riley stamp - King Riley :) 


This royal card *smile!* will be heading to a special friend of my daughter.  If you've read my blog for awhile now, you might remember my daughter was chosen to be Belle in the a stage production of Beauty and the Beast.  She rehearsed and sang and danced with friends old and new all summer long and in the end, grew very close to the boy who played The Prince (non-Beast version, there were two different boys who played the part ... one was Beast, one was The Prince.)  They became fast friends for two young people that just met.  She ended up going to High School in the same performing arts academy with the boy who played The Beast but didn't know The Prince would also be there in a different academy and oh my!   It made for a surprisingly happy first week of school :)  They have spent all year getting closer and are now inseparable at school.  I think they are both fighting trying to 'just be friends', but she isn't allowed to date yet at 15.  They do go out now as a group and we find him to be just a delightful boy.  Even though he's allowed to date, and they are only a month apart in age, he told her that he would wait for her - however long it takes, he would be waiting.  And he has.  All year!  Bless his heart!  

The front of the card ..

Inside of the card with the quote ;)

So, back to the card!  When I saw this stamp, my mind went instantly towards creating Riley as the Beast.   I found scraps of paper and made this card entirely out of pieces of dsp that were in my 'to use' pile.  I added a quote from the movie/play that was one of my dd's favorite lines and her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw it!  She got it, I got it ... and she is curiously awaiting whether 'The Prince' will, too :)  That's if she choses to give him the card or just holds onto it as a keepsake ;)


Be sure to stop by tomorrow night - starting at 10 PM, we HOP!!  You won't want to miss it!  The Riley and Company will be releasing 14 new stamps at that time and we'll be hopping at 10 pm EST.  Hope to see you there! :)

Big Hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Sneak #3 + #4 ~ It's Vacation Time!

Oh can you believe the summer is almost here!  I can't wait!!  I was at my daughter's NJHS induction ceremony tonight, so happy for her as they passed on the lit candle to her and thought wow, the year is over.  Let the fun summer begin!  We have a few sporatic plans, like camp for 2 of the girls for a couple of weeks, VBS {as always!}, Disney in June and lots of beach, down time, relaxing! :)


But how about a quick trip to the Carribbean! One of the best vacations dh and I had was our trip to Atlantis in the Bahamas - highly recommended, I must say!  Although we didn't get to parasail, we pretty much did one of everything else there was to do at the resort and in the area.  But Riley and Sophie aren't short of fun or adventure - as you can see with this postcard from the islands card I created ... I had so much fun with this one!  These two stamps from Riley and Company are called Sophie as Carmen Miranda and Parachute Riley.  My card is pretty simple - I tried to work it in a different layout but really wanted to keep this background textured travel paper as the backdrop, so I just let it be :)   Riley is zipping in with a paper-pieced parachute while Carmen - I mean, Sophie - practices her dance routine on the sandy shores :)   Inside, I carried over the theme with a stamped sentiment to let everyone remember to balance the joys and wonders of every day with the busy-ness of life :)

And since today is Tuesday, you know what that means - time to get your vacation on!  This week's challenge at the Twisted Tuesday Blog is all about

VACATIONS!!  

And this week, the challenge will run for the next 2 weeks rather than one, so we're super duper excited to see what you post!  You can find the challenge blog here! :)

Thanks for stopping by today! I'm super excited to show off 2 more of the upcoming stamp releases - we go live at 10 PM on May 24th, this Thursday!  You won't want to miss it!  You can see what other samples the DT have created by checking out the links in my sidebar - right over there! ---->

Blessings!

~Kelly

Riley Sneak #2 - It's all about the 'stash! :)

Oh me oh my, I missed the weekend!  I hope yours was marvelous!  We had 3 birthday parties, my son's black belt prep class in TaeKwanDo, VBS training and our church worship rally and chorus banquet - all at different times this wekeend, all over town .... and we still squeezed in time to finally see "The Avengers", which was well worth the wait.  I am glad I had this card done to share with you as there was zero craft time this weekend *smile!* 

For today's sneak peek of the new Riley and Company stamp release, I'm sharing with you the new Riley stamp called The Moustache - too cute!  He is perfect for the cards for the guys and our soon to be upon us Father's Day :)  My dh has been doing so many of the 'little things' that I normally would because I've been running all over the place, like picking up the groceries & walking the puppies in the evenings.  So I'll definitely leave this card for him as a 'just because' with a note inside :)

A different angle to show you the dimension and 'pop'of the layers :)

So here we go - Riley with his 'stash!  Please be sure to stop on by the other DT members - you can find them off the right in my sidebar - and take a peek at some of the other fun cards being released as sneaks! :) 

Blessings &

Happy SONday!

x0x0

~Kelly  


Entering this into these challenges:  
Chocolate, Coffee, Card Challenge - One for the boys  

Riley Sneaks #1 ~ Blowing Bubbles!

Good morning!  How exciting that the new Riley and Company sneaks are on their way this week!  For today's sneak, I'm showing you Blowing Bubbles Riley and I nestled him into a card layout from The Sweet Stop (SSS159).  Here's my card and the sketch :)

Be sure to stop in and see what the rest of the Riley and Company DT has made for you!  You can find them off to the right in my sidebar.  The new stamp release will be available on May 24th with 14 new Riley stamps!!  Stay tuned! :)

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings,

Kelly

Praying for you ....

And you, and you, and you! :)


I absolutely love the quiet days when I get a free moment to sit down and catch up on my bible study and my daily devotionals.  After mopping myself into a corner today, I grabbed my laptop and journal and just let the words flow that had been building up in my heart.  Nearly 2 hours later, my hand numb and my eyes still wet from happy tears, I felt such an incredible and refreshing peace. I thought I'd share with you a snippet of my praise journaling.  


I was reading "Traveling Light" by Max Lucado last night, snuggled in bed listening to the light rain falling outside.  I can't tell you enough how much I love this book!  I borrowed it from the library and know that I must get a copy to own :)  I could hear the girls howling and laughing in their rooms long after 'lights out' (kids are good that way, eh?!) and debated on whether to interupt my reading to 'put down the law' ... one more time.  And I decided to let the kids be kids - it will be their cross to bear when their alarms go off respectively at 5:30 and 6:45 am! ;)  And as I turned back to my book, I lost my place and glanced down and no more perfect words could have been staring back at me.  I was glad for the momentary distraction.


From what I know of the Psalms, the scripture tells us that God is leading us beside still waters.  But my waters aren't so still!  In fact, last month my waters consisted of crest fallen waves heading straight for the jagged rocks! But what a great perspective to have when you can remember that no matter what those worries are, God will always give you what you need, when you need it.  I find myself now in those quiet moments I call the 'after storm' - finding my way back after weeks of worry and torment, the not knowing, the uncertainty and being SO GRATEFUL to have a strong faith to fall back on to.  I know so clearly that this fear was never insurmountable - I had a surf board all along :)  That surf board was in the form of prayer - a life line to grab on to when those waves were crashing down, and it brought me straight to the floor, never forgetting what God gave me knees for!

I thought I'd share with you a card I made for a sweet friend who is going through a rough time.  She's not a paper crafter ::: gasp! ::: :)  so I kept it pretty simple and just let the verse pretty much do all the talking.  I pulled these papers at random from a stack I had on my desk and actually love them together but there is something off on the layout .... I think I'll go back and fiddle with this again and see what I can make, twice!


Big hugs to all - you are loved!!
x0x0


Blessings,
~Kelly


Card submitted to:  Word Art Wednesday

It's a Spring Time Duel!

Hello!  Busy day on my blog today, so if you are looking for my Cottage Cutz card post, it's HERE! :)


For Riley and Company's new challenge card, it's HERE! :)


And it's the 15th of the month and that means it's time for another friendly duel between the Divas and the Dazzlers!  The Dueling Darlings are a group of friends from SCS that send card kits to each member of the group with just a theme - it's always a surprise to us until it arrives!  The opposing team sends a kit to their members and this month, the hostess for the Divas is Judy!  She sent us one of the most scrumptious kits evah!  It was just bursting with Spring time goodness and so much fun to look through all the wonderful papers and embellishments :)  You might remember I made a COF card with this image that she sent but it was fun to color it up again and create a card using Judy's fabulous papers!  She adores butterflies and it was evident to see so much of her tastes all through-out this kit :)  Thanks, Judy!  I hope I did it justice!!


Here's my card:

Look at this ribbon!!  It's luscious!!

We were also asked to post what we love about the Month of May :)  If you've known me for awhile, you'll see my answer has always been the same and I post it everywhere :)  I absolutely LOVE having my babies home for the summer.  I miss them so much when they are at school and it's just bliss to have them near me and home!  We have so much fun when we are together and I've been dubbed 'the fun mom' by every one of their friends so I suspect they enjoy it as much as I do :)

And Tuesday's also mean it's time for another challenge at the

Twisted Tuesday Challenge Blog!!  

This week, Melina asked us to create a card:  long and tall 

  and the twist:  Make a chain!

I added the felt flower chain that Judy sent in the kit as my twist to my card

and inadvertently made the card 5.5 x 5.5 before I remembered the long and tall - ooopsie!  Remember if you upload your cards, follow the link to the blog and you may use the keyword 2TC7!

Be sure to stop by and see what the other Divas and Dazzlers have created using this wonderful vision of Spring!  You can find them listed in my

sidebar :)  

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly


Entered into these challenges for consideration:
Craft a Scene - Spring flowers
FairyTale Challenge - things with wings

Cottage Cutz - a spot of tea!

**For my Riley and Company post, click here!**

Hi again!  I'm back with post #2 for the day - a Cottage Cutz card using 4 of the new spring time dies from The Scrapping Cottage!  This is a big size card - 5 x 7 and plenty of room to add on the Tea Time Border, the flower vine and the tea pot!  I added the stitched flower and faux button to the front of the teapot and let the tea pot be mostly the focal point since the card paper is a bit busy.  It's propped up on 3d dots and really pops off the card :)  I also added the teapot border to the inside and some gems for 'steam'.   Here's the card up close:

Here is an overview of 3 of the 4 dies used for this card!  You can find them here in the TSC shop!!

Thanks for stopping by today ~

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

   Entered into these challenges for consideration: 

Dilly Beans - Bling
Jelly Park- Girly Girl

Riley, you're a star!

Hi friends!  I have three posts for you to view today!  First up, I have a card I made for my daughter's friend :)  They became fast friends in a chorus class in Middle School and luckily ended up at the same High School.  He shared with her last week that he is moving their Senior year and she wanted something to remind him that he'll always be a shining star!

For my card design, I followed the new bi-weekly challenge that Riley and Company has this week - 3 stars, 2 buttons, 1 ribbon.  This week, I used Hollywood Star Riley and paired it with some festive papers from Basic Grey.  I made the 3 stars using a star punch, added light yellow buttons and some twine for the ribbon and tada! This card really bounces off the paper as it's all lifted up on 3D dots.   I usually decorate the inside of the card as well but I'm sure a teenage boy won't mind too much, lol!


Be sure to upload your cards to the Riley and Company blog, too!  We'd love to see what you create!  If you use a gallery like SCS, please use the keyword1012.


Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can stop by for the next two posts! :)

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly


Card entered into:
SJCrafts - Favorites! (riley, of course!)
Crafts and me - punches and dies
Amuse Challenge blog - Color my world
Whimsy stamps - make it pop!  (dimension)
Stamping for the weekend - anything goes

So Lucky to have you!

The book of James has taught us that "every good and perfect gift is from above" and that's so much of how I think of all of you :)  I'm truly blessed to know such amazingly wonderful people online!   I wish I could report that I was feeling better but whatever this horrid cold/flu like symtoms/fatigue that I caught needs to just find somewhere else to be!  But with my son being so active, the girls in school functions and performances and projects/exams keeping them up til the wee hours of the night ... so does mommy!   Can I get an AMEN on all those that know what I'm talking about :)


So for today, I have another mostly simple card for the mini-challenge that I gave out in the COF thread!  I threw down the gauntlet this week to create a card based on this photo inspiration!   I asked the girls to use any shades of green, purple and/or yellow and include a flower .....  I, alas, have a big old clover but have some flowers on my dsp! *grin!*

I went with slightly different shades of purple and green that this photo - I used  Kiwi Kiss (LOOOOOOVE!) and Lavendar Lace (not so loooooove! ;) and the adorable MFT a` la mode wishing you luck.  I figeted around with this card so much I eventually lost sight of what my original idea was! 

::: Note to self - go find some sketch challenges and play along! :::

 That's it for me for this afternoon!  I'm off to pick up the kiddies and then chauffeur one to tennis, Tae Kwan Do, stop off at the school store for poster board and project needs and dd and her 3 friends have to do a 'cooking' experiment as well .......  think good thoughts for my granite counter tops and wooden cabinets! ;)

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

It's a Twisted Birthday!

Hi there, friends :)  I'm under the weather here -- ended up feeling really sick Monday mid-morning and waited for it to pass ...  went about my day feeling so fatigued and blah and now my throat is on fire, my bones ache and my nose is half stuffed up, half running - lol!  I think this comes as part of the 'crash and burn' from being so diligent in taking care of everyone but myself - eek!  So this will a short post but long enough to tell you that there is a new Twisted Tuesday Challenge this week!  

This week we are all about Birthdays! 

 The twist is to use ribbon!

In honor of Melina's birthday, owner and creator behind the Twisted Tuesday Challenge blog, we're celebrating with a creation of a card/project showing birthdays.  For my card, I am actually using the card that didn't make it to my blog when my husband was in the hospital - blogger did not launch (doh!) so it never showed up here, but lucky me, I can show you now - YAY!  I actually LOVED how it came out.  CAS is not normally my style and this one just fell right into place.  For the ribbon, I went with twine.  The 3 balloons are dies from Cottage Cutz and I propped them up with 3D dots for added dimension.

That's it for tonight, I'm climbing back into bed with my blankies, pillows, Nyquil, two crazy pups down my my side wondering why mommy won't get up and play, and 4 kids that are either running amuck or under daddy's watchful eye, lol!  Guess I'll find out tomorrow when I leave the confines of my snuggly bed :)

You can link up your cards here to the challenge blog!

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings

 and I'll be by to visit you all soon!!

Much love!

~Kelly


Entered into:  Amuse Challenge blog:  Dies
Creative Craft Challenge:  Anything Goes
Whimsy Stamps:  Spots and Dots

Bugaboo:  Anything Goes!

Happy CINCO de MAYO! :)

Good morning!  Happy 5 de Mayo to all of you!  I hope you are enjoying the splendors of this festive weekend!  And since we are celebrating, how about a Bear-thday card using this adorable die from The Scrapping Cottage!  I made this birthday card using Birthday Peeker Bear die and the mini doily from the new release Cottage Cutz collection, added fun papers from MME and embellies :)  I adore how this came out and hope to create a few more this weekend if time permits!  We have quite a bit of running around to do playing catch up!

Thanks for stopping by today! Here is one more look at the 

dies that I used on this bear-thday card! :)

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

I'm a very late Calendar Girl! :(

Hi friends ~ it's officially 12:01 here on May 3rd - and today is National Day of Prayer!  What a glorious way to start the day and let it carry you through!  For me personally, I start and end each day in prayer with a multitude of times in between.  It warms my heart, puts a smile on my face, and refreshes my soul :) 


Hebrews 4:16 says "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Truly he hears us, our prayers.  He is bigger than any storm we could possibly be facing - an anchor I held on to so tightly during the last month.   But remember ... with our God we can scale a wall! (Psalm 18:29)  


Each month, the Calendar Girls group posts a challenge for us to follow and create a card based on those instructions ...... and this month our hostess, Miss April (who's real name is Terry!) gave us a whopper of a challenge!  Woah Nellie, did I do a double take with this one ~ but what fun is challenge if it doesn't make us go outside our comfort zone!  Although I struggled with the sketch and more so with the measurements, I finally created my barn quilt card :)  

 And from the 4 sketches I chose to work with this one:

Thanks Terry for this awesome challenging challenge! :)  Be sure to stop by the rest of the Calendar Girls and see what they did with this awesome sketch -- you can find them in my sidebar.  


Blessings to you all this most precious of days in rememberence of our Savior, the one who gave his life so that we may all have this one we are graced with!

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Twisted Tuesday - sketch challenge :)

Happy Tuesday!  Still raining here and while dh is resting on his last day of recooping, I'm chaperoning our 2 oldest girls to a chorus festival 3 counties away ... yay for 3 hour bus rides, one way! {Doh!}  We leave at 5 am and get back in the way dark of night but it is a huge honor to perform and return for judging on the solos and ensembles.  I wonder if I can get that big 'ol tour bus to pull through a Starbucks drive-through on the way ..... *Grin!*


Okay, my REAL reason for posting is today is the bi-weekly challenge at the Riley and Company blog with a twist!  Literally, a Twisted Tuesday sketch ;)
Here is the sketch I used for my card ...... totally not happy with it at all, but as the old adage goes, it is what it is ;)  


Our hostess at Riley and Company this week is Joy who challenged us to create a card using text paper from a book, newspaper or a type/print DSP! I chose this MME dsp with newsprint on it to match the Wagon Riley stamp, sentiment on the inside to match ;)  The gorgeous big material flower was added to mimic the sketch design and was a leftover from a card kit from my friend, LJ!   Now if you link up your cards to a gallery other than the R & Co blog, please use keyword0912.

Front of card ;)

and the inside!

And here is the sketch I followed from the Twisted Tuesday Challenge this week!  

  

We would love to see you create with this sketch -- be sure to link up your
cards to the 2TT blog here!  

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big Hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly