Time for a Cottage Cutz Blog Hop!

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Scrapping Cottage Summer Blog Hop! We will have lots to share with you today using the Darling CottageCutz dies, so be sure to grab your favorite drink and enjoy the hop! You should have arrived from seeing Carol's amazing blog creation. If not, please start at The Scrapping Cottage Blog! 


For my blog post, I've created a 3D project for you using a plain wooden letter, some dsp and sweet Cottage Cutz dies!  My oldest daughter and I have been enjoying the summer together, including doing a little crafting, so I wanted to create a little something for her room.  Her name also starts with the letter K  so finding this wooden letter K was a treat!  I used some lovely designer papers and purposely cut them to look like an eclectic patch work of shapes. We loved our vacation in Paris a few years ago and thats the feel I was aiming for. After gluing down the papers, I adhered it with Mod Podge. When it was dry, I added a few handmade embellishments I made using the Build-a-Butterfly die, the tropical trio flowers die, and the button flower mini die!  I adore how this came out and it was so fun to mix so much art together in one place and show you yet another way to use TSC dies!

I went from this: 

To this, thanks to the Cottage Cutz dies!

So let's continue on with the hop! From here, you'll be hopping over to Cheryl's fantastic blog creation. You won't want to miss her stop!  And be sure to visit all the designer blogs for some eye catching ways to use TSC Cottage Cutz dies. But it doesn't stop there! If you leave some love at each DT stop, you could be one of the 3 lucky winners to win Gift Certificates to The Scrapping Cottage!!


Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed the project I created As much as I enjoyed making it :) Happy Hopping!

Big hugs, 

 Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly~


Entered into:  Creative Belli Challenge  - Anything But a Card!
City Crafter Challenge:  Make a Gift!

Details:  Wooden letter, Michaels; DSP = My Mind's Eye;
Tombo, Mod Podge; 3D dots; Cuttlebug, Dies from The Scrapping Cottage; MS Fine glitter; mini kaiser pearls

You are my Summer :)

Happy Thursday!  It's the 28th and that means the Calendar Girls blogging group post our cards!  This month, our hostess is the lovely Michelle and she gave us the best theme to create - Summer!  Along with a sketch challenge from SCS388, this is what she challenged us to do:

For most of us, June is the month that starts summer...many events are happening...school ending, graduation, weddings, flowers blooming and family vacations.

My challenge is...using SC 388 (found in the SC thread), with any color combination create a card that best suits your beginning to summer, or summer plans. It could be a trip you are planning, a flower that is blooming, a wedding you are attending, or a graduation gathering. Whatever it could be...have fun creating a card to go with it.

Michelle (the "new" 2012 Miss June)

Fun, right?!!  For my card using her chosen sketch,  I used my TGF "Summer" scrapbooking kit ~ this poor set hasn't seen ink in soooo long!  I wanted to pair this with bright summer colors and went straight for orange :)  Our summer definitely starts out a little busy with Tae Kwan Do classes and performing arts camp but once it settles down, we are all about the beach and trips around Florida including Disney World! :)  In fact, we cancelled our plans for being out of town this week/end due to the tropical storm we saw looming and leave in a couple of weeks instead. And of course, the storm is not only gone, we have a gorgeous heaping of sunshine!  

 Here's another peek at the sketch :) 

One of my very favorite parts of this Sunshine Kit from TGF are the sentiments. They are just darling!  

Please be sure to stop by the other Calendar Girls to see what they came up with using this sketch and their summer plans, too!  You can find their link in my side bar.  

Thanks for stopping by today

and I hope your summer is off to a blessed start!

Card entered into these challenges for summer:
CardzTV 111 
Sassy Cheryls
My Craft Spot - 61: Hot Summer Colors!

Card Details: 
PTI White; Orange; Chartreuse;  SU Summer Sun;
Image + Sentiment:  TGF Anya, Summertime; Prismacolor markers; 
CB, trimmer; nesties; DSP = MME; Buttons and flower from Prima;
scrap ric-rac; Twinery mint twine; Fiskars border punch; 3d dots; Tombo

   

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly~

Let's Dress Up Riley!

Hi everyone!  It's time for a new bi-weekly Riley and Company challenge at the Challenge blog.  This week our challenge is brought to us by one of our  Facebook posters - Robin!  She gave us the idea to 'dress up' Riley - not to paper-piece, but to actually draw some clothes and re-dress Riley or Sophie in an outfit other than what he/she is wearing.  

In our house, it's Euro-Cup soccer time!!  Dh, the kids and I have been glued to the tv ... cheering on our prospective teams.  Dh and the kids are Team Spain where dh is from and me, well, I'm Team Germany where I grew up and learned to love Fußball! I stand alone in my cheering here, and it gets even wilder 'round here during World Cup Soccer time but we manage ... and

 We are officially a house divided! :)  

For my card, I kept Riley in his soccer shirt but drew a letter to represent 'my country' :)  I also let the colors of the flag be the primary colors of the card right down to the coloring to the embellishments.

I also drew some sweat bands on his hooves *smile!*  

I used Soccer Riley, of course :)

I left the inside blank on purpose ...... perhaps to write a "I'm so sorry!" note for dh when SPAIN GOES HOME and I'm squealing "Los geht's Deutschland!" 

Teehee!!  Okay, I'm kidding - it's all in great fun and no matter what, we love sharing our sporty time together!

And that's it! 

We, of course, can't wait to see what you come up with for this "dress up Riley/Sophie" challenge!   If you use any other gallery or want to upload your cards, please use the keyword Riley1312.

Please stop by the DT blogs off to the right in my sidebar to see what they've created in this FUN challenge! x0x0

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly~


Cheerfully entered into: Allsorts 160: Any die will do
Fab 'n Funky: Polka Dots

Sending you Butterfly Blessings!

*It's Twisted Tuesday Challenge Time!  This week, we would like for you to create a card that reflects summertime!

The Twist:  Use Red on your card somewhere!*

Link up your cards HERE!

And be inspired by the DT cards this beautiful week of summer!

Hi there!  Another rainy evening here and which made catching up on crafting one of my evening accomplishments.   A few days ago, the kids and I were walking on the nature trails through the mangroves at Key Biscayne.  We had spent a few hours at the beach and felt the calling to explore the area before heading home.  During one of the twists and turns  through the wilderness!  through the brambles, we stumbled upon 2 butterflies dancing and twirling, flying a dance only known to them. It was magnificent flight and an unexpected glance at beauty!  I always think of each moment like that as a gift from God ~ the small surprises and tiny blessings but a great big reminder that God is with us faithfully.  As the butterflies leap and flew and danced about, I felt His presence saying 'Do you see! Isn't it beautiful! I made this for you!"  

I kept that in mind when creating today's card :)  This is actually one I call a hot mess!   You do not want to know how long this card took to make :x  I don't know if I'm "in summer mode" or just crafted out but I stare at the papers for hours, end up cross-eyed and frustrated.  Then one small thing comes along, like the memory of the butterflies, and it just falls in place.  Hallelujah! :)

For today's Cottage Cutz card, I used the build-a-butterfly die from the Spring Blossom collection at The Scrapping Cottage - LOVE!!!  This is one magnificent die, so crisp and precise.  I used the larger die as the backdrop and layered it with the ornate frame.  This is a pretty simple card overall, but in the end, I'm counting it as one of the blessings of having rainy days, special memories and crafting time! 

Be well, and I leave you with a verse from one of my old favorite hymns.  I thought of it when I was stamping the sentiment onto the paper :)  

"When upon life's billows you are temptest tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done."  

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly~

Entered into these challenges for consideration:  SSCC #145 Use a Flag or Banner
PaperPlay Challenge - Use a die
Word Art Wednesday:  Scripture

* He Did it!* So proud of my baby!

We have a brand new Black belt in Tae Kwan Do in the house! :)   We are so very proud of our son, who at just 7, has accomplished so very much.  He had his testing on Saturday - which was a nail biter! - and tonight was his ceremony.   Part of the ceremony was to include a speech of thankfulness.  My son started out his speech with a bible verse :)  He wrote his speech around Philippians 4:13 and said "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  He went on to say that God his Savior gives him courage to try his best every day and gives him strength.  His words were so heart-warming, I was so teary eyed!


Of course, mommy had to make him a card to celebrate the moment :)  When he saw the card, he literally squealed "oh wow!"  He read what we wrote on the inside and said "thanks guys, that was so nice!" Then he ran off and put it on his dresser in his room :)  Too cute!  I absolutely knew when I wanted to make his card that it would be from a Mo Manning Designs.  Her images are just delightful!  It was the right mix of whimsy and genuineness and I fell in love with this image called Nesto. I just had to color him up to look like lil man and gave him a black belt :)  Now the funny thing is my son LOVES to see me crafting & I asked him if he noticed anything on the card.  He ran back to his room and said "yes, the paper looks like my belts!"  Awwww, that's my boy ~ he got it :) 

For the brand new Black Belt! Congratulations Indeed!

Side view :)

Age 4, a tiny tiger white belt!

Age 7 3/4, a hard-working,dedicated, loyal, faith-filled black belt!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoying this amazing moment in our lives :)

       Cheerfully entering this into: 
 Mo Manning's Challenge Blog - Masculine

Do You Stack up:  Movies "Karate Kid"
SSCC #144 - something that reflects you (My kids! being "soccer mom!")

 Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Getting Krafty and Recycling!

Hi there!  It's time for another challenge at the Twisted Tuesday Challenge blog ~ Getting Krafty and recycling!   I just love the opportunity to reuse and repurpose any item rather than throw it away so this was a super fun challenge this week.  I reused almost everything on my card and made a matching envelope, too!  This week, we want you to use the color Kraft on your card and the twist is to use a recyclable item(s).


Here's what I recycled on this card :)  


* Butcher's Block paper {left over from VBS}
* The cardboard backing from a 12 x 12 dsp pack
* Valentine's Card Kit found for .10c at a Michaels clearance sale!


and the non recycled items are white cardstock, gorgeous crocheted flowers, a button, ric-rac, one sheet of DSP and some twine :)

We would love to see what you create with the Krafty/recycled challenge this week!  You can link up your cards here at the challenge blog!

 Submissions close Sunday at 9pm (CT)

~ You may combine your creation with as many other challenges as you'd like

~ Remember to link back to 2TC in your post

~ No back linking, create something new and exciting

~ If you link your creation to any online gallery, please use the keyword 2TC10

 ~ You may enter up to 3 times per challenge

Card Cheerfully entered into: Cutie Pie Challenge - Real or Faux sewing
  Make it Monday - Anything Goes
CPS  - Sketch (flipped!)

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Dryer Sheet Flower Fun!!

Hello there!  I have three posts for you today - hence, my DDD post launched a bit early to avoid a traffic jam on the blog :)  


I just love flowers!  I think it's part of my English mom's heritage in me that I'm always wishing I lived with a backyard filled with an English style garden with mazes and trellis' full of flowers :)   Any chance to build/craft/create with flowers is always a good day :)  And since it's my turn to post on The Scrapping Cottage blog, I thought I'd bring you a slightly different treat!  And one day last week I was zipping around on SCS and saw the tutorial on used dryer sheets and fell in love!  We - a family of 6 - definitely have mounds of laundry and dryer sheets are a must, so when I saw the tutorial, I was super eager to give it a try.  It was soooooo easy!!  You can see my step by step pictorial here on the Cottage Cutz blog, and here you can see the final product :)  I ended up adding my recycled dryer sheet flower to a collage.  This is one of my favorite past-times to create without any general direction - all the pieces in this framed collage are all scraps!  But if you truly want to some some collage-type inspiration, please stop in and visit my friend, Julie - oh my... she is an inspiration! 


So here is the final result, cut using the stitched flower die (love this die!), run through the Cuttlebug with a shim and dryer sheet.  After they are all out, I spritzed them with some Tattered Angels in Trunk Bay (the color :) - let them dry and edged them with some Stickles glitter glue.  After that was dry, I just built up the flowers and added one of them to this collage with a verse, scraps of material and buttons and added it to a small frame.  Easy and such a lovely result!

The Final Product - a flower collage in a frame! :)

Without the frame :)

Close up of the flower!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Dueling Darlings ~ How Great is the Love of the Father :)

 "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!" ~ 1 John 3:1


Indeed how blessed we are!  It's the Dueling Darlings card kit of the month friendly duel, and this month, our hostess for the Divas is the lovely Jamie!   She sent us a very masculine kit with nautical stamped images, brown/blue theme papers & asked us to make a card for the 'guy' in our life.
Truly my husband in an angel on earth and a rare man ~ so loving and kind and never misses a single day without saying I love you to me and the kids.  The past year has been a tough one with many trials thrown into our path but truly we have also been humbled and strengthened by those trials ...  Each and every day, we are so aware of our blessings and the graces bestowed upon us. 


This will be the 6th year without my dad.  The kids still ask about him all the time, especially our son who was just 15 months when dad passed away.  I makes me sad to know that he will never know the wonderful man that he calls "Grampy" because his sisters do.  He won't remember how much joy he brought my dad in the tiny amount of time they had together on this earth.  But I see his smile in the faces of my kids and his quirky, cheeky sense of humor that comes through.  So much of "him" is still here, in each of them ~ and that the love still outshines the earthly presence. And I know dad is there, waiting on all of us, and I have no doubt when we all get there, he'll be on some bench, smiling and telling us he was "just readin' the paper" while he waited! ;)

I recently came across a beautiful passage while researching for my book and I wanted to share it with you as well :)  It reads  "There is love, immortal and unchanging love, in heaven toward you, which will never grow cold. You will be helped. God would sooner cease to be than cease to be faithful.  Be of good courage, for today He will strengthen your heart.”   Don't you just love that!  Well, on to the card ...  While the card kit had me stumped a bit at first, it quickly came together once I got out the cuttlebug out and just made a bunch of circular patterns around the stamped images.  I don't think I've made a CAS card quite as CAS as this - one sheet of dsp and some circles, lol!!  I added a verse on the inside as well and just love the saying ~ pretty simple all the way around :)


So be sure to stop in and see what the other Divas have created with this same image, they will be up and on their blogs off to my sidebar.  And the Dazzlers, of course, can be found there as well.   


The evening rain just rolled in and my 'non-drowsy' cough syrup just kicked in and it sure is making me drowsy! :x  

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Cheerfully entering into:  Amuse - Father's Day
Celebrate the Occasion:  Father's Day

For the Special Guy :)

Hi there!  I hope your week is off to a good start :)   We have 2 of the kids at VBS this week and the other 2 are at 3 weeks of musical theater camp all day so for the next 3 weeks it zoom zoom all around town, all the while trying not to cough up a lung :)  

This bi-weekly challenge at Riley and Company is brought to us by Jovita who asked us to make a card for the special guy/Father.  My sweet father has left this earth to be with our blessed Savior and I await our great meeting again one day - hopefully many, many years from now :)  And I already made my honey his Father's Day card so I thought I'd make another one 'just for pun' :)  He takes our lil man fishing from time to time which is a joy like none other for him so I chose Fishing Riley.   This has always been one of my fave Rileys to use for the guys!  I love his old fishing hat, how relaxed he is hoping to catch something other than an old boot ;)   Remember to load your cards to the gallery using the keyword Riley1212 and you can link them to the challenge blog  ~ we'd love to see what you create!

Thanks for stopping by today ~ have a fantastic rest of today!

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Entered cheerfully into the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes (or Father's Day)

Pile it On - Go Outdoors!
Delicious Doodles - For the Fellas
Patti's Creations - #45 Father's Day/For a Guy
Phindy's Place - Father's Day
Secret Crafters Sat. Challenge - Father's Day

It's a Mysterious Fun in the Sun Post!

Hello, beautiful people!  Thank you for the well-wishes ...  alas, I can't report that I'm back to normal just yet but do get to add bronchitis to my cache of feeling yucky - ugh!

But I don't stay down long (yeah, probably my whole problem, lol) but that's a life of mom, I suppose :)

Seriously, I'm like SO excited to share today's post!  This post/image is a  spin-off of a traditional swap ... in this one,  6 identical stamped images are sent to all the participants in the swap - yep, we all get the same image to work with!  All 32 of us!  And this month, I was the hostess!!   I chose Florence from the Kraftin' Kimmie stamp line for a couple of reasons.  First, I live in tropical sunny South Florida and wanted to send an image that represented this area and to see how they all would come up with their own version of *Miami* Florence!  Second, sadly one of our treasured parks near my house is in a debate for the destruction of part of the nature pressures, mangrove trails and animal habitats.  They want to pave it over to make an industrial boat storage :( :(  They have already staged many rallies, hosted family park fun days, signed petitions and attracted the attention of national and worldwide  naturalist organizations.  They want to take acres of preserved, protected lands and mow them down 'for progress of building a huge boat warehouse' which would uproot thousands of local animals, destroy their habitats and homes and the ecological system that keeps them safe from harm :(  I have a friend who is a local Miami artist that plans to have an 'art in the park' day and I challenged the swappers to do their very best work as I plan to make a board with all the cards as an example of what the park is all about - soaking up the sun, for one thing :)  And let me tell you, they did NOT disappoint!!  You can see the smorgasboard of cards that they sent for their interpretation of Florence as soon as the gallery is up and running (I will come back and edit!)  Thanks ladies!  Be proud! And thank you for your support of Matheson Hammock Park!

Meanwhile, here is my version of Florence, sitting on the dock of the bay ... wasting time ...

:)  J/K!  She's enjoying a gorgeous sun setting over the blue bay waters and hoping and wishing they leave the park undisturbed :)  

Card front

Some of the card dimension

And the inside!  I used a sentiment from TGF :)

Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy post!  If
you want to read about the park and/or the petetion, you can 
see it here :)


Big hugs,
Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Cheerfully entering this into:  Docerela Stamps:  Summer!

Card deets:  CS:  PTI Berry Sorbet, Summer Rain, SU Summer Sun
110 lb. White cardstock from Office Max ;
Image:  Florence from Kraftin' Kimmie, sentiment from The Greeting Farm
DSP:  My Mind's Eye Breaking Free Summer Series;
Ink:  Momento Tuxedo Black and SU Tangerine Tango;
felt ricrac, CB, Scallop die, prismacolor markers; BG buttons

Love for the animals :)

Hello!  Before I get to my card, I just wanted to share something that happened to me that strengthened my already intense crazy love for our two pups.  They are truly the happiness glue that bonds our very blessed family but until Wednesday night, I didn't realize their true capabilities.  My dh & I are still trying to make sense of it, but dogs are good that way, I think :) 


Tuesday, the 'flu like symptoms' I've been feeling hit me like a ton of bricks ... I knew I was 'tired' on Monday  {like ran a marathon and then run over by a truck tired!} and it was a bit odd ... but by Tuesday morning, I knew.  I couldn't even stand up - the pain, the fever, the shaking.  Through the night I was so miserable - chest congestion, pain, pressure.  My fever kept spiking from 101 to 102 - not the best, but not the worst.  But that night .... oh fun times.  My dh was running around the clock vigil with meds every 4 hours, albuteral tx & cough suppressants but it was all Kool-aid, in restropect.   At one point, my fever shot up to 104 .. and both doggies, who always lay beside my side of the bed all night long, kept barking and standing on their hind legs to peek over the bed to get to me and howling and Buster was dancing on his two hind legs {like he does when he wants a treat}.  My dh kept saying 'not now' while it turns out they were trying to tell him "she's not doing so good!"  That's when he did a fever check again and saw that it had shot up 2* more within 20 minutes and just stared at them. He told me later he should have known.  They never do that! And I said I wasn't surprised :)  Dogs have this eery 6th sense - our Dalmation told me every time I was pregnant AND when I was about to go into labor.  Our Mastiff used to stand guard next to my dad when he would every time his cancer returned and nudge him constantly.  But this was a first for me!  Needless to say, I'm on the mend but no where near healthy but better off than where I was at the beginning of the week.  I do not want to go through that again!  And our sweet pups are on their way to Pet Supermarket as soon as mommy is well enough for some very big treats and a trip to the doggie park!  I'm so proud of my fur babies, I just can't tell you.  I'm feeling sluggish and yucky today but at least I'm up and out of bed.  


Speaking of animals!  Well bugs!! My card ~  The SOTC card this month was all about monochromatic as the sweet and lovely April asked us to make a card using all one color.  I'm all about color, lol.  Lots of it - bright, vibrant, wonderous color.   So I stumbled with this one - going from Kraft, to pink, to green and finally settled on red.  I found this freebie while blurfing one day and decided to give it a try ... I never intended on making a red card, that's for sure.  I hope April likes the card ... it turned out pretty cute in the end :) This is a digi image that was a freebie from Whimsy Doodles!  Is that not the most generous!  You can find it HERE :) I was so enamored by the card sample that Melissa created that I scooped it up, too!  You can see her card here - I changed the colors of the papers to keep up with the monochromatic theme :)   

Peace!

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Twisted Tuesdays go Twisted Purple!

Good morning!  3 more days of school here for the girls - woohoo!  Then it's VBS the entire week after that and we are all looking forward to the summer! :)  


Did you see that the Twisted Tuesdays Challenge blog has a new challenge and it's all about a touch of purple!  My card took a completely different direction from where I started and left it last night, came back to it again this morning and it just literally fell together - sometimes crafting mojo is like that!  I just love these PI girls and finally inked this one up!  I paper pieced her dress and kept the colors through out the image similiar to the dsp I'm using and added purple buttons and purple twine - the twist this week!

Be sure to stop by the Twisted Tuesday Challenge blog to see more inspiration from the designers and to enter your 'touch of purple card' with a twist - use twine!

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Just swinging by!

Happy Friday! I love Fridays!  Today has been a fun-filled first day of summer for my son ~ his sisters have one more week of school, so we spent this very rainy morning building tent forts, playing board games and hanging out on Webkinz & the Nintendo 3DS - woot, woot!  


And what better way to start Friday with a fun Riley and Company card :)  This week's bi-weekly challenge is to use BOTH Riley and Sophie on your card.  I LOVE this stamp from the Circus collection and finally inked it up, paired it with some fun colored papers and put the matching circus sentiment on the inside :) This was a fun card to make and I could just feel my 'summer's almost here' inner self bursting through - LOL!

And did you hear the FUN news!  Now, when you enter your Riley cards to the bi-weekly challenge, a prize will be given!!  Here is what the news is!

If you enter our challenge you could be in the running to win free rubber ... One lucky person per challenge will win our Logo Riley image which isn't available for purchase. You will also get the chance to display a winner's button on your blog. So get stamping Riley fans :)

Once you have created your card/project come back here and place a comment with a link to your card/project to this post so that we can see what you created. If you upload your card/project to SCS don't forget to include the keyword RILEY1112. We can't wait to see what you create!**

So here we go!  Just swinging by to say hi! :) Be sure to post what you make with your Riley and Sophie stamps - and for more inspiration, hop on over to the DT samples ... you can find them on my right side bar.

Big hugs!

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly