Crafters of Faith: John 7:38!

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water

 will flow from within them."

 ~ John 7:38

Hello, blogging friends! 

It's the 31st of the month and that means the Crafters of Faith group post our cards! The Crafters of Faith is a group near and dear to my heart - founded by me!  - after soul-searching and longing to get closer to christian women whom have united in faith and creative crafting :) 

 They are such sweet, sweet ladies!

This month, our hostess has taken some time off and so I took her place as hostess.  This is my challenge: Water!

Hi Faith sisters! This month’s Crafter’s of Faith challenge theme is inspired this verse and your theme is: Water ! It’s summer and many of us are enjoying the splendors of the outdoors – boating, swimming, walking along the lakes and rivers. Summer rains, as heavy and burdening as they can sometimes be, bring us new growth all around ~ trees, green grass and gorgeous flowers blooming. Even spiritually, many people accept Jesus into their hearts and become baptized in water and have beach baptisms. Water is a beautiful, healing, essential! This month, I want you to use WATER as your theme on your cards: Be as creative as you like - think boats, oceans, the beach, tilted watering cans, bird baths, falling rain, etc! Let water be the focus of your card and extra brownie points for using the color BLUE !! Blessings! 

For my card, I stamped up the ever so lovely "The Mighty Sea"

and used the coordinating sentiment.  I stamped this image

soooo many times!  I colored it, and colored it some more :)

In the end, I stamped it in Crumb Cake for a softer look

and paired it with some fresher/beachy colors in peach, brown, blue and sand.  Some ribbon, buttons, twine and brads and this card was finished in a snap :)

Here's the front of my card:

And the inside:

Please stop by and see my crafty Sisters in Christ,

all in my sidebar and see how they did with this month's challenge!

Smiles to you this day!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings 

~Kelly




I'll enter this card into these challenges:
TheSquirrelandtheFox - Nautical, Sea Life
AnimalFriends - Water
Word Art Wednesday #91 - Anything Goes
Our Daily Bread Designs - Fluttering, Birds (there are seagulls above the sea!)

Calendar Girls - Cute 'n Cuddly ;)

Good Morning, blogging friends :)

  Today is the day that the Calendar Girls post our monthly cards,

 created with a theme that the hostess gives to us. This month, our hostess is Linda and her theme is "Cute and Cuddly."  Love her theme muchly :)

I have soooo many stamps that are cute and cuddly, and probably tops the list of what I own in stamps!

 Here is Linda's challenge this month: 

JULY 2013 CHALLENGE

Miss July: Linda

I would like it to be "Cute and Cuddly". The cuddly being a huggable moose, or a raccoon, or a bear, etc. I really enjoy the Riley stamps and Penny Black hedgehogs, but I'm asking you to pick your favorite furry creature stamp and make a card with any sentiment. I happen to be a hoarder of cute stamps, maybe because my kids share in my stamping addiction. It's always fun to see those little critters come to life on a card.
Can't wait to see what you come up with.
Linda

Oh which stamp to use!  I was sorting through my stamps and files
and finally saw this one and knew it was the one :) 

And cows are cute and cuddly, right? *smile!*

Some of my fondest memories are being on my grandparents orchards
in California and the neighboring farms - vast, vast farmlands!
For me, it just evokes such incredible happiness.
So my 'cute and cuddly' became very clear to me ~
"Cow'nt Your Blessings!"

  And the inside of my card:

For my card, I used a digi from Bugaboo stamps.

It was super easy to color, actually very little to color ~ so

I created the card base, paper choice and layout based on the image.

I went with the pink/red/black and in the end, it looks a 

little like a Valentine's card, right?!

I hope your day is *udderly Moo-velous!*

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Card entered into:  SouthernGirls Challenge - Animal Antics

Daring Cardmakers - Creature Comforts

Digi Haven - Animals

LEJ Designs 63 - Cute!

Chocolate, Coffee, Cards - Animals

IDIC #170 - Friendship card with sentiment

*HoPpY hOLiDaYs!*

I'm so glad I didn't frog-get to post this card! :) 

  I have SO loved seeing so many Christmas in July cards on blogs, in the shops, and challenges aplenty.  Even though Miami is sweltering with heat and humidity, it's always fun to think of Christmas all year long! 

I've had this Penny Black "Xmas in pond" stamp for ages and as part of my LINY card year, inked it up!  I completely got into my *Christmas mode* with the stickle hats, holiday inspired paper, and one of my FAVORITE Christmas color combos:  Old Olive, pink and red!

Here's my card:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge blog has a Christmas in July challenge going on right now so I'll go ahead and enter this card there, along with Penny Black at all sorts Challenges :)  
Also, I love Pro markers has a Christmas in July challenge so I'll play along!

Thanks for stopping by and HOPPY Holidays!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings,

~Kelly

Card entered into:  PennyBlackSaturdayChallenge - Christmas in July
PennyBlackatallsorts - Punches and Dies
IloveProMarkers#178 - Christmas in July
FairyTale - Christmas in July

Happy Summer!

Sunny days are here!  What gorgeous skies I see outside after week(s!!) 
of rain and more rain - the sun is out, the kids are jumping in and out of the pool while I sit in my lounge chair nearby .... glorious!

Today a new Riley and Company Challenge begins ~ 

hostessed by me!

I'm thrilled to bring you this challenge this week and the theme I chose:

Summer!  For a bonus, we'd love for to use the color yellow somewhere on your card - easy peasy!

I inked up Hammock Riley, colored with prismacolor markers and used some papers that I had left over from recent card making.  In the inside, I added one of my favorite Riley stamps - "You can never have too much Happy!" 

Here's a peek:

We'd love for you to play along! To play, create a card using a Riley and Company images.  If you upload your card to a gallery, please use the keyword Riley1513.   To see what the rest of the DT created today, please check out their blogs for more yummy Riley and Company creations, and of course, link up your cards to the challenge blog!

Frances Byrne

Jovita Torres

Joy Stagg

Kelly Santi (you're here!)

Laurie Clout

Michele L

Sending big hugs and hope your day is filled with sunshine and cheer! 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Card entered into: Stamping with a Dragon: On the Beach
 Tuesday Throwdown - Toes in the sand
C is for Challenge - Summer!
Inky Chicks:  Summer Colors

You're A*mus-ing! :)

Happy Saturday!   Despite the rain, and the kids *baking* batches of homemade brownies and chocolate chip cookies and a whole lotta dishes for mommy to clean, I was able to make a few cards from my 'to do' list :)

Isn't it wonderful when you've been waiting for the moment to get the chance to ink up the stamps, play with papers and color with markers to create the very card you see in your mind?  That was me, today!  I love it when time allows me to craft  ... just because :)

While I was crafting, safe from the rains falling softly outside, I was thinking of the trip we took to Europe several years back, specifically London.  We were touring the city with 4 kids, all under the age of 10, yet the city was so majestic!  We wandered through the lovely Kensington Gardens and I thought how absolutely stunning ~ what a moment to connect with the beauty of God's earth.  So much peaceful and tranquility.  The world, for that moment, was just still.  Ah, lucky is the person to be able to hop on a plane and just be where you long to be! 

For my card today, I finally colored up this sweet little flower that has been in my image stash for ages.  Even though I colored it red (I'm thinking this is a poppy?), I wanted the flower to stand out on it's own and chose a lighter, softer dsp collection from Cosmo Cricket.  It's pretty simple overall but for some reason, it just felt finished when I added the simple embellishments. 

 I left the inside blank so I could write a little note as this card will be sent to a special friend :)

Have a blessed day, friends!
Big hugs, bigger Blessings!
~Kelly


I'll enter this card to: Art Impressions Challenge 117 - Twine Time!
  HIMCR #107 - Freestyle
DRS Designs - Lucky Strike

It's Riley's *New Stamp Release* Blog Hop!

Hi friends!  The day is finally here!!
 It's time for the new stamp release at Riley and Company!  I'm super excited to showcase two new Funny Bones stamps today, in addition to the 33 others being released in the store.  That's 35 brand new Funny Bones stamps in total - so much fun!

If you are hopping along, you should have arrived from Frances' fabulous blog. If you just arrived, and you want to hop from the beginning, please start here.

There will be two winners tonight along the hop, as well as some fabulous eye candy cards on each designer's blog.

For my first card, I'm using the new FB stamp "I'm going to start cleaning the house.  And by cleaning the house, I mean drinking wine and spraying everything with Febreeze!"  I paired it with Sophie, the Merry Maid, which you can find here!  I loved the look of this sketch here at Love to Scrap Challenge blog and used it for the front this card :)

Here's my card front:

  

Here's the inside of my card:

And the sketch I followed from Love to Scrap ...

 Next up, I have a bright, sunny card using "Leaves a trail of glitter" and let the sentiment be the focal point of my card.  I added some glittery to the butterfly that coordinates the papers used and added some additional bling off to the side.  As crafters, isn't it magical on the days we can get our hands inky and glittery!

From here, you'll hop on over to Laurie's lovely blog to see what she's created with the new Funny Bones!  I hope you get the chance to hop along with us.
And may today be a day of leaving a trail of glitter, wonderful and all things fabulous for you!

In case you need the entire hop list,

here it is:

Riley and Company Blog
Frances Byrne
Kelly Santi (you're here!)
Laurie Clout
Michele L.
Silke Kittman
Jovita Torres
Joy Stagg

There are some specials going on right now, straight from the desk of the head moose, Tanya!
Take a peek!

Special #1:  Buy ONE unmounted sheet of the new Funnybones for $50, get the second for only $40! (reg. $5.50 each). That's a savings of $102.50! This offer expires July 31st,  2013. (Offer not available to wholesale customers.)

Special #2:  You can also get a set of 3 FREE Funnybones stamps (our choice) 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.)

  

Special #3:  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 enterFREESHIP

in the coupon code section! 

  

Thanks for stopping by today!
Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Card #1 - entered into Loves to Scrap challenge - Sketch

Riley Sneak #5 ~ Friends!

Hi friends!  I have another sneak peek for you today using a new Funny Bones sentiment "God Made Us Friends", which is being released TONIGHT at the Riley and Company July release Blog Hop. 

For today's card, I used the Funny Bones stamped sentiment which will be released tonight.  I can think of one of my wonderful friends that this reminds me of, lol!  Together we are quite a pair!  I've added the sentiment to my card and I pulled from this gorgeous summer palette from 

Crafty Catz challenge.  

Here's my card:

                                                   Here's the inspiration photo:

I'll also enter this card into the Paper Pretties Challenge #267: "tongue tied ~ use a sentiment as a focal point" 

and to The House that Stamps Built Challenge: Use Humor!

Thanks for stopping by today!

 Be sure to stop back later and see all the DT card reveals ... lots of fun ahead!   The reveal hop starts at 10 PM, EST ~ 

hope to see you again tonight :)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Riley Sneaks: Day #4!

Hi friends!  Aren't the new Riley and Company Funny Bones stamps absolutely hilarious!  Oh how they have me chuckling ~ each one is so hysterical and there is a huge batch of them about to be released ... 35 in total!  

Isn't that awesome!

For today's card, I paired up the new Funny Bones stamp sentiment "I feel sorry for people who don't have dogs ...."  with Dog Walker Riley clear set.  I tell you, I laughed so hard when I first saw this stamp sentiment.  As mommy to two fur babies, there are those days where I drop something on the floor and think I'm just too exhausted to pick that up ... either the doggies, always under my feet, scamper for it with glee or I'll kick it under the fridge and say I never saw it, LOL!!  (kidding on the fridge, btw!) *smile!*

Puppies can be funny, too - just ask our Buster!  A few weeks ago, he pulled his dew claw nearly off while chasing a toy ~ ouchie!!  He had to have it cut down, bandaged and since he wouldn't stop chewing at it, had to sport this absolutely funny looking collar, bless his heart!  
Don't we love our puppies!

Just a quick reminder that our Blog Hop begins this Thursday, July 18th at 10 PM EST!

Be sure to stop by the Riley and Co DT blogs to see what sneak peeks they have up for you to see.

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Entered into:  Tuesday Throwdown- Anything Goes
Challenges4everybody - Anything Goes
613AvenueCreate - Anything Goes
InspiremeFridays - Anything Goes

Riley Sneak #3 ~ I'm SUPER lazy!

And the sneaks continue! :)

Hi there!  Welcome to day 3 of the Riley and Co sneak peeks!

I hope you have been getting as much of a chuckle out of the Funny Bones

stamps as I have!  They are an absolute riot!

There will be 35 *brand new* Funny Bones stamps released this Thursday,

so be sure to come on by every day for the sneak peeks AND for the wonderful blog hop - 10 PM, EST, Thursday: July 18th!

For today's card, I used the FB sentiment super lazy and paired it with Riley Batmoose!

 Short post today as my daughter is still recovering 

and mama likes to be nearby! :)

 Be sure to stop on by the other DT blogs and see what wonders

they have created with the Funny Bones stamps from

Riley and Company!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Double card day = Riley and the DDD :)

Hi friends!  I have two cards to share with you today - my 2nd Riley and Co sneak peek and the Dueling Darlings so if you are stopping by for either, you are in the right place :)

First up, the sneak peeks continue at Riley and Company where 35 fabulous new Funny Bones stamps are about to hit the store!  Exciting!  For my card today, I used the new Funny Bones stamp "Seeing a spider" and paired it with Miss Muppet Sophie ~ eek is what I'd say!  Luckily, this little spider is as cute as can be!

Please be sure to stop by the rest of the Riley and Co DT to see what sneaks they have for you today!

And in case you wanted to play along, you still have time to enter your cards in the biweekly Riley and Company Challenge at the blog. The challenge this week is to use Sophie on your card, keyword 1413.

Also, just as a reminder, the Riley and Company blog hop will be at 10 PM EST on Thursday, July 18th!  Hope to see you there!!

        *******************************************************

Next up, it's the 15th of the month and that means the Dueling Darlings post our cards created from the kit sent to us by the monthly hostess.  This month, our hostess is the fabulous Barb!  Her kit was absolutely delicious and she was so generous with the gorgeous supplies ... I can easily make another 2 cards with her kit!  

Using the image she sent to us, I colored it up with my prismacolor markers and used the brightest, boldest and most fabulous papers of the kit ~ love these fun, summery colors!  She sent us the Whipper Snapper Ice Cream bear image to color along with a plethora of ribbons and embellishements, it was really hard to chose!  I used a scrap of one of the front papers to add a little to the inside of the card.  I supplied the cardstock for this kit and used the In colors:  Primrose Petals and Summer Starfruit ... exactly what color is Summer Starfruit? I love it!  I can't tell if it's a yellow or a green or a little bit of both! 

I hope you get the chance to stop by the rest of the Dueling Darlings blogs and see what they made with this card kit!  

You can find them in my sidebar :)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Home Sweet Home! :)

Hi friends!

We are home again from this summer trip and had a wonderful, blessed trip. We ate more foods than we should have, walked a bazillion miles rode and rode and .... rode more rides! :)  We have an definitely passed on our adventurous spirit to our kids.  We missed our oldest, college daughter terribly ... with her full schedule, she simply could not take the week off but it's fabulous to all be together now!

And guess what today is ... Sneak Peeks for the new Riley and Company new stamp release - woohoo!  I absolutely LOVE this new stamp

from the new, soon to be released Funny Bones stamps!  There will be 35 new stamps released!  

For today's card, I'm using the sketch from CTS #36 and the color scheme from Dynamic Duos #61!

Remember to check the Riley and Company DT blogs for more sneak peeks every day! 

Our Blog Hop begins this Thursday, July  18th, at 10 PM EST and will begin on the Riley and Company blog.

The new stamps will be available in the company store from Thursday,

July 18th, 10 PM EST

Thanks for stopping by - I'll be by to visit you soon!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Riley's new Challenge ... Sophie!

Hi friends!  By the time this blog post is up and running, we'll have packed the car and be on our way to Orlando - wooohooo!  The kids are beyond excited to be at the Disney theme parks again.  It's a blessing to live close enough to visit and truthfully, dh and I are just as bad as the kids when we know we're heading there *smile!*  We've been making the trip to the parks for over 30+ years ... and each trip is still magical and amazing.  And it's a good thing we are seasoned Floridians who know how to navigate the parks + keep hydrated and walk 5,000 miles in a day in the summertime! ;)

The new Riley and Company theme this week is brought to us by Michelle and her challenge is: Use Sophie on your card or project.  I knew instantly that I would use Cinderella Sophie and happily inked her up!  I added the matching Fairy Tale sentiment to the inside of the card.  You can see the entire collection here in the shop :)

Thanks for stopping by today! I look forward to seeing your blog creations as soon as I'm back near the computer again! :)

To enter your cards, please stop by the Riley and Co Blog.
Be sure to stop by the DT blogs to see their creations this week!
And if you'd like to upload your Sophie cards to a gallery, please
use the keyword 1413 - we'd love to see what you created.

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

A flower a day keeps the ...... snow away!

Hi there!  This has been a productive and crafty weekend for me - rare but exciting none-the-less :)  It's so hot here, even with the beach and pool visits we have been making, it's soooo much nicer to stay in and ink and color! :*)

I thought I'd share the card I made for the SOTC (card group on SCS) ~ our hostess this month is Maryann.  Bless her heart, Maryann has had her share of snow and more snow -  and asked us to create a card with flowers to bring out the sunshine!   I actually created one, totally CAS, and then read her requirements to include at least one embellishments, so in order to keep the CAS look, I added a dallop of ric-rac and some tiny pearls in pale yellow.

      

Here was the original: just a subtle difference, right?

I'm still trying my hand at creating new things this year.  You may remember from this post, it's my LINY year!  I absolutely fell in love with this card and wanted to CASE it, however, as you can see, that idea fell way through!  I'm not really happy with how this turned out, but I had good intentions :/ 

 I'm trying to embrace the crisp, CAS look of cards and have these wonderful ideas - then put them 'on paper' and it just falls flat ... no pun intended! :)  I thought Bridget's card was stunning in blue, but really wanted to use yellow - to represent sunshine and to make it cheery.  I also had fun playing with one of my old stamp sets again as per my crafting goals, like this one from SNSS from their February flower of the month (Iris) collection.  

The color combo at Dynamic Duos this week is to use green and yellow, so I'll go ahead and enter this card there ...  

and Cas-ual Fridays Challenge #108 asks for a CAS card with a swatch of any material - I used ric-rac on the card so I'll go ahead and enter this card to their challenge as well :)

Thanks for stopping by today ~ have a great rest of the weekend!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Summer is here! :)

Happy Saturday!

I had a little time to get crafty today - Yay!  My son is so cute - he loves to stop in my craft Cabana and ask if there is something he can color, if there are any paper combinations or embellies he can pick out - like these buttons!

He picked out 4 random buttons and said "here, mommy - these are for your card!"  Oh, a challenge - create a card around 4 random buttons ... I'm in! :)

I adore Mo Manning images and this one called Nesto just makes me smile every time I color it up!  The challenge on the blog this week is "F is for ..." and I chose fUn!  After all, wearing a beach bucket on your head and being at the beach surely is FUN! :) I pulled some Sundrifter papers from Studio Calico - oh this is so luscious, I am already awaiting my next card with this pack!  I chose these papers to match the colors of his bathing suit.

 I found this awesome sketch from Sketch Saturday 

and love it.  I kept it the same sans the star image (I used a cluster of buttons) and switched sides with the sentiment ~ or arrow in this case :)

I'll enter this card into Mo Manning's challenge #192 "For is for ..."

and Sketch Saturday #266.

 

 That's it for me for today! 

 I'm a little banged up from a kitchen accident and about to head to the bedroom to snuggle up with a wonderful book I'm reading and some quiet time while dh juggles the kids, movie night and lots of popcorn (and to their delight, soda and candy - woot, woot!)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Stamp Addicts: Washi Challenge!

Hi there, friends! 

 I hope you had a fabulous weekend!  And wow -- where did June go?!  
Oh me oh my, it's July!  We had some rain this weekend - and then some more rain - and then some more!  That's our lovely South Florida summers - lots of rain, appearing out of nowhere and gone just as quick :)

I'm blessed to belong to a super group on SCS called the Stamp Addicts,
 lead by our fearless leader, Lynn :) 
The challenge this month was to use washi tape.
How I love washi tape!  It's such a fun embellishment and a great way to accentuate cards.  For today's card, I really wanted to use the washi as the focal point and purposely did not use any designer paper ::: say what! :::
I inked up the dragonfly from the TGF summer stamp set from ions ago, coloring it and then giving it a light dusting of glimmer glitter, added twine and buttons.  I followed the ColorQ's challenge #195 color palette for my card colors and wouldn't have thought to put these colors together - love that inspiration piece!  I'll enter this into their challenge :)

I had quite a time trying to get the colors photographed, but they blend together so well IRL.  I went with Pool Party, Summer Starfruit, Lovely Lilac and inked up the dragonfly in grey.  I hope I passed the Stamp Addicts 
Washi test! :)

Now, where did I put my umbrella?! ;)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly