Crafters of Faith: Inspired by Song! :)

 Hi friends and a Happy Halloween

                              to all of those that are celebrating!

It's also the 31st of the month, and that means the Crafters of Faith

post our monthly cards with a chosen theme.

This month, our sister in Christ, Liz, gave us a joyous theme of song!

I absolutely love music and have loved christian, gospel music every since I was a little girl.  I used to drive my mom batty running around singing 

"I've Got the Joy In My Heart" over and over at the top of my lungs :)

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart!

Where?

Down in my heart!

Where?

Down in my heart!

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart ..

Down in my heart to stay!

Okay, you can unplug your ears now!  LOL! 

Sweet Liz gave us this scripture this month for our challenge:

The scripture for my challenge is:

"But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good, salvation comes from the Lord." Jonah 2:9

And here is her challenge theme:

I love music and a "song of thanksgiving" surely pleases the Lord. Never does He speak that the songs of our hearts need to be perfectly performed to be a joyful sound to Him. So, think of some ways you can make a joyful sound to the Lord your God. The challenge this month will be to use a musical instrument image, musical score paper, musical note brads, etc. Whatever you have in your stash that is of the musical nature!

And my card!

My 3 daughters were/are at a High School for Performing Arts

and were/are part of a vocal choir.  

My dd16 auditions for many plays and Operas and God has blessed her 

with a truly angelic voice :)  I had her in mind when creating a card,

which finally came together after 3 attempts, lots of cardstock and dsp in the trash and a few images later!

close up of the sentiment :)

I went with a wonderful dancing girl stamp, sent free in the mail from

Inkadinkado in their giveaway a couple of years ago.  They were so generously giving away thousands of stamps - all you had to do is send in an email,

and they sent 3 wooden stamps to you, completely free!

I received this one among my trio and until this year, it has not seen ink

- another LINY card and USE EVERY STAMP challenge card :)

For the musical part, I added a small scrap of music paper behind the images

and the inside is stamped with a sentiment from SNSS stamps.

It is a verse from the book of Isaiah 12:5

"Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things;

 this is known in all the earth."

Be sure to stop in and see what the rest of the Crafters of Faith

created with Liz's wonderful theme!

You can find them listed in my blog sidebar.

I'm off to a field trip with my son today

and he is SUPER excited about wandering through our neighborhood

to see the spooky houses, wear his GI Joe "Snake Eyes" costume

and pass our candy to the little ones that show up to our door :)

Big Hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Entering my card into:  Word Art Wednesday!
Songbird:  Dancing Queen
DragonsDream "film of choice" - Flashdance!
Handmade Harbour - Having fun!

WOYWW #280!

Blessings, friends! 

 It's time for another fun trip around the globe on this Wednesday, 

always a fun break in the week :)  If you haven't heard of Julia and her WOYWW challenge, you can take a peek at the Stamping Ground!

I was excited to jump back into my crafting Cabana this weekend, 

even though it was just for a little while.  I looked at my desk and smiled at my sweet little "scrapbook bear", a Mother's Day gift from my children from Build-a-Bear workshop many years ago.  We named her Scrappy, and she is my muse when my creativity wanes :)

Also on my desk is a big bowl - not graced with Halloween candy - 

but the only bowl I had available when I was seperating some stamps

that are for sale as part of my daughter's Girl Scout project - stay tuned!

I just may have something you are looking for and

it's all for a great cause, all proceeds going to a Dog Rescue Ranch.

Finally, I'm happy get started on that extra huge pile of swap cards that are coming up due, birthday and thank you cards that need to get in the mail and future DT cards and hopefully play in the challenge for the wonderful new stamps I just won - super excited!!! :)

Whew ... Friday is only 2 days away!

 Well, friends - homework to be checked,

dishes to wash and put away, and lots of mommy-ness

before bedtime, so I'll wish you blessings and good night! :)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Holy Costume, Batman!

Oh boy!  From KISSing to dressing in costume,

 this is shaping up to be an exciting week! =}  Hee hee!

It's actually time for a new challenge at the Riley and Company Stamps

challenge blog - and the hostess this week is ........... ME! =}

Since it's so close to Halloween, 

I thought I'd give this challenge:

 Spook-tacular Greetings!

 Create a card/project using a spooky, haunted, H'ween theme. 

  In addition, please use ORANGE on your card somewhere in the coloring, paper, ink, etc. 

Using the stamp Riley as Batmoose, I colored him with prismacolor markers

and added him to a Halloween styled card full of bats 'n buttons. 

Did you watch the Batman episodes as a child? 

 I know we did!

My brother and I would sit around our old black and white Zenith and try to catch one of the Batman and Robin shows.

Here's a vintage clip from one of the old shows to walk you down memory lane .... Love it!  Just press the red button ... too fun!

Our kids are super excited about being able to Trick or Treat this week.

Where-ever you are, however you celebrate, be safe! 

 I hope you are blessed with extra treats (even the crafty kind!) :)

Be sure to stop in and see the rest of the Riley DT's creations. 

You can find them over on my sidebar.  Of course, I'd be delighted if you join our challenge this week ~ If you add your card to a gallery, please use the keyword Riley2213.

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Entering card into:  Going Grey Scrap Creations: Halloween

Clear it out - Halloween and Orange (old cardstock)

Deep Ocean - Button it up!

RCC 86 - spooled item (twine!)

I was KISSING this weekend! ;)

♥Smooch, Smooch!♥

Indeed there was some kissing going on in my craft room 

this weekend - with my stamps! 

  

I'm blessed to be part of a wonderful group on SCS called

 The Calendar Girls ~

Hi! I'm Miss February! *wink*!

Our hostess for this month, Barb,a most generous +

and beautiful lady, gave us an interesting challenge this month.

We were to go to SCS's Technique Forum and pick a technique with the

 #0 or 1 in it and create based on that technique. 

So I picked #01 - kissing, a basic usage of several inks stamped onto one image at the same time and leaving behind a printed collage of color.

I chose a Fall related image from my stamps (unlike most of my posts,

this one has seen ink before but it's perfect for this time of year!)

I used SU! inks in Close to Cocoa, Daffodil Delight and Really Rust

and I left the image untouched to show the colors of the inks.

To keep the 'rustic' look of the image, I paired it with Fall papers

and matching buttons in Autumn colors.

And since I read - too late - that it could not be a card

{oops!  Sorry, Barb!}, I added the image to a removable

bookmark/tag!  It's held on by just a wee bit of

removable sticky tape to easily mark the pages of a favorite book :)

I used this sketch from Clean+Simple stamping #264 

and I'll enter this into their challenge.

Be sure to stop on over and see what the other Calendar Girls 

created with this wonderful technique challenge.  You can find their

blogs listed in my sidebar :)

Happy Crafting to all of you! 

It was good to be back in the Cabana again ~

I managed to make 3 cards in 1 day! 

Given that my norm is 1 card in 3 weeks, that's pretty good! :)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

So Thankful :)

Today, we're packing up the family car and heading North  :)

Being in South Florida, pretty much everywhere is "North!"  
We are taking a small vacation to celebrate little man's birthday,
albeit a month late.  Due to work, college and school schedules, we postponed it until a time when we can all be together, 
a moment I'm so thankful for :)

He and I were bike riding through the mangrove trails the other day 
and I was so moved by the wonders all around us - 
the gorgeous day we were having, the sound of the wind rustling in the
trees overhead, the feel of a slight change in the air.
We aren't blessed to have a real "Autumn" here in Miami
so it's nice to feel inspired by what's around us in nature and memories :)

I think I sprinted into the Cabana when we got home just 
to find a stamp set to create the card I envisioned!
I wanted to create a card to mail to a friend for our 
blogging group card swap and got right to work on this one.
I used my 'it's fall about you' stamp set from TAWS.  
I started with a pretty CAS card base and built up a layer
of multi-colored, fall leaves by stamping onto the dsp and layering them together.  I have been drawn to the rich colors this fall, 
like the deep plums and brilliant blues - they are fun to pair up 
with the more obvious colors of Autumn.  
And, I don't get to say it very often, but I'm really tickled 
with how this card came out :)

Wishing you an abundance of beauty this weekend :)
I'm thankful for you!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly



I'll enter this card into:  Creating with Dragonflies #13 - Leaves/Nature/Trees
HouseofGilli - AG/Thanks
OneCrazyStamper: October/Thankful
ReadyTeddyGo - Autumn

Shelly'sImages:  Photo Inspiration

Hang in there!

Hi everyone!

At the start of this new year, 

and as part of my year of Simplicity,

I made a commitment to ink up my SU! stamps that haven't seen ink :)

Like this one!

I absolutely adored this "Hang in there" stamp set,

sadly I bought it and it sat on a shelf :(

Until now .... and it was such fun to create!

I made this card for a special friend,

sent with a lot of love and prayers wrapped in it's making.

I can't wait to ink up the rest of the stamps in this set, too!

My son has been a bit under the weather today

so I'll close for the night ~

wishing you a happy day!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

                   Card entered into:  Crafting By Designs - Anything Goes
Inkspirational: Anything Goes
Sisterhood of crafters  - Anything Goes
Stamping for the Weekend:  Anything Goes

 Card deets:  PTI cardstock, Crate Paper dsp,
SU! "Hang in there" stamp set; kaiser pearls;
Cuttlebug, nesties, colored with prismacolor markers;
scallop die from MFT, gingham ribbon from Joanns;
ttrimmer, 3d dots

2 cards, 1 post = LOTS OF MUMMIES! :)

Hi there! 
I have TWO cards for you today - both the Riley and Company challenge card and the Dueling Darlings card ~ woohoo!
And I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I've last blogged ...

 time sure has a way of getting away from me while I'm busy wearing my "SuperMom" cape!  ♥

I am so grateful this was a long weekend.
I love being a mommy :)

I love being so super involved in my kids activities and schools, 

from planning to doing to being.

But it's just as much fun getting back into the Cabana ~

I have missed my craft room!

First up, Riley and Company has a new challenge this week from
 DT member, Frances ~  Use No Designer paper!

Wow, now that *is* a challenge! 
I inked up one of my very favorite Riley's - Mummy Riley!  
I followed the super cool sketch from Retro Sketches.
Instead of dsp, I used large twill white ribbon and wrapped the card
to emulate the mummy ribbons.  I also used the large dots embossing folder 
to create a panel - I so love with this folder :)

Be sure to link up your "No DSP" cards to the challenge blog
here or if you upload to a gallery, please use the keyword 
Riley2014.  Have fun!

I'm entering this card into Retro Sketches #85.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Next up,  it's the 15th of the month and that means
 the Dueling Darlings are back with another duel!
If you are new to my blog, the DDD group is one that I created 
a couple of years ago with two teams of crafty ladies - 
One group is the Divas and one is the Dazzlers!
I'm a Diva!  
Wait .. that didn't sound right ....... LOL!  ( '-' )
We pick a united theme and send a card kit to the members, each w/out the other team knowing what was sent - it's a big surprise party each month!
This month, our hostess is the Über fabulously sweet JUDY for the Divas and Paola for the Dazzlers!

Judy sent us a huge kit filled with a fun Halloween papers and embellishments.  I chose the mummy image to work with
and added it to the card front ~ and the "boo" to the inside of the card.

And here's my card!

 
and the card inside!

  They also asked us to share our favorite Halloween stories.
I'd have to say what sticks out for me the most was living so many years in Europe, where Halloween isn't celebrated as widely as in the states.
One of the most mortifying, yet hilarious (now!) memories I have is when we lived in a very quaint, small town in Germany and we, the neighborhood American kids, decided to go Trick or Treating. 
 I think the ages were close to 6 through 12 or so, sans parents.
   My brother and I didn't speak the language at the time, and we relied on the older, seasoned kids of the group yet each time we knocked on a door 
and said "Trick or Treat!" we were met with faces of bewilderment and confusion.  At one particular house, a sweet lady stared at us, then her eyes flew open in recognition and said "Oh, I think they are hungry!" and brought us hunks of bread, slices of ham and some apples, LOL!!!
Bless her heart!
Needless to say, that was the last year my brother and I
 did that while living in that quaint little town :)

Please be sure to stop by the other DDD blogs and see what they've created
 this month with their kits!  You can find them in my sidebar!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Card made with:  PTI Canyon Clay, white; SU: Rich Razzleberry;
Image:  Riley and Company Mummy Riley; SU border punch,
Quickcutz Large Polka dots embossing folder; white grosgrain ribbon; orange twine from The Twinery; prismacolor markers, 3D foam dots, Tombo, Trimmer, BG Button.






Card #1 entered into: Retro Sketches
  Parade Your Crafts! - Halloween
The Paper Nest Dolls - Halloween

Card made with:  SU Kiwi Kiss, PTI Orange Zest, Basic Black;
dsp =   Mind's Eye, "Wicked Mechant Malvado", ribbon:  CELEBRATE 
IT HALLOWEEN, Image:  Recollections Mummy, clear dew drops, Tombo, 3d Dots, 

Card #2 entered into:
C is for Challenge - Halloween

Imagination Crafts - Halloween

WOYWW #226 ~ Always Believe :)

Hi there!  I'm super excited to sign on board for another WOYWW round - I had such a good time last week, hopping around the globe, taking a peek at the many places and many work spaces of so many wonderful crafters!

This week, Julia from Stamping Ground, invites us to share our desk and week ... although you do not want to hear about the choatic, busy-ness of my week (gasp! I'm still running and it's near midnight!), I can tell you that it has been full of fun, crafts and pure enjoyment :) 

So while my desk looks a little neater this week, it's only because my Harvest crafting has taken over my entire front living room!  All in fun, all in fun ... :)

And do you see the wee card peeking out from under the paper!  That's one I just made for a special friend :)  Since I know it hasnt' arrived yet, I'm keeping it 'under wraps' until it's safely reached it's new home :)

But I do have a card to share with you from a bit ago!

This week on the Riley and Company Challenge blog, our DT member

Frances challenged us to make a card with the theme: Buttons!

EASY for me!!  That's my very favorite embellishment!!

I absolutely adored how this card came out and wanted to share it

again, as I have a few new blogging friends that might not have seen it :)

This card is made using the Funny Bones sentiment "Always Believe"

which you can find here.  You can link up your cards here on the blog!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Happy crafting!!

Big Hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly